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Civilization Network is coming to Facebook in 2010.

(Credit: Firaxis Games)

Famed video game developer Sid Meier, best known for the Civilization franchise, announced on a Civilization Facebook page Thursday that a new title called Civilization Network is on its way to the social network.

According to Meier, he has been "looking at ways of expanding the Civilization gameplay experience to include solo, competitive, and cooperative play to take advantage of the uniqueness of social networks." Civilization Network will allow users to join with friends to "create the world's most powerful, richest, smartest, or just plain coolest civilization," Meier said.

Like so many of its predecessors, Civilization Network will welcome users into a life-like world. Players will be able to take on others in battle, share technological innovations, form a government, win elections, manage growing cities, and more. Meier also said that users can "spy on enemies and work with friends to create the great Wonders of the World." He didn't say how users will control elements of the game.

Civilization fans will be happy to know that users can play as often as they'd like in the game's "fully persistent environment" for free.

Meier wrote on the game's Facebook page that he'll be looking for beta testers, once the closed beta is ready. Civilization Network will launch in 2010 on Facebook.

If you want to stay up-to-date on Civilization Network happenings, join its Facebook fan page here.

Umoo is a virtual stock-trading platform that is, admittedly, a little late to the market. There are several virtual stock-trading games, including a prominent app from Marketwatch called the Virtual Stock Exchange. Realizing that, I wasn't sure if there was any more room for a game like Umoo.

I'm still not entirely sure.

Umoo (pronounced You-Moo) was originally started in Israel, but it has quickly made its way to the United States. In fact, the game originally only allowed gamers to trade on U.S. markets. But after building a small following, the company realized that it wasn't maximizing its monetization potential, so it opened it up to global markets to attract English-speaking gamers around the world. And that's where it finds itself today.

The premise
Umoo is a virtual stock-trading game. But it does it a little differently than most of its competitors. Rather than ask you to invest in a handful of companies and see how you did after the market closes, Umoo tries to replicate a real stock-trading environment by providing real-time trades. So, if your portfolio includes Best Buy and its share price is tanking for some reason, you can dump the stock and buy something new. It makes Umoo more realistic.

Winning some cash
Although you're given 100,000 virtual points to trade with in free games, Umoo's real appeal is in its cash games. Those games, which are created by Umoo employees, require all players to pay an entry fee before they can join the game. After investing the cash, each player is given the same amount of money to invest with during the timed game. The players with the highest returns on investment win cash prizes. Paid games run "24/5", since global markets aren't open on weekends.

Pick your game in Umoo.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

I was a little disappointed with Umoo's profit-sharing plan. Games can be played for as little as $1, but some go up to $100. In either case, Umoo is taking the lion's share of the cash. For example, one $5 game that's currently available in the app, awards the winner $11.96 for achieving the highest return on their investment. Umoo has, so far, collected $65. An Umoo representative told me that the percentages it takes from each game decline as the cash pool increases, but I noticed a sizable discrepancy in every game between the amount of cash available and what the person actually wins. If the company wants to attract more users, it needs to pay more cash.

During my meeting with Umoo, the company was also quick to remind me that it is legal to play. Even though cash does exchange hands, the company said Umoo is a game of skill, rather than chance, making it legal across the globe.

Google's Marissa Mayer announcing new video game themes for iGoogle.

It's perhaps a sign of how little major game industry news was made at the 2009 Game Developer's Conference that Google's simple announcement of a new series of video game themes for its iGoogle personalized home page was one of the best-attended press functions of the show.

In the midst of a dark, noise-filled warehouse space converted into a temporary gaming hub, complete with Guitar Hero and Street Fighter IV setups, we caught up with Google's ubiquitous vice president of search products and user experience, Marissa Mayer, to talk a little about the company's very tentative initial inroads into gaming.

Why is Google interested in gaming right now, and why iGoogle themes?
The iGoogle engineers--all of them--are gamers. Video games are not only something that reflects your interest, but they're really emotionally connected to the user. Everyone's got that experience of finding a new trick or winning a game. It's also something that provides an element of whimsy that our team wanted to put in.

Gaming companies are very particular about how their IP is used. How hard was it to get nine different companies on board ready to launch at the same time?
I have to say, it was relatively easy. For the publishers of the games, they were very excited to connect with their fan base in a new way. iGoogle is a dashboard for people's day, and tens of millions of users log on each day.

I think it's really interesting to think about how a video game can participate in people's home page experience, when you open that browser the first thing in the morning.

A lot of people already have game modules in their iGoogle pages. This seems like a very logical leaping-off point toward something like that for the games represented here. Are these themes the first step toward integrating that kind of in-browser game content?
Absolutely. We think that games are social, and as iGoogle becomes more and more social--we launched chat last week--we'll know who your connections are, and that will allow you to interact with all your friends and start playing games on your iGoogle page. And they won't be just single-player games, but (also) multiplayer games.

So how long until we see Street Fighter from Capcom, for example, as an iGoogle gadget?
We can't speculate as to when, but I will say that there's an amazing opportunity there.

Photos: iGoogle gets its game on

Google's new gaming themes are available starting March 25. The initial release includes themes based on franchises from the following nine publishers:

Activision: Call of Duty: World at War, Guitar Hero
Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft
Capcom: Mega Man, Street Fighter IV
Eidos: Tomb Raider: Underworld
Electronic Arts: Burnout Paradise: Ultimate Box, Dragon Age Origins, FIFA 09, Mass Effect 2, Scrabble, Spore, The Godfather II, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, The Sims 3
Namco Bandai Games: Galaga
Nintendo: Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong, Mario, Wii Sports, Zelda
Square Enix: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
Wizards of the Coast: Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering

As someone who spends the vast majority of his time each day on the Web, I've developed a unique love for casual online games. When I'm bored or just want to slip away from work for a while, I head over to one of my favorite online game sites and let the hours pass by.

But I should note that although there are thousands of online games out there, my favorites are relatively limited. In fact, I only play four online games regularly. These are the games I find so addicting that I can ignore the rest.

"Bowman 2"
"Bowman 2" isn't for the faint of heart, but it's a really fun game that you can play by yourself, against the computer, or with a friend.

The premise behind "Bowman 2" is simple: you wield a bow and arrow and your job is to release that arrow into the sky in the hope that you hit the opposing player. Once you do, blood spurts out from your opponent and when two lethal hits are chalked up or four non-lethal hits are made, you win. This probably isn't the kind of game you want to let your kids play without some supervision.

Simple, yet effective for Bowman 2.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)

Like the others, "Bowman 2" is designed with fun, not good looks, in mind. In essence, the game is one white screen with silhouetted characters and two patches of green or brown grass. That's it. To control your bowman, you need to click your left mouse button and decide upon the strength of your shot (up to 100) and the direction of your shot in degrees. If your first shot misses, you can adjust it next time to determine the right speed and angle to hit your target.

"Bowman 2" is one of those games that allows you to veer off from the day for a while. Like the others, it's free and will consume hours if you let it.

"The Helicopter Game"
If you're looking to spend hours playing an online game instead of working, look no further than "The Helicopter Game." Trust me, you'll spend hours trying to beat this title.

"The Helicopter Game" is just what you would expect: you fly a helicopter through a maze that features walls flanking obstructions along the route. The obstructions are green rectangles and your helicopter is a simple gray and blue figure shaped like a helicopter.

Fun and simplicity: How "The Helicopter Game" gets it done.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)

Once again, the simple design of the game makes for simple controls. To control your helicopter, you only need to click the left mouse button. As you hold it down, the helicopter goes up. When you release it, the helicopter goes down. It's as simple as that.

Playing "The Helicopter Game" is extremely fun. That said, I found this title to be the most frustrating, since you're forced to go back to the beginning each time you lose. Worse, the maze starts getting narrower as you progress through the game, which means you'll need practice to make your way through. But its scoring mechanism (you get more points the longer you stay alive) makes the game addicting and it wouldn't surprise me if you keep coming back for more after the first time you play it.

"Max Dirt Bike"
"Max Dirt Bike" is one of the most popular games on Addictinggames.com, and after playing it for the past few months, I can see why.

"Max Dirt Bike" allows you to play as, you guessed it, a dirt bike rider, who is trying desperately to traverse different obstacles through 19 levels. The game starts out easy with a few minor obstacles, but rapidly increases the difficulty throughout the rest of the levels. Much like the other games included here, the controls are extremely simple: you use the arrow keys to control the direction of the dirt bike rider. That's it.

I can spend hours playing "Max Dirt Bike."

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)

You won't be blown away by the design of "Max Dirt Bike." The rider and his dirt bike are colored in black and outlined in red, while the obstacles are basically white blocks that are outlined in a particular color. The background in each level is distracting and ugly.

Once you get over the game's simple design, you'll be blown away by the gameplay and realize that you'll need to perform certain tricks with the bike to get through each level. It may look simple, but rest assured that it's not an easy game to complete. But once you do finally beat the game, you won't want to move on to something else--each run-through is timed, so you'll constantly find yourself trying to beat your best time.

"Old Snakey"
If you use Gmail, go to your "Labs" tab and enable "Old Snakey", Google's version of the age-old classic. Once you enable it, anytime you're using Gmail, you can click Shift + 7 and the game will be brought to the forefront, over your Inbox.

"Old Snakey" put the fun back into Gmail.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)

The game couldn't be any simpler: it features a couple of obstructions, a "snake" that you control with your arrow keys, and a block that you need to run over without hitting the walls and obstructions. It starts out simple with a short snake and slow speed, but it rapidly increases speed and the size of your snake as you pick up more blocks. That's when the game gets really fun and makes it an ideal title for you when you're alone or with friends.

Is it a beautiful game? No way. But once again, the value of simple gameplay and unique fun is all it takes to make a game addicting. If you're a Gmail user, definitely try it out. If you're not, sign up for Gmail just to play it. It's that fun.

Are there games that I missed that you really enjoy? Let us know in the comments.

If, for some reason, you've been missing out on a reason not to use your browser's pop-up blocker, here's a new one: Window Pong. The age old game of Pong comes to your browser using separate pop-up windows. You play against a computer that volleys back yet another window that acts as the ball--complete with sound effects. Meanwhile, a fourth window at the top of the screen keeps score of the ordeal, giving the first player to reach five points the win.

Is it practical? No. Is it a great use of JavaScript? Definitely.

I found it to be unplayable on my laptop's track pad, but had slightly better luck with my mouse. If you're looking for a more precise experience, worth checking out is sister project Snake, which emulates the age-old arcade classic popularized by Nokia phones. Better yet, you get to use your arrow keys instead of a mouse.

Both sites were created by Amsterdam-based interface designer Sylvain Vriens as a part of Project-Euh.com, a small collection of interactive Web games and technology demos.

(via Reddit)

Those aren't just random windows, they're paddles and a ball to play the classic arcade game Pong.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Crispy Gamer, a video game site that has emerged from beta with 1 million unique visitors, said Monday it has raised $8.25 million from Constellation Ventures.

Crispy Gamer's executives have their sights set on attracting video game junkies. The site features the basics: news, reviews, and previews. But it boasts a unique revenue model. According to the company, it won't run any advertising from video game publishers.

Instead of going with such ads, Crispy Gamer will use its predominantly male demographic, ages 18 to 49, to attract advertisers outside the video game industry, such as tech and fast food companies. According to Crispy Gamer, the plan will allow it to establish a significant ethical barrier between game editorial and game makers.

Whether Crispy Gamer's strategy will work remains to be seen. The company is competing in a space dominated by two major players--GameSpot and IGN--that take game publishers' advertising dollars. To snub such money could be considered radical, given the interests of its readers. But Crispy Gamer wants to convince potential readers that it's taking great strides to be as independent as possible.

Disclosure: Both GameSpot and CNET are published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

On Monday, video host Vimeo announced it would no longer allow video game-related content to be uploaded to its site. According to the post on the company blog, this includes "game walk-throughs, game strategy videos, depictions of player vs. player battles, raids, fraps, or any other video gaming videos that simply depict individuals playing a video game."

The post goes on to mention that the reason for the new ban is twofold: one, for the sake of the company's servers which have slowed to a crawl having to transcode all of this content, as well as what community director Blake Whitman calls a lack of "creative expression" from people simply holding down the record button for content that statistically has ended up being larger, and longer, than the majority of that found on the rest of the site.

The good news is that not all video game-related videos will be getting the axe. For example, machinima, which uses video games as a platform to create scripted stories, will not be deleted. Also, any game-related clips that have been uploaded to the service and that are scheduled for removal will be hosted until September 1, giving creators over a month to get it off and hosted elsewhere.

There are several sites that specialize in video game clips. One of the more popular ones out there, and my personal favorite, is WeGame, which has far more generous upload limits and video transfer from YouTube. For many, I think the reason to flock to Vimeo was simply the quality, as the site is one of the few to offer high-definition video hosting and playback, as well as download links to grab the original files.

Dennis Fong's new startup, Raptr, is a sort of applications-based social network for hard-core gamers.

(Credit: Raptr)

SAN FRANCISCO--Dennis Fong is someone who has a lot of street cred in the world of video games. A former world champion in games like Quake and Doom, he's also the founder of XFire, a company that enabled easy instant messaging among gamers that he later sold to Viacom for oodles of money.

Now, he's got a new start-up, known as Raptr, and it seems to have some very influential people rather excited.

I got my first introduction to Raptr Friday at the Startup Showcase at the Game Developers Conference. The session, which was organized by Charles River Ventures' Susan Wu, put five entrepreneurs on the spot to give short presentations about their company. Wu and several industry experts then got the chance to weigh in on each presentation.

Essentially, Raptr is a social network for gamers, but one filled with useful applications--at least for those for whom hard-core gaming is a way of life.

But since there are millions and millions of people like that, the company has an instant and wide market.

... Read more

WeGame, a user-generated content site for video games, announced the launch of the beta 1 version of their site today. At the risk of sounding like a marketing robot, the best way that I can explain the site is "YouTube for game videos." WeGame provides a free downloadable application that allows you to record in any of their currently supported games, which includes just about all of the hottest PC titles of the moment. After you record your video, the client allows you to easily upload to the site.

The actual site is fairly similar to other offerings from GameTrailers and GameVideos, but what will give them the edge is their recording client. The client can record either in regular Web video format, or in HD for the machinima enthusiasts. It has always been a huge pain to capture an in-game video, format it correctly, and upload it to a video site. WeGame simply solves that complication.