| And thanks to a near-insane amount of work from the folks over in the Treehouse (that’s our website production room, so nicknamed because it’s all glass on two sides and looks right into the woods), this is the biggest batch of games we’ve ever launched at one time. Here’s the list:
AdventureBall, Charm Solitaire, Charm Tale, Fizzball, GameHouse Sudoku!, Gutterball™, Hammer Heads, Legend of El Dorado, Mahjongg Artifacts, Mahjong Fortuna 2, Mysteryville, Pat Sajak’s Trivia Gems™, Rainbow Mystery, Bounce Out!, GameHouse Solitaire Vol.1, GameHouse Solitaire Vol.2, GameHouse Solitaire Vol.3, Glinx!, Granny 3, Letter Linker, Pop & Drop, WHATword?™, Treasures of Montezuma, Virtual Villagers, Wild Wild Words, and Word Slinger.
No matter what sort of casual game you want to play, it’s in there somewhere. Oh! And GameSpring has a new pricing plan as well; you can still subscribe for a single month for $14.99, if you like, but now there are 3-month and yearly plans available as well! Three months are a total of $38.97 (that’s $12.99 a month), and for the true gamer, a full year is only $95.88 ($7.99 a month). Think of it as one of those all-you-can-eat buffets, except that our games haven’t been sitting out for hours and turning kind of wilted or soggy.
Of course, if you need a good excuse to play lots and lots of games, just take a look at this recent article about surgeons. Yes, that does indeed say that surgeons who play videogames make less mistakes. So, really, you’re not just playing games, you’re improving your motor skills and coordination. Personally, I’m going to print this article out and keep it on hand; you never know when some unenlightened non-player is going to remark, “ahhh, those games are a waste of time.” Is that so? Well, you’d better hope your doctor is playing them!
An eye for detail
Time for another game! I started playing Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst this week. The word was that it plays just like the previous Mystery Case Files games and Hidden Expedition: Titanic, but with a creepy storyline and, of course, no random fish drifting across the screen (awwww, I liked the fish). I fondly call these “squint-o-vision” games. It’s pretty funny: you can tell when somebody’s playing one just by walking past their office: if their nose is about three inches from their monitor, chances are they’re trying to find a housefly or a wooden spoon in a jumble of assorted junk.
Anyway, after a couple of hours, I have to admit that Ravenhearst is simultaneously easier and more difficult than the previous MCF games. On the upside, it’s fairly generous with the time limits (chances are, if you’ve played any of these games before, you’ll be able to finish most if not all the levels in the time provided). Also nice is the fact that all the Crime Computer puzzles are of the torn-picture variety, and the sketches illustrate the story wonderfully.
So hey, cakewalk, right? Ohhhhh, no. This iteration takes place in a manor house stuffed full of strange, strange things, and in many ways, the game designers have done an even better job of hiding things in the lines or shadows of other things. To top it all off, most of the mansion rooms are relatively monochromatic or darkened. Go looking for a brown moth against a brick wall, and you’ll see what I mean. Extra time aside, this game is definitely a step up in difficulty from Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects. And for veterans of the series, that’s a good thing!
I do have one question, though: as you play, a ghostly female voice occasionally calls to you, saying things like “find my diary”, “find the pages”, and “save yourself.” Well, which is it, ghostly voice? Would you prefer that I find the clues, or turn around and flee the haunted manor? I’m generally a fairly obliging sort, but I can’t do both things at once. So unless you have a strong preference, I’m just going to stay here and play your game. Okay?
Back to badges!
A few weeks back, I was talking about badges, and asked whether anyone had come close to snagging every single one of our special achievement badges so far. Can I just say here that I used to think of myself as a diehard gamer? With around 100 special achievement badges under my belt, I figured I was doing pretty darn well.
That’s before I heard from UnbiasedTuna, Achille, Bizbie, Langenjedi2, and Arkansasgirl104. Wow. At the time I asked about badge totals, we had released 143 special achievement badges in all. So 100 isn’t too shabby. But check out these numbers:
UnbiasedTuna – 109
Achille – 113
Bizbie – 116
Langenjedi2 - 132
Arkansasgirl104 – 137
Again, WOW! My new theory is that anyone who has around the same number of badges as I do is dedicated and skilled. But these folks are badge WIZARDS. Big congratulations to all of you! You guys trounced me!
Tech time
Today’s tech question comes from one of our new badge wizards. Achille noticed that sometimes, the high score and lifetime total points score in your badge album might mysteriously vanish, and wondered why. Here’s an example:
Combo Chaos
Actual current high score: 0
Actual lifetime total points: 0
Lifetime total points badges: level 1 (at least 1.5 million points)
Mastery Level: 5 (at least 1.5 million points)
+ 2 specials badges
An excellent question! This can happen if you haven’t played a particular game in a long time. So, for example, if you played Combo Chaos late last year, but since then you’ve been playing other games, when you go back to Combo Chaos, the score data may have reset to 0.
No worries, though. Your badge information will always be stored as long as you’re an active member of MSN Games, so even if you don’t play Combo Chaos for a year, when you return, it will still know that you have Mastery Level 5, Lifetime 1, and those two special badges.
See you next week! | |
