Preview: Clockwords Prelude on Candystand.com

Clear your schedules next week - Monday's new game release is going to be a gigantic timesink (we should know - less work got done at Candystand this week precisely because of this game). Clockwords: Prelude is coming to the site, and it's seriously addictive.

Clockwords is part typing game, part tower defense -- you'll need to type as many words as possible to defeat enemy spiders coming to steal your secrets (the story's a little bizarre, but we went with it). Using letters in the chamber will increase the damage you deal. After each level, you'll also have the chance to 'transmute' letters so they are worth more damage each time you use them. 

And like all new Candystand games, you'll be able to earn and show off a brand new gold/silver/bronzeTrophy for doing well. 

"I can just type any random word? This sounds easy."

That's what we thought too, until we realized that coming up with long words on the fly is far more difficult than it initially looks. At one point, six of us were gathered around a computer yelling words/themes out ("Types of Diseases!" "Dinosaurs!" "Members of the Village People!") -- quite a sight to behold. 

Check out the video below for a quick peek at the game before it launches on our site on Monday. 

Candystand Guests on AOL Games' Weekly Podcast!

You may or may not know, but before I came over to Candystand this month, I was an assistant editor for AOL Games' casual/social games blog and co-hosted their weekly podcast, the AOL Gameshow. The team was gracious enough to invite me back as a guest last week, where we talked about a wide variety of games and I was able to plug some of our popular titles including Electric Box and Tennis Stars Cup. 

Check out the video below, and let us know what you think! With any luck, we'll be invited back to record with them again soon.

Preview: Picma on Candystand

Our new game launching tomorrow: Picma! It's a classic puzzle game known by many other names (Picross, Paint by Numbers, Japanese Crosswords, etc) with a simple premise: complete the image in each grid by filling in the correct squares. The number of squares in each row/column is indicated on the side of the grid (it's like the answer to the puzzle is already there... except it's not actually that easy!). Check out the screens below to get a taste of the game.

   

We'll be launching Picma live on the site tomorrow morning, so make sure you check back and play! Like all of our new games, you'll be able to win tickets and a gold/silver/bronze trophy for playing, too. Here's what they new trophies look like: 

New Blog Coming Soon!

Sorry for the lack of updates this week - we're hard at work on the brand new Candystand blog! Here's what you'll find when we relaunch in a few weeks:

• More previews of upcoming games - videos, screens and details about the newest free flash games to join the Candystand lineup.
• News - we'll be rounding up the most important flash, online and casual gaming news relevant to you.
• Easier commenting - we'll be implementing a new comment system that lets you leave hassle-free comments with almost any type of login.
• Cleaner design - we cleaned up a few areas for you to find our blog content more easily.

And last but not least...

• Labs! - we won't be fully rolling out this feature for a few weeks, but prepare to have your mind blown when it does! We'll be setting up brand new games right on the blog for you to test out - the best ones will be brought over to the main Candystand site, where they'll be integrated into your profiles and potentially include Trophies and Tickets, too! We're super excited about this new feature and hope to bring you dozens of fresh new games in the coming weeks.

The image up top is a quick wireframe peek at what we're working on.

This Week in Games, Oct. 19 - 23

Your weekly wrap-up of casual, social and video gaming news. Got a news tip? Send it to robin@funtank.com! 

Game Releases

Candystand's Tennis Stars Cup launched this week! The 3D tennis game featuring a tournament mode, two challenge modes and gesture-based mouse controls (click and drag in a curve to put a spin on that tennis ball!) is already getting leaderboard junkies twitching - can you get a gold trophy and beat the current high score of 92,795? 

Borderlands, a first-person shooter/role-playing hybrid video game, debuted on the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles (PC version delayed until next week). The demand for the game seemed to take publisher 2K by surprise -- many frustrated gamers reported the game sold out on the first day at local retailers. Why all the hype? It could be the game's near-limitless number of weapons, thanks to a random gun-generation system. 

Popular music-rhythm series Rock Band hit iPhones and iPod Touches this week to the tune of $9.99 - many critics praised the gameplay while decrying the relatively high price tag. The App Store download features four-player local multiplayer via Bluetooth, twenty songs (more available for purchase) and the Rock Band gameplay/interface favored by wannabe rockers and party hosts alike. 

Lastly, EA's perennial football game broke sales records during its first week of release in European countries, and finally made its way to stateside retailers this week. Nope, it's not Madden, we're talking about the other football -- soccer. That's right, FIFA 10 is out! 

News

Brand new PC operating system Windows 7 launched this week - so what does it mean for casual gaming? For one, the new Game Explorer highlights all the games you've installed as well as new updates available for them. Even better? Windows 7 supports touch-input -- it might not be long before you see touch-and-play games along the lines of Nintendo DS and iPhone titles right on your desktop. 

As we wrote about earlier this week, sales for a little independent game called World of Goo went through the roof when developer 2D Boy announced that in celebration of the game's one-year anniversary, customers could get the game for any price they chose. Surprisingly, a not-insignificant amount of people actually chose to pay more than the PayPal minimum of one cent. 

Rounding out the week's big news - utterly addictive strategy game Civilization is coming to Facebook! No details yet on what we'll be doing in the game, but revered game creator Sid Meier says it'll debut sometime in 2010. If time-sucking social games like Farmville and Mafia Wars are any indication of Civ's gameplay, you can kiss our social lives goodbye when it launches.