Playdom acquires Acclaim Games (NOT to be confused with Acclaim Entertainment)

When most gamers hear the word "Acclaim," they probably think of Acclaim Entertainment, the prolific publisher that was behind everything from The Simpsons' early licensed games to the console ports of the Mortal Kombat series to the infamous BMX XXX. I know that's what I thought of when I heard the surprising-sounding news that casual game maker Playdom had purchased Acclaim Games.

Of course, the move made a bit more sense when I found out Acclaim Games is an MMO and casual game maker that just happened to purchase Acclaim Entertainment's name and logo when the publisher went defunct in 2004. But this revelation also made the news much less exciting to me, since I'd never actually heard of any of the new Acclaim Games' games, even though they reportedly have over 15 million registered users combined.

Anyway, with this new acquisition coming on the heels of Playdom's recently announced deal with ESPN and purchase of Offbeat Creations, it looks like the company is on quite the expansion kick. If this keeps up, Zynga may have some real competition atop the social gaming environment.