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Pirate Stories: Kit & Ellis is a match three game with a story of a pirate tale woven in. Each new level consists of a story told from the point of view of Ellis, a waitress, or Kit, a captain. The object of the game is to complete each match the specified number of times. For instance you will need to get twelve pink gems and five cups. Once you achieve this, the level is complete and you move on to get more of the story line.

As you progress through the levels, you find out that Ellis is a waitress in a local tavern and a pirate comes in and talks a little too much when he is drunk. Ellis finds out that the pirate, Mr. Ohms, has a piece of a map to buried treasure he stole from ships out at sea.

Each level is a match three board. The match three is a bit different than normal match three games. In Pirate Stories: Kit & Ellis, you need to take an item from a conveyor belt at the bottom of the screen and match it with at least two other items of the same kind. The items on the conveyor belt will sit there and pile up if you don’t use them. In the beginning levels the items are spaced far apart. In later levels, the items get closer together.

Pirate Stories: Kit & Ellis contains bonus levels. The levels are a bit different than the game itself. In the bonus levels, you need to get a little character up a path on the board before the water rises. You need to patch three and use the items on the path to move the character forward up the path. The bonus levels are challenging.

There are also pivot points in the story line and these contain different match three games as well. The pivot points in the story line are similar to the bonus level. When Ellis is searching for the map, you play a path board. Only this time instead of water, like the bonus levels, every time Mr. Ohm looks your way you move back a few steps on the path. It really does get annoying. It is not impossible to do, though.

The graphics in the game are really nice. The background is a beautiful picture of sunset with a sail boat on the sea. The boat moves as you progress through the levels. The items you are matching are really nicely done too.

Pirate Stories: Kit & Ellis is a typical match three game. You match three in a bit of a different way, but it is still a match three game. If you like match three games, you should check it out. If you are sick of match three games, you may want to skip this one.

This week saw the release of Carnival Games for the Nintendo Wii. Carnival games consists of, yup you guessed it, carnival games. There are more than twenty five games geared towards the entire family. Some of the games include Test Your Strength, Shooting Gallery, Alley Ball, Milk Bottle Throw and Dunk Tank. A carnival would not be a carnival with out a dunk tank.

The games take advantage of the Wii Remote and use the Havok engine. The games allow you to pick prizes based on the amount of points you win. Players can pick from true carnival prizes such as pirate swords and stuffed animals.

“The Havok physics engine in Carnival Games doesn’t just make things look good – it’s an essential part of game play,” said co-developers Harley Howe and Pat Wilkinson of Cat Daddy Games. “Havok’s rigid body dynamics, including collision detection, allow us to build experiences for the player that are as realistic and fun as possible. Such things as bottles collapsing and falling in the Milk Bottle Throw, and bowling balls spinning and rolling in Bowler Coaster, all leverage rigid body dynamics.”

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I recently read an article discussing whether the digital distribution model will overtake the box shelf model for games. Many casual games use the digital distribution method of getting the games to their customers.

The digital distribution model makes sense for casual games because they tend to be smaller games and don’t take a lot of time to download. The digital distribution model also allows small indie developers to enter the market with less or no manufacturing and production costs. Plus, the indie developers do not need to prove themselves to a publisher, they are able to self publish.

The box model only gives developers a two week period to prove themselves before they lose their shelf space. You either need a blockbuster game or a well known publisher in your corner. It is difficult to get a well known publisher to back your game.

I don’t think bigger more “hard core” games will go digital distribution. The “hard core” games would be huge downloads and take hours. Not to mention not everyone is on a high speed connection. I think, at least in North America, we have a ways to go before digital distribution is used for all types of games.

Thanks Guardian Unlimited

You are a great adventurer so you decide to follow a map to get to great treasure in Moorhuhn: The Jewel of Darkness. You are a cute little duck and the object of the game is to kill a certain number of each enemy. There are multiple ways to kill the enemies and it is up to you which way you would like to dispose of the enemy.

Moorhuhn: The Jewel of Darkness is basically a puzzle game. The levels start out fairly easy. The enemies in the beginning levels are easily positioned under rocks. It is not challenging to drop the rock on the head of the enemy and kill them. As the levels progress, it becomes challenging to kill the allotted enemies.

The graphics in Moorhuhn: The Jewel of Darkness are really good. The main character is a cartoon duck, but the graphics are really well done. The level graphics are also well done. The enemies look great and the other objects in the game are also nicely done.

The game is challenging, but enjoying. The levels get challenging early in the game, but not so challenging that you want to throw your computer out the window.

Our latest poll results say exactly what many of us assumed, gamers play casual games because they enjoy it. This may be eye opening to a few non-casual gamers that may think we play casual games because their cheaper. At a typical MSRP of $19.99 it’s hard to beat a casual games price tag when console games are typically $59.99 and even PC games hold a common $49.99 price.

The results to the question “Why do you play casual games” are as follows:

• 70% say “I enjoy it”
• 9% say “Cheaper games”
• 9% say “Very little free time”
• 9% say “Casual games are lame”
• 3% say “Low system requirements”

I thought “low system requirements” would have been a bit higher, because casual games indeed take less horses behind your CPU and GPU to play. That makes the games great for laptops and very valuable to “work computers” (those you use at work but don’t own or maintain). The beauty of flash applications is you can play them anywhere and on many lower end computers… those you typically find in the work place.

Since most work systems are rotated every two to four years there is a great chance yours is already out of date. Secondly, you probably only have 30 to 60 minutes to invest in a casual game at work between bites of your sandwich, the price is right and the gaming is fun.

For the 9% that said casual games are lame… I’m guessing you found the site by accident, but I enjoy you stopping by anyway!