1）手机社交游戏开发商TeamLava继《Fashion Story》和《Nightclub Story》两款游戏在苹果App Store大受追捧后，最近又宣布将推出新iOS社交游戏《Zoo Story》（游戏邦注：即搭载苹果设备iPhone，iPod Touch和iPad）。游戏中，玩家将化身动物园管理员，负责饲养、管理和照料各种各样的动物。游戏一开始，玩家得从丛林和海洋寻找各种各样的野生动物，然后通过收割庄稼喂养这些动物。此外，玩家还得确园区保参观者保持愉快心情，同时还可以主动邀请其他玩家参观自己的动物园，并让他们通过完成各种任务获得奖品。

fashion story

2）本周新兴游戏（游戏邦注：即指那些MAU低于100万的游戏）榜单出现了众多我们知之甚少的新游戏。本周荣登榜首的游戏为《TrainCity》，这款虽然别出心裁，但由于主打的是屡见不鲜的城市建设主题，所以着实很难突出重围。本周《TrainCity》MAU增长66%，但MAU总数仍不足80万。尽管如此，游戏还是有可能闯出自己的一片天地。本周上榜的Playdom《Deep Realms》也颇值得探究，游戏上个月才刚刚推出，主打的故事元素使其脱颖而出。据了解，游戏初期的游戏反馈参数十分有趣：MAU呈递减趋势，而DAU却起伏不定。

Top Gainers This Week

3）据二级证券市场消息显示，虽然Facebook等社交媒介网站，股票价格受日益强化的员工交易管制影响，出现忽高忽低态势，但它们今年第一季度的市场估值依旧呈直线上升趋势。Nyppex季度报告称，全球最大社交网站Facebook市场估值增长58%，达650亿美元。

4）日前有作家恶搞性发文称，Zynga未来营收模式将借助非游戏玩家对其玩家朋友的态度。是否有人厌恶极了朋友无休止的《FarmVille》消息？他表示，那么就到Zynga数字商店买几桶有毒粘液，洒到朋友可恶的农场。非玩家可以从中获得满足感，而Zynga也可以从中拓宽营收渠道。他还表示，军备竞赛将上演至Facebook平台，其中玩家将对抗非玩家，阻挠对方的Facebook体验。然而，从社交游戏之外的角度看，这不过是供读者消遣的阅读材料。

toxic goo

5）据悉，路易斯安那州立大学（LSU）同意拨款3000万美元修建占地9.4万平方英尺的Digital Media Facility（游戏邦注：其将成为EA入住校园的领地）。自2008年EA携手LSU和美国国家经济发展部为EA Sports游戏成立测试场地以来，EA就成为LSU的一份子。LSU有望今年夏天开始筹建新场地，预计2012年下半年竣工。此外，EA每年将为此支付50万美元的租金，新场所可容纳员工200名，据了解，EA目前在巴吞鲁日已有400名职员。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

lsu

1）Zoo Story: New Social Game Coming to iOS

After seeing just how popular its ‘Fashion Story’ and ‘Nightclub Story’ games have become on the Apple App Store, mobile social game developer TeamLava has recently announced that its new social game ‘Zoo Story’ will be coming to iOS devices very soon.

As noted over on the ign.com website, the ‘Zoo Story’ game – which will be compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad – sees players become zookeepers, who are then tasked with the job of breeding, managing and caring for a whole host of different animals.

Players begin the ‘Zoo Story’ game by finding wild animals from places such as the jungle and the ocean. They are then tasked with harvesting crops in order to keep the little creatures well fed and happy. However, running a zoo isn’t just about keeping the animals happy.

It is also important to keep your zoo visitors happy, which you can do with exciting theme park attractions, tasty amenities and plenty of animals. Just like with other ‘Story’ games, players are able to design the layout of their zoo and decorate it to their liking.

Zookeepers are even able to invite other players to visit their zoos, and earn prizes by completing special tasks. Are you a fan of the ‘Story’ games? If so, will you be downloading the ‘Zoo Story’ game?（Source：Product-reviews）

2）RPGs Battle It Out On This Week’s List of Emerging Facebook Games

This week’s list of emerging games — those still under 1 million monthly active users — is filled with new titles that we haven’t explored yet. Leading the pack this week is TrainCity, a game we’ve talked about quite a bit on Inside Social Games. We reviewed this LIFO Interactive city builder in January, and noted that it looked great and was well-designed but might not end up being a successful game due to the city theme being a crowded space. According to AppData, (our metrics platform for tracking the top Facebook games) TrainCity has grown by 66% this week up to just under 800,000 MAU. It’s possible that TrainCity will end up doing well despite its genre being one of stiff competition.

It has been quite some time since we’ve been able to talk about a Playdom game on our weekly leaderboards, but this week Deep Realms is giving us the opportunity. We took a close look at this classic RPG-meets-Facebook last month when it first launched. We felt that it was a very interesting foray into the world of RPG style games that are so popular on other platforms, but that an addition of more story elements would take the game to a new level. Deep Realms’ early metrics look interesting — though it is on a steady incline in terms of MAU, its daily active users are fluctuating more than what is usual for new games. It has also already fallen down to under 14% DAU as a percentage of MAU, which is a good early indication that its retention is lacking. This could be because Playdom are using a lot of internal cross-promotion efforts and the demographic of most of their other games is not congruent with the more core gameplay of Deep Realms. It will be interesting to watch this game as it attempts to bring fesh innovation to Facebook.

Monster Hero is a pet-battling RPG that works as a nice comparison to Deep Realms. In this equally-as-stylized core game for a more mixed gender audience, the battles are determined by an Angry Birds-style minigame as opposed to the turn-based combat in Deep Realms. Monster Hero launched in February, just a month before Playdom’s RPG and is growing at around 50% of the pace (but retaining players slightly better). Of course, new developer Phoenix Age is lacking in the existing userbase to utilize for early traffic, and it’s also lacking Playdom’s budget. Yet Monster Hero is an equally appealing game, with a cute art style, some interesting minigame mechanics, and a similar content-heavy map requirement.（Source：Inside Social Games）

3）Valuations of social media groups soar in first quarter

Valuations for social media groups such as Facebook and Groupon continue to soar in the first quarter, as measured by prices on secondary markets for their shares, though prices have been crimped by growing restrictions on employee trading.

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, saw its valuation jump 58 per cent to $65bn in trading by institutions, according to a quarterly survey released on Friday by Nyppex, a New York-based marketplace and advisory for private securities.（Source：Ft.com）

4）Social games will monetize people in the future: Parody or inevitability?

Wait, isn’t this just gamification? A clever Gamasutra blogger predicts in a scathing parody that the next step for social game developers like Zynga is to monetize non-players’ responses to their social gaming friends. Have a deep hatred for your friend’s endless FarmVille posts? “Now picture a world where Zynga sells digital toxic goo! You log onto Zynga’s digital store, purchase a couple barrels of the stuff for a few bucks and pour it on your annoying friend’s farm,” Gamasutra blogger Robert Boyd writes. “Satisfaction gained and Zynga has made money off of someone who doesn’t even play their games.”

Boyd goes on to flesh out a world where the arms races moves to Facebook, in which players compete against non-players in thwarting each others’ Facebook experience (and defending theirs from attack)–game or not. But wait, there’s more. “And let’s not stop there! After this cycle has occurred a few times, we’ll send you a message about our new game, FactoryVille!” Boyd writes. “By managing your factory wisely, you can create a never-ending stream of toxic goo to pour on the farms of friends and foes alike! Of course, to have the best factory, you’ll want to purchase a few of our virtual goods…”

According to Boyd, you can easily replace “toxic goo” with whatever is relevant to the game at hand and bring in a whole new demographic of money-makers who want revenge on their farmer friends. It’s too bad that News Feeds don’t interfere with those who don’t play games anymore, or this satire would be more applicable. (Though, nothing is ever out of the realm of possibility.) Regardless, it’s a chuckle-worthy outside perspective of the social gaming industry that you can find in full right here.（Source：Games）

5）EA To Expand Louisiana Presence In New, $30 Million LSU Facility

Louisiana State University is expected to sign off on allocation of $30 million to build a new, 94,000 sq. ft. Digital Media Facility which will house an expanded presence for Electronic Arts on the campus.

EA has been part of LSU since 2008, when it teamed up with the university and the state’s department of economic development to establish a testing facility primarily used for EA Sports games.

But with that facility reaching capacity, LSU is expected to begin constructing the new building this summer, with an opening targeted for the second half of 2012, according to a Baton Rouge Advocate report.

EA will pay nearly $500,000 in annual rent to work in the facility, which is being constructed with a mix of state and federal development funds. The company could fill the space with up to 200 employees on top of the 400 staffers it already employs in Baton Rouge, according to the report.

“This is a critical milestone,” Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret said, “It’s kind of given Louisiana credibility in the industry.”

The state has been actively courting the game industry in recent years, with a 25 percent tax credit on interactive media spending signed into law in 2009. （Source：Gamasutra）