Joel Brodie

Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate was one of those games that raised the bar for production values in hidden object games, thanks in no small part to the contributions of SomaTone Interactive Audio. (Who could forget Madame Fate's distinctive lilt, or the ambient sounds that brought the carnival atmosphere to life?) SomaTone's co-founder Kane Minkus takes us through the process of creating the game's distinctive soundtrack in Gamezebo's first audio post-mortem.

Community and web-based gaming were two of the biggest buzz words at this year's GDC, so we weren't surprised to learn that Jagex, the company behind the RuneScape virtual world, has just launched the FunOrb Games portal. The site offers a variety of games that can be played in a Web browser thus bypassing long download times. Many of the games are free to play, but for a small monthly fee ($3) players unlock additional game levels, achievements and community features.Production company Endemol is also getting in on the action, developing Web games based on TV game shows Deal or No Deal and 1 Vs. 100.