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So, an insane rabbit, a Russian merc, a boastful luchador, and a gamer geek walk into a videogame equivalent of a speakeasy and play poker… well, that’s precisely what you get when you play Poker Night at the Inventory.

One might actually call this a $5 downloadable Team Fortress 2 content pack by Telltale Games, since it allows you to win free TF2 items, but on its own, it’s a pretty fun little Texas Hold’em poker game.

There’s not much to say about actual gameplay, of course. It’s poker, and plays like poker. However, the game’s raison d’être is to make you smirk at the antics of the players, who are comprised of:

• Strong Bad from the flash-animation Homestar Runner cartoon
• Max from the longtime adventure series Sam & Max
• The Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2
• Tycho from the Penny Arcade webcomic

Each of them are true to their personality, and being from utterly different intellectual properties, some of their context specific interaction can be very humorous – and in some cases, laugh out loud funny. Of course, some interactions do get repetitive after a while, but there will always be some surprising moment you hadn’t seen before. Even just going into a one-on-one situation when it’s just you and one other character is as fun as it is exciting; Tycho, for example, will start making creepy knowing smirks aimed directly at you.

A lot of the joy will come from those familiar with each of the IPs, as the game knowingly has a lot of visual references. Pom Pom had been in your seat before you join the follows, and you see him angrily leaving the table before you arrive. Sharp eyes will see other characters like Max’s partner Sam, Flint Paper and Bluster Blaster. When Strong Bad is eliminated, he’ll head off into the background to play some Trogdor coin-op arcade. The game even includes unlockables such as getting the Max Imp table after winning a tourney.

You will feel more at ease than most card games as you enjoy being in the presence of familiar characters, and end up wanting more, and the entire result of the entire enterprise is that end up wanting more characters to potentially join games, like Kirby or Master Chief. After all, it’s only cards.

Telltale has revealed their mystery game, and it is – as expected – a poker game with four noteworthy characters, Tycho, Max, Heavy and Strong Bad, called Poker Night at the Inventory.

Prepare for a different kind of poker night in a very different kind of club. In Poker Night at the Inventory, you’ll deal with Penny Arcade’s clever, cunning Tycho, Team Fortress 2′s hulking Heavy, Homestar Runner’s self-proclaimed “awesome icon” Strong Bad and the hyperkinetic “rabbity-thing” from Sam & Max. These characters come together in ways some never thought possible, in a setting few would have predicted. You’ll experience a new style of poker, particularly when hands don’t go the way of the other fiery competitors at the table.

While some may be disappointed it’s just the four characters, the game is incredibly inexpensive. In fact, the preorder price is a mere $4.95, which can be purchased here.

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Astraware has announced the release of Astraware Casino for mobile phones that run Android. The game is a collection of Casino games from around the world. Some of the games include Texas Hold ‘Em Poker (Limit and No Limit versions), Roulette, Slots, Blackjack and Craps.

Players have 11 games total to test their skills out on. The players will start out with $1000 of virtual money and try to grow that $1000. If luck is not on their side and they end up losing all their money, there is a bank in the game that is more than willing to loan the player more money to gamble with. The other use for the bank is a place for players to stash their mad cash they get from winning big.

“We’re thrilled to be releasing Astraware Casino for Android devices today,” said David Oakley, Astraware’s Chief Technology Officer. “We’ve designed the game to make the most of each Android phone’s capabilities, from the HTC Tattoo up to the Motorola Droid or Google Nexus One.”

Astraware Casino can be purchased from the Android Market.

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Riese is an up and coming web television series and Genius Factor Games has announced the upcoming release of a game based on the television series. The game has the same name as the television series, Riese, and is for the iPhone and iPod Touch. 

Viewers of the series watch as Riese attempts to escape the clutches of an evil religious group as she discovers what the group is all about. The group has sent their assassins after Riese to make sure she doesn’t find out the truth. Riese can’t remember much about her life up until this point. Her entire family was killed and she managed to escape and forget the entire incident.

The game from the series will be a card style game and allow players to immerse themselves in the Riese story. If you are into card games or the Riese series, check out Riese the game in early 2010 in the Apple App Store.

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Solitaire: Deck of Cods is a great Solitaire game for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The main feature that sets this game apart from other solitaire games is the theme of the game. The game has a fishing theme. As players are solving the Solitaire board, they are catching fish. Each level has a set goal that does not involve clearing the entire board. Some times players have to catch a certain amount of fish, while other times players have to catch a certain length fish and still other times players have to do both.

There are many different types of Solitaire games and really any game a player plays by themselves with cards is considered a Solitaire game. In Solitaire: Deck of Cods players have to use the face up card to “count” using the cards on the board. In other words, if there is a four face up players can use a five or a three to place on top of the four and keep going up or down from there. The longer the game play continues, the bigger the fish the player is catching. There is a draw pile for when there are no more cards in sequence.

Each Solitaire board gets harder as the game progresses. The game starts out with all of the cards showing and a good amount of cards in the draw pile. The harder boards will have less and less cards visible and a smaller draw pile. It becomes challenging to keep the cards “counting” and get the length of fish needed to pass the level or catch enough fish to pass a level. The fish need to be longer than 2 inches to get caught. Every time a card is played successfully the length of a fish grows. Players need to play at least three cards in a row to catch an acceptable fish.

The higher levels get challenging, but like any good game there are power ups to help players along. The power ups in this game come in the form of lore cards, which are wild cards, fish food, which shuffles the cards on the board and a fish finder that reveals all the hidden cards on the board. The lore cards can be used at any time and the player keeps the counting going using the number on the lore card. The lore cards are very helpful since players are able to choose the card they want to build off of. If the board has a lot of 6, 7, 8 and 9 cards showing and the player has a 5 lore card, the player can play the lore card and clear some of the other cards off of the board.

Solitaire: Deck of Cods utilizes the touch screen for the controls. Players simply touch the draw pile to have a card flip over and touch the card on the board to play the card. The lore cards and fish food are kept on the side of the screen and are used by touching them too. The controls are simple and easy to use.

The graphics in the game are nice to look at and the fish theme is displayed through out the game. The boards are all set on top of water and a boat has a fishing line hanging into the water. The fish “grows” as the user plays and the fish that are caught land in a basket in the right corner of the screen. The goal is on the basket and is marked with a green check mark when complete.

Over all, Solitaire: Deck of Cods is a fun Solitaire game that offers plenty of game play and plenty of challenge. The challenge increases nicely and is random to a certain point. Each level has a random set of cards and some random sets play better than others, but that is part of the fun. It is always satisfying to complete a goal with a less than stellar board. If you enjoy Solitaire games, you can’t go wrong with Solitaire: Deck of Cods.