VentureBeat

It may owe its fortunes to Facebook, but the word is that social-gaming giant Zynga is getting ready to launch its own site in a bid to wean itself from its dependency on the popular social network.

According to TechCrunch, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus hosted a company meeting Thursday afternoon in which he asserted that hit games like Farmville, Mafia Wars, Cafe World and others might soon appear on their own social games site called Zynga Live.

"'Pincus announced at a 5 p.m. meeting yesterday at Zynga that Zynga was going to launch a social game network called Zynga Live,'" TechCrunch wrote, quoting from an anonymous insider e-mail.

The theory here is that Zynga and Facebook are clashing over the percentage that the social gaming giant might have to pay to use Facebook Credits, the social network's nascent currency platform.

"'Facebook and Zynga [have] been negotiating on Facebook Credits and the talks turned for the worst,'" TechCrunch quoted the e-mail as saying. "'In the negotiation process, Facebook shut off Zynga's feeds and threatened to shut down games. Zynga, in the process, threatened to completely leave Facebook and prepared to do so in the previous upcoming weeks."… Read more

For years, Will Wright has been just about the biggest name in video game development. It's hardly necessary to recite his resume, but just in case you haven't been paying attention, he's the creator of SimCity and its many direct spinoffs, The Sims franchise--which long ago surpassed 100 million units sold--and most, recently, Spore.

But last spring, not long after Spore's much-anticipated release, Wright announced he was leaving Electronic Arts, the game's publisher, for the greener pastures of a start-up called Stupid Fun Club. Though the new venture is backed by EA, it is … Read more

PALM DESERT, Calif.--On the day that the Dow sank below 7,000 for the first time since 1997, a panel of venture capitalists told attendees at Demo 2009 what most people already know. This is an extremely challenging environment for raising money.

But challenging doesn't mean impossible. There are still some opportunities for both entrepreneurs and investors.

The panel, which was moderated by Matt Marshall of VentureBeat consisted of Christine Herron of First Round Capital, David Hornik of August Capital, Bryce T. Roberts of O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, and Eric Tilenius of Tilenius Investments.

Tilenius said that "… Read more

Several announcements today further cemented the fact that the Web browser is the new game console.

Square Enix announced a deal to offer some of its games on Steam's Valve platform.The first Square Enix game to be available to Steam users will be the Unreal Engine 3-powered role-playing game, "The Last Remnant." It will release on Steam on April 9, days after … Read more

As reported earlier on Webware, FremantleMedia, co-producer of American Idol, announced it has teamed up with Habbo to create an Idol-branded community within the Habbo virtual world.

Habbo claims 11.5 million unique users on a worldwide basis and more than 121 million characters have been created. VentureBeat reports "about 90 percent of its users are 13 to 18. They spend an average of 45 minutes on the site per visit."American Idol and its show sponsors will post their signs and merchandise throughout the Habbo environment. They will hold events on stages and use spaces that resemble … Read more

A couple of freelance writers for the blog VentureBeat say they have ported Google's Android operating system to an Asus Eee PC. But does this constitute a new trend in Netbooks?

Matthäus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann said in a post Thursday that they compiled, in four hours, the open-source Android operating system for an Asus Eee PC 1000H Netbook. The two run a start-up called Mobile-facts.

In somewhat breathless prose here's what the authors conclude about Android on Netbooks: "For (a) myriad of (Silicon Valley) software companies, it means a well-backed, open operating system that … Read more

At a VentureBeat panel about managing through the economic downturn, the vibe was oddly upbeat. Yes, we're in a slump. Yes, it is systemic, not limited to the tech economy. But each of the venture capitalists on the panel said, "We're open for business." There is capital available. Although, perhaps, not for business as usual.

The strategies for muddling through this economy start with these 10 tips from legendary VC John Doerr:

1. Act now. Focus your business, cut what you need, or sell if you must.

2. Protect the vital core of your business. If … Read more

Android, Google's highly anticipated mobile phone software set to launch Tuesday, and Apple's iPhone have often been mentioned in the same breath, for features they may--or may not--have in common.

Add one more feature to the list, if a VentureBeat source is right: Amazon is said to have an iTunes-like application for Android. VentureBeat says it got a tip that an HTC phone running Android was spotted in a bar in the San Francisco Bay Area over the weekend and that it had such an Amazon application on it.

But, according to VentureBeat, the source said he believes … Read more

On Thursday, I attended MobileBeat 2008, a new conference here in Silicon Valley focused primarily on cell phones broad enough to encompass closely related gizmos like Apple's iPod Touch and--at least in theory--mobile Internet devices.

The event was hosted by VentureBeat, where a great many blog posts can be found that go through all the sessions and significant announcements from the conference. (My thanks to VentureBeat writer Dean Takahashi, who invited me to the conference.)

… Read more