Trial Madness 2 on Facebook is addictive, antisocial motocross

Trial Madness 2
Alright, so it's not exactly a social game in the traditional sense. But Trial Madness 2 by Spanish developer Social Point is just plain fun. Sure, you can add your friends and compare times with them--not to mention to global leader boards. And of course you can create a custom player profile and avatar that will display your highest score and currency. But none of this is the main draw of Trial Madness 2.

It's the gameplay.

And while gameplay alone doesn't seem to get social games very far these days, Trial Madness 2 certainly brings it in spades. Not to mention plenty of competition. Check behind the break for our detailed impressions of Trial Madness 2.

Trial Madness 2 gameplay
This balance-heavy biking game doesn't exactly advance the sub-genre of casual gaming, but Trial Madness 2 certainly does add some much need polish to it. The gameplay remains the same: simple to understand, nearly impossible to master. Players navigate a motocross bike across both somewhat normal and at times ridiculous terrain using the arrow keys. The "up" and "down" arrow key accelerate and apply the brakes, respectively. The "left" key leans the bike backward and "right" leans it forward. Throw in some horribly uneven courses and you got yourself what should be a headache.

Let's put it this way: you're going to crash. A lot. But reload times are so quick that I find myself almost pressing the "Retry" button via muscle memory. Trial Madness 2 evokes this almost insatiable need to beat the next level while maximizing points. Completing the level in the least amount of time will surely increase your score, throwing in a few skillful back flips or front flips here and there will rack up the points. To do a flip, just hold in either the "left" or "right" key while in midair, but the key to a successful flip is knowing when to stop. This trial-and-error gameplay (hence the name) is admittedly addictive.

Level Complete!
After every successful level, you'll be given the option to brag through a News Feed post, taunting your friends into trying to beat your time. Turning up the scale on the competition is World mode, which displays the top players globally with their highest score and Gold won from tournaments.

An otherwise meaningless statistic, Gold is used to buy into Tournaments, which offer large Gold prizes and bragging rights. As you might have already noticed, most of the game's social elements are pretty nebulous, deceptively simple features. Tournaments and Gold are both those types of features, offering no more incentive to partake than a chance at the glory of having your face attached to one of the highest scores. Throw in a long list of Achievements to obtain for nothing more than, again, glory, and Trial Madness might be one of the most competitive games on Facebook. But with such shallow social features, only you and the other otherwise anonymous bikers will know anything of it.

Does the Call of Duty maker hope to rock the world of social games?

Activision Blizzard, the publisher of hit shooter series Call of Duty, appears to have a love-hate relationship with Facebook gaming. But that scale appears to slowly be tipping in the lovey-dovey direction. During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick hinted that the company's next move could be a social one, and in a big, big way.

"The exciting thing about Zynga or Facebook as a platform, is they're bringing new audiences to gaming that have never been gamers before," Kotick told Bloomberg. "When you think about that target of a 50 or 55-year-old woman that has never really experienced a game, or someone who's coming in for the first time to play a game with their friends on Facebook, that is a fantastic new platform."

These comments are far more enthusiastic about social gaming than Activision has ever been. While strides have been made to capitalize on the benefits of social gaming with the Call of Duty Elite service, other execs within the company appear even threatened by the prospects of Facebook games. But recently, CFO Thomas Tippl revealed that the shooter king is "methodically investing in mobile and social gaming projects."

"Now, we're never gonna be first guys into those markets, but we usually are the best," Kotick said, closing the interview with Bloomberg on a high note. We'll just have to see how Zynga and EA respond to that. In the video interview below, skip to about 4:30 to hear Kotick's thoughts on Facebook games.

If Zynga's next big 'Ville is 'ForestVille', how will it be any different?

ForestVille
Don't CastleVille and FrontierVille--sorry, Pioneer Trail--already take place in forests? That's about the only question we have, as Fusible discovered recently that Zynga has registered numerous domain names for "ForestVille". The social games giant has registered everything from "Forestville.com" onwards (the real deal belongs to a school district), to "Forestvillegame.com".

According to Fusbile, all of the domain names were registered through Internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, which Zynga regularly uses to acquire domain names. And Fusible points out that Zynga's own "Zynga.com" along with hundreds of other domains representing the company's properties are registered with MarkMonitor. So yeah, this is definitely Zynga.

Zynga has yet to make any announcement regarding such a game, so the company could purely be covering its bases in preparation for a game that doesn't even make it to Facebook. (Ahem, Kingdoms & Quests.) But again, two of Zynga's 'Ville games already revolve around creating communities in the woods, at least indirectly. We can't wait to see how the developer pushes a game centered around just that.

[Via Joystiq]

Would you play a game by Zynga called "ForestVille"? How could this game be different from both CastleVille and Pioneer Trail?

PlayStation Home renovations make 'a true social game platform'

The idea of PlayStation Home was always an intriguing one: Rather than simply log into a service, go to a more literal destination to connect with your game friends. While Home has enjoyed 24 million users worldwide, Sony hasn't exactly capitalized on that healthy player base. Since its launch in 2008, the company has listened to feedback, and here we have the new Home, "a true social game platform," Sony says.

Now, wait a minute, we thought social games were reserved for social networks or at least connected to them. Well, consider this Sony ... redefining the term "social network." The new core of PlayStation Home is the aptly-named Hub, which serves as the main place for PS3 gamers to socialize in real time through their avatars.

This Hub also provides players with quests that span a number of new free-to-play games and community events through the Activity Board. The Hub, as its name implies, also connects players to the various districts of Home:

        Action District: A gathering place for hardcore gamers, the Action District has a gritty, urban feel reminiscent of a first-person shooter level and provides a direct travel point to action and horror games.
        Sportswalk: The Sportswalk has an exciting outside-the-stadium feel with instant major league sports scores, headlines and highlights and sports-themed games.
        Adventure District: At the launch of the PlayStation Home redesign, the Adventure District will present the Uncharted 3: Fortune Hunter total game integration event, providing a third-person adventure experience including a partial recreation of the Yemen level from Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception multiplayer mode and a cover-based shooting system complete with weapons and gameplay inspired by the hit series. Players can unlock content that can be used in the Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Blu-Ray Disc game as well as additional PlayStation Home rewards.
        Pier Park: A waterfront boardwalk leads players to carnival, puzzle, outdoor and arcade games. Take a ride on the Pier Park Ferris wheel or visit the arcade for more games.
        PlayStation Home Theater: The PlayStation Home Theater features an ultra-modern architectural design and hosts a wide range of videos programmed specifically for PlayStation gamers, including episodes of Pulse and Qore, trailers and interviews from the PlayStation Blog, and exclusive user-generated videos in the popular Community Theater.
        PlayStation Home Mall: The PlayStation Home Mall is loaded with thousands of pieces of content from some of the most popular games and entertainment in the world. Shop for PlayStation Home games, extravagant personal spaces, costumes, clothing items and other avatar enhancements, and tons more in the redesigned Mall.

PlayStation Home Cogs
But what sounds most "social" to us are the several new free-to-play games strewn across the new Home. These new games are supported by microtransactions, much like the Facebook games you likely play daily. However, most of these games certainly cater more to the traditional gamer, and here's why:

        Bootleggers '29: Set in the seedy underbelly of the Roaring Twenties, this PlayStation Home exclusive first-person shooter found in the Action District pits cops vs. criminals in a Prohibition-era game of Capture the Cask. Boasting real-time multiplayer action, a variety of vintage weapons and unlockable rewards, and the unique ability to play as your PlayStation Home avatar, Bootleggers '29 is a 100% free-to-play game that introduces a classic narrative to the modern shooter genre.
        PlayStation Home Hold 'Em: A series of backroom poker tables hosted in the brand new Sportswalk district, PlayStation Home Hold 'Em squares players off in a no-holds-barred, winner-take-all battle of the bluffs. Only the best of the best will progress to the high stakes tables and collect all the prizes in this free version of the wildly-popular Texas Hold 'Em card game.
        PlayStation Home Sports Trivia: Test your sports expertise against the PlayStation Home community and unlock a series of themed rewards in this massive sports trivia game, found in the Sportswalk. Packed with over 10,000 trivia questions, this game will challenge the memories of even the most die-hard sports fans.
        RC Rally: Build and customize your own remote controlled car and race against friends over multiple courses, performing stunts and tricks and unlocking numerous upgrades along the way. This fast-paced PlayStation Home original game can be found in the new Pier Park.
        Cogs: A 3D version of Lazy 8 Studios award-winning Steampunk puzzle game, Cogs can be found front-and-center in PlayStation Home's new Hub. Build a variety of machines from sliding tiles and unlock exclusive PlayStation Home rewards in this highly-addictive puzzler.

PlayStation Home RC Rally
The new focus for Sony's PlayStation Home is the games, according to PlayStation Home director Jack Buser. However, we're still hung up on this whole "social" thing. (And not only with Home, but with that PS Vita, too.) Whether Home will better connect players through its increased focus on games will be seen starting tomorrow. PlayStation Home launches on the PS3 on Nov. 3, but until then, tease yourself with this trailer.


What do you think of the new PlayStation Home? How about Sony's overall focus on social through both of its leading consoles?

Rumor: Xbox Live learns from Facebook, free-to-play games incoming

Microsoft may have taken another cue from Facebook. IGN reports that, according to a trusted source, free-to-play games could be coming to Xbox Live as soon as next year. As you already know, the free-to-play, or F2P, pricing model is generally left to Facebook games and MMOs. However, a number of developers including id Software and EA have experimented with the F2P model in the shooter genre. Of course, the free Xbox games would be supported by in-game purchases much like the FarmVilles and Bejeweled Blitzes of today.

It's already known that Dungeon Fighter Online, a F2P MMO for Windows released by Nexon last year, is in the works for Xbox Live. While a pricing model has yet to be announced, rumors like this flying around point to the same F2P distribution method. This and the recently leaked Microsoft video detailing future plans for Xbox all but confirm the rumor, though an official statement would be nice. And how do most F2P games, including social games, makes lots of money? By spreading the word through social channels, of course. If this truly is where Xbox Live is headed, social games could take over consoles. And Microsoft will usher them right in.

[Via Afterdawn]

Could you see F2P, or even social games, coming to Xbox Live? Would you play FarmVille over Xbox Live if you could?

Can social games improve schools? Zynga CEO Mark Pincus thinks so

Could you imagine earning points, badges and levels for good grades in school instead of just a boring letter or number? Zynga CEO Mark Pincus seems to think that this method could improve kids performance in school, as the FarmVille creator has recently given some financial oomph to Grockit, VentureBeat reports. This new San Francisco-based startup, which applies addictive social game mechanics to school work, has partnered with a high-profile charter school network known as KIPP to bring gamified SAT and ACT test preparations to three of its schools in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

VentureBeat reports that, because the Grockit platform is secure, it's a fine fit for the KIPP network, not to mention that Grockit can provide personalized instruction based on users' strengths and weaknesses. VentureBeat predicts that, if successful, the partnership could create a massive, online SAT/ACT preparation game for KIPP students nationwide.

And according to Grockit CEO Roy Gilber, the company is working on creating high school course programs, a place that some would argue is crying for change. Whether social game mechanics will improve students' interest and performance in school is something we won't see the results of for some time, but we gotta' try something, right?

Why do you think Mark Pincus is interested in such a program? Do you think social game elements are applicable to education? Will they make a positive or negative change?

Facebook updates formula for active users, player numbers plummet

Just before the weekend, Facebook threw everyone for a loop with a new approach to calculating just how "active" monthly active users are of its thousands of apps, namely social games. And as a result, the numbers of monthly active players of just about every Facebook game and developer have dropped significantly. And we say "significantly" because of Facebook's reasoning behind the change.

"Given that most apps work this way, we're changing our active user figures for Apps on Facebook to publicly report the number of users that authenticate with the app," Facebook's Rushi Desai writes. "We believe this shift from "visitors" to "authenticated users" more accurately reflects the usage of an application, and it brings our measurement methodology for apps into alignment with how we measure engagement on Facebook."

What Facebook is essentially saying is that it is no longer counting the users who visit an app or game's Canvas, but refuse to authenticate the app and leave the page before ever entering the game. Instead, Facebook will now only count the amount of users that actively log into the app or game per month.
CityVille MAU
The company goes on to say that the one-time drop will result in a perceived decline in the number of active users of its many social games and apps, but the number of users actually engaging with the apps is unchanged. But that's just it: Regardless of whether the same rough portion of players have been "actively engaging" with games like CityVille this month, this still means that nearly 20 million people merely visited the app in the last month and did not play the game. And that goes for not just CityVille, but Facebook games across the board.

This is certainly a positive change for all, as it promotes a more accurate measure of just how many players are actually playing these still-massive social games. However, the change reveals how many players are actually logging into these games every month as opposed to merely visiting. And no matter how you slice it, the numbers are smaller than previously imagined.

[Via Inside Facebook]

[Image Credit: AppData]

Do you agree that this new measure is revealing as to just how many active players there are of most Facebook games? Do you think this change will help or hurt Facebook game developers in the long run?

Infographic: 35 percent of social gamers never played video games

Of course, the infographic finds that Facebook is the dominant social game platform, with 83 percent of social gamers using the social network to get their daily farming fix. What's most interesting is the finding that 28 percent of U.S. and UK-based social game fans have paid real money for virtual currency. This is leaps and bounds beyond usual the 3 to 5 percent figure thrown around to estimate the amount of paying social gamers

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.

Bubble Witch Saga pops on Facebook, King.com hits 900M players

If games like Bubble Bobble have taught us anything, it's that sometimes there's nothing more relaxing than popping bubbles. Casual and social game developer King.com knows this all too well, and has released its second bubble-bursting game on Facebook, Bubble Witch Saga. This new game is a socially-enhanced port of one of the top five most popular games ever on King.com (the casual games website of the same name), King.com Director of Product Performance, Social and Mobile, Lars Jornow told us.

The game features more levels than ever with 70 unique stages, new booster power-ups available for Facebook Credits and a deeper storyline than before. Players assume the role of an aspiring witch who wishes to join the proverbial circle of three. In order to impress the witches, you must burst the bubbles by matching three of the same color to fill their cauldron with magic goop. I mean, who knows what witches put in those things?

Bursting the bubbles will get the cauldron below bubbling, as witches are so wont to do. Each successful match causes spiders to drop from the ceiling. The more spiders you have when you burst enough bubbles, the more points you'll get (and hopefully stars), as the spiders will act as bumpers for the remaining bubbles and increase your chances of scoring big.
Buggle Witch Saga concept art
Completing each level with the most stars possible will help you reach new uncharted parts of a vast forest in your quest to become the fourth witch of the circle. Players can invite their friends to the game to help restore their lives if they fail to clear a difficult level, and later in the game they will need more friends to unlock new levels to play.

Bubble Witch Saga takes an interesting spin on the bubble-bursting sub genre of casual and social games, with its semi-realistic art style that's delightfully reminiscent of the unforgettable Halloween flick Hocus-Pocus. While the game already has six episodes (with about 10 levels each) of content, Jornow tells us that more content is already in the works.
Bubble Witch Saga gameplay
Not to mention that the game will hit mobile devices later this year. King.com also announced that it has surpassed 900 million monthly active players across all of its platforms. Granted, that's thanks to its over 200 games total, but an impressive feat nonetheless--though, the company does say that it has beat PopCap in monthly players on Facebook, according to AppData. Bubble Witch is available for play now on Facebook, so have at those bubbles, my pretties. (I promise that's the last time I say "my pretties" here ... whoops!)

Click here to play Bubble Witch Saga on Facebook Now >

Are you excited to kick back and blow up some bubbles once again? What do you think of this game so far, and the bubble-bursting sub genre of casual or social games? Share with us in the comments. Add Comment.