1）Playfish最近向Facebook推出新游戏《Secret Island》，值得注意的是，该项目现在仍处于内部测试阶段，最终产品有可能进行重大调整。

secret-island(from games)

玩家在游戏中一开始就被放逐到“无人知晓的荒岛”，首个目标是搭建一个能够遮风挡雨的小窝，然后向会说话的石头Maka购买农具、食物种子等生活必需品。

随着游戏进程发展，玩家会遇到许多角色，并搜集特殊奖励，探索到更多内容。

2）社交游戏公司Grantoo日前宣布推出一个资助大学生的新平台，支持高校学生通过在线挑战赢取奖金以完成学业及支持公益事业。

Grantoo将于3月25日组织首个挑战活动，要求参与者完成文字解谜、扑克等一系列游戏挑战以获得助学金，并允许他们将部分奖金捐献给公益组织。

3）据gamezebo报道，Habbo公司近日宣布少儿游戏虚拟世界《Habbo》将向社交游戏开发商开放服务，共同向青少年市场推出新娱乐产品。

habbo-hotel(from onlinegameslist.org)

《Habbo》目前在150个国家已有2.49亿以上的注册用户，每月独立访客达1000万，是仅次于Zynga的第十大最具价值的社交品牌。

4）6waves Lolapps最近向Facebook发布由休闲PC及手机游戏开发商Playrix推出的城建游戏《Township》，游戏中的每个建筑都会呈现丰富的细节元素，支持玩家通过扩大人口规模发展城市。

township-on-facebook(from games)

该游戏玩法类似于G5旗下的《Virtual City》，允许玩家利用多个建筑进行合作，打造完成最终产品。例如玩家要在面包房中烘焙面包，就得先有面粉，所以就得先有小麦，然后才能去磨坊研磨面粉。其社交玩法包括拜访好友城市，在对方建筑中搜集奖励物品。

5）在本周的DAU增长最快Facebook游戏榜单上，《Zynga Sligo》增幅达389%，新增183万DAU。《Solitaire Blitz》新增24万DAU，增幅达100%。中文版城建游戏《梦想城市》DAU增幅达52%，Redspell旗下的《Astro Garden》DAU增幅达57%，Landshark Games游戏《Aviator》DAU增幅达60%（游戏邦注：该游戏发布于去年9月，目前DAU为8万，之前最高峰时仅4万7375）。

Top gainers this week-DAU(from AppData)

《Hidden Chronicles》增幅仅3%，《Tetris Battle》增幅为3%，《Collapse! Blast》增幅则是5%。而OMGPOP游戏《Draw My Things》仍因其手机版本《Draw Something》而持续增势，过去一周新增3万DAU，增幅达16%。（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）Playfish’s Secret Island secretly launches in closed beta on Facebook

by Brandy Shaul

Since January, we’ve known that Playfish was up to something – a mysterious journey of some sort – on Facebook. Now, that mystery has been given a name – Secret Island. If you’re one of the lucky few that landed a spot in the game’s closed beta, you can now dive right in, and we’re here with a look at what to expect. Note: As the game is in closed beta, the final product may change drastically from this overview.

The game begins during a rainstorm, as you’ve washed up on the beach of the “island that time forgot.” Your first goal will be to build shelter from the storm, introducing you to some Pioneer Trail – esque mechanics, as you clear grass and chop down trees for materials. From there, you’ll be introduced to the giant talking stone head called Maka that serves as your in-game store. You’ll be able to buy farm plots, plant seeds for food (which is used to replenish your energy) and more from Maka.

The more you play the game, the more of the “Secret Island” you’ll end up exploring, and you’ll meet various new characters along the way. The island’s map is a large one, with different areas to explore a la THQ’s MargaritaVille, all with their own quests and activities to complete. You’ll even be able to collect items for collections that reward you with special prizes – either those that just give you a boost in gameplay, or can be used to further the story.（source:games）

2）Social company lets students play games to earn college grants

by Tom Curtis

Newsbrief: Social gaming company Grantoo has announced a new platform on which college students can compete in online tournaments to earn money to fund their education and support charity.

Grantoo will host its first organized tournament on March 25, and participating students will compete in numerous word puzzles, poker, and trivia games to earn real college grants. In addition, Grantoo allows students to pledge a portion of their winnings to a charity of their choice.

For more information on eligible schools and Grantoo’s upcoming tournament, visit the company’s official website.（source:gamasutra）

3）Habbo now open to game development

By Brad Hilderbrand

Chances are, if you’re not currently in junior high or high school then you likely don’t know about Habbo. Ask a teenage relative about it though, and you might just discover that it’s one of the fastest-growing social networking platforms out there for young people. Now the platform is going to get even more exciting as we’ve learned that Habbo will begin welcoming social games to the service.

“We’re actually working with developers today,” said Paul LaFontaine of Habbo. “We’re open for business when it comes to co-developing new entertainment products for the large teen market that we’re able to access.”

Though Habbo may seem to be on the smallish side, it boasts over 249 million registered users in 150 countries. The site also attracts 10 million monthly unique visitors, and actually comes in right behind Zynga as the tenth most valuable social brand.

While the knee jerk reaction is to roll one’s eyes at yet another company thinking they can take on Facebook, Habbo actually is in a decent position based on their audience. While Facebook’s core users tend to be older women, Habbo is aimed squarely at teens, and thus can offer games that will be more appealing to that demographic. Furthermore, smaller developers looking to get some attention may find Habbo to be a nice alternative since there will be less competition on the service and therefore potentially more users for their games. Or, the kids may all decide the site isn’t cool anymore and suddenly migrate somewhere else. That’s the problem with teenagers, they’re inscrutable.（source:gamezebo）

4）Build another city of your dreams with 6waves Lolapps’ Township on Facebook

by Brandy Shaul

If you were to suddenly wish to build a town of your own in a Facebook game, it goes without saying that you’d have a lot of gameplay options to choose from. Whether you choose to stick with the heavy hitters like CityVille or support a relative unknown, the games tend to be fairly similar. Such is the case with Playrix’s Township on Facebook, published by 6waves Lolapps.

As Playrix might be most familiar to players of casual download PC and mobile titles, you can see the company’s attention to detail shine through immediately in Township. Each individual building is incredibly detailed, with small gardens, fences or benches on the front porch. This detail carries into the rest of the game, as individual citizens will walk around your streets, and individual farmers will work on each plot of your farmland as the crops grow.

As in many other city-builders, your town’s growth is tracked via its overall population, which is limited depending on how many community buildings you’ve placed. Some community buildings are special, requiring building materials to complete, which can be received by collecting from your town’s materials plant once per day.

Once you’ve started to grow crops (which can also be sold instantly for a profit), you can use all of these buildings in conjunction with one another to produce items of higher values. In this way, Township plays a bit like G5′s Virtual City, in that you’ll need to create a chain of products from one building to another to actually produce the end product. Let’s take our Township Bakery as an example. To produce Bread at the Bakery, you’ll need to have Flour. Flour is created at the Mill using Wheat. You’ll need to grow Wheat manually to begin the cycle.

To keep your overall progress moving, Township offers a quest system that might ask you to produce specific materials using crops, add decorations or homes to your town, and so on. You’ll also need to ask your friends for building materials and other items along the way, adding in the standard social element. Speaking of social play, you can visit your friends’ towns and collect bonus building materials or coins from their buildings.

While Township offers very little in the way of completely new gameplay, the game is highly polished and downright charming. It’s definitely worth giving it a look, if only to appreciate the quality of graphics that can actually come out of a Facebook game.（source:games）

5） Zynga Slingo wins big with this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by DAU

Mike Thompson

Zynga Slingo is proving to be as appealing as Inside Social Games writer Pete Davison predicted in his review, topping this week’s chart of fastest-growing Facebook games by daily active user with 1.83 million new DAU (a 389 percent gain).

The only other game this week with a percentage gain in triple digits was Solitaire Blitz, which took in 240,000 new DAU for a 100 percent gain. meanwhile, three games on this week’s list had gains over 50 percent: Elex’s Chinese city-building game 夢想城市 (“Dream Boss”) was up 52 percent, Redspell’s Astro Garden increased by 57 percent, and Landshark Games’ Aviator gained 60 percent. Aviator has seen a recent resurgence; the game launched in September, but quickly seemed to drop off the radar after a brief spike in traffic. Now, it’s drawing more players than it did in September, with 80,000 DAU (the previous peak was 47,375).

Three other games on the list had gains of five percent or less: Hidden Chronicles with 3 percent, Tetris Battle by 3 percent, and Collapse! Blast with 5 percent.

OMGPOP’s Draw My thing is continuing to benefit from all the attention Draw Something is receiving on mobile devices. The Facebook game drew in 30,000 DAU this week, a 16 percent gain.（source:insidesocialgames）