Scrabble poised for Facebook face-off with Scrabulous

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Videogame colossus Electronic Arts has said an online Scrabble game customized for Facebook will be released this month to challenge the popular unauthorized version Scrabulous.

A free Scrabulous software application is the top game on the hot social networking website and boasts more than 500,000 users daily.

The success of Scrabulous nettles game makers Hasbro and Mattel, which share ownership of the Scrabble trademark and have demanded that Facebook remove the renegade version of its game from the website.

Hasbro teamed with the world's largest videogame maker to create a sanctioned Scrabble game that began private testing Monday at Facebook and should be publicly available later this month.

"Hasbro, together with EA, is eager to share our expertise and technological know-how by bringing a genuine Scrabble experience to fans throughout the US and Canada," said Hasbro digital ...