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On Wednesday, XKCD - look, if you're reading a video game site at (checks watch) 11:47 PM, then XKCD needs no introduction - offered its vision of Tetris in heaven. Today, someone made that a playable reality. More »
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Why didn't anyone think of this sooner? Mega Man Christmas Carol replaces the robot masters with the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, plus that poor old bastard Marley. More »
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Tipster BulletProof found this Tetrisesque block puzzle with an entrancing soundtrack and passes it along. But more curiously, "Bloktonik" seems to be in development for WiiWare (and for mobile), with a release date TBA. More »
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Believe it or not, 68 consoles/portables have been released in the United States since the Magnavox Odyssey first came out in 1972. More »
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Jason Rohrer (creator Passage, Immortality, and others) is back with another game, this one with the theme of regret (bet you never would've guessed from the title). Rohrer and a journalist writing about the design process game up with the theme, after nixing such topics as "stop snitching," "torture policy," and "stop-and-frisk." The game itself deals with feeding animals ... sort of: More »
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It's a Saturday, I'm jetlagged, and the internet seems to be blazing with news of nothing but Diablo III; perfect time for a light and cute flash timewaster. This one is called Bowja the Ninja 2, a point and click puzzler that's nicely illustrated and oh-so-cute. Not terribly challenging, but a good thing to spend a bit with on a lazy Saturday. More »
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Jay is Games' Casual Gameplay Design Competition #5 is now up with twenty one entries. I always like spending some time with the contest entries when they're finally up; even though there's always an overarching theme (this go around, it's 'upgrade'), the games are usually a pretty diverse and interesting bunch. More »
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I don't remember learning modules being this good when I was a munchkin: Samorost creators Amanita have put together a lovely game for the BBC, designed for 11 year olds. Questionaut is point and click, very pretty, and is tripping up adults left and right (that's what happens when you get far removed from your junior high school years and the concepts contained within, I guess). It's short and worth taking for a spin for the lovely environment alone, even if finding 20% of 140 is a bit below your intellectual level. More »
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Indiegames has put together a convenient wrap up of their top 20 free arcade games of 2007. There's something for everyone, and games running the gamut from simple to complex, with graphics to match. Garden Gnome Carnage not sounding like your cup of tea? Maybe Cottage of Doom or Winter's Heart will be up your alley. Most entries give a quick overview, screen shots, and a video of gameplay. More »
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We mentioned Kokoromi's Gamma 256 event a while back, run during the Montreal International Games Festival. Ian Bogost (over at Water Cooler Games) gave a nod to one of the game entries for the contest (which encouraged the smallest/most irregular aspect ratio, with the caveat that resolution could not exceed 256X256) called Passage, a sweet memento mori game that's one of those loose, free, and arty little diversions. There are Mac, Windows, and Linux versions over the the Passage site, and even a note from Jason Rohrer to read after you play the game. It's a weird little game, but sweet, and worth spending a couple of minutes with. But weird. Just remember you can move in all directions. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=328926&view=rss&microfeed=true Jay is Games has completed another casual game design contest, this one requiring entries to somehow incorporate ball physics into game play. My personal favorite out of the (numerous) entries? A charming and clever little game by Phillip Reagan called Osmosis. The goal is to get your puffy sheep to the goal by using gestural input. It's adorable, polished, lots of fun, and exactly what I needed after a weekend of writing fellowship applications and being up to my eyeballs in reading. If herding sheep isn't your thing, there are lots of entries - including one that features zombie nuns. More »
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Deceptively difficult (or deceptively easy, depending on your perspective), Gimme Friction Baby by Wouter Visser also has a deceptively lascivious title - it's really just a fun, addicting little game of angles. If an orb bounces back over the dotted line and shatters into pieces, you lose. The game won the jayisgames.com Casual Game Design Competition #3, and there are several other worthy timewasters to take a gander at if Friction doesn't strike your fancy. More »
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What's in a name? It's definitely wee (who knew it was possible for tanks to be cute?), it's a war (round-based strategy at that), thus Weewar definitely isn't a misnomer. You have to request an invite, but for those of you into this sort of thing on a wee scale, perhaps not a bad idea. More »
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The designer describes it as "a digital poem/game/net artwork hybrid of sorts" and "a strange bit of craziness in the shape of a retro-platformer." I'd call it "Likely to exacerbate a headache and fun, if very odd - and that rolling ball of ... something is oddly endearing." Not exactly the world's most difficult game, I was still interested enough in the weird hand-drawn art and pseudo-religious texts popping up to keep playing for a while. To say that it is diverging a bit from most online flash games is something of an understatement. Maggie Greene More »
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From Sony Computer Entertainment Europe comes an addictive little flash game called Zwok. While I've left my undergrad days behind, I still hold on that age old way of finding unproductive ways to procrastinate, namely weird little internet-based games. More »
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Here's a little something to while away those lonely hours waiting for your Wii to arrive or to take up all that time at your job when your supposed to be working. It's a devious little game, unsuspecting and cutsey, seemingly simple... but beware! This game will own your soul after a few go-rounds. More »
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