BBCW launches CBeebies games app

Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.

CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.

Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.

Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.

She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”

More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.

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.

Game of the Day: WHATword?

whatword what word game of the dayHalf match-3, half word game, WHATword? is an addictive word-making challenge. Line up letters to form words and knock them off the screen. But be careful because as soon as you clear a word, new balls will drop in to fill the gap. Line up various words, make an extra-long word, or use a special bonus letter; and you'll get heaps extra points. To advance to the next level, complete all the WHATwords!

See how far you can get before the WHATwords become too difficult!

Click here to play WHATword?!
whatword what word game of the day     whatword what word game of the day
Pro Tips:

    * When in trouble, mash the "Blast" button to rearrange the letters on the board.
    * When you're lining up a WHATword, be careful not to create any other combos by accident. It might be a long time before the letters you need arrive in unison again.


Click here to play WHATword?!

How many levels did you clear in WHATwords?

Game of the Day: Alchemy

alchemy game of the dayAlchemy is a game of strategy and wit. Carefully place runes and turn the entire board to gold. You can only place runes next to pieces of the same color or shape. However, you can place a rune of any color or shape next to a grey stone. If you can't place the rune, you may discard it. But be careful, discard four runes in a row and it'll be game over! If you fill a row or column with runes, they'll all disappear, opening up the board. Similarly, a skull will let you destroy any rune on the board.

Alchemy may seem complicated at first, but once you grasp the basics, you'll be hooked on its addictive gameplay. Good luck!

Click here to play Alchemy!
alchemy game of the day     alchemy game of the day
What did you think of Alchemy? Where you able to turn lead into gold?