Quote of the Moment: Social gaming 'tailor-made' for Disney

"It became pretty clear to us that game-playing on social networks is real, here to stay. There are obviously a multitude of people that are already playing. There are about a half a billion people who are members of Facebook already, about 40 percent of those people participate in game playing.
"I mentioned in my remarks that the customer base is pretty diverse, from 18 to post-50. It's dual gender, meaning it's not - it doesn't skew just in the men's direction, which we know a lot of other games do.

"It seemed tailor-made for not only Disney-branded games, but Marvel and ESPN, and we really like the opportunity. The other thing that was really interesting to us is that we now have over 50 million people who are members of various Disney, ESPN and ABC groups on Facebook. So we begin with a very, very solid base of people to market to and when you add to that the over 40 million people who are playing Playdom games already, that seemed pretty compelling to us."

-Disney CEO Bob Iger explains the reasoning behind the company's recent purchase of social gaming company Playdom in a an investor's conference call

ESPNU College Town update brings Facebook Credits and new Competition rules

Playdom's new sports university management game ESPNU College Town received a much-deserved update today in the form of Facebook Credits, new Competitions features and over 100 new items. Not to mention that now Event Revenue never expires, meaning you can collect profits from an event at any time after the event is through. The social network's official currency is now available for use in the game and applies to the existing packages:

    20 Campus Cash: 4.99 = 50 Facebook Credits
    42 Campus Cash: $9.99 = 100 Facebook Credits
    85 Campus Cash: $19.99 = 200 Facebook Credits
    240 Campus Cash: $49.99 = 500 Facebook Credits
    500 Campus Cash: $99.99 = 1000 Facebook Credits



Now, you'll have to buy the Facebook Credits outside of ESPNU College Town and the game still supports direct credit card and Pay Pal purchases, but this just makes things a lot easier to understand. Clicking and dragging All-Stars into the starters brackets for Competitions is no longer necessary. Just click the All-Star and then click the spot to place them in position; also, players cannot compete in this feature without at least one All-Star card for each sport, basketball and football.

With Event Revenue now permanent, there's no need to regret or hesitate scheduling longer events that yield more benefits as they'll be there to collect whenever you return. There's also a slew of new items including new mascots, statues and iconic buildings representing real-life college sports stadiums. All in all, these are welcome changes to the new game, which already boasts over 1.2 million users in its first month. They grow up so fast... and then they make mommy and daddy millions.

Social City: Reach Level 5 in ESPNU College Town for a free Track and Field stadium

Now that the 5 Days of Gifting College Town is over in Social City, Playdom has another ESPNU College Town promotion in the works -- reach Level 5 in ESPNU College Town for a free Track and Field stadium in Social City.

Here's some tips to level up quickly in ESPNU College: First of all, the game starts you off with two venues, a field and a gym. Upgrading these will net you a ton of XP. After that, you should click on the venues to "Start Event", which is more or less identical to creating "Contracts" for the Factories in Social City.

Next, buy and install as many buildings as you can. The act of installing buildings will help you earn XP, and after that's done, the buildings can begin making money for you. You can use this money to upgrade your venues. All this should quickly get you to Level 3.
Social City Track & Field Stadium
There might be a bit of a lag between you hitting Level 5 in ESPNU College Town and getting your Track and Field, but once the offer clears its way through the system, you should receive the pop-up window above. You can then find your stadium in your Social City inventory, and installing the stadium in your city will grant you 15 XP.

ESPNU College Town Campus Affiliation just got a whole lot easier

Campus Affiliation
Affiliation ButtonAs part of Playdom's relentless mission to streamline the day-to-day experience of what just might be its new flagship game, ESPNU College Town, the studio just added an "Affiliation" button to the sidebar in-game. Clicking this button just below the "Gift Inventory" button will take you right to the page displaying your current campus affiliation. Players can also use the search box found above to easily find the school they're looking for instead of meticulously scrolling through every last college.

Better yet, you can browse each university's set of items and buy them right from within this window. Take a look for yourself and see what you think. You might just find a university that you like better (traitor).

City of Wonder's Russia Week brings the Manifesto to your settlement

Russia Week
Players of City of Wonder have seen nearly every ancient civilization in world history from Mesopotamia to Egypt to Ancient Greece, but now it's time to enter the age of political upheaval and military might with Russia Week. In this seven-day event, you'll find several items inspired by the ancestors of the Mongols and the birthplace of socialism. Most importantly, this update includes a new legend, Beethoven, who will clean all of your cultural buildings.

But when it comes to buildings, Playdom has got you covered with structures like the brand new Marvel, St. Basil's Cathedral--the iconic church will boost your Happiness and Culture by three percent. There are other interesting items like the Gold Wall, which for one Gold a piece will "protect your city in style," and Cossack Calvary who are known for "their awesome hats." You can decorate your city with the Kremlin Clock, a Russian Church and Socialist Statue to finish off your settlement's religious and political personality. The Russian theme is only here for another six days, so get your Slav on before these items go way of the dodo.

[Image Credit: Playdom]