1）社交网络分析工具Socialbaker日前数据指出，Facebook日本用户已达500万（游戏邦注：准确数据为503万5460，Socialbakers仅统计日本市场的注册用户，其数据来源是Facebook广告工具）。

facebook-japan(from socialbakers)

值得一提的是，Facebook曾连续两周未更新其日本用户数据（连续两三周停留在480万左右），但据Facebook日本发展经理Taro Kodama所称，Facebook日本活跃用户已在9月15日达到500万。

2）据serkantoto报道，迪士尼日本公司今年4月份在Mobage平台发布其首款社交游戏《Disney My Land》（该游戏一直稳居Mobage前20名榜单），并于近日在另一日本社交平台GREE独家推出《Disney My Store》。

gree-disney-japan(from serkantoto)

该游戏仅限运行于功能性手机上的GREE平台，支持GREE玩家建设自己的小店，贩卖各种经典迪士尼角色的贴牌商品。玩家可以装扮自己的虚拟形象，在其他玩家的小店里打工，交易道具或者赠送礼物。游戏中含有300多种不同道具，其目标是经营世界上最成功的迪士尼主题商店。

迪士尼还将在万圣节期间通过游戏推广迪士尼电影。GREE平台目前最受欢迎的模拟类游戏是Geisha Entertainment Tokyo产品《Omiseyasan》。

3）据Your World应用（该应用会根据Facebook用户在全球的联系人数量为其提供积分）最近统计的22.5万用户数据显示，美国Facebook用户与印度用户往来最为密切。

US facebook connection(from Western Union)

美国Facebook用户最常联系的前十个国家用户包括：印度、英国、加拿大、澳大利亚、菲律宾、墨西哥、巴西、德国、巴基斯坦、土耳其。

从以下列表中可以看出，美国Facebook用户的国际关系通常属于商务往来，而非个人交情。许多美国公司都在印度外包工作，所以他们通过Facebook与印度合作伙伴交流的情况比较频繁。

4）据games报道，日前有一名自称是英国网络安全专家、Scam Detectives编辑的男子Charles Conway指责EA Playfish的《模拟人生社交版》中的Woo-Hoo功能涉嫌推广“网络性爱”这种儿童不宜的信息。

Woo Hoo(from games)

在这款游戏中，玩家可与他人发展异步关系，让彼此的虚拟形象之间的关系更为亲近，如果他们使用了Woo-Hoo功能，就可以获得一些社交积分以购买新道具。

但Conway认为，这种让孩子以“虚拟性行为”换取奖励的做法无异于卖淫。但观察者指出，《模拟人生社交版》玩家如果不想使用Woo-Hoo功能，可以中止这一过程，而且该功能也不允许玩家直接在聊天室中进行交流。玩家在游戏中的所有社交行为都需要得到他们的许可才会发生，假如EA和Playfish需要因此而限制成人内容的话，那么Facebook平台上还有大量以贩毒、连环杀人和集体屠杀为主题的游戏更应该被禁，Facebook也需接受ESRB（美国游戏分级组织娱乐软件定级委员会）的审查。

5）CyberConnect 2首席执行官兼总裁松山藤原浩（Hiroshi Matsuyama）在日前的媒体采访中表示，他只有工作需要才会玩社交游戏。

matsuyama(from gamasutra.com)

他称自己并不喜欢社交游戏，即使是Bandai Namco的产品也不例外，虽然《Kaito Royale》也是他常玩的日本人气社交游戏之一，但他认为这种游戏“很傻，一点都不好玩”，但毕竟该游戏已有300多万用户，而且极具盈利性，为了与时俱进，了解行业动态，他不得不玩这类游戏。

在他看来，目前他玩过的社交游戏中还没有任何一款产品算是优秀作品，但却并不贬低所有的手机游戏，并认为Chair Entertainment基于Unreal Engine 3的《无尽之剑》就非常出色，除此之外，其他游戏都是“垃圾”。

CyberConnect 2目前正为Capcom开发《Asura’s Wrath》、《Soulcalibur V》及一些未公布的游戏内容。

6）社交游戏开发商Row Sham Bow（由前EA Tiburon高管成立）近日宣布将通过Facebook发布首款游戏《Woodland Heroes》。

该游戏已在本月初进入内测阶段，玩家的任务是在一个异步游戏世界中，向对方富有策略地投射一些动物导弹。

Woodland Heroes(from blog.games.com)

Row Sham Bow成立于今年初，其首席执行官Philip Holt是前EA Tiburon总经理，其他核心成员包括《Madden 12》创意总监Ian Cummings、EA Sports首席技术官Richard Wifall。

据该公司所称，他们已融资300万美元，计划在佛罗里达州奥兰多工作室增加60个岗位。（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）Socialbakers Now Also Says Facebook Japan Has More Than 5 Million Users [Social Networks]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

It took them a while, but now social networking analytics service Socialbakers is also saying Facebook has hit the 5 million user mark in Japan (5,035,460, to be exact).

What’s noteworthy here is that the site didn’t update the number for Japan for over 2 weeks (it was stuck at 4.8 million for 2-3 weeks), which is highly unusual.

Another (more) interesting point is that Socialbakers’ number is simply off: according to Facebook Japan country growth manager Taro Kodama, the site hit 5 million active users in Japan on September 15.

Socialbakers is just counting registered users so it should display a higher number for the Japanese market. As I previously said, the service pulls numbers from Facebook’s ad creation tool, which also currently shows 5.03 million users for Japan.（source:serkantoto）

2）Deal With Walt Disney Japan: GREE Gets “Disney My Store” [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

Walt Disney Japan has seen some decent success after launching their first social game, Disney My Land, on Mobage in April this year (the title has constantly been on Mobage‘s top 20 games since). In case you didn’t know, Disney has huge brand power in Japan.

While the theme park simulation stays exclusively on the DeNA platform, GREE today announced “Disney My Store”, a Disney store simulation that will be exclusively available on their platform.

In the feature phone-only title, players can set up their own stores and sell various goods branded with classic Disney characters. GREE users can dress up their avatars, work in the stores of other players, trade items or send each other social gifts. Initially, there will be over 300 different items, and the goal of the game is to run the most successful Disney store.

What’s interesting from a marketing perspective is that Walt Disney plans to make special items from real stores available in the game. “Disney My Store” will be used to spread the word when Disney movies hit theaters or seasonal events (Halloween etc.) take place in the real world, too.

The most popular store simulation so far on GREE is Geisha Entertainment Tokyo’s Omiseyasan.（source:serkantoto）

3）Most Connected Country To U.S. Via Facebook: India

by David Cohen

How do you say “poke” in Hindi? According to data from Western Union, the country with the most Facebook connections to users in the U.S. is India.

Your World has amassed more than 225,000 users since launching in July. The app gives users scores based on their Facebook connections globally. Data from those users generated the folloswing list of the 10 countries where U.S. users of the social network have the most connections:

India

U.K.

Canada

Australia

Philippines

Mexico

Brazil

Germany

Pakistan

Turkey

Looking at this list makes us wonder whether business connections account for more of Americans’ international connections on Facebook than personal ones — unless this list is somehow skewed toward people who are likeliest to use Western Union’s services.

A huge proportion of U.S. companies outsource parts of their operations to India, so perhaps people are staying in touch with current and former business associates overseas via Facebook.（source:allfacebook）

5）Internet safety expert accuses The Sims Social of promoting cybersex

by Joe Osborne

I hope you packed some dry clothes, because we’re about to lead you down one slippery slope. (Zing!) Charles Conway, self-proclaimed UK-based Internet safety expert and editor of Scam Detectives, alleges that EA and Playfish’s enormously popular The Sims Social promotes cyber sex between children and adults (fat chance). And it’s all thanks to The Sims Social’s Woo-Hoo feature.

While playing the game, players can build asynchronous relationships with one another that can quickly grow into romantic relationships. Ultimately, those relationships will draw the players’ avatars closer and can result in them having Woo-Hoo. And like any social activity in the game, players are rewarded Social Points for this that they can use to buy new items.

“Even if Facebook did verify the age of it’s users (which it doesn’t), at what age does it become acceptable for a child to engage in “virtual sex” for rewards,” Conway asks. “Does it ever become acceptable? Isn’t sex for rewards the very definition of prostitution? How is playing this game different to children having “cybersex” in a chatroom?”

The list of questions goes on. Sure, Woo-Hoo in The Sims Social is an allusion to having sex, but the “sexual” act displayed is arguably far from lewd–way less provocative than what children have access to on basic cable. More importantly, Woo-Hoo does not allow players to directly communicate within the game in real time like a chat room would.

“When 40% of kids admit that they have Facebook ‘friends’ that they don’t know in ‘real life,’ there’s a real risk of a predator using a game like this to build a relationship with a child that could lead to real world abuse,” Conway writes. However, what is not pointed out is that all social relationships requested between The Sims Social players–including romantic ones–require the consent of the player from the start and at every stage of advancement.

If a player feels uncomfortable during any point of the “relationship,” they can halt its progress. As for Playfish and EA restricting adult content (which suggestiveness is debatable), there are a number of Facebook games that arguably promote drug trafficking, serial murder and nearly genocidal manslaughter. Maybe it’s time for Facebook to meet with the ESRB and PEGI.（source:games）

5）CyberConnect 2′s Matsuyama: Social Games Are ‘Junk’

by Christian Nutt

Hiroshi Matsuyama, president and CEO of CyberConnect 2, developer of Asura’s Wrath and Soulcalibur V’s story mode, is frank when he tells Gamasutra that he only plays social games for business reasons.

“Another thing that I dislike is social games,” says Matsuyama. “Everybody is talking about social this, and social that. Even Bandai Namco. I don’t like that.”

Matsuyama speaks from knowledge. He’s played a great deal of Kaito Royale, he says — it’s one of the most popular social games in Japan, with millions of players.

“So stupid. They’re not fun at all. But, I have to play it. The reality is that it has over 3 million users, and it’s true that they’re making money. I need to be aware of those businesses, so of course I play them,” says Matsuyama.

When asked if social games can be good, he said “if you’re asking whether I’m playing a decent social game right now, the answer is no.”

He doesn’t deride all mobile games, however. Of Chair Entertainment’s Unreal Engine 3-based Infinity Blade, he says, “I think that game is really good. I love that game. I even finished it. That was fun. It was a proper game. But, the others are junk. They’re not fun.”

Currently, CyberConnect 2 is also developing Asura’s Wrath for Capcom alongside its work on Soulcalibur V, new titles in the Naruto series, and unannounced games. In the full feature interview, Matsuyama discusses this work and the future of his studio as well — and it’s live now on Gamasutra. （source:gamasutra）   http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37911/CyberConnect_2s_Matsuyama_Social_Games_Are_Junk.php

6）Former EA Sports Leads Launch First Facebook Game

by Mike Rose

Social developer Row Sham Bow, founded by former EA Tiburon executives, is set to release its first game today via Facebook.

Woodland Heroes, which has been in closed beta since earlier this month, sees players strategically launching animal-based missiles asynchronously at each other in an isometric world.

Philip Holt, chief executive at Row Sham Bow and former EA Tiburon GM, revealed to industry news website VentureBeat that the game will be released today.

Row Sham Bow was founded earlier this year, after a number of former EA Tiburon executives banded together to create online social games.

Initial staff included the likes of Madden 12 creative director Ian Cummings, EA Sports’ chief technology officer Richard Wifall and the aforementioned Holt.

The company then revealed that it had raised $3 million in venture capital funding, as a means of hiring to fill 60 positions at its Orlando, Florida offices. （source:gamasutra）