Casual News – July 22, 2009

Last Day of Work officially announces Virtual Vilagers 4; Digital download portal Steam gets a Family Gaming section; and Big Fish Games strikes a deal with People.com. These headlines and more below.

News

• Last Day of Work announces development of Virtual Villagers 4
• Big Fish Games strikes deal to make games for People.com
• Sandlot Games arrive in Steam’s new Family Gaming section
• Alawar Entertainment releases Farm Frenzy 3
• FreshGames’ Ranch Rush now available for iPhone
• Merscom announce Shutter Island game
• Realore announces Jane’s Realty 2 and Farm Mania 2 coming this fall
• PlayFirst surpasses 5 million units in mobile phone game downloads
• Oberon Media’s online game subscription business experiences explosive growth
• Corbomite Games announces Pizza Morgana’s first episode to release August 16th
• Playrix Entertainment announces plans to port Call of Atlantis to iPhone
• Video game sound design team Walz Music announces donation policy, Aveyond soundtrack, and voiceover pack
• Playdom brings Mobsters to iPhone
• Legacy Interactive debuts "share and compare" app for Facebook
• Intenium and PopCap bring top casual game titles to European retail shelves
• Hearst Magazines Digital Media partners with Roiworld.com to launch dress-up games on Seventeen.com
• Game lovers dying for the arrival of Plants vs. Zombies on WorldWinner
• Arkadium executes on two strategic moves to redefine the power of the advergame experience
• Gameshield now delivers digital rights management for online games
• TrialPay launches enhanced payment platform
• Soundrangers online sound library increases its music selection

Features

• Nintendo on game design in changing times
• Finding success on the Facebook platform
• Can this save the flash market? Mochi Media launches virtual currency
• Publisher’s puzzle: Classic games too hard for today’s players?

Erin Bell