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Senators have questions for Facebook over in-game payment policies
Recently unsealed court documents revealed that Facebook employees were aware children were running up massive tabs spending money on games. Now lawmakers have some questions for the social networking giant. Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg looking for more details about how Facebook handled game payments.
Facebook willingly let kids spend their parents' money and didn't stop it
Facebook employees recognized that children were running up massive tabs spending money on games but opted not to give refunds, according to Reveal News. The revelation was made as a result of court documents from a 2012 class-action lawsuit filed against Facebook that a federal judge recently ruled to make public.
How Facebook plans to colonize gaming
Facebook is in the middle of a public relations nightmare, caused by reports that research firm Cambridge Analytica used its site to harvest data from 50 million user profiles. But, that's not stopping the company from talking up the potential of its platform, in this case as it pertains to gaming. As part of Facebook's GDC 2018 announcements, it revealed last week that any developer can now make Instant Games, thanks to new tools that let them create HTML5-based web titles for Messenger or the News Feed. Additionally, Facebook has made it easy for devs to build livestreaming features directly into their PC games, without any capture hardware or software required, in a clear attempt to challenge the likes of Twitch and Youtube.
Facebook for iPad's new sidebar wants you to play more games
Love Facebook, but hate your friends' endless invitations to play Farmville? You might not like the social network's latest iPad update. According to the Facebook developer blog, the company is testing out a new sidebar that offers users in landscape mode a sampling of trending topics, videos and other content. Most of this data is fairly personalized -- consisting of upcoming birthdays, events, holidays and recently played games, but there's also a special section reserved for advertising "popular" Facebook games. Fortunately, you aren't guaranteed to see the latter element right away: the column's layout is out based on individual use. If you don't play Facebook games, you might not see advertisements for them.
Facebook releases cross-platform SDK for Unity titles, looks to boost 3D and mobile gaming
If the folks from Facebook and Unity have their way, you -- and everyone you know -- will be playing mobile 3D titles directly on the social network. The two companies have been working together since March to boost user engagement with games on Facebook, and a cross-platform SDK released today should go a long way toward reaching a broader audience. Available for download via Unity's developer site, the new kit lets devs port their mobile games to Facebook.com and integrate social experiences -- such as posting achievements to your Timeline -- into core titles, regardless of whether gamers are on Android, iOS or the web. And the companies are making this process quite easy for devs; bringing titles to several platforms only requires a line of code. A handful of games, including Cmune's UberStirke, Madfinger's Shadowgun: Deadzone and Nival's King's Bounty: Legions, have already incorporated the new SDK, and Unity is no doubt hoping that other devs will follow suit. This isn't the first time the gaming engine has extended a helping hand to developers -- it's been known to drop licensing fees, for instance. Here's hoping this means a wider selection of Facebook titles is just around the corner.
The Daily Roundup for 03.29.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Apple breaks ground for new Oregon data center
After spending the last few months putting together the paperwork and plans for its upcoming Oregon-based data center, Apple has finally broken ground on the project. The company will be transforming 160 acres of area near Prineville, Ore., into two big state-of-the-art data centers, and construction has started just recently. The initial cost of development was only $68 million, though as construction and upkeep go on, the expected cost of the structure is expected to run up to nearly a billion dollars. Not that Apple can't afford it -- the data center will help run associated services like iCloud, iTunes and all of the other various moneymakers the company from Cupertino has going. And of course, Apple picked up plenty of tax bonuses for building in Oregon: The local economy is booming, especially since Facebook has built facilities very close by. Presumably, the center should finally be up and running at some point next year.
SOE unveils The Agency Facebook game, announces The Agency will be at E3
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/SOE_says_The_Agency_will_be_at_E3_reveals_Facebook_game'; Hey, remember that time Sony Online Entertainment trademarked "The Agency Covert Ops" and we all wondered why? Now we know. It turns out that you're going to be able to play The Agency while you wait for The Agency to launch. No, really. Covert Ops, the newest Facebook app from Sony Online Entertainment, serves as a tie-in to the upcoming secret agent MMO The Agency. Don't dismiss this as another boring mafia-style Facebook grind until you check it out, because our friends at Mashable scored an interview with the developers and Covert Ops goes way beyond "ask everyone on your friends list for two nails and a board." Customization is king here right from the start, offering a unique look from the tattoos on your character to their overall living space.
GDC10: Our chat with Echo Bazaar's Alexis Kennedy
We caught up with Echo Bazaars's Alexis Kennedy to ask him about the wildly successful Facebook style game. It's hard to describe, easy to pick up and addictive to play. Picture an underground city populated by murderers, spies and all types of shady characters, add in a unique story and Twitter functionality and you wind up with this little gem. "It's more of a single player experience than I'd like." said Alexis, who is the Chief Narrative Officer for the game. "We are always looking at ways to make it more social, we want to give more direct ways to interact with other people. I want to get as much variety in there as possible. But it's finding the right balance of making somebody's experience unique to them without going crazy trying to cater at every possible stage." But how to combat a player feeling as though his or her experience is devalued by seeing the same thing come up in their friend's streams? "The way to deal with that, really, is just to write more content."
Get your Champions fix on Facebook
Recently we spotted an interesting post from Bill Roper, Design Director for Cryptic Studios' MMO Champions Online. On his Facebook page he showed a slightly blurry picture of a developers booth with the simple caption "GDC 2010: The developers of our Facebook Game." Sure enough you can now play a Mafia Wars style Facebook game while wearing your tightest spandex! It runs in your browser and hooks up to your Facebook account so that you can choose to announce level ups and achievements. You can also invite friends to form a superteam, customize your secret base and even attack other players. Developer Lolapps claims to have "over 40 million active users per month, and has the largest network of social games and applications on Facebook." It looks like they know what they are doing, so it is definitely worth a look. Head over now, make your hero and get to stopping crime!
Flash Games Summit looks at social gaming
The arena of social gaming is a hotly contested one, with two equally enthusiastic schools of thought on whether or not they even count as MMOs. Regardless of your opinion, social gaming is here to stay, and more and more developers are turning their attention to the games (and the profits they potentially represent.) The very nature of social gaming allows development teams to take it in either direction: a distinctly non-MMO direction such as Bejeweled, or the ever-growing MMO format. It's a relatively new and growing market, and several developers sat down earlier today to take a look at it during the Flash Games Summit. Moderator Sana Choudray of Traffichoney led a discussion of what is needed for a successful social game, as well as where they stand now and where they will go in the future. While the developers acknowledged that social gaming is lacking at the moment, they all agreed that it's only going to grow over the next year or two. The full discussion is well worth a read.
PoxNora marches on Facebook
PoxNora, Sony Online Entertainment's CCG/RTS hybrid, has made the jump from browser game to full-fledged Facebook app as of early this morning. The turn-based title, in which players build decks known as Battlegroups and augment their strategies with Runes via the PoxNora web site, can now be accessed directly through the Facebook application interface. You can connect your existing Facebook, Station Access, and PoxNora accounts, as well as share achievements and accomplishments with your friends in game. PoxNora offers free trial play and the ability to purchase, upgrade, and trade Runes as well as options for creating custom Battlegroup decks. Check out the original press release as well as the application.
Survey says: Millions of Euros spent on casual games in 2009
We get it. Who wants to play an X-Station or a PlayBox when tending virtual crops and vanquishing zombie hordes is so much more appealing? At least, that seems to be the case for some Europeans, as the BBC reports players have shown their support for the casual by plunking down hundreds of millions of Euros last year. In Great Britain alone, 13.3 million gamers enjoyed casual titles through various game portals, with 2.4 million of those users actually dipping into their piggy banks to pay while they play. This averages out to a profit of £117 per person per year -- casual gamers alone in Great Britain spent a total of £280 million. It's also reported that gaming on mobile platforms generated £170 million in the UK (which includes all of Great Britain plus Northern Ireland) last year. Other large markets in Europe have also seen significant revenue. France tallied up £220 million in cash from casual gaming throughout 2009, while Germany doubled that total, securing £440 million from its Hasselhoff-loving populace. We guess Germany can finally be known for loving two things!
