Fishlabs, the German studio behind popular space trading and combat sim Galaxy On Fire games for iOS devices, today announced that it is currently developing a massively multiplayer online game called Galaxy On Fire – Alliances, with real-time strategy components, aiming for a release later this year. The spin-off project is designed to capitalize on the success of the original GOF and GOF 2… → Read More
Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of Valve, took the stage today at the DICE gaming conference to deliver a keynote, and while he said upfront he wasn’t going to be announcing any products, he did give some hints about Valve’s future. In his keynote, he outlined in a fair amount of detail how he envisions the future of PC gaming and what it might bring to the living room that… → Read More
The OUYA Android-based gaming console will get hardware refreshes on an annual basis, founder and CEO Julie Uhrman revealed in an interview with Engadget. Uhrman was at DICE, an annual summit that focuses on video games, where she also announced new game publisher partners for the OUYA platform. The refresh cycle will more closely resemble those of smartphones than those of traditional consoles… → Read More
Our own Romain Dillet noted the regrettable lack of confirmed games for the upcoming OUYA Android-based home gaming console just yesterday, and today, as if in answer, OUYA founder and CEO Julie Uhrman spoke at DICE to announce some new launch partners for the Kickstarter-funded project. The newly-announced titles include Double Fine Adventure (another Kickstarter success from gaming legend Tim… → Read More
The little Android-based gaming console that could is in on track for March as promised for Kickstarter backers, but the public launch in June looks to be an equally splashy affair with retail support from some of the biggest U.S. chains. OUYA announced today to backers that it would be selling the console to the general public beginning in June at Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Game Stop. → Read More
Sony is gearing up for a big announcement on February 20, according to invitations it sent out to the media on Thursday. The smart money was already on a next-generation PlayStation console being the topic of discussion, but the Wall Street Journal came out and blatantly declared that’s what we’d be getting. But while we have a good idea of what, generally, Sony will be talking about, it’s the… → Read More
Voxel Farm is a game framework for sale to developers who want to create cool, photorealistic environments. But the demo, called Procedural World, is a Minecraft clone that I would pay big bucks for if it were available for sale. → Read More
Generally speaking, I don’t care much about cars, but Audi Canada, together with Toronto-based ad agency Zulu Alpha Kilo and Slot Mods USA have managed to use cars in a way that piqued my interest by building an iPad-controlled test track. The best part? Players get a driver-perspective point of view of the RC cars in action in real time. → Read More
Today, international investment firm Digi-Capital published its in-depth review of the global gaming space, giving us a sense of the size, breadth, and activity of the international gaming market in both a year-end retrospective of 2012 as well as what we can expect from the industry in the coming year.
For starters, Digi-Capital found that gaming M&A “beat all records” in 2012, with $4… → Read More
Applicasa, a Tel Aviv-based company which got its start as a mobile backend service provider competing with Parse, Kinvey, StackMob and others before shifting into mobile game management, has raised a total of $1 million in seed funding, the company is announcing today. The funding comes from the Shaked family, the founders of real-time casino gaming company 888.com, and it was raised in smaller… → Read More
LG had a few tricks up its sleeve at CES 2013 that went beyond most of the rehashing it ran through of its smartphone announcements from the previous year. One in particular is the news that it will bring smartphone gaming to TVs, but in a way that goes well beyond the type of streaming AirPlay and other services like Miracast manage to accomplish. LG says its smartphones in 2013 will be able to… → Read More
While the single- and parallel-game types have streaked ahead on mobile platforms, multiplayer games has been more tentative. Particular “local” multiplayer games, of the kind that you play with friends in a location like a pub. However with the arrival of a little game called Spaceteam, I think that may be about to change. → Read More
OUYA, the Android-based gaming console that made waves when it first launched on Kickstarter last year, met its first shipping target at the end of December when it sent out development consoles to early backers. Now in the new year it faces a direct competitor, one that is also seeking financial backing from the crowdfunding site, in the form of GameStick. → Read More
Phone5Mod today unveiled a new case accessory that gives the iPhone 5 a physical keyboard and video game controller all in a super-slim magnetic package. iPhone5Mod is a Chinese accessories retailer which was one of the earliest to supply a third-party Lightning dock/cable, and which also provided a modkit to make your iPhone 4 or 4S look like an iPhone 5 before Apple demanded it be pulled from… → Read More
OUYA, the Android-based affordable gaming console that inspired a wide range of reaction from tech watchers and gamers alike when it debuted on Kickstarter back in July 2012, today reached an important milestone: shipping product. Admittedly, it’s just the developer-specific consoles for now, but 1,200 units are now winging their way to actual people, and the company put the pre-release gaming… → Read More
In the wake of a mass shooting or terrorist attack the question of video game violence is raised. Games are often portrayed as little more than drug-addiction meets murder-simulator, and we game makers apologise endlessly. But we are not really being true to ourselves by adopting these apologist positions. In a sense all games are inherently violent. And this is a good thing. → Read More
Back in August, MindSnacks, the DreamIt Ventures accelerator grad and makers of language learning games for the iPhone, raised $6.5 million from Sequoia. The funding was validation of the 2.5-year-old startup’s core mission: To help gamers turn those nagging Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja addictions into opportunities for learning. → Read More
Its name may not be familiar, but Zedge has become one of the most popular Android apps out there. Offering personalized content and game discovery along with free ringtones and wallpaper, the app currently sits in the ninth spot among Google Play’s free apps, placing it between familiar names, like Netflix and Twitter. Over the last three years, Zedge has seen over 50 million installs on Android… → Read More
Apple has introduced a new feature for existing Apple TV second and third generation hardware in its latest beta software for those devices. Specifically, the beta for Apple TV being tested by developers right now adds Bluetooth support to Apple’s set top streamer, making it possible to pair keyboards to the device for much easier text entry and streamlined navigation. But it could open the doors… → Read More
Arduino unveiled a new preassembled board today, one that includes a variety of sensors and controls already assembled, allowing aspiring game programmers to quickly and easily get up and running with functional hardware out of the box, without having to break out the soldering iron. It includes light and temperature sensors, an accelerometer, four push buttons, a joystick and a slider, as well as… → Read More
It appears that BlueStacks isn’t just a flash in the pan. The Silicon Valley-based startup, which makes software that allows users to run their Android apps on Macs and PCs, said today that it has passed 5 million organic installs through its homepage. Vanity stats like this are annoying, yes, but what’s notable is that BlueStacks hit this milestone in under eight months. And the news comes on top… → Read More
For retailers and publishers in video games, Christmas is the busiest time of the year. On the digital side, Christmas is often one of the slower periods but, when the dust settles and spring begins, often new heroes emerge. For both, the holidays mark when we begin to wonder what’s going on for games in 2013? → Read More
User generated content company Wikia is breaking the news of its raise of over $10.8 million in Series C funding today in a press release soon to be sent out to tech media. The financing was led by Institutional Venture Partners with a follow on from existing investors Bessemer Ventures Partners and Amazon.com.
The company, which is already profitable according to the release, will use the cash… → Read More
Most of the talk around games tends to focus on climate. It’s about finding the right customers, funding, platform, business model, partnerships, metric and discovery solutions, technology, route to market and so on. However every always says that the first rule of making games is to make sure that the game is fun. Without a fun game there’s no rule two. True, but what does “fun” mean? → Read More
What do you get the person who already has everything? Sifteo Cubes might be the answer. These innovative little gaming devices work together to create interactive gaming experiences with very tactile, imaginative elements you just can’t get on a standard mobile device. → Read More
Editor’s note: Nate Barker is publisher relations manager and Jamie Evans is advertising account manager at Chartboost.
Here are a few things you need to know to stay calm, cool and collected this holiday season, so you can maximize the effectiveness of your mobile marketing budgets. → Read More
“There was this moment in the industry when people thought that games were a science, not a form of art,” said Ilkka Paananen, the CEO of red-hot Finnish gaming startup Supercell.
“But inevitably, games are a form of art,” he said. “They have to be supported by strong analytics, but you have to lead with creativity.”
With Zynga’s moment passed, a new generation of gaming startups like… → Read More
In a study that could have ramifications on how we think of both online worlds including MMORPGs and online titles like FarmVille, researchers at UB School of Management have found that users return to subscription-based games when there is an appearance of a constantly changing environment full of like-minded team members and a sense that the characters are virtual representations of the user. → Read More
Yesterday, I sat down with the folks who bring games to life on Facebook. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there are a lot of people who like to hang out on the social network and play turn-based games. Sure, it can get annoying, with all of the notifications and requests, but Facebook is apparently trying to do something more than annoy you. Actually, it’s quite the opposite.
Recently, Facebook CEO Mark… → Read More
Cloud gaming may have taken a hit with the floundering of OnLive, but Agawi is still going strong and today, the Menlo Park company is officially launching its GameZen app for Windows 8. We previewed that partnership back in September, before Windows 8 had even launched, when executive chairman Peter Relan talked about how his service differs from the competition. Now, the app is live, and Relan… → Read More
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