Believe it or not, some people aren't very happy with Google+. Take Steve Yegge, a Google engineer who accidentally posted what was meant to be an internal rant to fellow Google employees to his over 2,000 followers on the new social network. Reposted by many of his followers, the 5,000 plus-word diatribe hits every gory to explain Yegge's beef with Google+.
And that includes Google+ Games. Frankly, Yegge seems to think that the games portion of Google's second attempt at a social network is, well, uninspired. "Our Google+ team took a look at the aftermarket and said: 'Gosh, it looks like we need some games. Let's go contract someone to, um, write some games for us,'" Yegge wrote. "Do you begin to see how incredibly wrong that thinking is now? The problem is that we are trying to predict what people want and deliver it for them."
While that last quip seems to contradict his previous comment on Google+ Games, his message is clear. Yegge thinks Games were an afterthought for Google, which he seems to think is why the search giant enlisted the help of major social game developers like Zynga, PopCap and Kabam to release their existing games on the platform. Yegge has since publicly apologized for accidentally posting the essay rant.
Most recently, Zynga launched its brand new Mafia Wars 2 on Google+ Games. And before that, Google updated the platform with features that, while impressive, have been considered fundamental to Facebook games for some time. Recent estimates put the number of Google+ users at around 43 million, but how many of those are playing games is still unknown. And with sentiments such as this flying around, we imagine much work needs to be done for Google+ Games to be considered a viable alternative to Facebook gaming. If you have about 30 minutes, you can read Yegge's rant in full right here.
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Showing posts with label social games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social games. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Pocket God on Facebook spooks pygmies in 'Clash of the Frightened'
Well, not any more spooked than they are on a daily basis, really. We're not terribly sure why the first major update to Pocket God is titled "Episode 2: Clash of the Frightened," but we are sure of the changes it brings. Quebec-based Frima Studio brings plenty welcome changes like more solo quests for when the friends aren't around, the ability to pay for items and powers with either Pocket Change or Sacrifice Points (the game's two currencies) and the option to unlock Powers early with either currency.
The iPhone-turned-Facebook game is enjoying mild success with nearly 140 thousand monthly players and is one of the more gorgeous and inventive games I've seen on Facebook. Unfortunately, the update doesn't include my most wanted change: A completely Facebook-connected Pocket God iPhone app in vein of the FarmVille app.
There's always next time, but until then check out a full list of the exciting changes after the break.
Here's what you can expect in the first Pocket God update:
Social Quests: Combine forces with your Facebook friends to compete with rival deities across the world! Team up and take down powerful foes with a host of your favorite powers.
Taunt Your Friends: What could be better than having a shark bite the head of your boss, or frying your roommate to a crisp with a bolt of lightning? Why, rubbing it in their face afterward, of course! Tease the friends you have sacrificed with all-new power-themed taunts.
Choose Your Currency: Upgrade your godly presence any way you want. Acquire new powers, powerful items and glorious idols with either Pocket Change or Sacrifice Points, the two forms of currency in the game.
Unlock Powers Early: Can't wait to unlock exciting new powers and get the drop on your unsuspecting friends? Now you don't have to! For a little Pocket Change or Sacrifice Points, players can catch up to their friends in the game by unlocking powers early.
New Idols: New idols to represent the rival gods
More Solo Quests: Players have spoken and Frima has listened – five brand new quests, one of the most popular features in Pocket God, have been added with this update to give you plenty to stay busy!
The iPhone-turned-Facebook game is enjoying mild success with nearly 140 thousand monthly players and is one of the more gorgeous and inventive games I've seen on Facebook. Unfortunately, the update doesn't include my most wanted change: A completely Facebook-connected Pocket God iPhone app in vein of the FarmVille app.
There's always next time, but until then check out a full list of the exciting changes after the break.
Here's what you can expect in the first Pocket God update:
Social Quests: Combine forces with your Facebook friends to compete with rival deities across the world! Team up and take down powerful foes with a host of your favorite powers.
Taunt Your Friends: What could be better than having a shark bite the head of your boss, or frying your roommate to a crisp with a bolt of lightning? Why, rubbing it in their face afterward, of course! Tease the friends you have sacrificed with all-new power-themed taunts.
Choose Your Currency: Upgrade your godly presence any way you want. Acquire new powers, powerful items and glorious idols with either Pocket Change or Sacrifice Points, the two forms of currency in the game.
Unlock Powers Early: Can't wait to unlock exciting new powers and get the drop on your unsuspecting friends? Now you don't have to! For a little Pocket Change or Sacrifice Points, players can catch up to their friends in the game by unlocking powers early.
New Idols: New idols to represent the rival gods
More Solo Quests: Players have spoken and Frima has listened – five brand new quests, one of the most popular features in Pocket God, have been added with this update to give you plenty to stay busy!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
America 2049 on Facebook: A dismal game about a dismal future
Professionals and supporters alike have clamored for social game developers to use the rallying powers of Facebook to create interesting interactive experiences that spur players to change the world around them. A noble cause, sure, but the struggle has always been the fun factor. Can you spur people's desire to change their abysmal environment without them knowing that they're doing it? After playing America 2049, a Facebook game by Breakthrough (a company that uses popular culture and media to raise awareness to severe social issues), it's beginning to seem as if that's impossible.
Don't worry, this isn't some bash session: America 2049 is a finely-designed game with a start-studded cast of characters like Harold Perrineau of Lost, Victor Garber from Alias, Cherry Jones of 24, Rent's Anthony Rapp, and comedian Margaret Cho. In other words, Breakthrough spent a lot of money to not only garner some notoriety for its game, but for its creation as well. America 2049 looks fantastic, and while it is just a series of menus and maps, those are damned beautiful menus and maps.
America 2049 Clue
The game starts with an immense premise: You are a new member of the Council on American Heritage and the country has collapsed. It's up to you to find out what went wrong and reclaim the American culture for good use in the future. You must follow a series of clues by commanding "operatives" to uncover spots on a map. These spots may or may not hide clues to the puzzle squares, which normally amount to word puzzles or code cracking.
Of course, these actions all consume Energy, which will replenish over time or recharged with capsules you'll find in otherwise empty squares. Unfortunately, it's all as boring as it sounds. However, playing the game for longer than a few minutes will unlock some seriously intriguing stuff. Breakthrough has created an entire alternate reality through mock news websites, blogs and even a website representing "your organization," the Council on American Heritage. Eventually you must use this crafty little alternate-reality to find answers to the games more difficult puzzles.
America 2049 Information Reward
While set almost half a century into the future, it's all a clever way to raise awareness to the scars on the face of America and other developed countries today. It most definitely is galvanizing to be reminded of societal plagues like violence, division and corruption with such a perspective albeit fictional. America 2049 is a success in its mission, but the lack of engaging gameplay might bring the excitement to change the face of America to lukewarm temperatures.
Click here to play America 2049 on Facebook Now>
Have you tried America 2049 yet? What do you think of social games built around the goal of social change?
Don't worry, this isn't some bash session: America 2049 is a finely-designed game with a start-studded cast of characters like Harold Perrineau of Lost, Victor Garber from Alias, Cherry Jones of 24, Rent's Anthony Rapp, and comedian Margaret Cho. In other words, Breakthrough spent a lot of money to not only garner some notoriety for its game, but for its creation as well. America 2049 looks fantastic, and while it is just a series of menus and maps, those are damned beautiful menus and maps.
America 2049 Clue
The game starts with an immense premise: You are a new member of the Council on American Heritage and the country has collapsed. It's up to you to find out what went wrong and reclaim the American culture for good use in the future. You must follow a series of clues by commanding "operatives" to uncover spots on a map. These spots may or may not hide clues to the puzzle squares, which normally amount to word puzzles or code cracking.
Of course, these actions all consume Energy, which will replenish over time or recharged with capsules you'll find in otherwise empty squares. Unfortunately, it's all as boring as it sounds. However, playing the game for longer than a few minutes will unlock some seriously intriguing stuff. Breakthrough has created an entire alternate reality through mock news websites, blogs and even a website representing "your organization," the Council on American Heritage. Eventually you must use this crafty little alternate-reality to find answers to the games more difficult puzzles.
America 2049 Information Reward
While set almost half a century into the future, it's all a clever way to raise awareness to the scars on the face of America and other developed countries today. It most definitely is galvanizing to be reminded of societal plagues like violence, division and corruption with such a perspective albeit fictional. America 2049 is a success in its mission, but the lack of engaging gameplay might bring the excitement to change the face of America to lukewarm temperatures.
Click here to play America 2049 on Facebook Now>
Have you tried America 2049 yet? What do you think of social games built around the goal of social change?
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
DeNA partners with Docomo, prepares for Japanese social game coup
DeNA, the massive Japanese mobile social game company, has taken another step toward its imminent invasion of the western world of social games in a partnership with Docomo. You know, the company that bought American mobile game developer Ngmoco for over $400 million last year? That massive company.
Docomo is a Japanese phone manufacturer that will link its 6 million smartphone and feature phone users in Japan with DeNA's Mobage social gaming platform through i-mode. The oddly-named feature is found on all Docomo phones, and it will provide users a direct link to DeNA's list of games by as early as May.
Not to mention that a dedicated Mobage application will be pre-installed into several Docomo phones sometime in the future. According to a statement, Docomoco users will have exclusive early access to new content and easier billing for micro-transactions. Of course, the two plan to bring the model to Europe and the rest of Asia through mobile phone operators and game developers.
However, we're going to assume that if this strategy does well in Europe, DeNA will stake its claim in the US as well. Whether this is enough to combat Zynga has yet to be seen, but know that the Far East has burst onto the scene with guns a' blazin'.
[Image Credit: Random Acts of Media]
Do you think DeNA has a chance of getting into the Western world of social gaming? How will Zynga fare against the Eastern juggernaut, if it gets that far?
Docomo is a Japanese phone manufacturer that will link its 6 million smartphone and feature phone users in Japan with DeNA's Mobage social gaming platform through i-mode. The oddly-named feature is found on all Docomo phones, and it will provide users a direct link to DeNA's list of games by as early as May.
Not to mention that a dedicated Mobage application will be pre-installed into several Docomo phones sometime in the future. According to a statement, Docomoco users will have exclusive early access to new content and easier billing for micro-transactions. Of course, the two plan to bring the model to Europe and the rest of Asia through mobile phone operators and game developers.
However, we're going to assume that if this strategy does well in Europe, DeNA will stake its claim in the US as well. Whether this is enough to combat Zynga has yet to be seen, but know that the Far East has burst onto the scene with guns a' blazin'.
[Image Credit: Random Acts of Media]
Do you think DeNA has a chance of getting into the Western world of social gaming? How will Zynga fare against the Eastern juggernaut, if it gets that far?
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Combat in Civilization World is like cards, but with angry soliders on 'em
The more we hear about Civilization World, the more we want those guys working the Large Hadron Collider to discover time travel. Firaxis has just released a blog post covering combat in the upcoming Facebook edition of the seriously huge strategy series. According to the post, combat will be decided in card games. Wait, you mean to say that battles aren't fought on bloody fields and treacherous waters? Well, they are in your imagination, least.
The combat system allows for a set amount of card slots per battle. However, players can stack extra amounts of the same unit on a single slot, whether it be from the calvary, ranged, naval and melee classes. Of course, certain units do well against others and vise versa, but some perform better in certain environments as well, granting them attack bonuses. All of this information is displayed on each unit's card, thankfully.
Units can then attack their opponents heroically or on the defensive. The former increases both damage dealt and taken while the latter decreases both. Each style will have its own use, which you can likely deduce on your own, but what's important is that you build a squad of units with varying skills and stats to be prepared for anything. Not to mention that, like any Civ game, research is the gateway to not only fierce armies but sprawling, beautiful cities. Can you tell that we're excited? Just a little--OK good.
[Image Credit: NeoWin]
What do you think of the combat system in Civ World when you read about it? Do you think Civ will do well on Facebook?
The combat system allows for a set amount of card slots per battle. However, players can stack extra amounts of the same unit on a single slot, whether it be from the calvary, ranged, naval and melee classes. Of course, certain units do well against others and vise versa, but some perform better in certain environments as well, granting them attack bonuses. All of this information is displayed on each unit's card, thankfully.
Units can then attack their opponents heroically or on the defensive. The former increases both damage dealt and taken while the latter decreases both. Each style will have its own use, which you can likely deduce on your own, but what's important is that you build a squad of units with varying skills and stats to be prepared for anything. Not to mention that, like any Civ game, research is the gateway to not only fierce armies but sprawling, beautiful cities. Can you tell that we're excited? Just a little--OK good.
[Image Credit: NeoWin]
What do you think of the combat system in Civ World when you read about it? Do you think Civ will do well on Facebook?
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Half of all U.S. social gamers own a game console, RockYou study says
As if we already didn't know: Some social gamers are more "hardcore" than we thought. But the next study released that attempts to drive this point home is courtesy of Zoo World creator RockYou and conducted by Interpret, a media research firm. Titled the "Social Gamer Thought Leadership Research Study," it finds that 50 percent of U.S. social gamers own a traditional gaming console.
The study, which polled over 2,00 social game fans living in the U.S. aged 18 and older with a 60-40 women to men split, also found that social gamers are more "sophisticated." To back up the claim, the study reports a quarter of social gamers prefer games with quests, and that 22 percent admit that score-sharing drives their urge to play more. Oh, and these players also spend quite a bit of time with the games.
Of the over 2,000 people polled, RockYou and Interpret found that the average social gamer spends an average of 9.5 hours playing out of the 13 average hours they spend on networks like Facebook. The average social game player, according to the study, has just over 16 real-life frieds playing these games with them and has made 20 new friends through social games. Of course, the study doesn't get into how deep said friendships are, but how could you?
The study also reports that 42 percent of social gamers would play a social game more, if offered real world rewards like coupons or gift cards. (But isn't the idea to get them to pay up?) It was just recently that Raptr discovered that a number of Zynga fans may be Halo and Grand Theft Auto fans, too. And before that, Kabam found in its own study that the hardcore crowd on Facebook is growing.
What should you take away from this influx of studies and reports? Regardless of whether you still dig tending to virtual crops or running a shanty town, many developers--even the "casual" ones--seem all but done with your farms and cities of yore.
What do you think of the numerous reports on the growing hardcore crowd in social games? How do you think this will change the industry in the long run? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
The study, which polled over 2,00 social game fans living in the U.S. aged 18 and older with a 60-40 women to men split, also found that social gamers are more "sophisticated." To back up the claim, the study reports a quarter of social gamers prefer games with quests, and that 22 percent admit that score-sharing drives their urge to play more. Oh, and these players also spend quite a bit of time with the games.
Of the over 2,000 people polled, RockYou and Interpret found that the average social gamer spends an average of 9.5 hours playing out of the 13 average hours they spend on networks like Facebook. The average social game player, according to the study, has just over 16 real-life frieds playing these games with them and has made 20 new friends through social games. Of course, the study doesn't get into how deep said friendships are, but how could you?
The study also reports that 42 percent of social gamers would play a social game more, if offered real world rewards like coupons or gift cards. (But isn't the idea to get them to pay up?) It was just recently that Raptr discovered that a number of Zynga fans may be Halo and Grand Theft Auto fans, too. And before that, Kabam found in its own study that the hardcore crowd on Facebook is growing.
What should you take away from this influx of studies and reports? Regardless of whether you still dig tending to virtual crops or running a shanty town, many developers--even the "casual" ones--seem all but done with your farms and cities of yore.
What do you think of the numerous reports on the growing hardcore crowd in social games? How do you think this will change the industry in the long run? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Diamond Dash maker: Social games 'will evolve again in the next years'
Frankly, they kind of have no choice. That's general idea Wooga studio head Henric Suuronen (pictured) seems to have put forward in an in-depth interview with Gamasutra. And it would be wise to listen--the Berlin, Germany-based Facebook game creator is third behind Zynga and EA (now that PopCap's numbers have been integrated), according to AppData.
During the interview, Suuronen gave Gamasutra a detailed explanation of where Facebook games have been, what it takes to create them from a design perspective and, most importantly, where they're going. Specifically speaking to social mechanics in Facebook games, Suuronen said to Gamasutra:
"Now moving four years forward, you have games like CityVille, Pioneer Trail from Zynga, Kabam games, Digital Chocolate games, and Zombie Lane -- great game -- and now Magic Land," Suuronen told Gamasutra. "So it has really evolved. So why would the progression stop here? So I think it will evolve, as it has done from four years ago with Jetman and Scrabulous and Tower Bloxx. So it will evolve again in the next years."
The hit maker behind Diamond Dash recently released its seventh game on Facebook, Magic Land, which enjoys a healthy 3.4 million monthly players and over 330,000 daily players. According to Suuronen, Wooga's latest game had the most man hours thrown into it, a trend he seems to believe will continue. "The whole myth of the minimum viable product -- it's gone," Suuronen told Gamasutra. "It's something that you say to investors to sound cool."
Sure, Suuronen believes that players will eventually get tired of the standard social gaming mechanics of sharing gifts and helping asynchronously. However, the Wooga studio head also points out that the harsh reality of designing Facebook games to get players to pay up isn't going anywhere, and some traditional designers have trouble coming to grips with that.
Considering social games are expected to make $1 billion this year alone (and cash in even more from there), traditional designers and companies better wise up quick if they want to fit in the next big money machine. Read Suuronen's full interview with Gamasutra here, in which he predicts how you might be enticed to pay up in the future.
Do you agree that Facebook games can only grow into more robust entertainment options from here? Where would you like to see the industry go from today's CityVille's and other life simulators? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments
During the interview, Suuronen gave Gamasutra a detailed explanation of where Facebook games have been, what it takes to create them from a design perspective and, most importantly, where they're going. Specifically speaking to social mechanics in Facebook games, Suuronen said to Gamasutra:
"Now moving four years forward, you have games like CityVille, Pioneer Trail from Zynga, Kabam games, Digital Chocolate games, and Zombie Lane -- great game -- and now Magic Land," Suuronen told Gamasutra. "So it has really evolved. So why would the progression stop here? So I think it will evolve, as it has done from four years ago with Jetman and Scrabulous and Tower Bloxx. So it will evolve again in the next years."
The hit maker behind Diamond Dash recently released its seventh game on Facebook, Magic Land, which enjoys a healthy 3.4 million monthly players and over 330,000 daily players. According to Suuronen, Wooga's latest game had the most man hours thrown into it, a trend he seems to believe will continue. "The whole myth of the minimum viable product -- it's gone," Suuronen told Gamasutra. "It's something that you say to investors to sound cool."
Sure, Suuronen believes that players will eventually get tired of the standard social gaming mechanics of sharing gifts and helping asynchronously. However, the Wooga studio head also points out that the harsh reality of designing Facebook games to get players to pay up isn't going anywhere, and some traditional designers have trouble coming to grips with that.
Considering social games are expected to make $1 billion this year alone (and cash in even more from there), traditional designers and companies better wise up quick if they want to fit in the next big money machine. Read Suuronen's full interview with Gamasutra here, in which he predicts how you might be enticed to pay up in the future.
Do you agree that Facebook games can only grow into more robust entertainment options from here? Where would you like to see the industry go from today's CityVille's and other life simulators? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments
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