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.
Casual
EA acquires social game publisher Playfish for $300 million
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

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.
Continue reading Interview: Psyonix talks about their free UDK game Whizzle
REO Speedwagon casual game announced (again, we aren't joking)
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).
Diagnosis Murder game announced (and no we are not kidding)
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
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.
PopCap gets over $22 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
"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
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

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
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?
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
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.
Zuma's Revenge coming from PopCap September 15

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
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.
Dragonica Online to begin open beta next week
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.











