Toy and board game company Hasbro today announced it has obtained the license to develop and distribute a wide range of physical games based on game developer EA PopCap’s properties.

Hasbro says it will introduce two new games in the spring of 2013 based on Bejeweled, which has sold more than 50 million digital units worldwide, and has 2.7 million daily active users on Facebook with Bejeweled Blitz.

Not surprisingly, In Hasbro’s new Bejeweled physical game players will also swap gems to match 3 or more to win. Hasbro’s Bejeweled Frenzy will be a fast-paced card game that challenges players to match gems to build stacks of cards as fast as possible.

Hasbro says the new physical games will add value to their digital counterparts, though so far all it revealed is that Hasbro’s Bejeweled will include a downloadable version of Bejeweled 3 for the computer, and Bejeweled Frenzy will include a code for Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook which can be redeemed for four Rare Gems.

The deal between Hasbro and PopCap comes on the heels of a similar deal Hasbro made with Zynga in September 2012 to distribute board games based on Zynga’s social games, some of which we were able to play in October.

DisneyUTV releases Cricket Fever Challenge – On Wednesday DisneyUTV released its multi-platform multiplayer cricket game Cricket Fever Challenge. The game allows players to challenge their friends to matches across iOS and Android devices as well as through Facebook. The game also keeps track of players’ performance with leader boards and Player Profile Cards in the style of Xbox Live’s Gamertags.

Bossa Studios’ Merlin: The Game launches open beta — Fans of the hit BBC television show can now play Merlin: The Game. Developed by Bossa Studios, makers of the BAFTA winning social game Monstermind, Merlin: The Game aims to introduce casual players to a deeper, real-time cooperative role-playing game. We published a very favorable review of the game which you can find here.

Disney Playdom launches spooky Halloween content for top games — Disney is adding Halloween-themed content to many of its game as the holiday approaches. Ghosts of Mistwood now features four new ghastly locations and the Pretty Little Liars 5 Days of Gifting promotion in which players investigate the Ghost Train from the Pretty Little Liars Halloween special. In the Time Crystal chapter of Gardens of Time players explore buildings like Haunted Mansion. Even Marvel: Avengers will celebrate Halloween with new missions featuring Ghost Rider, and in Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers players can build Haunted Tents and rescue Black Cats and Scarecrows.

Lima Sky partners with Ravenburger — Doodle Jump developer Lima Sky announced that it partnered with German board game manufacturer Ravensburger to create the first Doodle Jump board game. The announcement comes on the heels of the latest major Doodle Jump content update (also Halloween-themed) that is slated to release at the end of October.

Warner Bros. signs Spooky Cool Labs to develop Wizard of Oz Facebook game – Spooky Cool Labs announced it acquired the license from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to develop and publish an online social game based on the classic movie The Wizard of Oz. The license grants access to the film’s beloved characters, music and likenesses, including the likeness of Judy Garland’s (Dorothy), Margret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West) and others. Closed Beta testing of the game is already underway. Interested players can Like the game’s new App Page to participate as testers.

EA’s Peter Moore responds to Zynga layoffs, state of social games – “We always feel bad when people lose their jobs,” Electronic Arts’ COO Peter Moore told Eurogamer in an interview. “Our hope is certainly… those folks can get re-employed pretty quickly.” Kind words considering EA’s and Zynga’s ongoing legal dispute and public name calling. Moore also countered a lot of the doomsaying which followed the recent layoffs and departures at the social gaming giant. “I think [social gaming] just got a little overhyped. And now the demise is being overhyped the opposite way. I still think there’s a strong place for social gaming. I think a lot of social gaming is moving [to] mobile. We feel well positioned to take advantage of that. And people shouldn’t read too much into whatever is going on with Zynga.” Read the full Eurogamer interview here.

Investment bank Digi-Capital today published its Q3 update for its Global Games Investment Review 2012; the mergers and acquisitions transaction value of 2012 has already surpassed the total from 2011 but games investment (particularly among social/casual games) is far lower than it was last year.

This year’s transaction value is now at 105 percent for the entirety of 2011, meaning the run-rate to  Q3 2012 showed a 40 percent year-over-year gain. Six of the 10 largest transactions of this past quarter were made by Chinese, Japanese and South Korean groups.

2011 was a record year for M&A, with a total of $3.4 billion being generated from 113 different transactions (the average value of these being $30 million).  This year so far, though, $3.6 billion has been generated over 71 transactions with an average value of $51 million. The Zynga acquisition of Draw Something developer OMGPOP for a reported $180 million back in March obviously had an effect on these numbers, but this year has seen fewer and larger transactions in general.

According to Digi-Capital, the transactions have been particularly focused on MMO titles, mobile and social/casual games and middleware. Likewise, the company’s larger Chinese, Japanese and South Korean clients are focused on M&A in these areas, while European and U.S. clients “are fishing in similar waters.”

Games investment isn’t seeing the same kind of growth as M&A, however. In 2011, there were 152 transactions resulting in $2 billion, with an average value of $13 million. As of Q3 2012, there have been 130 transactions for a total of $591 million, meaning an average of $4.5 million. Compared to Q3 2011, Q3 2012′s transaction volume is up by 14 percent, but the value of said transactions is down by 60 percent. That said, Digi-Capital says that even if this trend persists, 2012 could still see the investment levels of 2010, which is the second-highest year). A particular point of interest is that in 2011 the social/casual field accounted for 57 percent of the year’s transaction values and 32 percent of transaction volume; as of Q3 2012 it’s only responsible 8 percent of transaction value and 11 percent of volume.

“Our original view that Social Games 1.0 is a consolidating sector could continue through Q4 2012, with 2011’s wave of VC social games investment appearing to be over,” says Digi-Capital.

Puzzle Chasers is a new jigsaw-themed puzzle game for Facebook, published by Konami and developed by Hibernum. The title combines elements from jigsaw puzzle games, “blitz” puzzlers and hidden object adventures to create a distinctive and well-presented social game.

Basic gameplay in Puzzle Chasers is a high-speed twist on the jigsaw puzzle genre. Rather than having to find the appropriate piece and slot it into the correct location, players are presented with an unfinished puzzle board with all of the pieces’ outlines marked. Players must then click on an empty space and then select the appropriate piece to fit into that slot from a selection of up to five at the bottom of the screen. The pieces are occasionally not rotated to the correct orientation, so players must also take the pattern on the piece into account when selecting one to put into the slot. Correctly selecting pieces in rapid succession builds up a “streak” meter, which leads to higher scores, and correctly selecting glowing spaces on the board causes multiple other spaces to be automatically filled in. At the end of a puzzle, the player is given a rating of up to three puzzle pieces according to how quickly they solved the puzzle and what their longest streak was. In order to complete the puzzle faster, a limited number of powerups are available to automatically fill in a whole row, column or adjacent spaces.

Wrapped around the puzzle action is a poorly-written and unnecessary story concerning the inexplicable theft of the Great Wall of China and the antagonist’s equally bizarre desire to use Tesla’s technology to break it into puzzle pieces. The ongoing narrative merely serves as a device to justify the visual themes that tie the various chapters’ puzzles together — players begin their quest in New Zealand, for example, so find themselves completing puzzles based around the islands’ distinctive scenery and Maori imagery. The character art and presentation of the story sequences is good, but the writing and plot itself are woeful to an almost comic degree, and simply serve to get in the way of the otherwise fast-paced gameplay.

Alongside the narrative-led puzzle action, players have a mansion to build up similar to that seen in popular hidden object games such as Zynga’s Hidden Chronicles. Like the titles which this gameplay element is drawn from. constructing items in the mansion (which costs both soft currency and time, the latter of which can be bypassed with hard currency) provides the player with “Prestige” points, which are used to unlock later story content. Various quests (also with flimsy narrative justifications seemingly completely unrelated to the main story) provide players with simple objective such as putting a certain number of different chairs in the same room. Some of these quests also require that players achieve a certain score in specific story puzzles to complete, though all objectives may be bypassed with hard currency if the player desires.

As well as these two gameplay elements, Puzzle Chasers also incorporates a Blitz puzzle mode where players are given a time limit to complete as much of a puzzle as possible. Instead of selecting empty spaces manually, gaps are automatically highlighted and the player must simply match the correct piece to the hole. As in the main story mode, pieces are not always in the correct orientation, so both shape and pattern must be carefully observed to succeed. The Blitz puzzle changes every week, and players are ranked against their friends on a leaderboard. Powerups are available for use in Blitz mode — these are unlocked by successfully progressing through the story or spending hard currency, and are activated by expending soft currency.

The biggest barrier to enjoyment of Puzzle Chasers is its somewhat stingy energy system. Ten energy points are expended every time a player takes on a puzzle, whether it is a story mode puzzle or a weekly Blitz challenge. It then regenerates very slowly, and there is no experience point/leveling system to allow players to restore their energy through strategic, efficient gameplay. Some other puzzle games on Facebook that incorporate both level-based challenges and a Blitz mode do not require the player to use energy to play the Blitz challenge, thereby giving them something to do while waiting for their energy to restore. This is a more player-friendly implementation that will encourage players to stick around; as it stands, some players may find themselves running out of energy then simply not returning to the game in frustration. Energy may be restored in small quantities by visiting friends’ mansions and clicking on glowing objects, but for solo players this will be little consolation.

Laughable narrative and stingy energy system aside, Puzzle Chasers is actually a very good game. It is presented well, with excellent visuals and music, and the fast-paced piece-matching gameplay is an innovative and original take on the usually ponderous jigsaw puzzle genre. It could do with a little balancing to make it a little more friendly to non-paying players, but is otherwise well worth checking out.

Puzzle Chasers is not yet listed on our traffic tracking service AppData. Check back shortly to follow its progress by MAU, DAU and user retention figures.

Play

While the story is poor and the energy system is less than generous, a good-quality, fun puzzle game shines out from beneath these flaws.

King.com’s “Saga” series of games makes up some of the most consistently popular titles on Facebook, and between them they have covered a wide variety of puzzle genres so far. Pyramid Solitaire Saga is the latest addition to the collection, following the popular solitaire format seen in titles such as Subsoap’s Faerie Solitaire, Big Fish Games’ Fairway Solitaire and PopCap’s Solitaire Blitz.

Pyramid Solitaire Saga’s take on Solitaire involves a predefined arrangement of cards stacked in a Mahjong-style arrangement, with some or all of them face-up. Players must remove cards by playing a card from their deck that is one higher or lower than the card they are trying to remove, but may only play onto cards which are not partially or completely covered. If no cards can be played, the player draws cards from the deck one at a time until they can play.

The ultimate goal of each level is to remove all of the specially-marked “scarab” cards from the board while scoring enough points to get at least a one-star rating. Some levels also have additional objectives such as finishing the round with at least a certain number of cards remaining in the deck, or removing a chain of a certain number of cards without drawing. Failing to remove all the scarabs, attain a one-star rating or complete an objective causes the player to lose a life. They must then retry the level if they have lives available, or wait to recover if they do not. Players can also ask friends for additional lives or purchase a full set — they cannot, at this time, purchase lives that will take them over the upper limit.

As the game progresses, players gain access to various “charms” which make levels a little easier. Some of these must be crafted using gems that the player acquires through play, while others are permanent and must be unlocked using Facebook Credits. The functions of these charms vary from having additional cards in the draw deck at the start of play to being able to shuffle all visible cards on the screen.

It would be easy to dismiss Pyramid Solitaire Saga as a simple clone of Solitaire Blitz (which, in turn, some might accuse of being a clone of Faerie and Fairway Solitaires) but in practice the level-based structure gives the game a very different feel to the more frantic “time attack” gameplay of PopCap’s title. Players can take their time over levels rather than rushing to clear as many cards as possible as fast as they can. It also gives a sense of progression in gameplay beyond simply competing with friends, which is good for those players who prefer to concentrate on their own performance rather than how they shape up against their rivals.

Coupled with the pleasant (if unremarkable) graphics and sound along with King.com’s solid but unobtrusive monetization strategy, Pyramid Solitaire Saga looks set to be another strong title for the publisher. With 820,000 MAU and 380,000 DAU already, the game is off to a good start — it will be interesting to see if it matches its stablemates over the coming months.

Follow Pyramid Solitaire Saga’s progress with AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Play

King.com’s skills at user acquisition will likely make this fun (if relatively unoriginal) solitaire title a big success.

House M.D. — Critical Cases, published by Ubisoft and developed by The Method, is an officially-licensed Facebook game based on the popular TV medical drama. Cast in the role of a rookie doctor on House’s diagnostician team, players must work their way through a series of critical, story-based cases while taking the time to treat less serious conditions in the clinic.

Fans of the show will initially find the visual style of the game rather jarring. While the cartoony characters bear a good resemblance to their on-screen counterparts, their abnormally large heads and exaggerated animations are a far cry from the gritty realism of the TV show, and somewhat at odds with the rather serious tone of the story. After a short period of adjustment, however, the peculiar art style will likely cease to matter, allowing players to focus on more important matters. The Method has clearly taken the time to observe the show and demonstrate their understanding of what has made it popular over the years: witty dialogue, strong characterization and medical drama grounded in reality. The in-game representations of characters such as Chase, Foreman, Taub, Thirteen and House himself act as an avid viewer of the show would expect them to, and the game’s story even refers back to past episodes to provide further “fan service.”

Those who have never seen House before can still have an enjoyable experience, however, thanks to the easily-understandable gameplay. Players are walked through their first story-based Critical Case in a tutorial which is extremely well-blended into the ongoing narrative. By treating their first patient, players are introduced to the various minigames they will be participating in order to solve the various cases in the game.

While investigating a Critical Case, players will be called upon to perform a number of tasks, each of which cost energy to perform. While these minigames are very simple, their thematic content and presentation is well in keeping with the format of the show, meaning the game keeps a good “flow” and pace throughout. When investigating an important location to the patient — their apartment, for example — the player is presented with a hidden object minigame. When doing blood work, players are tasked with quickly clicking on floating blood cells according to an on-screen display. And when performing an MRI, players are challenged to complete a Concentration-style minigame where they must flip tiles and match symbols as quickly as possible.

The completion of Critical Cases sometimes requires the collection of resources such as specific medial supplies, budget or “Favor points,” all of which may often be acquired by treating Clinic patients. These cases are usually much simpler, and involve assigning a patient to a testing minigame, the pharmacy or the ward depending on the rewards the player is seeking. Testing minigames function the same way as in Critical Cases. Sending a patient to the pharmacy requires ordering the correct medication in the right quantity for the patient’s cure and then waiting for it to be delivered. Sending a patient to the ward requires the collection of several items from friends — alternatively, they may be purchased using hard currency.

House M.D. — Critical Cases is a high quality game that shows what a difference good writing can make to a story-based game. The interactions between characters are a highlight of the experience and will be sure to please fans of the show and newcomers alike. The gameplay, too, provides plenty of things to do beyond simply clicking on things and waiting. As the player progresses through experience levels and gains the ability to treat more patients at once, keeping up with everything becomes more and more challenging — though the seeming lack of a “fail state” makes the experience rather less tense than it perhaps should be. When a patient can lie in cardiac arrest for hours until the player’s energy has restored enough to use the defibrillator, for example, it removes rather a lot of the sense of urgency from the situation.

Critical Cases faces a huge challenge in its immediate future: the TV show is in its final season and is coming to a close on May 21. This means that there will be fewer opportunities for the game to be promoted on air, and the House brand will be less prominent outside of reruns and DVD/digital video sales/rentals. The game will likely prove most appealing to fans of the show and may be able to maintain its audience long after the show has finished airing, but for the moment at least, its future is by no means certain. As such, the game is definitely one to watch, as high quality as it is. However, it will only be possible to determine whether or not it is likely to enjoy long-term success following the end of the show’s run on TV.

As a new release, House MD is not yet listed on our traffic tracking service AppData. Check back soon to track the game’s progress by MAU and DAU as well as other usage trends.

Wait

A great example of how to do a licensed game well, but its long-term success at this point is far from assured due to the show’s impending finale.

Candy Crush Saga is the latest entry in King.com’s increasingly expansive “Saga” series of Facebook games. It’s a match-3 puzzler, but combines enough twists on the formula to make it worthy of note.

The basic mechanics of Candy Crush Saga will be immediately familiar to anyone who’s spent time with the match-3 genre. By swapping colored candies and making horizontal or vertical lines of three or more like-colored sweets, players may clear space for more candies to fall and score points. Matching more than three candies at once in different arrangements produces special sweets which have beneficial effects — some clear a whole line of the board, some explode and destroy all candies in the spaces around them and some destroy all candies of a specific color on the board.

So far so Bejeweled. Candy Crush Saga then adds a few twists on this well-worn basic formula. Firstly, the play area isn’t always square. Sometimes it is irregularly-shaped around the edges, meaning that candies can shift from one column to another as they fall; and sometimes there are holes in the middle, which candies can fall behind but the player may not swap sweets into.

The second twist comes in the form of various different level types. Rather than simply attempting to score as many points as possible, Candy Crush Saga provides several different objectives for players to complete. Sometimes they’ll have to beat point targets. Sometimes they’ll have to clear jelly from the board by matching candies on top of it. Sometimes they’ll have to cause specific “ingredient” items to drop to the bottom of the play area. There is usually a move limit for players to contend with, with players losing a life if they fail to complete the level’s objectives quickly enough. Lives restore over time or may be replenished by asking friends or spending Facebook Credits.

The game monetizes through the sale of various boosters and items which unlock as the player progresses through the levels. Items may be used during play to knock out troublesome candies or provide the player with extra moves, while boosters appear in the form of special gems which have beneficial effects on the player’s progress — for example, matching a colored fish in a group causes it to swim off and return with a group of friends who will destroy a series of random candies on the board. The main trouble with these boosts and items is that the game doesn’t explain them prominently enough — clicking on an item when the player has one simply uses it, and no tooltips pop up to inform the player what said item is for. An explanation does pop up when the player purchases new items, but since they will have already used them at least once by this point, that’s a little too late.

There are a few other little niggles like this throughout the game — “hints” are provided to the player during play, for example, highlighting matches which may be made, but there are two problems with this. Firstly, they pop up far too quickly while the player is searching for their own matches, causing unwelcome distraction; and secondly, they often simply don’t provide a particularly helpful move, particularly on the “jelly” levels where moves are at a premium.

Despite these few flaws — many of which could be easily rectified in future updates — Candy Crush Saga is a good game. It features a high degree of audio-visual polish (though the overly-short background music loop will likely be switched off by most users immediately); it uses an endearing “cardboard theater” aesthetic for its superfluous but entertaining “story” sequences; it’s well-paced and balanced; and its social and monetization features are kept subtle rather than thrust into the player’s face at every opportunity. If King.com’s past titles — particularly Bubble Witch Saga — are anything to go by, Candy Crush Saga has a bright future ahead of it.

Candy Crush Saga launched this week and currently has 30,000 monthly active users and 10,000 daily active users. Follow its progress with AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Play

While the underlying mechanics may be very conventional, Candy Crush Saga is an excellent quality game with a bright future ahead of it.

Both casino slots games and bingo sims are proving popular on Facebook, so what better time for Zynga to revive Slingo, a combination of both? Originally released on AOL back in 1995, Slingo combines the luck element of slot machines with the fast-paced observational gameplay of bingo to create a fun and addictive experience that everyone can enjoy.

Zynga’s interpretation of the game — officially licensed from the original creators — remains true to the basic format, but adds a recognizably “Zynga” layer of polish and social features over the top. Rather than simply playing a random board as in the original game, players have a series of “worlds” to work through, each featuring a distinctive background and a range of levels to play. Taking on levels uses an energy system, the implementation of which forms the backbone of the game’s monetization strategy.

Upon beginning a level, players are presented with a bingo card and a slot machine-like device underneath. Upon clicking “Spin,” five numbers are revealed, and the player must then mark any matches off on their card. Occasionally, special symbols appear on the reels — Jokers allow players to mark off any number in the column they appear in, Super Jokers allow the marking of any number on the board, explosions mark any number and the squares around it, and a “coin toss” symbol allows the player to gamble up to 50% of their score based on a 50-50 chance.

The game doesn’t allow the player to make mistakes when marking squares, or to spin the reels before they have marked off all the available numbers, and it dims the reels when all available spaces from a particular spin have been found. This helps keep the game fast-paced and eliminates the frustration of the player seeing a missed number at the exact second they click the “Spin” button.

Despite the fact it is impossible to make a mistake, however, players are encouraged to be fast and efficient in their search of the board. Unlike the original Slingo game — which simply had a timer for each spin — in Zynga Slingo players receive score bonuses for finding numbers in rapid succession, with a “combo” meter at the side of the play area building up with each successful match. Taking too long to find a match causes this meter to drain, so players who develop the most efficient card-searching strategies will prove the most successful. While the game is otherwise almost completely luck-based, the addition of this feature adds an element of skill to gameplay which helps contribute to it being a more satisfying, addictive experience for players. Combine this skill-based scoring mechanic with friend leaderboards and you have a highly competitive social interpretation of Slingo that still remains true to its roots.

Players progress through the game by earning medals rather than experience levels. Each stage in a world has five medals available — three for breaking specific score milestones, one for marking off every square on the stage’s unique pattern and a fifth for marking off every number on the whole board. Upon reaching certain numbers of medals, players unlock new powerups (including extra spins and items that cause certain special symbols to be more likely to appear) and upgrades to their energy limit. Players may also unlock access to these powerups early using hard currency, and may also purchase unlimited energy packages for a day or a week at a time. Soft currency for acquiring powerups may also be purchased, and since stages often end with the necessity to purchase a couple of extra spins at 2,000 coins each to clear the board, it’s easy to rip through a large amount of this in just one level. That said, soft currency is quite easy to come by through play, so players willing to put in the time to grind and not give in to temptation will be able to earn a healthy balance over time.

Zynga Slingo is a recognizably “Zynga” experience. It is a highly-polished experience with plenty of lively animations and colorful visuals, though the screen can get a bit “busy” at times when rewards and powerups are flying around. Fans of the original Slingo game will be pleased to note, however, that Zynga’s interpretation uses the same sound effects as the classic Web-based version, giving the new version an air of authenticity while revamping the core experience for today’s social players. It’s a solid, simple but addictive little game that is already proving popular and will likely only continue its success when the promised new “Play With Friends” multiplayer feature is added.

Zynga Slingo currently has 3,500,000 monthly active users and 1,600,000 daily active users. You can follow its progress with AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Play

An excellent social adaptation of a popular, enduring web game that will appeal to fans and newcomers alike.

Playspan: virtual goods consumption up 28 percent since 2009 — According to a study conducted by digital monetization company Playspan, U.S. consumers bought $2.3 billion dollars worth of virtual goods in 2011, spending an average of $64 dollars per person. Playspan included purchases within a game or app, purchases from a console like the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, prepaid cards and purchases from online stores and publisher’s websites in its study.

Adobe unveils AIR 3.2 — Adobe has announced the latest updates to Adobe AIR. Version 3.2 of the tool includes both 2D and 3D hardware acceleration, which will allow games to run at 60 frames per second.

87 percent of US gamers play on Facebook or casual gaming websites — According to the latest study from Newzoo, 87 percent of the 145 million gamers between the ages of 10 and 65 in the U.S. either play games on Facebook or through casual portals like King.com. Newzoo also found that 87 percent of Facebook gamers also play games on casual games websites.

Kabam games now available on Download.com — Four of Kabam’s social games, The Godfather: Five Families, Edgeworld, Thirst of Night and Dragons of Atlantis are now available as full-screen, downloadable apps at Download.com. The desktop apps are made by SweetLabs, and were previously available on the company’s Pokki platform.

FarmVille and CityVille go tropical — Zynga has announced the newest expansion for FarmVille will be FarmVille Hawaiian Paradise. The update, which includes a tropical landscape, buried treasure, aquaculture and a new special coconut currency, goes live on Monday. The newest CityVille expansion, CityVille Islands, launched on Feb. 29.

Fiveonenine Games signs with GamesAnalytics — Durham-based social and mobile startup Fiveonenine Games is the latest company to sign a deal with GamesAnalytics. Fiveonenine will incorporate the company’s analysis tools in its upcoming games.

Dungeon Overlord expanding, going mobile — Night Owl Games has added the first expansion to its Facebook game Dungeon Overlord, titled The Succubus Stories. The developer will also be unveiling a companion mobile app for iPhone and Android at PAX East in April.

[Release] Rounds releases Facebook game based on interactive music video — Israeli-based Facebook video chat app maker Rounds has released a game using its technology to promote the rock band We the Kings. The game, based on the video for the band’s single Say You Like Me, was developed by Interlude.

[Release] Marvel: Avengers Alliance launches — After a lengthy preview period, Disney has finally launched Marvel: Avengers Alliance on Facebook. Our full review of the game can be found here.

[Release] Syfy releases Syfy Monster Island — Cable network Syfy has released a social game based on its over-the-top original movies. Called Syfy Monster Island, the game allows players to hunt prey like the Sharktopus. Syfy Monster Island is available on Facebook and the Syfy Games website.

[Announcement] Mindjolt SGN now just SGN – As of Feb. 28, Mindjolt SGN is now officially just Social Gaming Network, or SGN.

Durham-based Fiveonenine Games is betting that a series of games inspired by the upcoming U.S. presidential election will give it a leg up as it tries to break into the mobile and social gaming market.

According to the company’s CEO, Playdom’s former general manager of international publishing Lloyd Melnick, the company feels that games based on real-life issues will be more compelling to players in the long run than games based in a fantasy world.

“Our first three games will be based on U.S. politics and the U.S. election in general. We think our retention will be higher if [our games are] dealing with issues players really care about, rather than just tending their artichokes. I’ve got nothing against that, I care for my artichokes too, but we think [real situations are] going to create more of a bond with the customer, especially long term,” he says.

The company’s first game, Political Rampage is an action-oriented match-three game and was submitted to Apple’s App Store earlier this week. The company’s next two political themed games, another for mobile and one for Facebook will be out shortly, and due to the subject matter of its initial lineup, Fiveonenine isn’t planning for the titles to become enduring classics.

“We’re not projecting the life cycle of these games to be as robust as a Gardens of Time or a CastleVille. We think it’s going to drop off tremendously after November,” he says. “There are always going to be the kind of core political-junkie market, but in terms of our internal projections, we’re expecting it will be other games that we have planned for Q3 and Q4 that will driving our company.”

Although the subject matter of Political Rampage is drawn from real life, the game will employ what Melnick calls “tried and true” social game mechanics. He also stresses the company isn’t trying to re-invent the wheel or create games that aren’t fun, just games that pull from real life.

“At the end of the day, our games have to be more fun than Disney’s or Zynga’s, so they’re not going to be pedagogical and they’re not going to be edutainment,” he says. “When you’re watching HGTV you’re not watching with a notebook so you can learn how to remodel, you’re watching because you’re entertained and there’s a real-world element you can relate to.”

Melnick’s reference to cable network like HGTV isn’t surprising, given his new company’s background. Fiveonenine is actually a joint venture between two media companies: E.W. Scripps (which created HGTV and Food Network before it spun off its cable business into a separate company) and the Capital Broadcasting Corporation, a media conglomerate based in Durham, N.C. While neither company has any gaming background, the companies formed Fiveonenine to find new ways to engage their audiences.

One of the biggest trends that Inside Social Games noticed when we reviewed the social games crop of 2011 was the popularity of social games based on TV shows, some of which, like Pawn Stars: The Game and Storage Wars: The Game, have gone on to inspire decided audiences on Facebook. When we asked Melnick if Fiveonenine was planning create social games based on related Scripps cable properties, he revealed the company will be highly focused on IP, and was aiming to have 25 to 50 percent of its portfolio come from licensed properties, but his mandate isn’t necessarily to create games solely for his parent companies.

“I have an open mandate to find whatever IP fits our strategy,” he explains.