Nintendo is bringing another old favorite past time into the digital age with the release of Crosswords DS. Crosswords puzzles are more portable than ever with a variety of puzzles and levels of difficulty. If you get stuck you can choose how much information the Hint System gives you. You can get another hint, have it reveal a letter or just reveal the whole word and go on with the puzzle. Everything is entered via the stylus, so there are no worries about smudging or erasing a hole in your paper with this game.
The game also includes the usual puzzles that accompany Crosswords in your local papers. There are over 200 Wordsearch puzzles as well as an Anagrams game which will challenge you to combine letters into words.
Ignition Entertainment’s survivor horror title Obscure: The Aftermath has reached Gold Master status and is scheduled for release on March 25 for for the PC, PS2 and Wii. For some reason, after watching the trailer Jonathan posted last month, I am shocked that this game would even be considered “Wii material”.
The story of Obscure: The Aftermath takes up where the original game left off as we follow the survivors from Leafmore High, to college at Fallcreek University. Strange black flowers have suddenly sprung up all over campus and as the students begin experimenting with the substance they realize there is more to these flowers when the seeds produced by said flowers cause “bad trips” which quickly turn into a horrible reality.
Heavily inspired by teen horror movies with an onslaught of creepy and gruesome imagery, Obscure: The Aftermath also includes puzzles, an all-new 2-player co-op gameplay mode, and horror-themed soundtrack
I have been telling you about The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure since we got the first press release on it back in August 2007. By now, I am sure you have made an educated guess that the whole ghost hunting thing is a hobby of mine and that I have been pretty excited to see how realistic the game depicts the equipment that real ghostbusters use. After playing the demo, I can safely say that it is pretty realistic in that department and that so far it seems like a decently fun suspense-adventure PC game.
Today, Got Game Entertainment announced that the The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure is now sitting on North American retail shelves. Created by adventure gaming legend Jonathan Boakes (“Dark Fall”, “Dark Fall II: Lights Out”) and his Darkling Room team, this suspense-adventure game for the PC combines a dense, rich, spine-tingling story inspired by classic ghost stories with today’s modern ghost-hunting techniques. The intuitive interface allows players to wield the tools of a paranormal investigator, and the game contains actual E.V.P. (Electronic Voice Phenomena) recordings taken of “real ghosts” along with actual unexplained entities captured by Boakes while he was researching the game.
Inspired by the works of Charles Dickens, M.R. James, Arthur Conan Doyle, and E.F. Benson, The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure features a world of part black and white and part color against a backdrop of wind-swept coastlines and crumbling crypts featuring puzzles and interactions with the town locals, earthly and otherwise. Skills at ghost-hunting and detecting paranormal activity directly affect how the game continues.
Like murder mysteries? Like point and click adventure? Like solving crimes while pretending to be a globe trotting super sleuth? Then look no further because The Adventure Company and JoWooD have released the official demo for Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun. In the demo players will have the chance to explore the hotel’s interior and step into Hercule Poirots’ hotel room to search for clues, speak to several characters and solve one puzzle for further insight into the murder of a famous actress.
Find out what it is like to be in the shoes of famed detective, and very cool customer, Hercule Poirot in the 3rd installment of the Agatha Christie Windows series. This demo gives you the opportunity to immerse yourself into a murder investigation on a tropical island during what should have been a relaxing holiday for all. Get to know a cast of characters, each with their own dynamic personality, as you scour the island for clues and solve puzzles.
Want more information on Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun? Then click here and here, and hit the badge below to download the demo.
Marvelous Entertainment and Grasshopper Manufacture (Killer 7, No More Heroes) have confirmed that the Nintendo DS port of the PS2 adventure, Flower, Sun, and Rain, will be making its way to North America after all. Featuring extras and add-ons exclusively for the DS, Japanese gamers should expect the game to hit their shores on March 6th, while the US version will follow “shortly”. We have not heard any word regarding a European release date either, but we will keep you updated as more information comes our way.
Storyline: Sumio Mondo is an assassin who arrives on the resort island of Lospas and takes a room at the F.S.R. hotel after being given the assignment to detect and defuse a time bomb planted on a plane which is soon to leave the island’s only airport. On the way to the airport however, Sumio encounters other hotel guests and island residents requesting his help with various problems, including searching for missing items. While Sumio is distracted by them, the airplane with the bomb on board takes off and explodes, crashing into the island. The next morning, however, Sumio awakens in his hotel room and discovers that something strange has happened - not only has not even headed to the airport yet, the airplane explosion and crash have not happened either. Sumio attempts to head to the airport to prevent the explosion and once again people who need his help appear, distracting him long enough to lead to a repeat of the previous days explosion, and Sumio once again awakening in his hotel room with the previous events having yet to unfold. As the same fateful day repeats itself over and over, Sumio finds his hotel room becomes more and more warped and twisted, reflecting the fact that he is slowly losing his mind from the repetition.
Players will control Sumio Mondo, to seek out other people’s items while using a suitcase-shaped instrument named “Katherine” to solve the mysteries about said items. Sumio can crack any secret code by using “Katherine” with a “Dial” for inputting numbers and to get the information needed, players will get hints from what people say, combined with a tourbook of Lospas Island. The DS version will feature over 50 missions in 18 scenarios, and the touch screen will be imperative when solving many of the puzzles in the game.
For more information on Ground Hog DayFlower, Sun, and Rain, check back with us often and visit two sites related to the game here and here. Hopefully, you will get the pages translated before you decide to try and decipher them yourselves.
Penumbra Black Plague, the latest horror adventure game from Paradox Interactive will be shipping to stores, starting on February 12 in North America. In this, the final chapter in the Penumbra series, gamering will be focused around story, suspense, immersion and puzzles and instead of using violence to progress - the player has to use his/her wits to guide the main character Philip throughout the game.
In related news, Reachin Technologies and Paradox Interactive have announced an agreement to embed HaptX in Penumbra: Black Plague. HaptX and the Novint Falcon is promising to further enhance the chilling atmosphere and player interaction with everything that is visible on the screens.
“Our cooperation with developer Frictional Games started with Penumbra: Overture and we are incredibly pleased that both Paradox Interactive and Frictional Games, opted to continue using HaptX in the final chapter of the Penumbra series. This type of game is a perfect fit for our technology and gives the player the means to physically interact and experience the environment like never before. We have since pushed the boundaries of our technology further and look forward to seeing the impact on Black Plague “, said Mats Lordin, CEO of Reachin Technologies.
“We saw what an impact HaptX had on Penumbra: Overture so the decision to continue using it for Black Plague was easy. Penumbra: Black Plague is such a thrilling psychological horror adventure and adding another level of interaction and touch with HaptX promises an exciting end product, said Fredrik Wester, Executive Vice President of Paradox Interactive.
The standard PC version of Penumbra: Black Plague is scheduled for release in February and the HaptX Edition will be released on April 16th and can be played with the Novint Falcon controller.
For more screens from the game, visit our FileFront page and you can also check out the trailer that William posted last month here. The full description of the game is listed after the break.
Want to meet the dodo, the American mastodon, and a pair of dinosaurs? Sure you do, and you can with the new Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals demo. In the demo you will search for fossils, puzzle out the pieces as you assemble your finds, and then head to the Extinct Research Lab to bring your extinct animals to life.Take the lead to research and cure diseases, and face down danger as you wrangle rampaging dinosaurs. The sample campaign will give you an idea of what to expect in the the biggest Zoo expansion pack ever. Don’t wait for the next Ice Age—download the Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animalsdemo now!
I have been telling you about The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure since we got the first press release on it back in August 2007. By now, I am sure you have made an educated guess that the whole ghost hunting thing is a hobby of mine and that I have been pretty excited to see how realistic the game depicts the equipment that real ghostbusters use. After playing the demo, I can safely say that it is pretty realistic in that department and that so far it seems like a decently fun suspense-adventure PC game.
Marvelous Entertainment and Grasshopper Manufacture (Killer 7, No More Heroes) have confirmed that the Nintendo DS port of the PS2 adventure, Flower, Sun, and Rain, will be making its way to North America after all. Featuring extras and add-ons exclusively for the DS, Japanese gamers should expect the game to hit their shores on March 6th, while the US version will follow “shortly”. We have not heard any word regarding a European release date either, but we will keep you updated as more information comes our way.
