Playing commercial puzzle games is a good idea, but sometimes you just get that urge to play something a little closer to home - homebrew that is. Speaking of which, French developer bobthetouriste has designed a puzzle game by the name of 1..100. Find out more about it in the full article after the jump.


Download: 1...100

Up for a bit of mind-bending homebrew puzzle games? PlayStation Portable developer EvilDooinz has released a new homebrew game called SudokuZen. As the name suggests, it's based on numbers logic game that at one point or another, turned our brains to mush.

Check out the full article for more info about this release.




Download: SudokuZen v1.0 (FW 1.50)
Download: SudokuZen v1.0 (CFW 3.xx)

Where else can you play Sudoku with a martial arts twist? The best part is, it's going to the handhelds - PSP and DS. Zendoku promises some pretty interesting (albeit mind bending) gameplay.

Zendoku from Zoonami and Eidos looks fun and will definitely give players' gray matters working overtime. The minigames and the puzzles themselves look challenging. The characters are varied from the samurai Musashi, the Kendo master Sakura, the sumo wrestler Yatta, fencer Lorraine, the ninja Kingkage and the others. The trailers also show the training mode with the master. The classic Sudoku game is also in attendance, along with the game's grid game of symbols instead.

There hasn't been any official announcements as to Zendoku's release, but it was said to expect it this year. Might as well check out the screens and trailers while you're waiting. Enjoy!

Some more videos and a whole lot of screens at Full Article!

Zendoku for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Nintendo DS (DS), simply put, is a logic-based puzzle game Sudoku with a karate twist. It's not hard at all to understand but what's curious is the idea behind this game. Gaming site Pocket Gamer recently sat down with game developer Martin Hollis to find out once and for all.

Hollis, at the beginning of the interview, jokingly mentioned that Sudoku needs ninjas and that's all the explanation the fans will ever need. And then he commented that it is Zoonami Ltd.'s priority to come up with good and unique video games. He admitted that there were a lot of bumps along the way and the title wasn't really intended for the handhelds. Hollis remarked,

We've made a large number of game prototypes on a variety of platforms and learned a lot along the way, but unfortunately struggled to find development deals that were right for us. With Zendoku, we didn't decide specifically to make a DS or a PSP game. The important thing for us is to make a good game and choose the right platform for it.

And we believe that it has all the potential to become a great game. Instead of numbers, players will be matching up colorful symbols in Zendoku. Aside from the puzzle game, there are various characters available with his own unique graphics, themes and storylines.

"Every time you complete a row, column, or 3x3 box on the sudoku grid, you launch an attack on your opponent. You also launch an attack when you fill in all nine of one symbol," Martin Hollis explains. Speaking of attacks, take note that these can be blocked provided that your character's lucky symbol is quickly placed on the grid.

Aside from the head-to-head combat, there is also a single player mode where everything is the same except the your opponent now is time. Accordingly, placing the lucky symbols on the grid will stop the clock momentarily. Even though Zendoku wasn't originally planned for the handhelds, Martin Hollis believes that it is a match made in heaven,

Zendoku is perfect for DS because it's a vibrant, colourful, fun Nintendo-style game. The sudoku gameplay is perfect for the stylus and the attacks are more fun on the DS with a stylus than without. Equally, we feel PSP definitely needs more fun, casual games that are pick-up-and-play, so we've developed another version of Zendoku especially for it.

For those who may be looking for yet another new twist to the classic Sudoku games, then Zendoku would be just right up your alley. Developed by Zoonami and published by Eidos Interactive for both PSP and DS, Zendoku is set to be released sometime this year, and is expected to be a great addition to a lot of puzzle lovers' game libraries.

In Zendoku, symbols instead of numbers are used to either "defend from" or "attack" an opponent. However, the exact mechanics of this feature are yet to be explained by the devs, and we are left wondering if perhaps this game will be the Sudoku version of that OTHER popular puzzle-battle-RPG game, Puyo Puyo.

Peppered with oriental themes and whimsical bits of martial arts, Zendoku offers players an option of either going on a single-player quest, or going on multiplayer mode and battling it out with an opponent.

While we wait for more details about this game to surface, here's the latest batch of screenshots that we can enjoy for now.

In line with its preparations for releasing its Zendoku game for the PSP and DS this year, Eidos Interactive has set up a web site containing information players will want to know before they start playing the game. The Zendoku site will carry game-centric goodies like details on gameplay tutorials, gameplay modes, character biographies, and also carries media trinkets like downloadable wallpapers, character art, and a gameplay trailer to give people an idea of how Zendoku's action handles.

Unfortunately, the site's unavailable at the moment (site maintenance, apparently), although we're more than happy to explain what the game's all about. Zendoku is a Sudoku-based puzzle action game developed by Zoonami.

Instead of using numbers, however, Zendoku instead uses symbols and icons, along with a light-hearted martial arts theme (the name Musashi should have given that away...) to give gamers a comical and fun atmosphere to play in. Slap on the multiplayer feature, and you can imagine why the PSP and DS owners on our side are getting excited as well. If that wasn't quite enough information for you guys, we also have some screenshots for both PSP and DS versions of the game down below. Happy viewing!

The rest of Zendoku's DS screenshots at full article.

Not really a big bit of news, but just in case you're part of the Sudoku craze, IGN reports that the PS2, PSP, and PC version of Empire Interactive's Sudoku, Carol Vorderman Sudoku, should be shipping in North America today.

Just in case you're not familiar with who the hell Carol Vorderman is, Vorderman is sort of the Josh Waitzkin/Bobby Fischer of UK Sudoku. She's a math guru/television celebrity in the UK, so it makes sense for Eidos to attach her name to puzzle game.

The game is set to offer over a million puzzles and live-action FMV tutorials and tips.

If you're a Sudoku addict or you're eager to learn, a trip to retail for this product may be just what you need. If you're short on cash, just wait for a homebrew Sudoku game for the PSP, and then Google up tutorials or something, unfortunately, that route won't lead to FMV videos of Vorderman  ...sigh.

With the game's release just a few winks away, it won't be long before Carol Vorderman's Sudoku and the pretty MENSA genius make their way into your handhelds. But for the time being, let's try to shift our attention away from the pretty lady and on to the essence of the game...the Sudoku puzzles themselves.

For those who disagree and say that Carol IS the essence of the game, well, we won't try and argue. But you should know that in dealing with smart (and beautiful) ladies, you're gonna need to work your intellectual *ahem* facilities for you to even have a chance. And with this Sudoku 101 vid of sorts, not only will you get to see and listen to Carol as she talks you through the history and origins of the classic game, you'll also be feeding your minds fellas. See how it's a win-win situation? Harhar.

So anyway, if you're thinking of getting a Sudoku primer, why not get it from someone who has an IQ of 154 and is easy on the eyes (to say the least)? That way, you'll be all primed and prepped up when the game hits shelves March 6th. Enjoy the vid!

So you've met Carol Vorderman, huh? We're sure you won't mind seeing her again. After all, she's got the looks and the brains! But while you've only met her via our posts, why don't you go train your brain for a bit with Carol Vorderman's Sudoku? After all, you'd probably need to be witty to be able to come up to, strike, and maintain a sensible conversation with someone like her who's got an IQ of 154.

While you've still got time (game gets released on March 6th), check out these screenshots first. See what you're getting yourself into, and what's up for you in it. Keep it here for more updates!

More screens after the jump!

 

Any Sudoku fans out there? EvilDooinz just released Nanpure Rev 5, which is a follow-up for his much-enjoyed Nanpure homebrew game. Given that the game's already pretty solid, he's added a couple of extras to the game's layout:

• Add 3 new modes to display icons, colors and patterns.
• Compiled images into eboot and loaded them from ram.
• Another new theme.

As for the nitty-gritty on how to install and play the game, check out the README files enclosed in either bundle. For those asking, Sudoku is played accordingly, courtesy of Wikipedia:

The objective is to fill the 9x9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3x3 boxes contains the digits 1 to 9. The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid so that there is only one solution.

Enjoy the game, which should activate your pre-frontal cortex. Kidding. It's still fun, though.

Download [Nanpure R5 1.5]
Download [Nanpure R5 1.0]