Casual

EA acquires social game publisher Playfish for $300 million

Posted Nov 9th 2009 12:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Biz, Casual

Electronic Arts, a game publisher who has taking a licking lately in its financial news, has decided to move on acquiring another game publisher. Today it announced it was spending $300 million to acquire Playfish, a social game publisher that launched only two years ago. The owners of Playfish could get cash bonuses up to an additional $100 million if certain milestones are completed before the end of 2011.

In its short span of life, Playfish has released 10 games that have reached a total of 60 million players worldwide via social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace along with mobile phones such as the iPhone and Android-based phones.

Interview: Psyonix talks about their free UDK game Whizzle

Posted Nov 5th 2009 7:45AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Features, Interviews, Casual, Full Games

San Diego-based Psyonix is a full fledged professional game developer with lots of experience in using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 technology. Indeed the developer has collaborated directly with Epic on several of their games. However, the team also likes to experiment with new game prototypes and one of those efforts, the casual underwater-themed platformer Whizzle, has been turned into a full (and free) stand along game using Epic's now officially released Unreal Development Kit.

Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to the Psyonix team and its founder Dave.Hagewood to find out more about how Whizzle was made, what they think the release of UDK will mean for game development and more.

Gallery: UDK - Whizzle

Continue reading Interview: Psyonix talks about their free UDK game Whizzle

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REO Speedwagon casual game announced (again, we aren't joking)

Posted Nov 4th 2009 1:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Casual

A couple of months ago you couldn't walk around without noticing all of the attention being given the The Beatles: Rock Band game. But that title is strictly for the consoles. What about us PC users? Well it looks like our platform will get the exclusive privilege of having an REO Speedwagon game.Let us repeat that: AN REO SPEEDWAGON GAME.

The casual publishers at Merscom who just yesterday revealed their plans for a Diagnosis Murder title, announced they would publish Find Your Own Way Home, which has a storyline based on finding out why the band's lead singer Kevin Cronin has gone missing. The game will feature 12 songs from the band include newly recorded versions of their classics like Keep on Loving You. This will apparently be the first of several such games from the new development team called Curious Sense. Our suggestion to them? Their next game should be based on Boston (the band, not the city).

Gallery: Find Your Own Way Home

Diagnosis Murder game announced (and no we are not kidding)

Posted Nov 3rd 2009 9:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Adventure, Casual

Ok, we can see the appeal of a Murder, She Wrote game for a few people out there. The show lasted a long time on CBS and the character of Jessica Fletcher is almost iconic. But we have to draw a line in the sand somewhere and that line was crossed today with the announcement of a Diagnosis Murder PC game.

For those of you who are under 50 (most of you) this CBS show ran almost under the radar for several years with Dick Van Dyke as a doctor who loved to solve murders. It also gave employement to his son Barry Van Dyke who played his son in the show. Merscom is developing this title as a "hidden object" style mystery-adventure game for release in early 2010. So what's next? Jake and The Fatman?

More CBS shows are on the way to the casual game space, by the way, including a previously announced Ghost Whisperer title (due in early 2010) and a recently announced Criminal Minds game, (due in late 2010). Both games are being developed by Legacy Interactive.

Left 4 Dead 2 subject of Flash-based viral marketing game

Posted Oct 27th 2009 10:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Casual, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

Shooting zombies in Left 4 Dead 2 is bound to be as much fun, if not more so, than the original. But how do you feel about playing a kind of-sort of version of the game on a casual game site? That's what the Flash game site Kongregate wants you to do from now until November 20 as part of a promotion for Valve's co-op shooter sequel.

The site's Infected Fury Month will turn some of the site's players into zombies while others are turned into human survivors. Naturally the zombie players want to inflect others (your profile and avatar page gets all bloody and gory when this happens) while the survivors try to find more of their kind (represented by a silver shield on your profile page). Of course we like our zombie games straight up with a shotgun, thank you very much.

Gallery: Left 4 Dead 2

PopCap gets over $22 million in new funding

Posted Oct 6th 2009 8:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Biz, Downloads, Casual

You wouldn't think that a highly successful casual game company like PopCap would need additional money. But despite the fact that the publisher claims that they have been profitable since they launched 10 years ago today they announced that they have received $22.5 million in new funding.

Privately held PopCap stated that the new investment represents a minority stake in the company and the new money will be used to fund things like "working capital and potential acquisitions." PopCap has been on a run lately with a number of high profile sequels to their classic games (Zuma's Revenge being the latest example) while also creating new franchises such as the mega-hit game Plants Vs Zombies.

Download: Zuma's Revenge! Demo

Posted Sep 24th 2009 5:30PM by Steven Wong
Filed under: Downloads, Demos, Casual, Puzzle

This is the playable demo for Zuma's Revenge! available for the PC and Mac.

"Enter an all-new world of Zuma where evil tiki bosses rule the land! Conquer over 60 levels by firing stone spheres to make matches and destroy the deadly stream of balls, then take on six tiki boss battles and guide your agile amphibian to victory!

Leap into action in four game modes with explosive new features and amazing new gameplay: Slide and hop for smarter shots, hit targets for exotic bonuses, and detonate new power-up balls! Will you succumb to the perilous pitfalls, or can you tame the jungle in this PopCap ball-blasting challenge?"

Download Zuma's Revenge! Demo (98 MB)
Download Zuma's Revenge! Demo [Mac] (73 MB)

Plants Vs Zombies available in free Flash version

Posted Sep 23rd 2009 6:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Browser, Casual, Strategy

You might have heard about Popcap's successful tower defense-style game Plants Vs Zombies. While you can download a free demo of the game, Popcap is making things even easier by launching a free Flash based version on their official web site.

The Flash versions doesn't have all of the content and features of the downloadable PC game but it does have an extra Zombie unit that isn't in the full PC version of the game. There are three available gameplay modes, 14 levels, a total of six zombie types and a total of 12 plant units. All in all this should be a huge distraction for people at work as well as an effective way to sample the full downloadable PC game.

More PC game sales on Steam this week

Posted Sep 9th 2009 12:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Casual, FPS

Steam is continuing to sneak in some sales and some pre-orders this week. In terms of price cuts, Steam users can get 10 percent off the just released first person shooter Darkest of Days until September 15. Also the upcoming Popcap casual game Zuma's Revenge, due out on September 15, has a 10 percent discount of its own until its release.

Also on sale until tomorrow is the recently zombie shooter Nations Red for 25 percent off its normal price. If you buy the game via Steam you also get an exclusive level and two unique weapons. Also a new Strategy First game collection containing 29 titles is on sale for a mere $49.99. Finally the upcoming fantasy RPG Time of Shadows, due out on September 11, has a 10 percent price cut on its pre-order.

Monopoly to go online with Google Maps in Monopoly City Streets

Posted Sep 9th 2009 9:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Browser, Casual

Hasbro's flagship board game Monopoly has been adapted to the PC many times but later today (around 1 pm ET) a very different online only version of the game is scheduled to launch. Monopoly City Streets will allow players to compete against online opponents and will allow everyone to use Google Maps to build their real estate empire.

Yep, that means that you could buy your own street and possibly the house you live in as part of the game. You get $3 million of those great Monopoly dollars to start out with and you earn rent from those properties you purchase. You can build up your properties with better houses, hotels and other building to increase your rent and trade properties with other players. This online game is apparently designed to promote a new Monopoly board game and will be online for a limited time.

Rumor: Star Wars casual MMO coming from Sony Online?

Posted Sep 7th 2009 5:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Casual, MMO

Sony Online has had lots of folks sign up for their recently released free-to-play MMO Free Realms. So it stands to reason that the company might be wanting to expand that success to another game or games. Ten Ton Hammer reports via "an inside source" that Sony's next such game could be based on Star Wars.

The rumor is that Sony has partnered with its Star Wars Galaxies publisher LucasArts to make a Free Realms-style free-to-play browser based on the Clone Wars period of Star Wars history. It certainly fits with the current animated Clone Wars series being targeted for kids and families but as of this moment neither LucasArts nor Sony Online have commented on the rumor.

More PC downloadable sales revealed this week

Posted Aug 25th 2009 5:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Casual, FPS

PC download sites are no longer waiting for the weekend to bring you some sales on their library of titles. Today GoG.com announced that all of their Unreal games in their library are now on sale for 15 percent off their normal price. Unreal Gold, Unreal Tournament GOTY, Unreal 2 The Awakening Special Edition and Unreal Tournament 2004 Editor's Choice Edition can be downloaded for $8.47 each until Monday at 11:59 am ET.

Over at GamersGate they have a similar deal all this week with games that come from publisher Buka. Their titles are available to download for between 50 and 75 percent off their normal price at GamersGate for this week only.

Finally Steam has added 17 new casual games from publisher iWin to their library. This week only all those games will be on sale for 25 percent off their normal Steam price. There's also some special bundle prices that reduce the price of those games even more.

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Zuma's Revenge coming from PopCap September 15

Posted Aug 18th 2009 11:30AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Casual

Casual game publisher PopCap Games has had big success with sequels to their hit games like Peggle Nights and Bejeweled Twist. Today PopCap revealed their plans for yet another high profile game sequel, Zuma. The sequel to the addictive ball-based puzzle game, Zuma's Revenge, is scheduled to be released for the PC and Mac on September 15 for $19.95.

Zuma's Revenge will have 60 new levels, new power ups, new "boss batles" and new gameplay modes. PopCap also promises the game will have three time the resolution of the original Zuma along with support for widescreen monitors and "cool 3-D particle effects". PopCap even hired the highest scorer known in the original Zuma, Rick Fortinm to beta test the sequel. MTV's Multiplayer site has some screenshots from the game.

Even more PC game sales hit the net

Posted Aug 13th 2009 9:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Action, Casual, FPS

We've already had a lot of downloadable PC game sales this week so what's a few more between friends?

Steam has announced that it will be offering titles from casual game publisher PlayFirst on its service. From now until August 19 all 10 PlayFirst games via Steam will have a price cut of 10 percent. Also the recent platform action game Trine has a 25 percent price cut until August 19 Direct2Drive has the same price cut offer for Trine.

Meanwhile, GamersGate has announced that the 2008 released first person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky gets a big 50 percent price cut from now until Sunday.

Finally the retail site GoGamer.com has a number of PC games on sale from now until 3 am ET Saturday, including the original Operation Flashpoint for just $5.90, Vietcong 2 for $4.90 and a number of upcoming PC games for smaller discounts. Enjoy the savings.

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Dragonica Online to begin open beta next week

Posted Aug 11th 2009 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Betas, Casual, MMO

THQ's first move into the MMO space won't be their long-in-development Warhammer 40,000 title but Dragonica Online, a fantasy-themed title. The company, under their THQ-ICE brand, will launch the open beta of the game here in the US on August 18.

As you can see from the above screenshot the game has a manga-anime art style and is being designed for the more casual player. Developed by Barunson Interactive, Dragonica Online is described as "the first MMO to merge 3D side-scrolling, fast-paced combat and a hilarious, yet devastating, skill system." People who sign up to beta test the game during the first week will receive a special starter pack and have a chance to win both in-game and real world prizes during special contests and events.