The Next BIG Thing, the upcoming animated adventure game from Pendulo Studios and Focus Home Interactive, will be launch on March 25th, 2011. It might sound like a long way off, but according Focus Home you can look forward to a humorous mystery story packed with wacky characters, challenging puzzles, and tons of references to popular movies and TV shows.

The games industry has a dirty secret. We hold press conferences and give keynote speeches, put up billboards in Times Square and displays in 7-Elevens. On stage, online, and in every message that reaches public ears, we declare our steadfast dedication to making “core” games, or announce our bold decision to explore “casual” games. Yet in reality this is a dishonest message because every good game creator knows that there has never been a successful game that was either exclusively “core” or exclusively “casual.”

The third free content pack for Academagia: the Magic of Mages, is now available for download. Behind a thousand veils, Queen Hedi of Tiljat kept her empire, her wealth and her people safe through diplomacy, intrigue and deception. The power of what seemed to be stayed the claws of dragons and tyrants alike. The only trouble with Glamours is that, sometimes, you can lose track of what's real yourself...

Gamezebo Rating:

There's a lot to be said for bite-size gaming. Huge, epic sagas that last hours on end are all well and good, but now and again it's nice to dive into a game and climb back out again ten minutes later. Strange Adventures in Infinite Space supplies this hotfooted style of gameplay, granting you the opportunity to whiz around space in ten minutes flat.

Playrix announced today that Farmscapes, the game formerly known as Rustic Manor, is scheduled for launch on Nov. 23 exclusively at Playrix.com.

Divo Games (the developers of Be Rich) are back with another building sim called Chieftain Jack, which is set to launch in a few weeks. Chieftain Jack leaves behind the modern buildings of Be Rich for a tropical island setting where Jack - who seems to be a castaway, or maybe a time traveller; it was a bit hard to tell - has to help tribes of primitive people grow their villages and thrive.

Gamezebo Rating:

If there is such a thing as the psychedelic, trippy genre of gaming, then BrainPipe is easily the trippiest of them all. It's described as a trip through your mind, which just so happens to be a rather long and winding pipe filled with flashing obstacles and golden glyphs.

Gamezebo Rating:

Soup du Jour can't exactly be described as a full main course, but it's definitely great as a starter. This is match-3 gaming with a twist, with ingredients bouncing around in a boiling pot, all the time threatening to leak over the sides. Fast, aggressive gameplay is on the menu, with a big side-order of fun - if only it lasted a little longer we'd be ordering it with every meal, but as a quick distraction Soup du Jour is definitely worth a look.

Big Fish Games continues its global expansion today with the announcement that it has launched five new language portals - Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Italian, and Swedish - all with fully localized games and native-language customer service. These portals join Big Fish Games' existing portals in English, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese, bringing the total up to 10.

Gamezebo Rating:

Despite having the word ‘rush’ in the title, there’s no time management to be found in Cookie Rush. Instead, you’ll find the boulder scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark – except the boulder has been replaced by gigantic, evil cookie. Why nobody thought to splash some milk on it is a mystery, but at least you’ll have fun running away.