Tag: social gaming

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News Trademarks Video Games

Crowdstar working on next unannounced game called Modern Girl [UPDATED]

Modern Girl by Crowdstar

[UPDATED:. Crowdstar released Modern Girl on March 6, 2012.]

**

Original story:

Mobile social gaming company Crowdstar appears to be working on its next iOS “Girl” game called Modern Girl.

In a filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 6, 2012, Crowdstar Inc. filed to trademark “Modern Girl by Crowdstar”.

The goods and services covered in the trademark filing (Serial Number: 85534912) include:

Downloadable computer game software for use on wireless devices and computers; computer-game software, video game software, and computer game application software; interactive-video-game programs; electronic game software and electronic game application software that may be accessed via the Internet, computers and wireless devices; computer software to enable uploading, posting, showing, displaying, tagging, blogging, sharing or otherwise providing electronic media or information regarding the fields of virtual communities, electronic gaming, entertainment and general interest via the Internet or other communications networks with third parties

Crowdstar’s Social Girl which launched in December 2011, snagged a million downloads in its first week of going live.

At the time of this story, Crowdstar has made no announcement about Modern Girl.

The trademark filing for Modern Girl comes at a peculiar time.  The same week Crowdstar submitted the application, Apple warned developers not to manipulate App Store rankings.

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Zynga goes on record about new iOS game by filing Forestville trademark

Forestville on Facebook

I first broke the news last week about Zynga developing a new “Ville” game after several Forestville domains were privately registered through MarkMonitor, an internet brand protection company Zynga regularly uses.

While I had nothing more to work on than new domain registrations, an anonymous reader sent me a tip that a Facebook page was online, further solidifying my belief that a game was in the works and near launch day.

Shortly after my story ran, accompanied by screen shots and a web address, the page was taken offline. 

Zynga, even with all the proof, made no announcement despite Games.com, AllFacebook, and other sites covering my story, so there was still some lingering doubt about the game.

Though Zynga does not officially comment on speculation or rumor, this week it has officially gone on record indirectly, by filing a trademark application (Serial Number: 85487695) for “Forestville” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Here’s a look at the trademark filing.

Forestville trademark

Expect to see a press release from the social gaming giant on “Forestville” soon.

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News Video Games

Small preview of unannounced iOS game by Zynga called Forestville

Forestville by Zynga

Over the weekend, I wrote about Zynga registering several new domain names for a possible up-and-coming game called Forestville, which the company has not yet announced. 

Today, an anonymous reader has tipped me to the fact there is a Facebook page that has been online almost a week, which offers more clues about the game.

The page appears to be legit.

A description of the game published on Facebook reads: “Help Daisy the fox and her furry friends build a fabulous forest habitat! Establish farms and fishing spots for food, decorate with natural wonders, and expand your forest to unlock new species. Play ForestVille from Zynga and create the forest of your dreams!”

While there is no game yet available to download and play, there is a photo album that includes pictures of Daisy the fox.

The web address for the page is: http://www.facebook.com/ForestVille.Zynga

A message on the Wall reads: “Watch your own forest habitat come to life in ForestVille by Zynga! It’s coming soon to your iOS mobile device!”

[Updated on Dec. 6 at 12:40pm EST:  It appears the URL no longer resolves to a web page, even if you are signed in to Facebook.  I did take a  screenshot of the page before it was taken down.]   

Discussion: Games.com, AllFacebook, Gamezebo, Piki Geek and Inside Social Games

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News Video Games

Zynga has plans to launch Forestville, tipped off by domain name registrations

Zynga Forestville

Zynga Forestville

Zynga recently launched Castleville, but now the social gaming giant appears to have plans to launch a new game called Forestville.

This week Zynga registered several domains with the word Forestville in the name like ForestvillewithFriends.com and ForestvilleZynga.com.

All of the names were registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor that Zynga regularly uses to acquire domain names. 

And as I usually point out, though each domain registration is hidden behind MarkMonitor’s WHOIS privacy service ‘DNStinations’, MarkMonitor is in the business of helping Fortune 100 companies protect their brands online.  Zynga’s own Zynga.com is registered with MarkMonitor, as are hundreds of its other domains. 

So, there’s no doubt whatsoever that Zynga is behind these names.

Interestingly enough, Zynga doesn’t own the prime internet real estate: Forestville.com.  The domain is currently home to the Forestville Central School District website out of New York.  But that hasn’t stopped Zynga from registering typos of Forestville.com like wwwforestville.com (minus a ‘.’) or forestvile.com (minus an ‘l’).

Zynga did manage to get several country domains like Forestville.de, Forestville.jp and Forestville.co.uk.  A message on the home page of Forestville.de reads, “This domain is registered and protected by MarkMonitor”.

Below is a list of many of the names registered earlier this week.

forestvile.com
forestville.de
forestville.jp
forestville.co.uk
forestville2.com
forestvilleandroid.com
forestvilleapp.com
forestvillefacebook.com
forestvillegame.com
forestvillegamecards.com
forestvilleipad.com
forestvilleiphone.com
forestvillelive.com
forestvillemobile.com
forestvilleplus.com
forestvillewithfriends.com
forestvillezynga.com
playforestville.com
wwwforestville.com

At the time of this story going online today at 5am EST, Zynga has not made any announcement about the game.  So Forestville becoming a full-fledged game is just speculation until more news emerges from Zynga.

I’ve reached out to the Forestville.com webmaster to see whether they had been contacted about the domain and will update this story if I hear back.

Here’s a look at the WHOIS record for ForestvilleZynga.com.

WHOIS record for ForestvilleZynga.com

[Update 3 on Dec. 14, 2011: Zynga finally announced the game on it’s blog.]

[Update 2 on Dec. 9, 2011:  Zynga filed a trademark application (Serial Number: 85487695) for “Forestville” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.]

[Update 1 on Dec. 5, 2011 at 4:10pm EST:  It’s official.  There is a Facebook page for Forestville.  The game is headed to iOS, but hasn’t launched as of yet.]

Discussion: Joystiq, AllFacebook, VG247, Games.com, Shacknews, GameStar and Gamer Zona

Categories
News Video Games

Breaking: No longer speculation, Zynga launches Rewardville Beta

Zynga Rewardville

Zynga Rewardville

You read it here first.  After days of speculation as to what Zynga’s plans were for the domain name Rewardville.com and even a mention on AOL’s Games.com for confirming the rumor, Zynga minutes ago unveiled its Beta site for Rewardville.

Although no official announcements have been made, Zynga started displaying a web page this morning for its newest venture Rewardville.com, which will be rolled out over the next few weeks according to a message posted on the website.

zPoints and RewardVille FAQ

Information made available on the Zynga customer help site explains more how Rewardville will work.  According to the website, http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3273, Rewardville will involve zCoins and zPoints.

What are zPoints?

Zynga writes: zPoints are points you earn for playing Zynga games. You can earn a maximum of 80 points per game per day, with a maximum of 300 points across the entire Zynga network each day. As you earn points you increase your zLevel and earn zCoins. Currently, you can earn zPoints for playing the following games: FarmVille, FrontierVille, Mafia Wars, Treasure Isle, Zynga Poker

What are zCoins?

“zCoins are awarded when your zLevel increases. zCoins are redeemed in RewardVille for in-game items.”

How do I sign up for zPoints?
 
“You automatically earn zPoints for playing all Zynga games. To redeem zCoins in RewardVille, you must register for a Zynga account.”

News on the launch of Rewardville

Although Zynga hasn’t announced the launch on its own blog or news section and nothing has appeared in the news, expect the big launch of Rewardville to be put out through Facebook to Zynga users in the coming weeks. 

I’ve informed several technology blogs and news sites about the launch of Rewardville Beta, and am hoping that any articles written will attribute the information in their stories to the correct source.

Updated 4:45PM EST:  Thanks to the following news sites for mentioning this story today: TechCrunch, Games.com News, Business Insider, Inside Social Games, and Gamezebo. 

Robin Wauters, was the first in fact, to write me in the wee hours of the morning after I posted my story to let me know the TechCrunch story was online with credit back to Fusible.com.

I also received a statement from Zynga this afternoon while I was away from the computer, hours after my story went online.

“As a company focused on innovation we’re constantly testing new products and features.  When experimenting with new products we take the feedback we receive and apply it to deliver the best possible user experience.  We look forward to hearing how our users like RewardVille.”  -Zynga”