Kotaku: hot flashes

Flash Gear Solid - Think Inside The Box

Stuart Houghton — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:20:00 MDT

Fans of Metal Gear Solid (and in particular the VR Missions expansion from the PS1 days) who are sitting around bored at work might like to check out this fan tribute - Flash Gear Solid.

This VR Missions tribute sees the protagonist encased in a cardboard box (don't ask) trying to negotiate a VR environment and take out selected targets.

Complete all the missions and you may discover exactly what is going on with the box.

Flash Gear Solid VR: The NIKITA Missions[MochiAds via Papervision blog]

Sunday Timewaster: Marshmallow

Maggie Greene — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 13:30:00 MDT

This wonderfully adorable (and kind of weird) game is pretty straight forward — guide the marshmallow around a variety of objects just waiting to take a bite out of your head and send you hurtling towards the ground so you can land with a 'splat.' It's cute. It's not terribly taxing. The soundtrack is ... well, something (soothing? Weird? Vaguely Katamari-esque? All of the above?), but the game is really cute and a nice way to waste a couple of minutes or more ....

Marshmallow [forrent via IndieGames]

Saturday Timewaster: Hoshi Saga 3

Maggie Greene — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:30:00 MDT

Hoshi Saga 3 is a fun little puzzle game — the object is to discover the star(s) in each level through experimentation. The mechanics of each level are different, and while some are familiar, some will require a little more fiddling to get the right answer. Some levels are quite easy, though others may have you scratching your head — overall, a nice, relaxing little collection to spend some time with.

星探３ [hoshi saga 3] [nekogames via IndieGames]

Sunday Timewaster: Bounce Shot

Maggie Greene — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:30:00 MDT

IndieGames succinctly describes this as 'a cross between Breakout and Space Invaders,' which is pretty accurate — but it's a fun game with a retro feel. I was in the mood for some candy-colored, easy to pick up fun this weekend, and this definitely hit the spot. Boss battles every 10 levels, power ups, and trying not to get hit with your own bullets (so watch out for that trigger finger) — add in some cute alien enemies, and you've got the recipe for how I wasted a good chunk of my Sunday morning.

Bounce Shot [Nigoro via IndieGames]

The First Sarah Palin Game

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:40:00 MDT

And it's a flash game. A UK-based dev is behind Polar Palin, which has players take on the role of a polar bear who's out to blow up oil rigs and campaign military tanks. Says the game's site:

The U.S. recently classified the Alaskan polar bear as a threatened species because of the destruction of its natural habitat. It is predicted that the population of bears could be reduced by two-thirds by the year 2050 due to pollution and global warming.

The state of Alaska, led by Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, is to sue the U.S. interior secretary to reverse the decision amid fears that it will hinder oil and gas development.

Trying playing through Polar Palin, but my polar bear got lost somewhere in the ocean. The game's embedded after the jump.

Polar Palin [T-Enterprise via GamePolitics]

Saturday Timewaster: Aether

Maggie Greene — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:00:00 MDT

We're having a slow weekend here at Kotaku: Owen is off, and I'm holed up in bed trying to stave off the flu; Aether made a nice respite from my headache and general feelings of 'blah.' It's a weird little game — a little abstract and fuzzy around the edges, you control a little guy and his pet who can fly through the air with the greatest of ease, using said pet's tongue as a grappling hook/trapeze .... I actually quite enjoyed zipping through space from planet to planet, trying to solve puzzles and bring the color back to unhappy people (the core of an unhappy planet seen above). It's not the most intuitive game ever — it did take me some time to figure out how to successfully get off the ground and into the atmosphere - and I broke out the mouse because the trackpad wasn't cutting it. Still, it's pretty and soothing (and short) — good for a bit of time on a Saturday afternoon.

Aether [Armor Games via IndieGames]

Gish Creator Enters The Aether

Mike Fahey — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:40:00 MDT

Edmund McMillen, creator of the amazing indie computer game Gish, is back, and this time around he's exploring the far reaches of space and the inner depths of his soul, all at once. Aether is the story of a lonely boy who befriends a strange monster with a tongue capable of propelling them both into the stars and beyond. The team explores strange new planets, each containing a puzzle to solve while exploring McMillen's own childhood fears.

...its a simple experimental "Art" game about childhood and escapism. Its a very honest and personal project i've been a little worried about making public because its exposes a lot of the fears i had when i was a child and puts me in a vulnerable places. But i feel like there are some out there that can appreciate something honest that has a lot of heart.

It's a simple, yet endearing little game that becomes all the more interesting once you know where it's coming from. You can play the flash version here, or hit the link to download it to your Mac or PC.

Download Aether [Armor Games]

Holiday Timewaster: Hexiom Connect

Maggie Greene — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:00:00 MDT

Hexiom Connect is a pretty intuitive browser-based puzzle game; you have to rearrange hexagons on the board so that all the colored lines are connected. There are 40 levels (and even a colorblind option, so if you can't tell the difference between red and green, never fear), so I've spent quite a chunk of time this morning clicking, clicking, clicking the minutes away.

Hexiom Connect [Kongregate via IndieGames]

Weekend Timewaster: FkConflict

Maggie Greene — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:30:00 MDT

A simple and scaled-down strategy game (it was an entrant in the 'Java4K competition,' where entries could not exceed 4096 bytes), FkConflict is still a lot of fun and good to while away a chunk of time that you probably should be doing something else with. The mechanics are pretty simple: pick your territories; territories get turns each round in random order; first player to get all territories on the board wins.

FkConflict [Blaine Hodge via IndieGames]

Are You A Flash Game Developer? You Can Win Monies!

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:00:00 MDT

Calling all flash game devs! E4.com is sponsoring the Golden Joysticks web games thingy and is looking for flash game entries from around the globe. Maybe your entry. Who knows? The game doesn't have to be developed specifically for the competition, but it has to be developed by you. Yes, you. The winner gets £5,000 and the first Flash Game Developer Golden Joystick. We're pretty sure that the Golden Joystick isn't real gold, but we haven't bitten it so we don't know. Though, £5,000? That's pretty good — especially with the crummy US exchange rate. Full details in the link below. Click on it.

Grand Master Flash Competition [E4.com]

Artistic Sunday Timewaster: Honorarium

Maggie Greene — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:30:00 MDT

Ian Bogost sent along this link to his latest little title, this one called Honorarium: "An autobiographical art game. Assemble lectures to present. If you do well enough, you can unlock invitations to travel and speak." I've spent a bit of time with it — I guess I can sympathize with aspects of the game, since I'm the poster child for 'inability to balance life and work — wait, work IS my life.' Just as interesting, however, is his discussion of the way he created the game through Sims Carnival. EA invited Ian to create a game using the tools available through the site. And, as he points out:

Much of the rhetoric surrounding these game creation and distribution sites relies on accessibility: they are supposed to make game development easy. But the truth is, simplified creation tools don't necessarily make creativity easier or harder, they just impose different constraints.

Honorarium [Sims Carnival via Ian Bogost]

Saturday Timewaster: Attention Hog

Maggie Greene — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:30:00 MDT

From Chris Basmajian comes a darling, piggieful little game called Attention Hog. As the titular attention hog, your job is to capture the attention (and love) of as many people as possible, while avoiding bacon and nabbing power ups to make your job a little easier. Basmajian says the game "reflects some of the social and psychological trends present in social-networking communities, including self-promotion, social anxiety, obsessive need for peer validation, and distraction as entertainment." Heavy stuff. Ian Bogost notes that while he's "happy to see a game that critiques today's attention culture, but I'm not sure Attention Hog reaches the level promised in the description." Still, while I'll admit to being a sucker for cartoonish pigs (my little Monokuro Boo collection is probably a touch unseemly for a 25 year old), it's adorable and worth a few minutes of time on a lazy weekend.

Attention Hog [Chris Basmajian via Water Cooler Games]

Worlds in Motion with Orbitrunner

Owen Good — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:00:00 MDT

Alright class, time for a flash game. This is "Orbitrunner" and it's reasonably addictive for such a simple concept — place your star on the grid so that the planets (and their satellites) fall into orbit without smashing into you, each other, or going out of the boundary. I'm not sure how realistic the gravity physics are, but it's very challenging, and I like the background music. The collision/explosion sound/animation is lame, however. I was hoping for a Praxis Effect. If they put this in a 3D, rotatable-camera environment, I'd play it for hours.

You can skip up to five levels if you find you're just not getting the hang of one. It stores your IP address and lets you continue.

Orbitrunner [Gamezhero.com]

Letting Things Slide Into Place With Coign Of Vantage

Stuart Houghton — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:00:00 MDT

New game mechanic detected! At least, I think it's a game. You get a score at the end, so I guess it counts as a game even if it feels more like a sort of zen exercise you might do to calm the mind after post-traumatic stress.

Coign of Vantage (sounds like Engrish, but actually means 'an advantageous position') is a flash game from casual games people Bobblebrook.

You have to use your mouse to rotate an image that has been exploded into voxels (3D pixels) until it matches the un-exploded image in the corner of the screen. When you do that, you get points and more time to play the next image. Thats it.

Its weirdly addictive in that lunchtime minesweeper-grinding kind of way. Some of the high scores imply people glued to their mice for weeks, so tread carefully if you tend to get sucked into things like this.

Coign of Vantage [via Wonderland]

Help Amy Winehouse Escape From Rehab

Stuart Houghton — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:20:00 MDT

As if poor Amy Winehouse hasn't got enough problems. What with the incessant hounding by tabloid journalists, wobbly live performances, a jailbird husband and — of course — the ever-rising price of crack.

Amy's life just got a tiny bit worse with the release of Escape From Rehab — a frankly rather shoddy flash game that sees the beehived nightingale swearing her way across a side scrolling beat 'em up.

The game is a promo for the upcoming flick Disaster Movie from the (ahem) visionary comedy geniuses behind Scary Movie, Date Movie and Meet The Spartans. Humor-wise, it is definitely up to their usual high standards.

Our Amy has to negotiate wave after wave of characters from other blockbusters (Hulk, Batman, etc) dispatching them with syringe and crack pipe power-ups or smart bombing them with a swipe of her impressive hairdo.

It's just this side of unplayable, but at least Amy can say she finally broke America. Kind of.

Escape From Rehab [via Casualgaming.biz]

Ultimate Shovelware: Shit Game

Owen Good — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:00:00 MDT

Stumbled across this on Reddit when I was looking for evergreen features earlier in the week. If you like monochrome graphics, inscrutable physics, confusing environmental interaction, floating hairy turds/eyeballs and half-assed production values, you'll love Shit Game, an ode to game programming's less-creative endeavors.

Indie programmer Mark Johns says he developed this in about a week back in February. The (world exclusive!!!) trailer is above, and the game (for Windows PC) is available for download from his site. The soundtrack is trailer only, Johns says the in-game soundtrack is entirely pop music done in MIDI. Sounds even shittier.

A Game By Any Other Name Would Still Be Shit [Doomlaser, by Mark Johns]

Death Race Remake Recalls First Violent Game Controversy

Owen Good — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:00:00 MDT

Exidy's Death Race, of 1976, might have been the first game adaptation and yeah, it was kind of lame, setting a standard for adaptations for decades to come. (It was inspired by 1975's Death Race 2000 starring Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine). But man did it cause a stink. Players ran down stickmen with a car, eliciting screams and turning the screen into a graveyard of pedestrians. The game had no color, no digitized sound, no blood splatter, no ragdoll physics, its violence was abstract in both audio and video, and it made 60 Minutes as a national outrage.

Well since retro-revival's as much the rage in cinema as it is gaming, there's a Death Race remake coming to the screen in a couple of weeks. And the movie's history as the inspiration for a hot-button game controversy is something any marketer would exploit. So the film's official web site has a flash advergame — top down racer with some weapons thrown in. It sucks.

I was 3 in 1976, so I can't speak for the state of people's thinking at the time. But I really do wonder if its level of violence is indeed trivial, even for its age, or if I only feel that way because I've seen so much more, and so much worse. It's hard to consider Death Race as the first pebble trickling off a slippery slope, and definitely makes it more important than it deserves to be.

Death Race Movie Game [Death Race Movie, via Water Cooler Games]

Space Invaders Worldwar Tourney Launches

Brian Crecente — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:00:00 MDT

Square Enix just kicked off a Japan versus US tournament to showcase their free-to-play Flash game Space Invaders Worldwar. The 30th Anniversary game plays like a blend of Galaga and Space Invaders with a touch of Tempest thrown in for good measure.

In the tournament players will be drawn from the 194 nations represented and "pitted directly against each other." Not sure what that means, but I think they mean that they will be tracking scores. Real-time progress reports will be provided throughout the tournament on the Yahoo! America and Yahoo! Japan sites.

The tournament itself seems sort of pointless, what with seemingly no prizes or real individual winner, but I'm kinda loving this new take on the game. My only issue with it is that there's some lag for me when I play. It would be great to see this show up on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. Hey they could even drop it in for free!

Hit the jump to give the game a try.

Google Launches Its Own Second Life

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:40:04 MDT

Google launched Lively today, a 3D virtual world that can best be described as the search and advertising giant's take on Second Life. Currently, the service is for Windows users only and requires Internet Explorer or Firefox, as well as a Google account, to take part in. We quickly downloaded and fussed about with Lively earlier this afternoon, a process that was rather simple, but did have a minor registration hiccup. It was also painfully slow on my Windows box, which is by no means state of the art.

Lively is already loaded with hundreds of virtual rooms of varying themes, not to mention thousands of furries, one of the stock avatars that one can then further customize. Navigating around the world, which also seems to feature some light game like elements, took some getting used to. The novelty wore of quickly for me, as chatting with strangers on the internet is more frightening than in real life, but we'll have to dig deeper to see what Google has in store.

We'll check back in with it soon.

Lively by Google [Lively - thanks, DaveKap!]

Back to the Present with Chronotron

Owen Good — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:00:00 MDT

My favorite part of "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" came when they figured out the paradoxes of time travel and, simply by saying "Must remember to bring a trash can!" one appears in Ted's hands and he stuffs it over a bad guy's head.

Not that you can do any of that in "Chronotron," but the idea is the same, think in the present, giving orders to yourself in the past. Sort of. In Chronotron, the idea is to Clone multiple versions of yourself, using a time machine, to get through a puzzle level. The catch — all past versions will spawn and recreate your actions, so you need to think in chronological order for each step of the puzzle, and leave enough time for your final self to get through the gates and ride the risers to your objective.

It's a hell of a fun flash game — my co-worker showed it to me yesterday, so I can vouch for its productivity killing effect.

Chronotron [Addicting Games]

The Making Of Puzzle Farter

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:00:54 MDT

You may remember our link regurgitation of Puzzle Farter last week, Pet Tomato's debut platformer featuring a farting mechanic that really resonates. Mike Nowak of The-Inbetween, whom we regularly check in with for interesting things, briefly interviewed half the Puzzle Farter team, providing great insight into the Flash-based freebie.

It touches on all manner of interesting topics, such as character design challenges ("We go to the bar.") and plans for the future ("...the next version will also allow people to create and submit levels.") that Puzzle Farter fans will find rewarding. If not, maybe you'll just give the game another go or for the very first time.

Inside ‘Puzzle Farter’ [The-InBetween]

Puzzle Farter, A Musical Hoot

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:40:50 MDT

Pet Tomato's debut indie game Puzzle Farter is as high brow as you probably suspect it is. And if you're still amused by the sound of passing wind as we are, you'll probably find it endlessly amusing, even if the gameplay is rather straightforward. There's not much puzzling to be done, but the farting comes through in spades. No, there's no music and Puzzle Farter is more of a platformer than it is a traditional puzzle game—it's more like N with ninja-strength gas—so I guess we're both guilty of misleading titles.

Puzzle Farter [via del.icio.us]

Retro Sabotage's 20th Edition: Missile Command

Owen Good — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:00:00 MDT

Our disturbed friends at Retro Sabotage are all suspender-popping about their 20th sabotage since the site launched shortly before New Year's Eve. Remember, these are flash games that play normally (or close to it) before something goes horribly, comically wrong and beyond your control.

The latest is the "Missile Command Docudrama" although its message is, surprisingly, kind of serious. Tof from Retro Sabotage explained to me in an e-mail: "We wanted an "anti-sabotage" to celebrate the 20th release, and it's kind of a mirror to Mockumentary (though we got mails of people who somehow believed in that one)."

In the past I know we've linked to some of their other clever redos of classic arcade games. The Xevious Autopsy in particular is worth a look, and I think it's new since RetroSabotage last got a mention here.

Missile Command Docudrama [Retro Sabotage]

Rose and Camellia Are BACK

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:30:00 MDT

How do you improve on what's probably the best game ever made? You make it bigger. Badder. More woman-slappier. Yes, Rose & Camellia is back, this time as Rose & Camellia 2, featuring all-new ladies, all new stages and all-new woman-slapping action. It's great! So great there's a catch: you've got to finish R&C1 first (the shockwave version, linked below) to gain access to it. A little harsh, perhaps, but the bigger the reward the tougher the toil.

Rose & Camellia 2 [Nigoro, via IndieGames]

11 KB Super Mario Kart

Owen Good — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:00:00 MDT

Got this far and realized we've had no hot flashes this weekend. So here's a super-slimmed down Super Mario Kart, done in 11 KB of pure javascript goodness. Pick from Mario, Luigi or Peach and then race on two different maps. It even has a soundtrack.

You'll be beaten off the line easily every time, but if you race the second map and take advantage of the turns, you can get into first pretty quickly.

There's no timer or lap count and your opponents seem to float in the air until you overtake them. Still, I killed a few minutes with this while going off on a reverie, wondering if I'll be 55 and playing a slimmed down javascript Assassin's Creed or something.

Javascript Super Mario Kart [nihilogic]

Outrunning Doom in Dino Run

Owen Good — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:00:00 MDT

Reader Rob H. pointed out this nice little mid-Sunday diversion: Dino Run. After you get the hang of it you realize nothing in the environment will kill you, just slow you down on your panicked quest to outrun extinction. But most importantly, it's a flash game with multiplayer across three servers, although I waited forever for a game to start up.

Still, to the designers, hat-tip for rendering it like an old 4-bit PC game. I dunno, the tone just seems to deserve that kind of treatment. And also note how your dino farts after you chow down on less fortunate sauropods. Hat-tip for that, too.

Dino Run [Pixeljam, thanks Rob]

Execution Tests Your Conscience, Not Your Reflexes

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:30:00 MDT

Not technically a Hot Flash since you need to download it, but it's only 2MB, so it's close enough. The name of the game's Execution, it was made by Jesse Venbrux, and it's worth the 3.5 minutes of your life both downloading and playing it will cost you. Know that while it's a tiny, short game, there's also a charmingly simple punch to it all. Be sure to play it twice to get the full experience.

Execution [via TIGS]

20-year-old Memories of a Life Not Lived

Owen Good — Sat, 17 May 2008 18:00:00 MDT

Gamers of my generation may remember Activision's Alter Ego, released in 1986. It was a text-and-graphics, choice-based somewhat-precusor to later games like The Sims or Second Life. The game fascinated me, even as a 13-year-old, with the idea of living another life — and helping to create such a rich narrative — or just living that far forward. I feel like I actually have memories of the virtual lives I led in the game:

• As a toddler, gorging on a can of aerosol whipping cream and throwing up.
• As a young man, my girlfriend posing for "Genthouse" Magazine (for the record, I was cool with it. We married.)
• Playing in an old-timer's baseball game as a senior citizen, going back for a long fly ball, collapsing to the ground and dying peacefully as my friends gathered.

Well, here's a site where you can play Alter Ego online. It's been up since 2005, so probably some of you have stumbled onto this before. I scoured Kotaku to make sure we haven't featured it yet. It was truly a beautiful and well written game, created by Dr. Peter Favaro, and worth a look anyway. If you played it when you were younger, looking forward to life as an adult, now you can play it when you're older, to relive simpler days.

Alter Ego [theblackforge.net]

The Ultimate Sandboxer

Owen Good — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:00:00 MDT

Quite literally. "The Hell of Sand" is a brilliant time-waster of a flash game. "There are many dynamics to this game but no goal. Play around for a while and you'll get the hang of it." Great premise.

You play with four streams of colored sand using 18 different effects, some of them working in awesome combinations with each other.

C-4 and Torch, for example, wasn't too hard to figure out. I've also been making little cups of gunpowder and blasting them to hell with torch. But can someone tell me what "plant" does? Does it grow in the water? I can't figure it out.

The Hell of Sand [AndysLife.org]

English Of The Dead Flash Demo

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:30:00 MDT

Oh Sega. What, you don't know that the mere premise of teaching people English by having them type zombies to death guarantees sales? It does. So while the flash demo you've provided of one of the game's cheesy tutorial levels (the real typing of the dead comes later) is greatly appreciated, it's not really needed. Thanks anyway, though!

English Of The Dead Demo [Sega, via Siliconera]

Make Your Own Damn Ben 10 Game

Mike Fahey — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:00:00 MDT

Worried about what D3 Publisher has in store for their upcoming Ben 10: Alien Force game, based off of the relaunch of the hit Cartoon Network series? Well then head over to the Ben 10: Alien Force game creator and make your own damn video game. Launched today at Cartoon Network's website, the flash game allows players to creator and share their own action adventure game creations with the community, where they will be weighed, measured, and assigned a rating based on how awesome they are or aren't. They've already got several entries ready for you to test out, or dig right in and create your own. It's a bit limited of course, but it is also completely free, so it balances out. Head over to CartoonNetwork.com to check it out!

Cartoon Network Launches New Build-Your-Own Ben 10: Alien Force Game on CartoonNetwork.com
New Ben 10: Alien Force Game Creator and Current Record-Holding Ben 10 Digital Offerings Build Excitement for Newly Revamped Series of Hit Animated Show

ATLANTA—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Cartoon Network New Media today launched Ben 10 Alien Force: Game Creator, a new, free online game that merges the popular animated action franchise with user-generated content, marking the first game of its kind.

Beginning today, fans can access the tools and animations they need to build their own action-adventure game featuring the new series Ben 10: Alien Force, which premiered with record-breaking ratings April 18 on Cartoon Network. The game is based on the new Ben 10 series, which advances the plot five years into the future. The Ben 10: Alien Force Game Creator lets users easily build their own online games and share them with fans everywhere. Players choose their own hero from four of Ben's new aliens — Swampfire, Humongousaur, Jetray and Spidermonkey — each of which has unique powers and abilities that impact game play. Completed games can be shared with friends and sent to CartoonNetwork.com's game gallery for other fans to play and rate.

Ben 10 games are consistently among the most popular of the 190+ free games at CartoonNetwork.com. Most recently, the first game based on the new series, Ben 10 Alien Force: Forever Defense, smashed records on the site, scoring more than five million game plays in its debut week of March 10 - 16, 2008. The previous game-play record-holder for the site was also from Ben 10 with Ben 10: Savage Pursuit, which grabbed more than four million game plays its first week online in October of 2007.

"This year we will launch thousands of new games — or, rather, our audience will," said Paul Condolora, senior vice president, Digital for Turner's Animation, Young Adults and Kids Media Group. "Ben 10: Alien Force Game Creator gives kids the power and creative freedom to build and publish their own games and is a first step in our ambition to become the number one online destination where kids go to create, play and share games."

Ben 10 games currently dominate the top 10 most popular games at CartoonNetwork.com, holding five of the top ten spots, including Ben 10: Alien Force Forever Defense at No. 2; Ben 10: Alien Force Action Packs at No. 3; Ben 10: Battle Ready at No. 4 and Ben 10: Cannonbolt Pinball at No. 5.

Ben 10 characters are also part of Cartoon Network New Media's upcoming foray into the massively multiplayer online gaming market with Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall. In addition, Ben 10 has invaded the mobile space with its title on Cartoon Network's games channel on Smashing Games for Verizon subscribers. Ring tones and wallpapers for mobile devices also are available at CartoonNetwork.com.

Ben 10 premiered on Cartoon Network in January 2006 and has consistently been the network's #1 show on Saturday mornings. Along with the new series, Ben 10 has also spawned a tremendously successful toy and video game line as well as two hit television movies. The live-action movie Ben 10: Race Against Time set record ratings for the network when over 13 million viewers watched during its 2007 Thanksgiving weekend premiere.

The newest Ben 10 series, Ben 10: Alien Force, premiered Friday, April 18, 2008 at 8 p.m. (ET, PT), and was the most-watched original series premiere in Cartoon Network history. The new series began the next chapter in the Ben 10 saga five years later, when 15-year-old Ben Tennyson chooses to once again put on the OMNITRIX. He discovers that it has reconfigured his DNA and can now transform him into 10 brand new aliens. Joined by his super-powered cousin Gwen Tennyson and his equally powerful former enemy Kevin Levin, Ben is on a mission to find his missing Grandpa Max. In order to save his Grandpa, Ben must defeat the evil DNAliens, a powerful alien race intent on destroying the galaxy, starting with planet Earth. Ben joins forces with other young heroes to save the galaxy and his Grandpa Max, while passing along his knowledge to a whole new generation.

Hot Flashes: Castle Crashing The Beard

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:20:05 MDT

While we wait (and wait and wait) for Castle Crashers to make its Xbox Live Arcade appearance, we'll have to settle for a simple, hirsute 2D throwback known as Castle Crashing The Beard. It pits the player against a manly beard of dedication attached to The Behemoth's Tom Fulp, which is the best last name I've heard in years. Perfect for making the last ten minutes of your work day disappear.

Castle Crashing The Beard [Kongregate]

Hot Flashes: Typeracer

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:40:07 MDT

Can't post. Busy playing Typeracer. Like Typing of the Dead but online multiplayer. Type quotes from books, movies as quickly as possible. Fun. Need more competitive typing games. More Typing of the Dead, too. You play. Is good. Playing now.

Typeracer

Hot Flashes: Doeo, The Best Doeo Touching Sim You've Ever Played

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:20:09 MDT

There really isn't any more accurate way to describe Doeo other than "whack-a-mole with Katamari Damacy's aesthetics"—as Rock, Paper, Shotgun already has—so we shan't try! It's an addictive, pleasing to the eye and ear diversion, with only a tiny room for improvement (more levels! quicker restarts!) and worth your valuable Hot Flash time. I'm going shopping for one of those Razer mice that has three bazillion DPI laser accuracy to up my score.

Doeo [Kongregate via RPS]

'The World's Hardest Game' -- But Is It Really?

ogood — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:00:00 MDT

Now, just because I am teh fail at this flash game does not mean I accept that it is the World's Hardest. Because when I suck at something I call in reinforcements and in that case it's Kotakopolis.

But here is the self-styled "World's Hardest Game" and I've only finished one level of it over a week of trying during down-time at work. I get the concept on the second board but not how to grab the dot. The solution to the first one is pretty apparent.

I'm certain that someone with uncanny pattern-recognition abilities could shut this game down inside of 5 minutes. Unfortunately, the solutions do not materialize as easily for me. So maybe that someone is you. Take a crack at it. And then, to take a break, play Ikaruga.

The World's Hardest Game [One More Level]

C-C-C-Combo Game Breaker!

ogood — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:00:00 MDT

Hey! You got your Pong in my Breakout! You got your arm rasslin' in my Tetris! I swear, the only way to make ~~boring~~ classic video games playable and entertaining in modern times is to rig them to insane controls or pair them with another classic. Here are two.

Earlier this week I found Pongout — which actually has some replay value as you can't accept losing to such a ridiculous concept. And then TechEBlog discovered "Tresling," (left) a version of Tetris played by slamming an arm-wrestling opponent's arm into a controller. I like the video, complete with "Eye of the Tiger," but that was the theme to Stallone's "Rocky III" not his arm-wrestling vehicle "Over the Top" of 1987.

Here's the combo game I want to see: NCAA Hitman 08. As Agent 47, you begin as a top defensive back prospect in high school. Before the big rivalry game, you garrote the other team's star receiver, steal his uniform, line up at his position and nab 6 interceptions for TDs, winning the Heisman in the process.

Pongout [All Games All Free]
Tresling - Tetris and Arm Wrestling [Hacked Gadgets via TechEBlog]

And Now ... Cello Hero: Legends of the First Chair

ogood — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:00:00 MDT

Alright ... there's "Bark at the Moon" on expert, and then there's "The Swan" by the Berliner Philharmoniker's number one asskicking cellist, whomever that is. Considering that success in this genre involves at least knowing the major riffs before you play it, I'm thinking that this flash game is more difficult by half than anything Guitar Hero or Rock Band has ever cooked up.

The game helpfully advises us that there are "one million possibilities to get tones from a cello." I am definitely expert on the first: a sphincter-clenching, fingernails-against-the-chalkboard grind.

Post your high scores in the comments. I can get to about 455 points before I start writing apologies to everyone who has ever handled this graceful instrument.

Cello Challenge [Berliner Philharmoniker, via Reddit]

Compelled to Play "Compulse"

ogood — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:00:00 MDT

Told you we'd have another Hot Flash. And here's a sweet one right in your hot little hands: Compulse, which excels as only a flash game can: stupid-simple premise, a thought-provoking challenge, addictive replay and best of all, entrancing Asian-theme music. Best of all, it will save your progress (specific to your IP address). And when you start, it tells you "A game has been created in your honour." It's like being pampered at a gamer's day spa.

Compulse [jmtb02 Studios]

Cool Flash Game Music is Now Yours, Free

ogood — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:00:00 MDT

Remember the hand-holding satire "You Have to Burn the Rope" from last week? If the game play was a little ... unsophisticated, then at least the soundtrack got a solid thumbs up from the peanut gallery here. "It's like Still Alive epic!" said commenter Bokusatsu_Tenshi. t0yrobo called it "better than the Portal song."

Well, now it's online under creative commons license, which means you can do as you please with it. There are three tracks: "Cave," "Lethal Intro" and "Busta Buss." If anyone cuts a ringtone from any of these, let me know.

(Also, this is not the Flash Game Cookie Break. There will be a regular one of those later on.)

You Have to Burn the Rope - Behind the Music[Reachground]

The Last Canopy Wins Casual Gameplay Contest

Brian Crecente — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:00:00 MDT

JayisGames announced the winner of the Casual Gameplay Design Competition, number five, with more than $10,000 in cash and prizes handed out to indie Flash game developers.

Top of the heap was The Last Canopy, a shump which makes up for sketchy art direction with addictive play and the ability to absorb an enemies attack.

HIt the jump for the full list of winners and make sure to visit Jay Is to check out the games.

And the Winner Is... [JayIsGames]

Winners
* First Place
($3,500 + Adobe Flash CS3):
o The Last Canopy by Easy Only! Games
* Second Place
($1,750 + Adobe Flash CS3):
o Super Energy Apocalypse by Lars A. Doucet
* Third Place
($1,000 + Adobe Flash CS3):
o Gride by ooPixel (Jussi Kari, Marko Taali)
* Best Use of Theme
($1,000):
o Pieces by SoybeanSoft
* Viral Award (most game views)
($1,000):
o Gride by ooPixel (Jussi Kari, Marko Taali)
* Audience Prize
($500):
o The Last Canopy by Easy Only! Games