Casual News – July 3, 2009

AOL and Pogo end their 10-year partnership; Her Interactive announces the next Nancy Drew Dossier game, and Last Day of Work’s Virtual Families hits the iPhone. These headlines and more below.

News

• AOL drops Pogo, consolidates game portals
• New Nancy Drew Dossier game launching in August
• Fairy Godmother Tycoon sequel shelved?
• Last Day of Work launches Virtual Families on the Apple App Store
• Majesco Entertainment and Sandlot Games announce Cake Mania 3 for Nintendo DS
• Alawar Entertainment releases Hotel Mogul
• Alawar Entertainment releases Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light
• Nickelodeon’s AddictingGames Showdown announces top online games as voted by the public
• GamersGate to distribute key titles from Iceberg Interactive
• Iceberg Interactive acquires publishing rights for Dark Fall: Lost Souls
• 2009 Game Developers Conference in Austin to host inaugural iPhone Games Summit and Independent Games Summit
• Largest Wizard101 expansion introduces crafts, bazaar, and more
• Game publisher THQ reorganizes into three business units
• For games, no big rush to speedy iPhone 3GS
• Metaboli to launch Chill-Out family gaming service
• National Geographic’s mobile games coming this year

Features

• Report: Games will see strong growth over next three years

Erin Bell