1）据Mafia Wars Loot Lady观察，Zynga最近又展开一个粉丝优惠活动项目Z.I.P（Zynga Important Player简写），为最忠实的Zynga游戏玩家提供“独家虚拟商品、限量版道具，以及先于他人访问Zynga新游戏的机会”。

Z.I.P(from games)

被Zynga选中成为Z.I.P会员的玩家，将通过邮件获取特殊邀请码，提前访问Zynga新游戏《CastleVille》。观察者认为Zynga此举意在奖励长期体验公司游戏的玩家，并鼓励他们不断回访游戏。

2）据USA Today报道，最近美国最大的有线电视网HBO，再次根据旗下美剧《权力的游戏》投入制作一款社交游戏。

为了宣传这部美剧，HBO已在今年初与开发商合作根据该剧推出了《Game of Thrones: Battle for the Iron Throne》，但这款“广告游戏”现已在Facebook关闭项目。

观察者称这款游戏的存在目的仅是为了推广将于明年问世的《权力的游戏》第二季，它是否会再次受挫仍然有待观望。

3）微软近日宣布Xbox.com更新后将针对“My Xbox”添加“社交”功能，支持用户查看好友的最新状况。

这个新的Social版块将在最近几天发布，用户还可以添加“Beacons”标注自己希望与他人一起玩的游戏。Social页面将成为那些已登录Xbox.com系统的用户主界面，从下图可以看出，Xbox.com社交功能与Facebook颇为相似。

social landing(from games)

该页面主要显示用户好友在Xbox 360掌机上正在做的事情，以及他们最近玩过的游戏。玩家可以向好友发送信息，查看他对方最近发布的Beacons内容。

4）Bohemia Interactive公司在2001年就开始在游戏中植入一个可影响盗版产品运行效果的系统FADE，在降低盗版游戏图像效果和运行性能的同时，向非付费玩家显示“正版游戏画面不会受损”的信息。

该公司在最近发布的游戏《驾乘直升机》中也添加了这个系统，使一些玩家在不知不觉中向游戏官方论坛暴露了自己使用盗版产品的信息。

Take On Helicopters(from pcgamer)

Bohemia表示当今游戏开发领域的一个重要层面就是了解如何保护原创产品，所以他们推出了这个用户无法回避的独特系统，让他们知道应尊重开发者投入大量心血制作的产品。

其他发行商也曾采用的类似的方法，例如育碧就曾在《杰克逊：舞王体验》的音乐中植入特殊音效以扼制盗版现象。但也有一些公司并不忌惮盗版现象，例如Valve创始人Gabe Newell就曾表示，打击盗版的最好方法就是“推出比盗版产品更优质的服务”。

5）Viximo公司近日宣布与社交游戏开发商Kixeye合作，把后者硬核社交游戏《Backyard Monsters》推向Yahoo!Games平台。

Backyard Monsters(from games)

《Backyard Monsters》是Kixeye在Facebook发布的首款硬核策略游戏，据AppData数据显示，该游戏最近MAU达300万，DAU则是76万。

《Backyard Monsters》并非首款登陆Yahoo!Games的Facebook游戏，在此之前，Zynga旗下的《Mafia Wars》、《FishVille》以及EA社交版《Scrabble》都曾入驻Yahoo!Games。

6）在本周DAU增长最快的Facebook游戏榜单上，《Words With Friends》居于榜首，《Bubble Witch Saga》和《CityVille》分别位于第二和第三名。

Top Gainers This Week-Games(from AppData)

《Words With Friends》Facebook版本采用了与手机版本有所不同的盈利模式，原手机游戏是通过一次性付费下载，让玩家跳过视频广告内容，而 Facebook版本则保留了视频广告，但如果他们邀请一定数量的好友参与游戏，就可以跳过广告环节。该版本的盈利来自使用Facebook Credits购买的三种丰富游戏玩法的功能。

Words with Friends video ad(from isidemobileapps)

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Zynga launches new fan appreciation program, are you a Z.I.P.?

by Joe Osborne

Zynga either really loves its players or really, really doesn’t want them to leave. (We’d go with a bit of both.) According to Mafia Wars Loot Lady, the creator of FarmVille has started yet another fan appreciation program: the Z.I.P., or Zynga Important Player, Program. (Remember the Platinum Purchasers Program?) If you were one of the lucky few selected to be a Z.I.P., then you’ve already received an email inviting you to the club.

The program grants only the most dedicated of Zynga fans with “exclusive Zynga goodies, limited edition items for your favorite games, and best of all, the chance to play new games early. Before your friends. Before your family. Before anyone,” the introductory email reads. According to Mafia Wars Loot Lady, the first game players will score early access to is CastleVille.

Z.I.P. members will receive a special code in the email that they must use to gain access to the program, which is attached to the email address the invitation was sent to. Our guess is that this program is to reward players who have stuck with Zynga for a long while now, and more importantly, to keep them coming back (and, we imagine, putting up the cash).

Don’t feel too bummed about not being included, because we don’t even have this early of access. Besides, we have a full preview of CastleVille that you can check out right here. And try to remind yourself that you probably weren’t chosen because you have better things to do than play Zynga’s games incessantly. Sorry, that was kind of mean–we’re just bitter.（source:games）

2）Winter is coming, and so is another Game of Thrones Facebook game

by Joe Osborne

Since HBO’s second season of Game of Thrones won’t hit until April 2012, our guess is that it’ll hit long after that nasty winter. USA Today reports that another social game based on the acclaimed novel series turned hit TV series is in the works already. Of course, that’s along with two more games under development, enjoying close involvement with the property.

If you remember, a Facebook advergame surrounding George R. R. Martin’s work launched earlier this year, Game of Thrones: Battle for the Iron Throne. (And just in time for the HBO show’s debut … how convenient.) While we dug it–for an advergame–the game has since been shut down.

The game was pretty impressive considering its sole purpose was to generate hype for the then-upcoming fantasy drama. However, we can see why the game was canned: Chatter about Game of Thrones has been at a minimum since for awhile. Hopefully whatever developer is currently working with HBO and Martin gets the chance to create a Facebook game that’s longer lasting than its predecessor. USA Today briefly described the game as “think FarmVille comes to Westeros.” If that’s the case, then we’ll pass on the social Iron Throne, thanks.（source:games）

3）With new ‘Social’ update, Xbox.com wants you to play more with friends

by Joe Osborne

Say what you will about Facebook games, but you have them to thank for nifty stuff like this. Microsoft has announced incoming changes to Xbox.com that will reflect the upcoming Xbox 360 Dashboard update. Namely, Microsoft touts “Social”, the new version of “My Xbox” that places a major focus on what’s new with your friends, rather than what’s new with your Xbox.

The new Social section of the website should launch within a few days, and will be the first place players can find the previously-teased Beacons feature. This allows players to place “Beacons” on the games that they wish to play with others. Basically, Beacons are a way of saying, “Hey, I really want to play this game with you,” but to all of your Xbox Live friends at once. Players can have up to three Beacons active at a time, and can attach custom messages to them.

The new Social page will serve as the new homepage of Xbox.com for those already logged-in to the service. Taking on the Microsoft-coined “Metro” design found on the new Windows Phone (and soon the new Xbox Dashboard), the Social page features all the most important updates to the Xbox universe up top in compact boxes. Down below, however, is where Xbox.com begins to look a lot like the games you play on Facebook.

The rest of the Social page is dedicated to what your friends are up to on their Xbox 360 consoles from what games they’ve played recently to what games they’re playing right now. (It appears to be broken down by the games you own.) Players will be able to send messages to one another, as well as check out what Beacons they’ve posted. Xbox.com is beginning to look a lot like Facebook, no?（source:games）

4）Bohemia’s Anti-Piracy Tech Degrades Game Performance Over Time

by Kyle Orland

In the constant back-and-forth battle between pirates and publishers, Bohemia Interactive continues to deploy a relatively unique system that degrades the performance in pirated copies as the player continues to play.

Bohemia has used the system, known as “FADE,” to thwart software pirates since 2001′s Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. That game displayed a message telling non-paying players that “original games don’t fade” as the game’s graphics and performance declined.

The system is also in use in the company’s latest release, Take On Helicopters, leading some ignorant players to unknowingly admit their piracy in the game’s official support forums.

Bohmeia notes that the system doesn’t stop an illegal downloader from playing the game entirely, but lets them “only get a small taste before many aspects of the game, including performance, start to degrade.” An official demo version of Take On Helicopters is in development for these kinds of players, the company says.

“One of the aspects of developing any game in this modern age is how to protect it … [against those] who, for whatever reason, feel that their right is to not pay for something despite all the thousands of hours that have gone into its development,” Bohemia said in a statement.

“That is why we try to come up with unique and irrefutable ways to stop people from playing our games without paying for them,” the statement continues.

Other publishers have tried similar methods to discourage pirates: illegal copies of the DS version of Ubisoft’s Michael Jackson: The Experience include a warbling horn sound that’s played over the game’s music.

Still others are less interested in putting up roadblocks for pirates: Valve founder Gabe Newell recently said that the best way to fight piracy is to give people “a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.” （source:gamasutra）

5）Backyard Monsters creeps up on Yahoo! Games through Viximo

by Joe Osborne

Who knows, maybe there are as many hardcore gamers on Yahoo! Games are there apparently are on Facebook. Viximo, a company that works with social game developers to get them onto new platforms, announced that Kixeye’s Backyard Monsters is now available on Yahoo! Games. Backyard Monsters pits players against one another in all-out warfare with various monsters.

The game was Kixeye’s first “hardcore” strategy game on Facebook, and has since become its most popular with 3 million monthly players and 760,000 daily players, according to AppData. Backyard Monsters allows players to create their own home base to defend from other players using numerous turrets and laser weapons against encroaching monsters. Of course, players can then retaliate with baddies of their own for resources and general bragging rights.

Backyard Monsters is far from the first Facebook game to make the leap to Yahoo! Games. A number of Zynga games, including Mafia Wars and FishVille, have taken the plunge along with EA’s social version of Scrabble. While it makes sense for developers to expand beyond Facebook, we can’t help but wonder how Yahoo! Games stacks up against Facebook games in terms of players.

Since its flagship game, Kixeye has focused entirely on strategy games for Facebook and other networks. Most recently, the company released War Commander, a strategy game with strong similarities to the Command & Conquer PC game series. And, considering Kixeye CEO Will Harbin thinks most social games suck, we’re sure more “hardcore” games are in the oven.（source:games）