Gamertell

Two Facebook programs slammed in the span of a week, this must be some kind of record. The SuperPoke! application from Slide has removed one of its program’s poking options today (July 28, 2008) due to strong objections from those who’ve suffered from knife attacks.

The action in question involved a knife. SuperPoke! users would be able to send a knife icon to one of their friends with a message saying “______ has shanked ______.” This message then remains on the recipient’s SuperPoke! box in his or her Facebook profile for everyone to see. Slide willingly removed the action from the application.

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Hasbro has just filed a lawsuit against the makers of the popular Facebook application Scrabulous. Scrabulous was created by Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla under the name RJ Softwares and has 506,580 daily active users according to its Facebook page.

Hasbro is alledging that Scrabulous is ripping off its board game (and now Facebook game) Scrabble. Hasbro is demanding that the application be removed from Facebook in US and Canada, since EA and Hasbro have released a Scrabble Facebook app in those countries.

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Majesco’s first Facebook game has been revealed - it will be working with Large Animal Games to bring Bananagrams to users of the social networking site. The game will be a free Facebook application on August 18, 2008, with additional features and upgrades added later. The official Bananagrams press release does not state if the game will only be open to US and Canadian users, like EA’s Scrabble.

Bananagrams, like EA’s Scrabble, is based on a previously existing board game and also involves using tiles to create words. However, Bananagrams is more of a free-for-all. A pile of tiles is created and each person is given tiles, and immediately every player goes to work creating words at the same time. The person who uses all of his tiles after the pile of tiles is gone is the winner. 

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The Facebook Scrabble open beta from the EA/Hasbro partnership officially launched yesterday (July 14, 2008). Frustrated by the fan-ripoffs, the official version was created and released, and now more Hasbro games are planned. Scrabble is the first social networking site version of an EA/Hasbro game, but not the last, as the companies have more games planned.

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EA is ready to wipe your Scrabble clone-playin’ guilt away with a legit, free version of the tabletop classic for Facebook. The videogame megapublisher has the official Hasbro board game available on Pogo right now and it will be available on social networking site Facebook later this month.

What really jumps out of the Pogo version is the more authentic replication of the traditional board and tiles although it’s a little…

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Facebook is home to many addictive, user created applications and games, and Perfect Warrior is one of them. Perfect Warrior is something of a text-based, massive multiplayer online game. Once players sign up, they can battle monsters, join alliances, equip items, strengthen weapons with runes, go on monster hunts and strive to become a legend.

Perfect Warrior requires quite a bit of dedication and time to succeed. Your character has three attributes - strength, constitution and dexterity. Defeating monsters earns you skill points which you can use to strengthen these attributes. The best way to succeed is to plot out what kind of character you want. You may want a strong and aggressive warrior who can take enemies out in one hit. Or perhaps a tank who can take repeated hits without falling is more your style. Of course a lightning fast opponent who can dodge attacks and deal frequent criticals is also a very viable option.

Click through for more information on creating a legend in Perfect Warrior…

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Another interesting internet time-killer has showed up online, and it happens to be a Facebook application. Fellow Gamertell writer Lucy Newman introduced me to Bumper Stars, and it has quickly become my latest internet flight of fancy.

Bumper Stars is an ingenious mix of pinball, pool and shuffleboard. You click and drag on your spherical star character (everyone starts with Bumpy Beaver), then release him/her. The star then bounces off the bumpers. The goal is to collect all the fruit in the level in three shots so you can advance to higher levels and collect even more fruit. Clearing levels in less than three shots and hitting all the purple bumpers will add valuable point bonuses to your score.

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Usually I don’t give any of the advertisements a second look, but when I logged in to play Flash Hero (a Guitar Hero-esque Facebook game), a fairly unassuming ad caught my eye.

“ACE YOUR FINALS - $25 - Get access to 45,000 term paper and essays right here!”

So right above a flash game that 13-24 year olds are likely to play is an ad endorsing cheating…

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Check out the gallery: Controversial facebook ad

Facebook may have started as a simple social website, but it has quickly ballooned into an entertainment hub for individuals between the ages of 13 - 30. In 2007 the Facebook Platform was introduced, which allowed users and developers to create unique applications for users. If people add an application to their profile, they are then able to play a game and interact with others who also have that profile.

This has lead to a plethora of different applications available. There are video game arcades, text-based adventures, free gift programs, enhanced message boards for people’s profiles and little quiz applications. Even commercial companies and shows create applications to get users’ attention, including Donald Trump’s The Apprentice.

I’ve tested a wide variety of Facebook applications and have selected the five best and most addictive…

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The Apprentice is now a free, flash video game on Facebook thanks to Legacy Interactive. The new game, also called The Apprentice, has very little to do with the actual show aside from the name and constant, stoic caricature of Donald Trump. The Apprentice (the Facebook game, not the show) is actually more like a Diner Dash rip-off than a strategic effort to gain employment through wit and backstabbing.

In The Apprentice game, players work in a sushi restaurant. They have to hand out menus, serve tea and cakes, bring soy sauce, deliver sushi, get umbrellas and pass out balloons. This may beg the question as to how it all relates to the tv show. It doesn’t. The closest it comes is when you end your game, your high score is added to all the others on Facebook and the highest score is “hired.” Also after each level the Trump image will mock or praise you.

I’ve tried the game, and let me say it isn’t worth it. If you want the same experience, go play Diner Dash, as it is far better and even more pleasing to the eyes. No one really needs another box cluttering up their Facebook profile. Plus the image of Trump in game is enough to give you nightmares - his soul-less eyes are always watching and judging you.

Read [The Gamers’ Temple] Site [The Apprentice on Facebook]