Game of the Year? Vote here in the GeekWire Awards

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The Seattle region may be known for operating systems, airplanes and coffee, but video games play a huge role in the technology scene, and today we’re pleased to present a new GeekWire Awards category that recognizes this important field. Below you’ll find the five finalists for Game of the Year — the top video games… Read More…

Happy Earth Day: These Seattle startups are helping us go green

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Today is the day to celebrate the lush green Earth and do what we can to keep it fresh. How does Earth Day relate to Seattle’s startups? The kind folks over at WhitePages show us with a neat little infographic below. They looked at four local companies that, by way of their business models, are saving… Read More…

GeekWire Awards: Vote for Perk of the Year

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It’s been a long week, so we’re ready to have a little fun. And today’s category in the GeekWire Awards voting should prove to be one of the more entertaining in the lineup. It’s a new category for us designed to showcase the amazing lengths that some companies will go to in order to keep… Read More…

Facebook tests UK gambling in possible preview for US

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The characters are cuddly, but don’t let those wobbly eyes fool you — the stakes in this Facebook game are very real. It’s called Bingo Friendzy, and it’s the first game on Facebook to let players win (and lose) real money. It launched this week exclusively in the UK, where online gambling is already a… Read More…

Gambling giant IGT buying Double Down for $500M, moving into Facebook games

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Updated with confirmation and details. International Game Technology, which makes real-world casino games and gambling systems, has agreed to pay as much as $500 million to buy Seattle-based Double Down Interactive, a developer of casino-style Facebook games that don’t involve any actual gambling. It’s a major deal that underscores the increasingly blurry line between those… Read More…

DoubleDown’s casino games now attract more than one million players a day

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DoubleDown Interactive now says that more than one million people are playing its social-based casino games on Facebook every day. The 52-person company, which just announced earlier this month that it is expanding into a new headquarters near CenturyLink Field, said that its online traffic is now on par with casinos found on the Vegas… Read More…

Maker of free Facebook casino game doubles down on Seattle

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DoubleDown Interactive is well, doubling down, on Seattle. The company, maker of one of the top casino games on Facebook, announced today that it is moving its headquarters to Vulcan’s 505 Union Station building near Pioneer Square. It also announced the hiring of Peter Anderson — formerly of Big Fish Games — as vice president… Read More…