Raptr announced today that it has launched a new multi-network instant messaging service and client, and has added two new publishers to its Raptr Partners Program.
For more details, we spoke with Raptr CEO and Founder Dennis Fong, who walked us through some of the new features in a run-through of the new client earlier this week. His comments are highlighted in blue throughout.
Google’s home page will feature the playing pieces of TETRIS in honor of the game’s 25th anniversary. Google will roll out the TETRIS-inspired design in 24-hour periods, starting first at 1:00 PM EDT in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. From 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT, the TETRIS-inspired design will begin appearing in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Starting June 6th, at 12:00 AM EDT, the TETRIS-inspired design will be available in North and South America. TETRIS is also available on iGoogle, which lets users customize their personal Google dashboards with widgets.
Video game industry legends Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov are obviously thrilled with Google. Today they thanked Google for recognizing TETRIS on its 25th anniversary.
“This is a huge honor for all of us at Tetris,” said Rogers, President & CEO of Blue Planet Software, the company that manages the exclusive licensing rights to TETRIS. “We are exceedingly grateful to Google for such a meaningful global salute. Both Google and TETRIS share important qualities that bring people around the world together. Both Google and TETRIS transcend culture and fulfill a universal desire for order.”
“This is the best anniversary present,” said Pajitnov, who created the first game of TETRIS on June 6, 1984 after two weeks of programming. “Twenty-five years ago, I wrote the program for TETRIS in my spare time. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my love of puzzles would create a game that’s loved by so many millions.”
Over 125 million TETRIS products have been sold since the game’s creation, with the game played in more than 50 countries and translated into more than 50 languages. Over 75 million TETRIS products have been sold on mobile devices as well - thanks to a partnership with EA Mobile and over 1 million TETRIS games are played per day on Tetris Friends Online Games.
On a related note Rogers said that it is working on versions of the game that will make it international competitions similar to the Olympics, or the World Cup. “The next generation of TETRIS games will align themselves to the user – so they can always be exactly what best fits any specific individual ‘smart’ TETRIS games that quickly ‘learn their partner’ and adjust to give maximum game play satisfaction.“
Electronic Arts has added a high profile Google executive to its board of directors today: Jeff Huber. Huber currently serves as senior vice president of engineering at Google, and leads technology development for the company’s advertising systems, including AdWords & AdSense, and for Google Apps. He brings to more than 20 years of experience in large-scale systems design and operations, online consumer product development, and engineering management.
Prior to joining Google, Mr. Huber held management positions at eBay and Excite@Home. Hr holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree from Harvard University. He is also a Capricorn, likes long walks in Second Life, and adores his cat Mitsy. Okay, I made that last sentence up.
How quickly Google has put this one to bed. The company has already put a bullet in the head of Lively, the company’s MMO-like space that it launched only a four and a half months ago - according to TechCrunch.
“..despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we’ve decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year,” Google said in a statement.” It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.”
They encourage users to take videos and screenshots to commemorate the rooms they created. Users do not find this solution very pleasing and are gathering in rooms called “Lively is Murdered.” They probably will not go quietly, but at some point, it will not matter.
I wasn’t convinced that Google was really behind the whole idea of Lively in the first place, and its short life span convinces me that my first impression was correct..
Update: Valve Software’s Doug Lombardi has shot down speculation that that the company would be purchased by Google, calling the Inquirer report a mix of fiction and rumor. I can’t say that I’m surprised.
Original Story:
According to a report on the tech-focused web site the Inquirer, Valve is going to be bought by Google “any second.” Why would Google buy out Valve? for its digital distribution platform, the report hypothesizes. Yes the target of the acquisition would be Steam, Valve’s platform that in recent years has expanded beyond its own properties to allow publishers of shapes and sizes to sell their properties directly to Steam users.
A short time ago Valve had said that it would consider being acquired if the atmosphere was right. Meanwhile, Google has been pounding away at content distribution platform called Google Content Distribution, which is currently in beta. This is where Steam and Valve fit into the puzzle.
We’ll have more on this story as it develops, but at this time the story remains unconfirmed.
Sources:
- Kotaku
- The Inquirer
