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Facebook Games

Kabam logo Kabam Acquires WonderHill, Aims To Become the Blizzard Of Social GamesSocial game developer Kabam acquired San Francisco-based social gaming company Wonderhill.

WonderHill are the game developers of Facebook titles like Dragon of Atlantis, DogWorld, and Tatoo City.

While Kabam is the proud developer of popular Facebook strategy game Kingdoms of Camelot played by around 6 million players monthly.

Founded in 2006 at Redwood City, California, Kabam has been rapidly expanding its operations by opening studios in Saarbrucken, Germany, Beijing, China, and now San Francisco with the acquisition of WonderHill. The company’s workers have also increased from 20 to 200+ at present.

“WonderHill’s talent, analytics technology, and culture of quality game development fits extremely well with our existing approach and portfolio,” says Kabam CEO Kevin Chou,”WonderHill’s new direction in Flash-based strategy games with Dragons of Atlantis makes them a perfect complement to Kabam as we aggressively grow our business in deeply engaging social games.”

By acquiring WonderHill, Kabam has now two Facebook strategy game already under it. Kabam has ambitious goals of releasing a new game every month and becoming the Blizzard of Social Games, according to Techcrunch. Blizzard is the company who brought some of the best strategy games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo, and the Starcraft series.

Now, strategy game lovers on Facebook can surely expect a lot from the company in the days to come.

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The recent report about Facebook apps transmitting your Facebook IDs to ad companies might have left many of you to turn cold turkey to Facebook games. But, game developers haven’t gave up hopes and the number of new games launched on Facebook continues.

We found some new games that look like they are worth the time spent on them.

fb RavenwoodFair 300x226 LOLApps And Ubisoft Launches New Facebook TitlesThe first game is from LOLApps, who had a run-in with Facebook in relation to the recent privacy breach. They have launched another game titled “Ravenwood Fair.” It is a role playing game, where players build fair by adding attractions that will attract guests. Just started the game and it looks pretty good. This game certainly had the inspiration from Zynga’s FrontierVille, but I am not sure how far the similarities go be as the game progress. It is also worth mentioning that this game is said to be the first Facebook game created by John Romero, One of the original creators of first person shooters video games Doom and Quake.

fb csi crimescene LOLApps And Ubisoft Launches New Facebook TitlesThe second game is from Ubisoft with the title “CSI: Crime City. So, we now have a Facebook game centred on Ubisoft’s popular Crime Scene Investigation titles. The Facebook game will also be a detective game where players “search for hidden evidence, explore mysterious and bizarre crime scenes, and manage a personal CSI Lab,” as the game’s Page says. Had some problem loading the game, but I hoping this game will give a good jerk to this so-long hibernating brain o’ mine.

fb cityzen LOLApps And Ubisoft Launches New Facebook TitlesThe third game is CityZen from the developers of popular Facebook game Mob Wars. It is a building sim and was launched few weeks back, but the game is apparently had some problems. This game also has some loading problem. A handful of players playing the game have rate the game quite well.  We have lots of building sim on Facebook. Will check this game out and see why it is receiving quite a lot of five stars.

Watch out this space for the game reviews.

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Ubisoft launched the Assassin’s Creed: Project Legacy on Facebook as a game companion for their upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood game. The Facebook game is like a training simulator for Templar Company Abstergo Industries, which any Assassin’s Creed fan knows is the enemy of the assassins.

There are lots of items to unlock and action points to spend in completing tasks. Players will also earn Uplay points to unlock items in other Ubisoft games.

fb projectlegacy memories 300x251 Facebook Game Review: Project LegacyIn the original Assassin’s Creed games, players utilize the Animus to relive the time of their ancestors. The core concept of Project Legacy has players step into the Animus to investigate the lives and deaths, of historic characters.
Players consume Action Points (energy) to complete various Events (Missions). Events have to be executed multiple times to achieve 100 percent completion.

To make the game interesting and competitive like other RPG games, Events in the game will require different items to execute. In many cases, required

fb projectlegacy mission 300x281 Facebook Game Review: Project Legacy

items cannot be purchased, but are found as “chanced items” while executing other Events. Players will have to execute those Events again to get the required items in order to progress in the game. The game provides an easy way to get required items. All you have to do is click on the “go to” button and the game will take you to the particular event where you can get the required chance item. Players also have the chance to get set items called “Mnemonic Sets” which executing events. Once you collect all the mnemonics of a set, it can be use to claim for various time-limit bonuses. For example, you can trade a Este Family mnemonic set for 25 percent extra experience for one hour.

fb projectlegacy stats 282x300 Facebook Game Review: Project LegacyPlayer stat bonus is a bit unusual. We have Endurance, Sleight, Usury, and Diligence, instead of expected stats like strength, vitality, agility, and so on and the stats affects a players maximum Action Points, increase the chance of getting Chance items, increases earnings, and gaining extra crafting slots. Some purchasable items can be crafted. Items are crafted over time, so the more slots you have, the more items can be crafted at a time.

New memories and events will unlock as you complete executing events. Experience and Florin (game gold) are earned through executing events. Territories feature will unlock when you reach level 10. You will be able to purchase different types of buildings which will generate cash over time.

fb projectlegacy mnemonics 300x102 Facebook Game Review: Project Legacy

The game seems to lack in the social element. As far as I have seen, all you can do at the moment is put up items in the wish list and expects some friends send you the item. Apart from that, you can view the achievements of your friends.

As a Facebook game, Project Legacy is certainly on a different category. It feels different from most Facebook games. The interface, as you can see in the images, is different from the layouts of the ever-so-popular cartoonish games. The game is more inclined towards a single player mode. Though many Assassin’s Creed fans may feel it unnecessary to have a companion game, many may still see it as another challenge in the game. Moreover, the storyline may be complex and confusing at times, but still it is decent enough to guide and keep the Assassin’s Creed newbies interested. Players who are new to the game can also enjoy the game at your own time without the need to rush in order to compete with other Facebook players.

You will need to respond to questionnaires from time to time, which is a bit unwelcome. In fact, you will be starting the game with a questionnaire. Apart from that, the game is worth wasting your time icon smile Facebook Game Review: Project Legacy .

(Play Assassin’s Creed: Project Legacy)

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Facebook games continues to be ruled by farming and virtual world games, but if you stick to those types of games then you are probably missing out on other highly interactive and well designed titles.

Acension: Incursio is a new game from Digital Roar Studios. It is a space-themed shooter game.

fb Acension Incursion1 300x225 Digital Roar Studios Launches 3D Facebook Game

The intro storyline of the game is as follows:

“The Earth Empire is at war with its Martian colonies, but along the edge of the solar system, a new threat has emerged. The Martian mining colony at the Neptunian moon of Galatea has come under attack by the invading Kj’hal. With most of the Martian Aeorforce deployed in the war effort, the colony must find a way to survive.”

In Incursio, you start the game as a pilot of Martian Light Fighter. Your job is to investigate a distress call from the moons of Neptune.

In this 3D game, you pilot your fighter through obstacles and take down alien fighter drones.

The game have three factions to choose from, but you can only select the Martian faction at the moment. The game also shows indication of upgrades and more social elements with a “$” and “Gifts” icon, both of which doesn’t seem to work at the moment.

fb Acension Incursion2 Digital Roar Studios Launches 3D Facebook Game

The developers plans to bring in more maps, ships and items. As for the moment, the cinematic game graphics is enough to get a few thousands hooked.

If you are a space-theme game fan, you should check this game out.

(Play Acension: Incursio game)

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fb CrimeCity 300x244 Facebook Game Review: Crime City

A little known game, Crime City, from a San Francisco developer Funzio has been quietly making its way up on the list of fastest-growing Facebook games, according to statistics from app data.

Mafia games have been great hits on Facebook and this game follows the ever popular Zynga’s Mafia Wars, with a nice mix of Role Playing Game(RPG), city building , and animated interaction. Crime City lets you deal with business in the old fashion way.

You start out as a rising thug, eager to prove yourself and take care of all your criminal business and enemies, build up your hood, take down other players, and become the richest, most respected, and bad-ass criminal of Crime City.

Jobs in the game can be anything from looting, hold ups, vandalizing to performing hits to taking care of your girlfriends needs. You earn cash and diamonds, and sometimes energy from doing jobs. There are ample amount of goals to complete in different areas. Both the diamonds and cash are needed to buy equipments in the game.

fb CrimeCity hood 300x212 Facebook Game Review: Crime CityWhile you are taking rest from dealing with business, you can spend your time turning your hood into a bustling crime city. You can decorate your hood, expand it, and fill it with business buildings to collect cash. There are also special buildings in the game like coffee shop, garage. Special buildings require items to complete. For e.g. you will require a paint to complete building your coffee shop for which you have to ask your mafia members. You also have a resource building – Factory, which generates steel and which will be used along with cash to buy buildings. Some special building like the coffee shop will generate energy instead of cash. The size of your hood will also have a limit on the maximum number of buildings you can have.

fb CrimeCity stats 300x245 Facebook Game Review: Crime CityAs you level up, you can distribute your stat points to attack, defense, or energy skill. Your stats and equips, as well as that of your mafia members will come into play while determining your overall attack and defense, which will come into play as you take on other players, perform Hits on some NPCs or jobs. The store has scores of weapons, armors and vehicles to improve your character’s stat.

The game has all the common social elements like adding friends to your mafia, sending and receiving gifts, sharing bonuses, and helping each other.

fb CrimeCity maps Facebook Game Review: Crime City

All in all, this has got to be one of the best mafia game around on Facebook, because it has got a lot of interactivity. No more clicking on passive tasks. Your character walks around, and you actually get to hear them cocking the gun before performing a hit then bang!, or your baseball bat swinging. I am sure the developers will add more ways getting engaged with the game and friends in coming days.

If you are ready to start dealing with all your illegal business, then head on to the game.

(Play Crime City Now)

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The list of “Top 25 Facebook Games” for October 2010 released by insidesocialgames is as follows.

fb top25 oct2010 Top 25 Facebook Games For October 2010

(Source: insidesocialgames.com)

FarmVille still tops the list. Though many of the largest Facebook games lost quite a lot of users over the past month, FarmVille still manage to get a positive change in its monthly active user (MAU) 868.

Among the top 25, Mafia War was the biggest loser losing out more than 8 million monthly active users and went down a rank to number five. Mafia war has been losing active players in the recent months. Texas HoldEm Poker saw the largest growth with around 2.7 million new monthly active users.

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ESPNU College Town Game Review

September 30, 2010

ESPNU College Town is the latest Facebook game by game developer Playdom in collaboration with ESPN. It is a sports-theme building sim game. In ESPNU College Town, you get the opportunity to build and manage your own university.

fb ESPNU college town campusinformation 300x269 ESPNU College Town Game Review

Basically, the game has two parts – building and managing the university, and building elite sports team and competing with other players.

fb ESPNU college town managing 300x283 ESPNU College Town Game ReviewManaging the first part is like playing any other building sim game.You have to manage the different entities of a real university such as academic, dorms, entertainment and the moods of the students. Different types of buildings play different role in the progress of the game. Everything under this part can be access from the “Build” icon in the game.

Managing the second part is more like playing a sports game in manager mode, which can be accessed through the “Competition” icon in the game. The competition section features Challenges, My Team, Recruitment, Scoreboard, and Leaderboard section, through which you build, manage and challenge fellow players to either football or basketball matches. Players with better stats and level becomes available to recruit as you level up in the game.

Gameplay Basics: Different types of building will affect the progress of the game. Make sure you have the right mix of different types of buildings to have a steady growth to owning the best virtual university. Effects of different types of buildings.

  • Dorms/residential building will enable you to enroll more students, which in turn lifts the caps off the maximum venues you can build.
  • Entertainment buildings will help you in get a steady income.
  • Academic buildings and decorations will keep your students spirits high. Spirit of students determines the maximum number of students you can enroll.
  • Venues are another type of building through which you can host events and earn revenues. They are the best source of revenue generation in the game, but revenues are not collectable if not collected within a specific time after the event is over. Venues can host bigger events by upgrading them. Over time, you will also be able to build authentic stadiums.

fb ESPNU college town challenge 300x177 ESPNU College Town Game ReviewApart from building those buildings, you can lay different types of roads and expand your campus area.

Managing and playing the sports part is totally different from the building part. On joining the game, you will get a few players with not so cool stats. Anyway, there are two types of challenges:

  1. Gameday Challenge – You will be able to instant challenge teams that has the same team level as you. You will be able to make a specific amount of Gameday Challenge in a day.
  2. Rival Challenge – You can use this mode to sent out challenge along with an optional message. The competition takes place when they accept your challenge.

You can have a maximum of 4 gameday challenge, that are recharged over time. You must select a starter by dragging a player card in the given slot and start the challenge. Different player cards can be used for a specific number of plays only. You can recruit players with better stats and use them to increase your odds of winning.

fb ESPNU college town sports ESPNU College Town Game Review

Few screenshots of the sports part of the game

The game contains all the other social mechanism like sending and receiving free gifts, visiting and helping neighbors, publishing and receiving free bonuse.

The game also gives access to authentic assets to more than 60 real universities including campus buildings, stadiums, mascots, logos and more.

If you have played Playdom’s other title like Social city, you will see a lot of similarity in the game play of the first part. The second part carters mainly for sports fans, but depends on the building and managing part to excel. All in all, ESPNU College Town has the right mix of building and sports sim and demands a lot of strategy, planning and competition.

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fb soccertycoon logo Dynamo Games Enters Facebook Games Scene With Soccer TycoonDundee-based developer Daynamo Games enter the Facebook games scene with its first title “Soccer Tycoon”.

Like any tycoon games, the aim of the game is to become the richest soccer tycoon.

The game which is in beta, allows Players to create and manage their own soccer teams, build stadiums, acquire talents, attract fans and much more. Players can challenge their friends to matches or shootouts as well as compete against online teams and improve their rank in the league.

Play.tm quoted Daynamo Games MD McNichol, “We are very happy with the progress of Soccer Tycoon in the first few weeks since it’s been released. We received some fantastic feedback from our beta players which has made it into the wider release. We’re talking to all of our players and using their input to continue updating the game, add new features and make it one of the most polished and playable games on Facebook. The range and variety of players who have already signed up is exactly what we were hoping for and we’re looking forward to welcoming more new players and teams as the game continues to grow and evolve.”

Dynamo Games has some popular titles to their credit such as Crystalcraze and Countdown on mobile phones. It is also well known for Championship Manager game on mobile phones and Playstation minis.

We will bring you the game review later.

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Swedish social game developer SLX Games is launching Nord, a browser-based 3D virtual world game on Facebook.

The game is said to utilizes the latest version of Java technology to enable seamless browser integration or hardware-accelerated graphics on Windows, Mac and Linux. The virtual world is designed to help extend the reach of Facebook into 3D, allowing friends to interact and socialize through avatars in 3D environments.

“Merging with Facebook is a natural and logical step for Nord that allows us to tap into Facebook’s social potential and to expand upon it. It is an honor for us to be the first virtual world on FAcebook that allows users to hang out with their friends in full 3D,” says Markus Larsson, co-founder of SLX Games.

In Nord, users will be able to create virtual 3D objects, similar to Second Life or OpenSim. Users will also be able to schedule events like parties in the vast virtual world.

With cross-platform compabtibility, the game can be access from any computer. The game does not require manual installation and is automatically updated on launch. It will be free-to-play.

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