"Midcore is about games for people like me who used to be hardcore gamers but don't have the time anymore," You can get a sense for depth and strategy in these games, but in five-minute chunks. I'd love to play Halo 4 with my buddies, but we just have no time."-Justin Cinicolo, Vice President of Mobile, Zynga
Looking to expand its business with those mobile gamers that are in between hardcore and casual, game developer Zynga announced the purchase of
November Software, the mobile game studio that worked on LucasArts'
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed series. The purchase, according to Zynga Vice President of Mobile Justin Cinicolo, was to increase Zynga's position in the mid-core market which falls in between hard-core gamers and casual players. Cincolo said that "
Midcore is about games for people like me who used to be hardcore gamers but don't have the time anymore."
The November Software team is currently working on a game called
Battlestone, which was originally called
Golden Arrow. According to co-founder Szymon Swistun, the game is a "
new take" on action combat games made for mobile. November Software built its own cross-platform 3D engine for the game.
So what exactly did Zynga get with this acquisition? Swistun says his company is focused on "delivering high-quality 60 fps capability on mobile, fast workflows, and on-demand content streaming." While the price of the acquisition has not been made public, this could work out to be a good deal for the beleaguered mobile game firm. Zynga started on the road to mid-core gaming with its September purchase of
A Bit Lucky, a company focused on online social games.
source:
FierceWireless
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: