Topic: ZooCube Online Demo, Finally

[Jonnyboy117]

If you still haven't tried out the 3D puzzle game, now's your chance.  You can even email it to friends!

Although an online demo of ZooCube has been promised on the game's website for months, the free trial is now finally available in the form of "What's Your ZQ?". This miniature version of ZooCube (already available on GameCube and GBA) can be played online, downloaded to your PC, or even emailed in its entirety among friends.  You'll have to download a special web driver to play the game, but after that it's quite simple to start playing.

"What's Your ZQ?" is essentially a stripped-down version of ZooCube.  The most notable change is the fact that you can only rotate the cube around the vertical axis.  Although this omission does limit your strategy and speed and can feel quite cumbersome to experienced ZooCube players, it does eliminate the difficult learning curve for ZooCube's rather unorthodox control scheme.  Also missing are the animal animations, power-ups, and bonus goodies, but the demo does manage to deliver the gist of ZooCube's unusual gameplay.  If the GameCube version's somewhat limited distribution kept you from renting the game to see whether you like it, the demo should give you a good idea of what to expect from a purchase.  Here's the full press release:

What's your ZQ?  

Puzzlekings creates world's first email video mind game

Wednesday  6th  November 2002/...  The world's first ever video mind game contained in an email allows people to discover their "Zonal Intelligence" or "ZQ" courtesy of PuzzleKings.

WhatsyourZQ? is a free video mind game which assesses the player's mental agility, multitasking ability and stamina, by seeing how many pairs of shapes they can match in the virtual arena of their own mind.  It is a Javascript application inside an email that runs within Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater on PCs with a 3D compatible graphics card.  To play this game online simply go to www.whatsyourzq.com where it can also be freely emailed to friends and colleagues, and published on third party web sites, within the scope of certain license restrictions.

What's your ZQ?  is inspired by the multiple award-winning ZooCube video game which is currently available on Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo Gameboy Advance, courtesy of Acclaim Entertainment.  

"We are delighted to be able to allow anybody the ability to find out their ZQ with this innovative application totally free of charge.  To the best of our knowledge this is the first time anybody has created a 3D game within the confines of an email." said Nalin Sharma, CEO of PuzzleKings and creator of "What's your ZQ?"

PuzzleKings is a UK based company dedicated to producing video mind games that combine arcade-style action with a cerebral challenge that emphasise playability and longevity.  PuzzleKings debut product, ZooCube, won many industry plaudits; at industry trade show E3 in May 2002, it was voted best Game Boy Advance puzzle game by IGN.com and best puzzle game for GameCube by PlanetGameCube.com.  Subsequently it received much high praise from Internet sites, specialist game magazines and consumer press including leading daily newspapers.