ESPNU College Town enjoys South District and balancing from recent update

ESPNU Venues
If this most recent update to ESPNU College Town is any indication, the folks at Playdom are listening. Based on player feedback, the studio has changed the event timers to all sporting events so that they all complete in the same time regardless of division--their only differences now are the payout between Divisions (Division I events will always pay most) and the event timers for each different sport. According to a forum post accompanying the update, Playdom plans to release shorter events soon to give players more options.

Finally, the team has made Entertainment venues like the recent Windows 7 Tech Lab put out double the cash, making these buildings much more useful. Most importantly, there is now a third district to expand into: the South district. However, this will be invisible to you if you're below Level 12. Oh, and Playdom also fixed the friend request system so that it actually works, but who needs those?

Quote of the Moment: Thank Zelda for Zynga's big success

"[C]ompanies like Zynga, Playdom, and Playfish .... are tapping into the historic user experiences gamers obtained from systems like the Odyssey, Atari, and NES. Their look and feel is reminiscent of the 8-bit, low-fidelity standard of that earlier time, and their simple, but addictive style of gameplay recycles the interaction design models of original favorites like Asteroids and Zelda. [G]ames like Mafia Wars combine the nostalgic feeling of historic games like Dragon Warrior (1986) with the new frontier of social connectivity. This creates a very powerful psychological connection between users and, ultimately, a very large fan base."

Vador News' Bryan McClain says FarmVille-maker Zynga and its peers are harnessing the addictive power of classic game mechanics to fuel the social gaming revolution.

Do you think Zynga games like Mafia Wars and FarmVille are popular due to their simple game mechanics -- or does having a built-in social experience make all the difference?

Playdom will pull the plug on Social City next month

I hate to say it gamers, but it was only a matter of time. After launching Social City on Facebook back in the Spring of 2010, Playdom's city-building game skyrocketed in popularity and for a time sat on the top charts for most popular Facebook games. That popularity declined quickly however, and the game has continued to hemorrhage users up until now, with the game currently resting at just 270,000 monthly active players (20,000 daily active players, according to AppData).

While new content is still regularly pushed out for the game, one could argue that CityVille's release last year was the final straw for what would break its chance of a revival. It may have put up a hard fight, but Playdom is finally saying goodbye to its city-builder. Via emails that have now started circulating to players, we see that the game will officially close on December 20, 2011. There's no mention as to what will happen to any remaining City Bucks, the game's premium currency, but the ability to purchase more has seemingly been removed from the game (you'll receive an error message when attempting to go to the "Get City Bucks" page).

We can only assume that the reasoning behind the closure has been the mass exodus of players, along with any revenue they might have been providing, but Playdom is attempting to save existing players by advertising Gardens of Time and Gnome Town in the same breath as this closing announcement. "Unfortunately we feel the game has run its course," the email reads. "As we release new games, we hope to have your continued support and patronage!"

It's been fun Social City. Thanks for the memories.

Were you one of the faithful players that still latched to hope for the game's resurgence, or had you long ago abandoned the game for Zynga's CityVille or other city-builders on Facebook?

Idle Games shows first game Idle Worship's true social colors [Video]

Since co-founding social game hit maker Playdom, Rick Thompson has grown tired of the friend bar beneath Faecbook games. No, scratch that: He's grown tired of the way traditional Facebook games operate ... period. His contempt for this arguably tired form of Facebook game has helped spawn Idle Games and its first ever Facebook game, Idle Worship.

We first heard word of the potentially revolutionary social game way back in April, and Idle Games has launched the game into a closed beta test before presenting it to the audience of TechCrunch Disrupt, an event in San Francisco celebrating tech startups ran by TechCrunch. The overall gameplay of Idle Worship hasn't changed since we first heard about it, but now we have fancy video that reveals more of what the game is all about.

Through Idle Games's Idle Engine, Idle Worship does away with the friend found in almost all social games. Instead, your island of Mudlings (the people you oversee with either benevolence or tyranny) will be surrounded by not only your friends' islands, but players' islands based on how their Facebook profiles match up with your own.

Going even further, the game will slowly curate which of your friendships are stronger by bringing more active friends closer to your island, which is always at the center, and pushing your inactive friends away from your island. And, according to Idle Games CEO Jeffrey Hyman, your interactions with your friends will send ripples throughout the entire game in real time.

Through innovations like these, Hyman aims for Idle Games to become "the Pixar of casual games," according to TechCrunch. To better understand what we mean, check out Hyman's presentation below, and sign up for the ongoing closed beta test of the game right here.



Do you plan on signing up for the closed beta test of Idle Worship? What excites you most (or doesn't excite you) about the game? Sound off in the comments. 2 Comments