1）Glu Mobile（游戏邦注：其为全球手机和平板电脑社交游戏的主流发行商）日前宣布公司新游戏《Bug Village App》已经入住iPhone，iPod触屏和iPad平台的App Store。《Bug Village》是一款纯3D的村庄建设游戏。Glu首席创意总监Giancarlo Mori表示，用户对于休闲游戏需求日益见涨，公司很高兴能够在App Store推出适合家庭共同体验的3D手机社交游戏，作为3D手机社交游戏的主流发行商，他们未来会在iPhone，iPod触屏和iPad平台推出更多老少皆宜的优质游戏。

Bug Village

2）据称，Facebook用户将40%-50%的时间都花在游戏上。Ken Rutkowski（游戏邦注：其为Metal International的创始人及总裁）表示，由于游戏广泛采用Facebook Credits，到2015年Facebook将会成为全球最大的银行。Facebook成立于2004年，目前拥有6亿多的活跃用户，甚至连电影《The Social Network》都是以其为原型制作的。除了作为朋友间相互交流的社交媒介外，Facebook还通过提供《Farmville》之类的游戏推动用户之间的互动。《Farmville》是Zynga最受欢迎的游戏，该款游戏的市场估值高达120亿。

3）游戏公司及人才中介机构Digital Development Management日前宣布聘请Elizabeth Ross（游戏邦注：其为Ask Jeeves和EA的前销售主管）担任公司业务扩展主管。Ross将负责制定DDM在休闲、社交和在线游戏市场的开拓策略。除了为公司众多开发商探索发展机会之外，她还将为公司挖掘新顾客以及进行项目融资，同时负责新东家的公司运营和管理。Ross拥有10年多的销售经验，除了任职于Ask Jeeves和EA外，她还曾做过自由销售咨询顾问，为公司提供在线和社交媒介策略。

4）本周Wooga凭借《Diamond Dash》荣登Facebook DAU（日活跃用户）增长迅速游戏榜单之首。《Diamond Dash》近来颇受追捧，3月份就呈现强劲增长势头，且该趋势目前尚无削减趋势（游戏邦注：Wooga的其他作品包括《Monster World》、《Bubble Island》和《Happy Hospital》）。本周流量增长显著的另一款游戏是Kabam的策略游戏《Dragons of Atlantis》，然而《Dragons of Atlantis》的DAU/MAU比例只有13%左右，该比例相比较榜单中其他热门游戏而言，略逊一筹。此外，本周其他大型开发商的游戏也赫然在目，其中Zynga的《CityVille》依旧保持增长趋势，DAU高达1970万。

Top Gainers This Week

5）Fupa（游戏邦注：其为总部位于美国加利福尼亚州圣克鲁兹市的休闲社交电子游戏开发商，游戏MAU突破300万）日前宣布在其免费在线游戏网站新增100款游戏，其中包括3款啦啦队主题的化装游戏《Cheerleader Olivia》、《Cheerleader Hannah》和《Cheerleader Madison》。在线化装游戏在全球范围内都颇受欢迎。据数据显示，42%的游戏玩家为女性族群，少女和妇女们在混搭服饰、颜色和配件的过程中，通过接触时尚而收获乐趣。Fupa总裁Lars Mapstead表示，她和两个女儿都喜欢将每天的黄金时间花在体验公司的化装游戏上。

flock

6）社交游戏开发商Zynga今年初才刚收购社交网页浏览器Flock，但如今公司宣布将于4月26日关闭Flock（游戏邦发现，原因是该浏览器无法引起广大用户的共鸣）。Flock团队将转而协助Zynga为各大平台用户开发更富趣味性的社交游戏。Flock建议用户改用谷歌浏览器（Google Chrome）或火狐浏览器（Mozilla Firefox）等其他网页浏览器。

1）Busy Bees and Artful Ants: Glu’s Bug Village App Brings Family Fun to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad

New Family-Friendly 3D Social Mobile Game Added to the App Store
San Francisco, Calif. — April 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Glu Mobile Inc. (Nasdaq: GLUU), the leading global publisher of 3D Social Mobile games for smartphone and tablet devices, today announced its new Bug Village App is now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Bug Village, a fully 3D village-building game, gives players the ability to build, maintain and decorate their own bustling bug village. Players put ants and bees to work at different tasks to build a visually stunning village from the ground up. Happier bugs lead to a thriving village, so players must give bugs food and attention regularly and keep the pests away.

“With consumer demand for casual games growing rapidly, we’re excited to bring Bug Village, a new family-friendly 3D Social Mobile game to the App Store,” said Giancarlo Mori, Glu’s Chief Creative Officer. “As the leading publisher of 3D Social Mobile games, we continue to be committed to creating great games for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, for gamers of all ages.”（Source：Multivu)

2）Games Could Make Facebook Biggest Bank by 2015

Forty to 50 percent of time spent on Facebook is dedicated to playing games

A successful entrepreneur has predicted that Facebook will be the largest bank by 2015.

Ken Rutkowski, founder and president of Metal International, is an observer of technology and an entrepreneur. Recently, he stated that Facebook would be the biggest bank by 2015 because of Facebook Credits found in games.

Facebook has become a powerhouse in the social networking industry since its launch in 2004. It currently has over 600 million active users, and even had a movie made about its creation called “The Social Network.”

In addition to just socializing with friends, Facebook allows its users to connect through playing games like Farmville, which was developed by Zynga. Farmville is undoubtedly Zynga’s most popular game with an estimated value of $12 billion.

“Facebook will be the largest bank by 2015,” said Rutkowski. “I hear you say ‘how can they be a bank, what’s going on?’ If you play games on Facebook, which, by the way 40 to 50 percent of the time spent on Facebook is playing games, and those games – like Farmville and Mafia Wars – are paid for and you have to buy credits for that and they are called Facebook Credits.”

Rutkowski mentioned that “old school” media companies have a market capitalization of $241.7 billion while “new school” media companies are valued at $319.7 billion.

Rutkowski also noted that people who do not have a Facebook profile may want to make one soon because if they don’t, a profile will be made for them.

“Why is it important to have a profile?” said Rutkowski. “They are going to start using that to determine what your credit worthiness is. By the way, if you don’t have a profile they will make one for you, so it’s better for you to create it and manage it than them. That’s why you want to be selective with what you put on there. If you have kids that are being idiots online, make sure you stop them right away as they are creating a pretty negative profile long term and it happens often.”

In other news, Rutkowski reported that Apple is now the most profitable retailer in the world.

“Apple retail stores do $2400 per square meter of floor space compared with Tiffany’s which does $700 per square meter per day,” said Rutkowski. （Source：Dailytech)

3）Digital Development Management Hires Ex-EA Exec Elizabeth Ross

Games business and talent agency Digital Development Management announced its appointment of Elizabeth Ross, formerly a sales director at Ask Jeeves and Electronic Arts, as its new Business Development director.

Effective immediately, Ross will oversee DDM’s strategy in the casual, social, and online game markets. Along with finding opportunities for the company’s roster of developers, she will help clients with company roll-ups and project funding, and will handle operations and management of her new unit.

Ross has more than 10 years of sales experience, having previously served as a sales director at search engine firm Ask Jeeves and video game publisher Electronic Arts. Most recently, she worked as a self-employed sales consultant to assist with developing online and social media strategies for companies.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Northampton, DDM serves gaming and entertainment studios around the world through its Game Industry Services, Game Production Services, and Game Studio Representation divisions. It has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Osaka, and Stockholm.

“With an unparalleled track record and business acumen, Liz is an exceptional addition to our team, plus she comes to DDM at the perfect time,” says DDM founder and managing partner, Jeff Hilbert.

He continues, “Her joining syncs with several key milestones from the opening of our new office in Japan to the launch of our new game production services division. Her experience and relationships will benefit our clients across the board.” （Source：Gamasutra）

4）Major Titles Show Major Gains On This Weeks List of Fastest Growing Facebook Games by DAU

This week’s list of fastest growing Facebook games by daily active users is utterly dominated by Wooga’s Diamond Dash. We’ve been talking about this game for several weeks now as it started a mad rush up the charts in late March and hasn’t looked back since. This colorful match 3 gem game has an above average monthly retention percentage of 24%. Along with Wooga’s other games Monster World, Bubble Island, and Happy Hospital, Diamond Dash has helped move Wooga into the fourth position on the Facebook game developer leaderboard. According to AppData (our metrics service for analyzing the trends and performance of the top games and developers on Facebook), Social Point is now in fifth place with Playdom falling to sixth.

Also showing a large increase in traffic this week is Kabam’s strategy game, Dragons of Atlantis. This core game seems to be struggling a bit to hold on to its DAU and continue growing — after a large dip in activity earlier this month it has pushed its way back to just above its previous all-time highs but now appears to be plateauing. Dragons of Atlantis’ DAU as a percentage of monthly active users is only around 13%; a number that is quite a bit lower than the top games on Facebook right now.

Also, many other large developer have titles that are making appearances on this week’s list. Zynga’s CityVille is still showing growth and great engagement at 19.7 million DAU, while the Chinese version of FarmVille grew to 433,000 DAU this week and Texas Hold’Em Poker has crested over 7 million DAU. Other large and familiar favorites this week include PopCap’s Bejeweled Blitz and EA’s Monopoly Millionaires.

Tetris Battle is the official multiplayer Tetris game developed by Tetris Online. This interesting rendition of Tetris follows a typical “versus” style gameplay, in which the player is paired up with random strangers (or their Facebook friends) and attempts to beat them at a game of Tetris. Players earn higher ranks, Tetris Cash, and additional perks for winning battles against people. Though the game is rather fun and polished, it seems to lack real motivation to spend money. At this time, Tetris Cash is used to buy alternative styling for the game pieces themselves or to refill energy (which is used to initiate games). Tetris Battle launched in July of last year and is currently at its all time high DAU of 502,000.（Source：Inside Social Games）

5）Fupa Games Launches New Dressup Games on Social Game Site

Fupa today announced the addition of 100 new games on it’s free online gaming site including cheerleader themed Dressup Games Cheerleader Olivia, Cheerleader Hannah and Cheerleader Madison.

Online Dress-Up games are experiencing global success and it’s no wonder. According to recent statistics, 42% of all gamers are female, girls and women, finding entertainment through practicing fashion and style while mixing and matching outfits, colors and accessories. Fupa recognizes that girls and women are an important market and has found success with its Caribbean Fashion Swimsuit, Dress-Up the World and Glamour Dress-Up Supreme games.

With more than 48,000 free multi-player, classic arcade and board games, kids, sports, flash, action and puzzle games Fupa has one of the largest collections of games on the web with 100,000 daily users. The launch is part of Fupa’s on-going commitment to offer free gaming experiences to players of all ages and gender while enhancing each users overall experience. Fupa’s Cheerleader series allows players to dress up their cheerleader in school colors with different uniforms and a variety of shirts, skirts, shoes, hair styles, and skin tones for the best school spirit in town.

“My Two Daughters and I love to spend quality time playing dressup Games on Fupa.com”, Says Lars Mapstead President of Fupa Games Inc.（Source：Sfgate)

6）Social browser Flock runs out of friends

Social media Web browser Flock will be shut down as of April 26th – and its makers recommend users switch to Google Chrome or Firefox.

Social game maker Zynga acquired social Web browser Flock at the beginning of the year. What’s it doing now? Shutting it down as of April 26th. Instead, the Flock team will be put to work “to assist Zynga in achieving their goal of building the most fun, social games available to anyone, anytime—on any platform.”

Social browser Flock started off based on the Mozilla engine underlying Firefox, with the express purpose of integrating social media tools directly into a desktop Web browser and making it simple for users to share online content with friends via social networks, as well as chat and receive status updates in real time. However, although Flock-like features and add-ons eventually began appearing in mainstream browsers—and Flock itself transitioned to Google’s Chromium codebase last year—Flock never developed significant resonance with mainstream users. And, perhaps more importantly, Flock was never able to establish a significant revenue model. Sure, it’s one thing to build a social browser, but someone has to pay the bills for development.

Flock’s developers say the browser will no longer be actively maintained, meaning there will be no new features or security updates. The browser will continue to function, although its sync and social networking capabilities will shut down on April 26th, rendering much like other non-social browsers out there. Flock is recommending users transition to Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox; a FAQ is available for users who want to transition their favorites and feeds to a new browser.

Folks looking for a browser with built-in social networking features could also consider newcomer Rockmelt, another browser built on Google Chromium that debuted at the end of 2010.（Source：Digitaltrends）