PC maker Acer is partnering with Pokki to bring Acer Games app store to its latest notebooks and desktops.Acer owners will be able to click on a dedicated tile in Windows 8’s Metro interface or on a taskbar button to access the special app store, which will feature desktop app versions of Angry Birds and Cut the Rope as well as all of Zynga’s web games, including Words With Friends and FarmVille 2.The brainchild of SweetLabs Inc, Pokki is an app store developed for use on all Windows PCs (XP onwards) that ‘repackages’ web-based games and services into desktop apps. Rather than having to launch a web browser or navigate to a game or app web page to start gaming, Pokki launches the games, productivity or entertainment apps from a dedicated desktop window.
The standard Pokki Store, which offers access to apps across various categories from Entertainment and Games to Music, Productivity, Shopping, and Social, became available for download in August 2012 and currently has over 1 million regular users. Acer Games, though in many ways similar to the Pokki Store, will be focused exclusively on downloading, discovering and playing games apps and as such, as well as the store interface, a number of games titles will come pre-installed on new Acer computers as part of the partnership.
To date Pokki’s biggest hit has been its Pokki for Windows 8 app — a software extension which, when installed, adds a start button and an integrated app menu to the Windows 8 operating system. Since its launch in October 2012 it has been downloaded over 3 million times.
