Dragon Age Legends on Facebook: BioWare's epic role-player goes social

Dragon Age, Bioware's popular role-playing game available on PC and game consoles will be making its way onto Facebook in the form of Dragon Age Legends. You will return to Theadas and save a viscount's son while battling demons and darkspawn.

OK, so it all kind of sounds like the lyrics from a Tenacious D song, but if this social game is anything like it's bigger brothers, it'll keep you engrossed for hours on end. Here's hoping anyway. Playing this game will also unlock items in Dragon Age II, which is set to arrive in stores in March 2011.

EA 2D General Manager Mark Spenner says their goal is to use Dragon Age Legends to raise the 'quality bar' in social games. "Dragon Age Legends will deliver a deep, sophisticated experience, and we will continue to delight gamers by adding new features and content far into the future," he says.

Dragon Age Legends will also give players a taste of the Free Marches, which will be the main setting in Dragon Age II, and it will have a 'gratifying' character customization options. Players will take on quests, earn loot and play the game with their fellow Facebook friends.

These details are a little vague, but if you're interested in being one of the first to get involved, you can sign up to be part of the game's January beta here.

Spike TV Video Game Awards Nominees Missing One Big Thing: Social Games

Spike TV has announced its nominees for the 2009 VGA awards show, which honors the year's best video games. As an official VGA Awards judge, I get to vote on the nominees, which include a heap of fantastic games, such as Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Grand Theft Auto, Batman: Arkham Asylum and the like. I'm especially pleased to see to see PopCap's "hard casual" game Plants vs. Zombies made the list.

However, I can't help but notice that there's some big gaping holes in the nominees, namely FarmVille, Mafia Wars and other social games.

spike tv video game awards, no farmville

This could easily lead to a huge debate on how these awards are for the "core" gamer and not for casual player, but I know plenty of people (including myself) who play Modern Warfare 2 will then turn right around and play FarmVille and Mafia Wars on Facebook.

Also take into consideration that FarmVille boasts roughly 60 million active players a month (World of Warcraft has about 12 million players). Based on that statistic alone, social games deserve to be recognized for the hours of entertainment they bring to gamers -- both core and casual -- lives on a daily (sometimes two or three times a day) basis.

So to my hard-working pals at Spike TV, I implore you to consider including a category for Best Sociable Games next year (or at the very least, an honorary tip of the hat). Millions of virtual farmers, mobsters and pet owners will thank you.

If you're interested in checking out the awards, they will air live on Spike TV, Saturday, December 12 at 8 p.m ET/PT. The show also has a fan favorite category -- so go to the official site to place your vote.

See the complete list of this year's Spike TV Video Game Awards 2009 nominees after the jump >

GAME OF THE YEAR
• Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos Interactive - Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Rocksteady Studios)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Publishing / Infinity Ward)
• Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve)
• UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (Sony Computer Entertainment / Naughty Dog)

STUDIO OF THE YEAR
• Infinity Ward
• Naughty Dog
• Rocksteady Studios
• Valve

BEST SHOOTER
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Publishing / Infinity Ward)
• Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft Game Studios / Bungie)
• Killzone 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment / Guerrilla Games)
• Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve)

BEST RPG
• Borderlands (2K Games / Gearbox Software)
• Demon's Souls (Atlus / FromSoftware)
• Dragon Age: Origins (Electronic Arts / BioWare)
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo / AlphaDream)

BEST FIGHTING GAME
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (Aksys Games / Arc System Works)
• Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny (NAMCO BANDAI Games / Project Soul)
• Street Fighter IV (Capcom / Capcom/Dimps)
• Tekken 6 (NAMCO BANDAI Games)


BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME
• EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 (Electronic Arts / EA Canada)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Electronic Arts / EA Tiburon)
• UFC 2009 Undisputed (THQ / Yuke's Media Creations)
• Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)

BEST HANDHELD GAME
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Rockstar Games / Rockstar Leeds)
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo / AlphaDream)
• Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box (Nintendo / Level-5)
• Scribblenauts (Warner Bros. Interactive / 5th Cell)

BEST GRAPHICS
• Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos Interactive - Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Rocksteady Studios)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Publishing / Infinity Ward)
• Killzone 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment / Guerrilla Games)
• UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (Sony Computer Entertainment / Naughty Dog)

BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE OR TV SHOW
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Atari / Terminal Reality)
• South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! (Microsoft / DoubleSix)
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (Atari / Starbreeze AB)
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition (Activision Publishing / Raven Software)

BEST MUSIC GAME
• DJ Hero (Activision Publishing / FreeStyleGames)
• Guitar Hero 5 (Activision Publishing / Neversoft Entertainment)
• LEGO Rock Band (MTV Games – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Traveler's Tales Games - Harmonix)
• The Beatles: Rock Band (MTV Games / Harmonix)

BEST DRIVING GAME
• Dirt 2 (Codemasters)
• Forza Motorsport 3 (Microsoft Game Studios / Turn 10)
• Gran Turismo (PSP) (Sony Computer Entertainment / Polyphony Digital)
• Need for Speed SHIFT (Electronic Arts / Slightly Mad Studios)

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE GAME
• Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal)
• Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos Interactive - Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Rocksteady Studios)
• Brütal Legend (Electronic Arts / Double Fine Productions)
• UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (Sony Computer Entertainment / Naughty Dog)


BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME
• FIFA Soccer 10 (Electronic Arts / EA Canada)
• Madden NFL 10 (Electronic Arts / EA Tiburon)
• NBA 2K10 (2K Sports / Visual Concepts)
• NHL 10 (Electronic Arts / EA Canada)

BEST SOUNDTRACK
• Brütal Legend (Electronic Arts / Double Fine Productions)
• DJ Hero (Activision Publishing / FreeStyleGames)
• Guitar Hero 5 (Activision Publishing / Neversoft Entertainment)
• The Beatles: Rock Band (MTV Games / Harmonix)

BEST XBOX 360 GAME
• Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos Interactive - Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Rocksteady Studios)
• Forza Motorsport 3 (Microsoft Game Studios / Turn 10)
• Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft Game Studios / Bungie)
• Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve)

BEST Wii GAME
• MadWorld (SEGA / Platinum Games)
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo)
• Punch-Out!! (Nintendo / Next Level Games)
• Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)

BEST PS3 GAME
• inFAMOUS (Sony Computer Entertainment / Sucker Punch)
• Killzone 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment / Guerrilla Games)
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (Sony Computer Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
• UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (Sony Computer Entertainment / Naughty Dog)

BEST PC GAME
• Dragon Age: Origins (Electronic Arts / BioWare)
• Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve)
• Plants vs. Zombies (PopCap Games)
• The Sims 3 (Electronic Arts / The Sims Studio)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
• Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Publishing / Infinity Ward)
• Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft Game Studios / Bungie)
• UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (Sony Computer Entertainment / Naughty Dog)

BEST MULTI-PLAYER GAME
• Borderlands (2K Games / Gearbox Software)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Publishing / Infinity Ward)
• Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft Game Studios / Bungie)
• Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN MALE
• Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Atari)
• Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition (Activision Publishing)
• Samuel L. Jackson as Afro Samurai / Ninja Ninja in Afro Samurai (Surge)
• Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Activision Publishing)
• Vin Diesel as Richard B. Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (Atari)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN FEMALE
• Eliza Dushku as Rubi Malone in WET (Bethesda Softworks)
• Kristen Bell as Lucy Stillman in Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft)
• Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen / Activision Publishing)
• Tricia Helfer as Dare (Halo 3: ODST / Microsoft Game Studios)

BEST CAST
• Brütal Legend (Electronic Arts / Double Fine Productions)
• Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard (D3 Publisher / Vicious Cycle)
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Atari / Terminal Reality)
• South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! (Microsoft / DoubleSix)
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition (Activision Publishing / Raven Software)

BEST VOICE
• Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos Interactive – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
• Claudia Black as Chloe Frazer in UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Jack Black as Eddie Riggs (Brütal Legend / Electronic Arts)
• Mark Hamill as The Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos Interactive – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
• Nolan North as Nathan Drake in UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (Sony Computer Entertainment)

BEST DOWNLOADABLE GAME
• Battlefield 1943 (Electronic Arts / DICE)
• Fat Princess (Sony Computer Entertainment / Titan Studios)
• Plants vs. Zombies (PopCap Games)
• Shadow Complex (Microsoft Game Studios / Chair Entertainment)

BEST DLC
• Fallout 3 – Broken Steel (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda Game Studios)
• Fallout 3 – Point Lookout (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda Game Studios)
• Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony (Rockstar Games / Rockstar North)
• Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost & Damned (Rockstar Games / Rockstar North)

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME FUELED BY DEW
• 'Splosion Man (Twisted Pixel)
• Flower (ThatGameCompany)
• Osmos (Hemisphere Games)
• Trials HD (RedLynx)

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME
• Bioshock 2 (2K Games / 2K Marin)
• God of War III (Sony Computer Entertainment / SCE Studios Santa Monica)
• Mass Effect 2 (Electronic Arts / BioWare)
• Starcraft II (Blizzard Entertainment)

FarmVille Storage is "Half-Baked" and "Useless" Says Tee'd Off Players

FarmVille released a new feature that lets you store virtual items in barns or sheds. There are quite a few storage options to choose from, that is, if you are willing to pay up to 27 FarmVille dollars per barn or 22 FarmVille dollars per shed, which let you store 20 and 15 items respectively.

The problem is: If you don't want to pay, you're left with only two options: buy a barn for 40,000 coins, which holds six items, or a shed for 14,000 coins, which holds two items.

Players have been wildly debating whether storage barns are a godsend or a total rip-off. Here are a few choice quotes on the negative side of the big debate:

"It's almost like they get half baked ideas and just throw them together toss them into the game and move on to the next thing. In game storage for in game items is useless. If you guys at Zanga want to make money just offer 50 units of storage in the gift box for 50 Farm cash and people would jump all over that. Anything is better than in game storage units that take up space." - Rettahs.

"The new Storage is the biggest sh*t ever All the time i thought we get a Box and can put our items there unlimited.. i feel bad :S this sucks so much..." - gschw

"Why can't they have some storage like the gift box???Just drag the item and put it in??? Every item can be stored in gift box too.....Why cant we put it back to gift box??Is it that difficult?? These greedy people just here to make money. Not to make the players enjoy it more. That's the feeling i get from all this crap." - Judebinoy

I'm fully aware that FarmVille is only partially free to play and the company makes money on players buying virtual goods, but, there's a balance to strike between making bucks and keeping players happy.

It does seem a little weak that the storage you get without paying actual real-life cash holds almost a third less than what you can hold in the premium storage buildings.

I spent the 27 FarmVille dollars to buy a Sleek Black Barn and am pretty happy with it so far. Maybe the storage cap on all buildings need to be raised a little higher to keep a mob of angry farmers (with pitchforks) converging at Zynga's doorsteps.

Facebook vs. Google+: Social game makers ready to hang hats on big G's network

Right now, Facebook is the place to be if you want to make social games for the Web. That's great if you're, say, a big fancy company like FarmVille-creator Zynga who has millions of dollars to spend on advertising and a cushy deal with the social network.

If you're a smaller game studio, Facebook has its severe limitations, which include making it next to impossible to getting the word out about a game (not to mention the hefty 30% cut that Facebook demands from all game developers.)

None of the other social gaming platforms -- MySpace, hi5 -- have managed to come close to mimicking Facebook's social gaming success, so many social game makers are looking to Google+ to, possibly, fill that void.

Pot Farm creator and East Side Games CEO Jason Bailey says in this Gamasutra article that that all social game makers are "crossing their fingers and bowing down to the almighty G and saying, 'Please, please let this work and give us a viable second platform where we can build our games.'"

A simple way that Google+ could become 'the' next hotspot for social gaming? Instead of requiring a 30% cut from game makers (like Facebook does), let companies host games on G+ for a lower fee (or the low, low price of free!). Facebook has also done a terrible job at surfacing new and interesting games to its users -- and recently made it more difficult by pulling its app directory from the service. If Google+ can support even the most bare bones recommendation system for games on the network, that could be a big win for people who make games and those of us who like to play them.

Facebook games partnerships gig given to former LiveJournal CEO

Sean Ryan (pictured), who previously worked for News Corp. creating an online games division, is now director of games partnerships at Facebook, VentureBeat reports. The position had been open since August before the decision was finally made to take Ryan on, who also previously served as CEO for Meez, a virtual world for teenagers and LiveJournal, a once popular blogging service before the turn of the decade.

Now, don't get too excited--Facebook will not be making its own games anytime soon if ever. Ryan will purely foster the social network's relationships with developers like Zynga, Playdom, Playfish and more. In other words, it's this guy's job to keep dudes like Zynga CEO Mark Pincus peachy keen.

This is a smart move by Facebook, which hasn't had a stellar track record of catering both to gamers and non-gamers alike. Though, the company did recently create a new development division solely for improving the gaming experience on the site. It seems as if Facebook is finally serious about the half of its users that enjoy these games, which aren't going away anytime soon.

Starz sending Spartacus Facebook game into the arena this month

Forget Mafia Wars, real warriors fight with sword and shield in hand, nothing but a loin cloth protecting their bodies. No? Well, Starz seems to think so as the network will soon launch a Facebook game surrounding its hit series, Spartacus. Fox News reports that the game, officially titled Spartacus: Gods of the Arena and published by 6waves (the same folks working on that mysterious Kobe Bryant game), will be available come Jan. 20. Just in time for the show's six-episode mini-series coming Jan. 21, this will be one of the first TV shows to get its own social game, according to Fox News. Well, unless you count that weird soap opera game in the U.K.

"Given its powerful characters and larger-than-life story lines, few television properties have as much potential for innovative social game play as does 'Spartacus," Marc DeBevoise, SVP of digital media and business development strategy for Starz Media, told Fox News. "We are excited to make our social media gaming debut and be one of the early networks to bring a branded TV property to the social gaming universe."

Unsurprisingly, the game will be similar to Mafia Wars in that it will allow players to run their own gladiator school and partake in Roman role play, according to Fox News. We almost don't want to know what that last part means. Stay tuned for a preview when the game finally launches sometime this month, because now we just gotta' know what this "Roman role play" nonsense is all about.

Yoostar Playground on Facebook: Viral videos in your control

Just about anyone who watched The Oscars this year would agree the funniest part of the evening was as Anne Hathaway and James Franco frolicked through scenes of Oscar-nominated flicks. With Yoostar 2 for Xbox Kinect and PlayStation Eye by Blitz Games and Yoostar Entertainment Group, players can insert themselves into scenes from classic movies like 300 and The Godfather and ad lib like the pros. But it's only through Yoostar Playground on Facebook that your 30-second clips have the potential to go viral.
Yoostar Playground video gallery

Your ProgressYoostar Playground, developed internally by its publisher, allows players of the console games to upload their ad libbed video clips to the web application and share them with the existing player base. Then, the audience can browse the litany of videos by several different parameters like "Most Popular" or "Top Awarded," and watch away. However, you can then rate those videos through a star system and grant them awards like "Best Script Flip" and of course "Best Actor."

As these videos get rated, they can gain notoriety throughout the community on the full-screen app's home page in the "Featured Videos" section. Players can also share these videos through Facebook and Twitter for friends outside of Yoostar Playground, giving them the potential to go viral. As users view, rate and award videos, their level will increase (pictured right), which increases their renown and their stash of Yoobucks. This in-game currency isn't available for use yet nor can it be bought, but it allows players to gain levels more quickly and boost their notoriety on Yoostar.

Many of the videos on Yoostar Playground are available for public use, meaning other users can take their friends' videos and create a series of scenes through the Video Mashup tool. Say you want to make a "Best of" compilation of the greatest King Leonidas impressions on Yoostar--this is exactly what Video Mashup is for. Users can then take those Mashups and share them for their fellow players to rate and award.

While we've yet to play Yoostar 2 for consoles (or the PC or Mac), the Yoostar Playground companion app is definitely a blast. Players can use the app right now to view and share videos, but we'd imagine creating your own and sharing them through the console games would be far more entertaining.

Click here to check out Yoostar Playground on Facebook Now>

Have you played Yoostar on either Facebook or the consoles? What do you think of the viral potential behind Yoostar videos through Yoostar Playground?

Google+ Games shows its colors with new game discovery features

The seemingly endless tit for tat battle between Google+ and Facebook may finally be over. Well, at least where games are concerned. The search giant of the same name (minus the "+") issued an update to Google+ Games that includes three new ways for players to discover which games to play next. The lists are "Top Games"," "New Games" and "Staff Picks."

They're pretty much self-explanatory, but the key takeaway here is that features like these take full advantage of the fact that Google+ Games is its own tucked-away section of the social network. Therefore, Google has opted to take more of an app store approach that you'd find at Apple's App Store or the Android Market than Facebook's highly ad-driven and social approach.

Each list appears on the left hand sidebar of the Google+ Games home page, and clicking on each opens a new page. While the way each list is populated is entirely different, they each look identical. Each page features a number of game icons in a grid layout, and mousing over each reveals a description of the game and the option to play. If a player wants to find the newest games on Google+, the guy or gal can simply click on "New Games" and instantly find brand new games to play.

Well, brand new in theory: The majority of social games on Google+ are already available on Facebook, save for exclusive releases like The Godfather: Five Families and GT Racing: Motor Academy. As the platform matures, game discovery features like these could be the selling point for Google+ Games. Your move, Facebook.

Do you think these features could pique your interest in gaming on Google+ once it brings in more games? How do you think Facebook will respond ?

Play Kabam's hardcore strategy social games straight from the desktop

It's like they're PC games, only they're still connected to Facebook and Google+. (Well, that and they still look like browser games.) Kabam has released four of its most popular social games through SweetLabs's Pokki platform, a service that allows developers to turn their web-based games and apps into desktop-based programs with the same functionality.

In short, now you can play Dragons of Atlantis, Thirst of Night, Edgeworld and The Godfather: Five Families without having to open up a web browser and going to Facebook or Google+. Fans of Kabam's "hardcore" social strategy games can now download all four games and play them as if they were downloadable PC games from the start. (Unfortunately, only Windows users need apply.) However, we imagine the games will still require an Internet connection and, almost more importantly, a connection to either social network.

"Kabam creates uniquely rich social games for real gamers, and we couldn't be happier that they're using Pokki to bring those games to the desktop for the first time," SweetLabs co-founder and CMO Chester Ng said. "A word of caution though: One click access to Kabam games without ever having to open a browser can be highly addicting, especially when coupled with real-time in-game notifications."

While one-click access sounds appealing, was it really that difficult to access the games on Facebook or Google+ to begin with? At any rate, this is an interesting move for Kabam, and an obvious attempt at increasing its strategy games' appeal to the "hardcore" gaming crowd. Will they bite? Who knows but if you ask Raptr, "hardcore" gamers already have.

Click here to download Kabam's games for Windows >

What do you think of Kabam releasing its games as desktop applications? Would you rather play your favorite social games straight from your desktop or within the browser?

Social games will monetize people in the future: Parody or inevitability?

Wait, isn't this just gamification? A clever Gamasutra blogger predicts in a scathing parody that the next step for social game developers like Zynga is to monetize non-players' responses to their social gaming friends. Have a deep hatred for your friend's endless FarmVille posts? "Now picture a world where Zynga sells digital toxic goo! You log onto Zynga's digital store, purchase a couple barrels of the stuff for a few bucks and pour it on your annoying friend's farm," Gamasutra blogger Robert Boyd writes. "Satisfaction gained and Zynga has made money off of someone who doesn't even play their games."

Boyd goes on to flesh out a world where the arms races moves to Facebook, in which players compete against non-players in thwarting each others' Facebook experience (and defending theirs from attack)--game or not. But wait, there's more. "And let's not stop there! After this cycle has occurred a few times, we'll send you a message about our new game, FactoryVille!" Boyd writes. "By managing your factory wisely, you can create a never-ending stream of toxic goo to pour on the farms of friends and foes alike! Of course, to have the best factory, you'll want to purchase a few of our virtual goods..."

According to Boyd, you can easily replace "toxic goo" with whatever is relevant to the game at hand and bring in a whole new demographic of money-makers who want revenge on their farmer friends. It's too bad that News Feeds don't interfere with those who don't play games anymore, or this satire would be more applicable. (Though, nothing is ever out of the realm of possibility.) Regardless, it's a chuckle-worthy outside perspective of the social gaming industry that you can find in full right here.

Would be game if Zynga introduced a feature like this? What are thoughts on the monetization methods of popular social game creators?

CBS show Let's Make a Deal haggles its way to Facebook this fall

While a good portion of you whippersnappers might not even know what this is all about, be excited nonetheless. GameHouse, the social game development studio for RealNetworks, will launch Let's Make a Deal on Facebook this fall, USA Today reports. The adaptation of the nearly 50-year-old game show was made possible through a licensing deal with FreeMantleMedia Enterprises, and joins the ranks of Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and Family Feud as game shows-turned-social games.

RealNetworks Senior Vice President Matt Hulett said that the game fits on Facebook "because the show's format already has all of the elements necessary to make a great social game. Let's Make a Deal has phenomenal consumer recognition and strong appeal. The show is a classic with a well-understood game premise ... (and) embodies personality and has a great sense of humor with its costumes and 'zonks.' Plus the mini-games format is sure to add variety, and there are terrific opportunities to personalize, customize and engage friends."

Unfortunately, no other details have been released. However, we can only hope that the game will play in real time. If you ask me, making a deal only to wait for the friend to accept or deny would be pretty boring. GameHouse, you have the power to make this Facebook game live another 50 years on Facebook. OK, maybe not that long, but the game could enjoy a long life of zonks and prizes, if done right.

[Image Credit: Let's Make a Deal]

Were you a fan of this game show as a kid, or watch it today on CBS? Would you play it if successfully revived the spirit of the original?

Six Gun Galaxy brings a violent, dreary wild west to Facebook

Six Gun Galaxy from KlickNation sees you creating a character in a post-apocalyptic world on Facebook, where you're left to rebuild a town and help other survivors in various towns by completing quests. The storyline is filled with the expected elements from the theme. A war has devastated the planet, leaving military men feeling responsible and outlaws to feel they can ravage what's left. The average citizen needs your help with hunting for food from the wild animals that roam even the cities' streets, and while cash is still a factor, objects like tobacco have been given just as much value in society.

While Six Gun Galaxy contains a theme that's not overly common for Facebook games, the gameplay itself doesn't really revolutionize the city-building or quest-based adventure genres. You'll have your own town to build, starting with nothing but a home and Blacksmith's shop. You can add new items like Laundry Facilities or Gun Shops, and also add decorations and roads to customize the look of your town even more. Buildings payout profits over time, including cash and experience points, along with Iron, which is another form of "currency" used for building additional buildings.

Apart from the game's city-building aspect, an even larger portion of the game is dedicated to traveling from town to town (more locations unlock as you level up) and completing quests for the locals. You'll have to gather and trade supplies at the Market, help chase off wild animals, deliver items to different locations, and so on. Combat comes into play fairly early on, as you'll fight bandits in term-based battles by simply clicking on their avatars on the map. Unfortunately, there doesn't look to be a way to tell exactly how strong an enemy is before entering combat, so you very well may end up on the losing end before you can even pull out your weapon. Luckily, you can turn the tides of battle by having teammates join you along the way (teammates can be purchased with cash), or by upgrading your character with new equipment and weapons.

As you might expect, most every action in the game requires energy, which therefore runs out far more quickly than you might like. You can collect food from wild animals and then spend that food on energy refills, or spend Platinum, the game's premium currency.

Gallery: Six Gun Galaxy Facebook


While each location in the game has a specific amount of quests available to complete, you can play the game with relative freedom, only undertaking quests when you really feel like it. The rest of the time can be spent tracking down wild animals, goods to trade, building up your own city, and so on, completely outside of pushing the story forward. Of course, that can only last you for so long, so we hope that more quests will continually be added to Six Gun Galaxy in the future to keep us coming back for more.

Play Six Gun Galaxy on Facebook -->

Have you tried Six Gun Galaxy on Facebook? What do you think of frontier-based games on Facebook? Does the fact that this game is actually post-apocalyptic, rather than simply "old" influence your likelihood to play it?

Finally, all future Facebook privacy changes will be opt-in, not opt-out

Facebook games and privacy have been something of, well, we'll just say it: a pain in the ass more times than not. Even as recently as this summer, changes to the games platform had players scrambling to protect their privacy. And while we almost always find workarounds, it simply shouldn't have to be that way. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg finally (if reluctantly) agrees with that.

From this day forward, all changes to Facebook that might affect users' privacy will be opt-in, meaning users will have to agree to the change before it can take place within their profile or an app. According to a statement made by the US Federal Trade Commission, Facebook is "required to obtain consumers' affirmative express consent before enacting changes that override their privacy preferences."

This settlement is the result of charges issued against Facebook by the FTC that the company "deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public." Now, the company must be audited by third-party privacy firms every two years to ensure that Facebook holds a privacy program that meets the FTC's order.

Of course, this means that it will be much more difficult for Facebook to push changes like, say, the Facebook Games Ticker, which blasts in-game activities without the player so much as clicking a "Share" button. Sure, this likely means that no future Facebook change will ever reach 100 percent of its users. But we also don't like it when everyone and their mother knows exactly when we log into CastleVille every day.

Webcams + Facebook games = what looks like fun, thanks to Rounds

Rounds Bubblins
Some social gamers have long awaited real-time gaming on Facebook. And while some game makers have met that challenge well, perhaps you had something different in mind. Rounds, the self-proclaimed first "communitainment platform" on Facebook, is banking on that with a brand new selection of nine real-time social games for friends to play with as they chat over webcam.

The Israeli company, founded in 2008, made the new games for its nearly 1 million monthly users thanks to $3 million in funding. "Rounds users can expect to get hooked to these new activities like they have with our activities and games already on the site--and probably more so," Rounds CEO and co-founder Dany Fishel said in a release. "As Rounds continues to grow, the offerings are only going to get better and more addicting than they already are."
Gallery: Rounds on Facebook
The new games are designed to simulate a real-world game room, but we wouldn't go that far. However, based on these first screens, they sure do look to make webcam chat a helluva lot more fun. Here's Round's take on all nine games:

    Bubblins: A solo or multi-player game in which you match Bubblins to decrease your opponent's life while increasing your own.
    Charades: The online version of the classic game lets you act out a word or phrase as your opponent tries to guess who or what you are depicting.
    Faces iMake: Create your own crazy face using everyday objects in new and innovative ways.
    Gluey: Combine blobs of the same color and use special items to rack up points and best your opponent's score.
    Mad Pet: Race your skateboarding dog, do tricks and avoid holes along the way to accumulate more points than your friend's skateboarding canine.
    Space Purge: Save Planet Earth by destroying incoming asteroids and rogue satellites, and gain special power ups to score the most points before your three lives are up.
    Super Drift 3D: Pick your favorite car and favorite course and race against friends in a one of a kind 3D speed-racing game.
    Whack-a-Friend: Whack your friend while you Video Chat Rounds before they whack you.
    Wonder Putt: Mini-golf on steroids adventure throws cows, torpedoes, ski slopes and alien abductions your way as you try to shoot par.


Many of the games in this suite are available to play now through Rounds, including Space Purge, Bubblins, Super Drift 3D and MadPet. The rest of the games are said to hit Rounds by early 2012. Now, good luck with coordinating some play time with your friends, because who wants to show their ugly mug to a bunch a strangers?

UK Facebook users could soon gamble their earnings away (for real)

As in, gamble their real cash away with the chance of actually winning money in return. According to eGaming Review (eGR) [paywall link], Facebook is talking with a number of UK operators to possibly open up its platform to real-money gambling. And the change could happen as soon as the first quarter in 2012. We can almost hear the sobs of British men in the gutter already from bad Zynga Poker matches.

eGR reports, citing anonymous sources (of course), that Facebook is considering providing eight licenses to UK operators looking to get into a market that developers are already trying to crack. According to the website, Facebook is already staffing up in preparation for the initiative. This type of thing is likely years away from happening in the US, where online gambling is, for all intents and purposes, illegal.

The UK-based online gambling companies in question reportedly include Gamesys and 888 Holdings. However, more details on how age gates, payment solutions or revenue splits between Facebook and the companies would work aren't available. The website speculates that Facebook could be using the UK as a testbed for similar efforts in other countries.

The news comes as particularly striking considering the number of mock-casino and betting games that have hit Facebook in recent months from DoubleDown Casino to Yazino's games and Bet Tycoon, to name a few. In fact, Yazino CEO Hussein Chahine thinks that the social gaming market would be vastly different today if not for how the US handled online gambling prior to the rise of the genre. Well, it looks like those floodgates are about to open--at least elsewhere in the world.

Sims Social survey lets you sound off on item prices, favorite features and more

It's that time folks - time to let your collective voices be heard! EA wants to know how much fun (or not) you're having with the Sims Social on Facebook, and they've released a fairly long survey to help you tell them. This survey contains all sorts of questions, ranging from the basics of how often you play the game, to allowing you to rate your opinion on item pricing (are they too cheap? too expensive?) and what some of your favorite features are in the game.

Of course, the point of all of this is to gather enough opinions to actually sway the way the game develops in the future. Hopefully, with questions dealing with how much we like to "build" items with parts (bookcases, double beds, etc.), and the option to say that you don't like it at all, we may actually see a lessening in those kinds of items, if enough users agree. You can even rank various gameplay features (decorating your house, visiting friends, customizing your Sim, etc.) in the order that you like them. In this way, perhaps we'll see more focus being placed on the most (overall) liked feature, and you'll be able to say you helped to make that happen.

Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of survey that will allow you to give your opinion on future item sets, but there are plenty of blank text boxes for you to say exactly what you want to the developers in a place that you know they'll see it. Again, this survey is prety lengthy (when compared to other Facebook game surveys anyway), so you'll want to make sure you have around 5-10 minutes to set aside to take it.

We've taken this survey as well, and if we start to notice any gameplay changes arising because of options listed here, we'll make sure to let you know. In the meantime, head over to this link right here to take the survey for yourself.

Karma Kingdom looks to combine social good, social fun on Facebook

A Facebook game that can score us some good karma points--where do we sign up? We've seen games like FarmVille and CityVille run social good campaigns, but Singapore-based developer Asvathaa has a made an entire game of the idea. The developer just released Karma Kingdom on Facebook, a quest-driven game that looks to help you "Create Your Better World," according to its tag line.

Karma Kingdom integrates Indian mythology into modern lessons of doing good for others. It does this by allowing players to curate an island nation and maintain their citizens' happiness using the three tenants of happiness: health, community and knowledge. You will be guided by several Indian gods and goddesses in your efforts to keep the people happy through quests.

You do this through creating homes for your people to live in, and then surrounding those homes with decorations that promote Health, Community and Knowledge. It seems as if it's important to keep that balance in the decorations you place. Otherwise, your citizens will quickly become unhappy and provide less Goodwill, the resource you need to provide for your people.

Players can plant crops to provide more Goodwill, and the game doesn't seem to be governed by any energy system. (Now, that's something fresh.) But what's more important is the real goodwill Asvathaa aims to create with Karma Kingdom. The Singapore developer has promised to donate a 10 percent of its income through Facebook Credits to non-profit charities. (However, Asvathaa doesn't say which charities it will donate to exactly.)
Karma Kingdom in action
The more happiness-generating decorations you buy in the game using Facebook Credits, the more Asvathaa will donate ... somewhere. "We want to offer a personal CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) platform for every individual as the desire to give back exists in each one of us," Asvathaa CEO and founder Ashok Desai said in a release. If anything, the game looks to be a fresh take on the genre given that it doesn't limit your play time through energy, and maybe it will do some good, too.

Click here to play Karma Kingdom on Facebook Now >

Have you tried this new Facebook game yet, and what do you think of the fact that it doesn't limit you via energy? Would you ever pay up in the game, not knowing exactly where your Facebook Credits are going? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Karma Kingdom looks to combine social good, social fun on Facebook

A Facebook game that can score us some good karma points--where do we sign up? We've seen games like FarmVille and CityVille run social good campaigns, but Singapore-based developer Asvathaa has a made an entire game of the idea. The developer just released Karma Kingdom on Facebook, a quest-driven game that looks to help you "Create Your Better World," according to its tag line.

Karma Kingdom integrates Indian mythology into modern lessons of doing good for others. It does this by allowing players to curate an island nation and maintain their citizens' happiness using the three tenants of happiness: health, community and knowledge. You will be guided by several Indian gods and goddesses in your efforts to keep the people happy through quests.

You do this through creating homes for your people to live in, and then surrounding those homes with decorations that promote Health, Community and Knowledge. It seems as if it's important to keep that balance in the decorations you place. Otherwise, your citizens will quickly become unhappy and provide less Goodwill, the resource you need to provide for your people.

Players can plant crops to provide more Goodwill, and the game doesn't seem to be governed by any energy system. (Now, that's something fresh.) But what's more important is the real goodwill Asvathaa aims to create with Karma Kingdom. The Singapore developer has promised to donate a 10 percent of its income through Facebook Credits to non-profit charities. (However, Asvathaa doesn't say which charities it will donate to exactly.)
Karma Kingdom in action
The more happiness-generating decorations you buy in the game using Facebook Credits, the more Asvathaa will donate ... somewhere. "We want to offer a personal CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) platform for every individual as the desire to give back exists in each one of us," Asvathaa CEO and founder Ashok Desai said in a release. If anything, the game looks to be a fresh take on the genre given that it doesn't limit your play time through energy, and maybe it will do some good, too.

Click here to play Karma Kingdom on Facebook Now >

Have you tried this new Facebook game yet, and what do you think of the fact that it doesn't limit you via energy? Would you ever pay up in the game, not knowing exactly where your Facebook Credits are going? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment