Games.com Blog: “Quote of the Moment: Schedule Accordingly” plus 19 more |  |
- Quote of the Moment: Schedule Accordingly
- Hi5 "declaring war" on Facebook, viral game spam
- How free and social games are changing everything
- Them's fightin' words: Hi5 prez calls Zynga games 'mediocre'
- Tiki Resort zaps Treasure Chest and Trash with 'mystery'
- SSP Ranch! dares you to want a Chinchilla
- SuperPoke Pets need Super Vitamins on SSP Ranch!
- Happy Aquarium reels in the Six Bar Wrasse
- FarmVille Bistro Table Upgrade and other fixes
- FarmVille Free Giftables: Kelly Green Haybale, Flax Leaves & Long Log
- From the Halls of Motezuma comes FishVille's latest theme
- FarmVille Kelly Green Cow
- FarmVille St. Patrick's Day Crops: Shamrock, Green Hellebores & Green Roses
- FarmVille St. Patrick's' Day Mystery Box 03.10.10
- Playdom brings Wild Ones to MySpace
- MySpace launches new game hub, iPhone app
- Get a free Algae-Eating FishVille Snail by playing YoVille!
- Three new Collector's Plates: a Mystery Box Happy Pets exclusive!
- Breaking News! Playfish's next big game -- Hotel City
- We're off to see the Wizard in Pet Society!
| Quote of the Moment: Schedule Accordingly Posted: 10 Mar 2010 03:00 PM PST  "Oh yeah. Remember, I'm unemployed. If I was working, the schedule would be different. [On an average day] I wake up at seven, let the dogs out, then go turn on the computer, load up Facebook, and by the time I let the dogs back in, Facebook is loaded and they go back to bed with my wife. I make sure my fish are fed, my crops haven't withered, that everything's going fine, grab presents and plant accordingly.If I need to plant, I do it so the harvesting is ready when my wife is off to work, so I can spend time with her when she wakes up. So if I have four hour crops, I can go seven to 11 and then 11 to three. Then I plant again so I can do an eight hour crop so when that's ready I can watch the news and start getting dinner ready. Realistically, there's about three hours a day when our computer's not on. ... It's really sad, but it's true that I plan around these things if I know I'm not going to be home. If my wife is off two days in a row, I'll plant a three day crop so I don't have to be worrying about it all the time." -A Facebook gamer identified only as "Frank" responds to the question "Do you ever plan your day around your Facebook games?" at a Game Developers Conference Panel entitled "The Anatomy of a Social Gamer: Why Do They Come, Play and Pay?"
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| Hi5 "declaring war" on Facebook, viral game spam Posted: 10 Mar 2010 02:30 PM PST  Social gaming network Hi5 definitely isn't easing up on Facebook and Zynga following president and CEO Alex St. John's incendiary remarks at Game Developers Conference panel today. In a press release issued just moments after the panel was done, a spokesperson for the company insisted they were "declaring war against Facebook today at GDC.""Facebook is making it difficult for developers to work with their company," the release continues. "Mainly, Facebook sees hugely popular viral games like Farmville as taking away its audience. hi5 is rocking the boat by announcing their Game Developers Program that provides free promotion and marketing of games to the site's 60 million users and access to its virtual micropayment system - hi5 Coins." St. John himself used the release to follow up with more harsh words for other social game networks. "To date, social games have been distributed on open platforms competing against thousands of other titles with nothing but their own spamminess to get them discovered," he said in the press release. "As the market has saturated, getting noticed has become more and more difficult and expensive, particularly for smaller developers. hi5's new Game Developer Program solves this problem by providing great games with free promotion, rapid audience acquisition and favorable revenue share for new content on hi5.com." More than drawing a line in the sand between Hi5 and competing social gaming networks, the quick release suggests that St. John's comments at the GDC panel were well thought out, and not just emotional statements made in the heat of the moment. Is this just a desperate cry for attention from hi5, or does St. John have a point about other social game networks? Let us know how you feel in the comments.
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| How free and social games are changing everything Posted: 10 Mar 2010 02:00 PM PST
At the Game Developers Conference today, Playfish co-founder and CEO This change does require looking at the industry in a different way, though. In the past, Segerstrale said, the industry focused on charging lots of money upfront to a small number of people. In the new free, social games model, developers should focus on creating an ongoing experience and relationship with a broader audience that will pay small amounts of money over time. Where the industry once relied on technological changes to attrct new players, Segerstrale said they must now look to social networks and lower barriers of entry to attract bigger audiences than ever. The promise of this new free, social model, Segerstrale said, is it allows developers to reach people who don't identify as gamers -- people who may check out a free-to-play game just because their friends told them to."The primary emotional reason people play is to play with friends," he said. "It's about a social experience, cooperation, competition, self expression, and a thousand other more complicated social relationships. That's more more compelling than a solitary journey for most people." One of the best results of the free-to-play market, Segerstrale said, is ending the days when a mediocre game could be sold on the strength of its marketing. "All these connected consumers will tell friends if they don't like an experience, on any platform," he said. But aqs time goes on, Segerstale said he sees social games resembling the traditional game market, with franchises dominating the market, games released across multiple platforms to maximize the market, "In three to five years time, saying 'I'm developing a social game' will be like saying 'I have an electric television at home.' It's just kind of a given."
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| Them's fightin' words: Hi5 prez calls Zynga games 'mediocre' Posted: 10 Mar 2010 11:40 AM PST Outspoken Hi5 President Alex St. John put the smackdown on Zynga today during a talk at the 2010 Game Developer Conference in San Francisco, calling the popular social gaming outfit 'mediocre' and a 'company that has primarily just found a new way to spam people.' Them's fighting words, especially as the social network is making big moves to ramp up its status as a gaming platform, going so far as to dub itself "the largest social entertainment site focused on gaming." A quick peek on the official Zynga site shows that neither FarmVille, Mafia Wars nor any other Zynga games currently reside on Hi5 -- and based on these comments from Alex St. John, it looks like that's probably not going to happen anytime soon. Considering the millions that flock to Zynga games, that's going to make for an even more difficult climb to the top. Do you agree -- are Zynga games just glorified spam apps? Thanks, Dan, for the tip.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments   This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Tiki Resort zaps Treasure Chest and Trash with 'mystery' Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:40 AM PST  And since any good mystery involves some suspense, your chances of getting these special bonuses will be random.
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| SSP Ranch! dares you to want a Chinchilla Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:30 AM PST 
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| SuperPoke Pets need Super Vitamins on SSP Ranch! Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:00 AM PST  Of the two, SSP Ranch! is the one that offers a full Flash environment, where you can decorate on an isometric field, and your animals actually have room to roam and grow. (While roaming tends to be annoying in a title like FarmVille, feeding the animals on your ranch is easy and fun, cause they'll automatically rush towards the food you've dropped for them.) All the animals have retain that happy-go-lucky kawaii style that has made all of Slide's SuperPoke titles so popular. With cute graphics, solid gameplay, and a long pedigree, SSP Ranch! is shaping up to be the most adorable virtual ranch experience by far. The latest update from the game is Super Vitamins. Use them on your animals or your neighbors' for more coins! You can check out all the old updates on SSP Ranch!'s official Facebook page.
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| Happy Aquarium reels in the Six Bar Wrasse Posted: 10 Mar 2010 08:30 AM PST  First zoologically classified in 1830, like all Wrasses, the tropical Six Bar is a voracious, colorful little carnivore which enjoys small crustaceans. And if you've got 2,750 coins at Level 45+, you can own its virtual piscine doppelganger today!
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| FarmVille Bistro Table Upgrade and other fixes Posted: 10 Mar 2010 08:10 AM PST  FarmVille has upgraded the Bistro Table, as many farmers were unsatisfied with its scale. The Bistro Table is part of the French Chateau Collection of limited edition items and can be purchased in the FarmVille Market for 6,000 coins.Other Minor Bug Fixes: * Fix applied to bug preventing players from receiving more than one response to Ask For Gold in 24 hours. * Fix applied to bug preventing all users from sending Gold to neighbor that has asked. Are you satisfied with the new size of the Bistro Table? This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille Free Giftables: Kelly Green Haybale, Flax Leaves & Long Log Posted: 10 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PST  You can send or receive these free gifts through the Gifting page. * Kelly Green Haybale * Flax Leaves (Farmville.com Exclusive) * Long Log (Farmville.com Exclusive) This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| From the Halls of Motezuma comes FishVille's latest theme Posted: 10 Mar 2010 07:30 AM PST  Aztec items on the Gifts Page:  Aztec Items in the Store: 
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2010 07:20 AM PST  In honor of St. Patrick's Day, FarmVille released a special limited edition Kelly Green Cow. The Kelly Green Cow can be purchased in the FarmVille Market for the next 7 days and costs 14 FV$ or farm cash. It is also a sendable item that you can purchase and send to your lucky FarmVille neighbors. The Kelly Green Cow yields____ in ____ days for ____ coins. This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille St. Patrick's Day Crops: Shamrock, Green Hellebores & Green Roses Posted: 10 Mar 2010 07:10 AM PST  These crops are only available for 7 days and may be purchased in the FarmVille Market. There is no Crop Mastery available for these limited edition crops. :( Which one is your favorite St. Patrick's themed crop? This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| FarmVille St. Patrick's' Day Mystery Box 03.10.10 Posted: 10 Mar 2010 07:00 AM PST  This Mystery Box will be available in the FarmVille Market for six days. It costs 16 FV$ or farm cash. As always, it promises to yield exclusive prizes (St. Patrick's themed) that you cannot purchase anywhere else. ::: Spoiler Alert ::: The following are some of the confirmed prizes for this Mystery Box: * Green Mallard * High Kick Horse * Potted Clovers * Green Gazebo * Green Parrots * Green Farm House  FarmVille Freak Linkaholic's St. Patrick's Mystery Box Prizes: Green Mallard, High Kick Horse & Potted Clovers This article originally appeared on FarmVille Freak.
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| Playdom brings Wild Ones to MySpace Posted: 10 Mar 2010 06:30 AM PST  On top of that, MySpace has just launched a new games hub, which will be served by the 'MySpace Neon' iPhone app.
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| MySpace launches new game hub, iPhone app Posted: 10 Mar 2010 06:00 AM PST If you're a MySpace gamer, the second most popular social network is trying to enhance your game experience with a new games hub. Much like the new Facebook games hub that launched a few weeks ago, this space is designed to help you discover new social games, as well as keep track of notifications related to the games you're playing. So far, the experience seems a little bare-boned and focused more heavily on 'featured' games chosen by MySpace based on their popularity (or whatever other reasons) rather than a customized recommendation engine (like something you might see on Amazon.com) based on games you're already playing. Of course, having any games hub is better than no games hub, and this will most likely evolve as users give more feedback. MySpace has also launched a new games-related iPhone app, called 'MySpace Neon,' which will give users access to their social games on the network. The app will help you stay on top of your games, notifications, et al while you're on the go and will 'give players access to all of their MySpace games." Does that mean that you'll be able to play your MySpace games on iPhone? Probably not -- this will most likely be another way to stay on top of your game notifications. We'll see when the app launches in the next few weeks. Where do you play your games -- Facebook or MySpace?
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| Get a free Algae-Eating FishVille Snail by playing YoVille! Posted: 10 Mar 2010 05:45 AM PST  Zynga's been busily cross-promoting all their games, such as offering FarmVille players "Hot Rod" Tractors and Seeders for gaining 5 levels in Mafia Wars, or decorative FarmVille collectibles in PetVille, and even advertising for FarmVille in Cafe World. Now, you can get the Algae-Eating Snail in FishVille for free by gaining 10 levels in YoVille. It'll eat half the algae in your tank, saving you the trouble of sponging it off yourself. And if you don't feel like trying out YoVille, but have some Sand Dollars on hand, you can still get the YoVille Snail in the FishVille store for 20 Sand Dollars. While it's not busy going NOM NOM NOM, the YoVille Snail looks very much like a pink version of FishVille's classic blue Sea Snail, which was purchasable in the store a long time ago, but is now a giftable exclusive.
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| Three new Collector's Plates: a Mystery Box Happy Pets exclusive! Posted: 10 Mar 2010 05:30 AM PST   All three of these classic characters show up at a tea party in Lewis Carroll's story. But remember, the Wonderland items are set to disappear by March 22nd, and these are only available via Mystery Boxes, so start buying boxes today!
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| Breaking News! Playfish's next big game -- Hotel City Posted: 10 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PST Playfish, the company responsible for Pet Society and Restaurant City, has a new social game waiting in the wings -- Hotel City. We caught a glimpse of the game during Playfish CEO Kristian Segerstrale's talk titled the 'Relentless March Toward Free' at the annual Game Developer's Press Conference. A Playfish rep confirms that the game is coming 'soon.' Stay tuned for more details!
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| We're off to see the Wizard in Pet Society! Posted: 10 Mar 2010 04:00 AM PST  
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