OnlineMindPuzzles.com

Casual gaming, most especially among women is on the rise. And even though Nickelodeon’s plans include expansion into other markets, there is an interesting shift happening that is starting to draw a variety of demographics. The shift includes seeing a trend in creating games centered around current events and news. The idea is that if the games are centered around things like this, it will promote social awareness and change, as well as help educate people.

The big shots are starting to shift their thinking in game creation. Instead of looking at a game as a product that gets created, sold and shipped they are looking at it instead as a media that is consumed, much in the way television is, except it has an interactive twist.

Take Nickelodeon. They have produced some games that have gone on to become viral hits, and many are games that spoof on current events, and promote awareness of culture. Gaming is now being tied into pop culture, and sending gaming out of the category of product and into the category of mass media instead.

News centered games are created around a sensitive subject and designed to provoke thought. Usually they are created within two to four days, and a sleepless night or two. Costs for development can run the range of very cheap, to pretty darn expensive. But budgets are growing because advertisers are starting to jump on the bandwagon, so developers are able to invest more in the content of the games.

Stats show that online gaming sites went from 67 million in December of 2007 to 86 million in December 2008. Even casual games like Solitaire and Tetris have surged up in popularity for many users. Instead of games being something only the gaming geeks did, online games are becoming more and more prevalent and a staple of the new pop culture and it’s habits, especially with the mobility now of the Internet. Who knew?

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Generally speaking, flowers, chocolates, and moonlit walks on the beach are considered romantic by young couples and old alike, all around the world. However, everyone is different, and one couple was drawn together by their love of math and puzzles, and has channeled that love into a website that is now picking up quite a bit of traffic and visitors!

Mathdoku.com is the online version of KenKen, which is a variant of Sudoku. Math puzzles really, in laymens terms! The site offers several different types of math puzzles, and they start out with fairly simple puzzles in 4×4 blocks, that only use the numbers 1- 4, and work up to puzzles that use 8×8 blocks.

Currently the site is now offering close to 1,500 puzzles, and receives almost 15,000 puzzle lovers daily. Players currently are timed on each puzzle, and the site offers hints to those that find themselves stumped for an answer. It also checks for correct answers, keeping players on track.

Another unique feature to Mathdoku.com is that instead of just offering up one puzzle a day, like you would get if you were playing the puzzle in an off line newspaper or something, you get a randomly generated puzzle selected from one of the many they have available.

There is even a no holds barred special op puzzle, called a no- op that hides the math to make it tougher for the player. As to the owners of the site, while they think Sudoku has already hit it’s peak of sorts with popularity, Kendoku’s future looks quite bright. The websites traffic did a pretty big spike in fact, up to 28,000 visitors when the New York Times started featuring a KenKen puzzle on it’s puzzle page.

So, while Mathdoku.com was born of love and romance, it is sustaining itself with solid growth and numbers, and is the next big thing in online puzzles and gaming. Ready to drop by and test your brain skills?

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On line games are becoming ever more popular in todays high tech world. There are on line puzzles, on line competitions, on line roleplay, and on line chat. There are gaming applications being created right and left, whether for your iPhone, or in the case of the prodigy I am about to talk about, for social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace.

The latest craze has been invented by a 29 year old creative genius named Keith Schacht who has been starting and growing several on line businesses for over a decade now.

So what is this creative phenomenon? Crafted Fun Inc, which is simply on line games that are played within Facebook and other similar social networks. Two you may recognize are ‘Growing Gifts’ and ‘Hatching Eggs’, that are currently getting about 4 million hits per month.

4 million hits per month translates into a pretty hefty amount of ad revenue for a 3 man operation, whose sole focus is on the next great game they will be creating! In 2005 Keith was named one of ‘The Top Entrepreneurs Under 25′ in Business Week, and with Crafted Fun Inc, is gearing up to becoming a real media mogul in this day and age.

So how is it they are so successful? Simple market research and testing. Within a matter of weeks their operation knows whether or not a game will be a hit or not, and if an application isn’t up to snuff and doesn’t take off like they want, it is killed right away and they are on to the next great app. The ones that prove popular are then virtually syndicated and rerun for profit.

So what’s next for Crafted Fun Inc? Future plans and financial information is being kept pretty carefully under wraps at the moment, but regardless, Keith is still dedicated to supporting his followers and tries to share his knowledge and expertise when possible. So I guess we will all just have to wait and see!

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The Australian Open is a great tournament for tennis fans. Lots of tennis action going on, smacking the ball back and forth, you know, TENNIS stuff! Tennis advocates love the sport simply because to them, it’s a mind game. But what happens when the tournaments over, and there is no more action going on?

Enter TennisPuzzles.com. The site is intended for die hard tennis fans to play free interactive games like tournament themed cross word puzzles, word searches, and wordoku. The games can be printed out so players can have fun off line as well. Intermission anyone?

So what’s the draw exactly? Well, like I said, tennis is a mind game to many. So these tournament themed crosswords, word searches, etc are a great way for tennis players to keep their minds sharp and in tip top shape, as well as bone up on a bit of tennis history and trivia. What an entertaining way to study right? Too bad school work isn’t as entertaining for us!

The site currently features puzzles which give the player clues about the seasons first major. Matt Gaffney authors all three types of puzzles for the Tennis Wire Network exclusively. He has also written The Complete Idiots Guide To Crossword Puzzles And Word Games, among other things if you are interested! They are a great marketing feature for tennis companies looking to spread the word about their products and services to consumers.

They can get the word out by sponsoring a puzzle, and when they do that the puzzle gets logo branding, and customized clues. Pretty neat right? Fans of the puzzles can hold mini competitions between family and friends to feed their need for friendly competition, and exercise their brain at the same time.

So, if puzzles happen to be your thing, and you love tennis, run check out www.tennispuzzles.com. And check out the Tennis Wire Network, this site is only one in several related to the love of all things tennis!

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Doko, a new game from dokodrop.com put out by Mammoth Brand, is an interesting new game for the tween set ages 6-13 that looks like it could be the next Pokemon craze if enough interest is garnered. It’s a bit of a cross between a trading game and an online game.

The idea is to collect what is called Doko disks and earn points for them. Every time you get a new disk, you register it online and snag some points. The Doko disk can then be traded up to five times. Each person who registers it after you also snags some points, as well as sending an extra few points your way. Sort of like multi level marketing in a way.

Currently you can trade up Doko points for actual goods. While the selection at the moment isn’t huge, with enough interest and popularity that would definitely change! You have to register online and choose a unique user name and password which is how you log in to track your points.

So how do you snag some Doko disk tokens? Currently the company is hiding them in plain view in public places like parks and things. So take a peek around, you just might find one. Otherwise, they are releasing them in May to Toys R Us and other toys stores. Retail price is $7.99. You will also be able to purchase them online as well.

It could be a great little way to get kids interacting and trading with each other. The premise is that you can trade them all over the world, and you never know when the Doko disk you happen to nab has been to China and back. Each disk has a serial number and each time it’s registered it records the location. So you can go online and see where it’s been once you have one!

It’s a pretty neat idea and it will be interesting to see how much it grows. Although personally I can’t see myself paying $7.99 for a little Doko token. My kids will just have to seek out the free ones!

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Games are good for kids? This is news you probably didn’t expect to hear! It’s true, the MacArthurer foundation has come out with a new study that shows just that. It seems that social networks and online games can help increase social skills, research skills, and the general knowledge of technology. Since that’s the way our society is headed these days, it might become more crucial than ever that kids keep on playing.

On the flip side, if children don’t have access to online games and social networks they are going to lack the skills that are needed to get on in the world as computers become more prevalent at home, at school, and in the workplace. The problem lies not with the fact that we are becoming so digital, but in teachers and parents who stop at nothing to keep their kids from playing online games.

It’s no surprise- the older generation simply didn’t grow up this way. The trouble is that children and teens really do need these skills or they will be held back socially and technologically in their lives.

Some children become so good at using video games, computers, and the Internet that they gain the skills that will help them get a great job after school. Building webpages and tweaking game code are skills that are incredibly high in demand and will be in increasing amounts.

This study concludes that schools, teachers, and parents basically need to loosen the strict guidelines that hold students back from playing games and joining sites like MySpace and Facebook. Of course, this does not mean that safety is not an issue! While children need to be able to join and explore these sites, it is still up to the parent to make sure they are safe at all times. Monitoring your child is the best way to ensure this safety.

The next time you’re tempted to tell your kid to turn it off and get to learning, take a second and think about the skills they are really going to need to make it through life. Homework is important, but so is becoming adept with technology.

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If you’re on the lookout for free online games, you’ll love Miniclip games. This is actually the world’s largest games site for online games. There is no shortage of fun to be had at this website.

If you decide to go and play at Miniclip.com, you won’t be alone. There are upwards of 43 millio
n users who come to play every single month. That is an astonishing figure full of people from all around the world.

The reason for its popularity is simple. There are a wide variety of games offered and they are free. Also, all you need to play is an Internet connection. This puts games in the hands of people who can’t afford gaming consoles and the high prices of buying games for those consoles.

You don’t even need to download the games.

They play directly in your Web browser. This means that you’ll need to load them up each time, but if you have a fast Internet connection, then It’s not much of an issue at all.

One thing that sets Miniclip games apart from many other online games sites is the quality of games. It doesn’t matter which game you pick, the chances are good that you’ll get a game that is free of bugs and is really fun to play.

Some examples of popular Miniclip games include Sudoku, “Motor Monkey”, and “Club Penguin”. That barely scratches the surface though, as there are literally hundreds of different games at Miniclip.com!

Playing Miniclip games is a great way to spend your time. All you need to do is put the site up in your Web browser and you can play all the games you want for hours on end. You’ll wonder how you ever lived without Miniclip games before and It will be hard to pull yourself away from all the fun!

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