My favourite part of "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" came when they figured out the paradoxes of time travel and, simply by saying "Must remember to bring a trash can!" one appears in Ted's hands and he stuffs it over a bad guy's head.

Not that you can do any of that in "Chronotron", but the idea is the same, think in the present, giving orders to yourself in the past. Sort of. In Chronotron, the idea is to Clone multiple versions of yourself, using a time machine, to get through a puzzle level. The catch -- all past versions will spawn and recreate your actions, so you need to think in chronological order for each step of the puzzle, and leave enough time for your final self to get through the gates and ride the risers to your objective.

It's a hell of a fun flash game -- my co-worker showed it to me yesterday, so I can vouch for its productivity killing effect.

Chronotron [Addicting Games]

It's a Saturday, I'm jetlagged, and the internet seems to be blazing with news of nothing but Diablo III; perfect time for a light and cute flash timewaster. This one is called Bowja the Ninja 2, a point and click puzzler that's nicely illustrated and oh-so-cute. Not terribly challenging, but a good thing to spend a bit with on a lazy Saturday.

Bowja the Ninja 2: In Bigman's Compound [Pencilkids via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

You may remember our link regurgitation of Puzzle Farter last week, Pet Tomato's debut platformer featuring a farting mechanic that really resonates. Mike Nowak of The-Inbetween, whom we regularly check in with for interesting things, briefly interviewed half the Puzzle Farter team, providing great insight into the Flash-based freebie.

It touches on all manner of interesting topics, such as character design challenges ("We go to the bar".) and plans for the future ("...the next version will also allow people to create and submit levels".) that Puzzle Farter fans will find rewarding. If not, maybe you'll just give the game another go or for the very first time.

Inside 'Puzzle Farter' [The-InBetween]

I often hear longtime platformer fans complain they don't make 'em like they used to, and bemoan the perceived "selling out" of their favourite mascot franchises, when all they want is the great gap-skipping of old that they remember from their younger days.

Most of us were kids during the 3D platformer heyday. So maybe, though, just maybe, if any of those games were to be released today, we'd say they looked like children's games. Brash Entertainment's upcoming Space Chimps film tie-in platformer is a kids' game, and giving it a whirl today was what made me think about days of yore.

Have you ever played Peggle? If not, it's one of the more surprisingly addictive titles to come out of the PopCap Games stable of brightly coloured "casual" games. Even if you have played Peggle—or Peggle Extreme, the free Half-Life themed version that's included in The Orange Box—an 18 million point round might not blow your hair back. So when watching this clip, via Waxy, the first minute or so might not impress. The fanatical, bordering-on-insane planning might, however, as demonstrated moments later might. It also might frighten.

We've mentioned Jason Rohrer's weird little works before, in the form of Passage and Gravitation; now with his 'Game Design Sketchbook' column at the Escapist, he puts up new little games monthly. This month features the theme of life, death, and immortality (appropriately called Immortality):

We generally assume that immortality is good, just as we assume that death is bad. Of course, universal immortality (all six billion of us) would be physically impractical. But what about individual immortality? What about for you? If you could become immortal, would you?

Immortality is a game about that question, and it's also about the converse of that question: Does death have some fundamental value that we usually ignore?

Immortality [The Escapist]

Gamasutra has an interesting interview up with some of PopCap's people — co-founder John Vechey, CEO David Roberts and PR director Garth Chouteau — talking about the PopCap model and structure and the casual market at large. It's a reasonably lengthy interview with a couple of gems contained within:

It is very much a multiplatform, multichannel, multipartner business where our goal is to get our games anywhere they're going to be great, anywhere we can. If your fridge can make a great Bejeweled experience, by god, we'd have your fridge playing Bejeweled.

If there's one thing we know about casual games companies, it's that they love to conduct surveys, don't they? The latest one commissioned by RealNetworks' RealGames division aims to correlate casual gameplay with improvement of bad habits. Need to lose weight, quit smoking, quit hitting the potato chips? Play a game, it seems.

59 percent of the survey participants said that casual games offer a "positive distraction" from overeating, and 42 percent said it helps distract them from smoking. Smokers apparently prefer "hidden picture" games to other types, by the way. No surprise, either, that the survey results show that taking a little clicky-break to play a casual game helped them relieve stress.

I wonder why console publishers don't underwrite studies like these periodically, to show the positive impact games in general might have on their audience. Too much of a minefield, do you think?

Full study announcement after the jump.

EA's web-based game creation destination SimsCarnival.com has officially entered open beta, and not a moment too soon! The website allows players to use existing game templates to create new flash games or upload their own creations, and right now if you go there and click on Up and Coming you'll see a clear indicator of the quality we're dealing with right now with a version of the Kiss The Girl game using poorly upscaled pictures of Kingdom Hearts characters. Clearly we can do better.

To celebrate the beta launch, EA is launching the SimCarnival.com Galactic Game Challenge, with cash prizes on the line. Judging from the quality generated so far I'd say there's a good chance of anyone who reads Kotaku winning. Hell, there's a good chance my mother could win this.

Pet Tomato's debut indie game Puzzle Farter is as high brow as you probably suspect it is. And if you're still amused by the sound of passing wind as we are, you'll probably find it endlessly amusing, even if the gameplay is rather straightforward. There's not much puzzling to be done, but the farting comes through in spades. No, there's no music and Puzzle Farter is more of a platformer than it is a traditional puzzle game—it's more like N with ninja-strength gas—so I guess we're both guilty of misleading titles.

Puzzle Farter [via del.icio.us]

Well, it reads like an essay, but this piece by David Hayward is actually a transcript of a talk given at the "Under The Mask, Perspectives on the Gamer" event a few days ago (slides included!). It's a brilliant and somewhat lengthy piece on culture-with-a-small-c, as it relates to gaming (as, in Hayward's appraisal, just about everyone is a gamer these days by some definition or another). Games, despite coming off as a niche subculture at times, are worming their way into all aspects of society:

It looks like Grim Fandango mixed with Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. At least, that's what I think it is. The developer says it'll be good for 1-2 hours of gaming when it's done.

Touch My Pixel [Official site]

Warner Bros. has just hooked us up with some screens showing off the newest characters revealed for the upcoming LEGO Batman: Nightwing, Bane and Clayface.

If you're like me and know next-to-no Batman lore, you wouldn't have learned until right this second that Nightwing is who Robin became when he struck out on his own. Former actor Clayface is now a shape-shifting bad guy, and prison escapee Bane resists damage and has super strength.

Thankfully, bios and screens follow the jump, which will probably explain all of the things I couldn't tell you.

How do you improve on what's probably the best game ever made? You make it bigger. Badder. More woman-slappier. Yes, Rose & Camellia is back, this time as Rose & Camellia 2, featuring all-new ladies, all new stages and all-new woman-slapping action. It's great! So great there's a catch: you've got to finish R&C1 first (the shockwave version, linked below) to gain access to it. A little harsh, perhaps, but the bigger the reward the tougher the toil.

Rose & Camellia 2 [Nigoro, via IndieGames]

It's been a while since I've pledged to never again post a Line Rider clip, but this final Line Rider clip—definitely my last!—is notable for its shilling of McDonalds food. It's the fast food of the "healthy" variety that I've yet to see anyone order at a McDonalds and an odd marriage. We hope Boštjan Čadež got himself something nice and shiny for his time. Honestly! Via GameSetWatch.

Got this far and realised we've had no hot flashes this weekend. So here's a super-slimmed down Super Mario Kart, done in 11 KB of pure javascript goodness. Pick from Mario, Luigi or Peach and then race on two different maps. It even has a soundtrack.

You'll be beaten off the line easily every time, but if you race the second map and take advantage of the turns, you can get into first pretty quickly.

There's no timer or lap count and your opponents seem to float in the air until you overtake them. Still, I killed a few minutes with this while going off on a reverie, wondering if I'll be 55 and playing a slimmed down javascript Assassin's Creed or something.

Javascript Super Mario Kart [nihilogic]

"A game is a game is a game" — are they? The plethora of popular card and board game adaptations — and their popularity — would seem to indicate 'yes.' Over at the Escapist, Scott Jon Siegel muses on the future and potential of adaptations on a number of levels. Especially when one considers the casual market, familiar electronic adaptations make for potential casual hits:

Star Wars and LEGO. They're as natural and tasty a combination as peanut butter and chocolate, but what about Indiana Jones and LEGO? LucasArts and Traveller's Tales felt they could recapture the magic of the LEGO Star Wars games by mining another cult classic. And why not? The first three Indiana Jones movies are nearly as iconic as the first three Star Wars movies. LEGO are LEGO and who wouldn't love to see an Indiana Jones mini-fig in action?

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures looks like and plays like the Star Wars games, but is it as fun controlling a mini-fig Short Round as it was controlling the blocky, arm-ripping Chewbacca? Read on to find out.

The Sim 2 parade continues as EA readies not one but two new explorations into the lives of virtual people with The Sims 2 Apartment Life expansion and The Sims 2 Apartment Pets for the Nintendo DS. The PC version takes your Sim from their posh suburban homes and tosses them into apartment buildings, perhaps simulating America's horrific real estate market. You'll meet new archetypes like sports jocks, bohemians, and gadget-loving techies (raises hand) as you explore the drama of apartment living.

Meanwhile on the DS you'll find an apartment-based pet sim, complete with a snake charming mini-game that involves blowing into the DS microphone. Both games are due out in August around the globe.

As a guy who has lived in apartments for the majority of his life, I fail to see the charm here. Will my Sim be able to keep his pets secret from the apartment management? Can my interactions with my Sims neighbours be confined to peeking out the blinds to make sure they aren't breaking into my car again? Now that's apartment living right there.

Casual gamers want better! Their expectations are becoming high says Ubisoft. According to the company's Games For Everyone executive producer Pauline Jacquey, it's competitors that are raising the stakes. Says Jacquey:

When you're reaching out to somebody who plays one or two games a year, it's very easy. You don't need to follow the rules of previous markets. But as they play more and competitors emerge, you have to rethink the way you do the games. The casual audience is becoming more demanding, for sure, and we need to make sure we're proving more than what they're anticipating... Young girls, for instance, are now used to games that are made just for them - and have started thinking they want something better.

Imagine Babies, anyone? Anyone?

Casuals Demanding More [CasualGaming]

Activision sends word that Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is out and about in Australia, starting from today.

Like Lego Star Wars had all six movies in toy block form, this version comes with all of Indy's adventures. These include Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade. Yes, Crystal Skull is absent, but it's not like you'd want to relive the experience as a game anyway.

Lego Indiana Jones is available on a bevy of platforms: Wii, DS, PS3, 360, PSP, PS2 and PC. This collection is otherwise known as "all of them". Even taking into account this scattergun approach, I think the Wii version will turn out the most popular. All that whip-cracking is hard to resist.

Jump, meet press release.

Capcom, Neopets, and Puzzle Quest creators Infinite Interactive are teaming up to deliver a new Neopet title to the Nintendo Wii, DS, and PC this holiday season, Neopets Puzzle Adventure. It combines the cute collectibility of Neopets characters with...puzzles...and quests. Rather than the Bejewelliabaise we are used to in the PQ universe, the Neopets puzzles will be based on the classic board game Reversi.

Capcom is working to expand the breadth of our catalog to gamers of all ages in North America and Neopets is a perfect brand for us to bring to casual and family gamers," said Germaine Gioia, senior vice president, licensing, Capcom Entertainment. "Combining Capcom's experience, the rich world of Neopets, and Infinite Interactive's skills in the puzzle/adventure genre makes a perfect match."

It sounds like a terrifyingly addictive mix actually, and I personally know several combination Puzzle Quest / Neopet addicts that are probably hyperventilating as they read this. Add the fact that the games will feature unlockable codes for exclusive items on the Neopets website, various mini-fames, and 150 different petpets, and this is a game that has already sold several thousand copies. Hit the jump for the full scoop.

Reader Rob H. pointed out this nice little mid-Sunday diversion: Dino Run. After you get the hang of it you realise nothing in the environment will kill you, just slow you down on your panicked quest to outrun extinction. But most importantly, it's a flash game with multiplayer across three servers, although I waited forever for a game to start up.

Still, to the designers, hat-tip for rendering it like an old 4-bit PC game. I dunno, the tone just seems to deserve that kind of treatment. And also note how your dino farts after you chow down on less fortunate sauropods. Hat-tip for that, too.

Dino Run [Pixeljam, thanks Rob]

Back in November we pointed you to Pac-Txt, Pac-Man as a text adventure. Now we deliver you Pong rendered as a 180-page Choose Your Own Adventure book. It's like someone sat around thinking "Hey, you know that game Pong? What if we could make it even slower and more boring. But admit it, you're intrigued. And you can read the entire thing after the jump.

Can't get enough Raving Rabbids? Well you're not alone, Ubisoft is crazy for their crazy hares as well.

Today the company announced a new Raving Rabbids title is coming to the DS and Wii this holiday season and that the Wii version will support the Balance Board.

"The Rayman Raving Rabbids titles have been an immense success, entertaining the world over," said Yves Guillemot, president and chief executive officer, Ubisoft. "The inclusion of the Wii Balance Board into the game was a huge source of inspiration for our development team and I guarantee you will see the Wii Balance Board used in ways that will be surprisingly unexpected!"

It sounds like the game will be like the other Raving Rabbids but this time getting players to do evil things to cows with the balance board... not that there's anything wrong with that.

Hit the jump for the full release and screens.

While I have enough work to kill an ox this weekend, I took some time last night to play with this delightfully silly side-scrolling WoW sendup. Here's one introduction to a quest: "Now that you've begun to get the hang of that most fundamental of skills - killing shit - and started to properly become a bit more class conscious, we can tackle a slightly more disturbing problem." Karl Marx even makes an appearance (never mind the Mario appearance pictured above). It's worth checking out if you've got some extra time to waste this holiday (in the US) weekend.

WTF?! [via Grand Text Auto]

Ah, Mr. Freeze. I'm still not sure how I feel about you, my glass-domed chum, after that complete butchering you underwent in 1997's Batman & Robin at the hands of the future governor of California. While the Batman animated movie Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero did much to improve your reputation in my eyes, every time I see you I cannot help but imagine you violently urging your henchmen to sing along to a Christmas special in that horrible accent. "Kill da heroes!" Please.

Perhaps your appearance in Lego Batman will finally help me finally move on. While you do lose some of the tragic villain mystique you've built up with the whole frozen wife storyline, you might manage to make it up in sheer Lego adorability. Fingers crossed!

Not technically a Hot Flash since you need to download it, but it's only 2MB, so it's close enough. The name of the game's Execution, it was made by Jesse Venbrux, and it's worth the 3.5 minutes of your life both downloading and playing it will cost you. Know that while it's a tiny, short game, there's also a charmingly simple punch to it all. Be sure to play it twice to get the full experience.

Execution [via TIGS]

Boring Tuesdays aren't like boring Fridays. With the latter you're only looking to waste a few hours. As for the former... well, there's still three days to occupy.

Jetpack Brontosaurus can help out, regardless of which boring day it is. JB is about a dinosaur. In space. With a jtepack. That's more than enough material for a game methinks. It's in alpha, so don't get upset if you find it doesn't always co-operate. The controls aren't complex - mouse to look around and the keyboard to move. At the very least, it'll make the next ten minutes or so fly by.

Note you'll need to install a third-party app (Unity 3D) to play.

Jetpack Brontosaurus [Official site, thanks Brendan]

According to a recent Slate piece, it's... Solitaire? The article says that the various versions of Windows Solitaire are the most-used programs among Windows, and charts in particular the American workplace's ongoing love affair with the time-waster.

The article raises a number of interesting points — how the temptation of playing Solitaire at the workplace, for example, might have trained an older generation of computer-illiterates to use the mouse well, to minimise windows and swap between applications quickly (like you do when the boss is coming).