Category Archives: Casual

A report from analyst group App Data suggests daily usage for Draw Something has fallen by five million users in one month. The 33% decline comes on the heels of the Zynga buyout of OMGPop which saw the social game firm outbidding other interested parties with a $210 million acquisition. The title continues to fall towards the bottom of the App Store charts, with DAU peaking at 15 million in April to 10 million 30 days later. Thanks, Develop.

Game designer Jane McGonigal has teamed up with Oprah Winfrey to launch a new social game based on gratitude. Nope, I’m not joking and no, I don’t get it neither. The game itself, called The Thank You Game, is simple enough: to make players show more gratitude in their daily lives.

Get it here if it’s up your street. Kotaku has a video describing the game.

Fable Heroes, the cute spin-off from Lionhead’s Albion fantasy series, can be seen in all its gameplay glory below the drop. It’s out on Thursday for 800 MSP as part of the 2012 Xbox Live Arcade Next Promotion. As the ever-useful Wikipedia tells us, “Fable Heroes is an ‘action-packed hack-and-slash adventure’ set in the Fable Universe, the player plays as one of 12 characters from across the four Fable Games and are presented in a Hero Doll Form which are a recognisable item from the series.”

Yeah. Watch and see.

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Zynga CEO Mark Pincus has said the buyout of Draw Something developer OMGPop was what he called a “rare instance” for the company.

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Update your iOS install of Angry Birds Space to benefit from the freshly-released Fry Me To The Moon update. The free pack adds in ten new levels in which those troublesome pigs orbit icy planets, making them even harder to take down. Angry Birds Space has totted up over 20 million downloads through the App Store, so all iDevice fans will score 20 free space eagles. Nice.

THQ has sold its budget and casual PC firm ValuSoft to Cosmi for an undisclosed sum. The sale is part of the firm’s strategy to streamline focus on stronger franchises such as Darksiders and Saints Row. The Minnesota firm was purchased by THQ 10 years ago, and the publisher/distributor specializes in casual games sold through box retailers. Cosmi is also a budget-priced firm, and based out of California. Thanks, Gamasutra.

Ubisoft is set to release Innergy next year, according to an external contractor brought on board to the project. The announcement on the Vitality Sensor-like project from the publisher, shown at E3 in 2010 as a Wii title with its own accessory from Ubisoft rather than Nintendo’s own VTS, came from Exoa, who was brought in to help finish up work on the game.

Via Superannuation, EG.

Bloomberg‘s reporting that Rovio turned down a $2 billion takeover from Zynga. The piece, which takes a look at its acquisition and merger practices, cites sources familiar with the matter. No word on when the offer was made is mentioned in the article, however. Rovio has said its looking at an IPO for sometime next year, while Zynga recently bought Draw Everything studio OMGPop for $180 million.

Microsoft’s released a video promoting a 3D art exhibition in London revolving around Pixar characters in Kinect Rush. Characters shown include Buzz from Toy Stoy, Mr Incredible from The Incredibles, Up and Ratatouille. Get it below the break.

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Ubisoft has announced Rabbids: Invasion, a new Facebook game, as well as Rabbids Go Phone Again and Rabbids Go HD.

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Draw Something has surpassed 50 million downloads in just 50 days. Released in February, the game quickly became a hit with iPhone and Android users with 6 million drawings created, and on launch day alone, three draws per second were recorded. That figure is now at 3,000 drawings per second. The game is now owned by Zynga which wrote OMGPoP a check for $180 million last month. Thanks, VentureBeat.

A study polling 500 people conducted by Niko Partners had found that 64% of China’s 180 million casual and core gamers pay for their pleasure each month, and the country is outpacing other countries in terms of money spent. The age of those playing games each month is up as well, with those ages 40 and up making up 10% of those surveyed, which suggested a rise in causal games, while the firm denoted a decline in core gamers – which consume over 22 hours of game time a week. Thanks, GI International.

Rovio’s announced it’ll open a brand new studio in Sweden later this year. The Angry Birds outfit is looking to hold 20-30 employees at the venue near Stockholm, with a search already underway for a general manager. Rovio also has locations in Tampere, Finland and in Shanghai.

Thanks, Gamasutra.

6Waves Lolapps has decided to drop the latter half of its name, having already laid off the staff members of its development division.

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Seismic Games, the social studio formed by ex-Pandemic and Activision vets, has announced its first game since its formation: a Facebook game called CelebrityMe. The game will allow players to learn the ins and outs of Hollywood. You’ll be able to create your own character; choose a career path where your character can on having a Hollywood career, live in the music industry or just be a socialite; create your own in-game movies or music videos and more, build your own entourage and more. You can get the game here.

After scoring big with its Gardens of Time game on Facebook, Disney’s Playdom has announced new title in the hidden-object social game genre called Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers, inspired by its Animal Kingdom Park in Florida.

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Angry Birds Space was downloaded 10 million times in its first three days, Rovio has said. It said in a tweet: “10 million Angry Birds Space downloads in less than 3 days! Thanks to our fans, stay tuned for more!”

The title launched on iOS, Android, Mac and PC last week, with a Windows Phone 7 version coming soon at some point.

While it’s not $200 million, it sure is damned close: SEC filings dug up by GI.biz show that Zynga paid a whopping $180 million in cash for Draw Something maker OMGPOP. Analysts and insiders earlier this week suggested the figure would range between $200- $210 million. Draw Something has been downloaded over 35 million times and over 1 billion drawings have been produced. Likely that figure is much higher today, as I went on a massive Draw Something spree last night into the wee hours. [image]

Angry Birds Space debuted yesterday, and automatically hit the number one position on the App Store, knocking the super, fun Draw Something off its cushy perch. The latest pig beat ‘em up landed on iOS, PC, and Android.

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A royalty listing on music-licensing site The Royalty Network has suggest Your Shape is in the works for Wii U by Ubisoft.

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