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Merriam-Webster announces Dictionary API for developers, coming to a word game near you
Merriam-Webster just announced its new Dictionary API, which gives developers access to the full dictionary and thesaurus, along with more specialized content like medical, Spanish, ESL and student-targeted vocabulary lists. The API will let app makers integrate word definitions, etymologies, audio pronunciations and more. While this content will no doubt make it into a slew of educational apps, Merriam-Webster says it will also enhance word games, so maybe Scramble and Words with Friends will finally start accepting those obscure three-letter words you have up your sleeve.
Game-related startups raise $600 million in 2009, down 36%
Game-related startup companies raised $600 million throughout 2009, according to GamesBeat's analysis. And while $600 million is a lot of money if you're, say, trying to sell a shooter based on the art of modern warfare, it's not quite that much when you're an up-and-coming game developer. Total investments in the field were actually down by 36% since last year. That's not a bubble bursting, but it does mean that startup investors might be a little more careful with their money in the year to come. The biggest winners in the scene include Zynga, makers of Mafia Wars and a few other popular Facebook titles, who nabbed a big $180 million investment from a Russian technology company, and Playdom. You may not have played Sorority Life, the company's MySpace hit, but Lightspeed Venture Partners must have, because it invested $43 million in the company. If there's a theme here, it's social networking and online games: PopCap is probably the highest traditional game developer on the list, but even its $22.5 million investment was marked for putting its games on the web, mobile platforms, and social networks. Of course, that pull doesn't include the buck we gave them for Peggle.
iPhone It In: Word Scramble
This is the sort of game that makes writing about the iPhone platform daunting, but exciting. Just a week after I heaped praise on Word Fu, I discovered Word Scramble, a game with a similar premise that I actually enjoyed a lot more.Just like in Word Fu, you're given a selection of letters (this time a standard grid rather than cubes) and you have to make as many words out of them as you can in a few minutes. It lacks the power-ups of Word Fu, which robs a little bit of excitement, but it also makes you feel like you only have yourself to blame for low scores.
Zynga bringing Scramble Live to iPhone
If you've spent any time on Facebook, you've probably stumbled across friends playing the word-finding game Scramble. Now, finally, you'll be able to get your fix without being bombarded with pictures of friends' babies and invitations to socially-aware rallies! The company behind the super-popular title, Zynga, announced today that it'll be bringing the game to the iPhone with Scramble Live.Even if linguistic hunts aren't up your alley, you have to be interested in the multiplayer portion of the game, which lets you play against iPhone and Facebook users in real-time. It's a smart way of adding multiplayer, and a method we wish more iPhone devs would take advantage of. A better explanation of the game can be found after the break, or you can throw caution to the wind and pick it up for the limited time price of $2.99.
Scramble now available on Xbox Live Arcade
Scramble is not Lumines Live. Now that we've accepted that, let's consider the once delayed 1981 shooter and why you might be inclined to spend 400 MS points ($5) on it. Clearly, its educational value with regards to the many dangers of spaceship travel (observation: everything is out to kill you) is unsurpassed, but the core gameplay is quite easily sussed out. Scramble is a very basic and very traditional shooter -- more than enough description for shooter fans to show interest and everyone else to write it off as old hat. As with Konami's other Xbox Live Arcade releases (like the excellent Time Pilot from two weeks ago), the download includes updated graphics and sound, online matches, achievements and scoreboards. Microsoft should be announcing the next round of Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays within the next week. Hold on to your plummeting, musically inclined blocks until then.
Scramble delayed, have some UNO instead
Scramble, Konami's arcade shooter that was slated to hit Xbox Live Arcade today, has been delayed. According to the press release that arrived in our inbox, the game hit some bumps during the certification process. As such, the boys in Redmond are giving it an extra week to iron out the kinks. So, whatever will we do with our empty Wednesday? Grab the new PGR3 theme deck for UNO, of course! Depending on who you ask, it might actually be more exciting than Scramble.Anybody grab the deck yet? Any spiffy cards?
25-year-old XBLA game delayed by a week
In a moment that's sure to elicit a grin or an unstoppable urge to fling your retinas into the back of your head, a game that was released in 1981 has somehow managed to be delayed for a week in the year 2006. Konami's side-scrolling shooter, Scramble, was all set for release this Wednesday when Microsoft's elite and possibly overworked team of testers concluded that the game simply wasn't ready to hit Xbox Live Arcade. The official word reveals that "during the final testing and certification of the title, we discovered some minor issues that should be addressed. Therefore, we are going to take an extra week and fix these items to ensure a high quality game experience for all when the title does launch on its new date of Wednesday, September 13." This isn't the first time the weekly XBLA release schedule has had to make due without a new game -- this week's replacement is a Project Gotham Racing 3 UNO deck priced at 100 points ($1.25 in non-funny money). As exciting as theme decks and picture packs may be, the consistency of game releases has been somewhat shaky so far. Let's hope future XBLA Wednesdays don't have more games taking XBLA sick days. Har.[Thanks Matt!]
Free Poker next week
Sure, the only Live Arcade item we're getting this week is Cloning Clyde pictures, but next week we get free poker. That's right, folks, Texas Hold 'em will be free after all (thanks to the most pathetic petition ever?). There's a catch, though. You've got to download the game within the first 48 hours of its availability. Which brings us to an important question. What happens if the download starts in the first 48 hours but then hangs at 99%? Is it still free? Hopefully, none of us will have to find out. What's more, it looks like our previous report on the upcoming lineup of games was right on the money. Texas Hold 'em (Free, see above) will hit on August 23rd, followed by Time Pilot (400 points) on August 30th, and Scramble (400 points) on September 6th. And Lumines? September 13th we hope. [Via Joystiq. Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
More XBLA lovin', Time Pilot, Lumines!
For those of you who missed it on Joystiq, the Official Xbox Magazine (UK) revealed the next batch of games for Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays. The list reads thusly: Aug. 16: Texas Hold 'em Aug. 23: Time Pilot Aug. 30: Scramble Sept 6: Lumines Live! Hmm...two (arguably) obscure retro arcade titles sandwiched by Texas Hold 'em and Lumines Live! Not bad at all. While few will doubt the appeal of card games or the wonderfully addictive Lumines, one must wonder how well Time Pilot and Scramble will do. Any fans of these retro classics out there?Bonus points for anyone that can point out the connection between Konami's Time Pilot and Capcom's XBLA smash hit, Street Fighter II.[Via Joystiq]
'XBLA Wednesdays' looks to keep rolling, Konami leading the charge [update 1]
Club Skill reports that OXM has published the list of Xbox Live Arcade titles scheduled for release on Wednesdays through September 6: Aug. 16: Texas Hold 'em Aug. 23: Time Pilot Aug. 30: Scramble Sept 6: Lumines Live! I gotta admit, I have a soft spot for Konami's Time Pilot. Back in the early 80s, that joint was in heavy rotation on my older brother's ColecoVision. But I digress ...With Frogger out, and Time Pilot & Scramble on the horizon, the Konami classics are starting to make their mark on XBLA. So where's Contra? And what's this about Symphony of the Night? What up with those Turtles![Update: redirected link to OXM directly.]
