Matt Hulett, the president of GameHouse, is going all in. His company has shifted its development firepower into the social casino game business. Today, it is launching GameHouse Casino on Facebook and debuting GameHouse Slots on the iPhone.

The Seattle division of RealNetworks has deployed half of its 200 employees to create a suite of social casino games. Hulett (pictured right) said in an interview with GamesBeat that he hopes to differentiate his free-to-play games with a high-class style reminiscent of the elegant Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. More releases are on the way.

“This is not an off-strip lobby,” Hulett said. “Our big bet is to build a high-class casino experience where you feel like you are at the big hotel. We feel we can bring a lot of innovation to these games.”

GameHouse is one of many mobile and social game companies seeking salvation in social casino games, where players can bet virtual chips in games like video poker but can’t cash out. The category drew huge players and investments last year, and it remains hot, as we witnessed the Casual Connect Europe conference in Hamburg, Germany.

Social casino games have raised considerable funding. And slot machine maker IGT bought Double Down Interactive for $500 million in early 2012. Double Down had just 70 employees at the time. Aristocrat bought Product Madness in November for an estimated $40 million. And earlier this month, Scientific Games bought WMS for $1.4 billion. Morgan Stanley Research estimates that annual revenues for social casino games will hit $2.5 billion by 2015.

Hulett is late to that party, but he believes the market is just getting started. The team has been building the games over the past 13 months.

“We think there is a lot of room in the market,” he said. “We wanted to nail the core game experience and create the right core behaviors. We want to make a good first impression.”

And GameHouse has more than a dozen games inside its Casino app on Facebook. The titles include slots, video poker, roulette, blackjack, and others. They’re tied together with graphics, animations, and social gameplay. The video poker game has six different machines and can play up to 25 hands at a time. You can make side bets, double-or-nothing jackpots, and high-low plays. In the slots game, there are already 17 machines, and GameHouse will add more.

“The joy of winning money with your friends around a table is there,” Hulett said.

The monetization of casino games is already 50 percent higher than other casual games. And retention rates on mobile are twice as good as they are on Facebook. Players are loyal, but only 2 percent or so pay for virtual chips.

On the right-hand side, a player can see all of the actions that friends are taking. The dynamic lobby (pictured at top) is a kind of home base that changes as players come back and discover new games or slot machines played recently by friends. The Party Play feature shows what friends are playing, and you can jump into a game with them. You can also send virtual gifts to friends and help them increase their winnings.

“The social element is what is more fun to players, and it explains why these games are becoming popular again,” Hulett said.

Players can compete to win more than friends do during a fixed time frame based on an allotment of free chips. If they want to play for a longer duration, they have to pay real money for more chips to extend their session. That’s how GameHouse monetizes the free-to-play game, Hulett said.

So far, GameHouse has no plans to go into real-money gambling, a market where rivals such as online gambling companies and Zynga are staking claims. Hulett doesn’t want to hitch his fate to the actions of lawmakers and regulators.

The move into social casino games is a pivot for GameHouse, which has launched more than 3,000 casual games over the past decade. That audience is shifting from the web to social games on Facebook and on mobile devices. GameHouse is following them, but it is doing so at a deliberate pace. The company is using a team in Victoria, British Colombia, which is becoming a hub for studios. GameHouse has more than 10 Facebook games and twice that number on iOS and Android. It also has 14 million unique monthly users on the web still.

The company tested its ideas with the launch of GameHouse Slots on Facebook, where it garnered more than a million fans. The title, which launched quietly, is one of the top casino and card games in the U.S. on iTunes.

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Amazon Studios, the arm of online retail giant Amazon responsible for creating original programming, has approved production on five new children’s shows.

The move is part of Amazon’s effort to make its Prime Instant Video service a main competitor to Hulu Plus and streaming video leader Netflix — both of which are producing their own slates of original shows. Amazon previously approved production on four original shows back in June.

But unlike the other streaming services, Amazon sees an opportunity to grab consumer attention through original kids shows, which aren’t top priority for Netflix or Hulu.

Check out a description of the programs below, and let us know if you think your own little monsters would watch these shows in the comment section.

Children’s pilots include:

Creative Galaxy

Creative Galaxy is an animated interactive art adventure series, designed to inspire kids’ creative thinking through crafts, story, music, and dance. The series was created by Angela Santomero, creator of Super Why!, the Emmy-nominated literacy series, Blue’s Clues, and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

Oz Adventures

In this innovative problem solving series, Dot, Dorothy’s daughter, goes off to Oz everyday with the children of the beloved characters from L. Frank Baum’s classic book, The Wizard of Oz. In each episode, the yellow brick road leads Dot to a new magical location where she solves problems alongside her Oz friends.

Teeny Tiny Dogs

Produced by The Jim Henson Company (Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train) and created by Howard Baker (Rugrats), Teeny Tiny Dogs follows Butch, Butterfly, Dinky, and Polly as they help one another navigate the big world despite their teeny, tiny size. This series promotes happiness through friendship, learning, growing, and developing a strong sense of self as seen through the eyes of canine friends.

Tumbleaf

Tumbleaf was created by Drew Hodges and Bix Pix Studios, an award-winning stop motion studio. The series, aimed at preschoolers, is set in a whimsical land where a small blue fox named Fig plays each day and discovers adventure, friendship, and love around every bend in the path. Children will be enriched by narratives that promote play through exploration and cognitive reasoning.

The Untitled J.J. Johnson Project

This project revolves around Anne, a young scientist, who creates three robot helpers to assist her scientific experiments in the back of her dad’s junkyard. This science-based series from creator J.J. Johnson (Dino Dan, This is Emily Yeung) aims to introduce kids to science and technology in a fun, new way.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Just when you thought Apple’s legal battle with Samsung over its tablet designs was over, the iPad-maker has won a preliminary injunction that would ban the sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android slate.

The ruling was made yesterday by U.S. district judge Lucy Koh, who also scored Apple its first major legal win against Samsung. Apple claimed last June that the Galaxy Tab infringed on one of its design patents and tried to pursue a previous preliminary injunction against the tablet last July. Apple has also recently tried to stop sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphone.

Samsung has already appealed the order, shortly after it was released yesterday. Apple still has to post a $2.6 million bond that would be paid to Samsung if the injunction was later deemed to be unjust.

“Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly by flooding the market with infringing products,” Koh wrote in her court order (check out the full document below). “While Samsung will certainly suffer lost sales from the issuance of an injunction, the hardship to Apple of having to directly compete with Samsung’s infringing products outweighs Samsung’s harm in light of the previous findings by the Court.”

At this point, the ruling is more symbolic than anything for Apple. It’s more than a year since Samsung first unveiled the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and the company has already released a sequel to that device, the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, which isn’t affected by this ruling. But for Apple, it proves that its dogged pursuit of design patents can eventually pay off. Samsung has also released tweaked versions of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in other territories to avoid similar injunctions.

I’m most interested in how this legal win will affect Samsung. The company still isn’t ashamed to lift some design elements from Apple — its S Voice virtual assistant in the Galaxy S III looks a lot like Apple’s Siri, for example. But I can’t imagine that Samsung can continue to be as bold about its “Apple inspired” designs in the future.

“Apple sought a preliminary injunction of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, based on a single design patent that addressed just one aspect of the product’s overall design,” Samsung said in a statement to AllThingsD. “Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted.”

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Not satisfied with its already extensive library of old TV shows via its Prime streaming video service, Amazon is now planning to develop its own lineup of original children’s shows and sitcoms, the company announced today.

Amazon is the latest company to embark on a mission for premium original TV content, which is quickly becoming a necessity for grabbing and holding on to a large subscriber base. For instance, streaming service competitor Hulu’s current lineup of original programing includes scripted comedy Battleground, Morgan Spurlock’s A Day in the Life reality series, and unscripted travel show Up to Speed from  director Richard Linklater as well as four other shows slated for early 2013. Netflix is also producing its own lineup of exclusive original shows, including Lillyhammer, Kevin Spacey’s House of Cards, Eli Roth’s Hemlock Grove, and the highly anticipated fourth season of cult-sitcom Arrested Development.

Needless to say, Amazon has its work cut out for itself.

However, Amazon has been preparing for an original programming push for a while through its content development division, Amazon Studios, which launched in November 2010. The division, which currently has 15 movie projects in development, is seeking proposals for new comedy and children’s programs. Amazon will choose one proposal per month for development, and those that get approved for a full series will snag a pretty decent deal that includes a $55,000 check, a cut of merchandising sales, royalties, and bonuses.

Unlike Amazon Studios’ movie developments, the TV shows will get distributed exclusively through its Prime streaming video service. And as AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka points out, the TV shows will feature production quality and story telling that’s on par with cable or satellite TV programming.

Amazon’s push for original TV programing isn’t entirely based on staying competitive with Hulu and Netflix. The company’s Prime Streaming service is actually just one of the perks offered to customers that sign up for Amazon’s $79 per year Prime Membership. The streaming video service, along with the forthcoming original programming, is part of the company’s strategy to boost Prime memberships, which ends up driving more business to its online retail store.

Adventure Time image courtesy of Cartoon Network

The studio will give away $2.7 million in cash prizes, in addition to developing a top project as a full commercial film through a deal with Warner Bros.

From filmmakers, the studio is looking for submissions of “test movies” — full-length, low-budget amateur movies made from an original script or a script submitted as a part of the contest. From screenwriters, it’s seeking original movie scripts. The best movie script will receive $100,000, while the best movie will bag $1 million.

All submitted scripts and movies can be reviewed by fans on Amazon Studios‘ website, where the company has also produced and posted five sample movies potential participants can take inspiration from. Judges on the panel include the screenwriter of “Top Gun”, Jack Epps, Jr., and “Face/Off”, Mike Werb, along with Mark Gill, the former president of Miramax.

To keep its content submissions “rookie-level,” the company is asking entrants to give Amazon 18 months of exclusive rights, something it doesn’t expect working Hollywood filmmakers and scriptwriters to adhere to.

While somewhat of an uncharacteristic move by an e-commerce company, it’s not out of Amazon’s ambit. Last year, the company had a similar contest asking submissions of TV commercials advertising its Kindle product, and earlier this year, a contest for budding novel authors to win a publishing contract.

Submissions end Dec. 31, 2011, when the company will announce its major cash prize winners. Until then, it will also be giving away minor awards every month throughout next year.