Tablet Sales Grow

JAN. 25, 2012 • Apple Inc. announced that 15.4 million iPads had been sold during the Fourth Quarter of 2011. By comparison, 14.7 million HP PCs were sold during the same period (Gartner). According to Pew Internet, in North America, More than one in four individuals now own a tablet or e-book reader thanks to strong holiday sales. Between December and January, Pew says the number of North Americans owning a tablet or e-book reader jumped from 18% to 29%. .....

Zynga Looks at Gambling for Zynga Poker

JAN. 20, 2012 • Zynga is actively investigating its options to enter legal online gambling with its Zynga Poker game. The title already attracts 7 million players a day, and Zynga says it has consumer feedback suggesting a willingness to bet real money. The publisher is initially looking at partnerships to introduce the gambling option, rather than creating the capability in-house. Impact: Wit.....

Dave Cutler Assigned to Xbox Team

JAN. 18, 2012 • The San Francisco Chronicle reports that long-time Microsoft engineer, Dave Cutler, has been assigned to the Xbox team. Cutler has so far been instrumental in operating system design at the firm since Windows NT. The company says Cutler’s role is to transition the Xbox into, “a complete home entertainment device.”  Cutler most recently was assigned to Microsoft’s cloud computing platform. .....

Mass Effect 3 Origin Exclusive

JAN. 13, 2012 • BioWare has announced to its large player community that an account with EA’s Origin digital distribution service will be required to play any PC version of Mass Effect 3 – retail and digital copies. In addition, Mass Effect 3 will not be available via Steam. After registration via Origin, a constant online connection will not be required to play the single player portion of Mass Effect 3. .....

Gods and Heroes MMO Goes Free-to-Play

JAN. 12, 2012 • Heatwave Interactive has announced it was taking its Roman themed Gods and Heroes MMO free-to-play later this year. While the transition process is undertaken, the publisher has eliminated all fees previously required to play the game, and opened up all content for free access. Impact: Gods & Heroes goes way back and was originally scheduled to launch way back in 2005.  In.....

Free-to-Play EverQuest II Draws Crowd

JAN. 11, 2012 • Since becoming an F2P game back in December, EverQuest II has seen the number of new players jump by 300%, a 40% increase in daily logins, and 200% growth of in-game virtual item sales. Impact: When something of value is offered for free that consumers used to have to pay for you can expect user numbers to soar.  The reported increase in EverQuest II numbers is actually relati.....

End of content

End of content