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Facebook Gaming Web

Cityville Beats Farmville As Most Popular Game On Facebook

Farmville has finally been dethroned. Although this social gaming application, which at one point in time was synonymous with social gaming on Facebook, had been replaced by Phrases DIY trivia builder application as the most popular application on Facebook, it still retained the tag as the most popular gaming application until now. No longer.

Data collected by app metrics firm AppData has showed that Zynga’s Cityville has replaced Farmville as the most popular gaming application. This is across any single platform and is not limited to Facebook alone. According to data revealed by AppData, the new game from Zynga amassed as many as 61.7 million monthly users – just 22 days after its launch on December 2. Farmville on the other hand has reported close to 56.8 million during the same period.

Another noteworthy information is that Zynga’s total traffic during this period adds up to 261.6 million active users that is close to being its all-time peak. That’s 63 million more than what Zynga reported for November this year.

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Facebook

Mafia Wars Atlantic City For Mobile Phones Launched

Zynga has launched a mobile version of its popular Mafia Wars Atlantic City game. This is the social gaming company`s first ever application to be designed for the mobile web. Well, it just seems like Zynga has a lot to show to its potential investors rather than just sticking to the social games on Facebook. This game makes use of the HTML 5 format which means that it will be able to run on most smartphones.

One advantage that HTML 5 has is that it is not platform dependent like Adobe Flash and other native formats, which is apparently the reason why Zynga chose to build the game in it – Build once, and run on multiple platforms. Zynga makes a significant chunk of its revenues from Facebook and it is likely that the company feels it’s time for them put their hands in the mobile market.

You can play this new Mafia Wars game on your mobile by visiting m.mafiawars.com or download it from the GetJar application store.

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Facebook Google Microsoft

New Microsoft Bing Social Gaming Platform In The Making

Software giant Microsoft could well become the first company to have social games running on their search engine. Their search engine Bing would soon be hosting the social game “Happy Island” and from doing this the company thinks that it will be proving its innovative talent in the sector.

The company apparently came up with the idea to incorporate social games on their search engine when their biggest rival Google came up with a fully fledged application and gaming store for its Google Chrome OS. Speaking about the launch, Parri Munsell, executive producer of Gaming on Bing has said,

“We believe this launch brings several important innovations to the social gaming industry, starting with the ability to experience great gameplay before being required to sign in,”

As per Microsoft’s press release there is a 100 percent possibility of other games like “Zuma`s Revenge” and “Bubble Town” to making in into the search engine soon. As for “Happy Island”, the game already has its presence on Facebook, iPhone and Android devices.

Categories
Gaming Microsoft

Play Neosaurs – Microsoft's Browser-Based MMORPG

Microsoft, it appears, has forayed into the MMORPG development business. The company has launched Neosaurs – a browser based multiplayer role playing game (MMORPG) that has been developed in partnership with Camelot Media Investments who are already a significant player in the MMORPG arena.

Neosaurs is currently in beta mode and requires users to sign up using Windows Live or Facebook accounts – clearly viral marketing should be a prime marketing agenda here. At the moment though, there does not seem to be significant population on the game yet. A quick visit to the game’s forums section throws a dozen threads with very few posts. But given Microsoft’s marketing reach, that should change soon.

It is an interesting case to discuss why Microsoft is working on Neosaurs in the first place and how it will integrate the game to its console gaming business. Is Neosaurs coming to the XBox soon? Or is Microsoft planning on bringing XBox gaming to the browser? It will be interesting to see how all of this pans out.

You can now register and play Neosaurs here.

Categories
Facebook Gaming

American States With Highest Number Of Facebook Gamers

Where do the most number of gamers on Facebook come from in the United States? A study conducted by AdParlor looked into data gathered from hundreds of advertising campaigns to extrapolate the numbers for the entire Facebook audience. Here are the top ten states and the number of gamers that each of these states contribute

1. California : 159,841 (17.00%)
2. Texas : 119,906 (12.75%)
3. Florida : 108,963 (11.59%)
4. New York : 101,642 (10.81%)
5. Ohio : 75,768 (8.05%)
6. Pennsylvania : 73,420 (7.81%)
7. Illinois : 72,306 (7.69%)
8. Michigan : 68,683 (7.30%)
9. Georgia : 57,398 (6.20%)
10. North Carolina : 56,895 (6.05%)

Here are some more highlights from the study:

  • The states of California, Texas, Florida, and New York together account for roughly 30% of all US game players.
  • The highest ratio of game players to state population comes from the State of Wyoming
  • The highest ratio of game players to city population comes from St. Louis, Orlando, Salt Lake City, Dayton, and Pompano Beach
  • Despite a population of almost 650,000 – the city of Boston only brought in 1,792 gamers
Categories
Gaming Mobile Software and Apps

Zynga Poker Android App Releasing Soon

Zynga is making its foray into the Android platform. And it’s not Farmville that will be the first title to make it to this new space. Instead, Zynga Poker, the second most popular title from Zynga will launch as an Android app soon. The reason for the move is not known. Perhaps, Zynga sees Texas Hold’em based games as more profitable for the company. Also, while it is not known outside Zynga, it is likely that the Farmville charm is already on the decline. How long do you expect users to keep liking their virtual harvesting and egg farming businesses?

Either way, it is a great choice to offer to Poker fans. It is said that Zynga will make use of the new single sign-on feature from Facebook to make it possible for users to register and login instantly.

Related news from across the blogosphere

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Gaming Microsoft Uncategorized

Is Microsoft Bringing Second Life To XBox Live?

Rumors are doing the rounds that Microsoft may have acquired Linden Lab, the developers of the popular virtual world game, Second Life. According to reports, the deal has either been sealed or is in very advanced stages. Linden Lab is reported to have been entertaining offers and Microsoft is reported to have shown keen interest. Incidentally, Linden Lab also announced that it was closing its UK office this week.

While this still remains a rumor that needs more confirmation, there are reports nevertheless that Microsoft is keen on buying social gaming companies. It’s learned that Microsoft executives are looking for more than just partnerships and are talking about purchases with several social gaming vendors.

Nevertheless, this news should be interesting if you are a Second Life user. The acquisition could bring the game to XBox Live. Do you think that’s a good move?

Categories
Gaming Web

Planet Michael – New Free Online Game For Michael Jackson Fans Releases

Michael Jackson has been one of the most loved as well as reviled pop star in recent times and his death a year back shook up the internet, literally, as Google nearly went down giving in to frantic searches from people looking to know if their favorite star was dead.

Now 15 months on, a gaming development company, SEE Virtual Worlds, has announced the launch of Planet Michael – a massively multiplayer online game that is dedicated to MJ fans. USA Today writes,

“We put a focus on something that will truly allow fans to immerse themselves in a Michael Jackson-like universe or music-video-like world and interact with each other and then go on adventures and do gameplay stuff and socialize,” says Josh Gordon of developer SEE Virtual Worlds.

Think World of Warcraft— with no violence and more dancing. “The player is more apt to succeed in a situation using song, dance and adventure as opposed to violence,” Gordon says.

The gaming application is free to download for users and is open to players 13 years and above. You can check out the game yourself at PlanetMichael.com. And in case you are wondering, the website is Flash based so OS platforms that do not support it are exempt.

Categories
Gaming Web

Mozilla Firefox Browser Gaming Launches

Mozilla Labs has announced its plans to venture into a new browser-based gaming service that is expected to launch later this year. According to an announcement made on the company website, the new gaming section will be built for the open web that could make use of technologies like Open Video, audio, WebGL, touch events, device orientation, geo location, and fast JavaScript engines to create complex gaming applications for the web browser.

As a way to kick off the new service, Mozilla Labs is now inviting developers to participate in their Game On 2010 international contest that will reward developers for the games that they build for the new project. The details of the contest have not been announced though.

The new announcement is exciting coming on the heels of news from several companies including Google, Facebook and Apple about new social gaming applications for their respective platforms. Mozilla Labs’ initiative could extend this trend to the web browser. Gaming is definitely one area that tech companies are betting their future growth on and it will be interesting to see what Mozilla brings to the table.

Categories
Microsoft Web

Microsoft In Talks To Buy 'Happy Aquarium' Developer

Microsoft may be in talks to buy CrowdStar, developers of the popular Facebook game ‘Happy Aquarium’. If rumors are to be believed, the value of the acquisition could be well over $200 million.

There has been a lot of consolidation in the social gaming space lately. EA Sports acquired Playfish last year for $400 million and earlier this week, Farmville developers Zynga acquired a smaller gaming firm, Serious Business for an undisclosed amount.

The transaction in all these cases is mutually win-win. While social gaming as a concept has grown by leaps and bounds in the past one year with more growth possible in the near future, this is also a high capital business requiring lots of resources. No wonder then that the investors are willing to sell out at the first opportunity for an exit.

Happy Aquarium is the fourth in the list of the most popular games on Facebook. By acquiring CrowdStar, there is a possible synergy that Microsoft may find between the web based social games and console based gaming on Xbox. If it works out fine, Microsoft can soon be the biggest force to reckon with in the gaming arena.

[via Bloomberg]