| Of course, it has been a year of really good games so far. In addition to all the casual games I’ve been raving about here, there’s also the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II, which has consumed many of my evenings for the past couple of weeks. And let’s not forget the retro goodies recently posted on Xbox Live Arcade: Centipede, Millipede, Time Pilot… it’s a wonder I’ve had time to sleep!
As if that’s not enough, I also treated myself to a GameSpring membership. I had used up my trial period on several GameSpring-only games, and simply couldn’t resist spending more time with them, so now I’m all set. In particular, I look forward to playing all the way through Lifetime RSVP, It’s sort of a two-level matching game: not only do you need to create an unbroken tapestry of tile colors, but you also have to deal with the quirky personalities of the characters standing on the tiles. I’m about halfway through Adventure mode, and I’m completely hooked. Good stuff!
GameSpring hits 100
So while we’re on the subject of GameSpring, here’s a big “CONGRATULATIONS!” to the GameSpring team for adding the 100th game to our GS library last week! Of course, we plan to continue releasing more and more games, but this was our first big goal for the service, and it’s worth cheering about. Membership in GameSpring now gets you full access to one hundred shiny, exciting download games, including some of our best and most popular titles.
So what was the landmark 100th game? Appropriately, it’s one of the most well-known board games in the world: Monopoly! But hey, this is the digital age, and even the most traditional games are changing with the times, hence the modern flavor of Monopoly: Here and Now Edition. Take the classic gameplay, adjust for inflation (do not pass Go, do not collect two million dollars), substitute service providers for utilities and today’s hot spots for yesterday’s real estate, choose whether you want to play the cell phone, the espresso cup, or the French fries, and you’ll have a good idea of how this version works.
Just a side note: as a native Seattleite, I was pleased to see Pioneer Square among the properties featured in the new Monopoly edition. If you’re ever visiting Seattle and feel the need for quirky atmosphere, gorgeous old brick architecture, and maybe a darn fine sandwich, I highly recommend taking a stroll through Pioneer Square. (Yes, somebody backed a truck into the Pergola a few years ago, but it’s been completely rebuilt and everything’s lovely again.)
Another MSN Games exclusive
Oh! Actually, we have two things to celebrate in this week’s Coffee Break. The other one is our exclusive launch of Merriam-Webster’s Spell-Jam, the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a real spelling bee on the PC. Even when I was a kid, I loved word games and signed up for spelling bees whenever possible; I remember one of my proudest moments was getting “amoeba” right. (I was in third grade. That was awesome.)
Anyway, if you’d like to recapture that sort of “look at me and my splendiferous spelling skills” feeling, this is the way to go. Just make sure to turn your speakers up, so you can catch the subtle distinctions between, say, “diffuse” and “defuse”. Oh, and you can always ask your virtual host to use the word in a sentence. Give it a try! | |
| Tech talk
No big problems this week, but I did want to expand a bit on the tech issue from last time. If your game isn’t loading, there are several possible causes, depending on which game you’re trying to play. For certain titles, the problem is most likely related to ActiveX, for others it might be an issue with Java or Flash. The best way to be sure is to just check out this support article, look for your game on the list, and follow the appropriate instructions. You’ll be good to go.
See you next time! | |
