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The studios of Armor Games are a few days away from a new release. The game is codenamed Bunker but it will carry a different name upon release.

Developer comments from the Armor Blog: ‘Joey and I have been working on this game for quite a while and we’re really getting into the nitty-gritty of testing and balancing the game at the moment. But for now, we have a few screenshots of the gameplay. The gameplay is very cannon-shooting-other-cannons, but the game is all real-time in-rounds so you have to keep aiming, shooting, and defending yourself as you go. This isn’t turn-based combat!’ Sounds familiar, but with a few new features this could be very surprising.

A realtime cannon war game is what we make of it at this moment. Beneath are some screenshots and we are quite interested in how this action-packed game will stand out from the rest in its category. The visuals looks good and hopefully the gameplay will satisfy, stay tuned the coming days!

Another update on Hero Interactive’s new title: Bubble Tanks Arenas. This time they have released a question and answer interview with regard to various aspects of the game. Read it below!

Hi everyone, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on this blog myself! But rest assured that I’m always on here and I read each and every comment (true story). Since I’ve seen hundreds of comments in response to our upcoming game, Bubble Tanks Arenas, I thought I’d step in and try to address a number of those.

Q. When is BTA going to be released? Hurry up already!

A. Right now we don’t have a release date set and we’re too far out to give one. We’ve recently moved from the design and pre-production stage and into full blown development. During this time you’ll start to get more information such as screenshots, videos, etc… We joke that the release date will be in 2012 just to make SURE we’ll have the game released before when we promise, but realistically I think we’re looking at about 2 months yet before the game is out. Making these games is hard work!

Q. What’s with the “time permitting” comments in the feature specs? You should spend as long as you need to to make the game the best ever!

A. While we agree that we definitely want to make BTA the best possible game it can be, we also like to have food on our table and a roof to sleep under. Hero Interactive is a business, this is our only job, we do it all day every day. Many players assume all flash game developers create the games as a hobby in their spare time, but for us it’s our job. If we don’t get a game out, we don’t get paid.

The truth is, if we spent as much time as we wanted putting in every single feature we ever thought of and liked, we’d never release the game at all- we’re always coming up with new and better features we’d love to put in there.

Bubble Tanks 2 had somewhere around 30 weapons (including the secondary special abilities). That’s a lot, and we hope to get many of those into BTA. If we have enough time, we’d like to add a few new ones as well. If adding new weapons means we’re going to add another month to our schedule, we’d rather get the game out sooner. And of course, there’s always the possibility of a BT3…

Q. Will you be able to change the colors of your tank? Will the game be a different color than blue?

A. BTA will be colored in a red/purplish theme, differing from our traditional blue. While we have considered allowing players to change the colors of their tanks or background, we’ve decided against this feature as a) we’re worried about an inconsistent mish-mash of colors that would result and hurt our eyes and b) because adding this feature would greatly lengthen the amount of time to develop the game. So the tank/background colors will be different than blue this time around, but you won’t be able to custom color anything.

Q. You should make the tank editor allow you to purchase upgrades for your tank or use my awesome ___ idea!

A. We want to make tank creation as easy as possible. You drag bubbles onto the creator screen and drop them where you’d like. Making your tank bigger will make it slower, but it will give you extra armor and open up heavier weapons. Keeping your tank smaller will give you less armor, but you’ll be much faster and agile. To place weapons, simply select them from our list and drag and drop them onto your tank. Worried about keeping your tank looking symmetric? Just check a box and placing a bubble on one side of the tank will also place one on the other side to keep it looking even. It’s that simple.

Q. Will we be able to design our own weapons?

A. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to create your own weapons. First of all, outside of the art, the programming for game weapons is very complicated. Creating this feature would take a very long time and the end result would be too complicated for most casual players to enjoy. Also, in order to keep the game balanced we need to assign costs to weapons so that you’re amply rewarded for your bubble blasting skills!

The wait for Gemcraft Chapter Zero: Gem of Eternity is becoming endless. Initially the game was planned for the end of January, but all we got was an unpleasant silence. Several weeks ago we posted about the delay, on which developer Game in a Bottle commented saying the game is only weeks away.

Three weeks later we are still empty handed, but new rumours have spread on the web. Some sources say it will be released at the start of next week when the GDC 2009, which included the Flash Gaming Summit 2009, is finished. Other sources suggest an early April release as polishing the game takes longer than expected. Another assumable story is that the game is being pushed back because of the release of other anticipated competing titles and this would decrease the attention Gemcraft receives.

We say that nothing can divert the attention of this game. Millions are eagerly awaiting its release and we predict massive gameplay numbers on the first day of release. Take a guess and leave a comment with your predicated release date!

Developer Zeebarf is working day and night but it looks to be having the desired effect. They will be releasing two games in April, one being a totally new game.

Zeebarf announced on their blog today that ‘after months of nothing it looks like I’ll have two games done in April! Programming God Riftmaster is back on the scene coding the ass off of my space game. So right now I’m riding two totally different ideas to the finish line. Be prepared!’ Apparently the art and design on this secret space game is done, but nothing else has been released yet. We are anxiously waiting for the first screenshots and once they’re released you’ll find them here!

The second game planned for April is The Several Journeys of Reemus Chapter 3. Over the past few weeks we already posted a screenshot and the announcement of Reemus 3.

Dark Realm Studios are making a new game called The Farm. It is an action filled defense game with a wide array of crazy enemies. By using the latest in farm weaponry, you will be required to defend your farm and your sheep.

The game is set in a colourful pixel world filled with a wide variety of ridiculous enemies. As the owner of a farm you are responsible for the safety of your sheep. It will be up to you to use all the weapons and technology at your disposal to keep enemies at bay. Dark Realm Studios is well-known for their Pandemic games in which one must evolve as a disease to kill off humanity. The interface of The Farm looks very similar to Pandemic II and hopefully this means it has the same upgrade options to enhance the gameplay and give a new twist to defense games.

Pandemic II reached millions of players, won several awards and was top ranked for a long period. We’ll have to wait whether The Farm can live up to that, but we there’s plenty of potential. Currently, release is planned for late April.

Mud and Blood 2 has received many updates over the last few months. Developer Urban Prophet has released the game in a very early stage last year and is now slowly becoming the intended final product.

According to the developer it will be released for download once the game runs stable. The most recent update was two weeks ago and included new units, buildings and rewards, apart from the usual bug fixes and balance issues.

Many have no doubtly already played this strategy game. It offers unlimited random waves of enemies resulting in new gameplay situations every round. Try surviving as many round as possibe and unlock new features such as extra troops. We’ll keep you informed on future updates, click on the link below to play the latest version of Mud and Blood 2!

Click here to play Mud and Blood 2

Good and bad news for strategy fanatics. Starting with the good news, developer Urbansquall is working on two new additions for the Battalion series. The bad news is that there is no release date mentioned yet.

Battalion: Ghosts will go on where Battalion: Nemesis left off, by continuing the battle between the insidious Akadians and the struggling Northern Federation. Battalion: Vengeance will be the third and final game in the three part singleplayer series and will conclude the story with an epic showdown between the Akadians and the Northern Federation’s allies. Not much will change to the gameplay, which in this case is a good thing.

Since the previous Battalion game was applauded by many for its gameplay and quality, we have high expectations of the upcoming two games. We can’t wait!

Click here to play Battalion: Nemesis at Kongregate

It’s a quiet week as most developers are off to San Francisco to attend the GDC. One of the events was the Flash Gaming Summit 2009 last Sunday. Although few releases, some games are crawling up the ranks and ratings on various arcade websites.

One of them is Death vs. Monstars and developer GameReclaim explaisn it as: ‘a super-frantic, super-intense manic arena shooter. Death vs. Monstars introduces two unique things. First the not-so traditional control scheme. Don’t worry, You’ll get used to it and after that it’s much better than the old ‘wasd + mouse’. The other is the engine. It can move up to 1000 stuff on-screen with ease on a decent pc. Well I never saw anything like that before in a flash game anyway’.

It has made the frontpage of Kongregate and has reached over a million players already. It really is a very nice looking and fun-packed fast paced shooter. The visual style is very pleasing and all-in-all the game feels very polished, try it out yourself!

Click here to play Death vs. Monstars at Kongregate

Thing-Thing Arena 3 has been out for almost three weeks and it looks like it will surpass its prequel on all fronts. Initial reactions have been positive and the game has made it to the frontpage of Armor Games.

By now it has had over a million gameplays and developer Diseased Productions can sit back and see it spread over the web. Their blog says the following about the game: ‘A long time coming, Thing-Thing Arena 3 is finally here. This game has a totally new take on the TTA series and scores you on style rather than body count. New levels, weapons, and outfits are available, and there’s plenty of killing to be done!’

The controls and feel of the game remained the same as part 2 of the series, but the score system has been revamped and you’ll get style points for certain moves. If you like flash shooters, definitely try out this one!

Click here to play Thing-Thing Arena 3 at Armor Games

The two biggest arcade websites are visited by millions of players each month. To no surprise these two are Armor Games and Kongregate. Yesterday at the Flash Gaming Summit 2009 some interesting things have been said by both camps. One thing is clear, competition to attract the casual gamer is fierce.

Jim Greer, respresenting Kongregate at the event, stated that ‘20% of the over 20,000 games played daily at Kongregate are multiplayer’ and ‘60% of Kongregate customers use credit card and that most others use PayPal’, John Cooney from Armor Games revealed the fact that Armor Games makes 4 to 1 more ad revenue from website ads compared to in-game ads. Furthermore, he reminded us of their achievement banner which players can put on their myspace and similar community profiles.

Both Armor Games and Kongregate offer quality free online flash games and a thriving community. Their features are very similar and what especially keeps the players coming back are the scorboards which makes it possible for players to advance in levels as they play more games. Once you start leveling up an account at either Armor Games or Kongregate, you’ll most likely play there most of the time and that’s exactly the reason these systems are implented.

However, the content is different. It must be said that Armor Games has the exlcusive rights for some of the highest rated games. Series such as Sonny, Gemcraft and The Last Stand all appear on Armor Games exclusively for weeks before any other arcade website can use it. In deciding where to play and start an account it often comes down to the preference of the player which is influenced by small details. In a recent survey it was shown that on average, Kongregate’s website is more user-friendly than any other arcade website.

All in all, both of them offer great games and a lively community. It will be interesting to see how upcomng features will affect their popularity. This will most likely be crucial to win the preference of the millions of casual players. Vote now in our new poll on this subject!