Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says

Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.

Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.

Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.

Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.

Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.

It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.

Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63

New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb

Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.

The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!

Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!

Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!

Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!

Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!

Disney XD Games

Disney Friends for Change Games

To support the “Disney Friends for Change Games” on Disney Channel and Disney XD, Disneychannelgames.biz has launched an online destination at Disneyxd.biz, where kids and families can take part in the Games from home and help the planet — by making personal pledges of their own, playing online versions of the Games, and making art that matters! When kids play online versions of the Games at Disneyxd.biz, they can donate the points they earn to one of the four charities involved. At the end of the Games, the charity with the most points given by the Disney.com online community will receive $100K.


Friends for Change
Courtesy of Disney

In addition to playing online games for charity, kids can view exclusive video content and participate in a number of funonline activities.  Kids can create online art on the Friends for Change Group Wall at Disneyxd.biz, where they can see the transformative power of friends everywhere pitching in to make a difference. The Disneyxd.biz site will also feature exclusive videos from the “Disney Friends for Change Games,” including a special wrap-up show hosted by Tiffany Thorntonand Jason Earles. Kids can also download the official 2011 Friends for Change anthem “We Can Change the World” featuring Bridgit Mendler on Disneyxd.biz


Friends for Change
Courtesy of Disney

Over 30 Disney Channel Games and Disney XD Games stars from around the globe will compete in “Disney Friends for Change Games.” Four teams will play on behalf of a global charity — Fauna and Flora International, World Wildlife Fund, Ocean Conservancy and UNICEF. For five weeks beginning Friday, June 24, Disney Channelwill present “Disney Friends for Change Games” in interstitials during its Friday, Saturday and Sunday primetime original series programming, and Disney XD will present a special episode from the games Monday nights beginning June 27 (9:30 p.m., ET/PT). The Games will culminate with a special half-hour episode Sunday, July 31 on Disney Channel.


Friends for Change
Courtesy of Disney
About Disney’s Friends for Change

Disney’s Friends for Change is a multi-platform initiative that helps inspire kids and families to join together and make a positive impact on their world (and the people and animals that live there). Through PSAs on-air and online tool-kits, the program aims to provide useful information to help kids make small changes that add up to big differences. As part of the program, Disney donates $1 million dollars annually to fund projects all around the globe and has funded over 41 projects that help the planet ranging from educational & community programs to species & habitat protection. Friends for Change currently has over 4 million actions taking place from kids in 33 countries throughoutthe United States, Europe, Latin America, Japan, India and China. For more information, please visit Disneyxd.biz.

- Disney XD gets its game on

Astral-owned Disney XD Canada is delving deeper into the gaming space in a month-long promotion that will see the multi-platform brand take viewers behind the scenes of June’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), offer up two new games on DisneyXD.biz every week and give away five video game consoles to Disney XD viewers.

The Level Up contest runs through the month of September and is set to feature the star of What’s, Up Warthogs!, Eduard Witzke, reporting from this year’s E3 in eight short interstitial reports entitled Ed’s E3. New episodes of Ed’s E3 will premiere every Tuesday and Thursday from September 1 and will air throughout the Disney XD schedule. Additionally, a weekly entry word will appear in each episode, which can be used to enter the Level Up contest online to win one of five game consoles.

On top of entering the Level Up contest on DisneyXD.ca, viewers can explore a dedicated minisite to re-watch episodes of Ed’s E3 as well as test their skills on brand-new Disney XD games. Two new games will be unveiled each week with a bonus game available for those who can work out the special DisneyXD.biz game code.

Disney XD News

DISNEY XD TO PREMIERE “FORT BOYARD – ULTIMATE CHALLENGE,” A REALITY ADVENTURE SERIES ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 17

Geno Segers (Disney XD’s “Pair of Kings”) and popular British television presenter Laura Hamilton (“Dancing On Ice”) host an exciting competition requiring brainpower, courage and teamwork, “Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge,” a 10-part series premiering MONDAY, OCTOBER 17 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET/PT), with a thrilling finale MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD. Based on the international game show phenomenon “Fort Boyard,” the series is set in a 19th century sea fort off the coast of France. It introduces six teams — 24 teens from the United States and the United Kingdom — who team up for a tournament where only one team will ultimately get the key to unlock the historic fort’s hidden treasures and win the honor of calling themselves “the conquerors of Fort Boyard.”

The reality adventure series marks the first kids’ version of the popular game show which premiered more than 20 years ago and has since been produced in over 38 countries worldwide.

In the premiere episode, team members from the Red Vipers and Yellow Scorpions compete in the first round of challenges to find out which team has what it takes to move on to become the conquerors of the fort.

“Fort Boyard – Ultimate Challenge” is produced by Zodiak Media Group’s production companies The Foundation and Adventure Line Productions, who created the concept for the original “Fort Boyard” and have been producing the series for 22 years.

The executive producers are Nigel Pickard and Ged Allen for The Foundation, Pierre Godde for Adventure Line Productions and Jamila Metran for CiTV. The producer is Steve Pinhay.

The series will be televised on Disney XD cable and satellite channels around the world (excluding France and the Nordics) and CiTV in the UK.

About “Fort Boyard”

“Fort Boyard” is the most successful adventure game show in the world, having sold to over 30 territories, while dominating France 2′s primetime summer schedule every year since 1990. The action takes place in an imposing fortress built in the middle of the ocean. This provides the perfect backdrop for strenuous, against-the-clock physical challenges and mind-boggling riddles, featuring strange characters and fearsome animals. All this and more awaits those attempting to reach the Treasure Room! Only the fittest and most intelligent contestants can hope to conquer Fort Boyard.

About Disney XD:

Disney XD is a basic cable channel and multi-platform brand showcasing a compelling mix of live-action and animated programming for Kids age 6-14, hyper-targeting boys and their quest for discovery, accomplishment, sports, adventure and humor. Disney XD branded content spans television, online, mobile and VOD platforms. The programming includes series, movies and short-form, as well as sports-themed programming developed with ESPN. In the U.S., disney channel XD is seen on a 24-hour, advertiser supported network that reaches over 78 million households via its basic cable and satellite affiliates. There are 22 other Disney XD Games channels around the world.

Kinect Changes Nothing.

Kinect, it's everywhere, I can't step into a game store without the words "have you pre-ordered yours yet?" hitting me with a condescending tone. With every poster, advert and overly pushy sales person I can see Microsoft's $500m ticking away, like coal on the fire of ignorant consumerism.

There's something very dirty about the marketing for Kinect, as if the boundary between the manufacturer and consumer has broken down, making it look almost like Microsoft is paying the consumer to buy their product. This is made even more sickening by the fact that 99% of pre-orders are by people who have never actually played on it. Add to this a ridiculous review embargo and it makes me think MS have something to be ashamed of and, maybe, they do. Everything from the TV ads with little to no actual game footage to staged circus showings are all threads in the metaphorical wool that MS are pulling over the general publics eyes. It's a very sad day when an unproven, laggy, twitch-filled, limited piece of tech like Kinect can be sold on mass with nothing but sheer force of money.

Not only that but MS have made some outrageous claims, which, to my utter disbelief, a lot of people have just swallowed e.g:

Kinect is "next generation experience now" - Aaron Greenberg
http://n4g.com/news/568613/...

"Biggest platform launch in history" - Microsoft Game Studios VP Bill Spencer
http://n4g.com/news/636257/...

"Biggest Innovation In 20 Years" - Peter Molyneux
http://n4g.com/news/588688/...

The last one is my favorite, it's downright laughable when you consider what has come along in the last 20 years: HD graphics, wireless controllers/internet, Online gaming, 3D, 7.1 surround sound, dual analogue sticks, rumble etc.

OK this is probably starting to sound like another Kinect hate-rant but I am coming to my point soon, honestly. Also, unlike a lot of the haters, I HAVE tried Kinect out and in more depth than most. I compare it to the first time you walked past an electronics store and saw yourself in the TV. At first it seems really fun and has you dancing and pulling faces and such but it soon wears thin (unless you're really narcissistic) and you move on. Admittedly the media functionality would be handy but also has its limits (text/number input?) and sometimes(most times) it's just easier to press a button.

This is where I explain the title (finally) and give my prediction/opinion on the impact Kinect will have on gaming. As far as 'controllerless' gaming is concerned Kinect doesn't bring much new to the table. Depth tracking is only useful, in gaming, if it is accurate enough to allow developers to do something interesting with it. For example when playing Playstation Moves' Tumble you can reach into the screen with pinpoint accuracy to 'thread' the onscreen controller though a small hoop. When testing out Kinect I thought it would be good to see if I could do the same, albeit with an imaginary hoop. Turns out you can't, it picked up my depth OK but the onscreen avatar twitched so much that I couldn't be sure that I would hit the same spot twice, like trying to find a keyhole in the dark... with a jellyfish. I left dissapointed and I'm pretty sure that's how most GAMERS will feel come launch day.

It's this dissapointing feeling that makes me believe that the MASSIVE hype surrounding this device will come crashing down on top of it when people realize it's limitations. I'm not arguing Kinects worth to a casual non- gamer but, for the real gamers out there, it changes nothing, there will always be alternatives as long as we are here to demand it, even if we have to buy a different console. 'Core' games will never disappear for good as long as we chose to play what we WANT to play and not what is thrust in our faces by Oprah.

Dead Rising...I mean Dead Island

Don't you all love it when the market gets flooded with a certain type of game. What's the topic this time? Zombies! Yes with all the news surrounding the upcoming Dead Island I thought I would flush out my thoughts about this game. Now I do love zombies and I don't necessarily mind if the market is flooded with zombie games as long as they are GOOD. I really do like the L4D series and both the Dead Risings but bringing a new IP to the market will be interesting. And I cannot emphasize enough that this game will have to be GOOD. And no I do not just want a copy of Dead Rising which is what I am seeing this game turn into. Being trapped in a mall...I mean in Vegas...oh I mean on an island, yeah an island. This could have been the plot line for DR3! Now I am not trying to bring down Dead Island but I am just trying to warn Techland that I do not want a copy. I do not even want a mix between Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising. I want something new that will be fresh to play.
I have read a lot of articles that also have skepticism in Dead Island (and again I'm not making a final verdict until the sucker comes out) but I recently read an article praising Dead Island for having the following five aspects: open world, focus on melee combat, customizable weapons, an actual story, and some RPG mechanics. Seriously?! If I am not mistaken this is an exact definition of Dead Rising 2. I really am hoping that this turns out to be a good game but don't just try to hop onto the zombie train and cut yourself some profits. Innovate and make an original game...with zombies of course.

Sometimes the disagrees make no sense here on N4G

We all have opinions: I like the color green, I don't like raisins, I think LBP2 is a great game. There would be a ton of people agreeing with me, or disagreeing with me on these three points; I understand opinion. You can't change it, and your opinion isn't fact to others and vise versa. I comment on a select few of articles and such every few days, and follow all the gaming info on the site. As you know the site has a lot of things you can do to express how you feel about comments: You can bubble it up for a particular reason or bubble it down, and the most common and well known feature is the ability to see the Agree and the Disagree buttons also - pertaining to what the comment is about.

Now riddle me this: When I reply to a user telling him FACTUAL data, such as a release day: Why in the world is my comment disliked? I've been disliked by either one or 3 (or more) people regarding my FACTUAL statement, that I know to be true (as well as many other people do too). Is it because people don't want that date to come or are they just disliking for some other bizarre reason? Or is this action to save the world - I wonder?! This is a bit of a rant, but I seriously don't get why people disagree with factual comments I make - as well as many other users on here who make factual comments: what's with all the dislikes? I can't wrap my head over this.

It's not gonna pop a vein with me or anything; I just find this really funny. If you want to disagree with an opinion - it makes sense: but how do you disagree with what is fact? We could go into a big philosophical conversation I suppose on how you define things, but saying something as simple as, "The PS3 has DualShock 3 Controllers" will somehow get disagrees. I think people abuse the disagree button, and many other users can see it too. I just wanted to bring this up as something to kinda giggle about yet nod to in acknowledging such a profound action of disagreeing what we all know as fact.

Razer is Full of Crap

Not long ago, Razer released a website called PCGamingIsNotDead.com. No, don't bother copy-pasting the URL, it no longer works, instead going straight to the company website. This site had a voice, praising PC gaming, and condemning console gaming as "conformist" junk.

Interesting enough, they're soon releasing a new product called the "Razer Blade". Surely they're committed to what they said, and now have something to save us from the conformist evils of console gaming. Wait......they do, right??

Maybe not.

The Razer Blade covers almost every level of conformity in its path.

First of all, what is the Razer Blade? It's a gaming LAPTOP. That's right; LAPTOP. What's conformist about a laptop? It's pretty much the dominant consumer computer these days...purchased for the convenience of mobility and yet not often used outside the house by the average consumer because it's mostly used for facebook and has an awful battery life. But the Blade caters to the mobile craze regardless. Why opt for more power when you can get the popular mobility that you'll hardly use?

But it's a gaming laptop! What about the console-shattering games? Well, most footage shown in Razer videos have been predominantly World of Warcraft, the most popular MMO of today, recently gone "Free"-2-play. Sure, now they're showing Battlefield B-role "playing" on the Blade, but the videos are still mostly chuck full of low-end games.

To top it all off, the screen uses a resolution of 1024 × 600.
(EDIT: I apologize, this is not true. Originally, I had the "SwitchBlade" and "Blade" confused, and I had to fix a lot of information. This was unfortunately something I forgot to delete)

All of this for the not-so-mainstream price of $2800.

Think about it.....they targeted the crowd that hates console gaming. Who do think of when you hear that? People who are interesting in a gaming laptop? Not me.....I think of big time PC gamers who actually know about hardware and hate "console limitations"

Did Razer really think this angle of attacking console gaming and its gamers was going to get the right audience to buy this? Heck, if anything, I'd think console gamers would be more likely to try this out......but not for 28 Benjamins. Nor after being insulted.

Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says

Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.

Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.

Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.

Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.

Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.

It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.

Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63

New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb

Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.

The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!

Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!

Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!

Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!

Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!

Have Fun!