February 5th, 2012

To Heck With The Super Bowl: GOG Features Sierra Game Three-Packs For $5

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Good Old Games is running a $4.99 sale on multiple Sierra titles including Space Quest and Kings Quest. The games come in packages of three and are compatible with Windows (sorry, Mac users, but here’s a consolation prize).
→ Read More

January 18th, 2012

Brass Monkey Grabs $750K To Turn Your Smartphone Into A Wii Controller For Browser Games

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Six months ago, Brass Monkey had built and released some well-developed software development kits (SDKs) for Android, iOS, and beyond that, simply put, enabled gamers to turn their mobile devices into remote controllers, with support for Flash, Unity3D, and desktop games and apps. The Brass Monkey team, CEO Chris Allen tells us, believed that bringing the functionality of a Wii controller to smart devices was something gamers could get excited about — but, at the time, they were missing one important piece. Support that would allow gamers to play on the browser. So they went about acq-hiring Emotely and its Founder and CEO Francois Laberge, bringing him on as CTO. → Read More

January 1st, 2012

60beat iPad Gaming Accessory Could Be The iOS Missing Link

It appears the iPad gamepad of our dreams has finally arrived. The 60beat is a full-sized gamepad designed for iOS devices and it connects to iPads and iPhones via the headphone jack. While there aren’t many games that support the technology (yet), the concept is fairly simple. The controller works by sending signals through the devices’ microphone jack. → Read More

December 22nd, 2011

Facebook Opens Mobile News Feed As Viral Channel For Games

Mobile News Feed Games

Once upon a time, Facebook game companies like Zynga fattened up their user counts thanks to viral distribution to non-gamers through the news feed. Facebook later curtailed this channel, forcing developers to concentrate on paid marketing and true word of mouth to grow. A new boom period could be coming, this time for mobile developers, as Facebook announced today that it is testing game stories in the mobile news feed. This could attract devs to its recently launched HTML5 mobile gaming platform with bait of reaching hundreds of millions of daily active Facebook mobile users.
→ Read More

December 18th, 2011

The Top 20 iPhone and iPad Games Of 2011

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In our previous post, we listed the top 20 iPhone and iPad apps of the year. But games are in a class by themselves, often pushing the limits of the hardware, software, and graphics capabilities of Apple’s iOS devices.

Instead of combining the platform’s great games with all of the other apps you should know about, here are our picks for the top 20 iOS games of the year: → Read More

December 15th, 2011

PapayaMobile Launches “The Games Academy,” An Accelerator For Mobile, Social Game Developers

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Mobile games network PapayaMobile is launching a new accelerator for mobile, social game developers called “The Games Academy,” which will kick off in Q1 2012. Like most accelerators, Papaya will be providing developers with office space, support from a team of industry veterans, legal advice and an opportunity to pitch VC’s.

However, there won’t be any seed capital provided, nor is the company taking an equity stake in the startups who join. Instead, Papaya only requires the teams use its Social Game Engine in their game’s development. Then at the end of the program, a “winning” team will be awarded with a grand prize of 100,000 guaranteed downloads. → Read More

December 15th, 2011

Hands-On With WowWee’s AppGear AR Gaming Toys

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WowWee, not content with creating singing Elvis heads, is branching out into AppGear Appcessories – apps that require AR-based accessories, allowing you to interact with real environments using an iPhone or iPod Touch. These games, arriving in stores in April, include a zombie game where you’re the zombies fighting off upset homeowners (What a twist!) and an air battle game that actually uses tiny foam planes attached to the front of your phone to simulate flying in three-dimensional space.

The games will cost $9.99 and include various collectable parts. For example, the zombie game, Zombie Burbz, includes four collectable figurines. Of of the figurines has a set of conductive pads on the bottom and, using the iPad’s multi-touch screen, you control the action by moving the figurine across the virtual board. → Read More

December 13th, 2011

Destroy Your Friends With FaceInvaders

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Do you hate your Facebook friends? Do you want to blow them all up in fiery blasts of laser light? Sure, we all do.

FaceInvaders allows you to shoot down your social graph. The game is a simple Space Invaders clone with a twist – each alien is a face randomly selected from your Facebook account. You shoot down friends hither and yon, allowing you to passive-aggressively destroy the people who you pretend to love.
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December 2nd, 2011

Aces Hangout Is Bringing Live, Face-to-Face Poker To Google+ Hangouts

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Aces Hangout is a new, in development product from the team at Hettema&Bergsten, which you may remember as the makers of the Twitter trend tracker, StrawberryJ.am. The online application brings a unique twist to online gambling, thanks to its integration with Google+’s multi-person video chat feature, Google+ Hangouts.

Unlike other video poker games, where users often play as online avatars, Aces Hangout feels more like a real world card game. You can watch live video feeds of the other players in Google+’s Hangouts, allowing to you to guess at who’s bluffing and who’s not – something that’s key to the offline poker experience. → Read More

October 11th, 2011

Sony Japan Prices First Playstation Vita Games

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The launch of Sony’s new handheld console Vita in Japan is just two months away (December 17), so it’s about time big S made some official announcements regarding software prices. In a nut shell, the first batch of titles will not be sold for cheap.

To be more concrete, the prices for a total of four launch games are now fixed. → Read More

October 3rd, 2011

Goats Go To War: Kickstarter Project Aims To Keep A Programmer Housed And Fed

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It’s hard out there for a goat. You’re relegated to the background in many RPG games, chewing morosely while adventurers and soldiers light out for the darkened corners of the World, fighting dragons, the hellborn, and coprophagic demons. But now the goats are taking on the world’s vilest enemy – the Nazis – and they mean business.

GOATS vs NAZIS is an indie NES game by Jim Welch that should take about a year to finish. Welch is asking for $14,000 to help feed and clothe him while he works on the game (where the heck does he live?) and he’s offering the game for free once he’s done. → Read More

September 7th, 2011

Incentivized Installs Not All Bad, Says New Study…But Consider The Source

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Mobile users acquired through “incentivized” installs can be valuable, according to a new study, if managed properly. The term refers to users who download a mobile application in exchange for something else – usually in-game virtual currency or goods. Traditionally, these sorts of users are thought of as somewhat disposable, simply serving as a way to boost an app’s rankings in iTunes…at least until Apple cracked down on the now-banned practice.

But a new study of mobile app traffic shows that, in certain cases, incentivized traffic can outperform organic traffic. Unfortunately, given the report’s source, it still leaves us with quite a bit of doubt. → Read More

August 26th, 2011

OpenFeint Announces Replacement for UDIDs on iOS

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On the heels of Apple’s decision to phase out developer access to the UDID (unique device identifier) on iOS devices, mobile social gaming network OpenFeint is offering up a an alternative solution. The company announced today that it’s launching a single sign-on system for social game developers that will replace UDIDs on iOS.

The system will become available later this fall.
→ Read More

August 25th, 2011

Nextpeer Lets Mobile Developers Turn Single-Player Games Into Multi-Player Games

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Nextpeer is a newly launched mobile developer toolkit that lets game developers quickly and easily add multi-player gaming to their single-player games. With Nextpeer’s tournament and social SDK (software development kit), developers can add customizable features that enable their game’s users join real-time, social tournaments where they compete against other users for top scores or achievements.

The idea is so simple, it’s surprising it hasn’t been done before. People like mobile games and they like playing games together, but until now, the only way developers can build a multi-player gaming experience is by building a multi-player game from scratch. With Nextpeer, however, any game can become a multi-player game.
→ Read More

August 12th, 2011

W3i Launches New Service For iOS Game Developers

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Monetization and distribution network for app developers, W3i, is today announcing a program specifically for iOS Game Developers. The new service, now in beta, is simply being called “Games Platform,” the company says. And its goal will be to solve the challenges facing game developers such as server set-up, maintenance, security, storefronts and analytics.
→ Read More

August 1st, 2011

Nintendo Calling Early 3DS Buyers “Ambassadors,” Will Give Them Special Perks

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While many would call buyers of the 3DS who picked up their console prior to the $80 price cut expected on August 12 “suckers,” Nintendo is calling them “Ambassadors” and they’e offering them special updates to upcoming downloadable titles. These updates will include multi-player support and improved gameplay.
→ Read More

April 29th, 2011

Is Creationary A Lego Boardgame? Yes. Yes It Is.

At first blush a game called “Creationary” may sound a bit anti-science but it is, in fact, just Pictionary with Legos. It costs $34 and is for ages 7-12 and apparently you can build your own die and then pick cards to tell each player what to build. You can make vehicles, buildings, or items from nature (there’s also a nebulous “things” category) and it’s for 3 to 8 players. → Read More

April 28th, 2011

With A New Suite Of Games, Arkadium Lets Gamers Play Right On Their Facebook Walls

Arkadium, the casual and social game developer, is announcing today the release of the Arkadium Stadium, a suite of 12 Flash-based games that users can post and play right from their Facebook walls. Now you don’t have to deal with the hassle of playing the game in-app. I joke, but this functionality is very cool, as it allows you to quickly publish the game app to your profile, or your friends’ profiles and play right there. No fuss, no muss.

Arkadium Co-founder and President Jessica Rovello told me that few gaming companies have yet explored this method of “wall play”, so through the Arkadium Stadium, the company hopes to begin setting the groundwork for people to be able to enjoy and share games like they would videos, photos, and links. → Read More

March 30th, 2011

CrunchDeals: Super Mega Worm For Super Mega Free

Super Mega Worm, the best game about worms that eat people and jewels and dirt, is now free on the Mac App store. It’s only available for a limited time and it’s not quite appropriate for the littlest members of the gaming community but if you like to destroy cows, birds, airplanes, and trucks painted like the General Lee, this is the game for you.

Product Page → Read More

March 9th, 2011

Dragon Age 2 Comes To The Mac On Day One

The original Dragon Age was a pretty good game — lots of free roaming, but also precise timelines. It wasn’t uncommon to spend 90+ hours in the main story, but at least the story had substance, just a bit long. Today, Dragon Age 2 released, and continuing on the steam from the first, BioWare has released the game for PC, Xbox 360, PS 3 and Mac OS X simultaneously. → Read More

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Media Armor — Received $1.53M in Series A funding from iNovia Capital and Greycroft Partners
2.10.2012
MyAutoZap.com — Company added to CrunchBase
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Greycroft Partners — Invested in Media Armor.
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Cidade Internet — Acquired by Populis.
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Jive Software — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:JIVE.
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Cidade Internet — Acquired by Populis.
2.1.2012
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LetsBuy.com — Acquired by Flipkart.
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Cocoafish — Acquired by Appcelerator.
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Media Armor — Received $1.53M in Series A funding from iNovia Capital and Greycroft Partners
2.10.2012
rollApp — Received $243k in Series A funding from TMT Investments
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GCI Com — Received £10M in Unattributed funding from Business Growth Fund
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Stripe — Received $18M in Unattributed funding from Sequoia Capital
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BoardProspects — Received $650k in Seed funding from Mike Verrochi
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Greycroft Partners — Invested in Media Armor.
2.10.2012
iNovia Capital — Invested in Media Armor.
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TMT Investments — Invested in rollApp.
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Business Growth Fund — Invested in GCI Com.
2.9.2012
Sequoia Capital — Invested in Stripe.
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Jive Software — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:JIVE.
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MyAutoZap.com — Company added to CrunchBase
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Repairhub — Company added to CrunchBase
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WineMob — Company added to CrunchBase
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Alcoa Inc — Company added to CrunchBase
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Media Strike — Company added to CrunchBase
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Pocketbook (Mobile app, coming soon) — Product added to CrunchBase
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