Category Archives: Social

PopCap has quietly unveiled Plants vs Zombies Adventures, a social adaptation of its much-loved tower defence effort now in beta on Facebook. Only a few players are onboard, with wider availability expected during northern spring. The “highly accessible” social spin-off promises exclusive new plants and zombie and all-new forms of combat, sending players on road trips to counter the undead menace in new locations, and was outed by domain registrations earlier this month.

Well well well, what have we here? Zynga has relaunched its online gaming portal and removed a requirement to login via Facebook. You can still use your social network ID if you like, but its yet another sign of the casual, mobile and social publisher’s decreasing reliance on Facebook. Reuters reports the relaunch hasn’t impressed investors much; stock climbed just 1% to $3.38 after hours.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Free-to-play Harry Potter social network and experience Pottermore is coming to PlayStation Home. Sony has promised more information soon, for now leaving us wqith this teaser trailer.

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Zynga New York head Dan Porter has published an open letter regarding claims that the studio copies other people’s titles. Porter downplayed the claim by suggesting that everyone copies each other.

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Twisted Metal developer Eat Sleep Play has released a social endless runner called Running with Friends. Published by Zynga, the free-to-play iOS title is available on the App Store now. Traditionally at home to a more mature audience, Eat Sleep Play had to tone down its gory plans, but VentureBeat reports the game remains unusually competitive and includes destructible environments.

Thanks, Shack News.

Dragon Age: Legends developer BioWare San Francisco has been closed, with all jobs lost, according to reports citing anonymous sources.

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Richard Garriott is teasing a reveal later this week, with all signs pointing to a crowd-funded project inspired by his influential RPG series, Ultima.

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22 Cans has announced via Twitter that all Project Godus backers will be featured in Curiosity layers over the next few days. The crossover was just one of a number of rewards offered to those who helped crowd-fund the newest Peter Molyneux god sim, which is expected in September this year.

Zynga has closed its Baltimore studio and shuffled staff around in New York and Texas, resulting in “minimal” job cuts.

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Mobile publisher Gree and Yahoo Japan have teamed up to open a new developer of social and mobile games, GxYz Inc. GamesIndustry reports the two companies began laying the foundation for the new developer in November 2012, and have fronted ¥200 million ($2.1 million) in capital. Gree holds 51% of shares in the new company, while Yahoo holds the remaining 49%. The board of directors is composed of two members of each company, and Gree’s Tomoyuki Isaka will act as CEO. Social network provider Gree is a major force in mobile gaming in Japan and is expanding operations in the west. It’s responsible for Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops.

EA and Zynga have settled over claims that the Zynga’s “The Ville” infringed on EA’s “The Sims Social,” reports Bloomberg. The report states the actual contents of the settlement were not reveled, only that both parties had reached a settlement. Back in August 2012, EA filed a copyright infringement suit over the social game maker’s Facebook game The Ville, claiming it “copied the original and distinctive expressive elements,” of The Sims Social. The following month, Zynga filed a countersuit stating the copyright infringement claim had “no merit” and was “anticompetitive” among other things. Zynga’s game was eventually shuttered last fall anyway, but not due to the lawsuit: it was because no one played the thing.

Log out of Facebook to read the rest of this artic- oh, you’ve gone.

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X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner has signed on to produce an animated TV series based on Farmville. Deadline reports production will be handled by Canadian company Six Eleven media. No network has picked up the series yet. Ratner’s also behind the Rush Hour series and the upcoming Hercules: The Thracian Wars; he described FarmVille as “one of the most exciting brands out there today” with “endless” cross-platform opportunities. An Angry Birds cartoon is moving forward this year, too.

Thanks, IGN.

Habbo Hotel owner Sulake has been purchased by Finnish telecommunications company Elisa for an undisclosed sum.

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Zynga’s cost-cutting measures over the last quarter have borne fruit, with the social publisher dramatically reducing losses in its latest financial report.

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Facebook is home to a growing number of games, but the social network company is going megaton on game development this year, starting with the announcement of ChronoBlade, an RPG with a whiff of Diablo about it. It’s being helmed by GTA creator Dave Jones, also of APB/Crackdown fame. See it in action below.

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Brian Reynolds has left Zynga, the social publisher has confirmed in a statement issued to Joystiq. The veteran developer joined Zynga in 2009 and has left to “pursue other opportunities”. He was chief game designer of the successful Frontierville, and his past credits include Rise of Nations and Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri.

Although it’s been a few months since the last publicised departure, Zynga has lost a significant chunk of its senior management and development team over the past year.

Zynga’s stock jumped in value by 14% on Monday to close at $2.84, an unenviable but improved high.

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Game of Thrones Ascent, a Facebook game set in everyone’s favourite fantasy epic, is close to launch, so developer Disruptor Beam has provided a rundown of what it will actually involve.

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Miiverse isn’t a competitor to existing social networks but a place for gamers to share their experiences with those who understand them – and it’s going to be “huge” once it arrives on 3DS, according to Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata.

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