Tsk, tsk, tsk Zynga. Copying other people’s games is frowned upon and you know better.

The guys at NimbleBit, creators of Tiny Tower, called out Zynga for their blatant copying of certain game design elements in their “new” game, Dream Heights for iOS.

Ian Marsh, one of the three guys at NimbleBit, tweeted an image to Zynga that exhibits how Zynga got their “inspiration.” We’ve got the same image after the jump for your convenience if you wanted to take a look at the comparison screenshots in the image as well as what NimbleBit had to say about this whole thing.

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Being a mom and all,  thoughts of my job and gaming often travel back to how gaming applies in my own life.  We have a few methods of gaming consumption at home and with the recent addition of the Kinect®, the 360 is now beyond just the adults.  Seeing my husband and son play Super Hero Squad® on the Xbox 360 recently I got to thinkin’ – will I see this same scene in 20 years?  Will husband and son play multiplayer games from different homes some day, utilizing voice chat and probably some iteration of Face Time?  Will gaming be a way that we “spend” time together, even over long distances, even when the kids are all grown up?

Thinking down this path I realized that the day has probably arrived for some of you out there.  Those of us in our 30′s and 40′s “grew up” on video games.  Being grown ups means we likely have kids, some of them maybe old enough to have flown the nest but still play video games.

Are you a cross generational gamer?  Do you use gaming to connect with your children?  What are your favorite games to play with your kids?  Has gaming helped (or hurt) any of your family relationships?

We’re going to MacWorld 2011!  We’ll post more info on what we’ll be doing and how you can keep up with us later in the week, but for now we have something gravely important to ask: Which t-shirt design do you like the best?

Left to Right, Top to Bottom, #1-#7

We’ll be giving these t-shirts out at MacWorld and for other events, so let us know which design or designs float your boat.  Your style (and ours) depends on it!

Update: We have a winner!

For those not aware, Apple is launching a brand new Mac App Store on January 6, 2011.  The Mac App Store promises to bring the ease and functionality of the iOS App Store (for iPhone, iPod, and iPad) to Mac computers everywhere.  You’ll be able to search for thousands of different apps for your computer, and purchasing, downloading, and updating these apps should be easier than ever.  The apps also promise to be portable across different Mac computers.

We at Aspyr are particularly excited about the prospects and potential the Mac App Store could have for gaming.  As almost anyone that’s paid any attention to the iPhone and iPad probably know, these devices have turned into incredibly popular gaming devices, with tons of new, innovative, and accessible games available for users of all ages and interests.  You’ll be able to find content from Aspyr in the Mac App Store in the opening days of the store’s launch.

However, we want to know: what do our fans and customers think about and expect from the Mac App Store?  Will there still be a market for boxed retail applications?  Will you still purchase your favorite games from traditional outlets, like the GameAgent store and/or Steam?  Let us know in the comments if and/or how you expect the Mac App Store to change the way you use your Mac!

Since the Civilization V Mac announcement, we’ve been trying hard to field the mountain of questions we’ve received about the game, and while we’ve been able to answer most of them, we’ve so far avoided definitive answers on the full integration with Steam, particularly SteamPlay.  First, we apologize for not addressing these concerns sooner; however, we are still in intense, internal discussions about the pros and cons of utilizing the system.

As some of you may be aware, we recently started a discussion in the comments of our most recent Civ V Mac FAQs post regarding the use of SteamPlay and buyer expectations.  As a result, we’ve received some awesome feedback from some of our readers and fans, and thus have decided to more formally invite others to comment on the situation by creating a dedicated post to the discussion.  Below is the comment that sparked the talk.

Hi Guys

We obviously have had a lot of people inquire about SteamPlay, which is buy the PC version get the Mac version free (and vice versa). As I’m sure most folks would understand, as a company who invests heavily in the licensing, development and support of great Mac content giving content away for free is a difficult business model to support.

We are still weighing the options but out of curiosity, how many of you have already purchased the PC version and expect a free Mac version? Did you purchase it on the PC to play via BootCamp in hopes you’d get the Mac version? Or did you purchase on the PC and just assumed you’d get a Mac version? Wondering what the expectation is out there.

Thanks

As noted above, we would love to hear from more of you about your thoughts on the subject.  We know many of you will feel very passionately one way or another, so we do ask that anyone leaving a comment try to follow a civil and/or cordial level of discourse.  That being said, thanks for your time and your thoughts!

Update: As BlogLady has noted below in the comments, we first want to thank everyone for their comments and thoughts, and we’re absolutely thrilled to have fans with such passion for Mac gaming.  Second, we do want to clarify that because Civilization V Mac will feature SteamWorks, the DRM and playing experience will be exactly the same no matter where you purchase the game, disc or download.

You will have Steam authorization rules and Steam encryption and access to Steam save game files, etc., no matter where you purchase it. So GameAgent DRM is not on the digital build and disk check is not on the disk.

Next, we want to let everyone know that we’re taking your comments very seriously, and that they have already made an impact on our internal discussions.  After all, where would we be without you guys?

Finally, we want to take the discussion a step further:

Out of curiosity for you two machine owners – do you guys have PC home and Mac mobile? Or vice versa? I have to admit, I can’t even navigate a PC anymore I”m so entrenched in my Mac world.

Update #2: Again, thanks so much to everyone for their thoughts and comments!  We’ll be posting final decisions regarding SteamPlay, etc, in a final Civ V Mac FAQ on Monday, November 22.  Please stay tuned!