Social Gaming Roundup: Intel, Zynga, Microsoft, & More

Café World Turns One -- A year after its launch, Zynga has released some amusing factoids about it's popular Café World title. Thus far, the game has seen over 82 million new restaurants, hired over 135,000 waiters a day (with 49.3 million for the year), 10 million gifts per day, and served approximately 7 trillion dishes. Zynga To Build New Headquarters -- Announced at the TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom, confirmed that Zynga will be building a new headquarters to house as many as 2000 employees. Zynga is signing a seven year lease for 270,000 square feet in the city's Townsend Center. Tonchidot Raises $12 Million -- Earlier this week, Tokyo-based company, Tonchidot announced the raising of $12 million in a Series B round of funding. The company, centered around mobile augmented reality (AR), will be using the funds to expand their AR social gaming platform globally. Will Microsoft Acquire a Social Developer? -- Interesting information from ZDNet as Microsoft may be sniffing around to acquire a social developer. The most recent rumor has been a possible acquisition of Linden Lab, but while Microsoft has made no comment on the matter. Nevertheless, ZDNet also notes that Microsoft has been looking at more than just the Second Life creator. In fact, it was back in February that a rumor of a possible CrowdStar acquisition had begun floating about. PopCap vs. Zynga -- At the WTIA TechNW forum, commentary from PopCap's CEO Dave Roberts suggests that Zynga may not last the test of time, stating that great games will beat out great marketing, reports TechFlash. To reinforce the commentary, he notes that Bejeweled Blitz garners more daily active users then Mafia Wars without spending money on advertising. [image via TechFlash] RIM Announces Social Platform for BlackBerry Messenger -- As CNET covers, Research In Motion announced, at BlackBerry DEVCON 2010, the BBM Social Platform. It is said to allow developers a means to take advantage of BBM's social elements such as chat, content sharing, and invitations. Intel & The Game Creators Hold Game Making Competition -- Though not officially social, Intel and The Game Creators are teaming up to host a competition encouraging people to submit their games for notebooks. Of the prizes available, entries can win up to a $5,000 vacation.

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Social Gaming Roundup: Intel, Zynga, Microsoft, & More

Christopher Mack

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Christopher Mack