Jenkat Games or Jencat Games, call us whatever makes you feel good!

After several delays we now have much of the new site in place. We’ll have more info on everything that was added later today, but for now, here’s a quick overview:

- A new user Profile Page named “My Profile”
- A new header, showing you your wink total and how many friends are online
- The ability to add friends and track their high scores and winks
- The ability to see your high scores, your friends’ high scores, and much more
- The ability to message your friends and challenge them
- Your favorite games and your most recently played games

Also coming soon is a new JenkatGames.com Store, which will feature merchandise with characters from your favorite Jenkat games! Again, more to come later today, but for now, if you find any issues with any of the new functionality, please either post them in the comments below, or submit them via our support page. Thanks!

Dr. Jones?  Famous exlporer?  I think George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford gonna sue somebody!  

So our friends at NevoSoft have released their new game and Jenkat is one of the first to feature it.  Laura Jones and the Gates of Good & Evil kind of feels a little like Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider (Lara Craft).  In fact, if you combine Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, you might get La(u)ra Jones.  Interesting.

Would you have guessed that Laura Jones would be anything but a hidden-object game, plus it has a cool name like “the Gates of Good & Evil” - Snazzy.

Laura Jones and the Gates of Good & Evil Game
http://www.jenkatgames.com/download/Laura-Jones-and-the-Gates-of-Good-and-Evil/

Oh boy, Jovi will like this news - She’s a big fan of Heart (aka Ann & Nancy Wilson). 

Heart: In the Studio, written by biographer Jake Brown, with exclusive interview contributions from Heart principles Ann and Nancy Wilson, fellow band members, as well as all of the groups producers, chronicles the behind-the-scenes story of the hit-making process.  Included are the stories behind such classic-and-pop-rock staples as ˜Magic Man, ˜Crazy On You, ˜Barracuda, ˜Straight On, ˜These Dreams, ˜Alone, ˜All I Wanna Do (Is Make Love to You), and countless others over 3 decades and 30 million+ albums sold. Heart is still beloved by rock fans worldwide, and this summer is co-headlining a tour with fellow classic-rock legend Journey, as well as working on material for a new studio album, due in 2009, in time with the bands rumored pending-induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

James Patterson is a busy guy these days.  Not only is he the creator of Women’s Murder Club on ABC, he has also dipped his name into the casual gaming world with the new Women’s Murder Club - Death In Scarlet.

I personally don’t know too much about James Patterson, just that he’s been around forever, so he must be a popular writer.  I’ve seen parts of Kiss The Girls, one of his books that became a movie and starred Morgan Freeman. 

Working the causual games industry, I know a lot of companies have been shy about putting the word “murder” into the title of their game name.  Looks like we’ve broken through that barrier. 

Give Women’s Murder Club a try - It looks like its very popular with other Jenkat’r’s!

Women’s Murder Club - Death In Scarlet Download
http://www.jenkatgames.com/download/Womens-Murder-Club-Death-in-Scarlet/

Who would have thought that President Bush is actually the Great Communicator…

Hey Barack, you better stick to the teleprompter. 

Our friends at Grubby Games, famous for developing games that your kids and grandkids will love, have just released a brand new game called The Amazing Brain Train.  The good thing about the casual games sector is that most of the games are rated PG when it comes to content.   Making a game that’s not only G rated, but also appealing to kids and adults is very hard, but some companies have pulled that off.  I like to think we did that with Finders Keepers, but I digress.

As for The Amazing Brain Train, it’s definitely a game that you can play with your kids.  I played the game with my eight-year-old niece and she loved it.  Check it out when you want to spend some quality time with the kids - not only will they love the game, they’ll love that you’re playing it with them.

The Amazing Brain Train Download
http://www.jenkatgames.com/download/The-Amazing-Brain-Train/

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the new AC/DC album, their first since 200o’s Stiff Upper Lip, will be an exclusive to Wal-Mart when it arrives this fall.  The band is currently in Vancouver recording the album with producer Brendon O’Brien (Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam).

AC/DC will follow The Eagles, Bryan Adams and most recently Journey as artists who’ve made their albums exclusively available for the retail giant.  The Eagles reportedly sold amost three million albums via Wal-Mart and the new Journey album is on its way to 100,000 already, after only week.  Impressive for Journey, considering that their previous album didn’t sell that many copies and has been out several years.

I’m looking forward to the AC/DC record and maybe seeing them on tour.  Or a live DVD. 

Our friends at PopCap Games have just released Mystery P.I. - The Vegas Heist and Jenkat Games is now featuring the game.  I remember watching the movie Swingers, that stars Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, and while they’re walking through a casino in Vegas, they comment to each other that filmmakers are nuts to try and film inside a casino.   I found that funny and if you don’t know, casino’s do not allow any kind of cameras inside their doors.

As a result, not too many movies and games are set in casinos.  However, Mystery P.I. - The Vegas Heist is breaks the mold.  In fact, I believe this is only the 2nd game in the casual game world to be set in Vegas.  The first is a game near and dear to my heart - Gold Miner: Vegas.  GMV is a game that I developed while at MySpace/Fox.  Since then, the assets for GMV have been sold off to another company.  And when it all comes down, I think I like Finders Keepers more now.

Mystery P.I. - The Vegas Heist Game
http://www.jenkatgames.com/download/Mystery-PI-The-Vegas-Heist/

While I never slept on New Kids on the Block pillowcase or anything,  back in the late 80’s/early 90’s (I can and will now shamefully admit that) I thought member Jonathan Knight was a tasty teen dream back then, and that I seriously could not get their hit song “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” out of my head for like, a year.

So, today I see a story that the New Kids are currently making plans to tour, and have recorded a new single called “Summertime” - in spite of their silly band name that was chosen without any consideration or plan for musical longevity. 

I jumped on the NKOTB Official MySpace to find the song and give it a listen, hoping that the track would be filled with the glorious pop hooks, dance beats and melodies of old.  Alas, ’twas not to be.  I am more thana little disappointed - maybe they should have head-hunted Timbaland to collaborate with them… You may speak with a crazy British accent, but you are a thinking diva, Madonna.  Just saying, Timbaland is King Midas when it comes to keeping artists that should by now be considered “has-beens”, relevant. 

Maybe it’s because I currently have my house on the market - but these guys all look like real estate agents to me now.  Jonathan isn’t exactly my type anymore, either - he’s just a little too pretty for my tastes.  Give me furry and funny over pretty and plastic any day!

Just wondering if anyone out there has plans to re-live their first boy band obsession by seeing these guys on tour?  If so, we expect a review! 

Would you believe that the temperature in Colorado Springs (a.k.a., the location of the Jenkat Games bunker) is only 41 degrees today?  It’s dreary and wet, and I am in no mood for it.    I must be lacking in Vitamin D.

And to make matters worse, my allergies appear to be out of control today - the runny nose, scratchy throat, watery eyes, the whole deal.  Doesn’t that just figure?  Ah well, at least this little guy can relate.  And since my mom is in town visiting Jenkat headquarters, I can sneak up behind her just when I am about to sneeze, and get my jollies at the expense of her similar reaction:

*Chuckle*