Encore and PlayFirst have announced an exclusive three year agreement. Encore will publish PlayFrist games in North American retail stores. PlayFirst is best known for their Diner Dash series and Diner Dash: Hometown Hero will be the first title to launch in April 2008. Diner Dash: Hometown Hero will be the first multi-player Diner Dash game sold in retail stores.

Of coarse, the agreement covers more games than just the Diner Dash series. Customers will find Chocolatier, Wedding Dash and new titles yet to be published on PlayFirst.com on retail shelves.

“PlayFirst is committed to delivering on the original promise of casual games: bringing the fun of gaming entertainment to everyone,” said John Welch, CEO and President of PlayFirst. “With Encore as our partner, we will expand the retail presence of our portfolio, reaching more of our game playing audience — including those who may not have access to the Internet or who prefer to purchase games at their favorite retail store.”

Thanks CNN Money

Eidos Interactive announces Monster Lab a new Role Playing Game (RPG) for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii. The goal of the game is to defeat the evil Baron Mharti. Players are only able to beat the evil Baron by becoming a mad scientist and creating a monster army by assembling monsters out of monster parts. Players create monsters from many different monster parts.

Once the monster is created, players control their monster and scour the environment for more ingredients to make more monster parts. Along the way, players will discover other monsters and will need to defeat the monsters in a battle. Monster Lab contains many different quests to embark on, as well as mini-games.

“Monster Lab will offer a wealth of fresh ideas to both Wii and DS players,” said Fabien Rossini, Global Brand Controller, Eidos. “These include gesture based combat, a compelling on-line fighting and trading system and total customization of the player’s monster.”

Monster Lab is set to be released in 2008.

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Astraware has announced an update to Astraware Solitaire that changes the way the game deals with graphics and allows for new card backs and backgrounds. The update allows for one version of Astraware Solitaire with many different backs instead of having to have a different version of Astraware Solitaire on your device for each card backs you own.

The graphic update for Solitaire is a free update.  The new update is a free download and the themed backs that were originally released, such as Halloween and Christmas are now in card back packs and allows for easy transition. Astraware is offering a new themed pack, just in time for the upcoming Romantic holiday, Vanlentines day. Players can now get a Valentines theme pack for their Solitaire game.

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Astraware has announced a free upgrade to Astraware Casino. Astraware Casino 1.10 adds some additional features, such as repeat last bet in Craps, Roulette, and 3 Card Poker, as well as two new games. The two knew games are Video Derby and 3 Card Poker. Video Derby is a miniature horse racing game similar to those seen in casinos and arcades. 3 Card Poker is a variation of poker based on the British game, Brag.

Astraware has added new trophies for players to try to obtain and add to their Souvenir Suitcase for bragging rights. Players can impress their friends with the amount of trophies they were able to obtain. Players can also compete against each other to see who can unlock the most amount of trophies.

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If you are a player who enjoys slot games, you should check out The Slots Lounge from AOL Games. The Slots Lounge is a free to play slot machine game. The Slots Lounge is free to play because there are advertisements that pop up after some time of playing. The advertisements stay on the screen for 30 seconds and aren’t that big of a deal.

There are four different slot games available to play: Stars and Bars, Blazing 7′s, Black & White Double Jackpot and Double Jackpot Diamond Line. Blazing 7′s, Black & White Double Jackpot and Double Jackpot Diamond Line have a limit of 2 coin bets and Stars and Bars has a limit of 5 coin bets.

The main difference between all of the slot games are the play lines. The play lines are the lines that the slots have to match up on when they stop spinning. There are more than one set of play lines in some of the games. Of coarse, the game comes down to luck and there really isn’t much skill involved in hitting the bet and spin buttons. Players have the option to bet the max amount and that will automatically place the bet and spin the wheels.

The Slots Lounge is a good place to experience the Casino Slots without spending any of your hard earned money. The Slots Lounge has a social aspect and allows players to chat with other players as they are playing the slots, which adds to the Casino atmosphere.

If you are into slot games, check out The Slots Lounge.