If you’ve never played any of the Bejeweled games, I feel that I should warn you – they are highly addictive.  The good news is that Bejeweled Blitz is just one minute per challenge so there is a time limit if you find it hard to turn the app off. 

Visit the PopCap Games website for more information!

image: PopCap.com

Post from: Cellphone9

With adorable graphics and decent music, Dr. Awesome IS awesome. If you’re a fan of Trauma Center for the Wii and the DS …. Dr. Awesome is nothing like it! You play what I think is a white blood cell trying to isolate the evil bacteria by cutting them off from the rest of your patient’s inner essentials. Kevin’s review looks quite immersive. It’s one of those easy to learn, hard to master type of games.

[USD $1.99 $0.99 price drop!! - iTunes Link]

[via Kevin Rose]

Post from: Cellphone9

Crafting massive online games for phones takes into account the engagement level of players. Right now, it would be a little iffy to create a full immersive experience for online games on phones because the fact that phones are put down in the house and picked up when one leaves makes engaging gaming … iffy. There are breakthroughs — checking the status of your World of Warcraft character on your phone is a little like showing off trading cards to friends.

[photo c/o source]

Post from: Cellphone9

Diner Dash needs no introduction. But we’re going to introduce it anyway since that’s how the cliche works.

Diner Dash has been a No. 1 hit across major online game portals, mobile and retail, as well as a popular handheld title, since its debut in late 2004. The original game, developed by the award-winning independent studio Gamelab, is now a multi-million dollar brand, spanning multiple sequels and brand extension spin-offs based on the DinerTown(TM) story world. The iPhone version, finalized with the assistance of development partner Other Ocean Interactive, utilizes PlayFirst’s Playground SDK, which allows PlayFirst to easily port their catalog to multiple platforms. [PR]

It’s here! Diner Dash, and now for the iPhone. What does this mean? Well, the thesis of the iPhone as a gaming platform has so far been proven right. This version of Diner Dash was developed by Play First. The game, like all applications is available through the iTunes Store for $9.99.

Post from: Cellphone9

Heads up! I heard Chuck Norris is coming this way!, screams the rebels as you play as Chuck Norris. Gameloft had mentioned that Chuck Norris was in a “weakened state” as he traveled around the world and got into an accident. So not like Chuck Norris, but fine, we’ll play along. But if Chuck Norris hears about this ….

Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain is out NOW by Gameloft. It plays a side-scrolling hack and slash and shoot and gun Chuck Norris as he goes around the world cleaning up the bad guys and sending them into “Retirement +10.”

I first thought this game was fake — since no one is bad ass enough to play as Chuck Norris. But no, Gameloft is indeed releasing this epic title this month! And PROPS to Gameloft for successfully taking this cult into the next level. The dialogue is absolutely hilarious and the premise for Chuck Norris to be able to punch through buildings and burn down forests while defeating Communism is ….. well…. expected of Chuck Norris.

More screencaps here!

Post from: Cellphone9

Here’s something cute, but not quite Final Fantasy. Garfield 2 is available on your mobile phone via Java. Officially called Garfield 2: Royal Adventure, the game follows the story of the second Garfield movie as he makes his way through castle corridors and scares off enemies in turn-based “boo battles.”

Since this title is child friendly, no actual killing occurs in the turn based strategy fight scenes that mimic much of Final Fantasy.

The game shows players what’s happening between the scenes that they see in the movie. They will see Garfield fending off Dargis’ cohorts in numerous “boo-battles” (non-violent encounters) where the goal is to scare off enemies.

Garfield 2 is available for $2.49 and can be downloaded here.

Post from: Cellphone9

The Going Cellular blog has compiled a list of old skool games you can purchase, download, and play on your mobile phone. Apart from the three Atari Legends package, there is also a virtual NES emulator for some 8-bit action during the holidays.

Post from: Cellphone9

eSoft Interactive has released the highly anticipated Traffic Jam 2, a multiplatform game for Windows Mobile and other portables. There are even versions for Windows and Mac OS X. Traffic Jam 2 is the sequel to Traffic Jam, which puts you in the puzzle solving mode to move traffic back and forth – how perfect for the holiday traffic jam! The game is available for USD $9.95.

Traffic Jam 2 has the following features:

# Includes 250 exciting puzzles!
# Addictive and simple gameplay
# Amazing graphics and sounds
# Save/Load your game anytime, anywhere!
# Track your stats and compare with your friends!
# Earn tokens and auto-solve puzzles
# FREE lifetime updates

The game supports the following operating systems:

# Windows Mobile – Smartphone
# Pocket PC 2003/2003 SE
# Windows Mobile 5
# Windows Mobile – Standard
# Windows Mobile – Classic
# Windows Mobile – Proffesional
# Palm OS (high resolution – 320×320 only)

Post from: Cellphone9

While I was in Indonesia last week, our guide had a Nokia E90 with him. It was preinstalled with several hits from the 70’s, but all in minus one format. This was his portable karaoke in case he would be asked to sing.

Ah, technology.

Post from: Cellphone9

Perhaps one of the most surprising and enlightening announcements today from the Go Play event was the rebranding of the Nokia N-Gage from a hardware product to a service. The once hardware-centric brand is now a software and service that will be available throughout the Nokia phone platform. What this means is that anyone will be able to experience gaming across the board on all Nokia phones via download from the PC or over the air (OTA) direct download to almost any Nokia phone.

I remember when the first N-Gage was announced. Though it was not released in the Philippines, I wanted to get a piece of the action because I thought that mobile gaming was the coolest thing. As it turns out, many months later, I was able to test the next generation gaming phone called the N-Gage QD which was sadly swallowed by other dedicated gaming platforms in the form of the Sony Playstation Portable and the Nintendo DS.

I remember writing in a magazine column on why the old N-Gage business model was not sustainable – it had something to do with the Nokia guys not having computer gaming as one of their core competencies (as compared to Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo). With the games only openly available for the N-Gage and the N-Gage QD, this made access to casual games even more unaccessible as you would have to purchase the hardware AND the software to play games.

Nokia has now revamped the N-Gage into a gaming experience service that consists of (1) over the air downloads of all N-Gage titles via Ovi as well as (2) access to the wireless N-Gage gaming community also via the same portal. Game downloads will cost between 6 to 10 Euros. The games can be downloaded from the N-Gage website (you are actually downloading a software platform first for older models) which will be available come November 2007. The service will be fully available in South East Asia come first quarter of 2008.

Currently, these phones are compatible with the N-Gage service:

Nokia N73
Nokia N81
Nokia N81 8GB
Nokia N93
Nokia N93i
Nokia N95
Nokia N95 8GB

So what do you think? Will the newly repackaged N-Gage service fly? How much are you willing to pay for a game? Take a look at the picture above. That’s a Nokia N95 8GB utilizing the new Tv out feature to play games over a big television screen.

Post from: Cellphone9