Games the number one source of in-app advertising in Q3

December 7th, 2012, 22:59 Posted By: wraggster

And Android is the top operating system with a 52 per cent share of impressions.
Mobile ad network Millennial Media has released its latest Mobile Mix Report, which shows that Apple was the leading OEM for ad impressions in Q3 with 31.5 per cent share, while Samsung, HTC and RIM rounded off the top four with 24.3, eight and 7.9 per cent shares, respectively.
However, Google's Android was the number one OS for the quarter, with a 52 per cent share of impressions, followed by 34 per cent for iOS and eight per cent for BlackBerry. In fact, Android powered 15 of the top 20 ad-serving mobile phones.
Gaming apps were the number one source of in-app ad impressions for the second consecutive quarter, with music and entertainment apps remaining in second. Meanwhile, communications apps climbed from fifth to third, while productivity & tools and dating entered the top ten in fifth and tenth spots, respectively.
Three-quarters of all impressions came from smartphones and five per cent from feature phones, but 20 per cent came from non-phone connected devices (tablets and e-readers etc) which is a six per cent year-on-year increase.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...g-in-q3/020059

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Razer tweaks its Carcharias headset to outfit the Xbox 360, shipping now for $69.99

December 6th, 2012, 12:13 Posted By: wraggster

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Guitar Hero co-creator raises $6 million for Android controller

December 6th, 2012, 10:53 Posted By: wraggster

Charles Huang believes "mobile-to-TV gaming could quickly grow to surpass the console market"
Santa Clara, CA-based Green Throttle Games has managed to raise $6 million in Series A funding led by Trinity Ventures with participation from DCM. Additionally, Ajay Chopra, general partner at Trinity Ventures, has joined the Board of the startup looking to launch an Android controller next year. The announcement stated that the funds will be used "to develop internal games, support external development, and advance software services as Green Throttle reimagines mobile gaming on big-screen TVs."
"We believe a large percentage of consumers will use their phones or tablets to play games on a TV, and mobile-to-TV gaming could quickly grow to surpass the console market," said Charles Huang, co-founder and CEO of Green Throttle Games. "By building a straightforward way to enjoy mobile games together with your friends, we hope to revolutionize how mobile games are played."
"The ability to play mobile games on a big screen TV is very attractive, and Green Throttle's leadership is well poised to bring in the kind of top quality games and industry connections that are needed to turn the Atlas controller and Green Throttle's solution into a household name. I have always surrounded myself with entrepreneurs who know how to delight their end users and Green Throttle aims to do just that," added Chopra.
In addition to the controller, Green Throttle is working on an Arena app to provide a central hub to highlight games developed both by Green Throttle, and other independent developers and publishers. Some of the development studios already working with Green Throttle include nWay, Free Range Games, Mercenary Technology and Monstrous.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...oid-controller

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2nd Super Robot Wars takes top spot in Japan

December 6th, 2012, 10:47 Posted By: wraggster

Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney edged into second place
Level 5's crossover title Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney was beaten to the top spot by Namco Bandai's 2nd Super Robot Wars OG in Japan last week.
According to data from Media Create, republished on NeoGAF, 2nd Super Robot Wars OG sold 217,710 units during the week ending December 2, significantly higher than Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney's 128, 856 units.
The only other new entry in the top 5 was Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Super Deluxe Edition, which generated 115,955 sales.
There was relatively little movement in the hardware charts, with the Nintendo 3DS continuing to be Japan's best-selling platform. The PlayStation Vita enjoyed a small boost in sales, from 9,712 units to 11,066 units.
The top 10 software chart is below, with life-to-date sales in parentheses:

• 1. [PS3] 2nd Super Robot Wars OG - 217,710 (New)
• 2. [3DS] Professor Layton Vs. Ace Attorney - 128,856 (New)
• 3. [Wii] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Super Deluxe Edition - 115,955 (New)
• 4. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 105,553 (1,212,312)
• 5. [3DS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Magnagate and the Infinite Dungeon 48,039 (169,519)
• 6. [PS3] Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational - 37,874 (138,736)
• 7. [PS3] Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - Subtitled Edition - 36.234 (233.584)
• 8. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 32,973 (1,453,157)
• 9. [Vita] Fate/Stay Night -Realta Nua - 30.583 (New)
• 10. [Vita] Atelier Totori Plus: The Alchemist of Arland 2 # - 27.651 (New)

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Finally, a camera for the Raspberry Pi

December 6th, 2012, 10:42 Posted By: wraggster


In case you weren’t aware, the camera board for the Raspberry Pi will be released sometime early next year. Not wanting to wait a whole month and a half, [Jouni] connected a LinkSprite JPEG serial camera to his Raspberry Pi. The whole thing actually works, but [Jouni] didn’t bother posting the code. Maybe we can encourage him to do so?

http://hackaday.com/2012/12/05/hacka...cember-5-2012/

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Asda eyes digital games move as traffic grows

December 6th, 2012, 10:30 Posted By: wraggster

Supermarket giant Asda is weighing up its options in the digital games space.
Asda Direct trading director Frazer Locke has told MCV that digital is the one thing lacking from its new online entertainment offer, which it launched last year. And it is looking at a whole range of options.
“The undone thing for us is digital,” he said.
“Could we partner with someone? Or should we build our own solution? We’ve been looking at this for some time and haven’t quite found the right solution. But we will do.
“There are two huge opportunities in games. One is around casual games, and that should manifest itself in the likes of apps. And then there’s subscriptions. We sell World of Warcraft subs but is there anything we can do to make it more immediate by linking with the likes of Blizzard?
“And what can we do with PSN and Xbox Live? There’s lots to consider.”
Locke says Asda Direct is one of the UK’s fastest growing websites, up from No.31 to No.15 on Hitwise.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/asda-...-grows/0107582

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The eSports Phenomenon: Headsets and hand grenades

December 6th, 2012, 02:08 Posted By: wraggster

Pro-gaming can be an expensive hobby. Competitive gamers are the sort of people willing to splash hunderds of pounds on a mouse or a headset.
These products are often fully customisable and designed to give players that extra edge in the heat of battle. And manufacturers are clambering to get their peripherals featured during the live matches.
“As pros develop their own fanbase, more people take notice of the headsets, controllers, peripherals and attire that they use,” says European Gaming League’s Joshua Nino De Guzman.
“Some fans take an interest in a particular product because it’s used by their favourite player, whilst others will be looking to purchase the same gear in order to aid their gaming performance.”
Companies like MadCatz, Turtle Beach and SteelSeries team up with pro gamers when building its latest tech. And they sponsor the teams and tournaments to get the word about their products out there.
“Millions of people tune in to watch the tournaments, and all the players are using gear specifically built for tournament play,” says Turtle Beach’s eSports chief marketing officer Bob Picunko.
“Our relationship with Major League Gaming gives us the opportunity to meet with fans and share our passion. Professional gamers are a great source of inspiration for developing our products and we take their input very seriously.
“We’re in a great position where tournaments, leagues and pro gamers are coming to us and saying, ‘Hey, it would be awesome if you guys made a headset that did this’. We can take that input, work with our engineers and develop products based on what our customers are seeking.”
James Dean from eSports peripherals specialist SteelSeries adds: “Competitive gaming is a culture, a part of mainstream entertainment, it has the potential to have the same recognition as baseball or snowboarding.
“SteelSeries creates products that helps competitive players win. The way that brands like Nike or Adidas backs runners and olympic athletes, we sponsor eSports players.
“We believe that if our products can be the tools that professional players use to win, then consumers will trust and recognise our brand as the best. We believe in working with and supporting the best players and tournaments in eSports.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/the-e...enades/0107588

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The eSports Phenomenon: The state of pro-gaming in the UK

December 6th, 2012, 02:03 Posted By: wraggster

The UK eSports scene has been around for the best part of 20 years
And Craig Fletcher has been involved in it since 1994, running his own Doom 2 league. By 1997 he set-up Multiplay.
The firm may be best known for its Insomnia gaming tournaments, but Multiplay also does online hosting for firms such as EA and Eutechnyx, helps with press events for publishers, and it even ran last week’s Minecon in Disneyland Paris – the second fan event for Minecraft.
So Fletcher knows a thing or two about building events for gamers and the popularity of competitive gaming. MCV sat down with him to discuss the state of eSports in the UK.

Multiplay has been around since 1997, how has eSports changed for you in that time?
We did our first branded Insomnia event in 1999 and it has continued to grow. In 2002 we started doing online tournaments and after that we got involved with the major names in eSports, we’ve been doing the World Cyber Games in the UK since 2004.
eSports is growing worldwide, but it doesn’t appear to be as big in the UK. Why is that?
We’ve given away over £500,000 in prize money over the last ten years. The last event we paid out over £30,000. So there is a perception that eSports is not big, but it is. If you just look at our events, if you went back just four years, our stage was very different, we were only just experimenting with livestreaming. We did lots of recording, but it tended to be ‘play video again on YouTube’.
Some of the big eSports events take place at the same time. Is that a problem?
That has been a problem. A number of our events have clashed with major ones. There’s been an explosion in the number of tournaments around the world that players can go to, it has become a challenge to choose where they want to go. And that hurts, especially if you have companies that are taking tens of millions of dollars in VC investment and throwing their weight behind it. For a family company like we are who have never had any external investment, it can be quite hard to compete. But what we have is thousands of gamers joining us at every event, half of which are there for the social side, to have a geeky holiday. And the other half to play in and watch tournaments.
It is still seen as a niche. What needs to happen for eSports to be accepted by the mainstream?
We are at an very evolving point. If you stopped ten people on a High Street and asked: ‘What would you say if your son or daughter wanted to be a professional gamer?’ You’d probably get laughed at by all of them. There needs to be a change in attitude and more awareness of how skilled it is to be good at this games. There is very little trouble at our events opposed to other sporting venues. It is very social. We are already seeing professional teams in the UK. But eSports needs more investment and more people to get on board.
What is your message to those that are either unaware or reticent about eSports?
Take this very seriously. Get advice at an early stage. Don’t come to us four weeks before launch when you are already feature locked and the game has gone gold. We need to be talking 12 months before your game launches so we can get working on what’s needed to make it successful. And that’s just for public multiplayer as well as a potential eSports title.

The key stuff that is needed in the game to make it an eSports title needs to be in there from the start. Things like free-flight modes so commentators can get to the action easily. Sort of like what a TV crew would have. You also need administration features to help people run tournaments better.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/the-e...the-uk/0107589

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Why making games for people who don’t play games requires a different way of thinking

December 6th, 2012, 01:33 Posted By: wraggster

Because you’re alive, you know that the Wii U came out and it has graphics and sounds and buttons and an iPad. It’s a strange beast, half over there under the telly, half right here, in your lap. With it, we see the start of the next round in the 30-year console wars, and while that’s all going to be terribly interesting for people who want things to be more like they are now than they are now, there are – perhaps – more interesting things on the horizon.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...y-of-thinking/

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Rice Digital: a new portal to promote and sell Japanese indie games

December 6th, 2012, 01:30 Posted By: wraggster

Rice Digital, a new website dedicated to the promotion and sale of Japanese indie, or ‘doujin’ games, has launched today, with an initial, fully localised library of eight games.The website is the brainchild of localisation specialist Zen United and publisher PQube. In addition to selling games, Rice Digital will also report on news from the Japanese indie scene as it seeks to set straight some common misconceptions.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/rice...e-indie-games/

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Kickstarter sticks to all-or-nothing policy

December 5th, 2012, 23:26 Posted By: wraggster

Crowdfunding service says creators benefit even in failure

Crowdfunding service Kickstarter has no plans to alter its all-or-nothing funding policy.
That’s according to a statement, given toGamasutra, following a game that missed its funding goal by a just $28.

Backers pledged 99.94 per cent of the $49,972 needed to fund DreamQuest;s trading sim Alpha Colony, but because of Kickstarter’s policy they will receive none of it.
Kickstarter says that it doesn't want to put project creators in a situation where they're forced to deliver anything under budget. It wants to “protect” them from the awkward situation of not being able to deliver on their backer rewards, t-shirts, CDs, collector’s items and so on, which are often dependant on reaching their minimal funding goal.
And that goes for backers too. Those funding a project see value in it, but they deserve to have they’re investment protected.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...nothing-policy

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£2m pledged on Kickstarter UK in first month

December 5th, 2012, 23:25 Posted By: wraggster

More than £2 million has been pledged to UK creators on Kickstarter.
The crowdfunding service launched in the UK a month ago, and so far £2,069,164 ($3.33 million) has been pledged.

Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler and data engineer Fred Benenson released data about its first month in a blog post.
45,799 backers contributed to the £2 million, with 30 projects being successfully funded out of 407 launched.
Of those backers, 39 per cent were from UK. Both the US and Europe were responsible for 23 per cent each. Other regions accounted for 15 per cent of the total backers. From the EU countries, Germany, Sweden, France, Denmark and the Netherlands are home to the most backers so far.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...in-first-month

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Analysts expect November sales decline

December 3rd, 2012, 23:54 Posted By: wraggster

With the launches of Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Halo 4, Assassin's Creed III and the Wii U, the November reporting period might have been the industry's best opportunity to avoid a complete year of US retail sales declines. A pair of analysts today said that opportunity was missed, predicting the NPD Group's November sales figures to once again show year-over-year declines when they're released this Thursday.
Cowen Research analyst Doug Creutz expects November to be down sharply, 19 percent year-over-year for the console and handheld software market. Creutz said Black Ops II could be down about 11 percent from Modern Warfare 3's performance last year, selling 7.9 million copies for the month. He explained that the Treyarch developed shooter was only on sale for 12 days during this November's NPD window, while Modern Warfare 3 enjoyed 19 days on sale for its opening month last year. It doesn't help that Creutz thinks the blockbuster franchise is cooling off in general, saying Call of Duty sales will be down in the low-to-mid single digits for the year.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter was more optimistic, projecting November software sales down just 2 percent year-over-year. He pinned the blame for the slip on a difficult comparison from last November--when software sales were up 10 percent--"persistent industry weakness," and falling sales of DS and Wii games. Additionally, Pachter said he expects Black Ops II to be roughly flat with Modern Warfare 3's sales from last November.
November pessimism aside, both analysts expect the industry to bounce back next year. Creutz predicted a "sharp rebound" in the first half of next year, boosted again by the launch of new systems for the core market in the back half, a sentiment also expressed by Pachter.
"We believe there is finally light at the end of this almost four-year tunnel of declining video game sales," Pachter said, adding, "We expect results to rebound into sharply positive territory in February, when Take-Two releases BioShock Infinite, and we don't think that results will revert to double-digit negative sales growth again in 2013."
NPD hardware and software numbers have been down every month so far in 2012, often with double-digit declines. The holiday quarter got off to a rough start, withOctober sales dropping 25 percent year-over-year.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-sales-decline

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Raspberry Pi Model A coming soon

December 3rd, 2012, 23:52 Posted By: wraggster


[Liz] over at the Raspberry Pi foundation took a trip over to the manufacturing facility in Wales and found some of the very first Model A Raspi samples. They’re just samples, but this means we should be seeing a few Model A Raspberry Pis pop up on Element 14 sometime very soon.
As the lower-cost model of the Raspberry Pi, the Model A lacks a few features of the more complete Model B. For starters, there is no Ethernet port or controller, and only one USB port, This greatly reduces the power requirements for the Model A, measured by the Raspi Foundation at about 1/3rd of the power draw of the Model B.
To save costs, the Model A is using the same PCB as the Model B – the Ethernet controller and port simply aren’t populated. It may seem like a downgrade, but if you’re planning on building a Raspi-powered autonomous drone, high-altitude balloon, or other robotics project, the reduced power draw will be a great feature.

http://hackaday.com/2012/12/02/raspb...a-coming-soon/

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Black Ops II still No.1 as Far Cry 3 debuts in second place in the UK Charts

December 3rd, 2012, 23:34 Posted By: wraggster

Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II has claimed its third successive No.1 this week.
It was no doubt helped by the release of the Wii U version, although sales were still down 35 per cent week-on-week.
Critical darling Far Cry 3 has to settle for second place in its debut week in the UKIE GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40 as a result, although it’s still the ninth biggest launch of the year falling just short of the numbers enjoyed by Square Enix’s Hitman: Absolution.
FIFA 13 remains at No.3 but perhaps it’s most notable achievement is the game’s release on Wii U, meaning that it’s now available on nine different platforms. It’s the first time that has happened since FIFA International Soccer in 1993-94.
The highest Wii U-exclusive entry misses out on a Top Ten debut, with the bundled Nintendo Land claiming 11^th in its first week. New Super Mario Bros U debuts in 13^th with Ubisoft’s ZombiU entering the listings in 17^th.
In all, there were five Wii U SKU’s of titles in the Top Ten and ten Wii U versions of titles within the Top 40.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/black...charts/0107413

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Inside the Raspberry Pi Factory

December 3rd, 2012, 23:15 Posted By: wraggster

Here's a photo walk through of how Raspberry Pi boards are made at a Sony factory in South Wales, UK. The factory says that the multiple automated and manual checks have meant that only two of the 150,000 boards made there have been shipped with defects

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...rry-pi-factory

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Combined Dualshock and Move controller patented

December 3rd, 2012, 23:11 Posted By: wraggster

Sony may be combining traditional and motion control in one device

A Sony patent for a combined Dualshock and Playstation Move controler has been approved.
Skyrim, FIFA, and other major franchises have added motion and voice control options for their games.

With this in mind it makes sense that Sony, which has a relatively limited motion control device as compared with Microsoft, would seek to level the playing field.
The device is a Dualshock controller that splits down the middle and has a Move globe on both sides.
With such a device it would be far easier for a user to switch between the standard twin stick controls and motion control.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...oller-patented

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Zelnick predicts console transition closures

December 3rd, 2012, 23:11 Posted By: wraggster

Those 'not capitalised for transition' won't make the cut says Take2 CEO

Take2 CEO Strauss Zelnick has prophesied doom for companies unprepared for the transition to next generation consoles.
Speaking at the Credit Suisse 2012 Technology Conference, Zelnick says it's reasonable to expect a few third party publishers to close their doors as costs rise.

"If you're not capitalised for the transition, you can find out that you're not there for the transition," said Zelnick as reported byGamespot.
"And historically, in every transition that's occurred in this business, one or two third-parties have gone out of business. Last time around it was Midway and a couple of others.
Zelnick isn't naming names, but he hints strongly at his earlier remarks that THQ wouldn't "be around in six months."

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...means-closures

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Virtual board game wins Raspberry Pi hack contest

December 3rd, 2012, 23:08 Posted By: wraggster

Three under 18 team also received special commendation

A husband and wife team have won the UK’s first 24-hour Raspberry Pi hack competition with their creation of a virtual board game.
The winning team, Spooks, developed a board game offering customisation abilities, which encourages players to experiment with programming, a concept ideal for educational use in schools.

The software was designed by husband and wife team Shi and Kriss Blanks (pictured) alongside Chris Armitage and Rebecca Brannum, and included original artwork and music.
Runners up were three Yorkshire-based teams of under-18s, with an average age of 15, who worked independently of adult help.
Castleford-based Chris Leake, Adam Burnett, Scott Glossop and Ross Fletcher created a Pi operated synthesizer which used mathematical algorithms to generate music; Luke Horwell, Billy Beacroft and award-winning hacker 13-year-old Harry Merckel collaborated on a custom-built game in Java aimed at children under-11s; and Leeds-based duo, Yas Karunatissa and Jaspreet Dhajan, developed a Pi operating system to replace its standard Linux.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...ck-competition

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Games welcomed into the MoMA

December 3rd, 2012, 23:07 Posted By: wraggster

Collection begins with 14 titles spanning the 1980s to the 2000s

Video games have been recognised by the Museum of Modern Art, breaking another cultural barrier for the young medium.
The MoMA in New York has acquired 14 video games, the foundation for an initial wish list of about 40, which are to be acquired in the near future, as well as for a new category of artworks in MoMA’s collection. Some of the titles selected include Pac-Man, Myst, Portal, Tetris and Eve Online.

In its announcement, the museum said placed emphasis on design as a primary reason why games were worthy of inclusion. Behaviour, aesthetics, space and time were traits the museum weighted each work against.
“Are video games art? They sure are, but they are also design, and a design approach is what we chose for this new foray into this universe,” the news post by the MoMA reads. “The games are selected as outstanding examples of interaction design.
“Our criteria, therefore, emphasize not only the visual quality and aesthetic experience of each game, but also the many other aspects—from the elegance of the code to the design of the player’s behavior—that pertain to interaction design.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...-into-the-MoMA

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