Social game news roundup: Nintendo's working on a Wii U social network, Will Wright's new studio goes on legal hiatus and Zynga's mobile payout may be smaller than hoped for

Nintendo planning social network for Wii U — Nintendo has a new social and content network planned for its upcoming Wii U console. The network is called Miiverse and will allow users to video chat, as well as share pictures and other unspecified content. Will Wright's new studio stuck in legal limbo — Will Wright started Hive Mind with the express purpose of creating a gameplay experience that would use mobile and social data to tailor games to individual users. Now, VentureBeat reports the company's development efforts are on hold while its former CEO Jawad Ansari sues the company over his 30 percent equity after he was replaced by the studio's directors. Zynga may be struggling to get mobile development to pay off — Zynga's made a concentrated effort to branch out from Facebook games and develop for mobile phones, but an independent account claims this move may not be working out as hoped for. Mary Meeker's recent State of the Internet presentation estimates Zynga is seeing an annual average revenue of $5 per mobile user (as opposed to $25 per user on desktop computers). PopCap launching Bejeweled Legend in Japan — This week, EA PopCap launched its first self-published game in Japan with Bejeweled Legend. The game was developed by PopCap's new Tokyo studio and will be available on the GREE network. The game is already available on both the Japanese iOS App Store and Google Play. Bejeweled Legend is a puzzle game with a pirate story and RPG progression. Grumpy Goats gallops onto Facebook [Launch] — Fashion Girl developer Verge Games's new Facebook title Grumpy Goats is now live on Facebook. The game is an Angry Birds-styled physics shooter where players fire goats out of a cannon to eliminate sheep on the screen. Playdom reveals three new social games at E3 — Disney Playdom announced the first details about three new social games scheduled to come out this summer. Disney's City Girl is a life-management title where players guide a small town girl to being a high-powered professional. Disney's Ghosts of Mistwood is billed as a "crafting" game where players explore a haunted estate and solve the mystery of their missing aunt. Finally, Mobsters: Criminal Empire involves baste-building and resource management. Ghosts of Mistwood and Mobsters: Criminal Empire are due to launch in June, while City Girl will arrive on Facebook some time this summer. Konami officially summons Yu-Gi-Oh! to Facebook [Launch] — Konami announced this week that Yu-Gi-Oh! Bam has completed its open beta and is now officially launching on Facebook. The card battling game is designed to appeal to both veterans of the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game and players who are totally new to it. appMobi releases Boom Town for multiple platforms [Launch] — Developer appMobi launched its new game Boom Town for iOS, Android and Facebook this week. The game is an Old West themed combination title based around building as large a town as possible before a player runs out of space on the game board. Boom Town was developed in HTML5, which is why it's able to be released across these platforms simultaneously. FarmVille gets Asian-inspired expansion — Zynga's fifth expansion for FarmVille, FarmVille Jade Falls was announced this week. According to the Zynga blog, expansion includes terraced farming, new buildings, crops and animals (including panda bears and dragons). The expansion is now live on Facebook.

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Social game news roundup: Nintendo's working on a Wii U social network, Will Wright's new studio goes on legal hiatus and Zynga's mobile payout may be smaller than hoped for

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