1）据IGN报道，经典动画电影《玩具总动员》、《加菲猫：双猫记》编剧Alec Sokolow和Joel Cohen上周透露，他们正与Zynga商谈将后者社交游戏改编成电影的事宜，但并未公开更多细节内容。

虽然之前已有传闻称Zynga正准备推出一部基于《Mafia Wars》的电影，但观察者猜测Zynga这次很可能选择将《FarmVille》搬上银幕（游戏邦注：该游戏于2009年6月问世，至今仍有3500万以上的用户），它有可能是一部电脑动画电影。

2）asymco最近发布的美国智能手机市场调查报告指出，黑莓手机平台在最近一个月内流失了120万用户。

据asymco统计，RIM现在仍掌握20%的美国市场份额，但这一比例正迅速下滑，预计到2012年底黑莓将彻底出局。

asymco创始人Horace Dediu指出，RIM在过去一年中已流失430万用户，目前手机用户数量与2009年底时基本相同，但需注意的是，现在的智能手机市场规模已比当初大两倍以上。

与此同时，iOS和Android市场份额仍在不断增长，即使是一度表现不济的微软也已站稳脚跟（游戏邦注：曾因从Windows Mobile向Windows Phone转型而流失数百万用户）。Dediu认为，RIM目前仅有1650万美国智能手机用户，平均每月流失50万用户，除非发生重大转机，否则RIM很可能在明年底就失去所有美国用户。

据其所称，已有430万黑莓用户流向了Android或iOS等智能手机平台，而移动广告公司InMobi之前的调查也表明，52%的黑莓用户会考虑购买iPhone 5。

3）据gamasutra报道，Telltale Games公司8月份有15%的收益来自iOS游戏，这一比例在9月份上升至30%。

iPad平台是该公司最大的盈利来源，据其首席执行官Dan Connors所称，他们预测iPad游戏将占今后公司每款游戏收益的15至20%比例。Telltale在过去6个月中新增了30名成员，现在共有116名员工。

该公司将于11月份发布新游戏《Jurassic Park》，并在年底前再推出13款iPad游戏，其中包括《Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space》。

4）社交及手机应用解决方案供应商Claritics公司日前宣布其Social Intelligence Suite工具支持HTML5技术，以便应用开发者快速根据Facebook、Android、iOS等不同平台的HTML5应用提供的实时数据调整推广方案、功能和内容等。

HTML5开发者通过Claritics Social Intelligence Suite，可以方便快捷地获取不同平台的用户粘性、ARPU值等重要信息和发展趋势，从而制定更有效的用户获取策略，保证用户留存率和产品盈利性。

5）据pocketgamer报道，Gameloft奥克兰工作室前主管Glenn Watson最近在YouTube发布了一个讽刺Gameloft工作条件的恶搞视频（游戏邦注：他曾在Game On Net的采访中透露，Gameloft员工经常需要连续加班，他自己则因不堪连续四周每天工作14个小时而离职）。

这则视频还透露《Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front》和《Fishing Kings》这两者将采用免费模式，但玩家可以通过IAP功能购买额外内容。

6）据games报道，社交游戏开发商Arkadium及华纳兄弟最近根据CW美剧《吸血鬼日记》推出新游戏《The Vampire Diaries: Get Sucked In》。

Arkadium之前的代表作包括《Mahjongg Dimensions》，曾向Facebook发行了《料理妈妈》，之前就已同CW电视台合作将其热门电视剧《绯闻女孩》改制成社交游戏。

7）Hitwise最新发布的8月调查报告表明，新加坡用户投入Facebook的时间最长，平均每次达到38分46秒，而巴西用户则不足前者的一半，平均每次投入时间为18分19秒。

排在新加坡之后的依次是新西兰（30分31秒），澳大利亚（26分27秒），英国（25分33秒），美国（20分46秒）。巴西网民的社交网络访问率最高，其比例达18.9%，其中有43%的社交网络访问量流向了谷歌Orkut。而英国用户的社交网络访问率最低，仅占12.2%。

在今年8月份，Facebook是美国访问率最高的社交网络，其比例高达91%，位于其次的是Twitter，占1.92%的访问率；第三名是Tagged.com，首次超过MySpace，占1.04%的美国访问率。

Facebook访问量增长最快的国家是印度，该网站在今年8月的印度市场份额比去年同期增长了88%，Facebook在美国市场占有率也比去年增长了5%。

8）据techcrunch报道，Zynga于近日宣布《Mafia Wars 2》将于未来数周内上线，其游戏玩法与原版《Mafia Wars》基本相同，但更具深度和刺激性。

这款新游戏提供了100多种道具和虚拟商品（包括赌场、银行和房屋等），600多件服饰，极大丰富了玩家的个性化装饰选项，此外还供应了300多种不同的武器、盔甲和交通工具，有100多个角色动画效果，其画面还添加了3D元素。

观察者认为，原版游戏《Mafia Wars》最近MAU仅440万，远逊色于《CityVille》的7100万MAU，此举是Zynga力图复兴这款游戏的表现之一。《Mafia Wars 2》发布时将支持16种语言（游戏邦注：包括英语、法语、意大利语、德语、西班牙语、葡萄牙语、印尼语、土耳其语、繁体中文、韩语、挪威语、瑞典语、丹麦语、日语和泰语），该游戏还有可能推出iOS和Android版本。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Ugh: Zynga’s Farmville in talks for movie treatment

Sean Ludwig

As annoying as it is to get Farmville requests from friends on Facebook, now there may be no way to escape the popular game with Farmville in talks to be made into a movie.

Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen, writers on the classic film Toy Story and decidedly not classic movies Garfield and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, revealed late last week they have been in talks with Farmville-creator Zynga to write an adaptation.

“We’re in conversations with Zynga to do something with one of their brands,” told IGN on Thursday. “Can’t really say too much on that front yet, but ‘Old MacDonald’ didn’t have a factory, if you get our drift.”

We’re not exactly sure what that quote means, but previous rumors indicated that Zynga had reached out to work on a Mafia Wars film based on the popular game. So it’s no surprise they might be working to develop other content based on its immensely popular games.

Farmville launched on Facebook in June 2009 and became one of Zynga’s first big hits. The game’s a little older now but it still counts more than 35 million users. Comparably, Zynga’s Cityville has has more than 76 million active monthly users after launching in December 2010.

The goal of Farmville is to build a thriving farm by planting trees, harvesting crops and raising livestock. The social aspect of the game comes from having your Facebook friends as “neighbors” and users being able to send supplies and gifts to each other, among other actions.

A movie would most likely use Farmville as a title for branding purposes, but not necessarily feature any farming with friends action. However, it’s not hard to imagine a computer-animated film with talking farm animals coming out of this. If it’s anything like Garfield or Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, however, I’ll happily be skipping this.（source:venturebeat）

2）At the present rate, RIM could lose its US user base by the end of 2012 reckons analyst asymco

by Keith Andrew

After comScore’s summation of the smartphone market in the US, so comes market analyst and asymco founder Horace Dediu’s analysis of the state of play, and it makes grim reading for RIM.

According to Dediu’s aggregation of comScore’s MobiLens numbers – which details the penetration of both OEMs and platforms in the US every month – BlackBerry is currently losing 1.2 million subscribers a month.

Admittedly, that’s from a high base – even now, comScore evaluates RIM still controls just shy of 20 percent of the market – but if that rate continued apace, BlackBerry could be wiped out before the end of 2012.

Running down RIM

“RIM shows an alarming deterioration,” Dediu deduces.

“The company has lost 4.3 million users in the last year and is now at about the same number of users it had in late 2009. This is in a market that has more than doubled.”

While iOS and especially Android are growing fast, and even Microsoft – which lost millions of users almost by default during the transition from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone – has stablised, BlackBerry’s user retention has fallen through the floor.

“With only about 16.5 million US users and an average loss of half a million users per month, unless something drastic happens, RIM could lose its entire US user base by the end of next year.”

RIM’s loss is, naturally, its rivals’ gain, with Dediu claiming its “likely that those 4.3 million who left Blackberry went to other smartphones” such as Android or iOS.

This chimes with a survey from ad network InMobi, which found 52 percent of BlackBerry users would have considered switching to iPhone 5.

“This sort of switch is often painful and I can only imagine that it’s done with some reluctance. All the more remarkable then that RIM could not offer incentives to stay,” he concludes.

“The Blackberry brand is fading rapidly and brand value is very hard to re-build.”（source:pocketgamer）

3）Interview: Telltale Games Bets Big On iPad

by Chris Morris

In August, Telltale Games saw 15 percent of its monthly revenue come from the sale of iOS games. Last month, that percentage jumped to 30.

In fact, year to date, the iPad has been the fastest-growing revenue driver for the episodic game maker. That increase came amid an effort to drive new content to the device, but it was also a chance for Apple’s systems to prove themselves as viable income sources.

They passed the test admirably, and now Telltale CEO Dan Connors says the company is planning to dedicate considerable resources to iOS devices.

“The tablet is super interesting to us because we believe the style of content we build is perfect for the form factor,” he told Gamasutra in an exclusive interview. “The fact that Apple has been able to get such a powerful tablet out there with a big install base makes it the obvious place to focus.

“What we’re seeing is you have access to a worldwide audience. There seems to be a real proliferation of these devices across the world. And the App Store is so easy for people to purchase from. You can get your products to market really quickly and get them in front of people really quickly. There’s a good diverse audience – which is really good for the content that we do.”

So good, in fact, that Connors says he expects the iPad to account for 15-20 percent of the revenues for every game the company launches moving forward.

In the past six months, Telltale has added roughly 30 people to its studio, bringing the count to 116. The additional headcount allows the company to not only handle the wide number of licensed episodic games it’s currently juggling, but to begin releasing the games simultaneously on all platforms.

This November, when the first episode of Jurassic Park is released, the iPad will be included in that list of platforms. And before the end of the year, the company will release another 13 iPad titles, including Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space and the first cases in Telltale’s Law & Order game. （source:gamasutra）

4）Claritics Delivers Cross-Platform Analytics Solutions for HTML5 Application Developers

By Sebastian Sujka

Claritics, a social intelligence solution for social and mobile app developers, has announced full HTML5 support for its Social Intelligence Suite. The release empowers application developers to create rapid adjustments to campaigns, app features and targeted content based on real-time data from HTML5 apps running across a variety of platforms, including Facebook, Android, iOS and others.

“With the rising tide of HTML5 and the number of applications being written in this quickly emerging language, many of our customers were asking to use our analytics for their HTML5 apps,” said Raj Pai, co-founder and CEO of Claritics, Inc. “By providing a single, easy-to-use analytics framework, we’ve empowered HTML5 app developers to quickly analyze and act on real-time data across multiple channels for profitable growth.”

Claritics already provides analytics solutions for social and mobile applications, but today’s announcement marks the first time app developers have had an analytics solution that helps track user behavioral and social interaction data across multiple platforms within a single framework.

By using the Claritics Social Intelligence Suite, HTML5 developers will gain insight into important trends and information such as which platforms deliver the most engaged users which cost of acquisition or what is the difference in average revenue per user (ARPU) across different platforms.

Claritics offers this solution to sectors fof social gaming and ecommerce. Having started the service for social games initially, Claritics also included brands to their customers a couple of weeks ago. As Claritics CEO Raj Pai told us, one of the biggest advantages that Claritics offers is to quickly see which users are the easiest to acquire or what drives engagement and monetization at a certain moment.

These insights are crucial to the success of any new application and especially critical when launching an HTML5 app or a game and deciding how best to acquire new users and scale the business using data-driven user acquisition, retention and monetization campaigns.（source:socialgamesobserver）

5）Gameloft podcast reveals new freemium titles and updates, jokes about studio working conditions

by Anthony Usher

If you head on over to YouTube (or read down) you can check out Gameloft’s latest video podcast with Josh and Vanessa, which includes information on the studio’s latest game news.

Oh, and a rather uncomfortable joke about working conditions, in light of recent accusations made against the company’s Auckland studio by former studio head Glenn Watson, who revealed in an interview with Game On Net that he felt compelled to resign from the company after four consecutive weeks of 14-hour days.

The screen grab below says it all.

In terms of games, the podcast reveals that both Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front and Fishing Kings are about to get the free-to-play treatment, meaning you can grab them from the App Store without spending a penny.

Naturally, you’ll have to option to download extra content through in-app purchases if you take a liking to either game.

Current free offering GT Racing: Motor Academy Free+ is also set to receive some extra attention, with five new cars speeding onto its tracks next month.

Check out the video, and you’ll also get to feast your eyes on some brand-new exclusive never-before-seen footage of upcoming shooter Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation and a joke in slightly poor taste. （source:pocketgamer）

6）CW’s The Vampire Diaries series now a ‘fang-tastic’ Facebook game

by Jenny Ng

Launched today, The Vampire Diaries: Get Sucked In follows the heels of BBC’s announcement for Being Human, another popular supernatural drama set to become a Facebook role-playing game.

The CW’s The Vampire Diaries (adapted from a novel series by L.J. Smith of the same name) is a show about a female high schooler’s romantic entanglements with two vampire brothers and the mysterious events surrounding their town.

Fans of the show can now visit Mystic Falls anytime instead of just Thursday nights, thanks to developer Arkadium and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Though Arkadium is best known for creating Mahjongg Dimensions and bringing Cooking Mama to Facebook, they’ve done work for The CW before, producing a Facebook game for the hit teen drama, Gossip Girl.（source:games）

7）Hitwise: Singaporeans Spend The Most Time On Facebook Per Session

Leena Rao

Hitwise just published a new study examining how much time people living in different countries spend on Facebook. Singaporeans actually spend the longest on the social network, with an average of 38 minutes and 46 seconds per session, while people living in Brazil spend less than half that with an average of 18 minutes and 19 seconds per Facebook session for August 2011.

Singapore is followed by New Zealand (30 mins 31 sec); Australia (26 mins 27 sec); the UK (25 mins 33 sec); and the US (20 mins 46 sec). Brazil actually has the highest percentage of Internet visits going to social sites (18.9% of Internet usage) with 43% of all social networking visits in Brazil going to Google-owned Orkut. In contrast, the UK has the lowest market share of visits going to social networks with 12.2% of visits.

Facebook was the most visited Social Networking site in the US in August 2011 receiving 91% of visits among the sites followed by Twitter with 1.92% of visits. Tagged.com ranked 3rd for the first time, passing MySpace.com with 1.04% of US Internet visits.

The fastest growing country in terms of visits is India, which saw an an increase in market share of 88% in August 2011 compared to August 2010. The US also experienced a market share increase from Facebook of 5% year on year.

It’s no surprise that Facebook is seeing major growth internationally and in the U.S. Marc Zuckerberg just revealed that as many as 500 million members have used used Facebook in a given day, which is a milestone for the network. And the social network saw a record number of visitors in July. （source:techcrunch）

8）Zynga Goes 3D With Crime World Facebook Game Mafia Wars 2; Launches In A Record 16 Languages

Leena Rao

As we reported a few weeks ago, Zynga is debuting a new version of its hit Facebook game Mafia Wars. Today, the social gaming giant is revealing all the details of the new, mobster-themed, crime-focused social game, Mafia Wars 2. The game itself is not live now, but will be available on Facebook within the next few weeks.

Originally launched 2008, Mafia Wars allows players to build their virtual criminal empires by collaborating with their friends to complete crime jobs, fight and rob other Mafia crews, run underground businesses and purchase virtual goods like weapons and getaway cars. Set in New York City at launch, the game expanded to new in-game locales including Cuba, Moscow, Bangkok, Las Vegas, Italy, Chicago, and Brazil in March 2011.

Mafia Wars 2 actually marks Zynga’s first direct sequel to a game, and introduces an even more immersive crime world with additional characters and deeper storylines. The gameplay itself is similar to to the first version of Mafia Wars and revolves around building up a virtual mafia family with other members, earning virtual cash to buy weapons, performing ‘jobs’ to earn more, and eventially building your own casino. But the gameplay is much more in-depth, expansive and in some ways, more violent and combative. Mafia Wars 2 also has a more edgy feel to it. For example, the title’s trailer is actually set to “Mountain Song,” by Jane’s Addiction.

Players need build up what Zynga calles their “turf economy” to collect cash and hire workers to do their dirty ork and keep their hands clean. Mafia Wars 2 features over 100 decorations/virtual goods for players to personalize their home turf, including casinos, banks and houses.

Mafia Wars 2 also marks one of the highest-levels of customization for a Zynga game at launch, providing players with more than 300 different types of weapons, armor and vehicles. Players can outfit themselves by amassing weapons, armor and abilities to help them in battle. Players can also generate from over 20 million unique looks for their avatar, including over 600 pieces of clothing.

In terms of graphics and visualizations, Mafia Wars 2 had definitely been created with a more modern look and design, as well has more graphics and effects. In fact, there are over 100 character animations in the game, and there’s more of an emphasis on sound effects And the game has added 3D to its visualizations, giving the gameplay experience more depth.

For Zynga, Mafia Wars is one of its earliest titles. The game has 4.4 million monthly active users, which compared to CityVille’s 71 million monthly active users, is small. Clearly, Zynga is trying to refresh interest in the title, and the gaming giant is betting on a more in-depth, visually appealing, combative game to help boots usage. Zynga has even released a first-ever digital comic, which reveals the back story to players’ stint in prison and the cast of characters in Mafia Wars 2.

At launch, Mafia Wars will be available in 16 languages (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, Turkish, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Japanese and Thai), which is the most native translations Zynga has ever released out the gate.（source:techcrunch）