Aeria Interview: Embracing Mobile Games
NOV. 8, 2012 • Aeria Interview: There is a flood of free-to-play publishers making bold moves to carve out territory on mobile platforms. While it cannot be contested that many consumers are now completely enamored with their smartphones and tablets, there are mounting questions about how many games these consumers will actually pay for on their mobile devices, and whether there is too much content vying for far too little prospective purchasers.
.....
Microsoft SmartGlass Examined
OCT. 31, 2012 • The Kinect motion controller was a tremendous boon to the Xbox 360 released far back in 2005 – helping to extend market share for the console at the very time that sales should have been trailing off. While much outside attention is being focused on what the next Xbox will look like and when it will arrive, Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division has launched a new complementary input technology, SmartGlass. Although Kinect can e.....
Nexon Acquires gloops
OCT. 1, 2012 • All outstanding shares of Japanese mobile developer gloops, Inc. were acquired by Nexon Co., Ltd. for ¥36.5 billion ($468 million) in cash. The developer is one of the major content providers for DeNA’s Mobage platform with titles such as Japan Pro Baseball Card Battle, Warriors of Odin and Three Kingdoms Guild Battle. The existing relationship between gloops and DeNA is bringing five titles to North America and Europe in 2012 through its Mobag.....
Toys “R” Us Launches Tablet
SEPT. 11, 2012 • Toys “R” Us is bringing its own kids branded kids tablet to market on Oct. 21. The $149.99 Tabeo will arrive with WiFi connectivity, an HDMI port, 1GB of RAM, front and rear cameras, 4GB of storage memory, a 7-inch screen, and 50 pre-loaded games and apps that run on the Android 4.0 operating system. An SD port allows for additional storage memory to be added. Some of the games featured are Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Fruit Ninja, Tem.....
Amazon Adds HD Kindle Fire
SEPT. 7, 2012 • While the spotlight has been on Samsung’s Android tablets and smartphones this summer thanks to ongoing patent litigation with Apple, Amazon.com finalized a direct assault on Apple’s iPad business with a whole new series of high definition Kindle Fire tablets. The original Kindle Fire has sold well since its introduction last year. How well Amazon is averse to saying, but well enough to drop the upgraded entry-level Kindle Fire (7-inc.....
Bigpoint Drops Mobile Development
JULY 19, 2012 • Bigpoint GmbH has made the economic decision that contracting with outside mobile development teams is preferable to maintaining in-house staff to create content for smartphones. The decision comes at the same time that executives Philip (chief games officer) and Tobias Reisberger (chief revenue officer) have stepped down to create their own mobile studio, AppFlag. While the departure of the brothers is said to be on good terms, it is reported th.....
Amazon Launches GameCircle
JULY 11, 2012 • Moving to make its Kindle Fire tablet platform a more accessible and friendly destination for game playing, Amazon.com launched a new service called GameCircle. Kindle owners now have access to new features such as achievements, leaderboards, and cloud-based sync between Kindle devices that saves gameplay progress that can be made available to separate Kindles. More social features are to be added later. Also released were a series of APIs to hel.....
