Category Archives: Mobile

You can file this story firmly in the “take it for what it’s worth” category. The head of UK game development house Bossa Studios, Henrique Olifiers, said he thinks PlayStation Vita has a rough road ahead. More »

Several ex-developers of the recently shuttered Visceral Games Melbourne have banded together to form mobile games studio PlaySide. Headed by Gerry Sakkas as CEO, PlaySide will begin production on games from January 16 next year. Sakkas said the main aim of creating the company was by bringing in “people who were accustomed to aiming for AAA quality, take that talent, and tailor it to a mobile audience.”

More on Kotaku Australia.

Rovio’s very popular Angry Birds will turn two years old on December 11, and the firm is celebrating with a Happy Birthday update which unlocks all episodes and adds an extra 15 levels.

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“We could knock out a Fruit Ninja 2 in a couple of months and it would probably sell gangbusters, but we wouldn’t be satisfied with that. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Even when we were working on licensed titles we were determined to make the best games we could possibly make. We want to make really fantastic games and keep building Halfbrick as a company that people identify as making quality, interesting, unique titles.”

– Halfbrick’s Luke Muscat, speaking to Kotaku. Fruit Ninja is available for iOS, Kinect, Windows Phone 7, and is part of the Android Marketplace’s rotating selection of 10 cent apps today, so no excuses.

Minecraft Pocket Edition – which Android users can get for 10 cents, by the way – will updated with some of the survival features of the core release.

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The Final Fantasy collaboration between Sqaure Enix and mobile social game provider DeNA has been unveiled as a PvE and PvP title Final Fantasy Brigade.

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One-time BioWare and Pandemic CEO Greg Richardson leads an all-star veteran team in a new mobile gaming venture.

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2D Boy’s puzzler World of Goo has been released on the Android Market, and from now until December 5, the game is 40% off and will only run you $2.99. 2D Boys has said the game will run on the majority of devices running Android 2.2 or newer; however, since there are devices out there of “varying capabilities”, it recommends users try the demo first. OpenFeint has also been integrated into the game for those who like to post achievements. Thanks, IndieGames.

Unity Technologies has announced its Unity platform for 3D on the web, iOS, Android and consoles has surpassed 750,000 registered developers, and that over 200,000 users remain active on a monthly basis. The number of Unity Web Player installs has also doubled over the last year, with 40 million as of November of 2010 and at present, over 80 million.

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In my latest Huffington Post UK piece, I posit that conservativeness at the top-spend end of video gaming has, thankfully, been off-set by increases in internet speeds and the rise of “bite-size” gaming formats such as mobile and PC.

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EA Mobile is hosting a Game Feast sale this holiday weekend.

For iDevice, save 80% on Madden NFL 12, FIFA 12 The Sims 3, Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit and Pictureka.

Android users get 40% off MADDEN NFL 12, Need for Speed Shift, and The Sims 3.

Meanwhile, on Kindle, EA Texas Hold ‘em, Yahtzee, Pogo Hearts, Spades and more are going for 99¢ each.

Follow Ubisoft-owned mobile publisher Gameloft’s Android Twitter over the holiday weekend; the company intends to give away free games.

This batch of giveaways is specific to Android devices and the US, but keep an eye on GameloftUK, GameloftAus, GameloftUS and good old Gameloft for future promotions for other territories and devices.

Gameloft’s titles include MMORPG Order and Chaos and games based on Ubisoft properties.

Thanks, Kotaku.

GI.Biz is reporting that ex-Reflections bosses Gareth and Martin Edmondson have taken board roles at mobile studio Thumbstar Games. The pair, who were both ex-studio director and creative director at the Ubisoft-owned studio respectively, join as the company prepares to make an expansion up to Newcastle. Gareth comes in as CEO, while Martin, who had originally invested in the Liverpool-based company, will be chief creative officer. News of Gareth’s departure hit last week, but Martin’s exit was not publicised.

A new report suggests casual gamers are abandoning portable gaming hardware in favour of multi-function devices.

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Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono and Monster Hunter Frontier producer Kazunori Sugiura have been placed at the head of a new initiative to drive social and mobile development at Capcom.

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Tale of Tale’s award-winning interactive experience The Graveyard has been ported to Android. A free demo is available, but you’ll need to shell out $2 for the full experience, which is virtually identical but brings a random chance of seeing an alternate ending; the possibility of the second ending is kind of the point of the thing, so.

Tale of Tale’s oeuvre of atmospheric interactive experiences includes The Path, The Endless Forest, and most recently, Fatale.

Thanks, GameSetWatch.

Sony has is now accepting applications for a closed beta test of its PlayStation Suite SDK. Windows XP and W7 users in Japan, the UK and US can now present their credentials for early access. Once accepted, develops will be able to create applications for PS Vita. PS Suite offers a cross-platform PlayStation-certified development and publishing environment, and is compatible with various devices such as various Xperia models, and Sony Tablets S and P, and possibly third-party devices. Thanks, Engadget.

Mobile analytics firm Flurry, along with NPD data suggest Apple and Android games have surpassed both Nintendo and Sony in the gaming on the go market.

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Rovio has announced that Angry Birds has been downloaded 500 million times since its release on December 11, 2009. “It’s more than any game ever before,” said the firm’s marketing boss Peter Vesterbacka, who added that the firm’s next goal is to reach 1 billion downloads. Earlier this year, Rovio raised $42 million from venture capital firms, and has expanded the franchise into toys as well as baby and pet products. Via Reuters.

Square Enix and DeNA are developing the first social game based on the Final Fantasy IP in Japan. The game, which was initially revealed via a teaser yesterday,  will be released via DeNA’s Mobage platform, and while there isn’t a date set, pre-registrations are being accepted. Those in Japan who own Fantasy Type-0 on PSP will receive an exclusive in-game reward. This will be the third social game from Square, with Facebook games Knights of the Crystals and Chocobo’s Crystal Tower released previously.

Still no word on a western localization. Thanks, GI.biz.