Tag Archives: OnlineGaming

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus says ‘no thanks’ to console gaming, isn’t worried about a life detached from Facebook

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Zynga CEO Mark Pincus

Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus just took the stage here at D10, and in a wide-ranging interview with Kara Swisher, he sidestepped conversation about Words With Friends and Farmville long enough to touch on the murky world of console gaming. In a bid to quell any potential surprises at E3 next month, Mark said outrightly that his company is not interested in getting into the console world. "We're aiming for you," he said while pointing at Swisher. "We're going after the mainstream market. There's too much friction [in the console world]."

He also made clear that he tries to not look too far ahead of where the world really is. When talking about the undeniable shift to mobile, he made clear that there's still a huge amount of desktop traffic on Zynga's games -- "lots of people play while bored on conference calls at work," he quipped. It's an interesting viewpoint in a world where PSN and Xbox Live Arcade has given independent developers all new distribution platforms to reach users, but it also highlights the outfit's intrinsic attachment to Facebook in particular.

Continue reading Zynga CEO Mark Pincus says 'no thanks' to console gaming, isn't worried about a life detached from Facebook

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus says 'no thanks' to console gaming, isn't worried about a life detached from Facebook originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friendster reborn as a gaming site, wishes Facebook cared

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Friendster's as good as dead to the western world (it hasn't really crossed our radar since 2005), but Forbes reports that the site is still huge in Southeast Asia -- though not for the reasons you might think. It was the original social network when in launched in 2002, but its acquisition by e-payment provider MOL Global in 2009 led to its reincarnation as a top online gaming destination for countries such as India, Indonesia and Malaysia. The new Friendster just officially emerged from beta as a game-centric site, and the remaining vestiges of its social networking past -- you can still add friends, after all -- are gamified with reward points. Moreover, owner MOL Global has added e-payments to the mix, letting users buy Friendster Coins to purchase virtual goods. Given predictions that the Asian gaming community will exceed 1 billion by 2016, the site's future is looking rosier than ever. That might lessen the sting of being plum blown out of the social networking game by the big dogs.

Friendster reborn as a gaming site, wishes Facebook cared originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PSA: PlayStation Network goes down for maintenance from 9am EST

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PSA: PlayStation Network goes into maintenance from 9am EST

Sony is taking its PlayStation Network offline for another health check, starting this morning. During the 13-hour tune-up, you won't be able to access PlayStation Home, Store, their account or play online. Similarly, official PlayStation sites will also go down, but you can steel yourself through those offline hours by checking on the PlayStation Twitter account, which will provide all the latest details.

PSA: PlayStation Network goes down for maintenance from 9am EST originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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