Electric Box on iPhone Getting Five Free New Levels!

As they say, you can never have enough of a good thing! And in the case of iPhone/iPod Touch owners, the good thing comes in the form of a brand-new level pack for our popular App Store game, Electric Box! The downloadable game came with 50 levels originally, which we updated in September to include ten more levels. 

We're happy to announce that we've just submitted an update for Electric Box that will add five new levels to the game, bringing the grand total to **65** brainbending physics puzzles in one sweet game. Did we mention that this update is free to all paid owners of the game? 

You can head over to our Facebook fan page to check out a sneak peek of all five new levels. No spoilers, though! We're only showing you the puzzle, not the solution or the items you'll use on each level. ;D

The update is currently undergoing review by Apple, and we're hoping that it will be available by the end of the week. If you've already bought a copy of Electric Box, the update will show up in the 'Applications' section of your iTunes Library when it is released. 

If you haven't bought a copy... what exactly are you waiting for? There's a free demo version with 10 levels if you're risk-averse, and we bet you'll be jonesing for more when those are done. 

Don't have an iPhone or iPod Touch? You can play Electric Box right on Candystand.com! Additional user-generated levels are available, too. 

This Week in Games, Oct. 26 - 30

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

Game Releases

Our crossword/paint by numbers brainteaser, Picma, launched this week! We've shaved a few years off our life by trying to crack the image in each of the game's 100+ puzzles. Have you played yet? 

Move over Guitar Hero, DJ Hero's arrived. The newest game to feature a plastic peripheral, DJ Hero lets you live out your record-spinning party-rocking dreams -- with 80 mashup songs and a turntable, the only thing we're missing is a pair of gigantic headphones to clutch while we're bobbing our heads to the beat. 

The last episode of Grand Theft Auto IV has arrived on the Xbox Live Marketplace and retail stores. The Ballad of Gay Tony extends the storyline of the main game, following new protagonist Luis Lopez as he navigates the glitz and glamour of Liberty City. Among other things, the expansion features base-jumping and tank-driving. Yeah, it's pretty cool. 

Racing devotees got Forza Motorsport 3 this week, a driving game featuring hyper-realistic cars, tons of customization and a built-in video editor. Decals, tuned setups and videos created can also be downloaded and shared (even sold!) with the game's storefront. Earning money by creating content for a popular 360 game? Sounds like our life goal!

News

Mashable's Open Web Awards are now open for nomations! You know who could use a nomination? Candystand for the 'Most Creative Use of Facebook Connect' category! You can vote once a day -- so please do!

You might be trick-or-treating tomorrow night, but what will you do during the day? Games.com and Gamezebo's Halloween casual game roundups might just be the thing to tie you over. 

Changes are coming to Facebook which may change the way social gamers are notified of activities in and around games such as Mafia Wars, Farmville and Pet Society. The social network's messaging system will be used for communication between users (invitations to games, gifts, etc) while email will be used for interactions between application developers and users. Games will also get their own section on a redesigned homepage. 

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. 

How much would you pay for a game you could get for one cent?

Last week, indie developer 2D Boy announced that to celebrate the one-year anniversary of their award-winning game, World of Goo, they would let customers set their own price for the downloadable version on Windows, Mac and Linux, usually valued at $20. 

Cynics predicted that most people would pay the minimum PayPal allowed, one cent -- but it turns out many people were willing to pay more even when they didn't have to (and even when the game was readily available on torrent sites). Survey data they collected indicated that most people paid what they were able to afford, not necessarily what they perceived the value of the game to be. 

What could this mean for free-to-play or microtransaction-based models of gaming? Does it speak to customers' support of indie developers in particular? What are people willing to pay (monetary or otherwise) for a good gaming experience? How important is quality (art and aesthetics) versus length? 

We have a similar game to World of Goo on our site -- BridgeCraft -- but of course, instead of paying to play the game, advertisers pay for real estate in and around the game (although we suppose you 'pay' by allowing advertisers to inundate your mind with subliminal messaging...).

This brings up the question of whether BridgeCraft would work as a downloadable title. What if you were allowed to choose your own price to play the game instead of watching advertisements? How much would the game be worth? Are you willing to pay more than you technically have to? 

As online gaming grows both on casual gaming portals such as Candystand and on networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo (all of which support popular social games) -- types of games that people have not traditionally paid out-of-pocket for, what types of content will they be willing to pay for? 

Hidden Object Game Legend of the Golden Mask Launches!

We launched our hidden object game, Legend of the Golden Mask, less than a week ago, and it's already been played over 130,000 times! The game challenges you to find items throughout exotic South America while solving the mystery behind your grandfather's diary. What makes this hidden object game different than others out there? You can play the full game without having to download a thing (we like this a lot).

From Jay Is Games' Review:

While not as long as a full-sized downloadable game, Legend of the Golden Mask is a complete adventure, a perfect way to while away an afternoon, or a coffee break. Ultimately a fun, casual gameplay experience can be had by all.

Unigamsity says: 

All in all, Candystand manages to deliver flash game fans, as well as casual players an incredible product that can be played completely free of charge. And we’re not talking about a demo or a trial, but a full, high quality game. And I am sure that if there were more developers like Candystand, we could be playing all our favorite games for free.

Have you played Legend of the Golden Mask yet? What do you think of the game?