14 DAY TRIAL // Namco Bandai has generated quite some traffic in relation to Facebook. Thus, the company has decided to take advantage of the gaming potential of the very popular social network and released two Facebook-integrated games, with classic Pac Man and Dig Dug leading the charge that is set to include more games in the near future. The games use Facebook in order to record achievements for each player and create leaderboards that track scores.
The problem is that neither runs directly from the browser the player is using in order to access the social network. Instead, those interested in playing either Dig Dug or Pac Man have to download an application to actually get to the game.
Of course, Facebook users, who are accustomed to playing things easily from the browser via widgets, are unimpressed by Namco Bandai's offerings at the moment. There's also the problem of the price point. Only demos are available for free and the full versions of the two games are offered for 9.99 dollars.
At the same time, Namco Bandai, best known for franchises like Tekken, Sould Calibur and Digimon, is planning to expand by taking a controlling share in D3 Publisher, a company popular in the West for having published the original Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords and this year’s Puzzle Quest: Galaxtrix.
It seems that the most recent deal, which ended with Namco Bandai owning 95% of D3, was worth more than 12 million dollars. Namco issued a statement saying that “Bandai Namco Games has announced plans to acquire 100 per cent of D3, and its subsidiaries D3Publisher of America and D3Publisher of Europe as well as D3PA's subsidiary development studio, Vicious Cycle. D3Publisher operations will remain unchanged at this time. Development of our current and unannounced titles is ongoing and will move forward as planned.”