Casual News – Oct. 16, 2009

Gamezebo interviews Realore; Virtual goods sales are expected to hit $1 billion; and as the recession bites, more gamers are turning to downloads. These headlines and more below.

News

• MSN Games and Oberon Media team up to fight breast cancer
• Did Electronic Arts purchase a social games company recently?
• Majesco and Sandlot Gamesship Cake Mania 3 for the Nintendo DS
• Casual Games Forum: The Sessions
• Trivia games maker Amuso raises $1.5 million
• MoMac launches mobile-specific online casual games platform, GoPlay

Features

• The fastest-growing game of all-time is… FarmVille?
• As recession bites, video gamers turn to downloads
• Interview with Natalia Matveeva, Realore
• Virtual goods sales to hit $1 billion as social games pay off big
• Interview: Direct2Drive’s Berger on the evolving digital distro space
• Videogame firms make a play for women
• DigitalGoldfish’s Hamilton: Browser-based Flash would kill casual games business on iPhone
• GDC China: Large Animal’s MacDonald on creative direction for social games
• GDC China: The World of Indie Games

Erin Bell