Recently I sat down with Worlds in Motion to talk about Coobico’s latest technical milestone, the nuts and bolts of the game and casual gaming in general. Read the interview after the jump.

Sad news we hear day by day from Sichuan.
We would like to extend our sincere condolences to all who lost friends or family and to all who still have to worry for their beloved ones.
Sincerely. Lutz Martin Stefan

Today, Mashable, probably teh world’s largest blog on social networks, features Coobico’s development:

“Although every MMO is, in fact, some sort of social network, many companies are trying to find that special niche where gaming and social networking meet. Coobico is, as the founders say, a mix of casual MMO (casual, in the realm of MMOs, usually means that you don’t have to leave your family, quit your job and spend the rest of your wretched life living in a tiny apartment, permanently hooked to the screen, to be successful in the game) and a social network. It’s Flash based, it’s free, it’s part strategy, part RPG, and it’s coming out in the first quarter of 2008.”

Read the full article after the jump.

Newly released MMO-Blog Worlds in Motion, part of CMP Media, recently wrote an article about Coobico: Getting Casual with Coobico. This week we sat down with editor Leigh Alexander to talk about the peculiarities of creating a casual MMO for a non-teen audience:

“‘More’ is the typical game-industry’s approach to everything: more levels, more graphic power, more customization and even moreso, intertwining features. Here is a lesson that the game-industry can learn from the Web 2.0-world — less is more, really,” Winter opined. “Less is what a casual audience of above-30-year-olds are looking for. They don’t want to waste their time and money on upgrading graphic-hardware just to play Crysis in all its beauty. They are looking for some thirty minutes of ease and challenge besides their working-life, their family and hobbies, instead of spending endless hours of grinding in an online-game.”

Communities are the key to online worlds, Winter says — and the current community within MMOs currently reflects, he notes, the industry’s “max-out principle,” where the learning curve to fully engage in the virtual society is steep. “This doesn’t mix well socially with the casual market,” Winter says. “Such social discrepancies — almost like culture shock — are among the biggest shortcomings of recent multiplayer-products.”

Read more at Worlds in Motion: Linking People’s Lutz Winter Talks Casual Adult MMO

Spieletipps, a large german gaming-portal covers Coobico and its development (in german only):

“Knuddels, Habbo Hotel oder ChatCity - die Auswahl an Chats und virtuellen Welten ist in den vergangenen Jahren enorm gewachsen. Allerdings richten sich die meisten an Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene. Genau diese Marktlücke will das Unternehmen Linking People Ltd. nun schließen. Mit Coobico erscheint Anfang 2008 ein kostenloses Flash-basiertes Multiplayer-Strategiespiel, das besonders Gelegenheitsspieler im Alter von 30 bis 44 ansprechen soll.”

The full article is here.

Developmag, the leading UK trade news and community site for all professionals working in the video games development sector, covers Linking People and Coobico:

“The Hong Kong-based company, established last year by three veteran web designers, is focused on creating Web 2.0 communities and shared gaming experiences aimed at players aged 30 to 44, a demographic which according to a recent study constitutes 79 per cent of the game market.”

Read the full article after the jump.