• 8 Reasons I Quit Playing Facebook Games

    8 Reasons I Quit Playing Facebook Games

    Two years ago, I ranted about the need for more challenge and chance in social games. Since then, the entire gaming industry has drastically changed. If I sound like a broken record on that note, it’s because in a fast-paced, high-tech market, it’s always true (and thus worth reiteration). It seems ...

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  • How Not to Play Location-based Games like an Idiot

    How Not to Play Location-based Games like an Idiot

    Welcome to the wonderful world of location-based games! I see you’ve just downloaded a copy of Traveler’s Quest, or Dokobots, or CodeRunner, or perhaps you’ve got yourself on foursquare for the first time. That’s great! You’re about to discover what geotagging and GPS-enabled mobile devices can add to gaming and ...

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  • Abandoning Facebook: CrowdStar Joins OMGPOP, Kabam, Funzio in Mobile

    Abandoning Facebook: CrowdStar Joins OMGPOP, Kabam, Funzio in Mobile

    CrowdStar, developer of popular Facebook games like Happy Aquarium and the "Girl" series (Modern Girl, Social Girl, Top Girl and It Girl), announced today that they will stop developing games for Facebook, according to an interview with All Things Digital.  Peter Relan predicts that 90% of Crowdstar’s revenue will come ...

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  • Don’t Be a Cheapskate: 4 Reasons Pay-What-You-Like Backfires

    Don’t Be a Cheapskate: 4 Reasons Pay-What-You-Like Backfires

    Pay-What-You-Like.  You’ve sometimes seen it called Pay-What-You-Want.  You’ve seen it while leaving your local museum or hippy café as a big box that says “Donations.”  You’ve also seen it for Radiohead’s In Rainbows or with Humble Bundle, the collection of indie games offered for however much you’d like to pay ...

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  • Cats Wearing GUNNARS: Zooey

    Cats Wearing GUNNARS: Zooey

    Meet Zooey O'Leary. Zooey is sporting a pair of GUNNAR Optik's Attache Phenom glasses, and looking good doing it. If you've been following our Dogs Wearing GUNNARS series, you may notice something a bit off this week. Zooey is a frisky first - special edition feline! You can call her a "domestic ...

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  • Hardcore and Back Again: Video Games in a Nutshell

    Hardcore and Back Again: Video Games in a Nutshell

    The SNES was a young kid's dream (in the early 90's). Every game felt brand-spanking new, because it was. When video games first came along, "copycats" were neither a logical thing to consider, nor an option. Video games were casual. They were made for mainstream audiences. And back then, even the ...

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  • 5 Apps to Make You Smile

    5 Apps to Make You Smile

    These are a few of my favorite digital things... This list is hardly comprehensive, nor is it in any particular order. Enjoy! 1. Timehop - This gets top billing because too few people know about it (and more should - it's neat). Basically, Timehop answers one question, every day, via email. "What did ...

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  • The Time Has Come: Pokemon and Me 15 Years Later

    The Time Has Come: Pokemon and Me 15 Years Later

    Last year, when my mind was busy with summer vacation, I came home to an unsettling sight. Roxy's tumor had grown exponentially. Her arm was swelling up to a point where she couldn't even lift it. All attempts to remove the tumor would only make it grow back with a ...

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CrowdStar Takes #2 Spot, City of Wonder is Top City-Builder – Facebook News

28. September 2010

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In the world of Facebook game data, we’ve seen two interesting developments take place over the past few weeks. Most recently, we see the reemergence of CrowdStar as a serious threat in terms of its total monthly user-base, and in other news, we see a new app become the top city-building app in the whole of Facebook. [...]

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Class is in Session! Celebrate Back to School Week in Pet Society!

27. September 2010

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Class is in Session! Celebrate Back to School Week in Pet Society!

While it may seem to be coming a bit later in September than we might have expected, Playfish is finally putting Pet Society through a “Back to School” makeover, allowing users to add a bit of academia to their own homes. The theme stars in the game’s Outdoor Shop, where under the Furniture section, you’ll [...]

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Celebrate A Second Week of Japanese Items in Pet Society

20. September 2010

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Celebrate A Second Week of Japanese Items in Pet Society

That’s right – not only did Playfish fill the stores of Pet Society with traditional Japanese items last week, but this week they are doing it again, except with a more “modern” take on the theme, as opposed to traditional. This week’s theme once again starts in the Outdoor Shop, where under the Gardening section [...]

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Set Sail for the Battle Arena in Pirates Ahoy!

7. September 2010

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Set Sail for the Battle Arena in Pirates Ahoy!

Playfish has added a new competitive feature to Pirates Ahoy! that will see you battling against your friends for virtual fame and glory. The feature is called the Battle Area, and it be accessed very simply. Each day, each pirate (that’s you) gets three free passes. You’ll be able to earn more passes by visiting [...]

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The Super Bowl Awaits You In Madden NFL Superstars – A Frisky Hands-On

1. September 2010

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The Super Bowl Awaits You In Madden NFL Superstars – A Frisky Hands-On

Go for the goal! EA Sports and Playfish have released the American football counterpart to the “Superstars” series on Facebook. The goal of the game is to become the best NFL coach possible and ultimately take the super bowl trophy home for your team. Going through the initial steps of the game, you’ll have to [...]

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Happy Island on Android, Playdom Passes CrowdStar in Userbase

1. September 2010

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Just yesterday, we brought you the news that Playdom has brought Social City to the Android, and today we can add another Facebook title to that list. In other Facebook news, we see that Playdom has now passed CrowdStar in terms of overall user numbers. Happy Island Now Available on Android Back in early July, [...]

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5 Reasons Facebook Places Matters for Social Games

30. August 2010

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5 Reasons Facebook Places Matters for Social Games

I’ve never “played” Foursquare, but I have used it. To me, most location based check-in apps (like Foursquare & Gowalla) are more of a novelty than anything. You don’t have to look too hard to find a debate on whether or not this type of geocaching should be considered a “game” in the standard definition. [...]

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Thursday Throwdown: City of Wonder or My Empire? You Decide!

26. August 2010

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Thursday Throwdown: City of Wonder or My Empire? You Decide!

Welcome to another edition of the Thursday Throwdown! After taking a break from Facebook games in our last installment, we return to that world once again this week. Before we do that though, let’s take a look at the results from our last Throwdown, which pitted the top two digital distribution services, Steam and GamersGate, [...]

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Sunday Soapbox: Pop-Up Edition

15. August 2010

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Sunday Soapbox: Pop-Up Edition

How many pop-ups is too many pop-ups? Shouldn’t there be a more reasonable cap on pop-up notifications, so players can get busy playing (and spending money, for that matter)? Log-in interruptions are particularly bothersome in my opinion, but some games are offering smoother entry these days, so I’ll just assume that’s been noted and move [...]

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25 Brain Games: Essential Back-to-School Supplies

12. August 2010

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25 Brain Games: Essential Back-to-School Supplies

Back to school already? Here are 25 social, casual and mobile games that will get your brain in shape before you know it. They’ll also keep you entertained for hours, and (let’s be honest), distract you from all that pesky homework! Did your favorites make the list? Facebook games: Brain Buddies by wooga – Brain [...]

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