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Monthly Archive for December, 2006

Mobile X-Mas Updates

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qBored
on December 29, 2006
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presents!Greetings from the North Pole (i.e. Canada)! While most of the QB staff is with family or playing with our new, hi-tech toys, we love mobile too much to not do some posting this holiday week. Here’s what’s going on in the mobile gaming industry during the waning hours of 2006.

The Mobile Gaming Blog is reporting that Stephen Davis has left InfoSpace, citing the company’s departure from consumer mobile content as the main reason. Of course, news like this can only help fuel the rumours that InfoSpace will be bought.

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QB is drunk on eggnog and balls of holly

Published
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qBored
on December 22, 2006
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Strange Brew
Well, not quite. But we will be soon. That’s right, the QB crew is taking time away from our painful yet rewarding love affair with mobile gaming to spend some time with those who matter most to us in our lives.

Expect maybe a scattering of posts later next week, but not much until January, 2007, when QB will make some staggering announcements and display a few surprises. Oh, and Tron will inevitably bitch about how disappointing 2006 was.

Have a safe and happy holiday everyone!!!

Trip Hawkins is going to show us how to make licensed games

Published
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qBored
on December 22, 2006
in Interviews
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Trip Hawkins
You can always trust the Mobile Games Blog to provide you with some inside dirt on the industry; you can always trust QuicklyBored to continue our love affair with Trip Hawkins.

Recently, Digital Chocolate announced the development of a game based around HBO Hit, The Sopranos, which is a little odd considering Trip and DC’s reputation of avoiding mobile licenses at all costs. Apparently, Arjan at the Mobile Games Blog thought it was odd as well, and called Trip on it. Check out his response after the jump.

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Namco offers free game demos through Sprint

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qBored
on December 22, 2006
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A little Christmas present coming from the Pac-Man crew

Namco

Namco announced some interesting news yesterday: as part of their continuing drive to educate consumers and partially in response to metrics indicating that 43 percent of current mobile gamers would like to try two or three game downloads per week in order to determine what they would like to purchase, Namco is teaming with Sprint to offer free demos of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga and Dig Dug as part of Sprint’s “Game Day” celebration.

The QB staff isn’t really sure what kind of person wouldn’t already know what they’re getting into with Pac-Man, but anything that allows consumers to test the mobile gaming waters before taking the plunge is a plus. Good stuff, Namco!

Konami launches Free Mobile Portal

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qBored
on December 20, 2006
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KonamiAlmost lost in the hubbub of Glu and Gameloft is news that Konami is now offering a free Mobile Portal application for US gamers. The app allows users to try out free demos of Konami games. Coupled with Konami’s online store, it seems like the first steps towards pushing the carrier out of the equation or at least forging a stronger relationship between gamer and developer.

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HandyGames launches free games page

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qBored
on December 20, 2006
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HandyGamesMobile blogger extraordinaire Arjan over at the Mobile Gaming Blog has picked up on a hot tip: HandyGames now has a games download service on their website that’s kinda like Gameloft Connect, except HandyGames won’t charge you any money. Oh, and it works in the US.

You will, however, have to sit (or stand or walk — it’s a mobile phone people!) through advertisements, but it’s cool to see HandyGames work their relationship with Greystripe to offer the first external store based upon the stripe’s GameJump platform. So if adwrapped HandyGames are your thing, go here.

Ubiquitous executive quote telling us how awesome their product is to be found after the jump.

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Glu goes public, has been losing money since 2003

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qBored
on December 19, 2006
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GluA bit of surprising news coming by way of our friends over at Moconews: Glu Mobile has filed for an IPO on the NASDAQ, hoping to raise $92 million in common stock. Glu now becomes only the second mobile gaming pureplay IPO in North America after Jamdat Mobile (now part of EA Mobile).

Rafat has also dug into Glu’s SEC filing (which can be found here) and gathered some telling information about their financial state. Glu suffered a net loss of $17.9 million in 2005 and a net loss of $10.0 million in the first nine months of 2006. With major losses as well in 2003 and 2004, Glu had accrued a deficit of $43.7 million, as of September 30, 2006.

This news validates rumors that GLU had been strapped for cash and looking for a solution. Many thought that was going to come through a buyout by Time Warner, which had invested in Glu last year, but I guess they chose the public route.

Glu is one of the best mobile game publishers out there and we hope this sets them on the right track. More Glu info from their SEC filing is after the jump.

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Gameloft launches Online Store (but not in the US)

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qBored
on December 19, 2006
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GameloftThose mobile-obsessed fiends over at Moconews have discovered that Gameloft has soft launched Gameloft Connect, a pc-based (no mac support, sigh) online store that gamers can use to download Gameloft titles and sideload them to their phone.

Initial reports show it to be a success. Most games are $1.99 or $3.99 for 3D titles (payable via credit card) and you get one free game for every five you purchase. However, while the service is available in almost all of the 75 countries that Gameloft sells games, the good ole’ US of A is not one of them. Because this is a “soft launch”, you might expect US support to come eventually, but with so many other countries supported already, it seems like Gameloft is afraid to upset relations with US carriers.

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MobileGamesDB goes live

Published
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Douglas Soltys
on December 16, 2006
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mobilegamedb_logo.pngYou may not have heard about it because it’s only been up and running for a few day, but MobileGamesDB is something everyone should know about. In what’s destined to become an invaluable industry resource (as long as content stays fresh), developer RedBoss has made the IMDB of mobile gaming: a database for mobile games, game developers and publishers (carriers too, hopefully?). Anything that makes QB’s job easier is something that deserves love, and we expect MGDB to be getting some major love.

If you’re a developer, get in contact with them and put your games up so the industry has one big, swelling, melting pot of mobile gaming. Remember, folks: united we stand.

In the year 2000… and 7

Published
by
Douglas Soltys
on December 16, 2006
in Mobile Games and Opinion
. 0 Comments

Fortune teller
I predict mobile gaming will be one year older…

Good blog buddy Arjan Olsder over at the Mobile Games Blog has just posted 2007 predictions from 32 (!!) mobile industry execs. While there are a lot of things you might expect to hear from such a cacophony of industry suits (3D, 3G, multiplayer going to be “Big Things”, LBS not so much, more smartphones, more ad-sponsored content, more “casual games”), there is some unique goodness to be pulled out.
Continue reading ‘In the year 2000… and 7′