Family Village mixes personal genealogy and the Sims in new game coming soon to Facebook

If you've ever wanted to play a game with your great-great-great-great-great grandparents, Family Village, an upcoming city-building game on Facebook, will allow you to do just that. Produced by Funium, Family Village will allow players to actually import their ancestors into a city with gameplay inspired by the Sims.

Your family members will be able to go to work, and interact with each other just like in the real world. As reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, Funium chief executive Jeff Wells says that "the vision of the game is to help people who play it to understand that we are all a part of one great world family."

The game will start players out by building a village, where you can then import your ancestors by creating individual avatars for each family member. Those family members are then allowed to have their own homes, have their own jobs, and buy items based on the timeline in which they lived in the real world. For example, if your great-grandparents are imported into the game, they could be seen driving around the town in a Model T.
As for social mechanics, Family Village will reportedly allowed you to visit other players' villages, and help them build homes or complete other projects together. You'll even be able to exchange real world information and documents about your ancestors, should your friends be interested in learning more about your own family tree. Wells has said that the game accumulates its ancestral information by partnering with various genealogy companies and by using Google.

Wells hopes to have advertising added to the game after its launch this Tuesday, and there will be premium currency available for purchase, such as new clothing or hairstyles for players' avatars. It will be incredibly interesting to see how accurate a game based on the past can ultimately be. With users knowing their own families better than the developer, will these partnering genealogy services be able to accurately represent each player's individual family history? I'll definitely be playing this one, and I'll let you know what I find.

What do you think of Family Village's concept? Would you like to see your ancestors brought to life in a virtual setting on Facebook?

Bug Village is the third game on Google+ that isn't on Facebook

And if you even try to say Sudoku Puzzles counts, we're no longer friends. Glu Mobile has announced that its iOS and Android village-builder Bug Village has hit Google+, and it's the first of many to hit Google's social games platform in the coming months. Bug Village is essentially CityVille, but with insects rather than humans: Players decorate and manage a colony of bugs.

And that's about all you need to know, as upon first attempt at loading Bug Village, this writer's entire computer choked up. It looks like Glu Mobile and developer Mandreel have some ... bugs to work out. (Hey, you lob 'em, and we'll go for the fences.) Regardless, the publisher appears bullish on Google+ as a viable social games platform.

"Glu is committed to Google and connecting with gamers around the world in new ways. Google+ has already demonstrated momentum as an intuitive social platform," Glu Mobile CEO Niccolo de Masi said in a release. "We are excited to offer Bug Village on Google+ and look forward to introducing additional titles."

When the game finally does load, you'll likely be impressed by its 3D graphics and fun animations. (Though, we're not sure system-locking load sessions are worth that.) And the above screen is what you'll be looking at for the next hour, if you don't want to pay up. A gut reaction, sure, but having to wait an hour before for something to finish immediately upon starting the game is not the best first-time player experience.
Bug Village in action
Google+ seems to have had trouble gaining steam with its games platform, but has recently garnered support from successful social game developers including Digital Chocolate, Vostu and Spry Fox. However, it's going to take a lot more than simply more games, if Google wants to compete on Facebook's level in the games space.

Click here to play Bug Village on Google+ Now (if you want) >

Have you tried Bug Village on your mobile devices before? What do you think Google+ needs to really compete with Facebook in games?

Bug Village is the third game on Google+ that isn't on Facebook

And if you even try to say Sudoku Puzzles counts, we're no longer friends. Glu Mobile has announced that its iOS and Android village-builder Bug Village has hit Google+, and it's the first of many to hit Google's social games platform in the coming months. Bug Village is essentially CityVille, but with insects rather than humans: Players decorate and manage a colony of bugs.

And that's about all you need to know, as upon first attempt at loading Bug Village, this writer's entire computer choked up. It looks like Glu Mobile and developer Mandreel have some ... bugs to work out. (Hey, you lob 'em, and we'll go for the fences.) Regardless, the publisher appears bullish on Google+ as a viable social games platform.

"Glu is committed to Google and connecting with gamers around the world in new ways. Google+ has already demonstrated momentum as an intuitive social platform," Glu Mobile CEO Niccolo de Masi said in a release. "We are excited to offer Bug Village on Google+ and look forward to introducing additional titles."

When the game finally does load, you'll likely be impressed by its 3D graphics and fun animations. (Though, we're not sure system-locking load sessions are worth that.) And the above screen is what you'll be looking at for the next hour, if you don't want to pay up. A gut reaction, sure, but having to wait an hour before for something to finish immediately upon starting the game is not the best first-time player experience.
Bug Village in action
Google+ seems to have had trouble gaining steam with its games platform, but has recently garnered support from successful social game developers including Digital Chocolate, Vostu and Spry Fox. However, it's going to take a lot more than simply more games, if Google wants to compete on Facebook's level in the games space.

Click here to play Bug Village on Google+ Now (if you want) >

Have you tried Bug Village on your mobile devices before? What do you think Google+ needs to really compete with Facebook in games?

Zynga looks to give CityVille a boost, launches on Google+ Games

CityVille might have just scored a much-needed shot in the arm, as Zynga's most popular Facebook game has launched on Google+. Zynga announced the move today, and the game is already playable on the platform. Unfortunately, folks who decide to take the plunge into CityVille on Google+ Games will have to start all over again.

But considering its top game has been in decline in both monthly and daily players for some time, it's clear that Zynga is looking for new users with this move. Before today, CityVille was exclusive to Facebook for Western audiences, though the developer will soon expand the game to Asian audiences on the Tencent social network.

It was previously understood that Zynga had an agreement with Facebook that prevented the company from launching its games on directly-competing platforms. It looks like there is some fine print in that exclusivity deal that allows Zynga to do just that. This is especially evident considering Zynga has already released Zynga Poker to Google+ Games. With the largest Facebook game now on Google+ Games, Facebook's competitor just received reinforcements in its battle for social gaming dominance. (Now, Google+ has a whopping 18 social games!)

However, this move also speaks to Zynga's growing understanding that it needs to expand to grow its thriving business. With games like EA's The Sims Social gaining fast on the red dog's top spot with now over 60 million monthly players, competition is growing for the developer on Facebook.

Zynga is also hopeful that diversification will help the company grow and increase revenues ahead of its planned $1 billion IPO (initial public offering), the prospects of which have become shaky lately. Hopefully for Google, the presence of a huge name like CityVille will instill confidence in developers to bring new game ideas to Google+.

[Via VentureBeat]

Do you plan to try out CityVille on Google+ Games? Do you think CityVille has seen its best days, or will this expansion help the game find its second wind? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment