Game of the Day: Mine 60

Your ship has suffered a critical flaw and you have only 60 seconds left before it explodes! But others will be caught in the blast... how far can you fly away, and how many lives can you save?

Mine 60 is simplicity itself. Just use the arrow keys to guide your ship down the path. But though it's not as complex as some of our other featured games, it's still fun for a quick play. See if you can beat my record of 10,054. Think you're up for the challenge?

Click here to play Mine 60!
mine 60 game of the day     mine 60 game of the day
How far were you able to get in Mine 60?

BBCW launches CBeebies games app

Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.

CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.

Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.

Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.

She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”

More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.

Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says

Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.

Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.

Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.

Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.

Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.

It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine

Game of the Day: Ice Breakers Penguin Pirates

ice breakers penguin pirates game of the dayFolks, it's the last day of September's Game of the Day Sweepstakes, and what better way to celebrate this beautiful Friday than with one of my favorite games: Ice Breakers Penguin Pirates. It's your classic match 3 game with a goofy penguin pirate theme. Ice Breakers Penguin Pirates starts off like a standard match 3 game, but don't let the first few levels fool you. Games.com has added some new twists such as changing the color of tiles and clearing a path for special items like maps to drop off the board.

You'll have to sharpen your matching skills to beat the clock. Ice Breakers: Penguin Pirates will definitely challenge you! Get to it, Matey. Penguin Pirates await!

Click here to play Ice Breakers: Penguin Pirates!

ice breakers penguin pirates game of the day     ice breakers penguin pirates game of the day
What do you think of Ice Breakers: Penguin Pirates?

Game of the Day: Bubble Town

bubble town game of the dayOne shot from the chute and you'll be hooked. Bubble Town is the arcade-style puzzle game that will test your wits, not just your reflexes. Match three Borbs of the same color to knock them off. Collect the various power ups to gain an edge with special bonus abilities. But don't take too long; if the Borbs reach the Danger Zone, it'll be game over!

Join the unforgettable cast of characters for an adventure of bubble-popping proportions, just watch out for that Danger Zone. Choose to play with your Borbs grouped up in a ball or straight up. Either way, the addictive gameplay will give you hours of fun.

Click here to play Bubble Town!
bubble town game of the day     bubble town game of the day
Pro Tips:

    * Bank shots! These are crucial to your Bubble Town success. If you're trying to line up a bank shot, wait for a moment. A little cursor will appear to assist your aim making it easy to hit those two wall bank shots.
    * Look for big drops. If you see a bunch of Borbs being held up by a couple of the same color, hitting that shot should be your top priority.


Click here to play Bubble Town!

What do you think of Bubble Town?