Zynga expects to acquire more companies to rival OMGPop deal

When some people are rejected they use it as motivation to improve their own lives: start working out, eat healthier, study harder, create something beautiful. Other people take it personally and start manically hitting on anything in a 50-mile radius to prove that one person was so terribly wrong. Zynga, it turns out, takes rejection personally, and as companies are more people than people are, it's planning a years-long acquisition spree, CEO Mark Pincus tells Bloomberg.

Rovio, the developer of Angry Birds, rejected an offer from Zynga for $2 billion, Bloomberg writes, and from 2010 to 2011 Zynga spent $147 million to acquire 22 companies, and $180 million on Draw Something's OMGPop alone. Zynga's merger chief Barry Cottle is searching for companies with blockbuster social games on the same scale as Farmville and Cityville, Bloomberg says.

Zynga plans to handle "a few" deals similar to or larger than the OMGPop acquisition in the next three to five years, Pincus says.

"We're sitting in a very advantageous position," Cottle says. "We have a significant amount of cash, we have no debt, and we have access to debt to be as aggressive as we need to be." Zynga has $1.81 billion in cash and short-term investments and its stock is unstable, dropping 3.2 percent this morning to $10.59, Bloomberg notes. Let's hope that with all those new employees Zynga is transplanting and taking on, a few of these acquisitions work out as expected.Zynga expects to acquire more companies to rival OMGPop deal originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Death Rally peels out on Android worldwide

After a preliminary launch in Canada earlier this year, Death Rally is now available on Android worldwide (a bit later than expected). Android users can grab Remedy's little racer that could from Google Play for the reasonable price of no dollars. Should you desire, upgrades and the like are available via in-app purchases.

Check out Death Rally's device requirements after the break.

Continue reading Death Rally peels out on Android worldwide

Death Rally peels out on Android worldwide originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jetpack Joyride's 1.3 update lands Thursday

The version 1.3 update, which adds weird new items like the gravity belt, coin magnet, and X-Ray Specs to Jetpack Joyride, will be delivered to iOS this Thursday, April 26. Like the game, the update is free.

With version 1.3 finally careening our way, Halfbrick revealed all 15 new items included, along with their functions. That information is listed after the break. And start saving up your in-game currency for a device that freezes you solid. It's helpful ... apparently.

Continue reading Jetpack Joyride's 1.3 update lands Thursday

Jetpack Joyride's 1.3 update lands Thursday originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plants vs. Zombies iOS receives hefty update

PopCap has released updates to the iPad and iPhone versions of Plants vs. Zombies, bringing it more in line with its non-mobile counterparts. The iPad version sees the bulk of the updates, adding several new game modes, mini-games, achievements and leaderboards. Specifically, it adds the Zen Garden, Vasebreaker Endless and I, Zombie modes, along with the Slot Machine mini-game. An optional mini-game pack including Zombiquarium, Portal Combat and Beghouled Twist can also be unlocked with in-game currency (earned either through gameplay or, you guessed it, in-app purchase).

The iPhone and iPod Touch version, meanwhile, receives only the Vasebreaker mode, additional achievements and leaderboards. The update is available now. Whether or not you have any free time available, well, that's something else entirely.

Continue reading Plants vs. Zombies iOS receives hefty update

Plants vs. Zombies iOS receives hefty update originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sonic 4 Episode 2 'locks on' to Episode 1 to add Metal Sonic

If you own Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, you'll be able to unlock extra content in Episode 2. Owners of both get free access to "Episode Metal," which adds four new levels and a playable Metal Sonic character.

This functionality recalls the "Lock-On" technology in Sonic & Knuckles, which allowed Sega Genesis owners to connect previous Sonic games to the cartridge and replay them as Knuckles the Echidna. The difference now, of course, is that there's no cartridge to connect.Sonic 4 Episode 2 'locks on' to Episode 1 to add Metal Sonic originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Star Command devs transparent about where Kickstarter funding went (Spoiler: prize shipments)

Star Command developer Warballoon, which funded its Kickstarter project in the BDF (before Double Fine) era, decided to share details on where its cash went. The company stressed this isn't it saying "oooops," but simply helping out future kickstarters to think more about their prizes and where their money will go.

The company's Kickstarter drive earned $36,967, with $2,000 taken right off the top for pledged funds that were never transferred. From that $35,000, Kickstarter and Amazon Payments' cuts brought the total down to $32,000. Another ten grand went to "prize fulfillment," which included creation and shipping (the real killer!) of bonuses.

With $22,000 left, the company spent $6K on music, $4K on lawyers, $2K on poster art and $4K on showing at PAX East, including iPads to demo the game on. This left Warballoon with $6,000 of taxable income... leaving it with $4,000, which "goes rather quickly as you can imagine."

The company notes that if it had to do things differently, it would have gone easy on the lawyers and the rewards, especially the shipping, which it said "is a) expensive b) a pain in the ass when you have tubes and c) time consuming. None of those things are productive."

Continue reading Star Command devs transparent about where Kickstarter funding went (Spoiler: prize shipments)

Star Command devs transparent about where Kickstarter funding went (Spoiler: prize shipments) originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation Suite enters open beta, some details emerge

The PlayStation Suite looks like it's actually making progress towards life as a bona fide platform/ecosystem for game and app distribution. The service has moved into an open beta phase and developers are now able to download the PlayStation Suite SDK, which includes an "integrated development environment" (IDE) and device simulator for PCs.

No actual game/app distribution will begin until the beta ends "later this year," at which point developers using the SDK will need to contract up, to the tune of $99 a year. The SDK is free until then.

Thanks to the beta's FAQ, we also now know that completely free/ad-supported apps will not be allowed on the service, and that "development will be limited to paid (including freemiun [sic]) content." In-game/in-app microtransaction functionality will be added to the SDK at a later date during the beta.

As far as PlayStation Suite's actual app pricing structure is concerned, both in terms of its consuming-facing strategy and its back-end developer percentages, Sony hasn't quite ironed that out: "We can't provide detailed information at this stage, but we are considering a pricing structure based on current market conditions."

[Thanks, Alec.]PlayStation Suite enters open beta, some details emerge originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Soul Calibur iOS update adds multiplayer, subtracts a few dollars

Soul Calibur on iOS is a strange beast -- when it first launched in January, its full price was $15, which is $5 more than the XBLA version, and it didn't offer multiplayer support. Namco Bandai has resolved one of these issues with update 1.1, which adds Bluetooth multiplayer support for "VS Battle" mode.

Soul Calibur is on sale for the update, dropped the price of three whole standard apps to $12. Namco warns multiplayer won't work with iPod Touch 4, but it should be compatible with newer iPhones and iPads.Soul Calibur iOS update adds multiplayer, subtracts a few dollars originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PSA: Battlelog app for iOS finally available

Electronic Arts has launched the official Battlefield 3 Battlelog app for iOS nearly ... one, plus two, plus two, plus one ... six months after the game's launch. There is no mention of an official Android app.

The app is similar to that of the Battlelog browser stat-tracking experience, allowing players to keep up to date on what their Battlefield friends were doing, when they were still playing the game three months ago.

The app will be more timely when it's used to satiate crippling Battlefield data addiction after Close Quarters -- the first major addition to Battlefield 3 since December -- launches in June.PSA: Battlelog app for iOS finally available originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A guide to working at Valve Software

"If you stop on the way back from your massage to play darts or work out in the Valve gym or whatever, it's not a sign that this place is going to come crumbling down like some 1999-era dot-com start-up. If we ever institute caviar-catered lunches, though, then maybe something's wrong. Definitely panic if there's caviar."
Those few sentences, culled from page 19 of Valve Software's "Handbook for New Employees," are perfectly emblematic of the rest of the uniquely Valve book. The above illustration is pulled from early on in the handbook, where the company's much discussed "flat" hierarchy is detailed. A Valve rep confirmed the book's legitimacy to Joystiq after it leaked this weekend on Flamehaus.
Seen above everyone else, of course, is company co-founder and president Gabe Newell. But even Newell isn't beyond being overridden. "??We do have a founder/president, but even he isn't your manager," the book states.
"We want innovators, and that means maintaining an environment where they'll flourish," it reads. "That's why Valve is flat. It's our shorthand way of saying that we don't have any management, and nobody 'reports to' anybody else." Bizarre? Yes. Successful? Apparently! A timeline depicting Valve's birth in 1996 shows the company's steady growth into the powerhouse it is today across a variety of projects, all the while espousing Valve's adherence to lack of structure.
293 employees are governed by this formula – a formula that Valve recognizes as potentially unstable at such a scale, but that it claims is still working. "Concepts discussed in this book sound like they might work well at a tiny start-up, but not at a hundreds-of-people-plus- billions-in-revenue company. The big question is: Does all this stuff scale? Well, so far, yes. And we believe that if we're careful, it will work better and better the larger we get."
So, how does anything get done with a "flat" management structure? That's a good question, and one that's answered more by Valve's history of success than by actual example. The closest the handbook gets to answering it is with explanations of "team leads" and "cabals." The latter has been written about exhaustively in the past – but the concept of leads within Valve seems antithetical to the ethos of the company. That is, until you read the description of said leads:

"Someone will emerge as the 'lead' for a project. This person's role is not a traditional managerial one. Most often, they're primarily a clearinghouse of information. They're keeping the whole project in their head at once so that people can use them as a resource to check decisions against. The leads serve the team, while acting as centers for the teams."

Following paragraphs explain that, yes, group structures tend to emerge from Valve's ... lack of structure, but that structure is just as easily dissolved when projects complete so that those employees can focus attention where it's needed most.
But the handbook isn't just about what Valve's doing right or how its baffling lack of structure is a massive success. It's also about what Valve could be doing better. At the top of that list? "?Helping new people find their way. We wrote this book to help, but ... a book can only go so far." The irony! More interesting, however, is a serious limitation Valve faces due to its openness. "We miss out on hiring talented people who prefer to work within a more traditional structure. Again, this comes with the territory and isn't something we should change, but it's worth recognizing as a self-imposed limitation."
Regardless of that "self-imposed limitation," Valve seems to be doing more than alright thus far.

NPD: 40% of Free-to-play players have bought something

A hefty chunk of free-to-play or "freemium" gamers have spent real dinero on their hobby of choice, according to a new report from the NPD Group. An online survey conducted by the group determined that four out of ten free-to-play gamers have made an in-game payment of some kind. Males are more likely to make such purchases, though females are more likely to have played free-to-play titles.

The report contains a few other interesting tidbits. For one, those who make an in-game payment tend to do so within the first month of playing, and those who try free-to-play titles tend to keep playing them, with 84 percent continuing to play after first trying them. Among those who abandon free-to-play titles, men aged 13 to 34 are most likely, while women in general are more likely to stay.

Perhaps the most interesting (horrifying?) statistic: data for the survey was gathered from 6,416 respondents aged two and older. Please, keep your two-year-olds

Plants vs. Zombies iOS receives hefty update

PopCap has released updates to the iPad and iPhone versions of Plants vs. Zombies, bringing it more in line with its non-mobile counterparts. The iPad version sees the bulk of the updates, adding several new game modes, mini-games, achievements and leaderboards. Specifically, it adds the Zen Garden, Vasebreaker Endless and I, Zombie modes, along with the Slot Machine mini-game. An optional mini-game pack including Zombiquarium, Portal Combat and Beghouled Twist can also be unlocked with in-game currency (earned either through gameplay or, you guessed it, in-app purchase).

The iPhone and iPod Touch version, meanwhile, receives only the Vasebreaker mode, additional achievements and leaderboards. The update is available now. Whether or not you have any free time available, well, that's something else entirely.