Her Interactive, the company behind the Nancy Drew and Nancy Drew Dossier series, has brought in Stuart Moulder, a 20 year veteran in the gaming industry, to take the role of CEO at Her Interactive, focusing on corporate strategy and day to day operations in forming a new, dual leadership structure. Completing the duo, Megan Gaiser will retain her role as Chief Strategic Creative Officer, focusing primarily on “creative direction, brand and portfolio expansion, business development and strategic partnerships.”

“I’m eager to join the talented team at Her Interactive,” says Stuart Moulder, CEO, Her Interactive. “The Nancy Drew series has attracted a loyal audience and earned dozens of Parent’s Choice Gold Medal awards by delivering fun and inspirational entertainment to millions. The opportunities for Her Interactive to reach an even broader audience are tremendous.”

“As we have grown Her Interactive from a dedicated PC game developer to additional platforms, we recognized the need to expand our leadership structure to better leverage Her Interactive’s native capabilities while successfully navigating the complexity of new initiatives,” says Megan Gaiser, CSCO, Her Interactive. “I’m very excited to welcome Stuart Moulder to the Her Interactive team. Together, we will build on our strong series foundation and outstanding creative work we have done to date, and continue to bring Nancy Drew to audiences around the world via a variety of games, platforms and applications.”

This announcement comes as the company revs up preparations for the launch of its newest title on PC and Mac, Nancy Drew®: The Captive Curse on June 28, 2011. Stay tuned for more details! I have a feeling we will be seeing big things coming from Her Interactive in the near future…

RENT/TRY

It’s a good things that the Nancy Drew games from Her Interactive don’t actually require you to play them in order. I was last solving mysteries in #21 – Warnings at Waverly Academy and going into Shadow at the Water’s Edge, I had no idea what had happened in-between. What you learn prior to setting off on the newest adventure is that Nancy has been invited to teach English in Japan and will be staying at the Ryokan Hiei, a small traditional hotel known to be haunted.

Before I tell you how the game progresses, let me tell you now that if you’re the type of person that is very bad at number puzzles, or quickly loses patience with numbers or the type of puzzles you might find in the newspaper, this is not the game for you. Shadow at the Water’s Edge throws a lot of Japanese culture at Nancy, not the least of which is the puzzles.

I knew I was in for something different with this game just after opening the packaging, it’s the first of the Nancy games I’ve seen on two discs, which told me I was in for a game with a little more oomph to it than before. I’m not new to the Nancy games, I’ve played about six of them now and I find that I enjoy the puzzler/mystery feel of the games and having been a fan of mystery stories (Nancy Drew Mysteries specifically) for years, I’ve got a pretty good mind when it comes to figuring out what to do next in these games. They traditionally haven’t been terribly difficult or time consuming, finding the right mix of puzzle and mystery with story and repetition.

Having arrived in the ryokan, I met Miwako, the young lady at the front desk and Suki, her robotic cat. I’m later introduced to her grandmother, Takae and her boyfriend (slash hotel Handyman) Rentaro. Rentaro specifically is important in the beginning of the game, as it’s he that introduces Nancy to three puzzle types: Renograms, Nonograms, and Sudoku. The latter two puzzle types play pretty huge parts in getting the game to progress, so it’s important to not only do the easy puzzles, but to go back to Rentaro for a few more, just so you can get the practice.

Soon after arriving at the ryokan, Nancy happens to be in the lobby as a furious hotel guest is checking out early. They’ve been frightened away by the haunted hotel and it’s then that Nancy’s detective senses start tingling. She’s raring to crack the case before it’s even really started and it’s time to start grilling Rentaro, Miwako and Takae about the ryokan’s past. Nancy knows they’ve got a secret, but their traditional family values and concern over the ryokan means they’re not saying a thing.

Also in Japan, are Bess and George, two of Nancy’s good friends and she’s got them on speed dial so she can keep in close contact with them. George is working a technology expo at the exhibit center in Misako and tries to get Nancy tickets to join her and Bess, but the tickets are sold out. This means that for the entire game, you’ll only ever interact with Bess and George through the phone with calls and the occasional text message. However, Nancy does travel down to the exhibit center many times to meet with Miwako’s sister, Yumi. If you’ve played many of these Nancy Drew games before, you might find it interesting to note that Nancy’s boyfriend Ned, is not available to talk to. Usually Ned is available to call when Nancy needs to rehash the plot a little bit and he’ll give hints. In some games, Bess has been available, or a combination of Bess and/or Ned. Bess and George fill that role in this game, though they’ve conferenced their phones so when you call one of them, you’re really calling both of them. As hints go, Bess and George are fairly useless – though they will try and help you with your puzzles, it’s normally tips/ideas that you already know and just don’t know what to do with it. The best way to know how to keep your game moving forward is to keep an eye on Nancy’s check-list, where you can check tasks off as you complete them. Not being able to check off one of the tasks has more than once made me realize I haven’t completed something or investigated something as thoroughly as the game wanted.

Nancy also has a responsibility to the school where she’s teaching English. She has a few students and each night, and she keeps her students assignments in a box in her hotel room. For several nights, you’ll want to keep up with the assignments to make sure Nancy grades them as new ones come in. I only saw four assignments total, but played through more days/nights than that, so it’s fairly easy. You’ll never have to take Nancy to the school either. In fact, there’s only a few places in all Japan Nancy will be able to visit in the game. There’s the ryokan, there’s a small Pachinko parlor in Kure that Nancy needs to visit several times throughout the game for different reasons. There’s the exhibit hall in Misako where you’ll also find Yumi and her bento stand. And a few times, Nancy will make a trip to Yumi’s apartment.

So, after Nancy’s been good and settled at the Ryokan Hiei, the strange things start to happen. Lights flicker, doors slam, Nancy sees a strange dark haired lady in the bathroom mirror and the mirror cracks, and that’s just the beginning. Nancy finds a book on supernatural hauntings written by an American named Savannah; the book has a whole chapter on the ryokan. Nancy manages to get in touch with Savannah, who happens to be in Japan at the same convention Bess and George are working, and talks to her about the ryokan. Eventually, Nancy’s the only guest left in the ryokan. After some not-so-subtle Nancy Drew styled prodding, she learns that Takae thinks the ryokan is haunted by her daughter’s spirit and that the spirit (also called Yūrei) is angry with her.

The story in Shadow at the Water’s Edge (while I think having little to do with the title – there’s water, and it’s Japan, but it’s kind of eh- not really related) mixes good old traditional detective mystery with a little supernatural fascination and it’s Nancy’s job to figure out what the real mystery is and who (or what) is behind it all. If you’ve played any of the other 22 Nancy Drew games, you’re going to be for the same sort of ride you’ll find in the other games (difficult number puzzles aside). However, you should expect to put in more significant amount of time with this game. I think in the past some of the games can be beat in 4-6 hours if you’re pretty quick on the uptake. Shadow at the Water’s Edge probably took me closer to 10 hours which is a pretty big upswing in time, and probably explains the 2 disc install. I think the game’s had a bit of a graphics adjustment as well, it’s nothing to write home about, but it’s not the typical three-dollar mystery puzzler you’ll find at most online game portals either.

I did have one minor concern about the story in the game. This is one of the first times I’ve played one of the Nancy Drew games and really had an issue with timing on certain things. Events didn’t always trigger when I thought they would, and sometimes I had to revisit things I’d already seen or done, because I didn’t do it after the event that the game had it planned for. For instance, I looked up records on the ryokan’s computer as part of my investigation, but because I didn’t do it after a certain conversation with a character, I had to do it all over again after triggering another conversation. Little things like this might mean retracing Nancy’s steps a few times, but it’s quick to get around, and conversations are linear enough, you can cover everything you need to without too much trouble. It’s not like there’s a time-limit on the game, so, this wasn’t a huge deal, but since Nancy can only go places during certain times (the trains stop running after midnight) it does mean repeatedly returning to Nancy’s room and setting the alarm on her phone for another time. On the good side though, I didn’t run into any major glitches that prevented me from completing the game, like that time I played game #14 and a glitch near the end of the game meant having to start the whole thing over again. (One of the valuable lessons learned about keeping multiple saves happened that day.)

There are two levels to the game; you can play as a Junior or Senior Detective, which changes the difficulty level of the puzzles. As with many of the more recent games, there’s trivia and achievements at the end of the game, based on your game play. They’re minor additions and don’t necessarily add anything to the game, they’re more to reward you for doing the more esoteric things in the game, like playing with the robotic cat, or relaxing in the hot springs. There are however, two different endings to the game, based on a choice Nancy makes when she figures out the culprit. It changes the post game wrap-up a bit, but not so much that it’s worth repeating those last five minutes or so of the game.

For the money, Nancy’s got a pretty big mystery in store for players. It’s not going to keep you busy for long, but if you’re in to it for the mystery, for the Nancy Drew lore, or a chance at different type of puzzler (as long as you like numbers), I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

You can grab the game, starting today exclusively at www.passionfruitgames.com. The Premium game package is $9.99 (US) and the Standard is only $6.99 (US).  The game is PC only today, but the Mac version will follow close behind with a release in May.

The Tiger Eye novel that the game is based on, tells the story of Dela, a woman with psychic abilities who buys a riddle box in Beijing’s Dirt Market. She opens it to find an ancient warrior, Hari, bound to serve as a slave to whomever has opened the box. PassionFruit Games will mirror the international scope of the book through two games, the first to take place in China and the second in the U.S.

If you’re interested in grabbing the novel the game is based on, look for Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu, re-released by Harper Collins/Avon in January 2011, www.marjoriemliu.com. Or grab it from the GA Amazon store here.

To celebrate their premier title, PassionFruit Games is inviting fans and members of the media to a launch party today, Wednesday, April 28th at www.passionfruitgames.com/releaseparty from 7:00 to 9:00 pm EST (4:00 to 6:00pm PST). Attendees will be able to chat with Tiger Eye game developers, artists, programmers, and author Marjorie M. Liu. They will also be able to ask for and share tips about the game, and will also be entered into a raffle with the chance to win:  PassionFruit merchandise, copies of the Tiger Eye novel, and an advance galley copy of A Wild Light, the next Hunter Kiss novel set to release July 28th. They also have the chance to win collectible variant covers of Liu’s Black Widow Marvel comic book and a framed signed cover of the next Dirk & Steele novel, In the Dark of Dreams, when it goes on-sale this November. And finally, visitors will learn how to participate in an online mystery adventure set in Liu’s Dirk & Steele universe.

Melissa Heidrich, Studio Director of PassionFruit Games, says of the launch: “Looking back, it’s incredible what our team has accomplished in the last six months. The ten of us on the development side had been laid off together and had no office, no equipment, no funding – what we had were a romance novel and some great ideas. Since then, we’ve started our own studio, figured out how to translate that romance novel into interactive entertainment, and now have this amazingly fun game that has been very well-received by our testers.”

These testers are a slice of the market PassionFruit Games is working hard to reach out to, namely women aged 25 to 65. Since romance readers and casual gamers have similar attributes—both groups encompassing mainly women who enjoy a good story or activity to relax and escape—PassionFruit Games has taken great pains to work closely with women from both demographics.

Says Ayu Othman, the Art Director at PassionFruit Games: “Getting input from our target audience has been an extremely important process throughout our game’s development. At every major milestone, we have conducted focus testing and have refined and optimized the game based on player feedback.”

The Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box game breaks new ground when it goes on-sale today:

• This is the premier title for PassionFruit Games and is put together by the same team members who developed the critically acclaimed Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting to Danger when they were at Her Interactive; that game was chosen as the “Best Hidden Object Game of 2009” by Yahoo! Games
• This is one of the first romance casual games to hit the U.S. market. Although a market for romance themed video games has existed abroad for years, these games are still essentially unknown here
• The game features a timeless love story and a shape-changing hero from ages past, making Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box the first game based on a PARANORMAL romance novel and released into the American market
• The game heavily features a sexy leading man, instead of scantily clad women, and the game’s cut scenes feature animated and sensual sequences and voice-acted story development that further the relationship of the two main characters
• The game features a film-quality soundtrack composed and scored for full orchestra by critically acclaimed composer Matt Sayre. This includes more than 70 minutes of custom music, which is very unusual for a casual game
• A huge variety of different types of puzzles are featured: in addition to hidden object finding, the game also features all kinds of brain teasers, word games, spatial activities, and logic puzzles, as well as a match-3 minigame
• The author of the original Tiger Eye novel, New York Times bestselling author Marjorie M. Liu, actually wrote the game’s script herself and was involved with the game every step of the way, giving input on scene art, character design, and voice actor selection
• PassionFruit Games and Marjorie M. Liu recently hit their goal of collecting 300 tweets with the hash tag #Share Love towards their donation of a desktop with the Tiger Eye game on it to Women in Need, a New York City area women’s shelter.

Says Alyssa Montoya, Volunteer & Event Coordinator for Women In Need, Inc. of the donation: “For over 25 years, Women in Need has provided New York City’s homeless women and their families with safe housing, support, and the skills to become self-reliant. It’s fantastic to have supporters like Marjorie M. Liu and PassionFruit Games—their generous donation of much needed computer equipment can help women look for work and learn the skills they need to continue on their journey towards self-sufficiency. It is inspiring that PassionFruit Games is a company run by women who provide entertainment for other women through their romance casual games. This donation brings what they are doing full circle.”

And don’t forget to keep an eye on GamingAngels.com for a review of Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box coming soon!

Platform: PC
ESRB: E 10
Number of Players: 1
Publisher: Her Interactive
Release Date: September 2009
Official Website

When I was offered the chance to review a game set in a luxurious resort, of course I jumped out of my seat to do so. Resorting to danger is the second installment of the Nancy Drew Dossier series (the first being Lights, Camera, Curses), the more casual of the Nancy Drew franchises.

In Resorting to Danger, players play as the quick witted Nancy Drew as she attempts to expose and stop a bomber at a posh resort on the coast, while playing the role of “spa gopher” so as to not alarm the well to do clientele. This setting does prove to be a great way to introduce some very distinct personalities. However, being the gopher is not without its drawbacks, in the process of investigation, she has to perform menial tasks (which do actually contribute to the entertainment value of the game) such as cleaning the hair salon, making tea, and watching after a mischievous fluffy dog.

The mystery itself kept me guessing until the end, though I was sure I knew whom the bomber was on more than one occasion. When do we not in a whodunit like this? With the storyline being the driving force behind the whole game, being unpredictable is a good trait to have. The game itself is a story driven hidden object “plus” – the plus being matching found objects to one another in order to help her complete her tasks and further her investigation. Multiple mini games also appear within the story similarly to Lights, Camera, Curses for the purpose of unlocking doors, disarming the bombs, and such. Lastly, the game is sprinkled with conversation memory quizzes. Not only is remembering the conversations between Nancy and some of the key characters important for getting the most out of the game, but also to gain points by answering questions and choosing which rooms to go to correctly.

The sights and sounds of Resorting to Danger are as appealing as Lights, Camera, Curses but with an appropriate color palette to a high end resort & spa – brighter and more lush with great enhanced lighting and detail (generally speaking – there are some darker and dingier locations, like the basement). The seeking and finding is petty accessible, without being too simple. The music, sound cues, and character voices all serve to enrich the experience.

As a sequel, Resorting to Danger does improve on the original in the way that it seems to take out things that needlessly take time, like walking between locations. Everything seems to flow together a little more smoothly, and I enjoyed meeting these characters quite a bit more; they are quirky and easy to somehow personally relate to, making the game that much more immersive. It also added a couple of elements to challenge the memory, more alternate endings and an “arcade mode” to up the replayability factor.

Add to all this a strong, likeable, witty, intelligent female lead character and this game is great for girls of all ages. It’s worth picking up for a good time that is easy to play for a few minutes or a few hours at a time, challenging, fun, and entertaining.

Thanks for reading!
Dawn

Review copy provided by Her Interactive and did not affect the outcome of this review.

Win yourself a copy of Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting to Danger this weekend (April 2, 3, & 4) on GamingAngels.com! Simply leave a comment here telling us what you like most about going to a spa – or what you would like most – or your favorite spa! Winners will be announced Sunday after 7 pm pacific. You’ve got until then to post away!
Good luck!!

The Game Developers Conference is running through March 13 and with the news, there are also some great Women in Games events that you should attend if you are in the area.

IGDA Women in Games will hold their annual roundtable meeting on Thursday, March 11 from 1:30-2:30 pm in Room 230, East Mezzanine. The roundtable will be moderated by our friend, Tina Tyndal and will be talking about initiatives for 2010 including GameMentorOnline.

There are also two panels at GDC that are presented by IGDA Women in Games. Details are:

Starting Something New – Women in Games, scheduled for Thursday, March 11, 3 pm to 4 pm in Room 130, North Hall. This session is moderated by Sonja Kangas, Head of Game Lab, Paf and IGDA Women in Games advisor, and features speakers Tiina Zilliacus, CEO of IronStar Helsinki; Celia Pearce, Director of Experimental Game Lab at Georgia Tech; Megan Gaiser, CEO of Her Interactive, and Julia Brasil, the first G.I.R.L. scholarship recipient awarded by Sony Online Entertainment.

The second panel session is entitled Are Women the New Hardcore Gamers?, and is scheduled for Thursday, March 11, 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm in Room 130, North Hall. The session is moderated by Shanna Tellerman, Founder and CEO, Wild Pockets, with special guest speakers Amy Jo Kim CEO of ShuffleBrain; Wanda Meloni, Market Analyst with M2 Research; Morgan Romine, Community Manager and Online Marketing Manager for Ubisoft (plus Team Captain, Frag Dolls), and Jessica Tams, Executive Director of the Casual Game Association.

The IGDA Women in Games party will be happening at the IGDA booth on Friday March 12 from 3-4:30pm. Make sure you stop by at the South Hall of Moscone Convention Center and tell them you read about this on GamingAngels. We’re a sponsor of the party as well as Gas Powered Games, Her Interactive, Microsoft SideWinder, Mumbo Jumbo, Naughty Dog, Obsidian Entertainment and Thrust Interactive.

Women in Games events conclude with the Microsoft Women in Gaming Awards event that I attended last year. The awards are a great way to network and meet other women in the industry and to take time to acknowledge the work of 20 nominees.

• Lucy Bradshaw has to start the list with her work on the Sims beginning in the year 2000. Lucy and the Maxis team created a game that would be named the best selling PC game to date. The Sims is also credited for bringing more women into playing games. Lucy Bradshaw now leads the efforts of the Maxis team on the various Spore titles. She is an amazing speaker and is always pushing the industry forward.



• Kim Swift took the game industry by storm with the much praised hit, Portal. Swift was hired by Valve after graduation and won many awards with a title that appealed to casual and the hardcore. Swift has now joined Airtight Games to assist with games aimed at a more diverse audience.



• Jade Raymond was the producer on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed. While she had been a producer on previous titles including The Sims Online, Jade definitely had to put up with controversy from men that couldn’t get over her looks. Yes guys, it is possible to be gorgeous and talented. Her official website says that she now works with Electric Playground and we hope to continue to see great things from Jade.



• Corrinne Yu is an amazing woman. She’s the principal programmer at Microsoft’s Halo team. I met her at a GDC Women in Games luncheon where she was rewarded for her work on the Halo series. She dresses like a rock star and talks about programming theory unlike anyone I know. Corrinne is an inspiration as we look at the problem of not enough women going into programming as a discipline.



• Megan Gaiser is the President and CEO of Her Interactive. Through her work at Her Interactive, she has helped make intelligent games for the younger female audience. Her Interactive games create the Nancy Drew series of games that are very popular. Megan works hard in both talks and through her work at Her Interactive to get more girls interested in gaming both as a hobby and as a career.



• Kellee Santiago is an amazing young woman from the Interactive Media program at USC. She is the president and co-founder of ThatGameCompany, a company that strives to create games that create an emotion in the player. Their first two games, flOw and Flower on the Playstation 3 are not only beautiful but also appeal to a more diverse audience. During our interview with her at the Spike VGAs, it was great to see her passionate and excited about the future of ThatGameCompany. We look forward to Kellee pushing the boundaries of what we think about games.



• Amy Hennig works as Naughty Dog as the Creative Director on Uncharted and Uncharted 2. Uncharted 2 is second in the top 20 ranked Playstation 3 games on Metacritic. Amy concentrates on story and actors and it shows. Uncharted 2 has some of the best voice acting of any game out there. It will be interesting to see how close to films that Amy and the Naughty Dog team can take video games.
• Deborah Mars is the Managing Producer at SCEA Santa Monica Studio who worked on PSN title, Fat Princess. The title had early uproar from various websites because the game was built around the mechanic of feeding your princess cake so she would weigh more and be harder to kidnap. In the end, Deborah and her team proved that Fat Princess is an incredibly fun title.



• Cammie Dunaway is the executive vice president of sales & marketing at Nintendo. As one of the most powerful people at Nintendo, she led the way to reach out to women gamers with the Nintendo DS and Wii. She has had a rough road being criticized for being too nice or even fake. I interviewed Cammie at the 2007 Women’s Conference and she was sweet but also very knowledgeable about the products available. She genuinely wants to see a more diverse audience enjoy gaming.



• We end our list with a female that has taken community on the Xbox 360 to another level. Christa Phillips Charter, better known as Trixie360, was responsible for many community initiatives for the 360 that is what makes us feel at home on the 360. She organized Game with Fame nights, Community Spotlights, Gamer Spotlights, and created/founded GamerChix a place where female Xbox gamers can gather to talk about gaming. Christa has always made herself available to gamers. Her new title is Social Media Lead of Xbox LIVE and we can’t see where she takes Community and Games next!

I hope you enjoyed our list and I’d love to hear who you think should be on the list. We didn’t include the wonderful women that run amazing communities or clans, but they definitely could be here as well. I’d like to thank Robin Yang for working with me on ideas for this list. Here’s to another 10 years of greatness from women in games!

For kids and parents: Wonder Rotunda is an adventure website that mimics the World’s Fairs of past and exposes children to the wonders of our world, including African wildlife, the human body, business, American government, nutrition, film making, classical music, and space exploration. It allows them to explore areas that interest them, earn badges and accomplishments, and encourages them to believe they can make a difference in the world, without parents having to worry about advertising or chat. Foster dreams and self esteem with a membership to Wonder Rotunda. Costs are $12 a month or $45 a year
Check it out here.

For Tweens and Teens: Earlier this year, Legacy introduced three games based on the iconic high school movies, Clueless, Mean Girls, and Pretty in Pink. Though these games are appropriate for adults as well, the subject matter and game play make them especially suitable for tweens and teens, giving them the opportunity to play their way through high school in the style of different generation’s sagas. Clueless offers fashion and style sense exploring the vastness of the teenage fashion looks of the ‘90s. Mean Girls offers mission based adventures with match three puzzles scattered throughout, allowing players to choose personality traits and act in the way of meanness or niceness. Pretty in Pink is a hidden object game in which players explore different relationships and play their story out to one of three possible endings. All three games are pretty true to the movies they represent and give a great entertainment value.
Available as a download from: Legacy Interactive for $10 each
Clueless Review
Mean Girls Review

For Everyone: In case this one somehow slipped through the cracks for your favorite gamer, it should be tops on the list! Quite possibly my favorite game of the year, PopCap‘s Plants vs. Zombies offers a chance for everyone, naughty or nice, to defend their brains against the onslaught of hungry zombies by harvesting the power of the sun and propagating the perfect plant platoon in the day, night, front lawn, the pool in the back, on the roof, and in the fog. Welcome the tower defense genre to the casual games space. This game is crazy hilarious fun no one should have to go without – it’s the holidays!
Appropriate for: Tweens through Adults. Parents use their own discretion with children.
Available From: PopCap Games
Plants vs. Zombies Review

For those who appreciate hidden object games, The second installment of Her Interactive’s Nancy Drew Dossier series, Resorting to Danger is a great choice. In this new Hidden Object Mystery game, players help the young, clever detective in her attempts to find the culprit behind bombings at the Redondo Resort. The additions made to this chapter in the Dossier saga improve upon the already positive original. Resorting to Danger offers a unique perspective on the hidden object genre and is riddled with mini puzzles that spice up the mystery.
Appropriate for: Tweens through Adults.
Download or Box Game Available From : Her Interactive

For the puzzle fans: the must have game is PopCap’s newest hit, Zuma’s Revenge. This sequel to the beloved Zuma truly takes the ball shooting color matching action to the next level in a crazy fun way. Zuma’s Revenge gives the puzzle gamer new ways to blast their way through level after level by firing colored balls to try to demolish the chain of colors, and opens their eyes to boss battling, tournament style play, and scoring challenges, all with a laid back, tropical backdrop. Give the gift of this lovable frog and all of his crazy (and comical) shenanigans.
Appropriate for: Tweens through Adults.
Download Available from: PopCap.com
Zuma’s Revenge Review

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For the Time Management Gamers: Try Sandlot Games’ newest Cake Mania game, Cake Mania: Main Street. This game continues on the journey through Sarah Evans’ life as she returns to her home town of Bakersfield with some of her friends to rejuvenate Main Street and bring things back to the way they once were, with happy people and fun attractions. This is a great time management game because it’s like getting four in one. There are four different types of shops to open and half of the profits go to sprucing up the town. Great characters and options make this one a fun time.
Appropriate for: Tweens through Adults – the images may be fun for kids, but the complexity can get to be a bit much for them.
Available from: Sandlot Games
Cake Mania: Main Street Review

For the Word Worms out there: PopCap’s Bookworm Adventures 2 is a great addition to anyone’s library. In Bookworm Adventures 2, Lex once again sets off on a word creating journey through the pages of some adventureful stories – this time with help! He gets to take companions that he has rescued with him that lend him their powers to strengthen him. weaken his enemies, or add more power ups to the words he (the player) creates. PopCap’s humerus adaptations of familiar characters from fairy tales and other types of stories pump up the entertainment value as well in this vocabulary building game – and there is even a dance-off!
Appropriate for: Spellers of all ages!
Available from: PopCap Games

For Online Gamers on your list, you might consider gifting a membership to Pogo.com’s premium service, Club Pogo. After 9 years of playing at Pogo.com, I was fortunate enough to be able to experience the greatness of Club Pogo. If the badge collection, double jackpots, and virtual pet aren’t enough, access to a multitude additional games and the absence of ads and intermissions is definitely worth the $5.99 a month. Club Pogo is a great way to give gamers opportunity to find some new favorites as well as play some of the best Pogo originals and downloadables from other top companies.
Appropriate for: Adults, mostly due to the censored and uncensored chat ability.
Available from: Pogo.com

Stocking Stuffers:

The first one is Sandlot Games’ Kuros. This is truly a beautiful game visually as it takes place in the world of Glyph among the metal, water, air, fire, and aether. At its core, it’s a hidden object adventure to restore elemental balance in the world of Kuros. Katya’s wit coupled with other captivating characters and variety of incorporated mini games provides the hidden object gamer with a plethora of new experiences. It’s a great way to escape into another realm for a little while and be entertained and challenged.
Appropriate for: Tweens through Adults of all ages.
Available from: Sandlot Games for just $6.99
Kuros Review

The second is Big Fish’s Drawn: The Painted Tower. This is another work of art, a beautiful piece of animation as reviewer lisalu put it. Drawn: The Painted Tower is an exciting adventure puzzle hidden object game in which players try to rescue the youngest daughter of a family with the curious power to draw things that would then come to life. The ease of play and flow of the story makes this one a great stocking stuffer that will give the casual gamer in your life something entertaining and lovely to look at this holiday season.

In support of the upcoming release of the newest Nancy Drew installment, Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy, Her Interactive has introduced “Watching Waverly,” an online soap delivered through the Twitter accounts of the Waverly students today through October 16th.

Students Leela Yadav, Megan Vargas, Izzy Romero, Danielle Hayes, and Corine Myers tweet about their daily lives and update fans about the events as they unfold, revealing details about the game, and background of the characters and school itself.

“Many of our fans are already participating in social networks and ‘Watching Waverly’ is a unique way of delivering relevant content to them, as well as expanding the in-game universe to the real world,” said Megan Gaiser, president and CEO of Her Interactive. “It’s a great way to pique fan interest and get them involved in the game just prior to launch.”

See Her Interactive for details and to follow the students of Waverly Academy! Or, if you don’t Tweet, you can read the stories at the Ameteur Sleuth Blog.

In the meantime, Check out the trailer for Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy right here, right now!

Here is the first in what I hope will be a regular series of featured interviews with strong, successful, creative, interesting people and companies out there in the casual space today. Her Interactive is one of those companies which I believe has a strong, positive approach to creating games targeted toward females that challenge us to think critically, while still having a good time – without being all pink and frilly. I was able to ask a few questions of Amy McPoland, VP of Marketing at Her Interactive, a company which has always created and supported great games that challenge us and make us think to talk about the face of women in the industry, creating games for women, and what’s in store for Her Interactive.

GA: First, please tell me a little bit about your role in Her Interactive.

Amy: As the VP of Marketing, I’m responsible for the marketing of the Nancy Drew games, which entails reaching the consumer through multiple tactics. Our primary audience is tween/teen girls, so our marketing outreach includes online & print advertising as well as social media activity, HerInteractive.com and other promotional outreach.

As the voice of the consumer, the Marketing team also listens to our consumers. We have a very loyal fan base, and a very active Message Board of 90K users that give us feedback on our games, as well as share hints & tips with each other. Part of my role is to monitor that feedback to ensure we are using their feedback to make our games better.

Since Nancy Drew has been a positive role model for almost 80 years, we also have a very strong secondary audience of adult women, and have found that our games have created a multi-generational phenomenon, often bringing girls, moms and grandmothers together to share the experience. In fact, we get emails from moms and grandmothers all the time thanking us for providing them with a fun, quality and family friendly gaming experience they can share.

GA: What prompted the founding of Her Interactive?

Amy:Her Interactive grew out of a company called American Laser Games in 1997, as the division of that company focused on female play preferences. The first Nancy Drew game was completed in 1998.

At that time, the Publishers told us girls were computer-phobic and would not play the game, so we could not get into retail. So we sold the game exclusively through our own website and Amazon.com. Sales took off, and 20 games later, here we are, proud of being the pioneer of games targeted toward females.

GA:How do you feel the gaming industry as a whole views women now in both the casual and console sectors? Is this changing?

Amy: The gaming industry is changing, and is paying more attention to girls & women than ever before – designing games specifically for those audiences. This is happening in both the console and casual markets. For the console market, I attribute this change to the Wii and the introduction of additional family-friendly games. For the casual market, this change can be at least partially attributed to the growth and evolution of the online, casual gaming industry. Since the demographic of this market is primarily adult women, many ‘casual’ games are being developed to cater to their specific play preferences.

GA: What kind of reactions or support do you get from other industry leaders being a company with one of the few female CEOs? Do you feel that it makes a difference?

Amy: Megan Gaiser, the CEO of Her Interactive, frequently mentions the support and camaraderie she feels in the gaming industry. One point that she has repeatedly made is that it’s great to have other industry CEOs – both women and men – share information and collaborate in order to help guide and lead the industry.

Gaming is an art form. And like other mediums, games should offer as many preferences as there are players – both girls and boys. The only way that we, as an industry, will satisfy the preference of both boys and girls is by fostering environments in game companies where we are sharing different ideas and perspectives. It’s the blending of both women & men in the industry that helps improve all aspects of the industry – including the content.

To paraphrase a recent keynote speech that Megan gave at the Seattle Casual Connect conference in July, diversification is key. The people making these games and playing these games are fortunately no longer just 18-34 white males. So, as leaders in the industry, we need to do our part to round out the talent in companies with people of all ethnicities and genders. I strongly believe there is a link between employee diversification and product diversification. As with other mediums like films, it takes a balance of genders and perspectives to create outstanding works of art that satisfies a variety of preferences. We know that when we genuinely collaborate, we’re open to more creative inspiration and those aha moments.

In terms of whether or not being a woman makes a difference, I think that since women CEOs are a minority in the gaming world, the important thing is that there are forums for women leaders in this industry, such as Women in Gaming International or the International Game Developers Association of which Megan is a member of their Women in Gaming advisory board.

GA: Do you play? How do you feel about games out there that specifically target females?

Amy: I do play games, and particularly to better understand our market and keep up with the competition. In terms of games out there specifically targeting females, we have been doing that with our Nancy Drew games since our first game launched in 1998. And 11 years and 20 Nancy Drew adventure games later, our series has been the best-selling adventure game franchise (in units per NPD) for the last 5 years, so we know that there is certainly a market for these games. Our secret is to create a game that delivers on the Nancy Drew brand and caters to female play preferences such as strong storyline, character development, and games that make you think. Additionally, the player gets to be Nancy Drew in our games, so the games empower players to step into the shoes of the super-sleuth and crack the case!

In terms of other games targeting females, there should be as many types of games for females as any other form of entertainment (e.g. books, movies, etc.), so I think it’s great that the industry is moving in this direction.

GA:Do you see any trends in the industry to making more universally appealing games, either looking at males & females or casual & hardcore gamers?

Amy: Social gaming and the social gaming platforms such as Facebook and iPhone are strong trends that seem to be transcending specific consumer categories to appeal to more universal, mass audiences, and dovetail with the current social media phenomenon. Additionally, micro-transactions and virtual worlds seem to also be part of the overall, universally appealing trend.

GA: I see that Her Interactive is beginning to make games for the Wii and the DS, what can console gamers expect in the future from Her Interactive?

Amy: We are excited about launching The Hardy Boys Nintendo DS game – since it’s both a new brand and new platform for us, and yet still delivers a great mystery adventure experience. As for the future, we hope to continue this line, and will continue to leverage our story-telling and adventure game formula to deliver quality games on platforms that make sense for us.

GA: With the success of the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Nancy Drew Dossier games, what is the thought about Her Interactive branching out into other brands? What does the future have in store for Her Interactive?

Amy: In the long term, we will continue to evaluate different brands as opportunities arise. Our goal is to continue with quality games that are good for you by challenging the player and making them think.

In the short term, we will be launching our next adventure game, ‘Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy’ in October. This game is #21 in the series, and as always, promises a new mystery adventure as Nancy goes undercover at an elite girls Academy.

Stay tuned for the trailer from the newest Nancy Drew game in the series: Warnings at Waverly Academy!

Her Interactive and Sega of America have released the first Hardy Boys game for the Nintendo DS, Treasure on the Tracks, sending Frank and Joe Hardy on an exciting adventure throughout Europe. They attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding the enigmatic Romanov family, tracking them through Vienna, Paris, Prague, Warsaw, and St. Petersburg aboard the Royal Express in order to seek the lost treasure.

“We are thrilled to add the Hardy Boys to the fantastic pedigree of games we have established with our award-winning Nancy Drew lineup,” said Megan Gaiser, president and CEO of Her Interactive Inc. “The introduction of Treasure of the Tracks expands our audience with one of the most well-known and respected brands for boys and girls alike, and is an ideal way in which to introduce ourselves to the Nintendo DS audience.”

The Hardy Boys®: Treasure on the Tracks is currently available on Nintendo DS™ for purchase at retailers nationwide, as well as from the Her Interactive website for a suggested retail price of $19.99.