Joel Brodie

Game developer and toy maker, Scott Balaban of Gameblend Studios is the Geppetto of casual games. And, he and his team of game developers and Israeli scientists have just released Hidato, a web-based game updated daily that we think could become the next Sudoku. Bold words, but it's quite an addictive game.We talked with Scott about the unique story behind Hidato, insights into game development over a wide variety of platforms, and the merging of the toy and games industries.

We have been working hard to fix the issues we were having with the new Gamezebo Web site. As promised, here's my update:We fixed the issue so that screen shots display with all our Margie B's huge Tips (and we've been posting new ones quickly). We've also made fixes so that our search feature should be working much better and you'll see a lot less file not founds on the site.Next Up: Fixing Gamezebo To Go so you start to get daily updates again. Thanks for your patience and excellent suggestions.

It was just 2 years ago that we launched Gamezebo. Our goal was then and still remains the same: to create an online home and community for people passionate about casual games, just like you.During this time, many of you have written in with suggestions and requests for new features and ideas on ways we can improve the Web site. Well, we've listened and the result is new Gamezebo, featuring improved search, enhanced community, new personalization, and a lot more fun and games!