Joystiq

Monstermind: Bossa's first game lets you lay waste to Facebook friends

Justin McElroy — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:15:00 EST

If you know Bossa Studios at all, it's likely for lead designer Mike Bithell who made the thoughtful Thomas Was Alone and conceptualized a Source Code game. But after today, the studio will likely be synonymous with its first project: A Facebook release called Monstermind that goes into open beta today.

In a concept that had to have been borne of frustration with Facebook game tropes, Monstermind lets you build a town with its own thriving businesses, homes and citizens. Then, it lets you buy a monster and lay waste to the towns of your friends until they're less thriving and more writhing in agony. It's a heck of an idea, and one that we've had trouble pulling away from long enough to write this post.

Considering how well its first game works out of the gate, it's understandable that Bossa was purchased by News Corp, who says it'll keep the developer focused on social games. Judging from how long we've been tormenting one another in Monstermind, it seems like a wise choice.

Monstermind: Bossa's first game lets you lay waste to Facebook friends originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: IGN and UGO to merge, spin off from News Corp

Alexander Sliwinski — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:55:00 EST

News Corp's IGN and Hearst Corporation's UGO are merging, with an official announcement expected this week, reports AllThingsD's Peter Kafka. The alleged plan after that is to take the merged entity in the near future and create a standalone business that focuses on video games outside of News Corp -- the notion being that IGN, which is said will make $10 million in profit this year off $100 million in revenues, will do better outside of News Corp's influence.

News Corp is also supposedly looking to take on investors for IGN before the split and may also be looking to acquire more properties before the spin-off occurs. Comscore data claims IGN has an audience of 19.7 million U.S. visitors, while UGO apparently has 13.1 million.

If you want to put this into some grander context, this merger actually combines IGN, UGO, GameSpy, WhatTheyPlay.com and the remnants of the 2009 gutting of 1UP/EGM.

Report: IGN and UGO to merge, spin off from News Corp originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 01 May 2011 21:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Xbox Live TV channel pitched to Microsoft by ex-News Corp head

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:03:00 EST

Our laziness, it knows no bounds: We just can't stand changing out game discs from our systems (hooray digital distribution!), not to mention the agonizing chore of pushing the source button on our TV remote to flip back to broadcast programming. And that's why we're especially happy to hear a rumor from Bloomberg today that ex-News Corp president Peter Chernin is engaged in talks with Microsoft to possibly launch an Xbox Live television channel.

Allegedly, during an April 12 meeting at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash. offices, Chernin proposed a channel native to the Xbox 360 that would feature "reruns and original shows" for an additional $1 to $2 per month on top of the standard Xbox Live Gold subscription fee. Chernin's publicist, Allan Mayer, says of the deal, "Peter is talking to lots of people about lots of ideas in the digital space," while a representative for Microsoft refused to comment.

The report also claims that Chernin pitched the idea to Conan O'Brien's reps, presumably, to land Conan in one of the channel's time slots. Seeing as that supposed deal with Conan fell through, may we humbly propose X3F TV?

[Via Edge Online]

Rumor: Xbox Live TV channel pitched to Microsoft by ex-News Corp head originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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