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Stories about: Casual games


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Tetris Executive Says Angry Birds Is Cute, Lacks Long Term Appeal

Angry Birds might be a big hit at the moment, making developer Rovio a lot of money in the short term, but the man in charge of one of the best known franchises in the world of video games believes that it takes time to actually create a franchise that can deliver long term success.Speaking to IndustryGamers, Henk Ro...

22 December 2011
20:31 GMT

Sony Says Xperia Play and Vita Do Not Compete with Each Other

Sony is selling two gaming capable handheld devices at the moment, the Vita and the Xperia Play phone, but one leading executive says that the two are not competing with one another despite relying on the same PSN service for content.John Koller, who is the director of hardware marketing at Sony, told IndustryGamers ...

21 December 2011
10:38 GMT

Big Fish Games Says Apple Pulled App from Store

Big Fish Games, one of the biggest publishers of small casual titles, has said that Apple has pulled its iOS app from the official Store without giving an official reason for the move and despite a deal earlier in the month that would allow gamers to pay a monthly subscription in order to get access to a number of ti...

25 November 2011
03:40 GMT

Electronic Arts Announces 750 Million Dollars PopCap Acquisition

Video game publisher Electronic Arts has announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase developer PopCap for the initial sum of 750 million dollars, with the deal set to close during the month of August. The publisher says that it will initially pay 650 million dollars in cash to those at PopCap while...

13 July 2011
03:01 GMT

Report: Console Games In Decline, Social and Mobile On the Rise

A new report from research firm Newzoo shows that overall spending by gamers in the United States will reach 21.6 billion dollars for 2011, a slightly lower total than during last year, before growing by about 34 percent during 2012. The report says that the biggest growth will be seen in social gaming, including ...

30 June 2011
10:31 GMT

Big Fish Games Kills Competition on iPad, iPhone

Famous publisher of casual titles, Big Fish Games has been the dominant name over Mother’s Day weekend with their “Mother’s Day for Moms” promotion on iPhone and iPad, the company has announced. The studio claims to have achieved ‘category-leading’ results this past weekend. ...

12 May 2011
08:41 GMT

PopCap Prepares Mature Unpleasant Horse from New 4th & Battery Brand

PopCap Games, a company which defines itself as being the worldwide leader when it comes to casual games (Zynga would probably dispute that fact), has announced that it is launching a new brand for video games, called 4th & Battery, which will focus on smaller and weirder games, testing ideas that could then be incor...

6 April 2011
08:51 GMT

Free Bing Casual Games for Your Entertainment

There’s little doubt that Bing delivers complex experiences for users that span well beyond the traditional role of a search engine. Microsoft’s decision engine is at the same time evolving constantly with a range of new features and capabilities, with an illustrative example in this regard being the summ...

28 July 2010
04:33 GMT

Nintendo 3DS Will Feature More Core Titles

Nintendo seems to really want to close the gap that has formed between the company and its core audience since the Wii's launch with the Nintendo 3DS. The hardware components that power the newly announced device along with Nintendo's support are aimed at attracting as many third-party developers as possibl...

24 June 2010
05:51 GMT

New Truth or Dare Style Party Game from THQ This Fall

Truth or Lies, a new party video game, has recently been announced by THQ for all the three major game consoles, the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, this fall. In this new title, gamers will be joined by their friends and family for a truth-or-dare type of gameplay that the developer promises will c...

21 May 2010
05:32 GMT

Holiday Season Brings 20% off Casual Games

Every holiday season is filled with rebates, but this year’s global economic recession seems to have spurred a larger number of discounts, creating a more hectic schedule for the sales department of every brick-and-mortar store.Game publishers make no exception when it comes to competing for rounder revenue and...

3 December 2009
11:53 GMT

Zuma's Revenge Arrives Next Month from PopCap

Video games are largely reserved for recreational purposes as many people find them a great way to unwind after a hard day spent at the office or doing other things that weren't that fun. But lately there has been an “invasion” of sorts of fun and addictive video games from which we cannot escape not...

21 August 2009
12:41 GMT

Lifetime to Feature Casual Games from King.com

With traditional entertainment avenues struggling for viewers and revenue, more and more are turning to the Internet as an alternative source of income. At the same time the gaming industry has so far managed to stay clear of the ill effects of the current economic conditions. So bringing those two together makes sen...

4 August 2009
09:30 GMT

Blizzard Hires PopCap Exec, World Domination Imminent

In a move that will threaten the productivity of the whole wide world, it seems that World of Warcraft developer Blizzard has hired former Xbox Live Arcade manager and PopCap vice president Greg Canessa and has placed him in an executive position in the company. After managing the Xbox Live Arcade ever since the rel...

12 May 2009
02:51 GMT

All the Details on Peggle on the Xbox Live Arcade

PopCap Games, the company that profits the most from the increased popularity of casual games, has released all the information a player needs related to the launch of its flagship title, Peggle, on the Xbox Live Arcade service provided by Microsoft for gamers who have bought an Xbox 360 console. The videogame is set...

10 March 2009
08:16 GMT

Nintendo Says the DS Won't Saturate the Market

The handheld gaming market is currently dominated by two Japanese products, Nintendo's DS and Sony's PlayStation Portable. While both may seem pretty similar, meaning that they focus only on gaming, their target markets are very different. While the PSP tries to lure in hardcore gamers with popular titles, ...

23 February 2009
02:27 GMT

2K President Says Wii Market Is Filled with Bad Games

The Nintendo Wii is a sales phenomenon and, for the past two years, has almost single-handedly been responsible for the increase in popularity of gaming and the whole industry behind it. The fact that, even after so much time, the console is still meeting huge demand has proven that casual gaming is the biggest segme...

11 February 2009
03:28 GMT

MySims Party and MySims Racing Announced by Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts has just announced that it plans to release two new games in its MySims franchise. The two will be called MySims Racing and MySims Party and will arrive on the Nintendo DS handheld and the Nintendo Wii home console sometime in 2009. Sims 3 is also getting released in the first part of 2009.MySims Part...

8 January 2009
17:41 GMT

Electronic Arts Profits from Hasbro Partnership, Sells 2 Million Units

Electronic Arts is definitely one of the biggest companies in the whole gaming industry, with studios developing titles for every market, be it hardcore or casual. Although the North American company didn't have the best reputation when it came to how it treated its franchises, things are starting to look up, as...

29 December 2008
02:45 GMT

SEGA Is into Casual Gaming

SEGA announces the launch of a website called PlaySega that will allow gamers to play a wide variety of casual titles. Initially, the gaming portal will be available in North America and in Europe. All the games that will be available from SEGA are set to be free of charge. There will be a lot of genres: arcade, word...

10 December 2008
05:35 GMT

Hello Kitty Comes to the Nintendo DS

The day that Hello Kitty fans have been waiting for is finally upon us. The world's favorite mouth less kitten is starring in a Nintendo DS game which has shipped to North American stores, the first step towards domination of the videogaming market. The game is created Empire Interactive and is published by Atar...

12 November 2008
17:51 GMT

Telltale Developer Talks About Episodic Gaming

Telltale Games is one of the leading developers of episodic games, with series such as the very popular Sam and Max, or the new Strong Bad franchise, which is already gaining a lot of fans these days. The company has always stressed the importance of episodic gaming in the casual market and has gained a lot of praise...

3 November 2008
04:39 GMT

Electronic Arts Opens Up Casual Gaming Studio in Texas

Electronic Arts is a big gaming company, with studios and departments for almost every niche of the game market. First there’s the EA Sports Division, which creates titles based on a lot of sports games – from American football to European soccer or basketball, nothing is left unexplored. Then there&rsquo...

17 October 2008
02:39 GMT

Bejeweled Twist Coming in October

PopCap announces that a new game will be launched in the Bejeweled franchise. It will be called Bejeweled Twist and it is the first fresh addition to the series since 2004.Initially, PopCap will only make the game available through its own site and the full unveiling will take place in Seattle, on October 27.Since th...

30 September 2008
03:36 GMT

Girl Gamers Are on the Rise

A new NPD study shows that more and more girls are interested in videogames and especially to online virtual worlds. The main attraction is the built in social element that they exhibit and the fact that they are easy to play.1,541 girls were questioned as part of the study and over half of them claimed that they spe...

26 September 2008
03:05 GMT

Gamecock Launches Casual Games Label

Gamecock Media Group announces it is establishing a new game brand, Upshot, which will begin its publishing activity this fall.The Gamecock brand is said to be focusing now on hardcore games, like the upcoming Legendary, trying to push the envelope in both graphics and in gameplay through the games that it publishes....

25 September 2008
03:55 GMT

Puzzle Your Way Through Peggle Nights

PopCap, the well known developer of casual games that also dabbled in the business of conducting surveys that show how good its own releases are for you, has just  launched the sequel to Peggle, one of the most addictive games of 2007. The new title is called Peggle Nights and you can get it from the developer&r...

19 September 2008
03:30 GMT

Big Fish Games Goes Global

Big Fish Games, one of the most important casual game developers and creator of the Mystery Case Files series, announces that it has attracted $83.3 million dollars in expansion funds from Balderton Capital, General Catalyst Partners and Salmon River Capital. Reuters reports that this is the biggest line of credit ob...

15 September 2008
03:16 GMT

Electronic Arts Teaches Poker with For Dummies Game

Electronic Arts' Casual Entertainment division has announced that it plans to introduce a new franchise of casual games, based on the For Dummies brand created by Wiley Publishing. The development duties will be handled by Beanbag Studios and the games will target the Nintendo DS and the PC.The first release in ...

8 August 2008
02:39 GMT

FunFun Brings More Casual Games to You

If there is one solid competitor against MMO games on PC, that is the casual game genre: they take less time to play than the regular games and they are meant to deliver a relaxing experience rather than a challenge, like the more hardcore titles or MMOs. However, it is a general rule of thumb for these casual online...

4 August 2008
17:06 GMT

Jamie Oliver Cooking Game Coming to the Nintendo DS

There's a huge list somewhere out there of cooking games that have tried to copy the success of Cooking Mama. Moreover, even Cooking Mama has announced sequels and spin-offs aimed at different consoles and meant to bring in more revenue from this particular type of casual game. It goes without saying that, unles...

29 July 2008
14:06 GMT

A New Virtual World Merges MMOs and Casual Games: Moondo

The number of casual gamers keeps growing on a daily basis and developers are striving to keep up with the pace, while trying to create viable solutions to attract as many people as possible. However, we all know that, usually, there are just a few casual game concepts cloned over and over again - and the more copies...

28 July 2008
04:14 GMT

Paramount Develops Pretty in Pink Videogame

Paramount is the latest Hollywood studio to get into gaming. And if you've seen movies like "Clueless", "Mean Girls" or "Pretty in Pink", then you're gonna love the videogame offerings that Paramount will create and distribute. And this is just the first wave of games that comes from the studio. Based on th...

28 July 2008
04:12 GMT

Majesco Announces Bananagrams for Facebook

Casual game publisher extraordinaire Majesco says that it is planning to make a move to Facebook, in an effort to broaden its portfolio of games and to attract a bigger audience. It has chosen developers Rocketbowl and the Shapshot Studio of Large Animal Games to create Bananagrams. The game, due for an August releas...

25 July 2008
03:21 GMT

Zuma - Achievements (Xbox 360)

Zuma is another example of a brilliant and simple idea that has turned into a bottomless sack of cash. The gameplay can entice anyone in a matter of seconds and won't let go for days on end. There are people who spent several days without sleeping just to play this masterpiece. The words of the developer are bes...

14 July 2008
08:30 GMT

Microsoft Says Wii Users Will Graduate to the Xbox 360

In the battle for casual gamers, Microsoft is stepping up its rhetoric, specifically targeting the Nintendo Wii. Aaron Greenberg, the director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live at Microsoft, has told Gamasutra that those using the Wii to play casual games will end up "want[ing] to graduate to an Xbox 3...

7 July 2008
03:06 GMT

Doodle on Your Nintendo DS with Marker Man Adventures

Majesco, one of the best known creators and publishers of casual games, is announcing its new title, Marker Man Adventures, which is being developed by Glyphic Entertainment. It is based on the concept of drawing as a gaming device, making players use their drawing skills to solve certain puzzle and physics challenge...

3 July 2008
02:46 GMT

Analyze That: Europeans Prefer Casual Games

Europeans seem to prefer racing and football games (European football, that is) instead of the first person shooter and adventure action games that Americans love. The tendency towards less violent titles is also reflected in an increased relevance of casual titles.The International Development Group put out some dat...

27 June 2008
14:06 GMT

Casual Games Are Good for You

Is there anyone doubting the above stated fact? And I'm not talking about this kind of games being good for those who obsessively play games, forgetting to eat and sleep, but good for the common people who might play games for no more than 1 or 2 hours a day, on average. A new survey commissioned by the game div...

20 June 2008
19:06 GMT

Ubisoft Launches Sports Party, Goes Wii Exclusive

Ubisoft sends word that it is launching a new division in charge of creating Nintendo Wii titles, with a casual audience in mind and with rather simple gameplay mechanics. The division will be called Play Zone and it already has a videogame under development, called Sports Party.Sports Party seems to borrow a lot fro...

20 June 2008
16:06 GMT

Weekend Reading: My First Week as a Casual Game Hero

My name is Bugsy the Clumsy, the superstar of the recently released casual game Sport Dash. Yes, I know, it sounds strange for a guy named like that to have such a job. Actually, the developers wanted to be funny. Or make fun of a clumsy, overweight fella like me, I don't know. Or they just hired me because my s...

7 June 2008
03:31 GMT

Hasbro Family Game Night Announced

Electronic Arts has revealed that the Hasbro rights it has acquired are being used in the creation of a new videogame experience aimed at the whole family. After announcing that Monopoly would get a new videogame version, the producer is now unveiling the upcoming Hasbro Family Game Night.All the content in the game ...

20 May 2008
14:21 GMT

Subscriptions Bring In 1 Billion Dollars

The NPD, already well known for the sales charts that it puts out every month regarding the console market and the games market, is creating a new report that deals with the online subscription market. The results of the first study of this kind are now out and they paint a very interesting picture of the state of th...

14 May 2008
14:41 GMT

The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes Revealed

There are quite some titles out there using the name of the renowned detective as a hook and most of them really try to bring you an experience as close to the real thing as possible. I'm talking about all the classic point and click adventure games that were released - and you must have tried at least one of th...

8 May 2008
04:11 GMT

Is InstantAction a Revolution in Gaming?

Can an Internet portal which is aimed at hardcore gamers really be successful? Most people will tell you that a hardcore player will stay in his house, surrounded by his Xbox 360 and his PlayStation 3 and play high-end shooters, while the casual gamers have embraced the online portal world and the Nintendo Wii. But i...

7 May 2008
18:06 GMT

Introducing the Popfly Game Creator

Game development, like it or not, remains a territory largely off limits as it involves hard coding. And if this is the general rule, Microsoft offers the exception. The Redmond company has evolved its web and mashup tool in order to accommodate game creation. Now, the fact of the matter is that users won't be a...

7 May 2008
12:51 GMT

THQ Announced Nickelodeon Games

THQ has announced that kids cable network channel Nickelodeon will provide inspiration for a variety of games. THQ also released data to show how the partnership between the two entities has generated 1 billion dollars in sales and has helped ship 50 million game units worldwide.2008 will see a variety of games that ...

6 May 2008
14:06 GMT

Rockstar Vice President Rants on Casual Gaming and GTA IV Violence

After the release of GTA IV, many wanted to interview people from Rockstar to get a reaction from them on issues such as the game's reception, the violence talk in the media related to GTA IV and the general feel of the game.Dan Houser, Vice President of Rockstar Games and co-writer of GTA IV, recently spoke to ...

6 May 2008
03:07 GMT

Casual Games Are Good for You

East Carolina University's Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies has recently announced the findings of a study aimed at measuring the impact playing casual games has on the individual. The results should be taken with a pinch of salt as the study itself was funded by the most successful of casual publish...

29 April 2008
03:54 GMT

Oberon Media Shifting to I-play

Oberon Media, well known as being one of the more successful casual game publishers, has announced that it would be moving its online presence to iplay.com, as part of renaming its publishing division I-play, uniting the publishing operations under the brand of a mobile games publisher it acquired.Oberon describes th...

23 April 2008
14:06 GMT


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