Pogo.com & PlayFirst: Diner Dash Family Style

EA Casual Games Destination Pogo.com Teams up with PlayFirst to Serve up Diner Dash Family Style to Consumers

Pogo.com Lends Community and Multiplayer Expertise to Breakthrough Bestseller Diner Dash

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ditch your desk job and serve up some grub! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced a collaborative partnership between Pogo.com™ and PlayFirst® to create a brand new multiplayer Diner Dash® experience with downloadable game Diner Dash Family Style.

The game will take the breakthrough best seller Diner Dash and add in community and multiplayer features to allow fans to experience the game in a new social environment. Diner Dash Family Style allows players to play alongside friends and family, chat, and participate in group challenges while helping fan-favorite Flo™ grow her fledgling diner into a five-star restaurant.

Diner Dash has been a No. 1 hit across major online game portals, mobile and retail, as well as a popular handheld title now including iPhone, since its debut in late 2004. The original game, developed by the award-winning independent studio Gamelab, is now a multi-million dollar brand, spanning multiple sequels and brand extension spinoffs based on the DinerTown™ story world.

Features:

Play through 5 restaurants and 50 levels for hours of fresh, fun gameplay.
5 different customer types with different personalities to keep players on their toes.
Players can build their restaurant empire in career mode or see how long they can serve customers in endless mode.
NEW! Chat with friends and family while connected to the internet.
NEW! Participate in cooperative charity challenges to help out your fellow players in their quest for the ultimate diner.
As a bonus, Club Pogo™ members will also be able to earn tokens, badges and unlock hilarious Diner Dash themed Pogo mini-items.

“Pairing Diner Dash’s exciting and fast paced environment with our community and multiplayer expertise has allowed us to create a game that is not only a ton of fun to play, but also something you can share with your friends and family,” said Andrew Pedersen, General Manager of Pogo.com.

“With over 5 million copies of Diner Dash sold, we are constantly looking for new and innovative way for fans of the Diner Dash series to join Flo in her adventures,” said Rich Roberts, VP Sales & Business Development, PlayFirst, Inc. “We are thrilled to work with Pogo.com to bring our beloved and bestselling game to their vibrant community.”

For more information and to experience some of the best online games on the Internet, visit www.pogo.com.

No more EGM?! | ¿¡No más EGM?!

Electronic Gaming Monthly is one of the US gaming magazines I’ve been reading since the 8-bit generation as well as GamePro and Nintendo Power. I still have copies of those early issues, plus an EGM one in Spanish. Ziff Davis, the main company responsible for the most iconic tech magazines, will eliminate the print version of PC Magazine 27 years after its creation. Its final edition will be the January 2009 issue. It will continue on as an online magazine.  According to ZD, it has not succedded in attracting companies to place advertisements on their magazines which causes higher expenses. Games for Windows was one of its first victims. Many newspaper and magazine publishing companies have been laying off their employees and/or shutting down the print version of their work to go online as a result of the worst economy in recent decades. In the New York Times article written by Stephanie Clifford, Mr. Young, Ziff Davis CEO, mentioned the possibility of converting EGM to an online magazine. A decision has not been made yet about the future of EGM. We’ll have to wait until next year to find out about the outcome. Will EGM follow the same path as PC Magazine or will the fans of EGM and the slow progress to a better economy -once Obama becomes president- save the gaming magazine from print extinction?

Source: The New York Times – PC Magazine, a Flagship for Ziff Davis, Will Cease Printing a Paper Version [http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/business/media/20mag.html&OQ=_rQ3D2Q26orefQ3Dslogin&OP=778baad1Q2FV8jZVQ26x-Q7CExxQ7DsVsnnoVQ7EQ7EVsnVZQ3EQ7CrqjQ7CQ7CVkjQ26rpVsnkpaWiQ7Dkl].

Electronic Gaming Monthly es una de las revistas estadounidenses de videojuegos que he estado leyendo desde la generación 8-bit al igual que GamePro y Nintendo Power. Aún tengo copias de aquellos primeros ejemplares, además de un EGM en español. Ziff Davis, la empresa principal responsable de las revistas íconas de tecnología, eliminará la versión imprenta de PC Magazine 27 años después de su creación. Su última edición será la del ejemplar de enero de 2009. Continuará como una revista “online”.  De acuerdo a ZD, no ha sido exitosa en atraer a compañías a colocar  anuncios en sus revistas que cause gastos más altos. Games for Windows fue una de sus primeras víctimas. Varias compañías publicadoras de periódicos y revistas han estado despidiendo a sus empleados y/o terminando con la versión imprenta de su trabajo para estar online como resultado de la peor economía en decadas recientes. En un artículo de The New Yorl Times escrito por Stephanie Cliffords, el Sr. Young, jefe ejecutivo de Ziff Davis, mencionó la posibilidad de convertir EGM a una revista por internet. Una decisión no ha sido aún hecha acerca del futuro de EGM. Tendremos que esperar hasta el próximo año para enterarnos del resultado. ¿Seguirá EGM el mismo sendero que PC Magazine ó los fanáticos de EGM y el progreso lento hacia una mejor economía -apenas Obama se convierta en presidente- salve a la revista de videojuegos de la extinción imprenta?

Fuente: Source: The New York Times – PC Magazine, a Flagship for Ziff Davis, Will Cease Printing a Paper Version [http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/business/media/20mag.html&OQ=_rQ3D2Q26orefQ3Dslogin&OP=778baad1Q2FV8jZVQ26x-Q7CExxQ7DsVsnnoVQ7EQ7EVsnVZQ3EQ7CrqjQ7CQ7CVkjQ26rpVsnkpaWiQ7Dkl].