Game designer Will Wright leaves Electronic Arts
Will Wright, the legendary game designer behind the wildly popular franchises SimCity and The Sims, as well as the slightly less-successful Spore, is leaving video game giant Electronic Arts to lead his own “entertainment think tank,” The Stupid Fun Club. At the same time, EA is investing in Stupid Fun Club (Wright and EA now own equal percentages of the group) and will work with Wright in turning the Fun Club’s ideas into video games.
EA Vice President… Continue Reading
Yes, there are cheats for SimCity on the iPhone
When I first wrote about SimCity coming to the iPhone back in November, the first question someone asked me was if the cheat codes would work. Managing a city can be rough — some people just want to build stuff and see what happens without having to worry about money. Well, I have good news for that crowd: the cheat codes do work — at least some of them.
Following the launch of SimCity in the… Continue Reading
MG’s 10 favorite iPhone games of 2008
Yesterday, I wrote up my 10 favorite iPhone apps of 2008 with a note that I wasn’t including any games on the list because there were far too many good ones and they should probably get their own list. Today, I bring you that list.
This was a tough one to narrow down to 10, I have nearly 40 games that I keep on my iPhone right now, and I wouldn’t keep anything on there that… Continue Reading
SimCity for the iPhone is here — but there are some bugs
The wait is over — SimCity, EA’s hit city-building franchise, has been released for the iPhone and iPod touch. Since for many of you, that’s all you need to hear, I’ll just say that it’s $9.99 and you can download it here. But be warned, there are some bugs.
For those interested in how the game runs and plays, I’ll continue. First of all, the use of the iPhone’s touchscreen for building city zones is brilliant…. Continue Reading
A slight tweak in the App Store promotes paid apps
Apple has a problem with the App Store — but it’s a problem many companies would love to have: It’s growing too quickly. What worked when there were only 500 applications doesn’t work as well when there are more than 10,000. Amid growing criticism that the App Store is catering to the lowest common denominator by highlighting applications in a way that the cheapest will be most popular, Apple has made a small tweak, AppleInsider… Continue Reading
EA to preview games in select Apple stores (yes, SimCity)
When I wrote last month that I had seen and played an early build of EA’s SimCity for the iPhone, many of you seemed excited (to say the least). Well, now you can have a chance to preview the game as well — in an Apple Store — provided you live in one of the few select cities.
Apple stores in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago are hosting these “EA Games Sneak Peek”… Continue Reading
Monopoly passes Go, comes to the iPhone
I’m going to assume that everyone reading this post was once a child. And with that assumption, I will make another one: That you’ve played the board game Monopoly at some point in your life. If that’s the case, you probably have fond memories of it. So I’m pleased to report that those memories translate well to the new iPhone version of the game.
Technically called MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition (worst title ever?),… Continue Reading
The revenge of the $9.99 iPhone apps
When Apple’s App Store first launched back in July there was a wide range of prices for individual applications. While many were free, quite a few of the early games were $5 or $10. But as time has passed, there’s definitely been a trend of the paid apps to move towards $0.99, which seems to be a magic price point for high sales. But $0.99-an-app isn’t much of a way for developers to make a… Continue Reading
Roundup: Job report hurts stocks, BlackBerry reviews surface and more
Here’s the latest action:
Increase in joblessness spurs stock decline — After the Labor Department reported that applications for jobless benefits exceeded expectations, the Dow fell more than 80 points.
Reviews surface on BlackBerry Storm — CNET’s verdict: The touchscreen is nice, but corporate users are better served by the BlackBerry Bold.
AT&T funds privacy nonprofit — The Future of Privacy’s backing from the telecom giant is just one reason why GigaOM’s Stacey Higginbotham is skeptical that the nonprofit group actually… Continue Reading
SimCity for the iPhone may ruin my life (in a good way)
No game captured my imagination when I was growing up like SimCity. Certainly, a part of it was my God complex, but more it was the open-ended nature of a game with few rules that let you build a city. I spent countless hours on my computer playing it, I even spent countless hours on the Super Nintendo playing it when it was ported to that console. Now it’s coming to the iPhone — countless… Continue Reading
Roundup: Google goes deeper into TV ads, CNN uses Facebook Connect, Flickr’s new homepage and more
Here’s the latest action:
Google starting to catch on to this TV ad thing? –It’s been almost two years since the search advertising giant made its first foray into television advertising. In order to grow, it’s going to need more time slots (inventory) to sell. It took a step in that direction this week, striking a deal with Harris Corp., a company that will help add and manage new inventory. Google TV Ads also made a deal… Continue Reading
Roundup: Amazon vs eBay, YouTube search ads, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Amazon is like Apple, eBay is like Microsoft — Or at least that’s the tech-industry analogy that comes to mind when reading this piece about the increasingly competitive battle between the two e-commerce giants.
“Black” silicon is a better light receiver — A silicon variation discovered in Harvard University’s labs and licensed out to a company called SiOnyx, is far more receptive to light than ordinary silicon. The substance (pictured) may be useful for X-ray… Continue Reading
Roundup: The financial crisis explained, land line usage still dropping, and more
Still don’t understand the financial crisis? — Neither does anybody else, it seems, but The New York Times has a good write-up of various issues, in brief question-and-answer format.
Telephone land lines continue to get unplugged — More people are switching to just using cell phones. See screenshot.
Conservative commenter Bill O’Reilly’s site hacked — Hackers took over billoreilly.com after his comments on the earlier Sarah Palin email hack. The full report on Wikileaks.
Google has closed its Phoenix branch — Employees… Continue Reading
Roundup: Crisis speculation, another marketing-firm VC, and more
How will the current crisis on Wall Street affect Silicon Valley? – “I don’t think it will have much of an impact on Silicon Valley as an operating entity,” banker Bill Hambrecht tells Om Malik. Watch the video for more.
Meanwhile, how will online advertising be affected by Wall Street turmoil? — Maybe not so bad, some hopefuls in the industry tell PaidContent.
Global Agency Interpublic Group creates new venture arm — It will be called Mediabrands Venture Fund, and follows… Continue Reading
Roundup: Digg sending more traffic to print media, rogue SF IT admin holds city computers hostage, and more
Hitwise: Digg has been sending more traffic to mainstream media web sites lately — Take a look at the graph below, and read what the web research company has to say, here. Allen Stern at CenterNetworks recently published his own report anecdotally noticing the changes; he speculates that Digg may be looking to sell to a mainstream news company.
Intel announces a second-quarter record of $9.5 billion in revenue — More here.
San Francisco government computer system compromised –… Continue Reading
iGame on: EA brings Scrabble, Sudoku and Tetris to the iPhone App Store
When I think of addictive games, three at the top of my list have to be Scrabble, Sudoku and Tetris. I can pretty much play all three for hours on end without taking a break. This problem could get a whole lot worse when all three are in my pocket all day long — as they will be now that Electronic Arts (EA) is releasing them for the iPhone and iPod Touch via Apple’s new… Continue Reading
Roundup: AP inserts foot in mouth, Tesla looks for another $100M, Zawodny lands at Craigslist and more
Here’s the latest action:
The AP tries to set a new standard, doesn’t follow it — The Associated Press wants bloggers to pay it for quoting excerpts of its stories, and is threatening to sue if they don’t. Of course, that position is kind of hard to take when you yourself don’t abide by such standards, as the AP didn’t when it lifted a quote from TechCrunch on the matter for one of its stories. Arrington rightly… Continue Reading
Roundup: Icahn may go proxy on Yahoo, Craigslist countersues eBay, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Icahn considers his own proxy war for Yahoo — Billionaire investor Carl Icahn began buying massive amounts of Yahoo stock last week — up to 50 million shares — and now is thinking about using that influence. He is considering replacing some of Yahoo’s board members (not quite the full replacement Microsoft was considering) with those of his own choosing, according to CNBC. Such a move could potentially force Yahoo to sell to… Continue Reading
Roundup: Another Google exec leaves for Facebook, Mosso adds more storage to the cloud, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Another Google exec heads to Facebook – Elliot Schrage, Google’s vice president of global communications and public affairs will become the vice president of communications and public policy at Facebook, BoomTown’s Kara Swisher has learned. “This is a really important role for us and one that we’ve been trying to find the right person for a while. Elliot’s role will be critical to helping us scale based on our culture that values… Continue Reading