DeNA and Disney bring three co-developed social mobile games to worldwide Mobage platforms

Following the launch of co-developed Disney Party on the Mobage network in Japan on 28 March, Disney Japan and DeNA have revealed further details of their partnership.

This will see the two companies collaborating further, with Disney announcing it will release Disney Fantasy Quest, in Japan on April 2, and a title based on Marvel Comics characters due in the summer.

The former will be a card collection game, while the latter will be a card-battler.

All three free-to-play games will be rolled out to DeNA's localised Mobage platforms - Mobage Global (US/Europe), Mobage China, and Daum Mobage (South Korea) during the summer.

Best of friends

This will be the first time games DeNA has jointly developed have been released outside of Japan.

The two companies are considering further titles for global release and will also be working together in areas such as movies, TV programs and smartphone apps.

"We are very excited about working closely with DeNA which is the market leader of mobile games, to provide great new services," said Paul Candland, president of The Walt Disney Company (Japan).

"We are also looking forward to inviting our audiences all over the world enjoy Japan-made original game content through DeNA's global platform."

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Mobile games market to triple in size to $7.5 billion by 2015, reckons SuperData

Having compiled its stats for the benefit of February's Casual Connect meet in Hamburg, research firm SuperData has detailed the growth it expects to see in the mobile market in the coming years.

The headline projection is that, as a whole, the industry is set to triple in value over the next four years.

SuperData values the mobile market at the $2.7 billion mark, though that's a figure will rise to $7.5 billion by 2015.

The majority of that growth, it's suggested, won't come from established markets such as the US or Europe, but Asia, which will see its own mobile industry revenues predicted to expand to $3.2 billion during the same period.

However, putting this into perspective, yesterday, research for UK trade body TIGA calculated the size of the mobile games market in 2011 at $7.9 billion.

Freemium for all

"The mobile gaming market is key to building a successful strategy," said VP of research Janelle Benjamin of the figures.

"Only by capitalising on the early momentum can game companies establish a sustainable footprint for the longterm."

Capitalising on this momentum, as SuperData suggests, means embracing the rise of the freemium model. The firm claims 55 percent of all game revenue is amassed in this manner, with advertising comparatively accounting for just 6 percent.

By 2015, it's predicted, freemium revenues will rise further to account for 62 percent of what will then be a far larger mobile market.



On the free to play market as a whole, SuperData claims only between 3.5 percent and 10 percent of players will ever convert to paying customers – a figure that ties in with comments made by ngmoco's Ben Cousins during the Free 2 Play Summit in London – spending an average of between $8 and $15 a month.

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Five great games that push the iPad 3’s Retina display

Summary: All work and no play make Jason a sad boy. Here are five games that I’m thoroughly enjoying on the iPad 3’s new Retina display

There are a lot of reasons to love the iPad 3, but the most compelling — by far — is the screen. The Retina panel in Apple’s third-generation table is nothing short of amazing and you really have to see it to appreciate it. Specs, pictures and Internet video simply can’t capture all of its pixels, and they don’t do it justice.
To take full advantage of the iPad 3’s new retina screen you need apps that push its 3 million plus pixels to the limit. Here are a couple of games that I recommend if you want to see the full potential of the iPad 3:

Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy ($4.99, App Store)
This flight simulator from Bandai Namco is simply mind-blowing on the iPad 3. The graphics, playability and utter realism are a thing to behold. The aircraft, sky, clouds and terrain are wonderfully realistic and, more importantly, the game is easy to pick up and just play. It features several tutorials to get you up-to-speed quickly and it’s simply to touch Play > Dogfight to jump right into the action. In my first night of flight training I actually had to exit to home screen after a few too many barrel rolls and high-speed loops made me feel a little queasy.

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation ($0.99, App Store)
This insanely visceral first person shooter features an apocalyptic battle for the freedom of the United States that’s been updated for the Retina-capable iPad 3. New high resolution graphics make MC3 one of the best FPSs on a mobile device. Engage in a solo campaign or join up to 12 players in 6 exclusive maps and 7 different modes. I’m not normally an FPS-guy but for $1 it’s hard to beat (it’s normally $6.99). One downside is that MC3 isn’t yet optimized for the 1080p Apple TV and sometimes displays in a quarter of the TV when playing in AirPlay mode.

Real Racing 2 HD ($6.99, App Store)
This driving sim keeps getting better and better. Like flight simulators, driving sims are a natural fit for the iPad’s accelerometer controls. Hold the iPad like a steering wheel to steer and tilt it forward to accelerate and backward to brake. RR2 features 30 licensed cars, 15 stunning locations and over 10 hours of races. It’s so enjoyable that I could play it for hours. The March 15 update features full 2048 x 1536 Retina support with 4x anti-aliasing and it’s absolutely killer on the the big screen with AirPlay.

Infinity Blade II ($6.99, App Store)
While I’m positively salivating to play the third ‘Blade installment (Dungeons) which is optimized for the iPad 3, Epic Games will only say that it’s “coming soon.” In the mean time, IB2 has been updated for the Retina display in the iPad 3 and is worth the $7 just for the stunning environments and beautifully rendered exotic locations. This sword-fighing masterpiece features multiple classes of weapons, armor and spells and an intuitive pick-up and play interface that makes it the reference mobile game for the iOS platform.

Flight Control Rocket ($0.99, App Store)
There’s more than one space-themed game available for the iPad. I thoroughly enjoyed playing the original Flight Control on the iPad with my daughter that I had high expectations for the sequel. This update to Firemint’s popular path-drawing game features an updated sci-fi theme with 15 spacecraft with unique abilities and characteristics. My only nit is that Flight Control Rocket is really a freemium game that EA’s charging $1 for. If they’re going to bloat it with coin spam it should be free. I would prefer to pay $3 of $4 to end the incessant pitching to purchase more coins. I hope that EA doesn’t ruin Firemint’s Real Racing 3 in the same manner.

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‘The Lorax’ mobile game is free and developed cross-platform

Universal Pictures’ Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax opens today, so ticket-holders may be interested in downloading Truffula Shuffula to play while they’re in line for the 3D animated movie. It’s the official mobile game of the movie, and it’s free for both Android and Apple’s iOS.

Truffula Shuffula was developed by Dallas-based digital studio Blockdot using the Corona SDK cross-platform mobile development framework from Ansca Mobile.

“Universal Pictures wanted us to create a game for all the major mobile devices,” said Jay Rutherford, Blockdot’s director of Application Development. “By using Corona to build the game once and manage a single code base, we kept costs down and actually gained more time to work on game details, polish and lots of extras.”

The resulting pattern-matching Mobile Game Development incorporates imagery and sound effects from the movie, including a few soundbites of dialog from characters like Danny DeVito’s Lorax.

In addition to DeVito, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax features the voice talents of Zac Efron, Ed Helms, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate and Betty White.

The movie is a Universal release of a Chris Meledandri production, produced by Meledandri and Janet Healy with executive producers Audrey Geisel, Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul. It was directed by Chris Renaud with co-director Kyle Balda. The screenplay is by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, based on the book by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel).

From the creators of Despicable Me and the imagination of Dr. Seuss comes Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, a 3D-CG adaptation of the classic tale of a forest guardian who shares the enduring power of hope. The animated adventure follows the journey of a 12-year-old as he searches for a real Truffula Tree, the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To get it he must find the story of the Lorax, the acerbic yet charming character who fights to protect his world.

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Game developer Mika Mobile halts work on Android titles

When it comes to building an app for a ridiculously large amount of users only iOS and Android fit the bill. Both OS’s share hundredths and thousandths of apps, but they have different mechanisms when it comes down to development. Well, for some developers those internal differences are too much, as Mika Mobile, developer of several popular games for iOS and Android, announced he’d no longer support any of his Android offerings.

 In a blog post, Mika explained that developing and maintaining apps for Android had become way too expensive, and the demand for more “man-hours” became to strenuous for he and his staff.

“We spent about 20% of our total man-hours last year dealing with Android in one way or another – porting, platform specific bug fixes, customer service, etc. I would have preferred spending that time on more content for you, but instead I was thanklessly modifying shaders and texture formats to work on different GPUs, or pushing out patches to support new devices without crashing, or walking someone through how to fix an installation that wouldn’t go through. We spent thousands on various test hardware. These are the unsung necessities of offering our apps on Android.”

Another striking point the developer made on his blog was his assertion that his apps were cashing in as they should, he flat-out said “our Android apps aren’t making money.” That’s a big statement to make, especially since plenty of data research companies out there claim that just being featured on Android Market boost business.

The dev explained his statement further, saying “there’s a big difference between generating revenue, and “making money” – It’s not that they haven’t generated income, but that income is offset by the added support costs the platform has demanded.” He also added “Android sales amounted to around 5% of our revenue for the year, and continues to shrink. Needless to say, this ratio is unsustainable.”

Regardless, this is one developers point of view, as they’re probably others who love Android and would disagree with his stance. That said, this is a problem for Android as app developers try to adapt to fragmentation. I wouldn’t be surprised if more devs jumped from Android until it stabilizes a bit, because now there’s too many OS versions, and seemingly a zillion devices with different hardware. It’s becoming too much for developers to handle.

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Codemasters Extends Video Game Partnership with Formula One

 

 

Codemasters® will remain the home of official FORMULA ONE games with the confirmation that it has extended its partnership with Formula One World Championship Limited in a further multi-year agreement to develop and publish multiple titles for video game consoles, personal computers, mobile devices and online platforms.

Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One group CEO, said, “Codemasters has created some of the best and most successful FORMULA ONE games to date. We and the teams work closely with them and look forward to creating more award winning games together in the future.”

Rod Cousens, CEO of Codemasters said, “We got off to a strong start with FORMULA ONE but we harbour ambitions to do much more. FORMULA ONE is in the front of our minds at Codemasters and we give it the focus and attention it deserves. We have established close links across the sport and they know that, in Codemasters, they have a great partner.”

“We remain ambitious with our plans and want to take the series forward. We want to take it to new geographies, make it available on new platforms, to new audiences. We are taking FORMULA ONE to a new online platform this spring and our portfolio will be extended with a FORMULA ONE experience that will address a younger video game audience later in 2012. Our teams are hard at it, creating world class FORMULA ONE games across multiple genres for players irrespective of location or gaming platform and now, for many years to come.”

Codemasters will continue to produce the official FORMULA ONE game for worldwide release; development will remain with the BAFTA award-winning studio team at Codemasters Birmingham. The FORMULA ONE portfolio will be expanded with F1 ONLINE THE GAME™, a free-to-play online management and racing game, which will go live this spring. An additional and all-new FORMULA ONE experience for a family audience is due this holiday season with details to be announced. 

 

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Game Developer Ends Android Support Over Fragmentation

Game developer Mika Mobile has announced that it will no longer be supporting Android since the platform is simply not lucrative enough to justify the development and support costs it requires.

Mika Mobile, maker of the popular mobile games Zombieville USA and Battleheart, said in a blog post Friday that it spent around 20 percent of its time in 2011 dealing with Android issues like "porting, platform specific bug fixes, [and] customer service" while Android sales amounted to just 5 percent of its revenue.

"Needless to say, this ratio is unsustainable," the company said. Part of the issue comes down to Androids OS fragmentation. Mika Mobile said it has spent thousands of dollars purchasing various devices on which to test its Android apps. And, ensuring support for the many Android devices requires constant tweaks.

"I would have preferred spending that time on more content for you, but instead I was thanklessly modifying shaders and texture formats to work on different GPUs, or pushing out patches to support new devices without crashing, or walking someone through how to fix an installation that wouldn't go through," the company wrote.

And Google's recent change to increase the size limit on its Android apps from 50MB to 4GB comes as little help, Mika Mobile said. Re-engineering an app to work with the new system would only require extra work.
"From a purely economic perspective, I can no longer legitimize spending time on Android apps, and the new features of the market do nothing to change this," Mika Mobile said. "While this news may be disappointing, I hope people can accept that we've done everything we can reasonably do to bring our apps to as many potential players as possible, despite the obstacles."

As of Monday, Zombieville USA and Battleheart were both still available in the Android Market.

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Sony releasing PlayStation Suite SDK to galvanize mobile game development

Sony Computer Entertainment will release an open beta version of its PlayStation Suite software development kit in April 2012, promising developers a more streamlined environment to create mobile gaming experiences.

Sony issued a closed beta version of the PlayStation Suite SDK in late 2011 to select developers in the U.S., U.K. and Japan. The upcoming open beta incorporates their feedback, with Sony vowing an enhanced, more convenient content development environment. The company will offer the open beta free of charge in a phased rollout slated to expand beyond the U.S., U.K. and Japan target markets, stating that developers will also be able to conduct performance verification of titles built with the open beta version on the PlayStation Vita handheld.

Sony also plans to release the official version of PlayStation Suite SDK later this year at a price of $99 annually. The official SDK will allow developers to distribute premium content through Sony's PlayStation Store and continue updating titles originally created using the open beta or closed beta versions.

Sony first announced the PlayStation Suite program last year in a move to extend the venerable gaming brand across the mobile ecosystem. "It expands the PlayStation experience beyond the PSP border," then-Sony Computer Entertainment CEO/future Sony Corporation president and CEO Kazuo Hirai said at the time. "It is the first cross-platform endeavor." Last month, reports indicated Sony is awarding PlayStation Suite certification to HTC, enabling gamers to play classic PlayStation titles like Crash Bandicoot and Gran Turismo across the manufacturer's Android smartphones and tablets.

Sony recently indicated it is mulling whether to port its PlayStation Vita mobile operating system to smartphones and tablets. "If you're asking if we've made it in a way that's expandable, so that it's possible to apply to smartphones and tablets on top of achieving the high responsiveness we need for gaming devices--it is possible," Sony Computer Entertainment senior vice president Yoshio Matsumoto told Japanese publication AV Watch. "That doesn't mean that we're applying it to smartphones and tablets at this point in time, but it's been designed with expandability in mind."

Sony released the PlayStation Vita to U.S. consumers on Feb. 22. A Wi-Fi-only version of the portable gaming device is priced at $249, with a 3G/Wi-Fi edition priced at $299. AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) is Sony's exclusive mobile broadband connectivity provider in the U.S. Sony has so far sold more than 1.2 million Vita units worldwide.

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