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Friendster reborn as a gaming site, wishes Facebook cared
Friendster's as good as dead to the western world (it hasn't really crossed our radar since 2002), but Forbes reports that the site is still huge in Southeast Asia -- though not for the reasons you might think. It was the original social network when in launched in 2002, but its acquisition by e-payment provider MOL Global in 2009 led to its reincarnation as a top online gaming destination for countries such as India, Indonesia and Malaysia. The new Friendster just officially emerged from beta as a game-centric site, and the remaining vestiges of its social networking past -- you can still add friends, after all -- are gamified with reward points. Moreover, owner MOL Global has added e-payments to the mix, letting users buy Friendster Coins to purchase virtual goods. Given predictions that the Asian gaming community will exceed 1 billion by 2016, the site's future is looking rosier than ever. That might lessen the sting of being plum blown out of the social networking game by the big dogs.
Microsoft Flight reinvents itself as free-to-play simulator (video)
Microsoft's Flight Simulator has long prodded gamers to splash out on hardware upgrades and insane joysticks. Like Madonna, it's reinvented itself for the 21st century as a single-named free-to-play game for those who want to zoom around the skies of Hawaii. The company will make its money by selling premium add-ons including new aircraft and "adventure packs." The game is now ready for download (at the source link) and, if it proves popular, Redmond should expect a nice gift basket from AMD and NVIDIA this Christmas.
Logitech blob-jumping advergame actually good
When it comes to online advertising games, our expectations are decidedly low. Basically, if it's better than whack the fly, we're impressed. Those low standards notwithstanding, Logitech's Jelly Jump is actually pretty good.It seems incredibly simple at first -- just use the arrow keys to jump around an on-screen keyboard, hitting the green keys as quickly as possible. But a variety of hazard keys and some clever level design means the action gets tough pretty quickly. The game automatically saves your progress for a later play session, which is good, because getting the best scores on all 50 levels might take a while.Sure, there's a coupon for Logitech keyboard if you get through the first ten levels, but we would play this game even without the promise of a good deal. And for an advertising game, that's saying something.[Thanks stupidiot]
