Millionaire Boss puts players in a position to give the evil corporation, “LootCo.,” a run for its money by working to become a powerful competing CEO. Players setup and name their company, hire Facebook friends as employees, use strategy to combine the right types of employees with different skills and levels of experience, and focus them on the right work to build the business. Challenging corporate missions await in Millionaire Boss including striving to grow the company’s market share, increasing shareholder value, managing corporate reputation and expanding the headquarters. Players have the opportunity to customize their virtual CEO and design a cool office space to set the tone and motivate employees with everything from foosball tables and fully-stocked snack rooms to aquariums. Players compete with friends to see who can turn their hot new startup into the next big thing.
Created specifically to take full advantage of the social features on Facebook, players can gift items, share coins with friends and visit friends’ offices to help their chances for success. Play for free by going to http://apps.facebook.com/millionaireboss.
If you’re a Millionaire Boss then you’ve probably got an amazing smartphone. According to Gartner, Inc., worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, and are expected to surpass 500 million in 2012. The Android operating system continues to grow in strength as a smartphone operating system and is expected to surpass iOS by year end. Companies are recognizing this by developing new apps and games for Android phones, as well as making previously released iPhone titles available on Android.
For example, Disney Publishing Worldwide, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books and magazines, has released its first app for the Android platform. “Winnie the Pooh: What’s a Bear to Do?” brings this popular children’s character to Android devices. The app features professional narration in five different languages – English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese – plus sound effects and authentic Winnie the Pooh music. All five languages are included in one download, and switching between the languages takes just one tap. There is also the option to turn off the narration and record any voice reading the story aloud. The app is available for $2.99 through the Android Market.
And Sony Computer Entertainment is hoping that a new mobile device will improve its fortunes. The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) will be its next generation portable entertainment system. The Wi-Fi model will be available for 24,980 yen in Japan, $249 in the US and €249 in Europe. The 3G/Wi-Fi model will be available for 29,980 yen in Japan, $299 in US and €299 in Europe. There will be successive launches of the entertainment system in global markets by the end of this year.
The PS Vita incorporates a 5-inch multi-touch organic light emitting diode (OLED) as the front display and a multi-touch pad on the rear. With the front touch screen and the rear touch pad, gamers will interact directly with games in three dimension-like motion through “touch, grab, trace, push and pull” finger motions. Also, PS Vita features two analog sticks which enable a wider range of game genres to be brought into the portable experience, such as shooters, action games and fighting games. Owners of the PS Vita will quickly get up to speed on the new device through a tutorial app called “Welcome Park.” Just play Welcome Park to become accustomed to the functionality of the new technology.
Sony believes that by offering both Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity, together with various applications, the PS Vita will enable new social opportunities for the mobile entertainment system. For instance, the PS Vita application, “near,” which will come pre-installed, will let users discover what games PS Vita users in the vicinity are or were recently playing, as well as let users share their game information. “Near” also enables location-based gaming features such as “gifting,” in which a user can access virtual game-related items that other users are sharing, through checking in at geographic locations that others have also visited. The virtual items can include content unlocked from games, such as character costumes, weapons and treasures. Another app to be pre-installed in the PS Vita is “Party.” This app will allow users to enjoy voice chat or text chat not only during online gaming, but also when users are playing different games or using different applications such as an Internet browser. Sony will be specifying information on games available at launch closer to the system’s release date.
