Social Networking Games: Social Gaming Roundup: Trademarks, Poker, Sega, & More

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Social Gaming Roundup: Trademarks, Poker, Sega, & More

Zynga Files for Trademark on “Ville” in Europe — Fusible.com has noted that Zynga has filed for a trademark on the word “Ville” in Europe, this week, at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).

SEGA of America Gets Into Social Games — SEGA of America marks the latest big name game developer getting into social games. The company officially launched its first social title, SEGA PLAY! Baseball earlier this week.

Meteor Games Focuses in On Facebook Games — According to VentureBeat, Meteor Games is changing its company focus. Having originally started with core online games, the developer is now noted to be shifting its focus to Facebook games, with the launch of its new title Serf Wars.

Apple Changes In-App Purchases Policy — Apple has stated that its new iOS 4.3 comes with a new feature to protect against accidental in-app purchases, says The Washington Post. Now, whenever an in-app purchase is attempted, a password will be required.

Zynga PokerCon Announces Full Lineup — Zynga has announced the full poker celebrity lineup for its first ever Zynga Poker event, PokerCon. It will take place on March 18th and 19th at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas and will include Annie Duke, Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Gavin Smith, Antonio Esfandiari, Vanessa Rousso, and Mike Sexton.

Angry Birds Coming to Facebook — It looks like the popular iOS title Angry Birds may be expanding its horizons to Facebook. Though there is no exact date given, a new splash page for Angry Birds can now be found on the social network.

One Developers Experiences on Facebook — There are a number of new startups seeking to find success with their games through the Facebook platform, and the blog from Wild Bunny outlines, in detail, one example of being a new startup on the network.

Hudson to Focus on Social Games — Another developer is shifting its focus to social games this week notes Gamasutra. Hudson Soft, who was recently purchased by Konami, is cutting around 40 employees and is stated to be shifting its focus to creating social games.