RipTen Videogame Blog » google

PopCap Reportedly Being Bought By EA for Over One Billion Dollars

Dave Oshry — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 10:00:54 +0000

Reports are coming in that PopCap, the makers of worldwide mega hits such as Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies are in the late stages of being wholly acquired by EA for… wait for it… ONE BILLION DOLLARS.

EA could be looking to bring hits such as these to mobile and social platforms and put a big ol’ EA logo on em. Sounds like a plan, Stan… or John… whatever.

We’ll keep you updated as this story unfolds.

Via: [TechCrunch] <— Super serious big deal reliable source most of the time.

Amazon App Store for Android

Brandon Fenty — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:28:11 +0000

Up until now, Google has been the only ‘official’ way to get apps on the Android platform. There have been a few knockoffs, but no real competition. Now, Amazon has entered the market, and Google has a real competitor.

Amazon has always been known for a great online shopping experience. They’ve always been friendly to gamers, offering launch day delivery and video game credits for preorders. Now they’re extending that experience to a marketplace to purchase apps for the Android OS. After a couple of test searches, I found pretty much anything you’d be able to find on the Google Marketplace, but now you can browse and purchase on your computer using your Amazon account. The app will automatically be downloaded to your phone after the purchase is complete. The system even knows what kind of phone you have, and will let you know if the app is compatible for your phone or not.

This marketplace competition is a good thing for the Android platform. While Google’s Marketplace has been all we’ve really had since Android began, it has been sadly lacking in some features. Amazon’s Market is looking great so far, and Google will have to do a lot of catching up already. Amazon is also featuring a free app of the day every day right now, so it’s easy to grow your app collection without having to spend a dime. And, like Google’s Market, you know your purchases are saved and can be re-downloaded with your Amazon account information. Go ahead and check it out here.

Angry Birds Available Free on Android – The Full Game

Garrett Hartman — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:47:21 +0000

Angry Birds developer Rovio to make Android users happy. The full game of Angry Birds is now avaiable free at the GetJar store.

The decision to release it on the GetJar store instead of the Android Market was stated to be an “obvious choice” because of the “global reach and popularity as well as their unique App It! download service.”

Free does not mean Rovio won’t make money, the game will have ad support. Nothing to get angry about really.

Source

Google Secretly Invests $100-200 Million In Zynga To Prepare Google Games?

Demi Adejuyigbe — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:32:11 +0000

Techcrunch has a pretty strong reputation of reporting rumors that end up being true, especially when they’re related to tech & software companies. So when they tell us that Google has reportedly invested between $100 million and $200 million in online gaming titan Zynga, I’m pretty inclined to believe them.

This deal happened and closed about a month ago, with a larger partnership still being worked out. Google didn’t bother to make this deal publicly, and they didn’t even go through their usual channels of dealing through Google Ventures. TechCrunch reports that Zynga would become the most pivotal part of “Google Games”, a social gaming center that would launch later this year, with Google Checkout replacing PayPal as the primary payment option for Zynga’s games.

But that’s not all- Zynga’s going to be making serious bank from this deal. For the first half of 2010, Zynga will bring in $350 million, and through 2011, they’ll bring in a whopping $1 billion in revenue. Hot damn, Zynga! I don’t care for social/online games like Zynga’s Farmville or various poker games, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how many people do. If this rumor is true, then Zynga & Google stand to make a ridiculous profit in the future.

Google Stats Show Nintendo 3DS to be Most Popular E3 Announcement

Sam Naylor — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:00:15 +0000

Taking a look at the Google Trends page shows us that the Nintendo 3DS has been the most popular search term when compared to the other big hardware announcements at this year’s E3 event.

As you can see from the chart above, the search terms for 3DS have been drastically more popular than Microsoft’s Kinect or Sony’s Playstation Move peripherals. Microsoft began stronger with their first-day Kinect event, but on the day of the Nintendo press conference where the 3DS was shown off, search terms shot to new heights- although in terms of news posts, the day which Microsoft had to themselves was capable of producing a greater volume of content. Playstation Move is a difficult one to check, as some people may search for just “Move”, but that’s indistinguishable from people searching for other things with the word “move”.

I think it goes to show that the 3DS has mass appeal, most likely stemming from the fact that the DS is already a massively popular device. In Japan, where the DS is overwhelmingly popular, search terms for the 3DS were drastically more common that in other countries; in the United States, for example, the term “Kinect” is much closer to the term “3DS” than in Japan. Something also to note is that the peak of traffic for both the Move and the 3DS is on the same day; perhaps Sony should have planned ahead for Nintendo overshadowing them.

As if you didn’t need any more proof that Nintendo won E3.

Google In-Game Ads Present: Gears of Tampax

Chad Lakkis — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:02:11 +0000

What would Google be without its innovative perspective? While everyone else is simply considering in-game advertising, Google is yet again one (or several) steps ahead.

Sources close to the project reveal that Google has been working on an in-game advertising platform that will actually allow for the game’s characters to introduce the ads themselves. The company has supposedly been working on the idea since 2007. When asked about why they have yet to release it, the source stated:

“I don’t know what’s taking them so long … They could move into this market very quickly, given what they have shown off.”

Some believe that Google is waiting for the market to get bigger, however maybe, just maybe, a few of the big wigs are fans of unobtrusive gaming. Even so, with a predicted market value of $971.3 million by 2011, the love of gaming won’t hold them off forever.

Not sure about the rest of you, but the last thing I want to see happen right before I take someone’s head off, is the character turn to me and say “Hey [username], hold that thought, and have a look at this lovely new product from Tampax.” Yea, not so much.

Source: venturebeat.com

Google and PS3 In a Tree…

Patrick Steen — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:48:06 +0000

…K. I. S. S. i…. etc. Live from Sony’s Press Conference, Google and PS3 have conspired against us by bringing youtube to the PS3.

The ability to upload game clips directly from your PS3 and onto youtube, users can vote for the quality of the video. It is our understanding that only certain games will support this feature .

Other internet goodies are to follow with what Sony like to call “Life with Playstation.” This will include Live News, Live Webcam, and Live Weather among other innovations. We’ll bring you more as it comes.