This Week in Games, Oct. 19 - 23

Your weekly wrap-up of casual, social and video gaming news. Got a news tip? Send it to robin@funtank.com! 

Game Releases

Candystand's Tennis Stars Cup launched this week! The 3D tennis game featuring a tournament mode, two challenge modes and gesture-based mouse controls (click and drag in a curve to put a spin on that tennis ball!) is already getting leaderboard junkies twitching - can you get a gold trophy and beat the current high score of 92,795? 

Borderlands, a first-person shooter/role-playing hybrid video game, debuted on the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles (PC version delayed until next week). The demand for the game seemed to take publisher 2K by surprise -- many frustrated gamers reported the game sold out on the first day at local retailers. Why all the hype? It could be the game's near-limitless number of weapons, thanks to a random gun-generation system. 

Popular music-rhythm series Rock Band hit iPhones and iPod Touches this week to the tune of $9.99 - many critics praised the gameplay while decrying the relatively high price tag. The App Store download features four-player local multiplayer via Bluetooth, twenty songs (more available for purchase) and the Rock Band gameplay/interface favored by wannabe rockers and party hosts alike. 

Lastly, EA's perennial football game broke sales records during its first week of release in European countries, and finally made its way to stateside retailers this week. Nope, it's not Madden, we're talking about the other football -- soccer. That's right, FIFA 10 is out! 

News

Brand new PC operating system Windows 7 launched this week - so what does it mean for casual gaming? For one, the new Game Explorer highlights all the games you've installed as well as new updates available for them. Even better? Windows 7 supports touch-input -- it might not be long before you see touch-and-play games along the lines of Nintendo DS and iPhone titles right on your desktop. 

As we wrote about earlier this week, sales for a little independent game called World of Goo went through the roof when developer 2D Boy announced that in celebration of the game's one-year anniversary, customers could get the game for any price they chose. Surprisingly, a not-insignificant amount of people actually chose to pay more than the PayPal minimum of one cent. 

Rounding out the week's big news - utterly addictive strategy game Civilization is coming to Facebook! No details yet on what we'll be doing in the game, but revered game creator Sid Meier says it'll debut sometime in 2010. If time-sucking social games like Farmville and Mafia Wars are any indication of Civ's gameplay, you can kiss our social lives goodbye when it launches. 

Candystand: Coming to a PSP Near You!

We've got awesome games on the web. We've got great apps on the iPhone. What are we conquering next? That's right, Sony's PlayStation Portable. 

We'll be announcing which popular Candystand title will be debuting on the PSP via download soon, but in the meantime, check out Gamasutra's feature on Sony PSP Minis, featuring none other than Candystand prez Scott Tannen.

"We weren't really sure what to expect when we started working with Sony but they've more than exceeded any reasonable expectations. They've been extremely supportive at all levels of the process."

Look for more news on our PSP Mini debut in the coming weeks. We can't wait to show you what we've been working on.

What's Unity and Why Is It In My Tennis Stars Cup Game?

The first time you launch Tennis Stars Cup, you might notice that it's taking a little longer to load than the usual Candystand games. That's because our new tennis game uses an engine called Unity, a powerful tool also responsible for the sweet 3D graphics you're playing with in the game (most other games use Shockwave or Flash plugins instead). 

Tennis Stars Cup will not take as long to start up on subsequent game plays, so don't let the first loading prevent you from coming back to play. Did we mention it's compatible on both Mac and Windows computers (including the just-launched Windows 7!), across Safari, Internet Explorer and Firefox? Sweet, indeed.

Play Tennis Stars Cup now >

Video: Tennis Stars Cup - "Tennis Invaders" Challenge Mode

Tennis Stars Cup has launched! Check out the awesome 3D tennis game and try to win the new trophy!

Here's one last sneak peek at Tennis Stars Cup before the game launches on Candystand.com tomorrow! This is the "Tennis Invaders" Challenge mode, where your goal is to hit all of the targets before they reach the net -- by far the office's favorite mode in the game. Watch the video below to see the action, and make sure you check back to Candystand.com tomorrow to play the game!



Did you miss our Tennis Stars Cup preview yesterday?

How much would you pay for a game you could get for one cent?

Last week, indie developer 2D Boy announced that to celebrate the one-year anniversary of their award-winning game, World of Goo, they would let customers set their own price for the downloadable version on Windows, Mac and Linux, usually valued at $20. 

Cynics predicted that most people would pay the minimum PayPal allowed, one cent -- but it turns out many people were willing to pay more even when they didn't have to (and even when the game was readily available on torrent sites). Survey data they collected indicated that most people paid what they were able to afford, not necessarily what they perceived the value of the game to be. 

What could this mean for free-to-play or microtransaction-based models of gaming? Does it speak to customers' support of indie developers in particular? What are people willing to pay (monetary or otherwise) for a good gaming experience? How important is quality (art and aesthetics) versus length? 

We have a similar game to World of Goo on our site -- BridgeCraft -- but of course, instead of paying to play the game, advertisers pay for real estate in and around the game (although we suppose you 'pay' by allowing advertisers to inundate your mind with subliminal messaging...).

This brings up the question of whether BridgeCraft would work as a downloadable title. What if you were allowed to choose your own price to play the game instead of watching advertisements? How much would the game be worth? Are you willing to pay more than you technically have to? 

As online gaming grows both on casual gaming portals such as Candystand and on networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo (all of which support popular social games) -- types of games that people have not traditionally paid out-of-pocket for, what types of content will they be willing to pay for?