gotcha celebrity secrets Coming Soon: Gotcha: Celebrity SecretsPlayFirst has announced the upcoming launch of Gotcha: Celebrity Secrets, a hidden object game set in the world of celebrity sass and scandal. Launching December 15, 2009 on Playfirst.com, and other retailers beginning January 15, 2010, Gotcha: Celebrity Secrets will be available for PC and Mac Digital Download, priced at $19.95.

Gotcha puts you in the shoes of Gaby, a green but intrepid celebrity blogger, on a mission to uncover the juiciest gossip. Instead of searching for objects, players search for people. Plays hunt for special informants bursting with potential news at jet set events, jam-packed parties and red carpet galas. Gaby tries to unearth the details surrounding celebrity secrets like hush hush nuptials, new nip and tuck surgeries, who is having who’s baby (and what is it named?) and more. Locating these influential insiders is no easy task, as players need to scour over 40 crowded scenes throughout town.

Players will also face unique Tinsel Town challenges as they hunt for gossip, such as maneuvering past security guards, moving limos and crowd-clogging confetti. And of course, players will need to contend with camera-shy personas who don’t want Gaby digging up their secrets. A collection of all-new mini-games challenge sleuths to piece together clues from informants, leading to salacious stories about the most sought-after personas in the biz.

Gotcha will have players looking for over 1,000 different characters, ranging from crazy and cool, to everything in between, each with a one-of-kind take on Hollywood. All of which ends up on Gaby’s celebrity blog, which players can customize with an array of styles and upgrades. Player’s will dish on the hottest happenings at venues including a Night Club, Airport, Charity Functions, Reality Shows and more. Players will turn the town over looking for spicy rumors, gossip and more on their way to the top of the celebrity blogosphere.

Watch for the game on Playfirst.

dp seal trans 16x16 Coming Soon: Gotcha: Celebrity SecretsCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

cooking dash 2Large Released: <em>Cooking Dash   DinerTown Studios</em>Trouble on the set! Flo’s friend Gilda needs help feeding the cast and crew of her TV show. You prepare, cook, assemble and serve the delicious menu items from each TV-themed restaurant. Watch for celebrities, but beware of the short-tempered director who will make sure everyone gets back to work quickly! Can you successfully feed the egos and stomachs of the cast and crew before they walk off the set?

Sounds like Food Network’s “Who will be the next Food Network Star” Diner Dash style. I look forward to trying this out as I’ve been on a Food Network and Travel Network kick lately. Plus, I loved the original Cooking Dash.

Download Cooking Dash – DinerTown Studios to give it a try.

build a lot 4 power source Released: <em>Build a lot 4: Power Source</em>Not another great game coming out!? Looks like we’re going through a “busy” period of casual games in which many and high quality games are hitting the wires. Build-a-lot 4: Power Source takes on a “greening” theme, which makes it similar to Plan It Green. I’ll be interested in seeing the similarities and differences. Anyone play both yet?

You’ll have technicians working for you to convert homes into more energy efficient ones and add recreational facilities to neighborhoods.

Check out the review of Build-a-lot 3: Passport to Europe.

Download the game from Big Fish Games.

Hot Release: Pure Hidden

pure hidden feature Hot Release: <em>Pure Hidden</em>I’m eager to check out Pure Hidden, a hidden object game that has hit the top of the charts. The details:

Open mysterious boxes containing hidden objects, mechanisms, puzzles, logic and manipulation games, and a series of interactive surprises. The game contains over 1000 objects to discover in its peculiar world. Unlock wallpaper images as you dive into the dream-state adventure that is Pure Hidden.

Download the game from Big Fish Games.

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. July 26th: 60% off on The Blackwell Legacy

Mon. July 27th: 60% off on The Shivah

Tue. July 28th: 50% off on Puzznic

Wed. July 29th: 50% off on Summer Session

Thu. July 30th: 50% off on College Romance:Rise Of The Little Brother

Fri. July 31st: 50% off on SPIRITED HEART

Sat. August 1st: 50% off on Scary Forest

passport perfumeLarge Released: Passport to Perfume Plus a FreebiePassport To Perfume takes you around the world as Sophia, a young adventure-seeker, perfume maker and shop owner in the 1940s. You’ll manage a perfume shop, create scents, select from elegant perfume bottle inventory and sell your creations to customers. There are 48 ingredients to mix and match, 5 exotic hidden object locations to explore and 16 perfume bottles.

Sounds like Chocolatier does perfume. I’m gonna give it a look.

Playfirst is having a special. You can buy Passport to Perfume with PlayPass and receive The Great Chocolate Chase FREE!

Megaplex Madness for 99 Cents

megaplex madness now playing feature Megaplex Madness for 99 CentsBig Fish Games has Megaplex Madness: Now Playing for 99 cents good through May 31, 2009. Use the following coupon code: MEGA99.

About Megaplex Madness: Now Playing:

Restore the historic Bowmont Theater as the first act of your mad dash to bring cinematic excitement back to Movieville! Purchase ailing theaters all over town and return them to their former glory. Keep customers happy with quick service and delicious concessions! Become a Megaplex Expert to gain access to fun arcade mini-games, and master levels to unlock theater repairs and upgrades. Get caught up in the Megaplex Madness today!

wedding dash 1 1 Coming Soon: <em>Wedding Dash: Ready, Aim, Love!</em>Some of you might think I’m nuts, but I prefer Wedding Dash to Diner Dash. Oh, I love that Flo, but I find her games too hard to play. Quinn’s world starts easy and builds up the challenge little by little. In Wedding Dash: Ready, Aim, Love! Cupid joins Quinn plus Flo has a bigger role as she takes care of serving the wedding guests.

This one introduces a new mini-game for a cute change of pace that integrates nicely with the story. Cupid needs to shoot arrows at a male and female that matches the couple shown. You control where he shoots the arrow and how hard he shoots it. Oh, by the way, Cupid looks nothing like a cherub; more like a kind-looking grandfather. The mini-game occurs about halfway through each level.

Quinn also holds the weddings in unique locales beginning with an aquarium. Really — it’s a calming scene that looks made for a wedding. Then she moves to a barn and to the boardwalk, which has a fab background.

wedding dash 2 1 Coming Soon: <em>Wedding Dash: Ready, Aim, Love!</em>Ready, Aim, Love! adds several twists to enhance the game instead of give us more of the same. In previous versions, players have to select three things that match the couple’s request. You can have different good answers in this one. Instead, Quinn has a budget and she has to pick three things to meet the budget or better yet, have some money leftover. For instance, a couple wants to reflect their trip to India and match its orange, white and green flag. So pick the items that are orange, white and green or perhaps as something related to India like curry.

wedding dash 3 1 Coming Soon: <em>Wedding Dash: Ready, Aim, Love!</em>We also meet new guests. No more weepy Aunt Ethel and Drunk Uncle Ernie. Quinn will take care of all the crises as usual, but we meet new ones. Meet a wedding crasher that you need to lead him to the exit and Rosie with her little puppy. Rosy cries whenever her pup gets away. Quinn needs to cheer her up, find the dog and return it to her. The twins who must do everything together including be served to at the same time return. We meet new handsome and sweet people like Brian, Jason and the three bridesmaid friends. They’re a nice change from Gloria. Then we have the mother of the bride — a very difficult customer to please.

Gone is the confetti machine and champagne bottles. Instead, Quinn has lovely cocktail tables to help the guests remain patient a little longer. Also new is the microphone that lets the guests say something to the happy couple. Quinn earns love tokens to use in shopping for upgrades. While upgrades appear in many time management games, Ready, Aim, Love! offers many upgrades instead of just three to make it more challenging and to change things up enough to add to the replay value.

wedding dash 4 Coming Soon: <em>Wedding Dash: Ready, Aim, Love!</em>This looks like it’ll exceed Wedding Dash fan expectations. The game release date is within a couple of months. No official date yet. Hey, even wedding couples don’t always have a date set right away. And it will be available for both Win and Mac computers. In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for Wedding Dash 2 until this one is ready for prime time at Playfirst.

New: The Serpent of Isis

serpent of isis feature New: The Serpent of IsisThe casual games industry is giving The Serpent of Isis high accolades. I haven’t checked it myself as I’m swamped with client projects. Here are the details:

Someone stole the legendary artwork, The Serpent of Isis, from the grand opening of the Egypt Museum in Cairo. Your character’s grandfather originally discovered the artifact that has been missing for years. An anonymous letter arrives saying that the person who has the artwork is on board the Mont Palu Express. Catch the train to find the artwork and solve the ancient mystery.

Although the artifact comes the very popular hidden object game setting of Egypt, the action doesn’t all take place in Cairo. In fact, it ends in London — one of the first places I want to visit outside of North America.

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Mon. February 16th: 40% off on Funny Chewer

Tue. February 17th: 50% off on Freecell Wizard

Wed. February 18th: 50% off on Pet Vet 3D Animal Hospital

Thu. February 19th: 50% off on Crazy Machines 1.5

Fri. February 20th: 50% off on Pet Vet 3D Wild Animal Hospital

Sat. February 21st: 50% off on Engineer 2

Sun. February 22nd: 50% off on Solitaire Wizard