It's a real shame, too, because as VentureBeat (VB) puts it, Moblyng was rather ahead of its time in social games. The HTML5-focused creator of games like Social Poker Live and Word Racer Live has shut down. Moblyng founder and CEO Stewart Putney confirmed the closure, which leaves 20 staffers without jobs. "We did not monetize enough to stay in business," Putney told VB.
While the rest of the social games world was still fooling around with Flash (the primary technology used to create and play social games), Moblyng focused on HTML5, an emergent web development technology often used to make the same social games that work on both mobile devices and computer browsers. Unfortunately, the Redwood City, Calif.-based developer just couldn't put a solid business model in place before its player base started growing.
Shortly before its unfortunate shut down, Moblyng was a leading partner in the launch of Facebook's HTML5-heavy mobile app platform. The company released HTML5 games along with Zynga, wooga and Storm8 that were playable within Facebook for iPhone and Android. Sadly, this is just one of many social gaming shut downs within the past six months, with Meteor Games and Metrogames looking at imminent closure.
"I remain very confident HTML5 will be a great platform for social games and media, it is simply a question of when," Putney told VB. "We just unleashed a group of kick-ass HTML5-focused professionals into the market, so my hope is they will help the HTML5 ecosystem develop that much faster."
Thứ Bảy, 18 tháng 2, 2012
NimbleBit's Tiny Tower blows up 1 million smartphones every day
Seriously, we had to turn off the push notifications for this game a long, long time ago. NimbleBit's Ian Marsh tweeted that the studio's runaway hit Tiny Tower now welcomes 1 million daily players. Basically, that's more than most Facebook games can pull of. Better yet, the San Diego-based developer also mentioned that there are a whopping 10 million recorded Tiny Tower sessions a day.
"Tiny Tower is now seeing over 1 Million daily users with over 10 Million sessions a day," Marsh tweeted, "dang!" Dang is right, considering just three weeks ago, NimbleBit told Inside Mobile Apps (ISA) that Tiny Tower had 600,000 daily players. The number is impressive for a mobile game, especially when gaming giants like Zynga have garnered around 13 million daily players across all of its games.
We're willing to bet the spike in daily players is thanks to it being one of both our favorite free iPhone and Android games of 2011 chosen as Apple's Game of the Year on the App Store. The game has garnered accolades all over the games media, and was just nominated for the Game Developers Choice Awards' Best Handheld/Mobile Game.
And surprisingly, both Ian and David Marsh (yes, they're brothers) told ISA before that business models have never been their focus, like so many free-to-play game makers are wont to do. Despite that, apparently 5 percent of Tiny Tower players have pumped $10 into the game. Now, if you'll excuse us, our Bitizens need more sushi on Floor 97.
"Tiny Tower is now seeing over 1 Million daily users with over 10 Million sessions a day," Marsh tweeted, "dang!" Dang is right, considering just three weeks ago, NimbleBit told Inside Mobile Apps (ISA) that Tiny Tower had 600,000 daily players. The number is impressive for a mobile game, especially when gaming giants like Zynga have garnered around 13 million daily players across all of its games.
We're willing to bet the spike in daily players is thanks to it being one of both our favorite free iPhone and Android games of 2011 chosen as Apple's Game of the Year on the App Store. The game has garnered accolades all over the games media, and was just nominated for the Game Developers Choice Awards' Best Handheld/Mobile Game.
And surprisingly, both Ian and David Marsh (yes, they're brothers) told ISA before that business models have never been their focus, like so many free-to-play game makers are wont to do. Despite that, apparently 5 percent of Tiny Tower players have pumped $10 into the game. Now, if you'll excuse us, our Bitizens need more sushi on Floor 97.
Social gamers, assemble! The Avengers are here to save Facebook
Marvel Avengers Alliance
When Playdom said that Disney-branded games were coming in 2012, we definitely did not expect this. Marvel and Playdom have revealed to USA Today that an Avengers Facebook game has been in the works for, well, a long time. And finally, the superhero-packed game, titled Avengers Alliance, is slated to hit the social network within the next three months. And just in time for the long-awaited Avengers flick landing on May 4.
Avengers Alliance is billed as a free-to-play strategy game, according to USA Today, and takes place within the same Avengers universe built by the films over the past few years. (You know, just in case any of you are total nerds, like this writer, and actually care about that sort of thing.) To set the scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury is facing a global threat, and needs to call in the Avengers. However...
"The Avengers arrive and take one look at the situation and realize they need to call in everyone," VP of games production for Marvel Entertainment TQ Jefferson told USA Today. "You'll see not just the core Avengers, but characters like Wolverine, Spider-Man and characters from the Fantastic Four. When the Avengers call, everyone comes."
According to the website, this game was in development between Playdom and Marvel before Disney gobbled up either company, so Avengers Alliance has been in the works for an eternity (compared to most social games). Players will adventure alongside over 100 Marvel characters with a fully-customizable avatar in Avengers Alliance. Disney Interactive Media Group's Mike Rubinelli promises that Marvel's first venture into Facebook gaming won't "just be a casual click-fest." Mmm-hm.
(Ed. Note: Disney Interactive Media Group tells us that Avengers Alliance had been in the works within Disney since before the Playdom acquisition in 2010, and not between Playdom and Marvel since before Disney bought Marvel in 2009.)
When Playdom said that Disney-branded games were coming in 2012, we definitely did not expect this. Marvel and Playdom have revealed to USA Today that an Avengers Facebook game has been in the works for, well, a long time. And finally, the superhero-packed game, titled Avengers Alliance, is slated to hit the social network within the next three months. And just in time for the long-awaited Avengers flick landing on May 4.
Avengers Alliance is billed as a free-to-play strategy game, according to USA Today, and takes place within the same Avengers universe built by the films over the past few years. (You know, just in case any of you are total nerds, like this writer, and actually care about that sort of thing.) To set the scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury is facing a global threat, and needs to call in the Avengers. However...
"The Avengers arrive and take one look at the situation and realize they need to call in everyone," VP of games production for Marvel Entertainment TQ Jefferson told USA Today. "You'll see not just the core Avengers, but characters like Wolverine, Spider-Man and characters from the Fantastic Four. When the Avengers call, everyone comes."
According to the website, this game was in development between Playdom and Marvel before Disney gobbled up either company, so Avengers Alliance has been in the works for an eternity (compared to most social games). Players will adventure alongside over 100 Marvel characters with a fully-customizable avatar in Avengers Alliance. Disney Interactive Media Group's Mike Rubinelli promises that Marvel's first venture into Facebook gaming won't "just be a casual click-fest." Mmm-hm.
(Ed. Note: Disney Interactive Media Group tells us that Avengers Alliance had been in the works within Disney since before the Playdom acquisition in 2010, and not between Playdom and Marvel since before Disney bought Marvel in 2009.)
android, android gaming, business insider, candy dash android
No, Mario maker Shigeru Miyamoto is not retiring (yet), but rather working on an "undisclosed original title." The head of Japanese gaming giant Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development Division (isn't that, like, everything?) said as much to Dutch video news outlet Zoom.in.
Of course, the guy revealed nothing in detail about the game, but some interesting tidbits regarding his creative process and the work behind hits like Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS. As for why very few original Nintendo games sport photo-realistic graphics, Miyamoto simply wants to create things that look different from reality.
This interview follows one by Wired in which Miyamoto made several mentions of retirement, sending the gaming world into a brief tailspin over Nintendo's future, and arguably the future of video games. However, the long-time Nintendo game designer took this as a golden opportunity to ... clarify those mentions of retirement.
We also have a pretty good idea of who will be left with Nintendo's biggest franchises when Miyamoto exits: those who adored his games as children. And that sounds just fine.
Of course, the guy revealed nothing in detail about the game, but some interesting tidbits regarding his creative process and the work behind hits like Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS. As for why very few original Nintendo games sport photo-realistic graphics, Miyamoto simply wants to create things that look different from reality.
This interview follows one by Wired in which Miyamoto made several mentions of retirement, sending the gaming world into a brief tailspin over Nintendo's future, and arguably the future of video games. However, the long-time Nintendo game designer took this as a golden opportunity to ... clarify those mentions of retirement.
We also have a pretty good idea of who will be left with Nintendo's biggest franchises when Miyamoto exits: those who adored his games as children. And that sounds just fine.
GolMania maker Vostu will release four Android games in two months
What many have called the Brazilian Zynga (for some reasons more visible than others), Vostu, is going all in on mobile social games. The company has revealed to Business Insider (BI) that it plans to release four games within the next eight weeks for Android devices. Two of which will be original mobile social games, titled Rocket Chimp and Pocket Universe.
The others will be mobile social versions of games Vostu offers on Facebook and Orkut including Candy Dash. According to BI, all four games will release in the Android market, which the company has focused primarily on because of Android's dominance in the Latin American mobile phone arena. This news comes not too long after Vostu's first Android game, Elemental.
And BI reports that the mobile, social cartoon-like take on Sudoku was followed by two games released under the radar, Milk'n Cookies and Meow!, also on Google's smartphone operating system. "We believe that the mobile social games market, particularly in Latin America, offers tremendous growth opportunities over the next few years," Vostu told BI. "We will continue to release a mix of new games and mobile versions of our already successful social games to steadily enable our users to play their favorite games while on the go."
It seems as if Vostu, known best for both GolMania and its legal snafu with Zynga in 2011, is looking to capitalize on what its main American competitor has not, specifically Android games. It's too early to say whether Vostu's focus on Android will pay off, but we do know that it just made a bunch of Android gamers very, very happy.
The others will be mobile social versions of games Vostu offers on Facebook and Orkut including Candy Dash. According to BI, all four games will release in the Android market, which the company has focused primarily on because of Android's dominance in the Latin American mobile phone arena. This news comes not too long after Vostu's first Android game, Elemental.
And BI reports that the mobile, social cartoon-like take on Sudoku was followed by two games released under the radar, Milk'n Cookies and Meow!, also on Google's smartphone operating system. "We believe that the mobile social games market, particularly in Latin America, offers tremendous growth opportunities over the next few years," Vostu told BI. "We will continue to release a mix of new games and mobile versions of our already successful social games to steadily enable our users to play their favorite games while on the go."
It seems as if Vostu, known best for both GolMania and its legal snafu with Zynga in 2011, is looking to capitalize on what its main American competitor has not, specifically Android games. It's too early to say whether Vostu's focus on Android will pay off, but we do know that it just made a bunch of Android gamers very, very happy.
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