If you were already a fan of CityVille's Mirror Heights Skyscraper (and perhaps you already built yours to its highest possible height), there's another Skyscraper available to you now: The Platinum Towers. This Platinum Towers structure is smaller than the Mirror Heights option, being just a square rather than a long rectangle, but the process for building it is the same.
As you upgrade the Skyscraper by collecting increasingly large amounts of various building ingredients, you'll see the Skyscraper change in design visually, becoming taller and more complex in appearance. The first upgrade requires just three nine parts in total:
3 Digital Elevators
3 Glass Pillars
3 Escalators
These items (and all subsequent items) will be earned through a combination of general news feed posts and individual requests sent out to friends. For the first few levels, your Platinum Towers home will offer anywhere from 100-200 citizens to your town. As you make your way closer to the final upgrade - Level 6 - you'll pass into the size that offers 500-1100 citizens, and finally, the last step will take your Platinum Towers to offering a whopping 3,500-5,500 citizens in your town.
While it may take quite a while to actually build each of the game's skyscrapers, the results are fairly fantastic for those cities that are lacking in space. Why build out when you can build up, taking up the same amount of land space but achieving such high results? We'll make sure to let you know when additional Skyscrapers launch in the game, and how you can build those as well.
What do you think of the Skyscapers feature in CityVille? Have you completed the construction of the Mirror Heights option, or will you start off with the Platinum Towers instead?
Chủ Nhật, 11 tháng 3, 2012
6waves Lolapps elevates mobile game plans, buys Escalation Studios
Despite getting off to a relatively uninspired start, Hong Kong-based social games publisher 6waves Lolapps (6L) wants to be on your iPhone or Android phone in a big way. And it's willing to do whatever it takes it get there, even if that means spending a few extra bucks. The joint publisher announced that it has acquired Dallas, Tex.-based mobile games maker Escalation Studios (creator of Yeti Town) for an undisclosed amount.
Having previously worked with the developer, 6L has integrated the Escalation team into its existing product development team, and the studio will continue to create such games for the publisher. Marc Tardiff, one of Escalation's three co-founders and now a 6L design director, thought the acquisition is a good fit.
"Originally, our relationship was one of publisher and developer," Tardiff tells us. "But as we worked together, we quickly realized that 'Hey, there are actually a lot of similarities between ourselves and 6waves Lolapps as far as the kind of games that we want to make and our philosophies behind building games.'"
Escalation Studios
Founded by folks hailing from the world of traditional console and PC games in 2007, Escalation made the shift to mobile around halfway into its life, looking to capitalize on the rampantly-growing smartphone games scene. Now, the studio has mobile games for properties like the timeless Doom series, the feature film Inception and its own original game ideas, like Splode, under its belt. The group of Texan developers are even working on a few smartphone games for 6L as of this writing.
"There are a couple titles that are actually in development at Escalation right now that are unannounced that are kind of on the larger scale," Tardiff reveals to us. "Kind of cross-platform between various mobile devices, almost MMOish [massively multiplayer online game], if you will, that we'll be talking about more in the coming months." While Escalation also has forged relationships with plenty of lucrative brand-holders, we're told that the studio will focus primarily on original game ideas.
6waves Lolapps"I think we'll take it on a case-by-case basis, because we haven't worked with the brands before," 6L CPO Arjun Sethi tells us. "It's just going to be: 'Does it make sense for the company in the long term? Will it be a good user experience? And, at the end of the day, will it be a good game?' And if all of those are a 'yes', then we'll seriously take a look at working with bigger brands."
The originally-Chinese social games publisher has offices in Beijing, Tokyo, and San Francisco. And with the Escalation Studios team, the company's overall headcount is now more than 210 employees worldwide. While 6L is likely excited to have its own weaponry in the ensuing mobile games battle between the likes of ngmoco, OpenFeint, EA and even Zynga, Tardiff and the Escalation team are just feeling the rush of creating games on a platform he feels is akin to the early days of PC gaming.
"That's what really excites us is [that] we kind of get to invent almost an entire new type of gaming," Tardiff gushes. "And, given that a lot of us under this roof were around for the early days of PC gaming, it's almost like a little bit of déjà vu."
What will come of 6L's much deeper focus on iPhone and Android, based on its work on Facebook? Can 6L catch up with your ngmocos and OpenFeints of the mobile game world?
Having previously worked with the developer, 6L has integrated the Escalation team into its existing product development team, and the studio will continue to create such games for the publisher. Marc Tardiff, one of Escalation's three co-founders and now a 6L design director, thought the acquisition is a good fit.
"Originally, our relationship was one of publisher and developer," Tardiff tells us. "But as we worked together, we quickly realized that 'Hey, there are actually a lot of similarities between ourselves and 6waves Lolapps as far as the kind of games that we want to make and our philosophies behind building games.'"
Escalation Studios
Founded by folks hailing from the world of traditional console and PC games in 2007, Escalation made the shift to mobile around halfway into its life, looking to capitalize on the rampantly-growing smartphone games scene. Now, the studio has mobile games for properties like the timeless Doom series, the feature film Inception and its own original game ideas, like Splode, under its belt. The group of Texan developers are even working on a few smartphone games for 6L as of this writing.
"There are a couple titles that are actually in development at Escalation right now that are unannounced that are kind of on the larger scale," Tardiff reveals to us. "Kind of cross-platform between various mobile devices, almost MMOish [massively multiplayer online game], if you will, that we'll be talking about more in the coming months." While Escalation also has forged relationships with plenty of lucrative brand-holders, we're told that the studio will focus primarily on original game ideas.
6waves Lolapps"I think we'll take it on a case-by-case basis, because we haven't worked with the brands before," 6L CPO Arjun Sethi tells us. "It's just going to be: 'Does it make sense for the company in the long term? Will it be a good user experience? And, at the end of the day, will it be a good game?' And if all of those are a 'yes', then we'll seriously take a look at working with bigger brands."
The originally-Chinese social games publisher has offices in Beijing, Tokyo, and San Francisco. And with the Escalation Studios team, the company's overall headcount is now more than 210 employees worldwide. While 6L is likely excited to have its own weaponry in the ensuing mobile games battle between the likes of ngmoco, OpenFeint, EA and even Zynga, Tardiff and the Escalation team are just feeling the rush of creating games on a platform he feels is akin to the early days of PC gaming.
"That's what really excites us is [that] we kind of get to invent almost an entire new type of gaming," Tardiff gushes. "And, given that a lot of us under this roof were around for the early days of PC gaming, it's almost like a little bit of déjà vu."
What will come of 6L's much deeper focus on iPhone and Android, based on its work on Facebook? Can 6L catch up with your ngmocos and OpenFeints of the mobile game world?
Pioneer Trail gets a prettied up Market, complete with search function
Well, it's about darn-tootin' time. Zynga has pushed an update to Pioneer Trail that gives the game's Market a much-needed revamp. In the same vein of games like FarmVille, CityVille and more, players can now search the Pioneer Trail Market to find exactly what they're looking for through a handy search bar. While that's the most notable change, there a few smaller ones.
The home page for the Pioneer Trail Market has changed into something similar to Zynga's other popular games. Now, it displays three featured promotions, which we imagine the developer will update on a regular basis. As of this writing, Zynga invites players to complete their frontier with new buildings, shop around for brand new winter items and to buy Horseshoes. So, yeah, nothing special is being offered just yet, but hopefully that will change soon.
This Market update is just one of numerous changes Zynga promises its players for Pioneer Trail, like a new building through which players will get to store other buildings. Despite the company's several promises for a better game--and even holding a luncheon meeting to discuss issues with the game--Pioneer Trail has been steadily losing players since its launch. As of this writing, the game has 4.7 million monthly players and 1.5 million logging in daily. After a short stemming off, Pioneer Trail has lost 500,000 monthly players since late Dec, according to AppData, and who knows what it will take to get those players back.
[Via FrontierVille Info]
Are you still hanging on in Pioneer Trail? What do you think the game needs to rope those lost players back in?
The home page for the Pioneer Trail Market has changed into something similar to Zynga's other popular games. Now, it displays three featured promotions, which we imagine the developer will update on a regular basis. As of this writing, Zynga invites players to complete their frontier with new buildings, shop around for brand new winter items and to buy Horseshoes. So, yeah, nothing special is being offered just yet, but hopefully that will change soon.
This Market update is just one of numerous changes Zynga promises its players for Pioneer Trail, like a new building through which players will get to store other buildings. Despite the company's several promises for a better game--and even holding a luncheon meeting to discuss issues with the game--Pioneer Trail has been steadily losing players since its launch. As of this writing, the game has 4.7 million monthly players and 1.5 million logging in daily. After a short stemming off, Pioneer Trail has lost 500,000 monthly players since late Dec, according to AppData, and who knows what it will take to get those players back.
[Via FrontierVille Info]
Are you still hanging on in Pioneer Trail? What do you think the game needs to rope those lost players back in?
CastleVille, Gardens of Time etc. get Interactive Achievement Award noms
Ah, a new year, another crop of stuffy prestigious video game awards ceremonies. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has released its nominees for the 15th annual Interactive Achievement Awards (IAAs), set to go down on Feb. 9 during the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit in at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas. Sure, the fact that comedian Jay Mohr is hosting the awards is news, but we know what you really care about: What games were nominated?
The IAAs span the entirety of the games industry, covering numerous categories, but here are the nominees that you social and casual gamers care about (for the rest of the nominees, click here):
Casual Game of the Year
Fruit Ninja Kinect
Tiny Wings
Jetpack Joyride
Monsters Ate My Condo
Where's My Water?
Social Networking Game of the Year
Army Attack
CastleVille
Gardens of Time
The Sims Social
Triple Town
And what do ya know, the lot of those "social networking games" made it into our own top 10 list for Facebook games. (And one of those might have squeezed into our top 10 free iPhone and iPad games list.) It's quite an honor to be an IAA nominee, and we're particularly excited to see Triple Town receive a nomination.
And since Playdom recently decided to publish the Spry Fox-developed game, we guess that means the Disney-owned studio scored two nominations ... sort of. GameSpot will be streaming the IAAs live from its website, so be sure to tune in on Feb. 9 at 10:30 p.m. EST. You know, if you can't make it out to Vegas.
Are you a fan of any the games nominated? Which casual or Facebook game do you think deserved a nomination that didn't make it into the IAAs?
The IAAs span the entirety of the games industry, covering numerous categories, but here are the nominees that you social and casual gamers care about (for the rest of the nominees, click here):
Casual Game of the Year
Fruit Ninja Kinect
Tiny Wings
Jetpack Joyride
Monsters Ate My Condo
Where's My Water?
Social Networking Game of the Year
Army Attack
CastleVille
Gardens of Time
The Sims Social
Triple Town
And what do ya know, the lot of those "social networking games" made it into our own top 10 list for Facebook games. (And one of those might have squeezed into our top 10 free iPhone and iPad games list.) It's quite an honor to be an IAA nominee, and we're particularly excited to see Triple Town receive a nomination.
And since Playdom recently decided to publish the Spry Fox-developed game, we guess that means the Disney-owned studio scored two nominations ... sort of. GameSpot will be streaming the IAAs live from its website, so be sure to tune in on Feb. 9 at 10:30 p.m. EST. You know, if you can't make it out to Vegas.
Are you a fan of any the games nominated? Which casual or Facebook game do you think deserved a nomination that didn't make it into the IAAs?
Zynga doesn't like SOPA, and says so through its With Friends games
But really, who does? SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act snaking its way through Congress, stands to transform the Internet in the worst way. Zynga joined a number of traditional game companies like Epic Games, Red 5 Studios, Minecraft creator Mojang and more today in stating that it is against SOPA and its terribly similar counterpart, PIPA, or the Protect IP Act.
"While we support the goal of stopping foreign web sites from engaging in copyright infringement, we believe there are more effective and targeted ways to deal with these problems without censoring the Internet," the FarmVille creator wrote in a blog post. "The overly broad provisions we've seen in the pending SOPA and PIPA bills could be used to target legitimate US sites and freeze innovation at a time when it is needed most."
For the uninformed, SOPA is a bill that was presented to Congress back on Oct. 26 2011 by House Judiciary Committee Chair and Texas Republican Lamar Smith and 12 co-sponsors. It's counterpart, PIPA, was introduced around the same time as SOPA. While SOPA will not be discussed again until February, PIPA could be voted on as early as next week.
Regardless, both anti-piracy bills would effectively grant content creators (film studios, music labels, etc.) terrifying, enormous power over any website that posts copyrighted content. Yes, and that includes this social and casual games blog. Gizmodo has posted a necessarily informative and alarming primer on the issue.
[Image Credit: Zynga]
What do you think of Zynga's public stance against SOPA and PIPA? What do you plan to do about it?
"While we support the goal of stopping foreign web sites from engaging in copyright infringement, we believe there are more effective and targeted ways to deal with these problems without censoring the Internet," the FarmVille creator wrote in a blog post. "The overly broad provisions we've seen in the pending SOPA and PIPA bills could be used to target legitimate US sites and freeze innovation at a time when it is needed most."
For the uninformed, SOPA is a bill that was presented to Congress back on Oct. 26 2011 by House Judiciary Committee Chair and Texas Republican Lamar Smith and 12 co-sponsors. It's counterpart, PIPA, was introduced around the same time as SOPA. While SOPA will not be discussed again until February, PIPA could be voted on as early as next week.
Regardless, both anti-piracy bills would effectively grant content creators (film studios, music labels, etc.) terrifying, enormous power over any website that posts copyrighted content. Yes, and that includes this social and casual games blog. Gizmodo has posted a necessarily informative and alarming primer on the issue.
[Image Credit: Zynga]
What do you think of Zynga's public stance against SOPA and PIPA? What do you plan to do about it?
Thứ Sáu, 9 tháng 3, 2012
CityVille Shanghai Center: Everything you need to know
As one final bit of celebration for Chinese New Year in CityVille, the final piece of the Great Pyramids wonder has finally been released: The Shanghai Center. This skyscraper can be placed in your town via the goal called "Shanghai Celebration," and from there you'll be challenged to complete three tasks that will likely look pretty familiar to you.
Gather Parts
Upgrade a Chinese Business to Level 2
Master a Chinese Crop to Level 3
First and foremost, the Gathering Parts requirement asks you to collect 12 each of five different items:
Office Phone
Antenna Light
Front Desk
Deck Binocular
Exit Sign
The Office Phones, Deck Binoculars and Exit Signs come from general news posts on your wall, while the Antenna Lights and Front Desks are earned by sending out individual requests to your neighbors for help. Meanwhile, the Chinese Business task can apply to either the Bowling Alley or the Fireworks Shop, and the Chinese Crop task applies to either Gao Liang or Rice. Gao Liang takes 15 hours to grow, while Rice takes 18 hours. Of course, if you've already mastered one star or more of Rice, it would definitely be worth growing it, even if it takes three hours longer each time.
Once you finish this Shanghai Center and this entire goal, you'll be left with a business that requires 450 Goods and supplies 3,243 coins by default. You'll also be one step closer to finishing off the entire Great Pyramids wonder, so get to work on that Venetian Palace and the Moscow Mansion to finally be finished!
Check out the rest of our CityVille Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Shanghai Center and Shanghai Celebration goal? Have you already completed the other two parts to the Great Pyramids wonder, or have you fallen a bit behind on it?
Gather Parts
Upgrade a Chinese Business to Level 2
Master a Chinese Crop to Level 3
First and foremost, the Gathering Parts requirement asks you to collect 12 each of five different items:
Office Phone
Antenna Light
Front Desk
Deck Binocular
Exit Sign
The Office Phones, Deck Binoculars and Exit Signs come from general news posts on your wall, while the Antenna Lights and Front Desks are earned by sending out individual requests to your neighbors for help. Meanwhile, the Chinese Business task can apply to either the Bowling Alley or the Fireworks Shop, and the Chinese Crop task applies to either Gao Liang or Rice. Gao Liang takes 15 hours to grow, while Rice takes 18 hours. Of course, if you've already mastered one star or more of Rice, it would definitely be worth growing it, even if it takes three hours longer each time.
Once you finish this Shanghai Center and this entire goal, you'll be left with a business that requires 450 Goods and supplies 3,243 coins by default. You'll also be one step closer to finishing off the entire Great Pyramids wonder, so get to work on that Venetian Palace and the Moscow Mansion to finally be finished!
Check out the rest of our CityVille Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Shanghai Center and Shanghai Celebration goal? Have you already completed the other two parts to the Great Pyramids wonder, or have you fallen a bit behind on it?
CastleVille Chinese New Year Quests: Everything you need to know
A new series of quests has launched in CastleVille today in celebration of the Chinese New Year holiday. These quests are given to you by Quinn, the traveling bard, who has come back from the far east with presents for you, if you're willing to earn them. There are just three quests in this Chinese New Year set, and they're not terribly difficult to complete.
Dress Like An Emperor
Change your Character's Outfit
Visit 3 Neighbors
This quest window might make it seem like you need to purchase a new item of clothing, but that's not the case. Just change your avatar's clothing into something you already own (say, a new top) and you'll finish this one with ease. Finishing this quest gives you 750 coins, 15 XP and a Chinese Bonsai Tree.
Sea Sick
Harvest 5 Tomatoes
Harvest 5 Carrots
If you have ten plots, you can easily plant both of these at the same time. The Tomatoes take eight hours to grow, while Carrots take just one hour. When you finish this quest, you'll receive 1,000 coins and 20 XP.
Eye Delight
Purchase 5 Far East Decor Items
Get 5 Wood Logs
As we've told you already, there are plenty of themed Chinese New Year items available to purchase in the store, but don't worry about wasting Crowns as there are plenty available for coins as well. For instance, a single piece of Dragon Fencing or a Chinese Rug cost just 500 coins each. After purchasing five items and chopping trees five times, you'll complete this entire Chinese New Year quest set and will receive 500 coins, 10 XP and the Dragon Head Statue as your reward. Remember the Dragon Head body and Tail pieces that are available to buy in the store? Now it finally has a head!
With that, Quinn disappears just as quickly as he came, but I'm sure he'll be back before we have a chance to really miss him.
Have you already finished this Chinese New Year Quest series? What do you think of the prizes given away, or the quests themselves?
Dress Like An Emperor
Change your Character's Outfit
Visit 3 Neighbors
This quest window might make it seem like you need to purchase a new item of clothing, but that's not the case. Just change your avatar's clothing into something you already own (say, a new top) and you'll finish this one with ease. Finishing this quest gives you 750 coins, 15 XP and a Chinese Bonsai Tree.
Sea Sick
Harvest 5 Tomatoes
Harvest 5 Carrots
If you have ten plots, you can easily plant both of these at the same time. The Tomatoes take eight hours to grow, while Carrots take just one hour. When you finish this quest, you'll receive 1,000 coins and 20 XP.
Eye Delight
Purchase 5 Far East Decor Items
Get 5 Wood Logs
As we've told you already, there are plenty of themed Chinese New Year items available to purchase in the store, but don't worry about wasting Crowns as there are plenty available for coins as well. For instance, a single piece of Dragon Fencing or a Chinese Rug cost just 500 coins each. After purchasing five items and chopping trees five times, you'll complete this entire Chinese New Year quest set and will receive 500 coins, 10 XP and the Dragon Head Statue as your reward. Remember the Dragon Head body and Tail pieces that are available to buy in the store? Now it finally has a head!
With that, Quinn disappears just as quickly as he came, but I'm sure he'll be back before we have a chance to really miss him.
Have you already finished this Chinese New Year Quest series? What do you think of the prizes given away, or the quests themselves?
CityVille Finishing the Great Pyramids: Everything you need to know
So, you've slaved away in CityVille for weeks, and have finally finished the Moscow Mansion, Venetian Palace and Shanghai Center, and are ready to build the Great Pyramids wonder in your town. Luckily, you can now do just that and will receive a pretty cool bonus in the process.
Once you finish all three of the above buildings, you'll be able to place the actual Great Pyramids structure in your town. This building comes with three temporary bonuses that can be activated like an Attraction (that is, you can collect Keys to recharge these boosts, or wait for a lengthy timer to "cooldown" automatically). The three boosts are:
10 Payout on Vacation Homes
5x Payout on Regional Buildings
+25% Payout to all other Businesses
Each time you wish to receive these bonuses (and the Great Pyramid isn't currently cooling down), you'll need to start these effects by spending three energy. From there, you have three minutes to collect as much bonus cash in your city as possible, by simply collecting from businesses and homes that fall into the above categories. The Great Pyramid doesn't need to be sitting next to something to work, as it works across your entire town. However, keep in mind that unlike Attractions, you can only have one of these Wonder bonuses active in your town at once (you can also extend its bonus by purchasing more time with City Cash).
All told, this is an incredibly functional new building, but whether or not it's truly worth dropping everything else to complete will be up to you. This feature doesn't appear to have a time limit, so if you've yet to start working on any of the three buildings required to unlock the Great Pyramids wonder, I wouldn't worry about it. Just come back to it when you're ready and it will be waiting for you.
What do you think of the bonuses that come with the Great Pyramid wonder? Which of the three buildings have you already completed in an effort to unlock this wonder?
Once you finish all three of the above buildings, you'll be able to place the actual Great Pyramids structure in your town. This building comes with three temporary bonuses that can be activated like an Attraction (that is, you can collect Keys to recharge these boosts, or wait for a lengthy timer to "cooldown" automatically). The three boosts are:
10 Payout on Vacation Homes
5x Payout on Regional Buildings
+25% Payout to all other Businesses
Each time you wish to receive these bonuses (and the Great Pyramid isn't currently cooling down), you'll need to start these effects by spending three energy. From there, you have three minutes to collect as much bonus cash in your city as possible, by simply collecting from businesses and homes that fall into the above categories. The Great Pyramid doesn't need to be sitting next to something to work, as it works across your entire town. However, keep in mind that unlike Attractions, you can only have one of these Wonder bonuses active in your town at once (you can also extend its bonus by purchasing more time with City Cash).
All told, this is an incredibly functional new building, but whether or not it's truly worth dropping everything else to complete will be up to you. This feature doesn't appear to have a time limit, so if you've yet to start working on any of the three buildings required to unlock the Great Pyramids wonder, I wouldn't worry about it. Just come back to it when you're ready and it will be waiting for you.
What do you think of the bonuses that come with the Great Pyramid wonder? Which of the three buildings have you already completed in an effort to unlock this wonder?
CityVille Finishing the Great Pyramids: Everything you need to know
So, you've slaved away in CityVille for weeks, and have finally finished the Moscow Mansion, Venetian Palace and Shanghai Center, and are ready to build the Great Pyramids wonder in your town. Luckily, you can now do just that and will receive a pretty cool bonus in the process.
Once you finish all three of the above buildings, you'll be able to place the actual Great Pyramids structure in your town. This building comes with three temporary bonuses that can be activated like an Attraction (that is, you can collect Keys to recharge these boosts, or wait for a lengthy timer to "cooldown" automatically). The three boosts are:
10 Payout on Vacation Homes
5x Payout on Regional Buildings
+25% Payout to all other Businesses
Each time you wish to receive these bonuses (and the Great Pyramid isn't currently cooling down), you'll need to start these effects by spending three energy. From there, you have three minutes to collect as much bonus cash in your city as possible, by simply collecting from businesses and homes that fall into the above categories. The Great Pyramid doesn't need to be sitting next to something to work, as it works across your entire town. However, keep in mind that unlike Attractions, you can only have one of these Wonder bonuses active in your town at once (you can also extend its bonus by purchasing more time with City Cash).
All told, this is an incredibly functional new building, but whether or not it's truly worth dropping everything else to complete will be up to you. This feature doesn't appear to have a time limit, so if you've yet to start working on any of the three buildings required to unlock the Great Pyramids wonder, I wouldn't worry about it. Just come back to it when you're ready and it will be waiting for you.
What do you think of the bonuses that come with the Great Pyramid wonder? Which of the three buildings have you already completed in an effort to unlock this wonder?
Once you finish all three of the above buildings, you'll be able to place the actual Great Pyramids structure in your town. This building comes with three temporary bonuses that can be activated like an Attraction (that is, you can collect Keys to recharge these boosts, or wait for a lengthy timer to "cooldown" automatically). The three boosts are:
10 Payout on Vacation Homes
5x Payout on Regional Buildings
+25% Payout to all other Businesses
Each time you wish to receive these bonuses (and the Great Pyramid isn't currently cooling down), you'll need to start these effects by spending three energy. From there, you have three minutes to collect as much bonus cash in your city as possible, by simply collecting from businesses and homes that fall into the above categories. The Great Pyramid doesn't need to be sitting next to something to work, as it works across your entire town. However, keep in mind that unlike Attractions, you can only have one of these Wonder bonuses active in your town at once (you can also extend its bonus by purchasing more time with City Cash).
All told, this is an incredibly functional new building, but whether or not it's truly worth dropping everything else to complete will be up to you. This feature doesn't appear to have a time limit, so if you've yet to start working on any of the three buildings required to unlock the Great Pyramids wonder, I wouldn't worry about it. Just come back to it when you're ready and it will be waiting for you.
What do you think of the bonuses that come with the Great Pyramid wonder? Which of the three buildings have you already completed in an effort to unlock this wonder?
Empires & Allies Limited Edition Unit Factory: Everthing you need to know
If you've always wanted to fill your Empires & Allies armies with powerful limited edition units, but didn't want to spend the Empire Points on them (or, perhaps you just weren't a high enough level at the time to purchase them), you can now build the Limited Edition Unit Factory in your empire. Just to be clear, the name of the building is the "Limited Edition Unit Factory," the building itself isn't a limited edition item that you need to rush to have.
There are missions that go along with this building, and you'll complete the first by just placing the factory on your land. Your rewards for that mission are one Blue Approval Stamp and an Electrical Diagram. For the record, the second mission simply asks you to construct a unit within that new factory.
Once you've constructed the Factory (it takes just three energy to build), you'll be able to build one of four formerly limited edition units inside, with the help of friends (or, again, the option for purchasing them with Empire Points is available). While there are just four items available now, they are on a week-long time limit, meaning that a series of new items will be available to build after that week. You'll need to rush to finish them all in time. But just what are these items? Well, you can build a Commando (135 points), K7 Bomber (175 points), Elite Thumper Artillery (200 points) or a SU-122 Tank (200 points).
In the example of the Commando, you'd need to collect three Blue Approval Stamps and three Electrical Diagrams (the two items we received as mission rewards above), along with four each of Mechanical Diagrams and Red Approval Stamps. You'll earn these items by simply asking your friends to send them to you via a combination of general news posts and individual requests sent to friends.
Once complete, you'll have a fully functioning unit, and the same process can be completed (albeit by collecting some different materials) to build the other three units in the factory. Just remember - again - these items will only be available for a week at a time, so build the ones you want the most first, just in case you don't have a chance to come back to the rest before time runs out.
What do you think of this Limited Edition Unit Factory? Will you immediately start building units, or do you have all of the troops your empire needs right now?
There are missions that go along with this building, and you'll complete the first by just placing the factory on your land. Your rewards for that mission are one Blue Approval Stamp and an Electrical Diagram. For the record, the second mission simply asks you to construct a unit within that new factory.
Once you've constructed the Factory (it takes just three energy to build), you'll be able to build one of four formerly limited edition units inside, with the help of friends (or, again, the option for purchasing them with Empire Points is available). While there are just four items available now, they are on a week-long time limit, meaning that a series of new items will be available to build after that week. You'll need to rush to finish them all in time. But just what are these items? Well, you can build a Commando (135 points), K7 Bomber (175 points), Elite Thumper Artillery (200 points) or a SU-122 Tank (200 points).
In the example of the Commando, you'd need to collect three Blue Approval Stamps and three Electrical Diagrams (the two items we received as mission rewards above), along with four each of Mechanical Diagrams and Red Approval Stamps. You'll earn these items by simply asking your friends to send them to you via a combination of general news posts and individual requests sent to friends.
Once complete, you'll have a fully functioning unit, and the same process can be completed (albeit by collecting some different materials) to build the other three units in the factory. Just remember - again - these items will only be available for a week at a time, so build the ones you want the most first, just in case you don't have a chance to come back to the rest before time runs out.
What do you think of this Limited Edition Unit Factory? Will you immediately start building units, or do you have all of the troops your empire needs right now?
Pioneer Trail Frontier Bulletin Board: Everything you need to know
Do you remember the Newsstand feature in Pioneer Trail (then FrontierVille)? This feature allowed to you complete favors for your real world friends, but ultimately fell by the sidelines as folks simply got bored with it (or, more likely, got tired of waiting for all of those extra pop-ups to appear when visiting friends). Well, apparently virtual friends are much easier to help than real life ones, as Zynga has taken another stab at the favor idea via a new Bulletin Board you can build on your Homestead.
This Bulletin Board triggers the launch of the Frontier Favors feature in your game. After it's built, you'll see bright orange exclamation points above the heads of your virtual friends (Granny, Bess, Doc and so on) that indicate that person has a favor to ask of you. You can also view all available favors by looking inside the Bulletin Board. But wait! You'll need to build it first, which requires the following parts:
10 Push Pins
10 Cork Boards
10 Colored Paper
15 Wood Brackets
15 Spare Lumber
15 Pencils on a String
The Push Pins, Cork Boards and Colored Paper come from general news posts placed on your wall, while the other three items are earned through individual requests sent to your neighbors. After you start to accept favors, you'll find that the tasks vary between players, but are available on a daily basis (you can only have one favor active at once). Each favor goal that you accept will expire after two weeks, or you can simply dismiss a favor altogether if it comes with requirements that you don't want to complete. The only drawback here is that you won't receive that favor again, so if the prize was worthwhile, you might want to push through to the finish.
Once you finish a favor, you'll be rewarded with a prize that might include a new decoration for your land, a Mystery Animal Crate and so on. As an added bonus, you'll receive 5 Horseshoes for completing your very first favor (apparently, the folks at Zynga really wants this feature to take off and are willing to pay for that to happen). This comes through the only guaranteed goal that all users will receive (afterwards, the paths branch and players will experience different things).
Big Favors
Place & Complete the Bulletin Board
Obtain a Favor
Complete a Favor
On top of receiving the 5 Horseshoes like we said above, you'll also receive 500 XP and 500 coins for finishing this goal. From there, you're on your own to accept and complete as many (or as few) favors as you'd like.
This apparently marks just the first event in Pioneer Trail to use what Zynga is calling the "Dynamic Quest System." We'll make sure to let you know if and when additional features use this "random" setup as well, so keep checking back with us.
What do you think of the Frontier Favors / Bulletin Board feature in Pioneer Trail? Will you complete a single favor just for the Horseshoes, or are you genuinely interested in this new feature?
This Bulletin Board triggers the launch of the Frontier Favors feature in your game. After it's built, you'll see bright orange exclamation points above the heads of your virtual friends (Granny, Bess, Doc and so on) that indicate that person has a favor to ask of you. You can also view all available favors by looking inside the Bulletin Board. But wait! You'll need to build it first, which requires the following parts:
10 Push Pins
10 Cork Boards
10 Colored Paper
15 Wood Brackets
15 Spare Lumber
15 Pencils on a String
The Push Pins, Cork Boards and Colored Paper come from general news posts placed on your wall, while the other three items are earned through individual requests sent to your neighbors. After you start to accept favors, you'll find that the tasks vary between players, but are available on a daily basis (you can only have one favor active at once). Each favor goal that you accept will expire after two weeks, or you can simply dismiss a favor altogether if it comes with requirements that you don't want to complete. The only drawback here is that you won't receive that favor again, so if the prize was worthwhile, you might want to push through to the finish.
Once you finish a favor, you'll be rewarded with a prize that might include a new decoration for your land, a Mystery Animal Crate and so on. As an added bonus, you'll receive 5 Horseshoes for completing your very first favor (apparently, the folks at Zynga really wants this feature to take off and are willing to pay for that to happen). This comes through the only guaranteed goal that all users will receive (afterwards, the paths branch and players will experience different things).
Big Favors
Place & Complete the Bulletin Board
Obtain a Favor
Complete a Favor
On top of receiving the 5 Horseshoes like we said above, you'll also receive 500 XP and 500 coins for finishing this goal. From there, you're on your own to accept and complete as many (or as few) favors as you'd like.
This apparently marks just the first event in Pioneer Trail to use what Zynga is calling the "Dynamic Quest System." We'll make sure to let you know if and when additional features use this "random" setup as well, so keep checking back with us.
What do you think of the Frontier Favors / Bulletin Board feature in Pioneer Trail? Will you complete a single favor just for the Horseshoes, or are you genuinely interested in this new feature?
Bubble Witch Saga bursts on Google+, reaches 4 million daily players
Now with 4 million daily players, Bubble Witch Saga has officially blown up on Facebook, (Don't you love it when puns actually work out?) King.com's flagship game has been on a growth curve for the past month, and the London-based social games maker wants to keep it that way. The developer announced that Bubble Witch Saga is now available on Google+ Games.
"King.com's mission is to bring quality games to players across the globe via any platform," King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi said in a release. "Integrating the Google+ game API made it simple to port Bubble Witch Saga over to the network. We are looking forward to having more of our popular games extended to the platform."
However, it still begs the question, why Google+ now? "I guess [Google's] announcement of its 90 million customer base gives us a sense of the momentum," King.com CMO Alex Dale tells us. "And I'm sure Google is committed to finding lots of inter-operative ways of knitting their different products together, and some of those are bound to get traction."
According to Dale, the Google+ version of Bubble Witch was created by the same King.com team that handled its Facebook version. Porting the social game was simple, thanks to King.com's "elegant technical infrastructure that allows new games to be deployed with relatively little bespoke back end coding," Dale tells us. King.com claims that Bubble Witch Saga has been played 1.5 billion times since its launch, and another place to play can only boost that mind-boggling number.
Click here to play Bubble Witch Saga on Google+ Now >
Are you a Bubble Witch Saga fan? How do you think the game will do on Google+, and where would you rather play?
"King.com's mission is to bring quality games to players across the globe via any platform," King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi said in a release. "Integrating the Google+ game API made it simple to port Bubble Witch Saga over to the network. We are looking forward to having more of our popular games extended to the platform."
However, it still begs the question, why Google+ now? "I guess [Google's] announcement of its 90 million customer base gives us a sense of the momentum," King.com CMO Alex Dale tells us. "And I'm sure Google is committed to finding lots of inter-operative ways of knitting their different products together, and some of those are bound to get traction."
According to Dale, the Google+ version of Bubble Witch was created by the same King.com team that handled its Facebook version. Porting the social game was simple, thanks to King.com's "elegant technical infrastructure that allows new games to be deployed with relatively little bespoke back end coding," Dale tells us. King.com claims that Bubble Witch Saga has been played 1.5 billion times since its launch, and another place to play can only boost that mind-boggling number.
Click here to play Bubble Witch Saga on Google+ Now >
Are you a Bubble Witch Saga fan? How do you think the game will do on Google+, and where would you rather play?
Thứ Bảy, 3 tháng 3, 2012
Puppy lovers unite as OMGPop pulls in $20k daily from Puppy World
That's a heck of a lot of doggy biscuits... Released in late July, OMGPop's Puppy World on iPhone / iPod Touch has been downloaded over one million times, and currently sits at #54 on the iTunes Top Free Apps chart. While not one of the most social-heavy games on the App Store (although the app claims you can share puppies with your Facebook friends), that doesn't mean it's not a profitable setup. In fact, players are apparently so in love with puppies that they're paying $20,000 per day on the game's virtual goods.
As reported by TechCrunch, OMGPop's CEO Dan Porter has offered some stats about the game's progress so far (unfortunately, there's no infographic to go with them - we love infographics). Of the game's 1 million downloads, a quarter of those have resulted in daily active users returning to the game. What's more, when taking all users into account, each user spends an average of eight cents per day on virtual goods that are available within the Puppy World app (players can purchase premium decorations, or can even buy their way out of quests with premium currency). While it wasn't revealed in exact detail, Puppy World has many players that spend sometimes more than $50 on premium currency packages, with all spending adding up to over $20,000 a day.
To bring in those users, Porter claims that 20 percent of users are downloading the game based on adds they've seen on OMGPop's website and on Facebook app pages, while viral sharing and exposure on the iTunes app charts accounts for a larger portion: 60%. The final 20% is comprised of users that responded to paid advertising. Do the math, and Porter states that "For every user we pay to acquire we are seeing 6 more users for free." That's pretty impressive, all things considered.
Of course, many would argue that in the world of social and mobile games, success is found over the course of a marathon, and not a sprint. Sure, OMGPop may have a hit on their hands now, but how long will it last? Porter admits that the game isn't without flaws, especially when playing on older iPhones. "If we had to do it all over again, we would have only supported iPhone 4," he says. He attributes many of the app's one-star reviews to the app crashing on older phones.
With such simplistic gameplay as waiting for puppies to grow before giving them over to happy children, mixed with some light animal care-taking tasks, could Puppy World even have enough content to sustain a port to Facebook? I know I'd be interested in these adorable puppies making the switch, and with profits like these just on the iPhone, we're excited to learn if that becomes OMGPop's next logical step. We'll make sure to let you know if it is.
Have you tried Puppy World on iPhone? Would you like to see Puppy World make the switch to Facebook, or do you think the gameplay is more suited to a mobile experience / audience? Have you spent any money in free-to-play mobile games?
Meteor Games wants to be the Nintendo of Facebook games, not just "for moms"
While Meteor Games may be a name that's foreign to most Facebook gamers, with just 1.1 million monthly active users across their entire catalog of Facebook games, that doesn't mean their games aren't successful. Just ask CEO Zac Brandenburg. According to Forbes, Meteor finds success in their Facebook games (including their most popular - Island Paradise) because they're more focused on the long-term when designing a game, rather than on instant success.
"The feature set is much more than a simple compulsion loop," says Brandenberg, "You need to have different things for players to do, centered around what the plot is going to be." In an upcoming branded game, released with Viacom, we'll apparently see that ideology in full effect. Meteor is currently working on three games that are "close to launch," but Brandenburg didn't reveal specific details about any of them, other than the fact that they may be "fantasy-themed."
We do know the company's end goal, however: to focus on the middle section of gamers. "We don't think like Kabam with hard core games and we are also not just casual games for moms. There is a middle ground - like with Nintendo. There's a huge audience in the middle. We're going to draw from the hard core elements and the super casual side." Brandenburg says that games don't need massive audiences to be successful, so long as you've given players a high quality experience that engages them over the long term. Of course, high-paying users don't hurt either.
While Brandenburg refrained from using the term "whales," Meteor apparently does have them, and in droves. In Meteor's case, whales are gamers that spend over $1,000 a year on their games, while a handful of Super Whales in each game spend over $10,000 - that's a lot of premium currency!
Even with all of that being said, Brandenburg made it clear that the company's focus isn't so much on a game's social aspects, but on making an individual user want to come back to the experience just to play the game. "You only play if you actually want to not because your friends want you to. Then you have a smaller audience but the audience may spend 50 times what another gamer (on a different game) spends. You can have a lot of success there."
When Meteor Games announces more details about their three upcoming titles (including the branded game with Viacom), we'll make sure to let you know.
Are you an active player of Meteor's games like Island Paradise and Ranch Town? Would you have more fun in a Facebook game if there was more focus on your own experience with the story, rather than on always asking for help from your friends?
"The feature set is much more than a simple compulsion loop," says Brandenberg, "You need to have different things for players to do, centered around what the plot is going to be." In an upcoming branded game, released with Viacom, we'll apparently see that ideology in full effect. Meteor is currently working on three games that are "close to launch," but Brandenburg didn't reveal specific details about any of them, other than the fact that they may be "fantasy-themed."
We do know the company's end goal, however: to focus on the middle section of gamers. "We don't think like Kabam with hard core games and we are also not just casual games for moms. There is a middle ground - like with Nintendo. There's a huge audience in the middle. We're going to draw from the hard core elements and the super casual side." Brandenburg says that games don't need massive audiences to be successful, so long as you've given players a high quality experience that engages them over the long term. Of course, high-paying users don't hurt either.
While Brandenburg refrained from using the term "whales," Meteor apparently does have them, and in droves. In Meteor's case, whales are gamers that spend over $1,000 a year on their games, while a handful of Super Whales in each game spend over $10,000 - that's a lot of premium currency!
Even with all of that being said, Brandenburg made it clear that the company's focus isn't so much on a game's social aspects, but on making an individual user want to come back to the experience just to play the game. "You only play if you actually want to not because your friends want you to. Then you have a smaller audience but the audience may spend 50 times what another gamer (on a different game) spends. You can have a lot of success there."
When Meteor Games announces more details about their three upcoming titles (including the branded game with Viacom), we'll make sure to let you know.
Are you an active player of Meteor's games like Island Paradise and Ranch Town? Would you have more fun in a Facebook game if there was more focus on your own experience with the story, rather than on always asking for help from your friends?
Top 25 Facebook Games - August 2011: Gardens of Time hits the big time
Gardens of Time
For all of the Playdom and Disney nay saying lately, the duo seems to be proving everyone wrong with a single game. Gardens of Time has been on a steady climb since its release, and this month it's the fifth largest Facebook game at nearly 16 million monthly players. Just last month alone, the game garnered another 1.7 million players, which is impressive for any game that wasn't made by You Know Who. (Has Zynga reached Voldemort-like proportions yet? We like to think so.)
Of course, Zynga maintains the same top four spots it did last month, even as CityVille lost over 8.5 million monthly players and Empires & Allies lost over half a million. Even FarmVille lost another 3.4 million monthly players, though it'll take a lot more than this for Zynga to lose its reign.
And oddly enough, Monster Galaxy lost a whopping 8.4 million monthly players last month just after gaining over 6 million the month prior. This caused the game to fall back from the mighty top five to now eighth place at 10.6 million players. In fact, loss is somewhat of a trend this month, with 18 of 25 games losing monthly players. This could be attributed to a list of factors, but we're gonna' go with: It's summer, and most folks would rather be outside than in front of the computer.
AppData top 25 Facebook Games August
New additions to the Top 25 are Mall World, which comes in at number 24 with 5.3 million monthly players, and Zoo World 2 in the 20 spot with 6.4 million monthly players and a gain of nearly 3 million. However, publisher RockYou, according to Inside Social Games, uses the same app ID for the sequel to Zoo World as the original, meaning RockYou has not separate the traffic from both games.
Unfortunately, Ravenwood Fair was knocked off the leader boards this month, as was MindJolt Games from the rise of Mall World and It Girl's far leap from 21st place in June to the 14 spot this time around. Gardens of Time has hit the coveted top five because, while there are hidden object games out there, it seems that Playdom hit the previously untapped genre at just the right time. It speaks volumes to Facebook games partnership director Sean Ryan's plea for developers to experiment with new genres (at least to Facebook). At this point, it just might be the only way to reach at least fifth place.
[Source and Image Credit: AppData]
How do you think Playdom reached the top five with Gardens of Time? What new genres would you like to see appear in Facebook games?
For all of the Playdom and Disney nay saying lately, the duo seems to be proving everyone wrong with a single game. Gardens of Time has been on a steady climb since its release, and this month it's the fifth largest Facebook game at nearly 16 million monthly players. Just last month alone, the game garnered another 1.7 million players, which is impressive for any game that wasn't made by You Know Who. (Has Zynga reached Voldemort-like proportions yet? We like to think so.)
Of course, Zynga maintains the same top four spots it did last month, even as CityVille lost over 8.5 million monthly players and Empires & Allies lost over half a million. Even FarmVille lost another 3.4 million monthly players, though it'll take a lot more than this for Zynga to lose its reign.
And oddly enough, Monster Galaxy lost a whopping 8.4 million monthly players last month just after gaining over 6 million the month prior. This caused the game to fall back from the mighty top five to now eighth place at 10.6 million players. In fact, loss is somewhat of a trend this month, with 18 of 25 games losing monthly players. This could be attributed to a list of factors, but we're gonna' go with: It's summer, and most folks would rather be outside than in front of the computer.
AppData top 25 Facebook Games August
New additions to the Top 25 are Mall World, which comes in at number 24 with 5.3 million monthly players, and Zoo World 2 in the 20 spot with 6.4 million monthly players and a gain of nearly 3 million. However, publisher RockYou, according to Inside Social Games, uses the same app ID for the sequel to Zoo World as the original, meaning RockYou has not separate the traffic from both games.
Unfortunately, Ravenwood Fair was knocked off the leader boards this month, as was MindJolt Games from the rise of Mall World and It Girl's far leap from 21st place in June to the 14 spot this time around. Gardens of Time has hit the coveted top five because, while there are hidden object games out there, it seems that Playdom hit the previously untapped genre at just the right time. It speaks volumes to Facebook games partnership director Sean Ryan's plea for developers to experiment with new genres (at least to Facebook). At this point, it just might be the only way to reach at least fifth place.
[Source and Image Credit: AppData]
How do you think Playdom reached the top five with Gardens of Time? What new genres would you like to see appear in Facebook games?
Cut the Rope 2 has a mysterious new character and plenty more rope
If I learned anything from the Boondock Saints, it's that you can never have enough rope. Chillingo, publisher of Angry Birds in the U.S. and now with EA, has released the first images of Cut the Rope 2 by Zepto Lab.
IGN expects the game to be a full-blown sequel to the original hit iOS game in which players cut a series of ropes that hold candy for Om Nom, the game's adorably green protagonist. At the moment, all we're riding on is three new images, none of which include gameplay, but are quite telling of what's in store for Om Nom.
Aside from a logo for the new game, the released media includes a storyboard for what will likely be an introductory cut scene. It seems that Om Nom is heading to a new home, and judging from the second screenshot, finally free from his box (the entire first game is played from inside it).
Cut the Rope 2 storyboard
However, a brand new character has been revealed for the game known only as "The Professor." This mysterious new character could be who players now cut the rope as. But one thing is for certain: With a name like "The Professor," I would expect some wacky new ways of delivering tasty sweets to our beloved green friend.
IGN says that Cut the Rope 2 will hit the App Store "soon," and that it might focus more heavily on story than the original. I don't think we've ever been this excited about cutting ropes. We blame the green thing.
Cut the Rope 2 The Professor
[Via Touch Arcade]
[Source and Image Credit: IGN]
What other hints do you see in these first-ever images of Cut the Rope 2? How do you hope this sequel will improve upon the original?
IGN expects the game to be a full-blown sequel to the original hit iOS game in which players cut a series of ropes that hold candy for Om Nom, the game's adorably green protagonist. At the moment, all we're riding on is three new images, none of which include gameplay, but are quite telling of what's in store for Om Nom.
Aside from a logo for the new game, the released media includes a storyboard for what will likely be an introductory cut scene. It seems that Om Nom is heading to a new home, and judging from the second screenshot, finally free from his box (the entire first game is played from inside it).
Cut the Rope 2 storyboard
However, a brand new character has been revealed for the game known only as "The Professor." This mysterious new character could be who players now cut the rope as. But one thing is for certain: With a name like "The Professor," I would expect some wacky new ways of delivering tasty sweets to our beloved green friend.
IGN says that Cut the Rope 2 will hit the App Store "soon," and that it might focus more heavily on story than the original. I don't think we've ever been this excited about cutting ropes. We blame the green thing.
Cut the Rope 2 The Professor
[Via Touch Arcade]
[Source and Image Credit: IGN]
What other hints do you see in these first-ever images of Cut the Rope 2? How do you hope this sequel will improve upon the original?
NBA Jam creator splits EA for Zynga; next stop, BasketballVille? [Rumor]
With Zynga, anything is possible. Come on, it made a mini game called PrivacyVille. Kotaku reports that Mark Turmell (pictured), creator of the legendary NBA Jam series of arcade-style basketball games that were recently revisited on the Wii and other consoles, has left EA Sports and joined the creator of FarmVille. (However, no sources have been cited.) And considering his extensive track record with entertaining sports games with wide appeal, Zynga might intend on entering the sports genre with Turmell.
Turmell had been with EA Sports at its Tiburon studio since 2009 and also helped bring iconic games like the '90s arcade game Smash TV and NFL Blitz, another arcade-style sports game. Turmell was senior creative director at EA Tiburon in Orlando, Fla., and while his Linkedin profile has yet to be updated with the new position, his departure is official. "We appreciate Mark's contribution to Tiburon and EA Sports and wish him well in future endeavors," an EA spokesman told Kotaku.
A number of EA employees have reportedly left the company in recent months for ventures in social gaming. Former EA CCO John Schappert has left the company for Zynga, and former EA CCO Bing Gordon has invested in the monolithic company. Ben Cousins of EA's free-to-play developer Easy Studios left the company for Ngmoco's (owned by Japanese gaming giant DeNA) new Sweden studio.
Amidst rampant departures, EA runs headstrong into the social games world and is making huge strides to compete--the company bought Bejeweled developer PopCap for a whopping potential $1.3 billion recently. However, it will be interesting to see if these talent losses affect EA's ability to go toe-to-toe with Zynga, but with an entire company's worth of talent now, we'd say it has a pretty solid shot at the big time. We've contacted Zynga for comment.
[Via GameSpot]
What do you think Turmell could bring to Zynga? Will EA's PopCap buy make up for the loss of a few key players?
Turmell had been with EA Sports at its Tiburon studio since 2009 and also helped bring iconic games like the '90s arcade game Smash TV and NFL Blitz, another arcade-style sports game. Turmell was senior creative director at EA Tiburon in Orlando, Fla., and while his Linkedin profile has yet to be updated with the new position, his departure is official. "We appreciate Mark's contribution to Tiburon and EA Sports and wish him well in future endeavors," an EA spokesman told Kotaku.
A number of EA employees have reportedly left the company in recent months for ventures in social gaming. Former EA CCO John Schappert has left the company for Zynga, and former EA CCO Bing Gordon has invested in the monolithic company. Ben Cousins of EA's free-to-play developer Easy Studios left the company for Ngmoco's (owned by Japanese gaming giant DeNA) new Sweden studio.
Amidst rampant departures, EA runs headstrong into the social games world and is making huge strides to compete--the company bought Bejeweled developer PopCap for a whopping potential $1.3 billion recently. However, it will be interesting to see if these talent losses affect EA's ability to go toe-to-toe with Zynga, but with an entire company's worth of talent now, we'd say it has a pretty solid shot at the big time. We've contacted Zynga for comment.
[Via GameSpot]
What do you think Turmell could bring to Zynga? Will EA's PopCap buy make up for the loss of a few key players?
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