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每日观察:关注Facebook用户准入年龄问卷调查情况(3.13)

发布时间:2012-03-13 11:38:27 Tags:,,

1)据games.com报道,Zynga最近公布的职位招聘资料显示,该公司正寻求一名拥有传统游戏经验的首席设计师。

Zynga recruitment(from games)

Zynga recruitment(from games)

观察者据此推测,此举或表明Zynga有意进一步挖掘硬核游戏题材,如果考虑到《CityVille》首席设计师最近已出走的情况,这也有可能意味着Zynga将在《CityVille》中加入更多硬核游戏机制,以应对来自传闻中的《模拟城市》Facebook版本的挑战。

2)EA首席执行官John Riccitiello近日表示,尽管去年有不少EA高管流向了Zynga,但这并不意味着公司实力已被Zynga削弱(游戏邦注:EA原首席营销官John Schappert在去年4月加入Zynga,而原EA Interactive移动高管Barry Cottle也在三个月前成为Zynga公司及业务发展执行副总裁)。

john-riccitiello(from gamesandme.com)

john-riccitiello(from gamesandme.com)

他指出,经济因素是这些高管加入Zynga的诱因,他们对EA并没有什么不满。他们在EA“收入很高”,但Zynga的出价更高。

3)Capcom最近宣布将于6月28日发布其今年首款网页游戏《Onimusha Soul》(随后还将推出智能手机版本),这款基于PS 2游戏《Onimusha》的RPG网页版本将采用动作和益智元素, 利用Unity 3D引擎呈现视觉效果,另外还植入了大量社区和社交游戏元素,支持玩家组队或对抗玩游戏。

onimusha_soul(from siliconera.com)

onimusha_soul(from siliconera.com)

4)Bravo电视台近日宣布热门美剧《纽约豪门女霸主》将在今年夏天播放第5季时推出同名社交游戏,支持该剧粉丝创建自己的纽约豪门女霸主角色。玩家在游戏中将可建设并装饰自己的豪宅,并完成第5季电视节目中攀向上流社交的挑战。

rhonyc season 5(from games)

rhonyc season 5(from games)

5)在本周MAU增长最快的Facebook游戏榜单中,OMGPOP旗下的《Draw Something》打败《愤怒的小鸟》成为榜单之首,该游戏MAU在过去一周中增幅达148%,目前MAU共1290万。而第二名《愤怒的小鸟》MAU增幅则是第三名《Fruit Ninja Frenzy》的6倍左右,目前MAU已达1280万。

Top gainers this week-MAU(from AppData)

Top gainers this week-MAU(from AppData)

6)网页社区SodaHead最近针对2000名投票者的问卷调查显示,34%投票者认为Facebook目前设定的13岁用户准入门槛是合适的,但也有48%投票者认为13岁这个年龄仍然太小。29%认为Facebook新人至少需要达到14岁才行,19%认为用户要满18岁才能访问Facebook。

facebook-kids-age-inforgraphic(from SodaHead)

facebook-kids-age-inforgraphic(from SodaHead)

但也有5%投票者认为,7-9岁儿童就已经可以访问Facebook。而伊利诺伊大学的调查问卷结果却显示,有55%不满13岁的少儿用户拥有Facebook帐号,年仅11岁的Facebook用户占比32%,仅有10岁的Facebook用户达19%。(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)Will Zynga take a crack at more traditional games on Facebook?

by Joe Osborne

The FarmVille maker just might try to turn a new leaf. It’s a known fact that traditional game types usually don’t translate well to Facebook. Just look at any of the shooters available:

None have found success comparable to their dedicated console or PC counterparts. Alas, a recent Zynga job posting is a head scratcher: It calls for a lead designer with traditional games experience.

“Experience in traditional games (console/PC) a plus,” a requirement on the job posting reads. Considering Empires & Allies is the closest thing to a traditional game the giant developer has ever created (and that’s a stretch), one has to wonder why Zynga would make the distinction. Generally speaking, social games are almost nothing like console and PC games.

The only proven genre on Facebook that’s close to what traditional gamers enjoy is strategy. Not only is that more than accounted for by developers like Kixeye and Kabam, Zynga already has the most popular strategy game on Facebook … technically. However, Zynga just lost a lead designer from the CityVille team. Perhaps Zynga looks to inject some more core-style game mechanics into CityVille to complete with the rumored SimCity for Facebook.

Speculation aside, we’re as in the dark as you are as to why Zynga looks for a designer with traditional games experience. Even if it turns out that Zynga doesn’t look to make Facebook’s proverbial Call of Duty, it’s clear that the developer looks to bring in more talent from that space. Who knows, maybe Zynga wants to take another swing at that Diablo-style game.(source:games

2)Riccitiello: EA not weakened by Zynga poachings

by Eric Caoili

Acknowledging the loss of several key executives in the last year, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello insisted that the company was not weakened by the departures of its personnel poached by rival social games firm Zynga.

Last April, EA’s chief operating officer John Schappert jumped ship to take on the same position at Zynga. And three months ago, Barry Cottle, who headed the EA Interactive mobile, social and casual online games group, also joined the FarmVille developer to become its Corporate and Business Development executive vice president.

Riccitiello referred to “a couple of guys going to Zynga” during a Q&A session at Wedbush’s Technology Media and Telecommunications Conference on Thursday, and implied their defections were financially motivated, not the result of problems they had with EA. He noted that “they made a lot of money” at EA, but Zynga made them exorbitant offers.

He said, “To a person, they came and saw me at one point in the process, usually in tears or close to tears, with a story that basically goes like this. ‘I love my company. I love Electronic Arts. I bleed blue, but they’re going to give me a bank account in the first 12 or 24 months that I couldn’t get anywhere and may never get anywhere for the rest of my life.’

“So it was more about personal balance sheet stuff. To a person, they’ve told me – and I think if you speak to them, would probably say they believe in the Electronic Arts story and sort of where it’s going. So I don’t feel at all weakened by it. … They got some good guys, and I think we’re fine.”

Riccitiello went on to explain that there were “absolutely no issues” with Eric Brown, who resigned from EA in February after serving as CFO there for nearly three years. He explained that Brown left the publisher to become CFO and COO of communications firm Polycom because he wanted to eventually head a company of his own.

“He wants to be and will be a CEO in his life,” said Riccitiello. “He had an ambition he wanted to realize, couldn’t realize it in the timeframe that was close to his ambition. So, we understood that sometime last year and he found what he was looking for and I’m really happy for him. So, we understood that sometime last year, and he found what he was looking for and I’m really happy for him.”

EA has also lost several key people from its social game studio Playfish in the last year — London GM and VP John Earner joined venture capital Accel Partners, common technology lead Dan Borthwick now heads NaturalMotion Games’ London mobile studio, and co-founders Sami Lababidi and Sebastien de Halleux both left the company, too. (source:gamasutra

3)Capcom readies its first browser-based game Onimusha Soul

by Mike Rose

Capcom is set to release its first ever browser-based game later this year, as part of its push into the social and mobile gaming spaces.

The company first established its Beeline mobile gaming subsidiary last year, and has gone on to have success with mobile releases such as Smurfs’ Village and Snoopy’s Street Fair. This new push into browser gaming boosts Capcom’s plans to grow in the social gaming space.

Onimusha Soul will be an RPG browser game based on the PlayStation 2 Onimusha samurai survival series, and will feature both action and puzzle elements.

Utilizing the Unity 3D engine for its visuals, Onimusha Soul also boasts a number of community and social gaming elements, with players able to band together and play through the story co-operatively, or fight against each other online.

The game will be released on June 28 for web browsers, and later in the year on smartphones.

Capcom also revealed that the Onimusha series has now seen over 7.9 million units sold across all versions since the original release for PS2 in 2001.(source:gamasutra

4)The Real Housewives of New York City get catty on Facebook soon

by Joe Osborne

Facebook games may have killed the soap opera, but they’re about to join forces with the reality show. Bravo has announced that its hit show, The Real Housewives of New York City, will get its very own social game to pimp the debut of its fifth season this summer. The game–simply followed by a “The Game” for its title–will allow fans of the show to create their own NYC housewife.

“This new game is a great opportunity for Bravo to take our passionate viewers into the content,” Bravo Digital Media EVP Lisa Hsia said in a release. “By bringing The Real Housewives into a social setting, fans can now experience the franchise through television, social media and in their own virtual reality.”

That said, players will get to create their own enviously expensive home and decorate it with equally exorbitant items. The game will then challenge players to climb the social ladder by completing tasks inspired by events in the show’s fifth season. That said, the Facebook version of The Real Housewives of New York City will be far more vicarious than most branded social games, as players will be recognized on the show weekly for their achievements.

When players earn weekly accomplishments like “Best Apartment,” “Hottest Wardrobe” and “Highest Social Standing,” they’ll be recognized on the show when it airs live. (Think of it as a less gory and more girly Dexter Slice of Life.) This isn’t the first time Bravo has entered the social gaming ring. Who remembers Turtle Time? Vaguely? Same here.(source:games

5)Draw Something scribbles atop this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by MAU

Mike Thompson

OMGPOP’s Draw Something surged to the top of this week’s list of fastest-growing games by monthly active user. Over the past week, the game’s MAU increased by 148 percent (and likely made OMGPOP even more tempting for potential investors).

Rovio’s Angry Birds, meanwhile, was knocked down to second place, though its MAU gain was nearly six times higher than Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja Frenzy, which sat in third place.

Aside from Draw Something, three other games had gains greater than 100 percent — Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Zynga Slingo and مدينة الأهرامات (“City of the Pyramids”). Marvel: Avengers Alliance seems to still be tapping into legions of comic fans who are looking forward to the Avengers movie in May. City of the Pyramids appears to be a city-building game with an Ancient Egypt motif, but the lack of an English mode makes it difficult to investigate further.(source:insidesocialgames

6)Survey: The majority thinks 13 years old is too young for Facebook

by Joe Osborne

It’s long been a topic for debate: How young is too young for social media and, by extension, social games? SodaHead, the self-proclaimed largest opinion-based web community, sought to get the bottom of the argument. It asked over 2,000 voters how old they think Facebook users should be when they first sign up for the social network, and the results are both refreshing and scary.

While 34 percent of voters think that 13 years old–the current minimum age for a Facebook account–is appropriate, a whopping 48 percent of voters think that first-time users should be older. A hefty 29 percent of voters think that Facebook newbies should be at least 14 years old, and 19 percent think that first-timers should be at least 18 before dipping their feet in.

What’s disconcerting, however, is that 5 percent seem to think that 7 to 9-year-olds would be just fine on Facebook. Even more unsettling than that fact is that, according to a survey conducted by the University of Illinois, a whopping 55 percent of preteens have Facebook accounts, while 32 percent of 11-year-olds and 19 percent of 10-year-olds are on the network.

This writer isn’t even a parent and those numbers are unnerving. At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon: We did just fine without Facebook when we were preteens, so why would it be necessary now? Kids need to learn actual social interaction, mano-a-mano, in those formative years before navigating the rough-and-tumble world of social media. And when it comes to social games, does this doomsday scenario ring a bell?(source:games


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