Online mobile game trial Mpowerplayer has recently launched the Mplayit Mobile Arcade app for Facebook. From a player’s standpoint, the application provides users with a Facebook version of the Mpowerplayer web site and allows them to play dozens of mobile game demos such as Spore Origins, The Sims, and Guitar Hero Mobile. As expected, Mobile Arcade is also fully integrated with the social network allowing you to share Mplayit links amongst your friends as well as “Recommend” specific games, allowing them to show up on your news feed.

The mobile controls are loosely translated for the PC, but is a little sketchy at best, and is better for some demos rather than others. Nevertheless, the app is still quite playable and would most likely entices users to buy a mobile game they might not purchase otherwise. In fact, you can simply click through the application itself to purchase games directly from the developers’ web sites rather than trying to figure it out on your phone.

This is great news for developers considering the volume of web games being played, especially on the Facebook platform. Michael Powers, CEO of Mpowerplayer states, “We grow the market for mobile games by helping consumers discover that they can play great games on the phone that they have right now…. Nearly all phones sold in America have games capability, but less than 5% of people have bought a game for their phone.”

Powers continues to say, “Contrast that with the fact that 70% of online consumers spend time playing web games. Facebook is a very good match for our strategy because Facebook users are online, they’re active on mobile, and – importantly – they’re on Facebook to kill some time, so they’re all ready in a recreational state of mind.”

As for Mpowerplayer, this is a new revenue stream for them. The company receives referral fees from the publishers featured from their application, and that’s all there is too it. Considering the demographic Facebook targets, and the ease in which users can play and buy mobile games, Mobile Arcade is certainly worth the investment, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more applications like this on the horizon.

Well, it certainly seems that Mafia/Mob based RPGs are quite popular amongst Facebook and MySpace social gamers (and profitable), and to that end, we have seen a number of similar games released since the first of them surfaced. The latest Mob Wars clone to come down the pipe, however, is Mobties by Hive7 (the makers of Knighthood), which is currently in public beta.

Since the app is still in beta, that means a number of game aspects will probably change, but overall it still seems pretty good, save for a few balancing issues.

When the player starts out, a petty mob title (hustler), two NPC “hoods,” and some cash are presented to them. So what do you do with all this? For some, the point of the game is what you make of it, but if there were one outstanding objective, it would be to build up your own city and be the strongest mob out there. That said, you have to begin constructing your empire.

Within your city you build various buildings that help in the security of your domain. Each structure takes a period of time to build and can be accelerated by spending cash. Primarily, these are defensive structures for incoming attacks which is where the real game play comes in.

Each player has a “power level” which indicates their usefulness in an attack.. This is where things get interesting: In an attack, you are trying to gain power. In order to gain power, you need “hoods” (players, and in some cases NPCs) which is essentially an army. The more you have under you, the higher rank you are, but it’s not quite as simple as this. When you capture hoods, you gain strength, but now you have to keep them. There are a number of ways that they could be lost, and some of it is beyond your direct control.

Captured hoods can be rescued directly, but also can be retrieved in a number of other ways such as ransom, being sold on the market, through a counterattack, and so on. However, what is most interesting is the “loyalty” feature of this game. You see, when you swear loyalty to a “boss” (another player), that’s when they gain your strength in their army, but this is a double-edged sword. Your hoods can actually plan rebellions against you, which means that they could secretly be gaining power to overthrow you. This sole feature is quite possibly the coolest mechanic in the entire game (sadly you won‘t see it much until the upper levels). The fact that you not only have to strategically build your army and gain the loyalty of hoods and defend against direct attacks, but also be wary of uprisings within your own ranks is fantastic. This means that even the strongest players could be uprooted from the inside, and puts a real life feel into the game – Who can you really trust?

At the moment, the only real downside is the credit system. When you shop, nothing uses cash, but they use credits, and some of the useful NPCs can be found there. Unfortunately, you have to spend real money to earn credits or deal with the nine million advertisements page. Beyond that, there are some minor balancing issues as far as costs (number of money, credits, hoods, etc) go. Early on, cash seems more or less trivial unless you are in a hurry to build stuff immediately, and the number of NPC hoods available should be more accessible to new players so they can actually check out the game more thoroughly before they start building a player army.

Nevertheless, these are all minor things that could very well change before the close of beta. The game is wonderfully strategic and does an excellent job of conveying a mob-like feel by allowing players to usurp their leaders. Mobties is definitely a game to help beta test. It has the potential to be better than Mob Wars, but the key word here is “potential.”

Seeing as it is a cult classic – and now part of the iPhone platform – it seemed only fitting to do a post around the recently released SimCity for iPhone. The game is virtually identical to the original, with the only major change being to the control scheme due to the obvious lack of a mouse.

That said, the game was always tough at first. Heck, even when you did get the hang of everything, you didn’t always feel like dealing with the management of a large city and all the costs that come with it. So what did most people do in this case? Why they used cheat codes of course. But the big question now is, do they still work?

Well good news to all of you SimCity fans, they do, in fact, still work. Well… some of them anyway. It’s a nifty little Easter egg in order to find them, but all you have to do is shake the iPhone and a prompt will appear saying “Enter Cheat Code.” Yup, who’d have thought that was the trick?

As it stands, there are two known cheats for the game that still work. The code, “i am weak” will allow you to build anything your heart desires with no cost, and if you enter the code, “pay tribute to your king” you will be given all of the reward buildings without having to earn them.

Some people might recognize these codes, as they were part of the early PC version of the game. Sadly, many of the other old school codes do not work anymore, including “llama,” “call cousin vinnie,” and “porntipsguzzardo.” Regardless, it is nice to have these codes at all since it is far more fun to cheat anyways.

Whether or not there are more cheats still out there is unknown, but if you discover any new ones, then by all means post your findings.

[via VentureBeat]

Cafe.com is announcing today the sale of its Boonty casual games platform to Nexway for an undisclosed sum, in order to allow the company to completely focus on its Cafe.com social games site.

Mathieu and Roman Nouzareth, the founders of Boonty and Cafe.com, say all proceeds from the all-cash deal will be reinvested into Cafe.com.  At the time of sale, Boonty was profitable and was growing at the rate of 10% per month, the company says.

Cafe.com, launched in May 2008, now reaches over 5 million players per month. The site has focused on building a friendly social environment where more than 30 “highly addictive casual games” are wrapped inside a social networking experience. The company says more than 50% of its audience is female, and over 60% of its audience is over 26.

With its new focus, Cafe.com plans to continue developing both transactional and advertising revenue streams.

“From the beginning, Cafe.com’s business model has been based on micro-transactions and rich media advertising, a successful model started in Asia and now being adopted by other entertainment companies. In addition, Cafe.com is continuously adding new titles to its growing slate of web and social casual games,” Cafe.com CEO Roman Nazoureth said in a statement.

A new Facebook puzzle game called Pictograph has just been released that looks great coming out of the gate.

Remember when Bugs Bunny would mock Elmer Fudd with signs that had a screw and a baseball drawn on it (“screwball“)? Well, that’s what this game is all about. Okay, so Bugs isn’t part of it, but the drawings are. This puzzle game gives you a set of images that you have to decipher into a word or phrase.

The game is very reminiscent of the games you used to play in the back of magazines as a kid, but the difference now is that these puzzles make up common phrases and relate to various current events. Some challenges include the movie, When Harry Met Sally…, Will Farrell in Elf, and of course holiday puzzles for Christmas. However, perhaps what is most enticing is that the game is not limited to content created by the developer.

In general one of the more interesting aspects of social game play is the ability to create and share content with friends, and that is exactly what you can do with Pictograph. The app has a simple and intuitive creation system that lets you type in a phrase and select from a plethora of images in order to “encode” what you are trying to say. Then, when a player starts up a game, they are presented with what seems to be a randomly picked puzzle (unless you are playing a specific topic challenge like the ones mentioned prior) that has been created by someone else.

Of course, the game contains traditional social capabilities as well. This includes the standard scoring, leader board, and challenge systems that encompass the majority of Facebook titles. You can even “taunt” other players within the rankings.

Pictograph is certainly a fun game and deserves to be up in the higher tiers of the app gallery. Its simple, nostalgic game play makes for fun and thought invoking puzzles, and the fact that players can create their own adds a wonderful social element and a near infinite number of possibilities. It is certainly a game worth checking out.

Inside Social Games extends a big thank you to our fantastic sponsors for supporting the continued growth of Inside Social Games. Check them out below!

Zong is a leading mobile media monetization service from Echovox.

Offerpal Media is a leading managed offer network for social applications and online merchants.

Social Gaming Network (SGN) is a leading global development platform for social game distribution.

Cafe.com is a leading developer and distributor of social casual games.

The microtransaction platform space continues to grow as yet another contender has entered the fray. The latest company is called GamersGate, and the Swedish developers have just released its GamersGate Microsuite platform.

As one could surmise, the platform offers game developers the opportunity to insert a means of offering transactions anywhere in a game or virtual world. GamersGate wants to help developers to increase likelihood of purchases (impulse buys, as it were). With GamersGate, a player that needs an item immediately in order to accomplish an objective can buy that item as they need it without ever having to leave the game world. To a gamer, that is far more useful, and due to its proximity and convenience, they are far more likely to buy.

PlaySpan offers a similar product which is capable of providing transactions the same way.

One interesting factor about GamersGate, however, is that it gives away its software tools for free. Like other companies, they do take a small portion of all virtual goods purchases for themselves. Furthermore, gamers will be able to use their virtual currency on any of the supported games within GamersGate.

Based on commentary from Theodore Bergquist, GamersGate chief executive, the company has been talking with a number of different game publishers, and a number of titles that will utilize the new system are expected to release some time during the first quarter of 2009.

[ via VentureBeat]

While game development on social networks is increasingly becoming more sophisticated, leading social game developer Zynga is already figuring out how to drive significant revenues out of its game network.

Long rumored in the app developer community as the developer of one of the “million dollar a month” apps in its Texas HoldEm poker game (mostly from people buying virtual currency), Norwest Venture Partners principal Tim Chang told paidContent today that Zynga is making “$30 to $40 million per year.” In addition, Nicholas Carlson at SAI reported today that his sources say Zynga turned in 2008 revenues of $50 million.

Game developers are paying close attention to the growth of the virtual goods markets within social platforms. Zynga is a somewhat unique case given its size (said to be over 150), but there are still high school students out there who will be able to pay their own way through college with the money they’re making through Facebook and MySpace games…

While Harmonix and Activision may hold dominion over the consoles with Rock Band and Guitar Hero, their slow pace is certainly costing them the lead on the iPhone as Tapulous continues to own the rhythm genre with their Tap Tap music games. The latest addition is Tap Tap Dance. This music game is phenomenal, featuring music from Daft Punk, Moby, Junkie XL, and the Chemical Brothers.

The game is not terribly different from its predecessors, but it does include the capability of tapping two notes simultaneously (allowing for chords). Beyond that, the game play is the same: Tapping notes as they come down the screen on the three bars. If you see the arrows appear on the bars, you swing the iPhone in that direction (this feature can be turned off), and if you hit a 50 note streak you can enter your “revenge” mode by shaking the iPhone and start racking up the x8 bonuses.

The two aspects that make this game what it is, however, are the visuals and the music. The music is wonderful and upbeat, and unless you absolutely hate dance and techno music, you will probably enjoy at least listening to this game. Furthermore, the layout of notes and the corresponding controls are fantastic. Unlike games such as Guitar Hero that emulates an actual musical instrument, the notes are far more difficult to make feel fluid. Nevertheless, the job done here is terrific and the rhythm in which you tap the notes is so well synched with the music, that you cannot help but get into the game.

Beyond music, the visuals are also a crucial element, and Tap Tap Dance certainly delivers. Though a significantly smaller part of a music game experience, visuals are what completes the overall look and feel that will encompass the player. Consider Rock Band: The dynamic camera angles, flashing strobe lights, screaming fans – all of these play a critical role and making the experience feel like a rock experience. Without these, the game would be significantly less successful. The same goes with Tap Tap Dance. Intense visuals go hand in hand with techno and are almost an expectation. The backdrops for this game are a wonderful representation of a rave scene that really immerses the player even further into the game experience.

Lastly, the game also includes an interesting two-player mode which lets two players hold opposite ends of the iPhone. Unfortunately, while this is a decent idea in theory, it just seems too awkward considering the size of the device. Also, considering that some people really get into these rhythm games, it could be somewhat difficult for both parties to keep their hands on the phone.

Nevertheless, the game is easily the best music-based game in the App Store. If you have the money to spend on a new game, then this one comes highly recommended.

The next big game is out on the iPhone, and is definitely a “must have” if you play games at all on the platform. EA has released the classic, community building, Will Wright title, SimCity for both the iPhone and the iPod touch.

There was, of course, concern over how the game would play with the lack of a mouse. It seemed unlikely that the game would be as good, or that it would end up being streamlined or “light” version of the original title. Surprisingly, however, none of this is the case. The iPhone SimCity is the real deal – a full on version of the original game with nothing really changed (sans the obvious control scheme). Yes, that means the game still has pre-built cities, accountant recommendations, water pipes, and the ever coveted natural disasters.

The missing mouse doesn’t seem to be a big deal either. The player controls the game just like they would Google maps: Sliding your fingers together zooms in while sliding them apart zooms outward and touching and dragging moves the view around. Everything is controlled via the touch screen, and basically turns your fingers into a mouse. Placing zones, for example, simply involves touching and dragging your preferred width and length.

However, there is rarely ever a perfect solution, and there are times, especially in denser areas, where zones might overlap, or roads may not line up properly. EA has taken this into consideration and has allowed the user to easily correct mistakes by merely touching the unwanted areas, but occasionally it can be a little frustrating since you can often delete or move the wrong item.

Regardless of some slightly awkward situations, the game sill looks and plays fantastic. It has beautiful 2D sprites have very intricate details, particle emissions, and delicate shading. Overall, the graphical quality is comparable to SimCity 3000.
Anyone that has played the original can truly appreciate the level in which it was preserved during the port and is wonderful entertainment for both new and veteran players.

Furthermore, considering the time investment that came with all of Will Wright’s previous creations, SimCity is an ideal iPhone game when it comes to mobile entertainment. Anyone that has an iPhone should definitely own this game.