Gamertell

Yes kiddies, there is yet another update available for your shiny black box. Hmm, speaking of black boxes and firmware updates, I wonder if Sony will ever release an update that allows your PlayStation 3 to survive fiery plane crashes. Anyway, firmware 2.53 is finally out, considering there were rumblings that it was due back on November 26, 2008 instead of December 1, 2008.

But what does the update do you ask? A good question with an underwhelming answer, it allows the playing of Flash files in the internet browser to be rendered at full-screen and with more stability. That’s it. Or, at least, that’s all that’s been discovered.

Oh Sony, with all the things you could have put in this update (like software based PS2 backwards compatibility), you gave us stable Flash files…

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Capcom must have realized that some gamers were on the fence about its upcoming DS, PC and Wii game Neopets Puzzle Adventure, because it has just released a Flash demo of the game online. So if you were curious about how a Neopets-themed puzzle RPG based on Reversi and Othello were work, get ready for a definite answer. It may even make you want to buy one of the versions of the game when it comes out on November 25, 2008.

The Neopet Puzzle Adventure takes place on a virtual DS and is surprisingly intricate. You create a character for yourself from one of twelve different species, customizing it further by picking one of six colors and its gender. It then seems like it takes you through the first puzzle of the game. After that, its basically playing Reversi/Othello, only with Neopets accents and a purpose.

Click through to give the Neopets Puzzle Adventure demo a try…

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If you’re a LocoRoco fan, you don’t have to head to the PlayStation Store to sample a demo of LocoRoco 2‘s gameplay. Instead, you can visit Spil Games’ Games.co.uk site to play a Flash LocoRoco 2 minigame. It isn’t up for very long though. When LocoRoco 2 for the PSP comes out on November 21, 2008 in Europe, the Flash minigame will be removed from Spil Games’ site.

Its fairly simple to play. You use the left and right arrow keys on your computer to control the actions, like the shoulder buttons you use for the original LocoRoco and LocoRoco 2 games. There are six different levels to play, and the goal in each level is to make flowers bloom by rolling over a wilted flower with the proper color LocoRoco…

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Code Collective has just released the first beta of the massive multiplayer online strategic card game, The Far Wilds. Both a 3D, downloadable PC version, and a PC and Mac flash version of The Far Wilds can now be accessed from the official website. Code Collective will also be hosting a The Far Wilds Grand Clash competition in late November, 2008, where players can take part in tournaments (using either the PC or Flash versions) to possibly win a $1000 cash prize or in-game gold…

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WEBMMO’s free-to-play, browser based, online game Lords of Evil has just entered the open beta phase. This Flash based game allows players to interact with others and build up a massive empire. The only downside is that closed beta players’ empires’ data and statistics have been reset, so veterans are on the same level as newcomers. Veteran players do get to keep items earned during the closed beta, so I suppose it isn’t a total wash for them.

I was a bit disappointed with Lords of Evil. I was hoping for more of a standard, mmorpg. Instead, its a city/castle management simulation. You build an empire, try to accomplish tasks, become stronger than others and then take over. I was also disappointed in the character selection. I assumed once you picked a class (human/orc/demon), you’d be able to further customize your character. Instead, you retain the same static image…

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I know it’s been awhile since I played Bumper Stars by Large Animal Games on Facebook (especially after getting my butt handed to me by my fellow game journo, Jenni Lada) but I recently went back to give the game a try. It’s a totally refreshed game from when we previously played.

I contacted Wade Tinney, co-founder of Large Animal Games, to find out more about the changes.

“Hi Lucy, Thanks for reaching out! Here is a rundown of the changes to the game: On the game play side, we completely re-programmed the game and put in a more robust physics engine,“ Tinney wrote. “There were some rare situations in the original version where a Bumper Star could get caught forever between a wall and some bumpers. That should never happen now. You can now…“

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Reflexive Entertainment has released a downloadable version of its music flash game, Music Catch, for Mac and PC users. Originally, Reflexive released the online game in June 2008. After achieving quite a bit of success and fame, Reflexive decided to tweak the title, which resulted in the downloadable version released yesterday (August 26, 2008).

Music Catch can really be a very relaxing game. The point is to collect shapes, which are released in time with the music. Certain colors have different properties, like yellow ones are worth more points and boost your combo, red shapes make you lose points and decrease your combo and purple shapes cause your pointer to become a mini blackhole that suck in any shapes released. There are no lives to worry about or goals to achieve, you just play for fun.

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A new Eyezmaze game released and snuck past me! I can’t believe I didn’t catch it until now. The latest flash game from Eyezmaze is called Tontoko Family, uses the “A,“ “S,“ “D” and “F” keys and stars the characters from MEET IN Ver.0. It also is more difficult than it appears.

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It was an ordinary day. I was checking a site to add as a link to another story on Gamertell, when an unusual icon at the Square Enix Members site caught my eye. “Game Zone is now open?“ I wondered, though not aloud as I was still at work and didn’t want to attract interest. I clicked through to find four mini-games, all promoting Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon.

There are four flash games available, and all are pretty similar to the mini-games found in Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, which was released on the DS a while back. There’s Chocobo’s Snowboard Glide,  Chocobo Flight, Chocobo’s Balancing Act and Chocobo’s Classmate. All games use the mouse, and have happy perky Chocobo themes playing in the background.

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When wealthy Texas businessman, Richard H. Collins, decided to campaign against Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, he began creating anti-Hillary websites. With Thanksgiving coming up, he also included an interactive Whack-a-Turkey Flash game featuring Clinton as a pilgrim bopping presidential candidates on the head, a la Whack-a-Mole.

“While there is a place for negative advertising, we’ve heard so much of it that we’re almost immune to name-calling. But we’re always eager to hear a new joke. Humor can be an effective political tool,” Collins said.

Collins is so concerned about Clinton’s presidential bid that he has created StopHerNow, an anti-Hillary website that features news, humor and public views about Clinton. The free Flash-based game allows the player to controls Clinton, dressed in a pilgrim outfit, who bops a variety of pop-up presidential candidates with a virtual mallet to scores points. Former president Bill Clinton will earn the players double points when whacked. In fact, when Bill is whacked the animated Hillary shouts “Hit Bill Again!”

Collins, a community newspaper publisher and online education entrepreneur from Dallas, has raised millions of dollars over the past three decades for Republicans such as conservative icon Jesse Helms to establishment favorite Kay Bailey Hutchison. He claims that when Clinton complains about a conspiracy against her that she’s talking about him, stating, “The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is alive and well and flourishing in Red State America and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

Collins said he hopes his humor will be strong enough of a potent weapon against Clinton to knock her out of the running since most of the younger viewers favor getting their political news from comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, that the game and his humor will be more effective than negative information or name-calling.

“No profanity,” he said. “Chelsea is off-limits. No gay-bashing. And Bill’s womanizing is OK, but we don’t name names unless they’re public knowledge. Hillary has used the woman-as-victim routine throughout her career. She claims she’s a woman. We say she’s the front-runner, no different than anyone else.”

While Collins acknowledges that some Republicans remain skeptical of his approach through comedy and games, the Democrats don’t mind because they feel this approach will only create more sympathy than antipathy for Clinton. Collins and his comrades feel humor is the best cure for the public who is tired of watching negative ads.

“It’s easy to be mean,” Bell said. “It’s hard to be funny. It’s even harder to be funny and clever.”

Clever, as well as fun, is what this game is about.

Read [The Houston Chronicle] Site [Stop Her Now] Play [Whack-A-Turkey game]

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