Hasta La Gadget!

Zynga has instituted its cost-reduction plan that the company talked about back in November. The cost-reduction plan involved shutting down some of the company’s video games, or at least accepting no new players in others ahead of shutdown in the coming weeks. The game developer plans to allocate its resources to its more popular games.

Closing video games altogether or eliminating new player registrations also goes along with layoffs for Zynga as the company seeks to squeeze more profit out of its operation. When the company made its IPO, its stock was trading for $10 per share and more recently, it’s trading at only $2.33 per share. So far, Zynga has laid off over 100 employees and closed some of its development offices.

The game PetVille shut down on December 30 along with Mafia Wars 2. FishVille shutdown on December 5 along with Vampire Wars and Treasure Isle. The game Indiana Jones Adventure World is closed to new players but will shut down fully until January 14.

Zynga pulled the videogame Mafia Wars Shakedown from app stores along with Forestville, Mojitomo, and Word Scramble Challenge. The game title Montopia shutdown on December 21. Some players aren’t taking the shutdowns of their favorite videogames well. It’s understandable if you spent years fixing up your virtual aquarium in FishVille and spending your real-world money on upgrades only to have the game unceremoniously canceled, you wouldn’t be happy. Zynga offered players of that title and some others a bonus package of virtual goods for one of the more popular games such as Mafia Wars, Farmville 2 or others.

[via TechCrunch]

Zynga shutters 11 of its social video games is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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The green pigs have had their moment in the sun: it’s time for the Angry Birds to come back. Rovio Mobile has posted a teaser of a collaboration between its frustrated avians and Star Wars that will get a grand reveal on October 8th at Toys R Us’ Times Square location in New York City. No clear giveaways exist as to what’s coming, although Rovio is promising animations, comics and other material in the weeks ahead — we imagine it means more than a toy line, as unique as that can be. But does it mean an Angry Birds Space add-on that goes well beyond the Martian landscape, an entirely new game or something else altogether? We’ve asked the company for more details and will let you know if we’re given more information. In the meantime, get ready for what’s likely to be a geek culture explosion.

[Thanks, Jaakko]

Filed under: Gaming

Rovio hints at Angry Birds tie-in with Star Wars on October 8th, Red Bird Five standing by originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atari games redesigned in HTML 5 may bring back a flood of nostalgia, but they leave out a key part of the gaming experience: the classic hardware. Hard Drives Northwest filled that void by gutting a limited number of authentic Atari 2600s and stuffing them with modern PC components. Packing a Core i7 3.4GHz processor, the retro console now boasts 22,857 times more processing power than it did in its heyday, according to Microsoft’s calculations — more than enough oomph to handle the recent remakes. Other internals include 8GB of RAM, a 120GB SSD and a Radeon HD 6570 graphics card with 1GB of video memory. With support for USB 3.0 and 2.0, eSATA, DisplayPort, DVI and HDMI, the system is well stocked on the connectivity front. Finally, the signature of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell acts as the cherry atop the faux wood grain-toting package. While the souped-up machines aren’t up for sale, a pair of them are slated for a giveaway. Glamour shots and the full set of specs await you at the source.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Atari 2600s get PC innards, 22,857 times more processing power originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zynga’s staffers might have had a laser-like focus on releasing FarmVille 2 this week, but that doesn’t mean the company has forgotten how to take a break. One employee (thankfully, also a Reddit member) has revealed that the developer’s San Francisco headquarters has a giant, 16-screen video wall for gaming in the cafeteria — and yes, they’re playing Halo in that photo rather than some future, first-person version of Mafia Wars. It’s no surprise that the employees aren’t playing their own games all the time; we’re pretty sure that even the most avid Facebook gamers would burn out if they did. Nonetheless, it’s hard not to smile at the thought that the same people urging us to buy new crops are sticking plasma grenades in their spare time.

Filed under: Displays, Gaming

Visualized: what Zynga workers do when they’re not playing FarmVille originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 02:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Systems such as the ColecoVision, TurboGrafx-16 and 3DO may have been ousted from most home entertainment centers long ago, but they still have shelf space at the University of Michigan’s Computer and Video Game Archive. Slashdot caught up with Engineering Librarian and Video Game Archivist Dave Carter and took a look inside the repository, which has curated around 35 classic and current-gen platforms and more than 3,000 different games. Having “one of everything” is the project’s ultimate goal, but the logistics of acquiring every new game make achieving that feat a stretch. “Our realistic goal is to be sort of representative of the history of video games, what was important — what was interesting,” Carter said. “And then, not only to preserve the games, but also to preserve the game playing experience.” As a “useable archive,” patrons of UM’s library can dig in and play at different stations with era-appropriate monitors and displays. While many visit for leisure, students have used the resource to research topics ranging from music composition to the effects of texting while driving (using an Xbox 360 racing title and steering wheel peripheral, of course). You can catch a glimpse of the collection in the video below or visit the archive’s blog at the more coverage link.

Continue reading University of Michigan’s Computer and Video Game Archive houses over 3,000 different games, roughly 35 unique consoles (video)

Filed under: Gaming, Alt

University of Michigan’s Computer and Video Game Archive houses over 3,000 different games, roughly 35 unique consoles (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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