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Videogame colossus Electronic Arts has said an online Scrabble game
customized for Facebook will be released this month to challenge the
popular unauthorized version Scrabulous.
A free Scrabulous software application is the
top game on the hot social networking website and boasts more than
500,000 users daily.
The success of Scrabulous nettles game makers
Hasbro and Mattel, which share ownership of the Scrabble trademark
and have demanded that Facebook remove the renegade version of its
game from the website.
Hasbro teamed with the world's largest
videogame maker to create a sanctioned Scrabble game that began
private testing Monday at Facebook and should be publicly available
later this month.
"Hasbro, together with EA, is eager to
share our expertise and technological know-how by bringing a genuine
Scrabble experience to fans throughout the US and Canada," said
Hasbro digital media and gaming director.
Scrabble can be played online at EA-run game
website www.pogo.com
and there are versions tailored for mobile telephones and iPod MP3
players.
"We're delighted to be bringing
communities everywhere access to one of their favorite games,"
said EA's general manager of Hasbro Games Chip Lange.
"Scrabble is one of the best social game
brands in existence."
Brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla say they
launched Scrabulous.com in 2005 "after we saw a lack of free
user-friendly websites for playing Scrabble."
The software developing duo based in the city
of Kolkata in India made an "add-on" application to play
Scrabulous on Facebook, where it is a hit.
The Agarwalla brothers say in public reports
that they expect fans to remain loyal to Scrabulous, from which the
siblings earn advertising revenues.
-- AFP
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