The Gray Gamers

Clues, details, brain teasers, puzzles.
This is the first in the Mystery Case Files franchise: Huntsville
There are 20 locations, 15 crimes to solve, every time you play there are different combinations of things to find as you explore rooms and eliminate suspects.

The Mystery Case Files series began with this release in November 2005. There is a Huntsville sequel; Huntsville: Prime Suspects, which rachets up the challenges and game play.

The premise is deceptively simple: you are called to the town of Huntsville, the police can’t solve a series of crimes and it’s your job to find clues and eliminate the suspects on your way to nailing who done it. Once you’ve completed a level, your possible suspect is part of the puzzle you have to solve. Each puzzle is an environment you’ve explored previously for clues. As you progress through the levels, you earn your way up to Master Dective.

I recommend starting the Mystery Case File series with this game and if you like it; you’ll certainly enjoy and appreciate the improvements in the series.

This game isn’t hard on the eyes, the puzzles are a welcome break and the culprit is a surprise.
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville is quite a step up from I Spy games for kids. You may even need your dictionary.

Decent graphics, decent music, decent atmosphere, simple story line and a dash of whimsy.
Good bang for your buck.

Windows 98 to Vista/Mac

May not play on newer systems: access violation codes means your computer graphics card is too new or you need to update an older driver.
While I find BigFish tech support friendly and personable, support is not growing as fast as the company, you may have to wait and may not get an answer which helps you solve your problem.

I’m not a forum person, however, I’ve wandered through: I’ve found other customers having the same problems as helpful as tech support and they often have a solution before your ticket (help request) gets a response.

The tech FAQ page is there if you get stuck, it covers all the services BigFish offers (game club, game community, billing) as well as trial downloads, which would be easier for some of us customers if they weren’t all lumped together.

It’s a company, it bundles, offering a game a day is no small feat, and while I’m not interested in the game community or points, thousands and thousands of people are, and it’s obvious this successful company is scrambling to keep up to demand and growth.

Hang in there, it’s worth it.
They are rapidly improving their search engine and game delivery platform and I think Big Fish is honestly working to supply tech answers in none geek language. If you just want to see what they offer or try a game, Big Fish doesn’t get in your face to try the game club, online play etc. You don’t have to sign in to watch a game preview or browse their categories.

If you don’t have a credit card, and you like this game, you’ll have to purchase by snail mail money order, BigFish does not use Paypal.
If you want the game disk, their shipping department is on top of their game. If you don’t purchase the disk, your code is good for 3 reinstalls.
I’ve found shipping more efficient than tech support, once they get your order they send promptly. US Big Fish customers may find a favorite game disk in Target, Walmart, Best Buy and Gamestop.

I recommend downloading the Huntsville trial from Big Fish or go through thier companion Mystery Case Files site to get full screen, immersive uninterrupted play for your trial hour.

This game was huge when it was released, and everybody and their online neighbour has offered it. If you are like me you don’t need hassles, go to the source.

Trick for Mystery Case Files Huntsville:
a) Hang on to your in-game hints, you’ll need them as you get toward the end.
b) Take a bit of extra time to study each environment, as you replay levels you get different clues and time saved is bonus.

Christopher Cummings is a busy guy.

Along with his full time job managing Gamesville, he’s written a book; United We Stand: Commonsense Solutions to the Issues that Divide Us  (Xlibris Corporation 2006).  He also has his own product management blog; Product Management Meets Pop Culture. 

Christopher’s specialty is online games and online applications.  Being all things web, he found The Gray Gamers and got in touch. (Quick eh? We’ve only been online since January 12th!) We swapped interviews, Jan and I yacked for The Gamesville Blog and Christopher answered our questions here.  Gamesville has been offering free games and online pay since 1995.  About 76% of Gamesville players are in the US and traffic to the site is on the upswing again after some rocky times.
Gamesville has no applications to download; the site offers several kinds of games for free;  bingo, cards, word, puzzle, casino.  Some have cash prizes.
I won $2.50 in the Bingo Zone years ago, and yes, Gamesville sent the cheque.

Wasting your time since 1996(TM)

1) How long have you been with Gamesville?

I started as the Community Manager for Gamesville.com back in 1998.  My job was to interview members and process winner claims.  Gamesville was acquired by Lycos in 1999 and I moved from community management to product development.  Since then, I’ve worn many different hats within Lycos–helping to launch new non-game products, leading the charge to modernize the company’s billing and registration system, and–ultimately–to relaunch Gamesville in 2008!

2) Was it your decision to start the Gamesville Lounge blog in 2005?

We’ve had a few different blogs at Gamesville because I believe transparency is important to building a solid community.  Our first blog was the “Gamesville Diary”, in 2003. In 2007, we debuted our newest blog (just titled “The Gamesville Blog”) to get feedback from members, preview new games, highlight interesting players, and let the outside world peek inside GV HQ.

3) Gamesville is legendary, its games, its retro look – and I see the 2006 do-over got a lot of feedback. Kudos for giving players a public forum. What did you have to do to woo players back?

Here at Gamesville, we believe the classic line, ‘Love means never having to say you’re sorry,’ is a bunch of bologna. To be frank, many members disliked the sweeping changes made to Gamesville in 2006, so we spent a long time talking with members, correcting those missteps, and bringing back the Gamesville people remembered.  The solution to wooing people back was really to remember who we are, and to live up to it.  Games should be an enjoyable waste of time, not a complete waste of time.  Gamesville specializes in free, online game shows for real cash prizes.  That’s the experience people want, that’s what we need to provide better than anyone else.

4) As an on-line game site manager what eats up your workday?

My job, really, is to bring products into the market that  a) meet customer demand and b) are profitable for my business.
I oversee all aspects of Gamesville including product development, marketing, sales, and business development. Depending where we are in the development cycle, I’ll jump into to fill gaps wherever needed (for example, I designed the new look for our new bingo games).  I work with fun, talented people and we make games for a living. This is the greatest job in the world!

5) What is the most difficult thing you experience managing Gamesville?

Sitting so close to the free vending machines in the kitchen.  The siren call of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups is often hard to resist!

6) What makes your day?

We have a great community on Gamesville, so it makes my day when we hear about the great relationships members are creating with one another.  And with the economy in the US (and the world) growing shakier every day, we’re hearing more and more from winners who are thankful not just for winning free money, but because they’re able to use that money to pay for prescriptions or to help make a dent in their bills.  Nobody likes a bad economy, but it makes me happy that we can help so many people, every day, in our own small way.

7) Are players expectations realistic? Do they vary from country to country?

Gamesville is primarily a US-based site with a large Canadian community and several smaller, but closely knit, communities from around the world.  Overall, I’d say players share many common interests.  We like to hear from as many members as possible because any idea or complaint could generate the Next Big Idea or make the site faster, more enjoyable, and easier to use.

What direction do you see Gamesville taking?

We’re staying focused on our members and the kinds of experiences that will make Gamesville even more rewarding for them.  In 2009, we’re debuting more free game shows and delivering more great features for our GV Gold subscribers.

Questions about you…

1) How do you define a gray gamer, and by that definition what percentage of Gamesville players would fall under your definition?

I like your definition of “someone who kind of falls between the cracks”–although I’d extend the definition to include not just age, but also ethnicity, income bracket, and gender.  Gamesville is predominately female, but skews more toward the 25-54 year old range.

2) What direction do you see the gaming industry taking?

Some analysts believe that hard economic times will stifle innovation in games.  I disagree.  Will times get tough? Absolutely.  Will every game company make it?  Probably not.  I think what we’ll see are games tailored to value-minded consumers (more free web games, more low-cost mobile games) but we’ll also see new concepts and new takes on existing game concepts.  The companies that will do the best will be the ones who resist the urge to batten down the hatches and focus instead on making strategic investments that meet customer demands.

3) What are your favorite games? PC? Console? Web based? Phone?

I love web games–there’s so much variety, so much creativity and passion.  My favorite web game right now is Meat Boy (ironic a little bit, since I’m a vegetarian) and Gamesville’s own CatchUp CoverAll because its community-winnings feature is so unique and has proven so popular with our members.

4) In your spare time you wrote a book. Do you have energy left to play?

Games are like Jell-O–there’s always room for more!

5) What is your favorite genre?

2D side-scrolling platform games are my absolute favorite.  Of course, bingo is big in my household, too.

6) What game systems do you own?

For consoles, the Wii, Xbox 360, DS Lite, and a shiny new iMac.

7) What are your favorite games of all time? (And Jan says you have to tell the truth on this one!)

My favorite game series are Castlevania and Super Mario Brothers, bar none.  Until a couple years ago, my favorite all-time game was Super Mario Bros. 3. because of its perfect blend of challenges, structure, and sheer fun.  Nothing else ever came close.  Then I played Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii and that game just blew me away.  To me, that’s the kind of title every game developer aspires to create.

Thanks Christopher!
Got a question about Gamesville or about playing online?
The comment section is all yours.

Where do venture capitalists see us consumers heading in 2009?

Some interesting predictions, such as:

3. Games 2.0

Grade: A. This year was a breakout year for social networking games, web based games and free to play games. I see this growth driving several of next years predictions as well, as you’ll see below.

Why?

As this economy tightens through 2009, we’ll find growing numbers of “time rich-cash poor” consumers seeking today’s lowest cost methods to entertain themselves. In general, this will benefit two categories of consumer Internet companies.

First, social media and social networks. These are free and endlessly entertaining. As mainstream media companies cut costs, the relative value and quality of user generated content increases. MySpace, YouTube and Facebook all rank in the top 10 Web sites by aggregate time spent according to comScore. The most popular applications on Facebook and MySpace are all games, entertainment and lightweight communication, and these can provide endless hours of entertainment for users. It isn’t just Facebook and MySpace that will benefit though. Smaller social media sites that have built enough of a critical mass to have a self sustaining community will also see growing usage over the next year.

Jeremy Liew, being a venture capitalist and all, is a bit more optimistic about trends than I am. He makes some good observations and I like how he encourages easier ways to pay for what we want to play.

Did you know:

The Web site with the highest amount of time spent per visitor in October was Pogo.com with 444 minutes/visitor. Number two was Yahoo, with just 291 minutes/visitor in the same period. Games in general, and free games in particular, can provide a lot of cheap thrills.

Azada is a game I’m quite taken with. You can try it free for an hour by clicking on the Big Fish game of the day on the side bar and using their search menu. It reminds me of Myst, still one of my favorite PC games.

According to independent tracking site game-sales-charts.com, following its release on June 29, 2007, Azada held the #1 sales spot on its home distribution channel, Big Fish Games, as well as the #1 or #2 spot on other major online distribution channels. Azada remained for 142 days in the top 10 charts of its home distribution portal, Big Fish Games. Azada also remained in the top 10 charts for 83 days at Pogo.com, 74 days at iWin.com, 44 days at Reflexive.com, and featured a similar sales pattern on other distribution channels.

Leading casual games industry outlets such as Gamezebo.com have featured several articles welcoming the innovative mechanic and the puzzles of Azada.

Azada was a finalist in the Downloadable Game of the Year category, for the Interactive Achievement Awards 2008.

And a sequel is out also available to try for an hour. This game plays on Mac and PC’s.

Big Fish Studios released a sequel to the game, Azada: Ancient Magic in August, 2008. Azada: Ancient Magic

Azada Review
Walkthrough and tips

Official Azada site

BBC

Playing the computer puzzle game Tetris can help reduce the effects of traumatic stress, UK researchers say.

Volunteers were exposed to distressing images, with some given the game to play 30 minutes later, the PLoS One journal reported.

Players had fewer “flashbacks”, perhaps because it helped disrupt the laying down of memories, said the scientists.

It is hoped the study could aid the development of new strategies for minimising the impact of trauma.

However, the researchers accept translating their findings into practical applications could prove difficult.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), often associated with experiences during conflict, can affect anyone who has suffered a sudden and shocking incident.

A Proposal from Cognitive Science
Emily A. Holmes*, Ella L. James, Thomas Coode-Bate, Catherine Deeprose

Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Tetris on PC - free
Tretris – all the Tretris games - free