We couldn't make this stuff up if we tried, folks. And--get this--John Belushi will be featured in the same social game as Elvis, old cars and apparently soap opera stars (or something like that). Entertainment Games announced that, thanks to the license agreement it scored with CMG Worldwide, John Belushi will star in its first, mysterious "retro-based social game."
When it finally unleashes what sounds like a social game nostalgia bomb, it will be available on Facebook, Google+, mobile phones and simply in the browser. According to a release, we're quite close to the release of the still unnamed social game, which is said to focus heavily on story and will be built on the Heyday platform, which Entertainment Games acquired earlier this year.
"Everyone remembers the comic genius of John Belushi," Entertainment Games president Gene Mauro said in a release. "He brought laughter to the world, and it's truly exciting to cast him in new roles and feature him on virtual goods in our new social game. We're honored to be associated with CMG Worldwide and John Belushi and look forward to announcing more of our game's celebrity cast members as we approach our product launch."
The Langhorne, Penn.-based company is certainly taking the branded games strategy to a whole new level. Rather than focusing on a particular brand (or even a single celebrity, for that matter), Entertainment Games looks to harness the pull of a slew of old-time celebrities. That said, at least we know the audience that the company is going for with this release. I'm looking at you, baby boomers.
What do you expect from this game given the retro star treatment it seems to have reeled in? Do you think nostalgia is enough to get you to play a new social game?
Thứ Ba, 21 tháng 2, 2012
Thứ Hai, 20 tháng 2, 2012
The Killer Pumpkin assaults Pocket God on Facebook this Halloween
Do not under any circumstances mistake this for The Great Pumpkin. A killer pumpkin beast has attacked everybody's favorite pygmies in Pocket God on Facebook. Quebec-based Frima Studio has released a Halloween update to its social rendition of Pocket God, complete with new quests and powers, which means new ways (and reasons) to send pygmies to their doom.
While the game is down for maintenance as of this writing, a new Global Challenge awaits the game's 190,000 monthly players. The Great Jack-o'-Pygmy wants pumpkins everywhere this Halloween, and has granted players with the power to summon a giant pumpkin that transforms pygmies into pumpkins. And when those gourds grow to gigantic proportions, they can even be used to crush more pygmies.
A healthy seven solo quests have been introduced in honor of the costume and candy-filled day. Alright, we know all you care about is how you're going to squish more pygmies. Does this top a unicorn that farts radioactive rainbows? Not by a long shot, but hey, it's the Halloween season, and pumpkins just work. Besides, to best the unicorn, Frima would have to make a unicorn that farts double rainbows--that's still hip, right?
Check out the rest of our Halloween coverage right here >
Have you played Pocket God on Facebook before? What do you like about the game's social edition, and what would you do to change it?
While the game is down for maintenance as of this writing, a new Global Challenge awaits the game's 190,000 monthly players. The Great Jack-o'-Pygmy wants pumpkins everywhere this Halloween, and has granted players with the power to summon a giant pumpkin that transforms pygmies into pumpkins. And when those gourds grow to gigantic proportions, they can even be used to crush more pygmies.
A healthy seven solo quests have been introduced in honor of the costume and candy-filled day. Alright, we know all you care about is how you're going to squish more pygmies. Does this top a unicorn that farts radioactive rainbows? Not by a long shot, but hey, it's the Halloween season, and pumpkins just work. Besides, to best the unicorn, Frima would have to make a unicorn that farts double rainbows--that's still hip, right?
Check out the rest of our Halloween coverage right here >
Have you played Pocket God on Facebook before? What do you like about the game's social edition, and what would you do to change it?
Triple Town, 'Civilization of match-3 games', goes Kindle to Facebook
Triple Town is a new puzzler on Facebook that had its start on the Amazon Kindle last October, where it flourished in popularity. It was created by Spry Fox, a game studio founded by Daniel Cook, the co-creator of Realm of the Mad God, and David J. Edery, a former Worldwide Portfolio Manager for Xbox Live Arcade. After a spiffy makeover, Triple Town made its debut on Facebook and Google+ Games earlier this month, with plans to go mobile. According to AppData, it's now attracted 190,000 monthly players on Facebook.
Hailed by one reviewer as "the Civilization of match-three games," Triple Town is a unique title with familiar aesthetics. Spry Fox originally chose the Kindle as the game's platform, which was explained as "an interesting emerging opportunity" by Edery. But as the game grew popular, Spry Fox wanted to spread the love around. Citing a lack of Bejeweled Blitz-type games on Facebook, Spry Fox decided to push for Triple Town's launch on the social network, as well as make it available in both English and Spanish.
Triple Town merge objects
A basic principle to understanding how to play Triple Town is the following idea: "Grass turns into bushes, bushes into trees, trees into huts, and so on." When you start a round, you're presented with a grid in a woodland theme. There are no time limits and no energy limit. Though you do run out of moves eventually, the creator made sure that you get so many moves that any average player would be able to earn enough virtual currency to buy more moves through play alone.
Triple Crown Double Combos
Like most match-3 games--Bejeweled Blitz and Diamond Dash, for instance--you'll receive random pieces one at a time, but you get to control where they go on your grid. But unlike those traditional games, matching stuff doesn't make it disappear. Instead, matching stuff creates other stuff that's worth a lot more, thereby, netting you more points. The goal of the game is to get as high a score as possible by continuing to merge objects and not running out of space to put things.
Triple Town bears church
The game also throws in some monkey wrenches in the form of Bears and Ninja Bears to make things more challenging. These are pieces that will move around the grid even after you've put them down. Despite having evil, beady and glowing red eyes, the bears are pretty adorable. They'll totter about, roar, and make grumbly ursine noises as you play. On the flip side, other pieces will be there to help you, like the Blue Crystal and Imperial Bot.
Triple Town gameplay
You can see how all these elements can make the game simple, yet surprisingly complex. Every time you move objects on the grid and a match occurs, you've altered the playing field. I thought I'd jump in for a few minutes for one round, but the better of a player you are, the longer you can last, and this game can easily suck up an hour.
Triple Town is truly unlike any game I've ever seen before, for Facebook or otherwise. The closest comparison I can think of is Scott Brodie's Hero Generations, which also involves manipulating an evolving grid-based landscape with a fantasy setting. But Brodie's game is more like an old-fashioned, 8-bit role-playing adventure game. Triple Town also isn't a social game at all, since the only element is a weekly leaderboard, though Spry Fox has plans to expand the game in the future, hinting that it's only a small aspect of a larger Triple Town universe.
Click here to play Triple Town on Facebook now >
Have you ever played any other game that reminded you of Triple Town?
Hailed by one reviewer as "the Civilization of match-three games," Triple Town is a unique title with familiar aesthetics. Spry Fox originally chose the Kindle as the game's platform, which was explained as "an interesting emerging opportunity" by Edery. But as the game grew popular, Spry Fox wanted to spread the love around. Citing a lack of Bejeweled Blitz-type games on Facebook, Spry Fox decided to push for Triple Town's launch on the social network, as well as make it available in both English and Spanish.
Triple Town merge objects
A basic principle to understanding how to play Triple Town is the following idea: "Grass turns into bushes, bushes into trees, trees into huts, and so on." When you start a round, you're presented with a grid in a woodland theme. There are no time limits and no energy limit. Though you do run out of moves eventually, the creator made sure that you get so many moves that any average player would be able to earn enough virtual currency to buy more moves through play alone.
Triple Crown Double Combos
Like most match-3 games--Bejeweled Blitz and Diamond Dash, for instance--you'll receive random pieces one at a time, but you get to control where they go on your grid. But unlike those traditional games, matching stuff doesn't make it disappear. Instead, matching stuff creates other stuff that's worth a lot more, thereby, netting you more points. The goal of the game is to get as high a score as possible by continuing to merge objects and not running out of space to put things.
Triple Town bears church
The game also throws in some monkey wrenches in the form of Bears and Ninja Bears to make things more challenging. These are pieces that will move around the grid even after you've put them down. Despite having evil, beady and glowing red eyes, the bears are pretty adorable. They'll totter about, roar, and make grumbly ursine noises as you play. On the flip side, other pieces will be there to help you, like the Blue Crystal and Imperial Bot.
Triple Town gameplay
You can see how all these elements can make the game simple, yet surprisingly complex. Every time you move objects on the grid and a match occurs, you've altered the playing field. I thought I'd jump in for a few minutes for one round, but the better of a player you are, the longer you can last, and this game can easily suck up an hour.
Triple Town is truly unlike any game I've ever seen before, for Facebook or otherwise. The closest comparison I can think of is Scott Brodie's Hero Generations, which also involves manipulating an evolving grid-based landscape with a fantasy setting. But Brodie's game is more like an old-fashioned, 8-bit role-playing adventure game. Triple Town also isn't a social game at all, since the only element is a weekly leaderboard, though Spry Fox has plans to expand the game in the future, hinting that it's only a small aspect of a larger Triple Town universe.
Click here to play Triple Town on Facebook now >
Have you ever played any other game that reminded you of Triple Town?
'Zynga is making games for accidental gamers,' studio VP says
Look, nobody gets hooked on FarmVille by accident--there's always that friend. Zynga studio VP Bill Mooney (pictured) recently spoke to students at The University of California at Santa Cruz during its Research Review Day about the company's design philosophy. During his talk, titled "Social Games: An Overview and Exploration," Mooney said, "Zynga is making games for accidental gamers," according to IndustryGamers.
The studio head was implying that Zynga doesn't create video games for hardcore or traditional gamers. Sure, that's stating the obvious, but it's vitally important to remember when looking at Zynga's games. They're not exactly technological marvels, accessible to those who just don't get the complexity of controllers and traversing 3D space. But as players progress, they become well-versed in increasingly complex interfaces, thus becoming, well, gamers.
Regardless, social gamers still aren't the same as traditional game fans, and probably never will be. (At least until another friend introduces them to something new.) And because of these "accidental gamers" have a different understanding of what a game should be, Zynga says it caters to that understanding. "You're not shipping a product, you're running an amusement park," Mooney told the students.
And traditional game companies are trying to keep up with that philosophy, wary that even hardcore gamers might yearn for that experience. (Just look at Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty Elite.) "Don't be like work, don't ask too much, be social, help me connect," Mooney said. That, ironically enough, might be the burgeoning industry's greatest challenge, if you ask the right folks.
[Image Credit: Josh Lowensohn (CNET)]
What do you expect from your social games these days? Have you come to expect this level of "connectedness" from other games or services, too?
The studio head was implying that Zynga doesn't create video games for hardcore or traditional gamers. Sure, that's stating the obvious, but it's vitally important to remember when looking at Zynga's games. They're not exactly technological marvels, accessible to those who just don't get the complexity of controllers and traversing 3D space. But as players progress, they become well-versed in increasingly complex interfaces, thus becoming, well, gamers.
Regardless, social gamers still aren't the same as traditional game fans, and probably never will be. (At least until another friend introduces them to something new.) And because of these "accidental gamers" have a different understanding of what a game should be, Zynga says it caters to that understanding. "You're not shipping a product, you're running an amusement park," Mooney told the students.
And traditional game companies are trying to keep up with that philosophy, wary that even hardcore gamers might yearn for that experience. (Just look at Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty Elite.) "Don't be like work, don't ask too much, be social, help me connect," Mooney said. That, ironically enough, might be the burgeoning industry's greatest challenge, if you ask the right folks.
[Image Credit: Josh Lowensohn (CNET)]
What do you expect from your social games these days? Have you come to expect this level of "connectedness" from other games or services, too?
Zynga studio VP Lou Castle leaves for Las Vegas casino games maker
Hey, look on the bright side, Zynga: At least the guy didn't leave for a competitor. IndustryGamers reports that former Zynga studio VP Lou Castle (pictured) left for Shuffle Master, a Las Vegas-based creator of various casino game products like shufflers. According to IndustryGamers, Castle's move was purely for personal reasons, just months after joining the social game giant.
"The Zynga gig was clearly a 5 day a week, 24/7 requirement," Castle told IndustryGamers. "[I have] twins in senior year of high school and [Shuffle Master's] a local job. Life's too short, so I couldn't resist." Quite the noble move, eh? Well, Castle had already served on Shuffle Master's board of directors for six years before becoming the company's CSO, or chief strategy officer. Castle opted to resign from his position on the board as Chairman of the Audit Committee before taking on the job.
Castle is best known for his contributions in creating the famed strategy game series, Command & Conquer, as co-founder of Westwood Studios. The former Zynga executive most recently joins Treasure Isle GM Jeremy Verba in leaving the company. Verba also entered a completely different industry, becoming the CEO of famous (or infamous?) online dating website eHarmony.
These recent departures from Zynga aren't to other game companies, but away from the games industry entirely. Whether Zynga proves to be the video game swan song for industry veterans has yet to be seen. But the San Francisco-based social games maker presses on, with almost too many games announced recently.
Why do you think folks are leaving Zynga, but for companies in completely different industries? Is this the start of a trend of the social game maker?
"The Zynga gig was clearly a 5 day a week, 24/7 requirement," Castle told IndustryGamers. "[I have] twins in senior year of high school and [Shuffle Master's] a local job. Life's too short, so I couldn't resist." Quite the noble move, eh? Well, Castle had already served on Shuffle Master's board of directors for six years before becoming the company's CSO, or chief strategy officer. Castle opted to resign from his position on the board as Chairman of the Audit Committee before taking on the job.
Castle is best known for his contributions in creating the famed strategy game series, Command & Conquer, as co-founder of Westwood Studios. The former Zynga executive most recently joins Treasure Isle GM Jeremy Verba in leaving the company. Verba also entered a completely different industry, becoming the CEO of famous (or infamous?) online dating website eHarmony.
These recent departures from Zynga aren't to other game companies, but away from the games industry entirely. Whether Zynga proves to be the video game swan song for industry veterans has yet to be seen. But the San Francisco-based social games maker presses on, with almost too many games announced recently.
Why do you think folks are leaving Zynga, but for companies in completely different industries? Is this the start of a trend of the social game maker?
Zynga studio VP Lou Castle leaves for Las Vegas casino games maker
Hey, look on the bright side, Zynga: At least the guy didn't leave for a competitor. IndustryGamers reports that former Zynga studio VP Lou Castle (pictured) left for Shuffle Master, a Las Vegas-based creator of various casino game products like shufflers. According to IndustryGamers, Castle's move was purely for personal reasons, just months after joining the social game giant.
"The Zynga gig was clearly a 5 day a week, 24/7 requirement," Castle told IndustryGamers. "[I have] twins in senior year of high school and [Shuffle Master's] a local job. Life's too short, so I couldn't resist." Quite the noble move, eh? Well, Castle had already served on Shuffle Master's board of directors for six years before becoming the company's CSO, or chief strategy officer. Castle opted to resign from his position on the board as Chairman of the Audit Committee before taking on the job.
Castle is best known for his contributions in creating the famed strategy game series, Command & Conquer, as co-founder of Westwood Studios. The former Zynga executive most recently joins Treasure Isle GM Jeremy Verba in leaving the company. Verba also entered a completely different industry, becoming the CEO of famous (or infamous?) online dating website eHarmony.
These recent departures from Zynga aren't to other game companies, but away from the games industry entirely. Whether Zynga proves to be the video game swan song for industry veterans has yet to be seen. But the San Francisco-based social games maker presses on, with almost too many games announced recently.
Why do you think folks are leaving Zynga, but for companies in completely different industries? Is this the start of a trend of the social game maker?
"The Zynga gig was clearly a 5 day a week, 24/7 requirement," Castle told IndustryGamers. "[I have] twins in senior year of high school and [Shuffle Master's] a local job. Life's too short, so I couldn't resist." Quite the noble move, eh? Well, Castle had already served on Shuffle Master's board of directors for six years before becoming the company's CSO, or chief strategy officer. Castle opted to resign from his position on the board as Chairman of the Audit Committee before taking on the job.
Castle is best known for his contributions in creating the famed strategy game series, Command & Conquer, as co-founder of Westwood Studios. The former Zynga executive most recently joins Treasure Isle GM Jeremy Verba in leaving the company. Verba also entered a completely different industry, becoming the CEO of famous (or infamous?) online dating website eHarmony.
These recent departures from Zynga aren't to other game companies, but away from the games industry entirely. Whether Zynga proves to be the video game swan song for industry veterans has yet to be seen. But the San Francisco-based social games maker presses on, with almost too many games announced recently.
Why do you think folks are leaving Zynga, but for companies in completely different industries? Is this the start of a trend of the social game maker?
You might be able to invest in Zynga just in time for Turkey Day
The fabled Zynga initial public offering (IPO) of legend draws near, the prophets of Mt. Reuters foretell. Jokes aside, the San Francisco-based social games maker could go public--meaning you and I could buy Zynga stock--the week before Thanksgiving. At least that's what two anonymous sources told Reuters on Monday, but these plans, of course, could change.
You know, like they've changed several times before? Since its original announcement in July, the exact date of the FarmVille maker's IPO has been pushed back more times than the company would likely care for. According to most reports, the IPO is set to inject another $1 billion into the already filthy rich company. Recent valuations mentioned in filings with the Security and Exchange Commission set Zynga at around $11.5 billion, which is more than what competitor EA is said to be worth.
The company has delayed its IPO in fear of a shaky market, but recently held Zynga Unleashed, a press event that announced a number of new games and initiatives like Project Z. While this was certainly to show off what the company had in store for its fans (and to show off its spiffy new offices), we're sure Zynga was looking to impress investors and analysts. If successful, this move could set the big red dog on the track to becoming the most valuable game company around. And with 70 times voting power on his share of the company, you can be sure that CEO Mark Pincus (pictured) will be at the reins.
[Via Business Insider]
[Image Credit: Getty Images/Bloomberg]
Would you ever invest in Zynga if and when it went public? What other effects do you think this move might have on the games industry overall?
You know, like they've changed several times before? Since its original announcement in July, the exact date of the FarmVille maker's IPO has been pushed back more times than the company would likely care for. According to most reports, the IPO is set to inject another $1 billion into the already filthy rich company. Recent valuations mentioned in filings with the Security and Exchange Commission set Zynga at around $11.5 billion, which is more than what competitor EA is said to be worth.
The company has delayed its IPO in fear of a shaky market, but recently held Zynga Unleashed, a press event that announced a number of new games and initiatives like Project Z. While this was certainly to show off what the company had in store for its fans (and to show off its spiffy new offices), we're sure Zynga was looking to impress investors and analysts. If successful, this move could set the big red dog on the track to becoming the most valuable game company around. And with 70 times voting power on his share of the company, you can be sure that CEO Mark Pincus (pictured) will be at the reins.
[Via Business Insider]
[Image Credit: Getty Images/Bloomberg]
Would you ever invest in Zynga if and when it went public? What other effects do you think this move might have on the games industry overall?
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