Build words, battle friends with PopCap’s new Bookworm Heroes

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After more than four months from its release in the Canadian App Store, PopCap’s Bookworm Heroes is now available globally for iOS devices. The turn-based game is an adaptation of the original word-forming puzzle Bookworm series, but the updated version now comes with multiplayer features on Facebook. The goal is to make the biggest words… Read More…

EA pulls plug on some Facebook games, doubles down on PopCap

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Electronic Arts today announced that it is retiring three of its popular Facebook games, including The Sims Social, SimCity Social and Pet Society. The online gaming news site Gamasutra calls the move a surprise, but notes that some developers are making a bigger push into mobile games versus browser-based games. “After millions of people initially logged in to… Read More…

VIDEO: What makes Seattle such an awesome gaming city

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The list of game development companies in the Seattle area, from Valve to PopCap to 343, is certainly impressive. And to show how awesome the Emerald City’s gaming scene is, GameSpot just put out a really well-done video showcasing the talent here. They spoke with several of the city’s leading game devs, from Pete Parsons… Read More…

Big Fish touts 2 billion game downloads, reports $220 million in bookings last year

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Big Fish currently sits atop the GeekWire 200 list, our ranking of the top privately-held companies in the region. And here’s a good reason why. The Seattle game maker, founded by former RealNetworks employee Paul Thelen in 2002, announced today that it has distributed more than two billion casual games to PCs and mobile devices… Read More…

EA CEO John Riccitiello to resign as game maker seeks new leader amid weak results

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Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello announced today that he’s stepping down from the game maker effective March 30. The company, which owns Seattle-based PopCap Games, also warned that its revenues and earnings per share for the fourth quarter ”will be at the low end of, or slightly below previously issued guidance.” Riccitiello is the co-founder Elevation Partners, a… Read More…

Seattle gamers jam out with NASA

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In the span of 48 hours, Seattle-based independent game developers created working prototypes of computer games with help from NASA. They took part in a game jam, an event held in multiple locations in which teams of developers code and design a game in a short amount of time. While some game jams are competitive,… Read More…

Jawfish Games wins top consumer startup at Launch: ‘This company is going to make a lot of money’

Phil Gordon of Jawfish with Launch organizer Jason Calacanis and Google's Don Dodge.

Jawfish Games CEO Phil Gordon applied to be a part of the Launch Festival on the last day. Good thing he got that application in. Jawfish, which is developing an online gaming tournament platform, won top honors at the big San Francisco entrepreneurial pitch fest hosted this week by Jason Calacanis. Gordon tells us that it was… Read More…

Valve founder Gabe Newell on Linux; geeky maps; and other top posts of the month

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Well, GeekWire readers really must have a burning desire to study cartography. Maps were the hot topic on GeekWire during the month of February, from a rendering of the streets of Seattle post Zombie apocalypse to the tech startups in Pioneer Square to what Tweets have to say about Seattle neighborhoods. Those were three of… Read More…

Zynga lays off employees; no changes to Seattle office

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Social game publishing company Zynga today announced the closure of its Baltimore office and consolidations at three other studios. The Seattle development office was not affected, a Zynga spokeswoman told GeekWire. “In an effort to leverage resources as we focus on creating franchises and driving profitability, Zynga has made changes to four of our US… Read More…