Amazon an unlikely winner in social gaming's growth

When you think of the companies that have benefited the most from the explosive growth of social games, a few names probably spring to mind. Facebook, of course, and definitely Farmville-maker Zynga. Playfish and Playdom, surely, in the wake of their lucrative buyouts. Well, one name that probably doesn't come to mind, but probably should, is Amazon.

As VentureBeat notes, Amazon's Web Services (AWS) division provides the hosting that powers six to eight of the top ten Facebook games, according to AWS' Jeff Barr. This means companies like Zynga, Playfish and Playdom pay Amazon substantial sums of money so they don't have to worry about things like server maintenance, bandwidth, backups and security for their growing game. Those substantial sums have helped make AWS into a $500 million a year business for Amazon, according to some estimates,

Of course the relationship isn't perfect -- problems with AWS scaling are likely behind some of the outages that occasionally plague many growing games. Still, Amazon has positioned itself well to benefit both from online sales of disc-based games and from the growth of web-based games.

ESPNU College Town: ESPN Arcade QB Assault brings twice the game

ESPN is integrating ESPNU College Town into nearly every facet of its online presence, so it would only make sense that ESPN Arcade is next in line. To help get the word out about ESPN's games hub, Playdom has introduced ESPN Arcade QB Assault to the game. A football tossing arcade game, this decoration would rest perfectly beside your ESPN SportsNation Pool Party.

To nab this limited edition item, all you need to do is click here: http://espn.go.com/free-online-games/sports/espnucollegetown2010?ex_cid=collegetown_fanpage_to_landing

From there, just follow the instructions in the green text box and you should be redirected to your own campus. You'll see a notice reading, "Congratulations! Your Promotional Code has been validated." Click "Continue," and your exclusive gift should be in your gift inventory, ready to bring some fun to your campus. And how fun it is! Clicking on the item within your game will send you to the actual ESPN Arcade game, QB Assault, which couldn't be a more fitting time killer while you wait for your events to tick down. The question is, however, can you play two games at once (probably)?

Facebook games partnerships gig given to former LiveJournal CEO

Sean Ryan (pictured), who previously worked for News Corp. creating an online games division, is now director of games partnerships at Facebook, VentureBeat reports. The position had been open since August before the decision was finally made to take Ryan on, who also previously served as CEO for Meez, a virtual world for teenagers and LiveJournal, a once popular blogging service before the turn of the decade.

Now, don't get too excited--Facebook will not be making its own games anytime soon if ever. Ryan will purely foster the social network's relationships with developers like Zynga, Playdom, Playfish and more. In other words, it's this guy's job to keep dudes like Zynga CEO Mark Pincus peachy keen.

This is a smart move by Facebook, which hasn't had a stellar track record of catering both to gamers and non-gamers alike. Though, the company did recently create a new development division solely for improving the gaming experience on the site. It seems as if Facebook is finally serious about the half of its users that enjoy these games, which aren't going away anytime soon.

Is Galaxy of Wonder Playdom's next Facebook game?

It looks like City of Wonder is headed for the stars. Playdom recently posted a teaser trailer to YouTube that revealed the first glimpse (and by glimpse we mean a 13-second long video clip with a logo) of Galaxy of Wonder. Aside from an official logo that cleverly throws a spaceship in replace of an "A"--and the famous words of Neil Armstrong when he step foot on the moon exactly 42 years ago--all we know about this project is that it's "coming soon."

Is it an expansion to its strategy game City of Wonder a' la FrontierVille's Pioneer Trail, or is this a new game entirely? I guess we'll find out "soon" enough. In the meantime, go on and spend the 13 seconds it takes to learn all there is to know about Galaxy of Wonder ... so far.


Are you excited about what looks to be a space-age strategy game? What do you hope Playdom will do differently with Galaxy of Wonder than it did City of Wonder?

E3 2011: Playdom's City of Might goes to war with Zynga's Empires & Allies this summer

Don't they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? I hope Zynga will feel mighty flattered then, as Playdom unveiled a new Facebook game at E3 this year - City of Might. During my limited demo of the game (I wasn't actually allowed to play, but rather was shown a scripted series of events), I learned that City of Might combines the city-building elements of City of Wonder with resource management and player-vs-player combat. Instantly, we're left with comparisons to Zynga's Empires & Allies which just launched days ago.

For City of Might, you'll need to collect resources to build more units, and can then use those units to plan and execute invasion strategies on other players. While combat is a bit interactive, it's mostly cinematic, and you'll only be able to place your units on the enemies' maps and then add more units mid-battle if your troops wind up defeated. From what I saw, it appeared that the rest of battle was automated, as each side shows their damage as small numbers that float rapidly up from the unit or building in question. If you don't succeed your first time in battle, you can call in the help of friends for a rematch. These friends will allow you to earn bonuses to your damage and armor stats, giving you a better chance at success. There are air and ground units to choose from, but this demo didn't make it clear as to whether naval units would complete the expected trio.

Where City of Might looks to have a one-up on Zynga is through the use of an in-game chat system, allowing you to interact in real time with other players, whether they are your Facebook friends or not. In this way, you won't have to have tons of personal friends playing the game on Facebook to actually play the game with other real people.

As for an expected launch, we can look to see City of Might drop its first bomb on Facebook later this summer. We know there are many more features still being completed that will eventually be added to the game, but details are heavily under wraps as of right now. You can see a small preview of what the game looks like at the top of this post, but we'll make sure to give you a more in-depth overview of the game as we get closer to launch.

What do you think of the idea of Playdom's City of Might? Do you think anything could have the power to defeat Zynga?

E3 2011: Playdom offers in-game bonus for Gardens of Time in activity book

The Disney booth at this year's E3 may have been filled to the brim with the brand's major stars like Cars' Lightning McQueen and Phineas and Ferb, but tucked away in a corner sat a demo station of Gardens of Time, Playdom's hidden object Facebook game. Next to the unassuming PC sat a Gardens of Time activity book, containing some stationary hidden object scenes, allowing visitors to see what the game was about without requiring them to actually sit down, mouse in hand.

While browsing through the book for new details or announcements, I found a bonus at the end. Disney and Playdom are offering users a free decoration for our gardens if you visit a particular link. Even if you didn't go to E3, you can still get your hands on this bonus item - just click right here. Once you visit this link, it appears that the bonus is the same regardless of visitor, and you'll receive a free Mandarin Ducks item.

We're not sure if this link will only remain active for a limited amount of time, but it does seem to be permanent. Either way, make sure you visit the link sooner, rather than later to claim your Mandarin Ducks decorative item while you know it's still available.

What do you think of your free Mandarin Ducks item? Are you happy Gardens of Time was shown off at the show?

Habbo Hotel maker names ex-Playdom exec CEO in social games push

You might have heard of the mega popular social network slash social game Habbo Hotel (pictured), but Finnish developer Sulake wants to turn "might" into "absolutely." The company just announced that it has hired former Playdom VP of global distribution Paul LaFontaine as CEO, Reuters reports. Sulake made the hire in an ambitious attempt to help the company break into the world of social gaming, and who would know the space better than a guy who was there from the beginning?

LaFontaine, who was largely responsible for publishing Playdom's--now owned by entertainment behemoth Disney--games will replace Timo Soininen as CEO of Sulake. "We have been turning that direction for two years and are now accelerating it with this new CEO," Sulake chairman Mika Salmi told Reuters.

Habbo Hotel, for the uninformed, is a social network-meets-social game in which about 10 million monthly visitors interact in a world designed to hearken back to the good old days of 8-bit gaming. Players create their own rooms in collective hotels normally restricted to countries of origin or native language, and play mini games, decorate and share gifts with other hotel denizens. Of course, like any social game, players can buy premium items using real money.

Judging from the fact that prospective players can already connect to Habbo Hotel through Facebook Connect, and that Sulake has made their interest in traditional social games clear, Sulake making games for Facebook is certainly a possibility. Alright, with the crazy money everyone seems to be raking in on Facebook, this is most likely exactly where the company is headed. And LaFontaine will lead the charge--watch out, Zynga and EA, Habbo is looking hinder your hottest games.

Have you ever played Habbo Hotel before--what do you think of it? Do you think Sulake and Habbo Hotel will make waves in the Facebook gaming world with LaFontaine? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.