Hi Everyone, Michele Willson and I are delighted to announce that our collection *Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape* has been released by Bloomsbury Academic. Here’s a quick blurb, the contents and contributors: Social, casual and mobile games, played on devices such as smartphones, tablets, or PCs and accessed through online social networks, have become extremely popular, and are changing the ways in which games are designed, understood, and played. These games have sparked a revolution as more people from a broader demographic than ever play games, shifting the stereotype of gaming away from that of hardcore, dedicated play to that of activities that fit into everyday life. *Social, Casual and Mobile Games* explores the rapidly changing gaming landscape and discusses the ludic, methodological, theoretical, economic, social and cultural challenges that these changes invoke. With chapters discussing locative games, the new freemium economic model, and gamer demographics, as well as close studies of specific games (including *Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds*, and *Ingress*), this collection offers an insight into the changing nature of games and the impact that mobile media is having upon individuals and societies around the world. Contents 1. Social networks, casual games and mobile devices: the shifting contexts of gamers and gaming / Tama Leaver and Michele Willson *Part I: The (New?) Gaming Landscape* 2. Who are the casual gamers? Gender tropes and tokenism in game culture / Lina Eklund 3. Between aliens, hackers and birds: non-casual mobile games and casual game design / Brendan Keogh 4. Casual gaming: the changing role of the designer / Laureline Chiapello 5. Discussions with developers: F2Play and the changing landscape of games business development / Tom Phillips *Part II: Reasons to Play* 6. The sociality of asynchronous gameplay: social network games, dead-time and family bonding / Kelly Boudreau and Mia Consalvo 7. Digital affection games: cultural lens and critical reflection / Lindsay Grace 8. Mobile games and ambient play / Larissa Hjorth and Ingrid Richardson 9. Affect and social value in freemium games / Fanny Ramirez *Part III: Locative Play* 10. Riding in cars with strangers: a cross-cultural comparison of privacy and safety in Ingress / Stacy Blasiola, Miao Feng and Adrienne Massanari 11. Playful places: uncovering hidden heritage with Ingress / Erin Stark 12. Rewriting neighbourhoods: Zombies, Run! and the runner as rhetor / Jamie Henthorn 13. The de-gamification of Foursquare? / Rowan Wilken *Part IV: New Markets* 14. Social games and game-based revenue models / Mark Balnaves and Gary Madden 15. Angry Birds as a social network market / Tama Leaver 16. From premium to freemium: the political economy of the app / David Nieborg *Part V. Cheating, Gambling and Addiction* 17. Social casino apps and digital media practices: New paradigms of consumption / Cesar Albarran-Torres 18. Cheating in Candy Crush Saga / Marcus Carter and Staffan Bjork *Afterword* 19. Reflections on the casual games market in a post-Gamergate world / Adrienne Shaw and Shira Chess Michele and I would like to publicly thank all of our wonderful contributors, the folks at Bloomsbury, and Troy Innocent for the rather nifty cover image. For the book’s launch Bloomsbury are offering 40% off the normal price, which makes the eBook version actually affordable for humans, not just libraries! Details here: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/social-casual-and-mobile-games-9781501310584/ Any feedback or thoughts on the book would, of course, be most welcome. All the best, Tama & Michele -- Dr Tama Leaver Senior Lecturer in Internet Studies Faculty of Humanities, MCCA, Curtin University GPO Box U1987 Perth WA Australia 6845 Ph: (+61 8) 9266 1258 Fax: (+61 8) 9266 3166 Email: t.leaver@curtin.edu.au Web: www.tamaleaver.net Twitter: @tamaleaver CRICOS Provider Code: 00301J (WA) 02637B (NSW)