1）据TechCrunch报道，Facebook在7月底调整了平台政策，规范了开发商对其Facebook应用/游戏的可执行操作范围，其中最重大的变化就是限制开发商通过各类社交网络交叉推广应用，表明Facebook有可能禁止该平台的应用绑定、链接、推广或重新导向其他竞争平台的应用。

google+ vs Facebook(from imediaconnection.in)

观察者认为，这或许是Facebook意在限制应用与Google+Games绑定的重要动作，假如开发商的Facebook应用涉及Google+Games，那么Facebook就很可能屏蔽或移除该应用。这表明Facebook实际上仍然对Google+Games这个竞争对手有所忌惮，并打算通过这种“肥水不流外人田”的措施留住用户。

除此之外，Facebook的另一重要政策转向就是，重新规范开发商向用户免费提供虚拟货币或虚拟商品奖励政策，要求后者执行该操作时最好不要涉及第三方合作伙伴，如果非要与第三方合作，那就得通过Facebook Credits或绑定Facebook Credits广告推广执行这一操作。观察者的看法是，Facebook对社交游戏开发商的这一系列限制举措，其结果可能适得其反，并最终导致除Zynga之外的其他开发商转投Google+怀抱。

2）传统游戏元老Roberta Williams（游戏邦注：代表作包括《Phantasmagoria》和《国王密使》系列）在1996年隐退之后，于近日重返游戏行业，并担任社交游戏《Odd Manor》的设计顾问。

Odd Manor(from newzebo)

这款Facebook游戏由KingX Studios开发，玩家在游戏中的任务是与一名巫师齐心协力修萁被遗弃的房子，并探索房子所隐藏的秘密。

3）据newzebo报道，根据美剧《圣城风云》（Camelot）改编的Facebook游戏《Gamelot:The Game》运营表现不佳，将于9月16日正式关闭项目。据AppData数据显示，目前该游戏的MAU是26万，但DAU仅有5000左右。

Gamelot(from stockrants.com)

在该项目关闭之前，玩家仍可在游戏中以低价购买虚拟道具，并接收来自另一款根据电视剧《斯巴达克斯：竞技场之神》改编的Facebook游戏中的道具。

4）据pocketgamer报道，美国开发商Spacetime Studios（游戏邦注：代表作是iOS和Android版本的MMORPG游戏《口袋传奇》，即将推出使用同种虚拟货币系统的新游戏《Star Legends》）日前抱怨称，他们本打算为公司所有游戏玩家提供同一套虚拟货币系统，以便他们在所有游戏中使用同种货币（即《口袋传奇》所使用的Platinum），但这种做法遭到了应用商店的反对。该公司没有指出具体应用商店名称，但不少人猜测Spacetime Studios指向的正是苹果App store。

Star-Legends(from acsyndicate.net)

但是真正让该公司不知所措的却是玩家的反应，由于开发团队之前已向用户公布将在游戏中使用统一虚拟货币的消息，导致不少玩家对此抱有希望，因而大量购入虚拟货币，而现在却得知这些货币只能用于《口袋传奇》，结果导致该公司论坛充斥许多玩家的怨言和指责。

为了弥补玩家损失，该公司决定向那些在消息公布后购入虚拟货币的玩家赠送30个虚拟货币作为补偿，但仍有不少用户心存不满，要求该公司双倍补偿虚拟货币，或者针对IAP（应用内置付费功能）进行退款。

5）美国女演员艾玛·斯通曾于6月份在女性杂志《ELLE》的采访中提到，她很喜欢玩Facebook游戏《FarmVille》，在最近的电视节目《吉米晚间脱口秀》中，当主持人吉米·法伦提到同一话题时，她同样难掩自己对该游戏的痴迷，称游戏虽然是一个虚拟农场，但却不失真实感。

emma-stone(from picimages.net)

而法伦则回应称自己也是个游戏迷，很早就开始玩《模拟人生》（游戏邦注：这里可能不是指EA发布的《模拟人生社交版》，而是指经典PC版本游戏）。观察者指出，艾玛·斯通并非《FarmVille》唯一的名人铁杆粉丝，据称Wyclef Jean、Annalynne McCord、Avril Lavigne、Ellen和Rachel Ray等人也是该游戏的拥趸。

6）传统游戏元老Brian Schmidt最近针对游戏声效发表看法称，开发者在游戏设计中应引进更具“真实感”的声效。

他表示许多游戏的声效表现都很简单而且不真实，但实际上真实感可以让半现实的游戏场景更有深度。他举例道，“在现实生活中，一般要经过数秒才会听到狙击子弹击中物体的声音，为什么要让AI在几千码之外就立即对你的开枪行为作出反应？为什么不让它经过2.5秒听到中弹的声音后再进行回应？”

Brian Schmidt(from prweb.com)

Schmidt目前自主运营一家游戏声效公司Brian Schmidt Studios，曾经参与120多款街机和掌机游戏项目开发，并在2008年荣获Game Audio Network Guild的终身成就大奖。

7）《S.O.S》是一款由俄罗斯开发商Creara于7月27日正式发布的Facebook游戏，目前用户发展迅速，并于8月初跻身Facebook新晋游戏前20名榜单。据AppData数据显示，该游戏目前MAU是39万6559，DAU是1万3632。

S.O.S(from insidesocialgames)

与另一款Facebook游戏《The Island: Castaway》相似，《S.O.S》玩家的任务是操控一名被失事飞机遗落到孤岛上的幸存者，让它在岛上开荒种粮，通过自给自足生存来下。该游戏社交功能包括邀请好友成为邻居，并通过好友墙等病毒渠道分享游戏成就。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Have Facebook’s platform policy changes killed free cash promotions?

by Brandy Shaul

At the end of July, Facebook changed their platform policies (rules that regulate the actions developers can take in their Facebook applications / games), and mostly for the worse. TechCrunch caught onto the changes today, and let me tell you: they reek of fear. One particular change seems to completely eliminate the ability for developers to cross-promote their applications across a wide variety of social networks, as developers are now told:

“Apps on Facebook may not integrate, link to, promote, distribute, or redirect to any app on any other competing social platform.”

Let’s put this more simply. Let’s say a game that’s available on Facebook also happens to be available to play on Google+ Games. If that developer mentions Google+ Games at all within the Facebook proper app, Facebook will now apparently block or remove the app from the site altogether. Our first reaction (that which makes perfect sense) is that this is Facebook corporate’s attempt to stop all references of Google+ Games specifically from infiltrating the minds of players, to keep users right where they are (and keep the money flowing into its pockets). It looks like Facebook isn’t entirely confident in its own abilities to combat the new social gaming platform after all.

The more interesting change, though, comes elsewhere, as the rules surrounding rewards of free virtual currency and items have changed. Here’s the updated listing:

Applications may reward users with virtual currency or virtual goods in exchange for user actions that do not involve third parties, but rewards for user actions that involve third parties must be powered by Facebook Credits by integrating Facebook Credits offers.

For example, you may not reward users with virtual currency or virtual goods in exchange for any action in which personally identifiable information is shared with a third party, you may not reward users with virtual currency or virtual goods in exchange for third party downloads, such as toolbars or ringtones, and you may not reward users with virtual currency for engaging in passive actions offered by third parties, such as watching a video, playing a mini-game, or taking an anonymous poll.

See that last sentence? If you’re like me, the first thing that comes to mind might be something along the lines of FarmVille’s many, many free Farm Cash promotions. The question then becomes whether or not these have now been blocked. Technically, users do watch videos and answer poll questions anonymously, and are rewarded with virtual currency for doing so, but since Zynga now deals in Facebook Credits, does that really violate the terms of this new Platform Policy? In typical legal speak, it’s hard to really decipher exactly what’s being said here, but it’s definitely something to think about.

If Facebook continues to limit the possible actions of game developers, aren’t they effectively pushing them into the arms of another host (I hear Google+ Games looks nice this time of year)? Sure, Zynga’s locked in for a bit of the long haul, but what of other huge developers like EA/Playfish or Disney/Playdom? I’m reminded of the phrase “don’t bite the hand that feeds,” but we’ll just have to wait and see if developers decide to actually bite back.（source:games）

2）Legendary King’s Quest designer Roberta Williams working on Facebook’s Odd Manor   Facebook

By Andrew Webster

It has been a long time since Roberta Williams, a pioneering game designer best known for adventure games like Phantasmagoria and the King’s Quest series, has worked on a video game. But she’s back, and will be lending her talents to the social game Odd Manor as a design consultant.

Developed by KingX Studios, Odd Manor is a Facebook game in which players team up with a magical gnome to repair an abandoned home and learn of its mysteries. It will also be the first video game that Williams will have worked on since 1996, the year she retired.（source:gamezebo）

3）Camelot: The Game shutting down next month

By Andrew Webster

Following in the footsteps of the show it was based on, which wasn’t renewed for a second season, the Facebook title Camelot: The Game has announced that it will also be closing down.

The news comes via an email, which doesn’t give a reason for the shutdown. According to Facebook app tracking service AppData, the game is currently sitting at around 260,000 monthly active users, but only 5,000 daily active users. The game will officially shut down on September 16.

Those who are still playing will be able to purchase in-game items for a reduced price up until the game closes, and will also receive an in-game item for another game based on a television series, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.（source:gamezebo）

4）Why app store incompatibilities ended up with Spacetime Studios giving away $330,000 of in-game currency

by Jon Jordan

Issues such as device fragmentation are often highlighted when it comes to trying to run coherent services across multiple mobile operating systems.

However, like rocks hidden just under the water’s surface, the oft-shifting terms and conditions of app stores are increasing being cited as major problems.

The latest example comes from US developer Spacetime Studios. It’s been successfully operating its MMORPG Pocket Legends on iOS and Android for more than a year, and had planned to roll out its second game Star Legends using a universal wallet system across both.

Wherever you want

“When we originally conceived of multiple game titles that share a single account, we also planned to have our in-game currency work across all of our games. We very much wanted this convenience for our players, and had every intention of carrying through on this,” explained CEO Gary Gattis.

However, while the game was in submission, it became clear than the terms and conditions of one app store wouldn’t allow this. Spacetime hasn’t detailed which platform, but the assumption is that it’s Apple.

“The terms of service have been subject to interpretation before and have been known to change without notice to developers,” Gattis says.

“When we made the original announcement about shared accounts and currency we had every indication that a universal currency was possible.”

Fan backlash

Obviously a technical disappointment for the development team, the real knock on impact however was the reaction of the players.

Because it had previously announced a joint wallet between games, alongside a new webstore, some players had already stockpiled the in-game Platinum currency in anticipation. Now they’re stuck with that currency only being available for Pocket Legends.

As you expect, the result was a storm of criticism on the company’s forum, with some individuals complaining long and loud about the situation.

Payback

“We’ve tried very hard to make amends with the players who purchased Platinum with that [sharing] feature in mind,” Gattis explains.

For that reason, any players who had purchased Platinum after the single currency announcement were given 30 Platinum in recompense.

“We granted in excess of 1.5 million Platinum. This is in excess of $330,000 worth in order to rectify the situation,” he says.

Still, some people aren’t happy, with one player contacting PocketGamer.biz suggesting that the amount of Platinum purchased should be duplicated in both games’ accounts, or that Spacetime should highlight that under Apple’s terms and conditions, IAP can be refunded.

He’s since been banned from the forum, twice.

Of course, to a degree, these are the sort of issues developers have to deal with when operating games as service. The intricacies of running virtual currency across mobile platforms adds another layer that’s unlikely to get simplified any time soon though.

“It’s a major bummer, but it is what it is,” a wiser if wearier Gattis concludes.（source:pocketgamer）

5）FarmVille lover Emma Stone nerds out with Sims-playing Jimmy Fallon on Late Night

by Jenny Ng

Avid moviegoers are finding that there’s no escaping actress Emma Stone this summer. So far, Stone has showed up in three Hollywood films nearly one week after another — Friends With Benefits (July 22), Crazy Stupid Love (July 29), and The Help, which came out two days ago. At the same time though, Stone is learning there’s no escape from talking about her old love, FarmVille.

Stone first revealed her “obsession’” in an interview with women’s fashion magazine ELLE in June. So yesterday, when Late Night host Jimmy Fallon asked the actress a fairly innocent question, “Are you on Facebook?”, we knew what to expect.

“It’s a fake farm, but it doesn’t feel fake, Jimmy,” declares Stone. What we didn’t expect is that Fallon was just as “obsessed” with playing The Sims “a long time ago” himself. The host is probably referring to an offline PC version of The Sims, not the shiny new Facebook version released earlier this week. Which is to say, Fallon should totally give The Sims Social a spin (once Electronic Arts gets it back up). He’s sure to love it.

Finally, Emma Stone isn’t the only FarmVille playing celebrity we’ve run across. Rumors have been around that Wyclef Jean, Annalynne McCord, Avril Lavigne, Ellen, and Rachel Ray all farm on FarmVille. Actress Mila Kunis outed herself as FarmVille obsessed last year. Finally, everyone must’ve heard of Lady Gaga’s GagaVille by now, which was one of the farthest-reaching marketing stunts ever seen in a Facebook game.（source:games）

6）Audio Veteran Brian Schmidt Calls For More ‘Realistic’ Use Of In-Game Sound

by Tom Curtis

Seasoned industry veteran Brian Schmidt recently spoke out on the unexplored realms of game audio, arguing that developers should introduce more “realistic” sound into their game design.

“Using sound to propagate game information in a more realistic way is something that needs to be explored more,” Schmidt said in a group interview with the Audio track advisory board members for GDC 2012.

Schmidt explains that all too often in games, sound behaves in a simple and unrealistic manner, when in fact it could add an extra layer of depth to semi-realistic game scenarios.

“In the real world,” Schmidt says, “a sniper bullet wouldn’t be heard until a significant time after impact — often for several seconds, so why does the AI instantly know that your rifle was fired from a thousand yards away and start firing right away, instead of the 2.5 seconds it would take for sound to travel to the AIs ears to get a bearing on you?”

Schmidt currently runs his own game audio company dubbed Brian Schmidt Studios. He is also credited in over 120 arcade and console games, and is responsible for designing the Xbox Audio Creation Tool and XMA Compression technology. In 2008, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Audio Network Guild.（source:gamasutra）

7）Creara Gets a Big Response From Its S.O.S. on Facebook

By Randy Nelson

S.O.S. is an adventure game from Russian developer Creara. It officially launched on July 27 after an open testing period that began in March of this year. The game has seen fairly rapid growth, landing on our top 20s rankings by the beginning of August.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, S.O.S. currently has 396,559 monthly active users and 13,632 daily active users.

Similar in premise to a title we previously covered, The Island: Castaway, S.O.S. has players controlling a plane crash survivor stranded on a deserted island. The goal is simple: survive. In order to do so, players must clear land, build shelter, plant crops and so on. Nearly every action the player initiates requires energy, which recharges over time or can be refilled via food (or purchased). Players can customize their survivor avatar with a variety of facial, hair and clothing options.

Various objectives are presented to add some structure to the experience, and completing these rewards the player with experience points, resources and “greenbacks” — the game’s soft currency. Players can also get bonus rewards for finding special items that are used to complete collections. In a somewhat fresh twist to the farming simulation on Facebook, a weather mechanic (shown with an on-screen forecast for each day) affects the yield of crops harvested on a particular day.

Social features include inviting friends to become neighbors, with standard visit bonuses and construction item gifting. Players can also share their accomplishments through viral channels including friends’ Walls.

Creara could not be reached for comment on its future plans for the title, but does seem to be keeping pace with reports of bugs on the game’s Wall and addressing them while adding new features and content on a regular basis.（source:insidesocialgames）