Well, here’s some good news for all you adventure gamers who also enjoy a good puzzling game. Last year’s hit Nintendo DS game, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, will soon have some buddies sitting on the shelf with it. Developer, Level 5, has recently talked to a Japanese gaming magazine about releasing a whopping THREE new Professor Layton games that will be released in Japan sometime in the fall.

I’m guessing the detective and his boy servant are big hits in the gaming community!

According to Kotaku, the first game in the series will be called Professor Layton And the Demon God’s Flute (which to me sounds like the name of a Harry Potter book) and goes back three years before the first game. In this game, Professor Layton has to find out what destroyed a village and he also gets to meet his little buddy, Luke. Sounds puzzle filled, doesn’t it?!

Check out the picture from the Japanese magazine, Famitsu about the three new Professor Layton games. If you can read Japanese, you can even see what the article is talking about (at least small clippings of what it’s about… it’s not the best “scan” in the world).

[Image courtesy of Famitsu.]

Post from: EveryJoe

Professor Layton gets a prequel!

There is yet another adventure game coming to your Nintendo DS, Wii and PC: Secret Files 2 – Puritas Cordis. Now, if you couldn’t tell, this is the sequel to Secret Files: Tunguska, which was the top selling adventure game of 2006 according to the website. When you have sequels to best sellers, you just can’t go wrong! I mean, just look at the Monkey Island series. The first one was good, but two and three were even better. We won’t talk about the fourth one, though. That one was just crap.

There are lots of things going on in Secret Files 2 what will probably make it just as good as the first one: the same main characters and the interesting story:

Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis…

…the world is on the verge of a catastrophe. By the time Nina Kalenkow realizes that the recent disasters were caused not by nature, but by a ruthless secret society known as Puritas Cordis, it is almost too late.

While her ex-boyfriend, the scientist Max, witnesses the savage operations of Puritas Cordis first hand at the site of an ancient temple in Indonesia, Nina joins forces with a vicar in France to uncover the connection between the secret society’s shocking prophecies and a sinister leader of the order who lived hundreds of years ago. A dramatic race against time begins. Will Nina be able to avert the impending Apocalypse?

Come on now… a secret society? Races against time? Killer squirrels with vicious teeth and claws (okay, there weren’t really and killer squirrels in this game, but it sure would’ve added extra drama, don’t you think…)? How can you NOT grab this game off the shelf when it arrives?

We should be seeing this game sometime in the second quarter of 2009.

Post from: EveryJoe

Secret Files 2 – Puritas Cordis

Who wants to play an evil tyrant in a comedy style adventure game? Oh, I know I do! Recently, the Adventure Game Company added an adventure comedy about a little man who is a ruler of a land called Faeryanis and a tyrant at the same time! Doesn’t that sound fun?

The name of the game is called Ceville and is bound to be a hit with adventure game folks far and wide. Here’s the story:

The mean cruel cold blooded tyrant Ceville ruthlessly rules the beautiful kingdom of Faeryanis. Or rather, he used to rule the beautiful kingdom of Faeryanis, until the brave people revolted against his regime and drove him out of the palace.

The kindhearted queen Gwendolyn did step up to reign over the land with a council of noble and wise advisors.. It seems that this story could end just like any other fairy tale: “And they lived happily ever after…” But no, that’s not quite right. Because another evil rises within the land. The treacherous Basilus – counsellor of Gwendolyn and of Ceville before her – plans to take the crown and torture the realm with the help of murderous beasts he has summoned from the planes of eternal darkness.

Now, maybe you don’t like playing EVIL characters like Ceville. That’s fine. A lot of people have MORALS and like to play as the good guy. So, you also get to play two other characters: a girl named Lily who apparently had a heart of gold and a noble night named Ambrosius. The two of them will help the evil Ceville take out the even more evil Basilus. This just sounds better and better.

So, the story didn’t seal the deal for ya? Well, maybe the trailer will:

It does look fun, doesn’t it? You can buy Ceville for your PC from the Adventure Game Company for the decent price of $39.99.

[Image courtesy of Adventure Game Company.]

Post from: EveryJoe

Ceville – an adventure comedy

That’s just how messed up Alice’s world was.

The name of that game, interestingly enough, was American McGee’s Alice and if you could gather by the name, American McGee’s also the guy who wrote the story behind the game. Every time I see that dude’s name, I laugh. According to American McGee’s wikipedia entry, his mom was a hippy. That explains a lot.

Sometimes I wish my mom was a hippy.

Anyways, back to what this entry is about. American McGee got the go ahead from EA to produce a brand spankin’ new Alice game, which is pretty dang exciting. The original American McGee’s Alice was a pretty dang wild ride.

There isn’t much to say about the new game, except it will be coming out for the PC, XBox 360 and the PS3. Also, RJ Berg, the guy who wrote and was Executive Producer of the last Alice game will also be coming back to help American out.

And if that wasn’t enough excitement for you, check out this image from the next Alice game. It’s of Alice battling a giant snail. And there’s little snails chasing her. Oh, and lots of birds flying around picking off snails for a delicious snail like snack! Wicked:

[Image courtesy of EA and American McGee's blog.]

Post from: EveryJoe

American McGee – The Return of Alice!

Emerald City Confidential, Wadjet Eye Games brand spankin’ new game has finally been released to the public by publisher, PlayFirst. Finally!

Now, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I got to do a bit of beta testing for this game and can tell you that it’s definitely going to be worth your time and even the $19.95 you’ll have to pay for the download.

I mean, it’s just that good.

Dave Gilbert did a great job with the story behind this game and took what he felt was the true land of Oz into this gritty detective game. You’ll also get to see a strange and new twist on all of your favorite Oz charters: Dorothy (or Dee in this game), the Tin Man, Scarecrow, Lion and even a talking Toto who is smarter than most people I know.

Sounds fun, right?! Well then… Head on over to the official download site to play a one hour demo of the game!

Post from: EveryJoe

Emerald City Confidential – Released!

I know many of you adventure game fans are big supporters of the detective story. And why would you be? Detective stories and adventure games go together like bacon and lettuce with a little mayo on 2 pieces of toasts. Yes, detective games are a lot like BLT sandwiches.

Why am I hungry?

Game developer, Getstalt Games has put together a brand new detective game for us all to play. The game? Nick Chase: A Detective Story. And when I say “new”, I mean they released it back in April of 2008 and I’ve just now caught wind of it.

The game takes what’s popular in today’s puzzle games (finding tiny objects that the human eye can barely see) and then mixing that with adventure qualities (putting those objects that you’ve barely been able to find with other objects and solving mysteries). Plus, the game has unique puzzles to solve! Or at least that’s what the game’s descriptions says, but really that’s what all these detective games say!

The story? The game has got one:

Nick Chase, a hard-boiled Private Investigator, is in need of a job. Lucky for him, one arrives from a man known only as The Collector. Solve a variety of puzzles and find hidden clues to uncover the mystery behind the missing manuscript penned by Leonardo Di Vinci. Explore gorgeous hand drawn scenes with a gritty film noir style in this one of a kind Adventure game where everyone is a suspect!

Why is Leonardo Di Vinci always losing manuscripts? They should have taken all his stuff and put it in a vault when that man died. It would save people looking for these lost manuscripts a lot of time, now wouldn’t it?

A demo version of the game can be found here at the publisher, Big Fish Games, website.

Post from: EveryJoe

New Detective Game – Nick Chase: A Detective Story

After several months of hard work and dedication, Wadjet Eye Games has finally finished its work on their new game Emerald City Confidential! In the game, we get a strange, yet fascinating look of the world of Oz from the book series, The Wizard of Oz. And when I say strange, I mean really strange. I mean Dave Gilbert strange!

But a very good strange!

The game is just about ready to be published by game publisher, PlayFirst. The release date for the game is February 17th, if you have a PlayFirst PlayPass, or on February 19th, if you are a mere mortal without any fancy passes.

Check out Dave Gilbert and what he has to say about his fancy new game in his vidcast:

Post from: EveryJoe

Wadjet Eye Games – Emerald City Confidential is done!

A few gaming sites, including WorthPlaying got a load of screenshots from the new LucasArts new Indiana Jones game, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. This game has had its ups and its downs, with many people believing that the game would never see the light of day. Would we be surprised if it didn’t, though? No, not really, because LucasArts tends to focus on their mega cash cow to fund its gaming department.

Even the story to the game sounds pretty sweet:

Step into the shoes of the legendary hero, Indiana Jones, in an epic adventure! Set in the year 1939, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings follows the rogue archaeologist on an globe-trotting quest. From San Francisco’s Chinatown to the lush jungles of Panama, Indy must use his whip, fists and wits to fight through ruthless opposition as he spars with his nemesis, Magnus Völler, in a race for a relic of biblical proportions — the Staff of Moses.

Holy archeology, Indy!

If you’re interested in seeing some new screencaps, head on over to this page at WorthPlaying.

[Image courtesy of LucasArts.]

Post from: EveryJoe

New Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings screenshots

This seems to be the week for Telltale. And why shouldn’t it be? They are pretty freaking awesome. And the news that they’ve brought this week have made this adventure gamer quite happy. According to 1UP, the next adventure in Telltale’s line up Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventure will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade!

So, why does this make me happy? They’ve already had games come to the Wii for download. Why not just play it on the Wii?

Because… I love the Xbox so much more than the Wii. It hate filling out the stupid Wii-Credit page to get more Wii Points. The Wii Remote and me are not friends. Using the Xbox controller is so much more Adventuress friendly. Now, I wonder if there’s a way they can get the rest of the their adventure games on the Xbox Live Arcade. I’m sure it’ll take some changes, but I would be so much happier.

Post from: EveryJoe

Wallace and Gromit episodes coming to Xbox Live Arcade!

I couldn’t pass this game trailer up. Why? Because it features a monkey dressed up like a Pharaoh! Monkeys by themselves are pretty awesome, but when they’re dressed up like royalty, they’re even more awesome! This game trailers is for a game called Ancient Quest of Saqqarah and is supposed to be a puzzle/adventure game which features over 500 different puzzles.

Once every thousand years a mysterious eclipse shrouds the ancient pyramid of Saqqarah. With help of Khufu – the Magical Monkey from the Underground Oasis, solve over 500 challenging puzzles spread across 7 different modes of gameplay and restore mysterious powers of ancient Egypt in this rich and original matching game.

Check out the trailer. It has a monkey in it:

The game is available to buy and download at this site for $19.95.

[Image courtesy of Codeminion.]

Post from: EveryJoe

Ancient Quest of Saqqarah