jump to navigation

The Zynga Business Plan Moves Forward October 28, 2012

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment, Facebook.
Tags: , ,
6 comments

My daughter and I were watching Spongebob together when we saw a commercial for this:

Hungry Hungry Herd

Technically, it is not a simple rip-off of some other company’s idea, the classic Zynga approach, because Hasbro owns Hungry Hungry Hippos, and Zynga and Hasbro are in bed together on this one.  But it certainly feels like a poor recycling job to me, with 50 Farm Cash thrown in as a “Digital Value for Parents Inside!”  I suppose at least they are pretending to feed adult addiction to the game rather than overtly suggesting the kids go log on and play.

Of course, in looking this up, I found that Hasbro and Zynga have recycled a few other classic games with a FarmVille theme.

I would add that there is even a CityVille version of Monopoly… but what brand hasn’t gone for their own version of Monopoly at this point?

With the Empire Crumbling, What of Darth British? October 25, 2012

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment, Facebook.
Tags: , , ,
3 comments

Zynga’s Emperor Palpapincus had only just recruited Lord British, turning him into Darth British (yeah, I decided to go with that just to keep things simple), with the promise of teaching him the dark arts of monetization and giving eternal life to half-baked cow-clicking games.

You’re right Mark, these helmets are great!

In the words of recently turned gaming jedi:

“Not just Zynga’s, but lots of social games use monetization strategies that, as a hardcore gamer, I find offensive, frankly,” Garriott admits. “I really don’t like games that constantly pester me to pay. I find it radically interferes with my suspension of disbelief. So, I’m devoted in the Ultimate RPG game to finding novel monetization strategies that don’t offend me like some of these do. Yet, it’s still really important to learn those lessons, and there’s no better place to learn them then by having Zynga as a partner.”

Richard Garriott de Cayeux (Darth British), on his partnership with Zynga

How often has a hero fallen in an attempt to learn the tricks of his foe by becoming what he opposes?  It certainly seems to come up a lot in juvenile pulp novels, so clearly it is a menace.

Failing to heed the warning of… well… many people… that once you start down the dark path with Zynga, forever shall it haunt your resume, the newly minted Darth British swore fealty to a new master.

And then, as the recruitment of this gaming luminary was nearly complete, Zynga totally took a dump on the living room floor.

There were $52 million in losses, layoffs, and the whole “EA is pissed and coming to sue you” dimension to what can only be seen as a setback for the Zynga empire.

Emporer Palpapincus issued a statement declaring, “While the last several months have been challenging for us, Zynga remains well positioned to capitalize on the growth of social gaming.”  He was then heard to mutter something about the second FarmVille being “fully operational” and there being “no civility in gaming, only ARPU” as he stalked off.

Which leads us to the next cliff hanger.

What course will Darth British choose?  Is he in too deep?  Has he signed in blood?  Has he committed his Ultimate Collector and Ultimate RPG to the fires of the Zynga sweatshop?

And is it ironic that EA, who he was totally trying woo… at least in the press… not only thwarted his Ultima aspirations, but has taken up arms against Zynga?

For whom will our hero(?) show a fondness next?

Question of the Day – What Will Lord British’s Sith Name Be? September 28, 2012

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in Casual Games, entertainment, Humor.
Tags: , , , ,
9 comments

The more I think about this, the more the Anakin Skywalker / Richard Garriott de Cayeux parallel fits.

So here we are.  As I posted yesterday, Lord British acknowledges that Zynga is evil, or at least really annoying.  And since they are annoying not only purpose, but to their own material benefit, how does one distinguish that from evil? (See Tobold definition.)  And what is the Lord British response?

I’ll use this knowledge for good!

Knowing the truth, and even acknowledging it publicly and repeatedly, Lord British has still partnered with, and has been accepted as the apprentice of, a card carrying Sith Lord, the man who has admitted in the past that the ends clearly justify the mediocre means (the ends being increasing his wealth and power, as opposed to, say, making good games), Darth Pincus.

(Not to be confused with Greg Pincus, though the methods may sound similar.)

In the words of Lord British, when reflecting on the evil of Zynga:

Yet, it’s still really important to learn those lessons, and there’s no better place to learn them then by having Zynga as a partner.

Holy crap!

As a rabid consumer of crap science fiction and fantasy in my youth… and my relative youth… and, well, into middle age frankly… I know that this can only end one way.

Offensive monetization strategy? Sounds great!

So the immediate next question for me is, what name will Darth Pincus bestow upon his new apprentice?

And here is where things get a bit fuzzy, as the whole Sith naming structure is pretty opaque to me.  Do they have some deeper meaning?  Are they some sort of subtle mockery of their past, pre-Sith life?  Are they just supposed to sound badass so as to strike fear into their enemies and make it easier for movie goers to figure out who the bad guy really is when they are off screen?

So I can only guess how Lord British will be restyled once his transformation has begun.

Darth BritanniaVille?

Darth CosPlay?

Darth SoyuzVille?

What do you think it will be.  Who will rise up to cast down Darth Pincus and redeem our misguided hero?  And will George Lucas get involved somehow and screw the whole thing up?

This whole thing needs a web comic or something.  And a better version of Darth Vader’s head pasted on Lord British.  I was short on time before work this morning.

Quote of the Day – Lord British and a Fondness for Zynga September 27, 2012

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment.
Tags: , , , ,
5 comments

“Not just Zynga’s, but lots of social games use monetization strategies that, as a hardcore gamer, I find offensive, frankly,” Garriott admits. “I really don’t like games that constantly pester me to pay. I find it radically interferes with my suspension of disbelief. So, I’m devoted in the Ultimate RPG game to finding novel monetization strategies that don’t offend me like some of these do. Yet, it’s still really important to learn those lessons, and there’s no better place to learn them then by having Zynga as a partner.”

Richard Garriott de Cayeux, on his partnership with Zynga

I suppose we will see who ends up corrupting/influencing who in this partnership.

How are things with Mark Pincus?

Lord British and his company, Portalarium, teaming up with the foundering “Ville” magnate made the news a while back.  I hope he learns the right lessons for his Ultimate RPG.

I guess he must be pretty happy now that EA and Blizzard “let” Zynga have the casual market… such that it is.

Lord British and Zynga – A Match Made In… September 7, 2012

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment, Facebook.
Tags: , ,
add a comment

I am really having trouble completing that sentence… CrazyVille?

All systems go!

So, according to a very short piece at Gamasutra, Zynga, whose wave of mindless click games has crested and begun crashing to the point that it is bringing Facebook down with it, and Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the once mighty Lord British, who is getting pretty deep into the “what have you done lately?” column these days, are teaming up around the Portalarium game Ultimate Collector to bring it to Facebook, Zynga’s new self-run platform, and to a TV show hosted by Garriott de Cayeux himself?

My first thoughts were “April Fools,” followed quickly by “rebound affair after being jilted by EA and EA rubbing his face in it.”

But I think I have to go with this response:

In what “Ville” do you think this belongs?  And where does his Ultimate RPG end up living?

Zynga and Martha Stewart – Two Brands Racing to Jump the Same Shark? March 28, 2012

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment, Humor.
Tags: , ,
6 comments

I really just don’t know what to think of this.  It is like I don’t want to see it, yet cannot look away.

Martha Stewart comes to CastleVille!

A bit more information is available at GameInformer,  where I first saw this story.  But what else really needs to be said.  I unblocked CastleVille on Facebook just to go see if it was true.

All that is left is the discussion as to who is benefiting the most from this relationship.

On the bright side, I suppose I should be happy that they are being up front in making it clear that Martha is somebody distinct from the group of people you know as your friends.

Items from the Mail Bag – Whole Lotta Press Releases Edition October 24, 2011

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in blog thing, entertainment, Mail Bag.
Tags: ,
add a comment

Once again we look into what has show up at the blog email address that didn’t warrant a post of its own, wasn’t a 419 Scam, or wasn’t an entry in the Azeroth Travel Poster contest.

  • Anthony from Gamingo sent me a note asking if it was alright to put me on his press release distribution list.  Being surprised that somebody actually asked in advance, I said yes just to encourage such behavior.  Unfortunately, a lot of his press releases have a short shelf life, while I only do this once a month, so a number of items I received won’t get any mention.
  • Vizo over at Mediocre Gamer dropped me and a few other bloggers a line to tell me that he and some other people have started up a new blog called Mediocre gamer.  So there.  Probably more mention than he got out of anybody else on the list.
  • WXP Games sent me an offer to get a review copy of Xotic for myself and my editorial staff (i.e. myself).  I declined via an apathetic non-response.  I was a bit surprised (and annoyed) that they did not include any links with this email aside from the one to their Facebook page.  What if Facebook had finally gotten around to banning me?
  • Gamingo sent me a press release to tell me that their game Cultures, which sounds like a build, explore, conquer sort of browser game is popular in both Europe and Chine.  Not so much in North America I would guess then.
  • Beau sent out a message to the MMO Voices mailing list that he is facing the decision to either shut it down or transfer the ownership to another individual.
  • Serendipitously, Zynga sent me a message the same day asking me to come back and play CityVille.  If I read the message right, it suggests that if I build an arena, Enrique Iglesias might show up.  Euphoria?
  • Riot games wanted to inform me that my League of Legends account has been inactive for a long stretch.  If I do not log in before October 30th, they will free up my display name for use by other players.  So if you were aching to be known as Wilhelm IV, you chance approaches.
  • Club Penguin wants me to know that their Halloween related events are starting.  However, Club Penguin is still a bad word for somebody in our household who still harbors shame and resentment at the whole past affair with them.  There must be a gene for passing on grudge holding abilities.
  • And, as with last month, the final mail bag update is from Jason Scott, who sent out an email about how he is now within striking distance of his Kickstarter goal to fund his planned documentary three pack, with less than $5,000 of the $100K target left to raise.  That means I am going to have to play up soon, but that is okay. (Between the time when I wrote this and the time I posted it, Jason Scott passed the $100K mark.  So his three new documentaries should be under way… in fact, he was already doing interviews for one based on how well things were going.)

Does Anybody Else See the Resembelance? October 9, 2011

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in entertainment, Facebook.
Tags: , , ,
7 comments

Every time the little “recruit your friends” request comes up in Empires & Allies, the picture that comes with it…


… makes me think, “I really don’t know Gabe Newell.”

I mean, the resemblance isn’t exact or anything.


But I cannot help wonder if somebody at Zynga is having a little joke.

Items from the Mail Bag – Everybody Wants Some Edition September 27, 2011

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in blog thing, entertainment, Mail Bag.
Tags: , , , , ,
4 comments

Another look into the TAGN in box to see what has come my way in the last month or so.  Nobody wants to write a post for my site or come write for their site this month.

  • Raptr wants me to tell me about all the statistics they have about ‘ville games in their Raptr Report on Zynga Games.  One of the things they note is the high conversion rate of players from one ‘ville game to another.  Is that a good thing?
  • Zynga wants me to please come back and play FarmVille.  They need to read the Raptr report above.  I have long since converted through other Zynga games.  I am currently at Empires & AlliesVille, and there is no going back.  Ever.  For me at least.  I am Tom Joad, traveling west to the promised land of California.
  • Zynga, taking the opposite tack, also wants me to come play their new-ish game, Adventure WorldVille.  At least somebody gets the whole conversion direction thing there at Zynga.
  • Outspark wants me to know that Luvinia Online is out of open beta, online, and the race to level 78 is on!  Just what I needed.  Has anybody been waiting for this?  It looks very Anime.  Somebody tell Darren.
  • BlogTopSites.com wants me to know that as a registered user, I can also get on their Bloglog.com listing.  While I tinkered with their site at one point, and even had their chicklet on my side bar for a while, I decided being listed against sites promising “Club Penguin Cheats!” and what we would have referred to back in the BBS days as “waerz sites” probably was not in my best interest.  So we’re done with that, but I am still on the mailing list.
  • Merle Klein, the SEO specialist at Bigpoint GmbH, wants to do a link exchange between this site and three of Bigpoint’s game sites, Drakensang, Farmerama (really?),  and Dark Orbit.  Which is kind of strange.  It is like Safeway coming over to my house to discuss a cross-promotion between their chain of grocery stores and the garage sale I am going to hold in two weeks.  While the deal seemed to be much in my favor, I don’t really play the SEO game here.  I’m not that interested in traffic and Google already sends enough people here based on weird search terms as it is.
  • Erika from somewhere around Dallas wants to put a banner ad on my site and wants me to send her a price list.  Since she did not mention what sort of ad, I am going to guess that this is either a scam or that the ad is clearly something I wouldn’t want to post in the first place.
  • Raptr also wanted me to know that they have surpassed 10 million registered users.  Good for them.  I still only have 17 connections on the service and it primarily serves as a warning that I am coming to pee in their bushes in The Sims Social.
  • And finally, Jason Scott, legendary collect of all computer related documentation, founder of The Archive Team,  free range archivist at the Internet Archive, and creator of BBS: The Documentary and text adventure documentary GET LAMP, both of which I totally want to see and actually tried to order but they never got delivered despite Jason insisting they had been shipped and eventually I got my money back but now I am afraid to simply try and order them again lest things go awry again… *breath*… he wants me (and you) to know that he has a Kickstarter pageto help fund three new documentaries he wants to do.The planned topics are the medium of tape (cool), the 6502 Processor (very cool), and video game arcades (cool cool cool).  You can read about his plans, hear about why he needs the money, see how much he has collected so far ($72K at this point), and donate if you would like to help out by going to his Kickstarter pager here.   There are 45 days left to go and the minimum pledge is $10.

 

Items from the Mail Bag – Back to School Edition August 26, 2011

Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in blog thing, entertainment, Mail Bag.
Tags: , ,
2 comments

Time for the monthly look into what has found its way into the inbox of the blog email account that didn’t make it into any other posts.

Surprisingly, I did not get any offers from bots to write spam injected guest posts for the site, nor requests that I send people to read interesting articles not really related in any way to the site.  Instead, this was the take:

  • Zynga sent me a note to let me know they were having a back to school sale on in-game currency.  That one took a second to sink in before I went, “Ah, you think with the kids at school, mom can get back to FarmVille.” (Or is it PioneerVille these days?) That is probably a more canny viewpoint than I care to admit.  I keep thinking, “Who buys currency in these games?”  Then I look at Zynga’s valuation and have to admit it must be a lot of people.
  • 38 Studios and Big Huge Games sent me a notice about Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, which just wouldn’t display correctly in Yahoo mail. But Yahoo mail just forced another update on me recently, so I have no idea who is at fault.  Anyway, the provided a link to view it elsewhere, and the key item for me is that it is shipping on February 7th of next year, and even that is just so I know when to look for other people to post about it.  I have no plans to buy.
  • EverdreamSoft dropped me a line to tell me they are going to release their iPhone game MOONGA on Facebook.  Of course they are.  Never heard of the game, and unless they have a plan it seems likely to sink from sight on Facebook in short order.  Or get knocked off by Zynga.  The game itself appears to be yet another trading card game, so it is probably not for me in any case.
  • Nexeon Technologies, which I initially guessed was some branch of Nexon (it isn’t), wants me to know about updates to their MMO, Face of Mankind.  My first thought was that this must be a new game, quickly followed by a second thought about how we seem to be running out of decent names for games.  But then I looked at the Wikipedia article and found that they chose this name quite a ways back and that it has been live in some form since 2006. (it is on the chart!)  I had never heard of it.  And that name… really?
  • Ibrahim, who operates the site in the UK called PictureOne, wants to do a link exchange.  That is so late 90s.  And I don’t do straight up link exchanges.  My blogroll policy is long, complex, and still incompletely formulated.  Blogrolls are complicated.   I am looking to get a first draft of the policy out in the next couple of years.  (Plus I notice that people view link exchanges as temporary, free to remove from their end once you link to them, like those sell-out bastards at MMO Crunch.  I pulled their link in turn, that’ll show them!) In fairness, at least his site does not appear to be infested with malware like an Italian site that sent me a similar message, and it appears to be about MMOs and gaming.  So good on you, Ibrahim.
  • Firefly Studios wanted to make sure I knew they were going to show Stronghold 3 and Gamescom.  If I read their press release, it differs from console games in that it is medieval based and voiced in bad Ren-Faire accents, though that last bit is just a guess.  Oh, and it is a Windows game, so I am not sure why they brought up consoles games in the first place.  Trying to inflame those PC vs. Console emotions no doubt.
  • Mike at MMO Raid wants a link (there, you got one… another one!) and to let me know I can submit my articles to his site, by which I previously thought he meant write for his site.  Instead he seems to be shooting for the aggregation site thing instead, which means submitting your articles to be listed there.  The site has had more than 900 articles submitted, though they appear to have mostly been submitted by Mike himself, so I would guess he is looking for a little help.    His site looks clean, only clips an excerpt, and directs people back to the original site for the full story, so I guess I can at least declare the site “not a bad thing.”
  • My mom wanted to let me know they are planning a Star Trek themed resort in Jordan.  I am sure that will keep people from overthrowing the king.  Not that King Abdullah II is in the class of, say, Asssad or Mubarak, but he is the richest guy in the country and he wants to spend a lot of money on his rather narrowly focused obsession, which is the sort of thing that might make the average crown subject a bit restive.   Still, live long and prosper, Abdullah II, and good luck on your quest.  (My mom actually sent this to the blog mail account through the form on the About page, so it counts.)
  • And, finally, Bronte wanted to let me know that his comments seem to be getting stuck in the spam filter.  Yeah, it was the spam filter… *whistle*
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 490 other followers