| MacUpdate Weekend Sale | :This weekend MacUpdate has slashed prices on Painter 12 and Painter Lite. Painter 12 retails for $429, but has been reduced by 54% to $199. Painter Lite has seen a 58% price cut from $69 to $29. Hurry, because these deals are only available until May 19th 2013. |
Popcap Games, a division of EA, announced a three-day promotion benefitting Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism awareness organization. During the promotion, Facebook Zuma Blitz players can purchase discounted "idols" which grant in-game power-ups to boost player's game performance at a discount, with proceeds going towards the autism advocacy agency.
Google ended a string of leaks Thursday afternoon with official game support on Google+. The primarily Flash-based games come from majors in web games and some from Facebook, including Zynga titles like Zynga Poker as well as Rovio's Angry Birds and PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz. In a direct jab at Facebook's tendency to put all updates on the main news feed, Google added that games, their status updates, and their achievements would only show in a Games tab.
EA has confirmed that it has established an agreement to acquire PopCap, a game publisher best known for mobile titles such as Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled. The buyout will cost EA at least $750 million, which includes $650 million in cash and $100 million in stock. PopCap will also be entitled to additional cash compensation based on EA's future earnings through the end of 2013.
Apple has reportedly rejected the first app released by PopCap's new game label, 4th & Battery. The app, titled Unpleasant Horse, features a dark horse that flies through the sky. Users advance in the game by eliminating birds or blasting other horses into a meat grinder. Apple is said to have blocked the release due to mature content.
As the iPad launch looms tomorrow, four new games have been launched for the new Apple platform. PopCap has launched its popular iPhone and Mac zombie fighting game, Plants vs. Zombies HD for iPad. The game pits the user against hordes of zombies using a variety of plants to fend them off. The iPad version adds larger graphics taking advantage of the iPad's display; it also gets exclusive achievements, 18 mini-games and the survival mode. The new iPad version is $10 and available now on the App Store.
Microsoft at its MIX10 developer event detailed some of how app development and sales will work for Windows Phone 7. Confirming that it's based on Silverlight and XNA, the mobile OS will fence off third-party apps from true native code but will give them access to all the key features: it will recognize accelerometers, cameras and multi-touch gestures. WP7 will also mirror iPhone development by using background push notification for those not allowed to multitask and include a general location service that any app can use.
(Update: Facebook disputes the figure) Apple is rapidly widening the gap between its app platform and Facebook, new data from Flurry found today. Although the gap was relatively small about five months into the app portals' respective lifespans, by the 1.5 year mark Apple now has more than twice as many apps. The iPhone App Store's 140,000 confirmed apps easily outweigh the 60,000 web-based apps of Facebook's social network.
PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies has set a record for a new iPhone app launch in its first nine days of availability. The new game has sold over 300,000 units in less than ten days on the App Store, topping the units and revenue charts within 24 hours of its launch. In less than ten days, the game has already grossed over $1 million.
PopCap has launched Plants vs. Zombies, a third-person zombie-shooter with a humorous edge. Gamers protect their lawns from invading zombies by using a variety of zombie-zapping plants. The game provides five different modes of play, including adventure, survival, puzzle, Zen-garden and mini-game challenges. The adventure mode contains 50 individual levels, while over 50 more levels are spread across the other four modes.
Apple has announced that in the first four days following the release of the beta iPhone SDK, over 100,000 downloads have been processed through the Apple Developer Connection, to which people must officially belong before they can use the software. "Developer reaction to the iPhone SDK has been incredible with more than 100,000 downloads in the first four days," reads a statement by Apple's senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller. "Also, over one million people have watched the launch video on Apple.com, further demonstrating the incredible interest developers have in creating applications for the iPhone.”
