Kongregate Labs

Are you an aspiring Flash game developer? Take a look at Kongregate.com’s Kongregate Labs and check out their “Shootorial” for a simple shooting game. Though far from the Flash games that we see on the site in terms of gameplay and complexity, the tutorial will surely give a starting push to anyone interested in making games using Adobe Flash.

Also, don’t forget to check out the different games from the website and get some inspiration and ideas from them. Kongregate.com hosts hundreds, if not thousands of Flash games made by independent companies and Flash veterans like Armor Games. Enjoy!

Let’s farm with Orchard

Last January 19, 2009, Boomzap announced that their PC casual game Orchard has just been released on Big Fish Games. Orchard is Boomzap’s first farming sim game, and their publisher Majesco Entertainment’s first PC casual title. You can download a free trial of Orchard from Big Fish Games; the full version costs $19.99

I was able to play the full copy of the game and was, in general, happy with it.

Basically, you play as an office girl who received a letter from your grand uncle stating that you just inherited an orchard and that he would like to train you on the daily grind of being a farm girl.

Your grand uncle

So your granduncle would instruct you on how to build a farm and sell different products. Note that your granduncle is a Caucasian. I’ll show you the importance of that information later.

Aunt Ella

You will also get help from your Aunt Ella, who seems to be too willing to help, but basing on her looks and fake smile, you know that there is an ill-will. Don’t you find it odd that you’re the heir for the orchard of your granduncle, and not his son or daughter?

Uncle Charles

There is also Uncle Charles, the family lawyer, who seems to be too concerned on the daily earnings of ‘your’ orchard. You may also notice how he looks at you. He’s either a dirty old man or he has some devious plans on how to take the orchard from you. He is also in charge of helping you in advertising.

Uncle Jesse

Uncle Jesse, an African-American, is the one that provides supplies for a price. As you buy supplies from him, you will notice his overpriced products. $1 for a piece of wood? $10 for a bag of sugar? $50 for a bag of flour?

Uncle Oscar

In charge of upgrading your equipment is Uncle Oscar, who is of Asian descent. He would be the one to improve the speed of production in your orchard.

Notice that your granduncle has 2 Caucasian offspring, 1 African-American, and 1 Asian. Boy, your Granduncle sure was a playboy.

Start plowing!

At first you’re alone in your farm and you would have to do everything from cultivating the land, planting seeds, harvesting, chopping of wood, and building houses. But don’t worry; you’ll have help soon enough.

Blonde builders

Meet the three helpers that you can hire. The African-American girl has 4 sisters who can also help you. They specialize in farming. The blond chick specializes in buildings and also has 4 sisters who look like her. And the dude is a woodcutter, who, as you guess, has 4 brothers. I’m not sure why the designers picked the African-American girl to be the best in farming. And the blond is a Civil Engineer!

Woodcutters

So Orchard, the supposed farm simulation game, turns out to be something more. I suppose we can expect Orchard 2 would start with the murder of the previous character and you must find out who is the culprit? Is it the gold-digging Aunt Ella, who got tired of minding the store? Is it the Lawyer/Accountant/Advertiser Uncle Charles who got tired of reporting to you Granduncle on how business is slow with you at the reins? Or is it Uncle Oscar, finally succeeding in sabotaging your equipment with his supposed ‘upgrades’? Well, I suggest you play the game and tell us who you think would most likely murder our heroine.

New map pack announced for Call of Duty: World at War

Earlier today, I got me a message in my e-mail from the Call of Duty Headquarters crew and voila, surprise news came my way. What’s that you may ask? Well, remember the patch they released a few days ago? Another bonus is coming our way. Behold, a new DLC (Downloadable Content) will be available for the PS3, Xbox360 and PC this March. This will be a map pack which will contain 3 new multiplayer maps.

Call of Duty: World at War

Nightfire – The players takes it to the streets of a war-ravaged Berlin with only the flames of the burning city to expose the enemy.

Station –The map offers a bombed out underground train station and is littered with hidden passageways and destroyed subway cars.

Knee Deep – This map takes place on the island of Peleliu in a once tranquil village turned chaotic Japanese command center.

A new campaign coop map will be available as well. Called Verrückt (Zombie Asylum), which is basically a terrifying Zombie asylum map that features more weapons, perks via the addition of Perks-a-Cola machines, electroshock defenses and the endless zombie horde. Whoa! Talk about a major map update

No exact date was given as to when the map will be available but rest assured that we will be treated to new locations in March of 2009.

Dead Rising 2 Confirmed!

Rejoice zombie lovers out there, Dead Rising 2 has been confirmed. There was a viral video that leaked days ago and after all the rumors and speculations, Capcom already confirmed that the next installment of Dead Rising is in the works and will soon be available on the PS3, Xbox360 and (wait for it…) on the PC.

Eat Rubber!

The story this time will be set several years after the first game and the new one will take place not in a mall, but in a place called Fortune City (a hint for an ala-Las Vegas setting) No other details have been presented nor when will the game be released but we will keep you posted as soon as new information is available. Meanwhile, check out the said viral video by clicking here.

Call of Duty: World at War gets patch 1.2 on the PC

Call of Duty: World at War PC players out there, the wait is finally over. A new update patch was just released for the game. It includes multiple fixes and a new map (a day time version of Makin, which is already available in the game)

Apparently, they are also making another update patch (which is 1.3) but the release date for it has not been announced yet.

Be warned though that this patch comes in at a hefty 498mb file size.

Meanwhile, here are the changes/fixes they made in 1.2

Call of Duty: World at War Patch 1.2 fixes

• Fixed exploits that allowed for power ranking servers.
• Fixed router related server authentication errors.
• Fixed HTTP Redirect functionality for downloading mods
• Fixed sound device crashes stemming from Emulated Sound Devices
• Fixed exploit which allowed players to color their name tag.
• Hits now register properly while targeted player is leaning.
• Enabled /cg_drawfps in multiplayer games.
• Fixed command-line +connect functionality
• /cg_fov no longer resets to the default value in between matches.
• Dedicated servers automatically reconnect to the Master Server in case the Master Server resets.
• “Accept Game Invite” is bound to its default key, F10.
• Implemented fix for attempting to join password protected servers from the server browser.
• Fine tuned Bolt-Action Rifles for balance.
• Screenshots no longer overwrite each other.
• Fixed various multiplayer map related issues and exploits.

Download the update patch here.

Battlefield: 1943 and Bad Company2 In The Works

Earlier today, EA Dice released information about the 2 new upcoming games in line with their Battlefield franchise. Both Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was recently announced. Battlefield, as for those of you out there who doesn’t have a clue on what this game is all about, is a first-person multiplayer shooter that can also be played online and it does have vehicles like tanks, planes and choppers, while Bad Company takes on the modern war with modern weapons.

Both Battlefield 1943 and Bad Company 2 will be coming to the PC and as downloadable content available to XBLA and PSN. They are both built and running on the same Frostbite engine. No other details were made available except for the announcement. Meanwhile, you can watch the Standard Definition trailer here, or if you want it in High Definition, watch it here. Till then, marvel at the screenshots the game has to offer.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield 1943 (Sky's the limit)

Battlefield: 1943 (Forest)