Monthly Archives: March 2009

Regarding Email Chess and InkLink

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Posted by John vanSuchtelen on March 23, 2009 – 1:50 pm
Filed under Community, Customer Service, Online Games

We’ve received a number of questions and concerns regarding the removal of Email Chess and the current issues with InkLink, so I wanted to give a little information on both.

First the bad news - yes, Email Chess has been removed from the site.  This isn’t related to the redesign of Shockwave, but rather due to the difficulty in maintaining a quality experience on an old game.  Now, the good news - it’s gone for now, but not gone forever.  We are working on an improved version, and we’d really like your input.  What did you like and dislike about the previous version of Email Chess?  What features did you always wish existed?  In fact, don’t limit yourself to Chess… we’re planning some other new play-by-mail games, and are interested in hearing your top choices.  Backgammon?  Checkers?  Reversi? Card Games?  Let us know and we’ll keep you updated right here as new games are being created.

The other good news?  The issues you are reporting with InkLink (being forced to play as a “Guest”) are temporary, and we are working to correct them as quickly as possible.  We appreciate the outpouring of feedback - we love the game, too, and know that being yourself and being able to kick out troublemakers is an important part of keeping it fun.  We’ll post an update as soon as the game is fixed… thanks for your patience!

One Short Walk For Man, One Giant Leap For Hedgehogs

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Posted by Ben De Ayora on March 18, 2009 – 3:26 pm
Filed under Events, Online Games

On May 18th, forty four year ago, a Cosmonaut from Russia named Alexei Leonov became the first person to ever walk in space. Twenty years later, enter Minovia Cay, a small island of 15,000 people. Not much is known about the island but one thing was for sure, they were tired of being just another tiny dot on the map. In their quest to give their country a sense of national pride they decided to create a space program. There was only one problem. It was very expensive and the entire island was still a little skeptical. Things were going to have to be done cheaply and efficiently. The island’s leaders decided that only $50.00 would be allocated to use for the project and that Minovia’s beloved mascot (The Hedgehog) would represent them in Space.

This would not be an easy feat as the equipment seemed crude and the funds were short. This however would not keep the mighty hedgehog from reaching the stars. Gradually, things began to look up and it was time to see how high this hedgehog could go. Starting off with a simple strip of rubber, 2 posts and some old rockets, our spiky little friend was shot up into the sky over and over and over again. As he flew around he collected money that seemed to hang in the clouds! (This only happens in Minovia, trust me) and eventually the brave little hedgehog was able to collect enough money to purchase better rockets!

Finally on a warm sunny day, victory was achieved and the Hedge Hog of Minovia finally made it into the blackness of space. The Island rejoiced as their happy mascot zoomed through the atmosphere, not really thinking about how he would return.

Some people say he’s still gliding across the Milky Way looking down at the little island where he grew up. Weather you believe he’s still up there or not, the world needs to know that for Minovia Cay, their great mascot will never be forgotten. In his honor, a flash game was created and featured on Shockwave.com where it will remain forever. You should give the game a try and if you get anything from it should be to always follow you dreams and to shoot for the stars

Happy Birthday, Dr. Albert Einstein!

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Posted by Ben De Ayora on March 14, 2009 – 7:59 pm
Filed under Events, Online Games

You don’t become synonymous with the word genius for nothing. Dr. Albert Einstein had one of the greatest minds this world had ever seen. As a scientist he championed physics, winning the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his services to Theoretical Physics and for his theory of relativity. Today is his birthday and if he was still with us, he would be 140 years old!

He was a thinker but also a bit of an odd ball with a wild hairdo and a mouth that never ran out of things to say. It is for these reasons that Albert has become an iconic figure across the world. While there have been many great scientists throughout time, none of them have reached the celebrity status that Einstein still holds today.  You can buy just about anything with a picture of his face on it. Stores even sell Einstein Halloween costumes now, so you can dress up as the man himself. 

There is an action figure, a Disney cartoon series, and over 50 video games all based on or featuring the likeness of Albert Einstein. Even our own game No Brainer features a giant brain with thick pair of glasses and a very familiar head of hair.

When it comes down to it, it’s very possible that Einstein himself could have been a pretty good gamer. While there were no video games for him to test his skills on, Life was a game of sorts to Einstein that he always played with the greatest attention to detail. He was a problem solver and understood that in order to achieve victory in life, he first had to master its rules, the same way he had done with Physics.

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
- Albert Einstein

So here’s to you Albert Einstein, your image and discoveries will continue live on through time and represent all that is wise and innovative in the world.  Happy Birthday and Shockwave salutes you.

More Metal, More Mayhem: Developing Smash Hits with Silent Bay Studios

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Posted by Yelena Kozlova on March 11, 2009 – 10:22 pm
Filed under Online Games

Ever wonder what happens inside a game studio?  In anticipation of the sequel to the smash hit Metal Mayhem, our very own Justine Shelston put on her reporter’s hat and dove into the world of Silent Bay Studios with Leonardo Montecamozzo.  Here’s what the maker of online vehicular destruction had to say: 

Justine: Can you please describe your role at Silent Bay Studios?
Leonardo: Silent Bay Studios is a team specialized in the development of casual games for the web, in particular realtime 3D racing/sport/action games. I’m general manager and company founder, and my role is to “make it possible”.

JS: What is a typical day like for you as a Game Developer?
LM: Every day is a big mess with many projects running in parallel, new ideas popping up, mini-ping-pong matches, testing new games, and so on. But at the same time it is a very organized machine, with strict procedures and many different professionals involved on the same project.

JS: Is there a past project that you’re particularly proud of?
LM: Silent Bay Studios has developed about 120 different micro-games with many different gameplays, and we’re proud of each one of them. The player is the king, and he/she will decide whether it’ll be a hit or a flop. We love each one of our “babies”. Of course we are very proud of Metal Mayhem. It is really enjoyable to play: very easy to get involved, and very addictive.

You can say that again, because the chaotic, car-smashing, racing destruction is finally back with an all-new sequel!  It’s hard to believe, but in Metal Mayhem 2 the weapons are blastier (homing missiles and frontal attack systems rock!), the cars are crazier, and now you can jump into the smash-blasting car combat in brand new environments!  The second Metal Mayhem is available exclusively on Shockwave, so load your weapons and put the pedal to the metal!

Introducing the New Shockwave!

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Posted by John vanSuchtelen on March 10, 2009 – 8:41 am
Filed under Club Shockwave, Community, Download Games, New Features, Online Games, Shockwave Unlimited

Every day, the entire team here at Shockwave is focused on how to make your gameplay experience better and more entertaining.  Usually that involves making sure we pick the best games and help you to find and enjoy the ones that interest you most.  Every so often, though, we see an opportunity to really upgrade the Shockwave experience across the board.  A number of months back, after talking to a lot of our players, we decided it was time.  Today, we’re extremely proud to introduce you to what we’ve been working on - a whole new Shockwave!

It goes without saying that it looks a lot different, but the changes are more than skin deep.  While we’ve refreshed the look, we’ve also made a tremendous number of changes under the hood.  Let me walk you through some of the key differences:

More Personal

Let’s start from the top… literally.  You may have noticed that at the top of every page on the new Shockwave, there is now a “My Shockwave” tab.  This part of the site is all about you. When you become a member of Shockwave (it’s free, by the way), you have a whole new set of options at your disposal.  You can rate and review games, add them to your personal favorites list for easy access, make and challenge friends, and set-up your own public profile with a personalized, talking Game Face/Avatar.  Not to mention, you’ll also have the chance to earn Tokens & Trophies (see more on that below).

You don’t have to go to the My Shockwave page to take advantage, though. Once you sign-in, you’ll start to have a more personal experience throughout the site.  The new “member pod” next to the My Shockwave tab will give you quick access to your recently accessed and favorite games, while also providing you a quick glimpse of your token balance.  Whenever you’re in a game category page (say, Puzzles), you’ll see a handy list of any games that you’ve favorited that fit this category.  And when you’re playing games, you’ll be able to compare your score to your previous scores or those of any of your Shockwave friends.

More Rewarding

While we all deserve a little time to unwind and enjoy a game or two, a lot of us play games to get that rush of excitement when you get a new high score, reach a new level or, let’s face it, outplay our friends and family.  We wanted to take that even further, so we have introduced achievements to a number of our games and site activities. These come in the form of Tokens & Trophies.

Think of Tokens as your reward for being involved with Shockwave. Just about everything you do - from playing and rating games, to writing reviews, to filling out your personal profile - will earn you tokens.  The better you play and the more you get involved, the more tokens you will receive.  “Ok”, you’re thinking “but what do I do with these tokens?”.   I’m glad you asked.  You can take your tokens over to Token Central where you’ll be able to exchange them for a chance at real cash prizes - up to $25,000!

For our Club Shockwave and Shockwave UNLIMITED members (and occasionally for our free members, as well) we’ve introduced Trophies.  These are badges of honor, personalized to each game, that you win for sheer skill and determination while playing.  Winning any trophy will be a sign of great skill, but the majority of our trophies will also have multiple accomplishment levels - if you’ve seen the Olympics, you’ll understand the difference between Bronze, Silver and Gold immediately.  But there’s something even higher than gold - we have also introduced Supreme full-color animated trophies that recognize the absolute pinnacle of gameplay achievement.  There are only a select few of these, so having one in your trophy case truly shows your expertise.

Oh right, your trophy case.  What would a trophy be without a place to display it?  Once you win your first trophy, your public profile will be upgraded with a beautiful wooden trophy case to show off your greatest achievements.

More Ways to Find Games You Love

Even with all these new features, the most important thing to us is connecting you with great games that you’ll enjoy.  Everyone is different, and we all have our own unique taste in games, so we are making it easier to find the ones that are right for you.  First, we’ve drawn a clear distinction between Online games (those you play while on our site) and Download games (those you download to your computer).  Maybe you prefer a quick online puzzle game like Daily Diff during your coffee break, or maybe you want the deep, graphically rich download experience of Chocolatier 3.  Maybe you like both at different times.  Either way, we’ve made them easier to find.

We’ve also introduced new game categories like Time Management, Hidden Object and Matching to make it quicker to narrow down what kind of game you want to play right now.

Finally, if you’ve written a game review on Shockwave in the last few months, you may have noticed we started asking you to choose from a list of descriptive words that match the game.  These are tags, and we are now using these tags to help you look at our game collection in different ways.  Want to see which games members like you think are the cutest?  Or the most challenging?  Or even the most tedious?  Just click the word and we’ll show you a list of games.

More of Everything with Club Shockwave

Today we also introduced a brand new service called Club Shockwave.  It’s designed for people who want to get even more out of their gaming experience on Shockwave.  Club Shockwave members have a chance at the biggest cash prizes - up to $4,999 every single day and the $25,000 Shockwave Golden Ticket drawing. They also have access to hundreds of exclusive games and puzzles, including Carnival Catch Keno, Captain Kidd’s Caribbean Freecell and Word Express - as well as full archives of Daily Jigsaw, Daily Diff and Line by Line, among others.  Then there are the trophies I already mentioned earlier… these opportunities to challenge yourself and show off your achievements are reserved for Club members.  If you want to learn more, I’d encourage you to take the tour of Club Shockwave.

Oh, by the way, if you are a member of Shockwave UNLIMITED, Club Shockwave will now be included in your subscription at no extra cost.  You don’t have to do anything - you already have access to all the new features of Club whenever you are signed in to your Shockwave UNLIMITED account.

Whew. I’ve really just scratched the surface, but as much as I enjoy talking about it, I’m sure you’d rather get back to playing and discovering for yourself.  I hope you enjoy the new Shockwave as much as we enjoyed creating it for you!

-John.

P.S. We’d love to hear what you think of the new site, good or bad.  Drop us a line through the comments in this blog or feel free to Contact Us directly.

Coming Soon: A Darker Shade of Grey

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Posted by Dana Maynard on March 6, 2009 – 2:31 pm
Filed under Download Games, Shockwave Unlimited

As a born-and-raised Bay Area gal, I love San Francisco.  After all, what’s not to love?  The historic landmarks, the beautiful scenery, the murder…
…wait, what?

That’s right, I’m talking about the infamous Women’s Murder Club.

The ladies made their casual gaming debut in last year’s hit Death in Scarlet, when a string of puzzling deaths haunted the residents of Chinatown.  The tragic death of one young woman quickly spirals into a disaster as a serial killer literally leaves his mark on some of the most prominent community figures.  Although the string of murders is shrouded in mystery, The Women’s Murder Club uses their unique expertise to find the killer and bring peace back to the streets.

Together, the ladies form a foursome to solve crimes from beginning to end.  There’s Lindsay Boxer, the skilled homicide detective who gathers clues and evidence to hand off to Dr. Claire Washburn, the keen-eyed medical examiner, to make sense of unknown substances and blood samples.  When cold hard facts just don’t cut it, Cindy steps in and uses her reporter savvy to dig up the dirt and make connections between victims and suspects.  Finally, when all the pieces fall into place, in steps Assistant District Attorney Jill Bernhardt to bring criminals to justice.  The iconic characters of James Patterson’s books series are back in an all new adventure in Women’s Murder Club: A Darker Shade of Grey.

A Darker Shade of Grey serves up a fresh mystery for the Women’s Murder Club to unravel.  A young boy is killed in what appears to be a terrible accident, but Lindsay soon discovers that there’s more than meets the eye in this tale of corruption, lies, and deceit.  So what exactly do the girls uncover in this thrilling story?  Well, you’ll just have to play to find out!  But one thing’s for sure:  with new minigames, new locations, and new enigmas to unwrap, you won’t be disappointed by this bold, exciting sequel.

Celebrating the Good Doctor

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Posted by Ben De Ayora on March 2, 2009 – 10:37 am
Filed under Events

Letting loose on the site with many a game, on a day one which of particular fame, with a name so unique, and a style so to say, that would leave you in awe with the words he would say.

Seuss they would call him, Doctor by nature. Providing adventure through countless a caper. One fish, two fish, green eggs and ham, the Grinch that stole Christmas and Sam I Am.

Gather round with the fam with the same books they read, with their mothers and fathers before they saw bed. The same little heads still dreaming and hoping, to run with Thing one while Thing two is there joking. Oh I remember and though we get old, a Dr. Seuss classic is as good as gold.

Written in the spirit of the late great Dr. Seuss, with a little fun from Shockwave.

Happy birthday, Theodor!

Take a peek behind the scenes of Shockwave.com at The Shockwave Spark, an online gamers blog that keeps you up to date on the coolest titles, the hottest deals, and other newsworthy and buzz worthy tidbits. Get the scoop on the latest in online games, you'll have the chance to ask questions, comment on recent posts, and chat with the rest of the gaming blog community.

Of course, we appreciate your feedback on our gaming blog, including all your game suggestions. But, there's a lot of it! So, while we read every single one of our members' comments, we can only do so much. We'll get to as many requests as possible, but usually don't get a chance to respond to everyone individually. This is one popular online gamers blog! Check back each week and we'll post a response that addresses the most commonly requested games.

For even more fun, check out Club Shockwave and Shockwave® UNLIMITED. As a member of Club Shockwave, you'll have access to exclusive versions of the best games around, including Free Cell, Mahjong, Bingo, Daily Jigsaw, Solitaire, and more. When you play games, you'll earn tokens, win trophies and have a chance to play instant win scratchers or enter sweepstakes for big cash prizes! With Shockwave® UNLIMITED you'll receive access to exclusive online games and downloads for a low monthly fee, unlimited play on all downloadable games, no ad interruptions on all games, and brand new Flash games each week. Plus, you'll have full access to all of the great online features of Club Shockwave, including multiplayer games like Bingo.