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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 September 1 Zoggi 50%

A realistic simulation of a slot machine found in German casinos. This machine has a lot of features and many kinds of winnings. If you’re a real gambler you MUST play Zoggi.

Tuesday September 2 Rain Talisman 55%

Rain Talisman features unique gameplay, logical thinking and unstoppable color matching fun combined in one game! Spin wheels to make color matches and be rewarded for complicated ones with helpful bonuses. Plan your strategy ahead in Strategy and Puzzle modes or be quick in Action Mode. Enjoy fantasy world, beautiful locations and relaxing music. Master the strategy, look for interesting solutions and use 5 types of bonuses.

Wednesday September 3 Space Docker Sokoban 50%

Space Docker Sokoban is the sequel of Docker Sokoban. It’s a remake of the classic logic game Sokoban. Sokoban (in Japanese) means a “warehouse man”. This time you’ll be playing a clever docker who is working hard at such places as the Space Station, Underwater or Desert. Space Docker Sokoban features high color animated graphics with pseudo 3D projection, quality sound, pleasant background music, over 50 levels within 3 stages and walk-through solutions for all levels.

Thursday September 4 Bloom Busters 50%

Bloom Busters tells the story of Jimmy and Jessie, two gardeners who live in the magical village of Bloomland. Your job is to help Jimmy and Jessie rescue Bloomland’s farms and forests from the invasion of funny and squishy creatures roaming the land. This game has you feeding pigs, chickens, sheep, planting and watering crops, and more. You have to stop the invading creatures using tricks and utilizing gardening tools, such as a fly swatter and water hose, to protect the unique flowers needed to save Bloomland. Bloom Busters includes 2 a player option!

Friday September 5 American Presidents Profiles 60%

American Presidents Profiles: Learn about the United States Presidents while playing this fun and educational computer game. Take a guided, educational tour with Uncle Sammy through American presidential history and learn about our leaders! American Presidents Profiles is a fun and exciting game that teaches you to recognize the photographs of all the United States Presidents and learn interesting facts about the American Presidency.

Saturday September 6 VideoPoker 50%

Play the famous VideoPoker card game like in Las Vegas casinos. The machine has a 96% quota! You can play 1-4 lines with variable bets. The machine uses a 52 card deck that is shuffled after each game. With VideoPoker you will experience real casino fun at home. VideoPoker is played with the general poker rules.

Sunday September 7 Jojo’s Fashion Show 2 40%

Last season Jojo Cruz came out of retirement to take the fashion world by storm. With the help of her daughter Rosalind, Jojo used her impeccable eye for matching outfits to brighten runways around the world. Unfortunately, the new editor at FWD has strong opinions about elegance and it doesn’t match the Cruz vision. Can Jojo and Rosalind work together in the face of new challenges? Return to the runway for a new season of high style with Jojo’s Fashion Show 2!

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

Jump Gear is a racing game written in flash. Players are not racing each other, but the clock. Players have a set amount of time to get from point A to point B and if you do not make it in time the game is over.

Players drive a cute little car “thing”. The car has big wheels and is shaped like a bullet. The arrow keys are used to move the car. The up arrow key is the gas and causes the car to move forward and the left and right arrow keys cause the car to flip when it goes over a jump. The right and left arrows keys also put the car back up right if you flip it over.

The space bar is used for jumping. Jumping comes in handy to make it over all of the obstacles that are trying to stop you from getting ot the end of the track in time. The obstacles range from hills with water in them that slow you down to being trapped in a bubble and not being able to drive.

Jump Gear is a fun game to pass the time. If you are looking for a fun flash game, check out Jump Gear.

Casual Gamer Chick had a chance to sit down with Daniel Bernstein, the CEO of Sandlot Games. The interview went well and even contains a small scoop that hasn’t been revealed yet. Below is the interview.

How big is Sandlot games?

About 50 people in the states and in Russia. Three teams, dedicated developers and contract teams.

How many different franchises do your teams work on? It seemed like you had a lot of projects going on.

We always do. We have the Westward franchise, the TradeWinds franchise, the Cake Mania franchise, the SuperGranny franchise and Glyph. Five major franchises and every once in a while we also do a new project like Eye for Design. We have dedicated teams on all of our franchise games.

Are the people that work on Cake Mania very familiar with every new release of the game?

Yes, Yes we have people that have worked on Cake Mania since the very FIRST Cake Mania.

How long has Sandlot games been in existence?

We have been in business since 2002. Since the beginning of the casual games revolution so to speak. We have been around for a while and we have seen a lot of companies come and go and we have focused on games that we like to play and I believe our audience likes to play as well.

Speaking of which, in 2006 you guys had the best casual games award from Yahoo for Cake Mania did that bring on a new wave of Cake Mania fans or were they already dedicated by then? Did that bring you a lot of different exposure or did you already have that momentum?

The momentum was there, I think, just on the success of Cake Mania alone. You’ve got a game that is pretty much a phenomenon everywhere that it launched. As a DS title, we sold about 300,000 units of the first version of Cake Mania one DS. Cake Mania 2 DS is out, Cake Mania Skills is out. We have a Wii version planned by the end of the year. We’ve got two mobile games for Cake Mania, Cake Mania 1 and Cake Mania 2. Cake Mania PSP and PS2 just launched. It’s definitely a phenomenon and we are excited by the success of Cake Mania. By the time that article came out, it was pretty clear what direction Cake Mania was headed.

Would you call Cake Mania your flagship game? Was that THE game that got you guys going or was it a combination of everything?

It’s a combination. There are people here that love Cake Mania and there are people here that aren’t really crazy about it at Sandlot. We have a wide diversity of developers that like the games they develop, that is what makes a successful developer. Making sure whatever your guys are working on they like to build it themselves. In the case of the Westward team they are really crazy about Westward Read the rest of this entry »

As everyone knows, Sony is a Japanese company so it makes sense they would try a casual game for the Japanese gamers first. Sony understands what Japanese gamers like or at least they hope they do. Sony is developing a video game that does not involve action, shooting or anything of that nature. The entire object of the game is to take pictures of animals. The game is called Afrika.

Sony is hoping the graphics will draw the players in. The graphics are photo realistic and it took developers four years to develop the game. Afrika takes place in a fictitious national park that contains photo-realistic zebras, elephants, lions and other exotic animals.

“This is a different approach to interactive entertainment, and some people may not see it as a game,” said Kazuo Hirai, chief executive of Sony’s videogame unit.

Sony is testing the market for nature-exploration games. One of the downfalls, in my opinion, is the price of the game. The game is retailing for $54 in Japan and that is a lot of money to take pictures of animals. The graphic are great and really nice looking, but Afrika would have to be a really fun and compelling to spend that kind of money. Taking pictures of animals in a national park does not make me want to spend that kind of money.

Thanks The Wall Street Journal

Pirates and Ninjas have been enemies for a long time and now they get the chance to settle the score on the dodgeball court in Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball for the Nintendo Wii. Ninjas and Pirates aren’t the only groups looking to settle the score, there are zombies, robots and three unannounced groups.

Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball offers story and challenge modes, as well as customizable control schemes. The game is more than just slinging the ball back and forth. Each group has their own techniques to winning the game.

“The competition between the Pirates and the Ninjas is so huge that battles are breaking out all over,” said Harry Miller, El Presidente of Gamecock Media Group. “We’re happy to bring this grand conflict to the Wii, and give players the chance to help determine who the ultimate champions are.”

Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball is set to be released this winter.

Read the rest of this entry »