Zynga Points To Mobile Growth To Sway Investors

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Right now, Zynga has about 227 million people playing their games, but only about 7.7 million are actual paying customers. Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, trying to woo investors to support the company’s IPO, said that the number of paying customers could double.

While, paying players are less than 3 percent of Zynga’s total userbase, Pincus was keen to point towards the company’s mobile growth. Zynga now has 13 million average daily mobile users, up from 11.1 million in October, with Words With Friends jumping from up to 10 million users now from 2 million in 2010.

Source: Reuters

Look And Talk Like The Lorax

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On the official website for The Lorax, fans can engage on site and iOS devices and show their enthusiasm for the Dr. Seuss classic soon to be a major motions picture. In the Lorax Letter Factory, users can send a ‘stache to one of their friends. Connect to Facebook {page no longer active} or upload an image for your desktop and place a ‘stache on the image. Once completed, share the animated greeting via Facebook or Twitter. The official Lorax App, available via iTunes, allows fans to use the app to speak for the trees! Hold up the phone to your mouth and talk and the Lorax’s mouth and mustache will move along with your voice.

Vitamin Powered Mobile Fun For Kids

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Go Go Kiddo is a mobile device app that delivers a trusted virtual playground for kids 2-5. Go Go Kiddo reinforces the joy of learning by engaging kids in play about letters, numbers and music through a variety of activities, stories and games. Through Go Go Kiddo, kids also discover a number of basic social concepts and develop motor skills via learning activities and engaging animated characters. As kids progress through the experiences in Go Go Kiddo, they unlock more options for play and are rewarded with items such as stickers for a job well done. The App includes a suite of interactive experiences that will delight young children for hours on end, in an environment that reinforces the importance and joy of learning for Android or iOS!

Parents can constantly keep Go Go Kiddo fresh for their child by updating activities with their own photos. Their children can return the favor by sending their creations to Mom or Dad’s Facebook wall with a single touch. Go Go Kiddo’s Stickerbook allows a child to send their artistic creations to a parent’s Facebook page so that they can enjoy what their child has created and then share it with friends and relatives if they choose to do so. The Stickerbook activity also serves as a digital greeting card maker so that kids can easily make cards for family and friends that their parents can send via Facebook.

Epic President Talks ‘Immaturity’ Of Games Business

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Video games have long been an industry of easy-breezy attitudes towards the business half of things. Epic Games president Mike Capps thinks this needs to change, along with sharing of knowledge among the industry.

“Our games industry is shockingly immature from a business perspective, because so few folks have business experience before coming in, or an education for business,” said Capps. “It’s awesome because it’s entrepreneurship gone right, that’s what our industry comes from, and that’s really exciting, but there’s not a lot of sharing, there’s not a lot of great game business ‘how to’ books, so we try to share and people listen to us, for some reason, and we try to learn as much as we can from everybody else and their mistakes. It just seemed like the right thing to do.”

“If you find a bug, you don’t go ‘ha ha ha, that’ll give us an edge on Splinter Cell!’ Because it doesn’t at all and so you share it, because it’s one less thing that Epic has to find and fix and they can focus on something you care more about,” he added. “And you share with the Mass Effect guys and they share with you.”

While Epic has been on the forefront of AAA developers making games for iOS, they’re taking a ‘wait and see’ perspective on the PS Vita for now at least. “We’re not currently making a Vita game, I’m not sure how well it’s going to be accepted in our Western market which is primarily where our games sell,” said Capps. “It’s a really cool platform, but I have a phone, and it’s really hard to compete with that.”

“So I’m not sure if it will be successful or not, I hope they are, it’s good for the games industry, but we got our tech on it really early,” he noted. “We were, I think, one of the very first people to get one and work with it and we were on stage at the launch, because we have a lot of licensees who are curious about it and so we did the first part. But we can’t really fully support that platform unless we’re shipping our own games, that’s how we know we know that platform, and it’s really important for us to do that.”

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

EverQuest II Free Right Now

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Sony Online Entertainment has announced that EverQuest II has officially made the switch over to free-to-play. Now all users can download, install and launch the game without charge. Available free content includes the base game and all expansions up to and including EverQuest II Sentinel’s Fate.

“Since EverQuest II‘s introduction in 2004, our team’s mission has been to deliver a continuous flow of rich content that is both engaging and accessible,” said Dave Georgeson, executive producer of the EverQuest franchise. “The new membership system, game update and expansion are a direct response to our community interaction, and we’re confident that this will take EverQuest II in an exciting new direction.”

To find out more about the three membership levels, Free, Silver and Gold, please check out everquest2.com/free_to_play/game_overview {link no longer active}.

Zynga Settles Dispute With Vostu

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Zynga and Vostu has announced that they have settled the copyright suit between the two companies. The Brazilian oriented Vostu has correspondingly made changes to MegaCity, Café Mania, Pet Mania, Vostu Poker, and Minifazenda and will pay Zynga an undisclosed sum.

“Zynga and Vostu have settled the copyright lawsuits and counterclaims against each other in the United States and Brazil,” said both companies in a joint statement. “As part of the settlement, Vostu made a monetary payment to Zynga and made some changes to four of its games. The parties are pleased to have settled their disputes and to now put these matters behind them.”

Source: Inside Social Games

Xbox Live Dashboard Enhances Netflix

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Netflix has announced that the new Xbox Live Dashboard is designed to enhance the streaming service. There is talk of Kinect allowing for voice and motion control, but in the meantime, browsing options have been enhanced, and it’s easier to resume watching a series of television you’ve been working on.

“For the first time, the Netflix interface on Xbox has been created entirely by Netflix, offering a unique member experience,” said Neil Hunt, chief product officer at Netflix. “The new Netflix interface provides the best experience for watching TV shows and movies on Xbox, with significant improvements in browsing titles and a richer playback experience together with voice and gesture interactions.”

“Together with our partners, Xbox 360 brings all your entertainment, friends and family together in one place,” said Pete Thompson, general manager for Xbox Live at Microsoft. “By teaming up with Netflix to combine the power of Kinect for Xbox 360 we will make the Netflix viewing experience more personal and effortless.”