February 19, 2008
Spooktacular
Seek-and-Find Game Ready for Retail Shelves
MumboJumbo launches Mortimer Beckett and the
Secrets of Spooky Manor
Move over Highlights, there’s a new seek-and-find
in town. Today Dallas-based MumboJumbo and Seattle-based RealGames, the casual
games business unit for RealNetworks, bring Mortimer Beckett and the Secrets of
Spooky Manor to retailers throughout the U.S. The new hidden objects casual game
comes to retail shelves after an impressive online performance.
Developed by Paprikari, Mortimer Beckett takes
the hidden object genre to a new dimension by overlaying the game with elements
of puzzle and strategy games. Not only do players have to find pieces of hidden
objects broken up and scattered throughout the mansion, but they then have to
place them back in the room in which they belong after the pieces come together.
The game takes the hidden object dynamic a step further by providing a word clue
puzzle and asking players to piece together a “ghost starter” that will solve
the spooky mystery of the manor.
Mortimer Beckett first came on the scene in 2007
when RealGames introduced the title on its online game portals, RealArcade.com,
GameHouse.com and Zylom.com. Many online players have raved about the
interesting take it has on the seek-and-find game play—Gamezebo’s review even
gave Mort a rating of four out of five stars citing “ghoulishly fitting music,”
“attractive presentation,” and “a great job in weaving in a fun story and
puzzle-solving challenges to bring more to the table….”
“We believed Paprikari had created a true winner
with Mortimer Beckett and our customers agreed, making it a top seller for
RealArcade.com in 2007,” said Matt Turetzky, vice president of non-pc platforms
for RealGames. “RealGames is excited to work with Mumbo Jumbo to recreate this
success in the retail channel and help more consumers discover this exciting new
title.”
Hidden object games have been growing in
popularity among casual gamers. From the RealArcade.com list of top selling
games in 2007, five of the top 10 were of the seek-and-find genre—with just over
a dozen genres in the casual game space, this type of showing in the top 10 is
proof positive that hidden object games are making a stand.
“Mortimer Beckett is a fun game, and we’re proud
to publish the game for retail and bring such a great product to market,” said
Mark Cottam, CEO of MumboJumbo.
Mortimer Beckett and the Secrets of Spooky Manor
retails for $19.99 and is rated ‘E’ for Everyone. The game is also available at
www.mumbojumbo.com.
