I hope you’re ready for some casual Nook games, because Astraware has four ready for you. The developer has just announced and released a line of Nook Color games, so your Barnes and Noble ereader can now handle more than books, magazines and newspapers. All four are classic casual games, which means you’ll know what you’re getting into even before you pay $4.99 each for them.

Astraware Casino, Astraware Solitaire and Astraware Sudoku are all ports of existing Astraware games…

One of the first new features added to the Nook are games. At the moment there is only Chess and Sudoku. However, it is a start and shows that B&N are willing to work to make a better product while fixing all the problems that it had in the original release. Questions will be sent over to B&N soon to find out whether or not it is thinking of adding more games to the Nook.

I interviewed Melissa Joan Hart a few month ago when she was still getting ready for Dancing with the Stars (she was eventually given the fancy dance boot late October 2009). Naturally, I had to ask if she played video games.

In our talking about things that she geeks out about, she mentioned two iPhone (and iPod Touch) games: Flight Controller and Uni Sudoku…

Hey Gamertell readers. The weekly Nintendo Downloads update has been absent for a while. Did you miss it? Well, its back!

This week, if you own a Wii, you can get into the Halloween spirit! Two of the four games released are guaranteed to get you in the holiday mood. I’m talking about Ghost Mansion Party and Zombies Ate My Neighbors. If you’re going to get one, go for Zombies Ate My Neighbors, its one of my personal favorites.

No Halloween-y games on the DSiWare store though. You’ll have to make do with last week’s Domo games.

Gamertell’s Nintendo Download picks for the week are Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 3 and Zombies Ate My Neighbors…

For all those gamers who have had to sit through parental rants claiming that video games will lead to their brains atrophying, help is now on the way thanks primarily to a study in the journal Psychology and Aging.

This study (based on a sample size of 40 adults in their 60s and 70s) came to this interesting conclusion: older individuals may actually benefit from playing video games, at least strategy-intensive games.

This deduction was arrived at after observing the actions of those older adults playing Rise of Nations. According to one of the researchers, these adults “significantly improved their scores on a number of tests of cognitive functions.” The researcher also mentioned that it is actually beneficial for older adults to…

So far, the gaming media has been a little slow taking the iPhone as a gaming platform seriously and with good reason too. Yes, the iPhone does have the potential to create some amazing looking and innovative games, but the problem is that very few developers are taking the time to put out anything of quality past various puzzle and word game clones. For proof, you can check out our weekly App Store gaming update (which you should be doing anyway!).

So it should come as no surprise that when Apple announced the top downloaded games for 2008, there are some familiar names on the board. Some of these games have been featured on a top ten list for at least three weeks if not more. Keep in mind that this is a top ten list out of thousands of games. Regardless, here are the top ten lists for both paid and free games…

Title: Travel Games for DummiesPrice: $29.99System(s): DSRelease Date: October 28, 2008Publisher (Developer): Electronic Arts (Electronic Arts and Beanbag Studios)ESRB Rating: “Everyone”Pros: Three different games, 100 Crossword puzzles, 500 Sudoku puzzles, 10 kinds of Solitaire. Informative.Cons: You have to go back manually clear Crossword boards when you’re done. Solitaire is very hard. Sometimes the letter/number recognition is a bit off. Only one player profile allowed per cartridge.Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 80/100; B-; *** out of 5

EA Games’ Casual Entertainment division recently teamed up with Beanbag studios to create three instructional/casual games, two for the PC and one for the DS. The DS game, Travel Games for Dummies is actually a collection of three popular puzzle games – Sudoku, Solitaire and Crosswords. The goal of the endeavor is to teach people how to master these three games, and then offer a wide variety of puzzles to test their newfound skills in.

Its very straightforward, since it is supposed to be educational, but also is surprisingly fun. While it isn’t as diverse as say, Crosswords DS, it is better than the shovelware sudoku and casual game compilations you see cluttering GameStop shelves. And, surprisingly enough, it can help you become a better player. At least, the Crosswords and Sudoku segments can – I’m still on the fence about solitaire. Travel Games for Dummies would make a good gift for casual gamers this holiday season – I know my mom would adore it…