Slashdot Mirror
Domain: pogo.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to pogo.com.
Stories · 4
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IGDA Casual Games SIG, Whitepaper and Quarterly
Dubane writes "After launching just over a week ago, the IGDA's Casual Games SIG has just released both the 2005 Casual Games White Paper (2MB, 125 page pdf), as well as the inaugural issue of the Casual Games Quarterly. The White Paper is the work of over 30 volunteers in the casual games space, and the list of contributors reads almost like a who's who of the industry including; AOL, TryMedia, Skunk Studios, Large Animal, Pogo, Shockwave, Garage Games and many others. One of the most interesting sections for developers may be the Games to Market section which asks the same questions of 18 different publishers and gets answers about a variety of topics including Commission Breakdown (50-65% rev share from Garage Games) and even who/how to contact each company. The Quarterly focuses entirely on technology and consists primarily of Oberon, iWin, PlayFirst, HipSoft, Reflexive and Skunk Studios answering questions about their development platform and technology." -
Casual Online Gamers Thrill to Pajitnov Puzzle Games
Thanks to Wired for its article discussing the rise of casual, Web-based online gaming from websites such as EA's Pogo.com and Microsoft's Zone.com. Particularly interesting is confirmation of post-Pandora's Box projects for an extremely famous game designer: "Today, Tetris is the model for how to reach the increasing number of middle-aged and elderly Americans online. The creator, Alexey Pajitnov, is a designer at Microsoft, where Gates & Co. are hoping he can repeat his magic." The piece names Zone.com games Mozaki Blocks and Hexic as Pajitnov creations, although they're not heavily promoted as such, and explains of Mozaki Blocks: "MSN's marketing team took Pajitnov's Atari 2600-style lo-res math game and sexed it up with an Eastern flair: smooth, rounded tiles, Chinese letters... [and] a gong-shaped progress bar." -
EA Deflects Buyout Rumors, Raises Profits, Sheds Jobs
Thanks to GamesIndustry.biz for its article discussing the quashing of rumors regarding media giant Viacom buying Electronic Arts, with Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone (also in the process of privately buying into Midway) saying: "We have looked at the obvious companies like Electronic Arts... but their price is so high, it would be dilutive to our earnings. We have ruled it out." Meanwhile, EA's annual financial report has been released, showing "net revenue for fiscal 2004 was $2,957.1 million, up 19.1 percent", and also confirming "an [in-progress] workforce reduction of approximately 117 personnel in development and administrative departments", following the closure/relocation of "the majority of our leased studio facility in Walnut Creek, California and our entire owned studio facility in Austin, Texas." The financials also note that rising online sales from casual gaming portal Pogo.com was "partially offset by a decrease in subscription net revenue from The Sims Online, Ultima Online, and Earth & Beyond subscription services." -
RealNetworks Swallows Gamehouse
BileDog writes "RealNetworks today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Seattle-based GameHouse, Inc., a top developer, publisher and distributor of downloadable PC games, in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $35.6 million. Seems that online 'casual gaming' creators are starting to consolidate in a similar way to their offline counterparts." PC World has further comments on this deal, explaining: "RealNetworks' RealArcade competes with products such as Microsoft's MSN Games, Yahoo Games, and Pogo.com from Electronic Arts", and including an analyst's comments that: "By acquiring GameHouse, RealNetworks now has control over the content and no longer has to depend on what third parties develop." Apparently, full control over Thomas Kinkade online jigsaws is pretty important in reaching the true mass market.