Joel Brodie

Day 2 at the Games Development Conference, filled with lots of interesting meetings and forewarnings from some who believe that the casual games downloads business may be in trouble.More Details below the cut.

Today was the first day that I spent in meetings, walking the show, in meetings, in more meetings, and wait, I only have 15 minutes to write this before . . . I go to another meeting! Today's Notes:  I got the inside scoop on Club Shockwave, met with new CEO of PlayFirst, and saw OnLive, a new service coming in Winter 2009 that could change games (including casual games) forever!  More details below the cut.

Yesterday I went to the Flash Games Summit in San Francisco.  The day was a definite success (kudos to Mochi Media for putting the conference together).  Next year, however, my advice is not to host the conference on a Sunday.  I can't think of anything I would rather not do on a Sunday, than work and network all day, even if part of work is … playing games!I did speak with check out a bunch of sessions and speak with a couple of cool flash game companies while at the show.  See my notes below and links to some free flash games to check out.

Travel the world and play as the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, investigate a mysterious series of disappearances, and use your wits to track down a dark group of Cthulu-worshippers.  What's a Cthulu-worshipper?  I am not so sure, but you'll find out in our imminent review.Download and purchase Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened exclusive to Big Fish Games (no free trial available), write a review, and discuss the game in our forum.If you are a super Sherlock Holmes fan, The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes is 50% off at Legacy Games.

Obama is doing it.   John McCain is doing it.  And yes, now Gamezebo is twittering.  When you follow Gamezebo on Twitter, you are automatically updated on every single item that is posted on Gamezebo (so you really do hear about casual games first!).   We also share cool tweets from our Twitter friends, post additional casual games-related content that did not make it on the site but is cool nonetheless, and give live updates from conferences we attend (which is relevant since we'll be in casual games conferences all next week).To follow Gamezebo on Twitter, go to Gamezebo's Twitter Page, sign in to Twitter, and click the "follow" button on the top of the page.   If you are not a Twitter member, you first need to join up (which is super easy).  There are a lot of Gamezebos already on Twitter (Kudos to mkinyon for your Twitter advice).

Calling all game companies who will be in San Francisco next week for the Flash Game Summit, Game Developer's Conference, and GamesBeat.  Gamezebo will be at all the shows next week.    Our schedule is filling up fast but if you have a cool casual game or casual games related offering that you want to  share with our community, please contact me to set up a meeting.   If you will be at the GamesBeat on Tuesday March 24, be sure to catch my session at 4 PM, Going Casual: All Your Games Are Belong to Us!

The Casual Games Association just posted audio and powerpoint slides for all sessions from Casual Connect: Europe 2009.  If you were not there to enjoy Hamburg in February (think the opposite of Hawaii), you can feel like you were there by listening in to the sessions.I asked a game developer friend what his favorite sessions were and he listed:  Lars Brubaker, Reflexive Entertainment;  John Barbour, Real Games, Confessions of a Games Portal, Publisher Showdown, and Dr. Strangelove: How I learned to love the Recession of 2009, moderated by Joel Brodie.OK, the last one I added (was my favorite).  For full list, go to CGA Web site and search for anything with a "New" tag.  Great listening for game developers, fun for game players as well to get insights into casual games.

After the first date with a charming girl named April, our hero wakes up alone in an unknown abandoned city after being drugged.   Just another Saturday night of partying or the plot for the new hidden object game, Lost in the City, by Elephant Games?Our review and tips will go up shortly (we'll help get you un-lost and find your way through the city).  In the meantime, download Lost in the City, write a review, and discuss the game in our forums.