TransGaming Inc. has announced the availability of Spore for the Mac. Spore will be released for the Mac on Sept 7 – 8 and is available through GameTree Online. Spore is the latest creation from the famed Will Wright and is expected to be a really great game. Transgaming has teamed with EA to bring Spore to the Mac on distribution day instead of porting the title after release.

Players can currently create creatures for Spore using the creature creator. Once the players have a creature they like, they will be able take that creature into the Spore game.

This is exciting news. It is great to see games coming out on the Mac at the same time they are available on other platforms. I am also excited to play Spore and now I can play it on release day.

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The following games are available from Game Du Jour this week. The games are all offered a significant price cut, which is represented by the percentage after the game name.

Monday July 28 Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet 40%

Investigate this unique blend of seek and find and puzzle games combined with an all new tale from America’s #1 storyteller, James Patterson! In this thrilling page-turner, take on the roles of a homicide detective, a medical examiner and an ace crime reporter to solve a series of ghastly murders in San Francisco. Featuring nine investigations, brain-bending puzzles and a spine tingling, all-new storyline, Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet will have you racing to the finish to discover the killer!

Tuesday July 29 Azgard Defence 60%

Azgard Defence is an unique strategy game, where you must build a line of defense to protect your home – Azgard – from hordes of dangerous creatures. Choose wisely among fifteen tower types, upgrade them, combine them, find the most effective placement combination and earn as much as you can. Azgard Defence is a superior of all Tower Defense games, combining addictive gameplay with unique features. As always, we bring you great graphics and polished gameplay.

Wednesday July 30 B-Intruders 2: Circle of Extinction 50%

B-Intruders 2: Circle of Extinction is a Space Invaders clone with a lot of new features. You not only have to destroy a large army of aliens but you also have to save people and protect buildings with totally crazy weapons. B-Intruders 2: Circle of Extinction is a real treat for all action lovers!

Thursday July 31 Gemstars 50%

Gemstars is a simple “Match 3″ game, involving Stargems which must be shattered so they fall and form a beautiful, brand new, sparkling Gemstar. Spin the puzzle and drop Stargems in to break groups up, and watch them collapse into the Gemstar. Any Stargems they were supporting will fall into their place. If they drop and form a group of 3 or more, they break apart as well – boosting your bonus multiplier!

Friday August 1 Brain Freeze – The Meltdown 50%

Brain Freeze is an extraordinarily fun game that exercises your logic and memory. So, if you have a momentary lapse of brain function and lose the game, you can say, “Oh… I just had a Brain Freeze!” The object of the game is to match the pictures hidden behind the game pieces on the game board. You can only display two pictures at a time. If they do not match, as shown in the sample, the pictures will be hidden again.

Saturday August 2 Gubble HD 50%

Gubble HD is a family-oriented computer action game. Utilizing 3D technology, the game is designed to be fun for people of all ages. You are Gubble D. Gleep, the youngest of an alien family. Your mission in Gubble HD is to take apart a bunch of structures by finding tools and using them to remove all of the screws, nails, bolts, and other hardware. The structures are swarming with various creatures and obstacles for you to overcome while you work.

Sunday August 3 Forest Mob 60%

Forest Mob is a fun and addictive shooter. Test your skills in 3 cartoony levels and battle against the forest mobsters! The game has 3 difficulty levels suitable for all players. Forest Mob also features some RPG elements that provide greater replay value. For the more conservative players there is also a classical game mode

If you see a game you like, head over to Game du Jour on the right day and pick up the game dirt cheap.

AddictingGames.com is a portal for flash games and was created in 2002. They were one of the first places to host online flash games and Atom Entertainment thought they were worth purchasing, so they gobbled them up. Along game Nickolodeon and purchased Atom Entertainment, which brings us back to Nickolodeon owning AddictingGames.com.

AddictingGames.com gets about 10 million visits a month and they are looking for more engaging games. Nickolodeon announced a competition, if you will. The developers that are featured in the top 25 games for that quarter will get paid for their popularity. The math is a bit confusing to read, but we will give it a try. The developer is paid a pro-rated rate on the number of visitors his/her game attracted. If the top 25 games were able to pull in 25 million plays combined and a developer of one of the top 25 games, pulled in 5 million of those plays, then the developer would get 5% of the total bonus pool. Nickolodeon has not said what a “typical” bonus would be. The rewards program will start operating some time in Q3.

The rewards program was not the only announcement from Nickolodeon regarding their online games. They also announced a gaming awards show. MTV Network will be hosting the Most AddictingGames Award Show, the name is a working title, and the show is said to be a multiplatform event, not just for TV.

Interesting take Nickolodeon has on the online games. The awards program is a great incentive for flash developers to make “addicting” games. The more plays their games achieve the more they are paid. The situation is a win win  for everyone involved. The flash programmers get paid and AddictingGames.com gets higher quality games on their portal.

Thanks paidContent

PopCap Games announced the upcoming release of Peggle for the Nintendo DS. PopCap has partnered with  Q Entertainment to port Peggle to the DS. Q Entertainment has already started the process of adapting Peggle to the DS and will contain new features only found in the DS vesion.

“I have a great deal of respect for Q Entertainment as one of the industry’s preeminent game developers, with a proven reputation for creativity and innovation,” stated Greg Canessa, PopCap’s vice president of video game platforms. “Q is a great choice to partner with us – they share many of PopCap’s design and creative philosophies and are equally big believers in quality and attention to detail. These factors, combined with Q’s impressive track record of success on DS and PSP, make this a natural fit. I’m confident that Q will create an experience with Peggle for DS that will both satisfy existing fans of the game and attract a new audience of on-the-go gamers who appreciate the DS for its one-of-a-kind display format and other unique capabilities.”

Peggle is a hard game to describe. The goal of the game is to clear the orange pegs from the board, which sounds extremely easy, but it is not. There is a little bit of luck involved in clearing the pegs. The game is extremely addicting and the graphics are amazing.

Peggle has been on just about every casual game platform, so it is really no surprise that it is coming to the DS. The Nintendo DS seems like a good fit for Peggle. The touch screen on the DS will make for a great control mechanism for shooting the ball.

Peggle is set to hit retail shelves in the Winter.

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Glu Mobile has entered a deal with HipSoft to bring Build-a-Lot to mobile phones. The agreement is a multi-year deal that allows Glu Mobile exclusive rights to port Build-a-Lot to the mobile phone and publish the game throughout North America and Latin America.

Build-a-Lot challenges players to build or repair houses. The faster you complete the houses the more money you make in rent and the closer you get to completing the level’s goal. The houses occasionally have issues and need to be repaired before they will continue to earn rent.

“‘Build-a-lot’ was one of 2007′s most critically and commercially successful online casual games. We are excited to build upon the online title’s success with the mobile game,” said Jill Braff, senior vice president of global publishing, Glu. “Glu brings a world-class development organization, strong marketing team and deep carrier relationships to the partnership, and we look forward to working with HipSoft’s creative team to replicate the “Build-a-lot” online hit on mobile.”

Build-a-Lot is really fun to play. This type of game makes a great port for the mobile phone. The screen size is not too important for a game like this because you are always working on one lot or house and it usually zooms in when the building starts.

To get a better idea of the game play mechanics, check out my review of Build-a-Lot for the PC.

Build-a-lot will be available for mobile phones in early 2009.

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