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News Blips: Amazon’s game download service, new Wii drops GameCube support, Zynga’s “mass market” MMORPG, and more

News Blips: Amazon’s game download service, new Wii drops GameCube support, Zynga’s “mass market” MMORPG, and more

As much as I'm loving my first playthrough of God of War 3, I suppose it would be a good idea to take a break and look at some News Blips for today.

Amazon plans to launch a PC digital download service to compete with Steam, Direct2Drive, and Origin later this week. In retrospect, this seems like a rather common sense move for the company to make, with its app store for Android already proving to be a success thanks to low prices. It seems that the online retailer plans to continue with the strategy used in that endeavor, with an Amazon spokesperson telling CNET that "preorder pricing could be up to 30 percent off launch list price." While PC gamers will surely appreciate that, the situation will truly become interesting when Amazon reacts to the discounts offered during Valve's Steam Summer Sale. [GamePro]

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Nintendo announces a bundle that includes a new Wii that drops support for GameCube games and accessories. In exchange for losing the ability to play various last-gen classics (or use the old controller for Super Smash Bros. Brawl), buyers of this new package will receive a Wii Remote Plus, a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and the soundtrack to Super Mario Galaxy. Thankfully, for those who still want access to GameCube games and accessories, Nintendo has stated that the previously available Mario Kart Wii bundle will still be available, backwards-compatible console included. [Joystiq]

Zynga unveils its new social MMORPG, CastleVille. The title seems to be a fusion between traditional online games like World of Warcraft and the -Ville games that Zynga is famous for bringing to Facebook. Read more about CastleVille in our interview with the creative director.

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell says the future of gaming is mobile, PC, and virtual. Whether hopeful or naive, Bushnell says that within 20 years, gamers will have neural implants and will "jack-in," similarly to how the charaters in The Matrix entered that virtual world. In the near-term, he sees mobile and PC being the growth areas in this business, thanks in no small part to cloud gaming and episodic content. Also, a piece of trivia: According to Bushnell, Steve Jobs was assigned to work on the now commonly ported game Breakout while working at Atari because "he didn't play well with others." [GameSpot]

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