“Zynga has had an undeniable impact on the gaming landscape,” said Dennis Fong, CEO of Raptr. “However, little is known about the behavior of Zynga’s players. By looking at the actual gameplay habits of real users, we’re able to get a deeper understanding of how Zynga has been able to dominate the social gaming space and command one of the highest projected IPO valuations this decade.”

As we’ve suspected for a while, core gamers and social gamers play a little differently. For instance, -Ville players log into their games for multiple quick sessions per day (averaging eight), while core gamers (your CoD and Warcraft lovers) have longer sessions less often. However, players of both games rack up equal play time. Zynga games also have a high conversion rate — over 90% of users of older games will try one of their newer ones. Zynga’s social games are also gaining traction with the console crowd, with a third of Xbox 360 players having played one of them over the past year.

The two percent of Zynga users who play the game most often tend to play over two hours a day. That’s a lot of farming, city-ing, yo-ing and…well, whatever else you do in those games.

Here’s the full report:
Zynga Report

For more, check out Raptr’s blog.

Little Cave Hero is a sort of throwback to pixellated games of my youth with a twist of sociality. Your town has been ravaged by monsters and it’s up to you to put it back together and build it back up to help make the mayor look good again. The games starts players out getting used to mining the caves for treasure, completing missions for the mayor, and rebuilding the necessary components to start the town running and pump up population. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the exaggerated pixelation of the game, but before too long, it grew on me. Now when I play, I find it endearing and nostalgic.

The beginning of the game feels good. The character of the mayor is humerous, and spouts some witty remarks. The missions come fast and are completable in a reasonable amount of time, which adds to a sense of accomplishment. Jean’s town, which is the stable, even if you have no friends who play, you have this friend and this friend has been playing since inception so the world is inspiring sort of town, gives a glimpse of possibilities of what’s to come and the different things that can be done when rebuilding and repopulating.

Like many games, especially in the Facebook arena, leveling up in the beginning happens quickly enough to keep playing a little longer (as energy gets replenished when leveling up). Once that starts to slow down, the familiar feeling of the Facebook limits sets in. Without many friends to visit to collect additional energy, playtime is occasionally disappointing, especially because it takes sometimes a lot of energy to finish caves or challenges. But paying attention to the XP bar helps keep strategy in line to level up and be able to play longer. Building the town up, fortunately, and redecorating or moving things around, getting production of wood, refining ores, etc. are things that don’t take up energy. However, they don’t add too much play time because the production takes time, and often one thing needs producing before others can be produced. If there are more friends added to your population, however, the building/producing time decreases, which would help quite a bit.

The game is entirely click and play. Click where the hero should go, what the hero should break through, monsters the hero should attack. This makes it simple and accessible for multiple connections and gadgets. Sometimes the towns become mazes and there are characters and creatures that get in the way. So little hero just stops. If this happens in the hero’s own town, though, anything, even critters and characters can be moved anywhere in the town with the handy editing tool. The editing feature not only helps get heroes unstuck, but also organizes and reorganizes the town, enables selling and rotating of items to get the look just right.

There are a few other ways to help make each hero’s town unique, from purchasable decorations, fencing, roads, and even animals, to the edit feature which allows just about anything in the town to be moved, rotated one of two ways, or even sold. But the thing that allows for the most individuality is the design studio. In the design studio, players can make and customize decorations such as an apple, snail, lion, bookshelf, bed, or anything they can build. This, I believe, is the thing that adds the most time possibility if more time in the game is desired. These items are also savable and can be placed in the town at any time.

The social aspect of the game includes the ability to share gifts with friends, which initially seems possible only when the game first loads, but now I see a little gift icon on the side of the screen while playing, which does open up the option. Also, visiting friends and talking to their icons gives some xp, coins, and energy. Once energy is full, though, it doesn’t add more and the “visit” is wasted. There are some maintenance actions that can be done to earn more coins and xp in friends’ towns as well. Presently, I have only friends who seem to play the game very occasionally, so the social aspect is not incredibly high.

All in all, I like playing Little Cave Hero. Though it does have a similar feeling and premise to other social games, the variety of activities keeps it interesting. It is, however, an easy game to let fall by the wayside as sometimes it takes more effort to keep up with than the reward feeling of playing it. It’s cute, entertaining at times, and has potential. I would say give it a shot, especially if you have friends that already play, or would be willing to play. Note that the game is still in Beta. It will be interesting to see

The study found that one-third of gamers has used real money to purchase virtual content, with almost 60 percent of those claiming to make virtual item purchases at least once a month. Console gamers actually buy more content than any other group, with social network games and MMOs coming in at the second- and third-place positions, respectively.

This is a trend that doesn’t appear to be going away — 72 percent of participants expected to spend the same amount or more on virtual goods in 2011 than they did in 2010. 67 percent of those are just playing more games online these days, with other people having more money to spend or just claiming that the purchase process is just too easy. (It really is. One tap, and I’m another dollar in the hole as far as some phone games go.) In-game rewards were also a popular reason for item purchases.

48 percent of respondents bought in-game currency over the past year, while maps and levels came in at 47 percent. That pretty much encompasses most things that you’d purchase for a game. Armor and equipment purchases came in at 29 percent.

There were a few gender differences in purchases. Women were almost three times more likely to use Facebook credits for items and content for social games, and they also outspend men when it comes to buying items in MMOs — women spent $111 for every $74 a man spends on first-party items. The same differences were true for casual free-to-play titles.

“It was…quite interesting to learn that women (37 percent) are nearly twice as likely as men (19 percent) to buy virtual items to decorate a page, persona or avatar,” said Karl Mehta, Founder and CEO of PlaySpan.

Hobbies and purchase habits were correlated, it seems. (But remember, correlation ≠ causation!) Self-reported sports enthusiasts spend an average of $106 on first-party content, and $132 on third-party virtual items. Readers averaged $65 and $49. Readers, however, were much more likely to purchase additional content for online PC titles.

“The results of this report should serve as a useful guide for game publishers and developers, and will provide a insight into revenue opportunities to be derived from usage trends across multiple data sets,” said Michael Gluck, President, VGMarket.

Read the full report below:

Playspan Virtual Goods Report.8.4.11

Impressions

In the beginning of the day, Things were a little overwhelming. Attendance was definitely up at Casual Connect this year.
But, while pushing through the clusters of people, an overwhelming sense of familiarity took over. It kind of felt like coming home. Though this year, I took a little different strategy to my single day of attendance. I wanted to listen to some panels and see where things sat in the industry instead of trying to meet with a bunch of people singularly. I think this worked out well, and I am anxious to share what I heard, including some of the psychology behind game development, the subtle ways they keep free social games free, and the quality and quantity of social behavior in so called social games.

I did meet with a couple of people singularly and am happy with what I learned. Whereas in previous years, it seemed like there was a big separation and traditional casual games were starting to have to compete with flash games, social games, and mobile games. Now it looks like they are starting to become a cohesive unit and work together interchangeably across multiple platforms. I also saw some exciting new developments in new ways to play with new technologies that work with smart TV’s.

I will say that it did seem like there was a lot of focus placed on monetization and different ways to take payments, etc. There were more and more booths and companies dedicated to this side of the business, which has some importance in a conference of this type, geared toward more industry professionals and prospective industry professionals. But from a consumer perspective, it’s not something I want to see such a big presence from.

All in all, there were some good things going on, good energy, interesting people, organization, cooperation, and innovation happening this year at Casual Connect. Stay tuned for more details and specifics. I can’t wait to hear some feedback as to what some of the panelists said and the direction of the industry as a whole.

The Sims Social will launch this summer on Facebook in five languages. You’ll get to create a brand-new Sim, build it a home and then play with your real-life friends.

EA Play announced that this title would have a companion mobile app available so that you don’t have to constantly nurse Facebook — you’ll be able to fulfill your Sim’s wants and needs on the go.

In the game, you’ll be able to engage with every aspect of your character’s social life, including moments like the all-important first kiss. And, of course, this is Facebook, so you’ll be helping your friends with tasks. You might (cough) even make some Woohoo with them. Yeah. That could get awkward. But your Sim can take on your personality.

“Just like you and me, The Sims is now on Facebook,” said Jeff Karp, Executive Vice President of EA Play. “EA invented people simulation games with The Sims. Over the last decade, The Sims has sold in excess of 140 million units and spawned an active fan community that has grown into the millions. These fans are all enthusiastic, passionate individuals living out their dreams, adventures and fantasies, and expressing their creativity. As The Sims moves to Facebook, their personalities shine through more than ever. The game is alive, brimming with the humor, romance, mischief and creativity that only The Sims can provide.”

To learn more before the game’s launch, you can check out the game’s Facebook page, naturally.

Download the file here.

• 5 – Are social/Facebook games going to crash like Denis Dyack thinks they will?
• 4 – Yay! We should have a Diablo III beta soon!
• 3 – Angry Birds in the Chrome Web app store
• 2 – There’s a bit of a hullaballoo around Brink. What happened, and how can other companies avoid this?
• 1 – And hey! We’re giving away a scholarship to computer camp (know any girls ages 8-18?) as well as a prize pack of games (for anyone who isn’t a girl ages 8-18). That’s kind of a big deal!

As always, we encourage you to check out our partners in GamingAngels Presents: The Married Gamers, Game Dames and PrincessCast.

If you want to contact us, you’ve got tons of options!

Twitter: @GamingAngels

Email: weeklyroundup@gamingangels.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gamingangels

GSN.com recently announced it crossed a huge threshold in 2010 with some of its most popular PopCap games. Just last year alone, players were awarded $60 million playing their cash tournament adaptations of PopCap favorites like Bejeweled 2, Zuma and Chuzzle. PopCap fans (and any fans of great games) who want to get in on the fun can head to GSN.com to join in tournaments for real cash prizes.

“At GSN Digital, we strive to be the platform where users can play the titles they know and love,” states Peter Blacklow, EVP, GSN Digital. “Bejeweled 2, Zuma and Chuzzle are three great titles that are extremely popular among our players, and we’re thrilled to provide social competition where players can win real cash prizes.”

GSN Digital also offers cash prize competitions in these popular PopCap titles: Bejeweled Twist™, Bookworm™, Dynomite!™, Mystery P.I.™ and Plants vs. Zombies™.

I will say that GSN.com is where I first found some of my favorite games I still play today, including Dynomite and Zuma. It’s a great way to play against others, for those of us who have a competitive spirit, and a good alternative to other social gaming sites where you only play against people you know. You can play for cash or for fun! Head on over to GSN.com today.

PlayFirst has opened Diner Dash for early beta business on Facebook, inviting players and their friends to help spunky waitress Flo to keep her diner customers happy. Facebook game players will be able to experience complete Diner Dash original time management gameplay on Facebook with all of their favorite features and characters.

“Diner Dash is the first Facebook game to embed robust time management gameplay in a truly social environment,” said Eric Hartness, Vice President and General Manger of Social Games at PlayFirst. “We’ve taken the addictive gameplay that has made Diner Dash so popular on PC, Macs and iOS mobile devices and accented it with a rich ensemble cast and narrative elements that bring new depth to the Dash experience. Diner Dash propels restaurant games on Facebook to an entire new level! ”

In the Facebook version of Diner Dash, all of the stars from the past games come together to continue their legendary fight against Mr. Big, who attempts to destroy DinerTown park, dumping all of his broken down bulldozers, cones, flat tires, oil spills, and other construction and factory debris, taking the appeal of the park away from the city, causing beloved restaurants to shut their doors for lack of patrons. So not only will players keep restaurant patrons satisfied, but help clean up the park as well, in order to unlock more DinerTown restaurants and keep the community thriving.

“We’ve brought together all the compelling Diner Dash elements that have made it the number one time management franchise and married that to the social experience of Facebook,” said Mari Baker, CEO of PlayFirst. “Diner Dash on Facebook points the way forward to a new class of time management game while retaining the authentic Dash gameplay that made the series so popular.”

With new content added in the coming weeks and months, Diner Dash for Facebook will continually evolve and challenge players with new activities. Visit the Diner Dash Facebook page for more details!

This has been an interesting year for Casual Games. Here is a selection of gifts for the casual gamer on your list.

Facebook Credits – There has been a shift in Casual Gaming toward social gaming and just about every company has a representation of a game on Facebook. Most of these games are playable for free, but can be greatly enhanced with paid goods or services. Facebook credits are available in a variety of denominations from $10 to $50 and can be purchased at participating Target, WalMart, Gamestop, and Best Buy stores, and are available online through Target or WalMart. You can also use the store locator on Facebook.com to find the closest retailer near you and help spruce up your friend’s farm in Farmville, add some extra sparkle to your Mom’s Bejeweled Blitz, or add some blood to your boyfriend’s Vampire Wars bank account.

Bejeweled 3 - PopCap is releasing the newest incarnation of its flagship superstar on December 7th online and in retail stores for a suggested retail price of $19.95. With this latest version of quite possibly the world’s most popular match 3, it seems as though they have taken a bit of the best from every manifestation of Bejeweled, combining the smoothed out multi move classic game-play with gorgeous HD graphics, scenic backgrounds, an elaborate soundtrack, and added some new and powerful gems, secret games, mini games, and achievements. So far, there aren’t preorder options, but sign up at PopCap.com to get a reminder when the game, good for gamers of all ages, is finally available!

Nancy Drew Collectors Edition Fan Favorites - Her interactive has just released a brand new collection of their most popular Nancy Drew games as voted on by fans of the series: Treasure in a Royal Tower, The Secret of Shadow Ranch, and Curse of Blackmoor Manor. The keepsake tin features cover artwork from all three games and also includes a specially designed journal complete with original, never-before-seen game concept sketches and pages for keeping track of clues. This collection is a must have for every Nancy Drew fan on your list. This collection is available exclusively from HerInteractive.com for $49.99 and is a good choice for young adult and adult Nancy fans.

Plants vs Zombies Game of the Year Edition - I recommended this game last year, but with the new Limited Edition it’s bigger and better than before. In case this one somehow has still slipped through the cracks for your favorite gamer, it should be tops on the list! Still one of my favorites and a game that I can’t stop playing, PopCap‘s Plants vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition offers more than just a chance for gamers of nearly all ages, to defend their brains against the onslaught of hungry zombies by harvesting the power of the sun and propagating the perfect plant platoon in the day or night, on the front lawn, the pool in the back, on the roof, and in the fog. This newly expanded version comes complete with the interactive Zombatar, in which players can make their own zombies and watch them come to life on the lawn. This game is now even more crazy hilarious fun no one should have to go without – especially during the holidays! Available online from Amazon.com.

Club Pogo Membership - For the non-Facebook online gamers on your list, you might consider gifting a membership to Pogo.com’s premium service: Club Pogo. I also recommended this idea last year and STILL believe it’s a great gift for both social and online gamers on your list – even for the most casual of casual gamers. If the badge collection, double jackpots, and virtual pet aren’t enough, access to a multitude additional games and the absence of ads and intermissions is definitely worth the $5.99 a month. Club Pogo is a great way to give gamers opportunity to find some new favorites as well as play some of the best Pogo originals and downloadables from other top companies.  This would be appropriate for older teens and adults due to the possibility of uncensored chat in some game rooms.   Available from Pogo.com.
Twisted Lands: Shadow Town - This hidden object puzzle adventure from Alawar Games takes players through a dark and creepy adventure to help a man find his missing wife after they crashed on a mysterious deserted island. Twisted Lands: Shadow Town, the first game in a new saga that will explore the emotion of fear. It’s not scary but it has a very sort of psychological horror very similar to old Lovecraft novels where something is off but you can’t put your finger on what.  Read Cherith’s review of Twisted Lands: Shadow Town on GamingAngels.  This is intended to be creepy and would only be appropriate for older teens and adults.  Available online from Alawar Games for just $6.99.

Arkadium and PCHGames.com have launched a new online Bingo game that puts players more in the driver’s seat and changes the pace of this “church basement classic.” Bingo Charms features all the fun of Bingo with the help of Charms, that can bring additional points, currency, and luck to your game. This adds a little bit of strategy to an otherwise destiny-dependent game, making it more intriguing and appealing. To top it off, each day eligible players can win instantly up to $500 or in-game currency thanks to Publishers Clearing House.

“We are moving aggressively in response to our customer feedback to provide more winning opportunities online and through social media,” said Josh Glantz, vice president and general manager of PCH Online. “Bingo Charms is a fun way for us to engage Facebook fans and introduce them to our sweepstakes and PCHGames.com.”

Bingo Charms works much like any other Facebook game in that it helps to have friends who also play the game, enabling additional card slots, free numbers, and faster level climbing. You can post your achievements on your wall, but I don’t feel the same limitations (so far) as I do in other games where so many of my friends aren’t playing (yet) and I am not paying for content. That’s something that’s important to me. I want to share games with people, not feel like I have to force games onto them. I am more drawn to games like Bingo Charms for that reason.

“Playing Bingo has always been a very a social experience and we’re excited about this game’s potential on Facebook. The innovations we’ve added will really set it apart from the competition,” said Kenny Rosenblatt, CEO of Arkadium. “The best part about Bingo Charms is the player’s ability to improve their luck during a game.”

Publishers Clearing House Online has integrated messaging into the game that links back to PCHGames.com and allows players to also enter to win cash and other prizes daily.

Come play with me!