1）社交游戏开发商Zynga终于在6月1日推出传说中的新游戏《Empire and Allies》，但令人意外的是该游戏是一款“硬核风格”的Facebook游戏(点击此处查看该游戏详细解析）。《Empire and Allies》共发布了12种语言的版本，同时还保留了农场、资产管理，角色发展以及异步玩法等元素。玩家在游戏中可以组建海陆空三种军队，每个兵种都有对付另一个兵种的必杀技。观察者称该游戏的问世表明Zynga已向社交领域的其他“硬核”策略类游戏展开攻势，例如即将露面的另一款硬核Facebook游戏《文明》。

Empire and Allies(from eurogamer.net)

2）Zynga游戏《CityVille》最近发布了一份用户调查，考察玩家对游戏即将添加的几项新功能的支持率，以便根据玩家意义调整游戏设置。这些功能包括：

·一键点击雇佣房地产经理帮助征收所有住宅税收；

·一键点击租用运货卡车为所有商店供货；

·一键点击使用拖拉机收割所有庄稼；

·一键点击使用起重机收集所有轮船；

·聘请一名工人帮助收集玩家收割庄稼时冒出的所有奖励。

cityville（from games.com）

3）在线购物网站HSN（Home Shopping Network）日前宣布将推出含25款游戏的服务版块HSN Arcade，丰富该网站用户的购物体验，支持他们在同一个页面中边看HSN视频边玩游戏。HSN数字商务执行副总裁Jill Braff表示，公司发布HSN Arcade的这一战略性措施，有助于HSN为用户提供差异化的购物体验，使用户在同一时间内处理购物、游戏和分享活动。

HSN Arcade(from games.com)

该网站游戏由纽约工作室Arkadium（游戏邦注：《Mahjongg Dimensions》和《Writer’s Blox》等Facebook游戏）供应，主要包括拼图、填字、九宫格、二十一点等游戏，并将根据用户反馈添加更多新游戏。体验这些游戏的用户也将由此获得徽章奖励，并通过在Facebook涂鸦墙发贴晒出自己的得分，与好友分享自己在积分排行榜上的成就。

4）俄罗斯社交游戏发行商Pixonic日前通过Ventech、Kite Ventures、TA Ventures等风险投资机构筹得500万美元，并将利用这笔资金在自己的PixAPI平台以及Facebook等社交网络上发行新款游戏（游戏邦注：该公司在去年的第一轮融资中已筹得100万美元资金）。

Pixonic(from ewdn.com)

PixAPI平台于2010年12月份上线，并于2011年跻身欧洲100强初创企业行列。该公司目前已发行30多款自出17家开发商之手的社交游戏，这些游戏的足迹分布于7个国家的13个社交网络，旗下最具知名度的游戏是《 Lil’Brownies》，目前已发布于12个主流社交网站，装载量超过650万，DAU将近100万。

5）美国动视宣布将针对《使命召唤》发布一个类似Facebook、玩家匹配和运动组织的在线服务网站Call of Duty: Elite，该项目将在今年11月8日正式上线，但在此之前将推出一个测试版本。该服务支持玩家组队，通过兴趣或技能完成任务，分享资料，并创建自己最喜爱的《使命召唤》游戏截屏。用户可以通过游戏机、电脑和智能手机访问该网站，不过该公司并未宣布该服务的资费标准，但有人认为Elite很可能采用月费或年费形式，并结合虚拟道具和额外付费内容销售的形进行盈利。

Call of Duty:Elite(from cbsnews.com)

6）由传统游戏元老Richard Garriott成立的社交游戏公司Portalarium在第二轮融资中筹得240万美元，迄今共融资360万美元，其支持者包括Founders Fund、m8 Capital等，该公司首席执行官称他们有意再进行一轮融资以推出将在今年秋季亮相的物品收集类游戏。

7）美国银行最近抽样调查了418名年龄在50岁以下的美国用户，发现96%的受访者都是Facebook用户。因为该调查的样本有限，所有并不能由此下结论称几乎所有美国人都已使用Facebook社交网络。

以下图表取自该调查的相关结果：

1、96%受访者自称是Facebook用户；

2、39%用户每天都在PC上多次查看Facebook信息；

3、36%用户每天都通过手机多次查看Facebook信息；

4、82%用户称自己最在意Facebook的个人隐私保护措施；

5、51%用户称自己在最近一年使用Facebook的频率比以往更高；

6、53%受访者称自己的好友群不可能或极不可能离开Facebook；

7、69%用户表示自己并没有因为Facebook而忽疏其他的网站活动；

8、15%用户称自己确实因为Facebook而减少了Yahoo！网站的使用率；

9、33%用户表示因为Facebook他们使用YouTube的频率更高了；

10、48%用户经常使用Facebook的“Like”功能按钮；

11、27%用户将Facebook作为好友联系方式；

12、41%用户通过Facebook请求好友推荐餐厅、电影、旅行等服务内容；

13、60%用户使用Facebook Connect登录其他网站；

14、25%用户在Facebook上发贴向好友回答问题，而之前他们基本上是在谷歌寻找答案；

15、64%用户称自己会使用Facebook获取本地餐厅或活动的推荐信息；

16、55%用户通过Facebook的推荐安排外出旅行计划；

17、48%用户会主动点击自己在Facebook上看到的广告。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Bank of America survey(from allfacebook.com)

1）1）Zynga’s Empires and Allies: StarCraft meets CityVille … and it works

by Joe Osborne

When we first about Empire and Allies, Zynga’s newest Facebook game since CityVille, we were admittedly expecting a “hardcore” strategy Facebook game knock-off. (Come on, the company’s track record doesn’t fail our expectations.) So, consider us pleasantly surprised by what the company intends with Empires and Allies, which is slated for a June 1 release in 12 languages, a first for any social game. Thanks to a demo event with executive producer Amer Ajami, the new game looks “hardcore,” it may even feel as such. But Zynga has cleverly made it so anyone–even mother!–should be able to jump in and start blowing up their (friends and) enemies.

Farming, property management, even deeper character development–it’s all there. But what makes Empires and Allies work so well is, surprisingly, asynchronous gameplay. It may not be where the technology is at now, but the people still expect this type of experience from a social game, and Zynga not only knows that, but has hopefully succeeded in making that interesting. As you build a combination of resource-gathering (players can trade rare resources like metal ores as well), industrial and military buildings in your island city–it must be balanced between industry and military for defensive purposes–you will also create military units of three classes: Air, Navy and Infantry.

Empires and Allies is clearly an attempt to combat the growing “hardcore” strategy games market on Facebook, namely the upcoming Civilization for Facebook, but the game does so in such a way that’s genuine and will hopefully prove appealing to a much larger audience. Regardless, our productivity is going down the tubes come June 1–at least for, what, a few days?（source:games）  

2）Zynga releases CityVille survey, spills the beans on future updates?

by Joe Osborne

Oh, Zynga, at this point we’re starting to think these unintentional content leaks are, well, totally intentional. The company has released another survey, and this time it is for CityVille, but more specifically looks to measure how responsive players would be to a few new features. Alright, with options like these, the results are going to be terribly one-sided.

The ability to hire a property manager who can harvest all ready residences with one click

The ability to rent a goods delivery truck that can deliver goods to all businesses with one click

The ability to use a tractor to harvest all crops with one click

The ability to use a crane to harvest all boats with one click

The ability to hire a worker to collect all the bonuses that pop up when you harvest (so you don’t have to click them)

These are all the options that are presented in the survey, and if things go well, you’ll likely see at least a few of these make it into the game. As you can see, just about all of them involve streamlining interaction with the game, much like the Combine vehicles in FarmVille. However, with our luck Zynga will release these features for either City Cash or through some arduous series of Goals. We’ll take the arduous Goals, thank you.（source:games） 

3）HSN Arcade: Come for the jewelry, stay to play free games

by Libe Goad

HSN, formerly known as the Home Shopping Network, gets game. Now, in addition to luring potential customers in to buy deeply discounted jewelry, handbags, et al, the website will soon offer a suite of 25 games, which will be inserted directly into the shopping experience. That means, you’ll be able to visit the site, watch HSN streaming video, shop for stuff and play a game — all on the same page. Talk about sensory overload (or shopping heaven, depending on your POV).

“The launch of HSN Arcade is a strategic move to further differentiate the HSN shopping experience…. by combining what people currently do online more than any other activities: shopping, gaming and sharing,” Jill Braff, EVP of Digital Commerce for HSN says.

The New York-based Arkadium (the creator of Mahjongg Dimensions and Writer’s Blox on Facebook) will be providing the games for HSN.com, which will include daily jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, word search, sudoku, blackjack and a new game called Lights! Camera! Subtraction! that stars HSN celebrities. New games will be added based on user feedback. Players will be to earn badges for playing games, be able to compare scores via leaderboard and share scores via Facebook wall posts.

HSN.com is one of several big online destinations that have added special game areas over the past few years, including Oxygen, USA Network and People.com. When you consider how much time people spend playing these types of ‘casual’ games (for instance, people spend an average of 40 minutes playing Mahjongg on Games.com), combined with the recent Newzoo survey that shows 66% of all people online play casual games — it only makes sense that everyone’s trying to tap into games to create a more intriguing online experience.（source:games）  

4）Pixonic, Social Games Publisher, has Raised $5mln in Investments
 
Ventech, Kite Ventures, and TA Ventures, venture capital funds, have invested $5mln into Pixonic, social network games publisher. These investments will be used to publish new games in social networks through the company’s own PixAPI platform.

Three major venture capital funds with a history of successful Internet startup investments are placing $5mln of funds into Pixonic, global social network games publishers. It’s the second round of investments for Pixonic, which raised $1mln last year.

“Social network games are a very promising market, and we’re confident about its fast growth. Pixonic’s global ambitions appeal to us, and we’re sure it’s a successful model,” says Alan Caffi, General Partner at Ventech.

The company’s management has vast and successful experience in internet businesses and social game publishing in particular: Pixonic’s producers have been involved in the publishing of over 50 games, and the company’s CEO, Elena Masolova, is a co-founder of Groupon Russia (previously known as Darberry), one of the most successful startups in Russia, sold to Groupon Inc. in 2010. In 2011, Elena was listed in the Forbes Russia Top-30 internet entrepreneurs.

“We see a huge potential at this market,” says Elena Masolova, Pixonic CEO. “Our recent research shows that the DAU of social networks other than Facebook exceeds the latter’s daily playing audience. By entering other social networks, game developers can easily increase their income by three or four times. And we’ll help them to do that.”

Pixonic has been developing very fast. PixAPI platform was launched in December 2010, and in spring 2011 the company was included into top-100 European startups by RedHerring. The Company has already launched over 30 games by 17 studios in 13 social networks across 7 different countries and has agreements to publish selected Mail.Ru Group social games outside Russia and publish Alawar social games globally. One of the company’s hits is Lil’ Brownies. The game has already been launched in 12 major social networks and has reached more than 6.5 mln installations, with the active daily audience of slightly less than 1 mln users.（source:prnewswire） 

5）Call of Duty Elite adds social networking to hit video game series

by Edecio Martinez

Activision is launching an online service for its “Call of Duty” games that’s part Facebook, part player matchmaker and part organized sports.

“Call of Duty: Elite” officially launches on Nov. 8 with the next installment of the series, Activision said Tuesday. A test version will be available before that, but Activision isn’t saying when.

Two years in the making by a specially-created game studio called Beachhead, the service lets players form groups, compete by skill level or interest, share statistics like baseball fans, and create video clips of their best “Call of Duty” moments, among other things.

“Elite” will be accessible from game consoles, computers and smartphones. It’s as if “social networks and organized sports had a baby and they gave that baby a flamethrower,” as Activision puts it.

Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, calls it a response to the rise of social networking.

“A way to think about this – the NFL used to be something you could only interact with on Sunday. Then, things like fantasy football and ESPN started surrounding it,” Hirshberg said.

Online services are also the next step for the broader video game industry, which must figure out how to offer players experiences that go beyond the $60 video game discs that, “Call of Duty” aside, have seen bumpy sales as people flock to cheaper games from “Angry Birds” to “FarmVille.”

Activision is not saying what it plans to charge for access to “Elite,” though it’s likely to be in the form of monthly or yearly subscriptions possibly combined with the sale of virtual items and extra content for the games.

Hirshberg stressed that the company won’t start charging for anything currently available to “Call of Duty” players for free, such as the ability to play multiplayer games.（source:cbsnews） 

6）Garriott’s gaming startup raises new venture backing

By Brian Gaar

Social gaming company Portalarium, which was founded by famed developer Richard Garriott and partners, has raised more than $2.4 million in a second round of financing.

In all, the company has raised $3.6 million from a variety of investors including San Francisco-based Founders Fund, and m8 Capital, a London-based mobile technology investor.

Company CEO Fred Schmidt said the company was looking for additional financing for its latest title, a collection-based game that’s due out in the fall.（source:statesman)

7）REPORT: Do Almost All Americans Use Facebook Yet?

Posted by Jackie Cohen

A Bank of America survey of 418 U.S. consumers under age 50 found that 96 percent of them use Facebook.

We find it interesting that the bank considers its sample to roughly resemble the U.S. population and therefore meant that nearly all Americans use Facebook. If 418 people were truly a random sample, it would mean all people under age 50 in the U.S.

So we’re not going to agree with the assertion that this represents the whole country. Aside from that, B of A’s statistics are very insightful, so below we’ve reproduced the 18 charts summarizing the survey’s findings.Let us know what you think by posting in the comments section.（source:allfacebook）