From the monthly archives:

March 2010

Indiagames Brings the IPL Cricket Fever to Facebook Users

March 19, 2010

Mumbai-based and India’s top developer and publisher of online and mobile games, Indiagames, has purchased the official rights to India’s most awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament. Cricket is one of India’s most loved sports and the game played by the IPL. Now, Cricket will not only be in stadiums, on television, and on YouTube, but also be in a series of applications by Indiagames.

indiagames utv Indiagames Brings the IPL Cricket Fever to Facebook Users

In fact, the company has already released IPL Indiagames T20 Fever, the first game included in the IPL Indiagames 3-part series. This game can be accessed through Facebook Connect (Click HERE).  However, to play the user must have Internet Explorer 6 or Mozilla Firefox. The game enables the players to create their own cricket team with the players consisting of International Premier League cricket players as well as their Facebook friends. The user’s team will then compete with other teams to become the ultimate IPL champion!

The second installment is the IPL Indiagames 140Cricket. Through this game, the user will take on the new challenge of being a cricket manager. He or she will need to recruit his players through social networking sites like Facebook.

Meanwhile, the company has remained mum about the details of the third installment.

Thanks to the internet, it will no longer be necessary to fly to India to be part of the tournament. And thanks to Indiagames, the thrill of IPL will not end after the tournament and is just at the touch of our fingertips.

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Last Week of the Dead Space 2 Contest on Facebook

March 18, 2010

An engineer is stuck inside a mining ship and is trying to survive by battling humans who were transformed into scary-looking monsters called Necromorphs…

Sounds familiar? That is the main story behind Visceral Game’s Dead Space, EA’s first science fiction-horror survival game. With its hero, Isaac Clarke, Dead Space is coming out with its latest Sequel, Dead Space 2, and Visceral Games is giving everyone a chance to be part of it.

How so? The video game development studio has opened the contest, Get Dismembered in Dead Space 2, to everyone over 18 in Australia, Canada (except Quebeck), France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UK, and USA. To join, first you have to create a brutal jaw-dropping hero move that will either kill or tear the Necromorphs apart. Entries can be written, sketched, photographed, or videoed. Finally the entries can be submitted through the game’s Facebook page (click HERE).  The most creative, coolest, and best Dead Space-fit move will be showcased as part of Dead Space 2.

Get Dismembered in Dead Space 2 Last Week of the Dead Space 2 Contest on Facebook

But HURRY! There is only 1 week left! All entries must be in by March 26th, 11:59 PM PST. The studio will then choose the coolest 10 moves and will announce the finalists on April 5th. The official public voting will also start on this date and will end on April 19th. The ultimate winner will finally be announced the following day, April 20th.

Aside from having the chosen winner’s entry moves infused in the game, he or she will also have his or her face included! In addition, the runner-ups will be credited and displayed in certain parts of the game.

Hurry and materialize your most imaginative animation! Grab this opportunity before it is too late. Who knows? You might just have that one great move that Visceral Games is looking for.

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Dassault Systemes Looks Forward To Bring “Billions, Save Them All” Game To Facebook

March 18, 2010

Dassault Systèmes (DS) unveiled Billions, Save Them All, an engaging Facebook game and the first title created using the new 3DVIA Studio development platform. The game is made unique by combining a surreal, almost dreamlike art style with the concept of social development.

3DVIA Studio is a new 3D development platform for quickly creating breathtaking online games,
simulations and visualizations. The 3DVIA Studio offering combines the power of social media with content creation apps and reusable 3D assets to simplify the 3D content creation process.

A functional prototype with several full levels will be available to play online through the Billions, Save them All website at http://www.billions.3divia.com later this month and the complete game is schedule to debut on Facebook within the next few months.

The game is about a race of cute little critters, known as the Mogaloos, near the brink of extinction. Players will take the role of Glow Agent, appointed by the National Space Consortium of Animal Rescue to save the Mogaloos. The objective of the game is to save as many Mogaloos as possible while avoiding dangerous obstacles and evil creature trying to stop you.

“Before you play this game, make sure you have some time to spare. The design and gameplay can really catch hold of your imagination.”

“Not only is the game fun and visually appealing, it demonstrates the power of our 3D authoring technology to a whole new market. We are excited to see how the community will react to the game project,” says Lynne Wilson, CEO, 3DVIA, Dassault Systèmes according to the source.

We will bring to you more news and details on the game as info becomes available.

[Via Computer Graphics World]

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nDreams Launches Facebook’s First Interactive Soap Opera

March 18, 2010

SOA logo nDreams Launches Facebooks First Interactive Soap OperanDreams today announces the launch of ‘Spirit of Adventure’, the first ever soap opera on Facebook.

Spirit of Adventure features a rich, twisting, and extraordinary story revolving around Helen Hobbes – a housewife who lives a happy life until she makes a discovery that leads her to abandon everything; her family, her home and her loving husband to go on  a quest for a mysterious man who she doesn’t even know yet – that will be revealed week-by-week.

The story is written by Christian Wheeler (writer of Bramwell, a period drama for ITV, and PlayStation Home’s cult cross-media game, Xi).

“This is the first time social storytelling in this form has been delivered on Facebook,” said Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO of nDreams, in a post on the company’s website.

“It allows people to actively follow and interact with a fascinating story as a community, as opposed to passively watching on television. I’m extremely excited about the launch of Spirit of Adventure, which is one of the first Facebook games/apps that’s narrative-lead,” he adds.

New episodes of Spirit of Adventure is scheduled to launch ever Thursday.

We will bring to you more on this first-ever interactive adventure soap opera. Meanwhile, you can check out this adventurous game/app here: Spirit of Adventure.

[Image Source: nDreams]

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Students Feels ‘Disgusted’ By Teachers Raunchy Photos On Facebook

March 18, 2010

Raunchy pictures of two teachers posted on Facebook caused a storm of gossip.

The two teachers, Helen Casey and head of English Ann Kerr, of Warwick State High School posted raunchy photos of themselves in schoolgirl outfits, fishnet stocking and heels while posing on a bathroom vanity.

One of the pictures is said to be Ms Kerr’s Facebook profile shot, with the series of images entitled ‘First day of school’.

According to a report on Daily News, the photos were reported to the Education Queensland on Monday and Education Queensland has told the pair to clean up their internet imagery while investigations are going on.

The school’s students are reportedly “disgusted” but said they were not surprised by the act.

A Year 12 WSHS student said, “I think it’s disgusting especially as they’re teachers. But i wasn’t surprised they had photos on there.”

Another Year 12 WSHS student phoned the Daily News saying he was “embarrassed” by the teacher’s behavior.

“It’s foul, a big turn-off,” he said.

Whether the two teachers will face disciplinary action or not is not sure, but going by the judgments passed by the students of the school, these two teachers will not very easily get the respect they deserve as a teacher from their students anymore.

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Creating Social Games for Facebook Now Easier with Platogo Wrapper

March 18, 2010

Founded in July 2008, Platogo is an award-winning Austrian-based social games platform. In 2009, it won the Mini Seedcamp Berlin because of its Platogo Wrapper. This is a free-to-use gaming platform that turns casual games into social games that can easily be published on Facebook.

Platogo Logo1 Creating Social Games for Facebook Now Easier with Platogo Wrapper

How is this done? First the developer must register the casual game on the Platogo website. Platogo will check if the game’s title is unique. If it is, then the developer can download and install the Platogo Software Development Kit and connect it with the game. Then, the game can be tested and debugged before being uploaded and published on Platogo.com and Facebook.

Platogo Creating Social Games for Facebook Now Easier with Platogo Wrapper

How does this benefit the developers? The Platogo Wrapper allows the developers to concentrate on creating the games and not worry about how to make it social and comply with Facebook’s ever changing app rules. Furthermore, developers do not need to worry that Platogo will own their creations. The game and its fans will still belong to the developer.

How does Platogo profit from this? Ad revenue is shared between the two companies. In addition, Platogo will most likely have a share when players purchase the game’s virtual currency which is called “Platogo Coins”.

With Platogo Wrapper, there will hopefully be more startups entering the social gaming industry and new games from fresh minds for Facebook players.

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Facebook Users Beware: New Password Reset Scam Detected

March 17, 2010

If you get an e-mail saying Facebook has reset your password due to security reasons and ask you to open or download an attachment to retrieve your password, then remember, it is a scam.

Facebook Malware Email Facebook Users Beware: New Password Reset Scam Detected

McAfee warns that several malicious programs including password stealer is installed when user clicks on it. The password stealer can potentially access any username and password combination used on the computer, not just the login credentials for the Facebook.

According to a report on Reuters, McAfee estimates that hackers sent out tens of millions of spam across Europe, the United States and Asia since the campaign began on Tuesday.

Dave Marcus, McAfee’s director of malware research and communications, said that he expects the hackers will succeed in infecting millions of computers.

“With Facebook as your lure, you potentially have 400 million people that can click on the attachment. If you get 10 percent success, that’s 40 million,” he said.

There are obvious clues that this is just another phishing scam. McAfee explains, “Facebook would never send an email alerting a user that they changed his or her password. Another clue that can signal a user has received a spam email is the use of poor grammar and awkward phrases such as in the below greeting “Dear user of facebook.”

One can also see in the image that, a user normally doesn’t need to download any attachment to reset password as opposed to a .zip file that has been attached with the e-mail.

Dear readers, please be cautious of such scam mails and remember the reasoning given above, though not the only ways, to distinguish between scam and real e-mails in future. A little bit of keenness to details and precautions, especially with mails relating to sensitive data like passwords will ensure one’s safety.

[Image Source: McAfee]

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Profile Stalker Apps Feels The Axe On Facebook

March 17, 2010

Time and again we come across various apps that promises or claims that it can show us our profile stalkers – the people who have visited our profile, or who checks out our photos.

Facebook is currently clamping down such apps and warning it’s users. Facebook said in a statement, “Don’t believe any applications that claim they can show you who’s viewing your profile or photo. They can’t.”

Applications such as Stalker Check and Who Has Visited My Profile have already been barred from the website.

Such streams of applications are nothing but rogue apps that lures Facebook users into installing the app with a variety of claims. These apps are mostly money-making schemes, and in some cases might contain advertisements that will infect  the users computer with viruses and malicious software.

One sad thing is users, some ignorant and some who are not, just want to try out these apps and helps in spreading these rouge apps unwittingly. Counter Measures shows how theses apps go on their mission.

Just to be perfectly clear, Facebook’s policy does not allow applications to track a user’s surfing habits.

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Experience the First 3-D Fighting Game on Facebook

March 17, 2010

Earlier this month, Gravity Bear released the next generation of Facebook games: the 3-D game, Battle Punks!

Battle Punks 239x300 Experience the First 3 D Fighting Game on Facebook

Basically, the game involves fighting with an opponent. As your character takes on adventures, it also battles enemies to gain items which can be used during combats or can add points to its level of experience.

One of the good things about playing this game is that as you wait for the game to load, you can view tips that can help you play the game better. When you finally get into the game, you first have to create and customize your avatar, and then your avatar will set foot on the training grounds. This is like your main menu and from here you can go to the shop, see your gears, get into battles, access the map to explore other areas, and view your profile.

Prior to the battles, equip your character with the weapons and items that can help your character gain excellent blocking abilities and other skills that increases damage to the opponent. During the battle, you will not be able to control your character. All you can do is watch and cheer. That is why it is important to choose the right weapons and items. Each victory will earn you experience points that will help your character level up.

Earlier in the month, Battle Punks only had over 3 thousand monthly active users. After just 2 weeks, this number has already grown to over 20 thousand! To join the growing number of captivated players, click HERE.

Gravity Bear which was launched in 2008 and is led by Phil Shenk, a game veteran famous for his work in Blizzard’s Diablo 2 and Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction.

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Google Beaten: Facebook Become The Most Popular Site In US

March 17, 2010

For the first time, Facebook overtook Google as the most visited website in the United States last week, according to the Web analytics firm Hitwise.

Heather Dougherty, Hitwise’s director of research, said that Facebook had ‘reached an important milestone” with the weekly figures.

According to the firm’s weekly figures on March 13, the two sites accounted for 14% of all US internet visits last week. Facebook’s home page recorded 7.07% of traffic and Google’s 7.03%.

Though the lead is slim, it is really an important milestone for Facebook who’s popularity has seen an enormous growth over past year – from just 2% visits a year ago to 7.07%.

The number of Facebook’s users have also increased dramatically from 200 Million last April to 400 Million in February.

One reason for the ever increasing popularity of Facebook can be attributed to Facebook’s games. Zynga’s FarmVille game alone boasts more than 83 Million monthly users.

Social networking sites have fallen in the past and Google had been leading since September 2007, when it overtook News Corp’s MySpace.com. However, the tremendous growth enjoyed by Facebook over the past year have led to an increase in popularity of social networking.

According to Nielsen Company research firm, internet users around the world spent more than five and half hours a month on social networking sites on an average. US leads country wise with an average of six and half hours on Facebook.

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