1）中国社交游戏公司乐元素近日在B轮融资中通过联想投资、DCM筹得3000万美元，目前该公司融资总金额已达3500万美元。

开心水族箱(from happyelements)

乐元素目前已是亚洲最具影响力的Facebook游戏开发商之一，在2009年8月推出首款Facebook游戏《开心水族箱》，该游戏目前有150万DAU。

该公司现已向Facebook、腾讯、人人网、开心网、Mixi、Hangames、Cyworld、Daum、Netlog、Hyves、StudiVZ和Orkut等平台投放多款游戏，并发布了数款手机游戏产品。乐元素将利用这笔资金扩大西方市场的业务以及团队规模（游戏邦注：该公司现已从2009年创立之初的8名成员扩大至300名员工），将在2012年底前发布8款新游戏。

2）据games报道，社交游戏公司RockYou将于近日推出新游戏《Hooked》，该游戏是RockYou雷德伍德城新工作室的首作，是一款支持单人和多人模式的博彩类游戏。

玩家可通过积分排行榜与好友比拼分数，最先参与测试的玩家还可赢取“Tickets”虚拟货币。据称该游戏还将支持跨平台功能，即将推出一个手机版本。

Hooked(from games)

3）据Fusible观察所称，Zynga在宣布推出一系列新产品之际又注册了多个新域名，其他的中包括Zyngacraps.com、Zyngadice.com、Zyngakeno.com和Zyngaroulette.com，此举可能暗示Zynga可能将扩大其博彩游戏业务规模。

4）据insidesocialgames报道，社交游戏开发商Playdom旗下寻物解谜游戏《Gardens of Time》摘走第二届GDC Online最佳社交游戏奖项，独立开发商Grey Area的iOS大型多人在线游戏《Shadow Cities》则获得创新大奖。

shadow cities(from massively.joystiq)

5）手机应用开发商Outfit7日前宣布聘请Narry Singh任公司执行总裁，后者原先是The Intellidex Group公司总裁。

在Outfit7原首席执行官Andrej Nabergoj卸任之前，该公司还聘请Gazillion Entertainment和Eidos前高管Paul Baldwin任首席营销官。

6）据《西雅图时报》报道，Valve公司总裁Gabe Newell在最近的WTIA TechNW大会上发言表示，他很关注iOS平台的发展情况，认为苹果的下一步行动很可能打破掌机游戏市场格局，他推测苹果将推出一个室内游戏产品并重新定义人们对游戏设备的期待，独立掌机平台最终会因此而消失。

7）休闲游戏公司PopCap最近向一对《宝石迷阵闪电战》玩家夫妇赠送了一枚特大的“钻戒”，庆祝他们的首个结婚纪念日。

diamond ring(from games)

这对Sheriffs夫妇是通过《宝石迷阵闪电战》这款游戏而喜结连理，丈夫Chris是一个超级游戏迷，而妻子Laura则是一名休闲游戏高手。据Laura所述，Chris之前总是试图超越Laura在《宝石迷阵闪电战》获得的高分，但却一直不能如愿，某天Chris突然向她求婚并称自己在游戏中被她打败时，就发现Laura就是他命中注定的另一半。

Sheriffs夫妇现在已经是两个孩子的父母，但即使是结婚之后，二者在游戏中的热战也并未降温，Chris通常会在每周开端争取在《宝石迷阵闪电战》获得一个较为满意的高分，而Laura则会在当周剩下的时间中全力打败Chris的分数。

8）据悉，淘米公司首款移动领域的游戏应用《摩尔庄园》已于近日启动了其公司内部技术封测，预计最快将于10月底上架苹果AppStore，兼容iPad，iPhone及iPod Touch，将同期推出中文简体、中文繁体及英文版本并进行全球发布。

《摩尔庄园》截图

从外泄的图片来看，《摩尔庄园》移动版沿用了红鼻子的摩尔形象，以重建被邪恶魔法师摧毁的庄园为故事线，结合了“种植”、“养成”、“建筑”等时下流行的庄园经营类应用玩法，可爱的摩尔形象，Q版的房屋建筑以及各式各样的水果粮食是其一大特色。

淘米公司一贯以精品化的儿童特色网络社区知名，动画片、电影近期也取得了不俗的成绩，观察这次作品的画面设定，形象可爱但品质精细，应该是一款老少皆宜，适合家庭娱乐的优质应用。（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）Chinese Social Gaming Giant Happy Elements Raises $30 Million

Leena Rao

Chinese social gaming company Happy Elements has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Legend Capital with participation from existing investor DCM. This brings Happy Elements’ total funding to $35 million.

Beijing-based Happy Elements is one of the top Asian social gaming developers on Facebook and has launched a number of popular gaming titles in Japan, China and South Korea. In August 2009, Happy Elements launched its first social game, My Fishbowl, on Facebook. Currently, the game has 1.5 million daily active users.

Currently, Happy Elements’ games are available on Facebook, Tencent, Renren, Kaixin, Mixi, Hangames, Cyworld, Daum, Netlog, Hyves, StudiVZ and Orkut. The company has also launched a number of mobile game titles, including three mobile phone games in Japan.

The new funding will be used to expand to Western markets and to ;aunch of several new smartphone games in 2012. The capital will also be used to hire new talent. In the two years since its founding in 2009, Happy Elements has grown from an eight person team to a staff of 300. By the end of 2012, Happy Elements is planning to launch over eight new games.（source:techcrunch）

2）RockYou to cast Hooked into Facebook’s waters next week [Exclusive]

by Brandy Shaul

Between Zoo World and Gourmet Ranch (among other titles), Facebook developer RockYou can lay claim to over five million monthly active players. Hoping to add to that player base, we’ve received exclusive info from developers on the company’s newest title – Hooked – set to launch in beta sometime next week.

Hooked is the first title from RockYou’s new studio in Redwood City, California, and it offers casino-style video poker / slots in the now popular 60-second “blitz” gameplay format. The game’s theme is an “undersea fantasy world” (just check out those adorable card fish in the logo), and it will offer various gameplay modes depending on each user’s desired play style.

You’ll be able to play in synchronous multiplayer, along with a solo mode. Both modes offer a variety of leaderboards that will compare your stats to your friends, with these leaderboards being wiped every week. When the game launches in beta next week, early adopters will be given extra incentive to come back time and time again by being offered “Tickets,” which seem to be a type of currency that we’ll later be able to use on a variety of different features that won’t yet be available in the game’s first form, but will come soon after release.

One feature we do know of however will be cross-platform capabilities, as a mobile version of Hooked will launch shortly after the launch of Hooked on Facebook. The specific mobile platforms weren’t made clear to us, but we’ll make sure to follow up with that as we know more.

Looking forward to playing Hooked when it launches on Facebook? Check back with us next week as we’ll hopefully be able to take a look at RockYou’s new title in all of its underwater, animated glory.（source:games）

3）Domain Registration Points to Expansion of Zynga Casino – Fusible has found another host of domains registered by Zynga on the day they announced their new game lineup. The purchase of

domains like zyngacraps.com, zyngadice.com, zyngakeno.com and zyngaroulette.com points to expansion plans for the Zynga Casino franchise beyond poker and bingo. The full list of domains can be found here.（source:insidesocialgames）

4）Playdom Wins Best Social Game at GDC Online Game Developer’s Choice Awards – Playdom’s Gardens of Time took home the award for Best Social Game at the second annual GDC Online awards in Austin Texas. Independent developer Grey Area took home the Innovation Award for their iOS MMO Shadow Cities.The awards are decided by the ICAN Online network, an invite-only club of 400 game developers from the online game industry. （source:insidesocialgames）

5）Outfit7 Bring on Singh for “Hyper-Growth” – Outfit7 has revealed it has hired Narry Singh to act as the company’s executive chairman. Singh was most recently the chairman at The Intellidex Group, and is joining the company as it enters a period of “hyper-growth and global expansion” according to a press release. Before recently losing its chief executive Andrej Nabergoj, Outfit7 also had brought on Paul Baldwin, formerly of Gazillion Entertainment and Eidos to act as chief marketing officer.（source:insidemobileapps）

6）Valve Head Critical of Apple’s Approach to Gaming – Valve president Gabe Newell has some concerns about what Apple is doing to the gaming industry. The Seattle Times reports that during panel discussion at the WTIA TechNW conference Newell mentioned he was concerned for the state of the industry due to the growing popularity of closed-garden style distribution platforms like iOS. Newell also speculated Apple’s next move would be to disrupt the console market. “I suspect Apple will launch a living room product that redefines people’s expectations really strongly and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear,” he said.（source:insidemobileapps）

8）How Bejeweled Blitz brought two gamers in love to say ‘I do’

by Joe Osborne

Oh, you must be wondering about that massive cubic zirconium diamond ring right there. Inspired by the story of Chris and Laura Sheriff of Lexington Park, Md., PopCap sent the couple that enormous rock in celebration of their first anniversary. No, the studio didn’t just find two newlyweds to send a gargantuan ring to–the Sheriffs have Bejeweled to thank for their union.

Well, at least a little bit. You see, Chris is a gaming fanatic, while Laura tends to dabble in casual games, namely Bejeweled Blitz. But Chris was never above toppling her scores even between his Call of Duty sessions. “He almost always manages to beat me at Bejeweled Blitz but that one week, I was on fire,” Laura told PopCap. “I racked up a score of over 600,000 which is a lot for me-my highest score ever is 775,000.”

Alas, Chris wasn’t on his A-game that week. “I hit that score early in the week and then I watched as Chris tried and tried right up until the last minute to beat me,” Laura said. “But he just couldn’t top my score. The next day, he surprised me with a proposal, saying that he knew I was the one for him after I trounced him at Bejeweled Blitz.”

It almost goes without saying that the two were officially husband and wife eight months later. The Sheriffs are now the proud, hard-working parents of two children, which has certainly changed their competitive gaming habits. “I think that when we do play now, its more of a planned escape rather than just a random playing,” Laura tell us. “I’m just a casual gamer–I still think the original NES is the best thing ever–so I mostly play the puzzle games like Zuma and Bejeweled. Chris is a more serious gamer. He’s even got my 9 year old shooting Nazi Zombies with him in Call of Duty.”

Even nearly two years later, however, the competition thrives. “I have beat Chris quite a few times at Bejeweled Blitz, mainly because he’ll play at the beginning of the week and get a ‘good enough’ score, and I’ll spend the rest of the week trying to beat him,” Laura admits. “We do, however, own Bejeweled 3 on our PC at home, and I hold most of the high scores in the different categories for that one.”

And after all this time, it’s the connections that keep Laura hooked on social games like Bejeweled Blitz. “I really like the social games because they let me keep in friendly competition with a lot of my friends,” Laura says. “People I rarely talk to anymore play Bejeweled, Zuma and other games, but I always see them on my leader board and might send them ‘jabber’ every once in awhile to let them know I’m paying attention. It’s always nice to have someone to play against and to have a goal to beat.”

Of course, we couldn’t help but ask about that gargantuan, um, diamond. Laura gushed, “The gem the people at PopCap sent to us is just amazing. We really couldn’t be more pleased. I actually put the ring on my finger and asked Chris why he couldn’t get me a diamond that big. His response was, ‘Well, duh, I did. Without me, you wouldn’t have gotten it.’” Touché, Chris, touché.（source:games）