It's the 25th anniversary of Trivial Pursuit, which means I've been playing this stupid game with my parents since I was 10-years-old, and if EA has anything to say about it, I'll be playing it for a long time to come. They've just announced plans to release Trivial Pursuit games on every possible platform they can cram them on, from digital platforms like Pogo.com, where you can already play, to consoles both new and not-so-new. They've got mobile phone versions on the way, and if I know EA, I wouldn't be surprised if handhelds got a little bit of the action as well. Certainly the iPhone needs Trivial Pursuit. Certainly I need more reasons to drop everything I am doing to compulsively answer ridiculous trivia questions.

Look for Trivial Pursuit to hit mobile phones this winter, with PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PS2 versions showing up in the early spring.

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Facebook word game fans rejoice! Scrabulous, pulled from Facebook only two days ago due to a lawsuit from Scrabble creators Hasbro, is now back up in the form of Wordscraper. The makers of Scrabulous have given the game some graphics and mechanics tweaking to help differentiate it from the Hasbro original. This is when we get to see if Hasbro's lawsuit had any real merits. Will people stick with the reincarnated Scrabulous, or will they hop on over to Hasbro's official Scrabble Facebook application, currently being enjoyed by over 50,000 players?

The real question here is "Why the hell are so many people wasting their entire day playing games on a social networking site?" How is anything getting done, anywhere?
Scrabulous is Back! Its New Name is Wordscraper [Mashable via CNET]

Hasbro is suing the creators of the popular Scrabulous Facebook game, after a request the toy company made to the social network earlier this year to pull the game went unanswered.

In January when Hasbro first began to fuss about Scrabulous, many were perplexed — wasn't the prolific Facebook board game an homage to the original, arguably even a sort of viral marketing? But today's infringement suit announcement comes just after Electronic Arts, through its partnership with Hasbro, launched its own official Scrabble game on Facebook, a launch no doubt complicated by the existence of an unlicenced, competing game.

Hasbro says Scrabulous infringes on its intellectual property rights, and is suing creators Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla, while requesting that Facebook pull the application immediately.

Full announcement follows the jump.

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The next title to come out of the partnership between Electronic Arts and Hasbro is Operation Mania, a reworking of that surgery game we all used to play when we were kids — remember the poor patient with the light-up nose?

The video game version seems to have added a bit more than just pulling out plastic organs from a precarious piece of human-shaped plastic machinery, though. You play as up-and-coming surgeon Dr. Humerus, who diagnoses patients with wacky illnesses at five different hospitals on his way to becoming an expert surgeon through microgames "reminiscent of the board game", but it's also got a story mode, upgradeable hospitals, and multiplayer.

EA's launching it on its casual Pogo site in North America and Europe in August, and in a retail box in North America in September. Full details after the jump.

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Oh, that oddly sweet yet secretly deranged website Sega had up to promote Condemned 2 wasn't so bad. Sure, a dark heart of pure malice pumped raw nasty underneath its sugary exterior, but that was part of the fun! Right?

Sadly, the mixed nature of the site, combined with the use of imagery that closely resembles Hasbro's My Little Pony brand, has brought a stop to Sega's shenanigans. According to this SMH story, the games publisher was asked to bring down the Offset the Evil website as Hasbro didn't want consumers to confuse the hobo-smashing message of the site with its cute and mostly harmless kid's brand.

A representive from Sega said the company didn't realise how closely matched the images were. It has stated the site will return in short order, once minor changes are made. You can read the full story beyond the link.

Phoney pony website axed after 'evil' game link revealed [SMH.com.au, thanks Brett]

EA's Casual Label today announced new details on their upcoming Monopoly title. The game will be coming to Mobile phones, PC, PS2, Wii and Xbox 360 and will include the ability for four people to play simultaneously in a party mode. It will support both offline single player and multiplayer modes.

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Hasbro and Universal pictures today announced the formation of a six-year strategic partnership to produce movies based on the toy company's most popular brands. You know what? Just read it yourself. It's pretty short.

Hasbro Inc. (HAS) and Universal Pictures formed a six-year strategic partnership to produce at least four motion pictures based on brands such as Monopoly, Candy Land, Ouija, Battleship, Magic, the Gathering and Stretch Armstrong.

I'd say I was completely shitting you if not for the fact that I just blockquoted their official release right there. Stretch Armstrong? Magic: The Gathering? Monopoly the Movie? I can already hear the actors viciously fighting over who gets to be the race car. We're so doomed. Luckily the first film won't be released until 2010 or 2011, which is plenty of time for us to dig very large holes to hide in.

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If you're still left wanting from today's earlier announcement that EA has struck a deal with Hasbro to bring Littlest Pet Shop and Nerf N-Strike to the Wii, perhaps you'll perk up for news on a game you actually want to play. Say, G.I. Joe, for example, which Variety says is part of the EA-Hasbro alliance and should ship alongside the film adaptation of the cartoon in Summer 2009. Details are scarce, but in the EA fashion, we expect it come to every platform under the sun. We certainly hope for it to be better than EA's Catwoman.

Hopefully, it won't just be relegated to mobile phones and Pogo.com, instead featuring billions of red lasers and blue lasers generating next-gen sparks, ultimately missing every single intended target. Sure, the G.I. Joe movie may have a few head-scratching choices, but that doesn't mean our inner eight year olds aren't wicked psyched.

EA develops Hasbro properties [Variety]

Electronic Arts today announced nine Hasbro games that will be hitting a variety of platforms over the next year.

Littlest Pet Shop and NERF "N-Strike" are both set to come to the Wii and DS this fall, with Littlest Pet Shop also making its way to the PC. Scrabble, Monopoly Here and Now and Yahtzee Adventures are all being developed for mobile phones. Electronic Arts is also developing Yahtzee, Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition, Trivial Pursuit and Operation for their online casual gaming service, Pogo.com.

"EA and Hasbro want to give families new ways to enjoy games; we want give them a new way to come together, connect, spend time and have fun around the TV or online," said Chip Lange, Vice President and General Manager of EA's Hasbro Studio. "Bringing the spirit of these games to life as video games has allowed us to create really unique and creative experiences for families and friends of all ages to enjoy together at home or online."

"We are thrilled that together we are bringing our great toys and games to life in the digital world and providing consumers with new and dynamic ways to enjoy our amazing brands," said Mark Blecher, Hasbro's Senior Vice President of Digital Media and Gaming.

EA will be showing off a number of the games at the upcoming Toy Fair in New York later this month. Hit the jump for the full release with game descriptions.

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The last time I played Risk was New Year's Eve, 1999, which I spent with some folks from the local Renaissance Faire, figuring if the world were catapulted back into the Dark Ages, they would be the people to hang with. It went like many Risk games do...two hours of engrossing play followed by people wandering away from the table for various reasons, eventually forgetting we were playing. The game is just too damn long, and manufacturer Hasbro knows this. Their answer to the problem? Risk: Black Ops. It's the Risk you've come to know and love in short bursts, redesigned with a sleek and sexy new look, a new resource system that rewards possession of territorial capitols, and the big change - an objective system. Objectives are tasks such as "Control Europe" that reward a player for completing them. The game starts with four major and four minor objectives from a pool of twelve, and completing any three is considered a win. This changes the face of the game completely!

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