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Monthly Archive for February, 2007

IDC releases marketing report

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Devin Kent
on February 28, 2007
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The guys at MocoNews have posted a story on a new report by IDC regarding marketing for mobile content.

IDC states that users do not have a tolerance for preroll ads longer than 8 to 10 seconds. Ads should quickly attract the attention of the user rather than treating them as a captive audience.

“We believe that mobile marketing is one of the few instances in which the current hype actually underestimates the full potential of the market opportunity,” says Scott Ellison, vice president of Wireless and Mobile Communications at IDC. “The winners will be those players who fully leverage the mobile ecosystem rather than try to simply translate other marketing and advertising business models to mobile.”

Empire Interactive releases Pipemania

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Empire Interactive has released Pipemania through THQ, reports Mobile Games Blog.

The game–which has been ported to everything from the Atari ST to the Playstation–charges players to build a pipe network as quickly as possible. A random assortment of pipes are given to the player to use, and he or she must build a pipe long enough to contain the ooze that starts flowing shortly after the game begins.

Adam Comiskey, VP of international at THQ Wireless, said: “Pipemania is a classic game franchise that has true mass market appeal, hence our decision to take the IP to the mobile space. The game works perfectly across the broad spectrum of mobile devices, providing real entertainment for mobile users.”

Breakpoint announces world’s strongest man game

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Breakpoint has announced a new game featuring the World’s Strongest Man, Mariusz Pudzianowski.

Players will take on the role of Pudzianowski as he tries to become the World’s Strongest Man. The game does not use the regular contests, however. Breakpoint has created a number of unusual tests of strength all over the world, and even some outside of it.

“Mariusz Pudzianowski is a great business partner and an easy-going person” said Paweł Feldman, Breakpoint’s Licensing and Publishing Manager. “The ‘Pudzian’ game will attract many who know Mariusz and his skills.”

The game is scheduled for release in July. The team also thought of other titles based on Pudzianowski, including a lifestyle application and a crime fighting game, which will be released later.

AirPlay announces NBA AirPlay Live

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AirPlay has announced fantasy sports game NBA AirPlay Live, reports MocoNews.

NBA AirPlay Live allows players to manage a five-man roster of NBA players participating in real games happening at the time. Players are awarded points depending on how well their fantasy roster performs on the real court, all in real time.

“NBA AirPlay Live offers fans the ultimate in-game experience with real players, real action, all in real-time,” said Morgan Guenther, chairman and CEO of AirPlay. “This new and exciting game continues to break the existing viewing paradigm by merging the live action and intensity on the court, with the connectivity and community of wireless.”

Gamers will also have the opportunity to answer trivia questions, see how the stack up against other NBA AirPlay Live players, and host one-on-one matches. MocoNews reports that the game will be available on Sprint Nextel phones at first, then rolling out over the following two weeks to Cingular and Verizon.

Fixing mobile fragmentation

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MobileIndustry.biz has posted a guest editorial by the Tao Group’s Francis Chang.

Chang argues that mobile fragmentation is becoming increasingly important, with the speed, ease, and cost of porting content to affect the mobile gaming industry more and more.

“The consequential result of disappointed users suffering from a lacklustre entertainment experience could be catastrophic for those who cannot deliver in a highly competitive environment. Especially when compared to the improving standards that consumers are used to - those of the dedicated entertainment devices like the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP, and computer platforms.”

Chang goes on to say that the companies which address the cost of content delivery and speed of porting will gain an advantage and will “benefit from huge growth.” Check the link above to read the whole editorial.

Motricity receives $50 million from Carl Icahn

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on February 27, 2007
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Mobile content and solutions provider Motricity has received $50 million in funding from Carl Icahn, reports MocoNews.

“Carl has proven himself as one of the leading investors of all time, with an incredible ability to identify top performing companies and drive shareholder value,” said Ryan Wuerch, Motricity chairman and CEO. “This investment bolsters our balance sheet and positions us to continue to aggressively grow the business and consolidate the industry.” The $50 million brings them to $200 million in funding, with previous investors such as Technology Crossover Ventures, the Wakefield Group, Advanced Equities, and more.

Carl Icahn’s son Brett Icahn, an analyst with Icahn Associates, has joined Motricity’s board of directors as part of the deal. Motricity has also announced that Icahn will have “single-digit ownership” of the company.

Nokia patents mobile phone joystick design

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A lot of news from Nokia today. The latest is that they have been granted a patent for a new joystick design for handhelds.

As reported by Engadget Mobile, the patent involves using the phone’s stylus as a joystick.

The stylus is inserted into what looks like a d-pad and can then be operated as a regular joystick. It’s unclear, however, if the joystick is analog or digital.

New study reveals changing gaming habits

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Devin Kent
on February 27, 2007
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Nokia has released a new study showing changing mobile gaming habits worldwide.

The results show that mobile gamers play an average of 28 minutes per session, and prefer better graphics, trial downloads, and game communities. 80% played at least once a week, with 34% playing once a day. 56% said they preferred to play while waiting for something else.

Gameplay, replayability, and genre were all important factors according to nearly 80% of those tested. 43% said they would prefer to trial two to three games a week, as opposed to 21% wanting to try only one. Either way, 79% said they would be play trials sent by their friends. 65% of the gamers want to buy their games outright, while only 27% sought subscriptions. OTI (over-the-internet) and OTA (over-the-air) distribution models were preferred by 34% and 45% respectively.

Elisa to pilot new N-Gage gaming service

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Nokia and Finnish company Elisa have announced that Elisa will be carrying out a pilot of the new N-Gage mobile gaming service.

Elisa will combine its existing mobile gaming platform with the Nokia N-Gage gaming platform and carry out intensive testing and evaluation in a live network environment. “The core of the Nokia games strategy is to make it easy for people to find, buy and play great quality mobile games and we’re excited to expand our relationship with Elisa to help make this possible,” said Jaakko Kaidesoja, Director of Games and Multimedia at Nokia. “This pilot will help us further refine the N-Gage experience for our commercial launch later this year.”

The pilot starts this month and runs until the middle of the year, ending with or near the release of the new N-Gage gaming platform. Nokia has already partnered with companies like EA and Gameloft to bring games onto the new platform for use in their Nseries and S60 devices.

HandyGames announces Panzer Tactics

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on February 27, 2007
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HandyGames has announced that they will be developing a mobile version of 10acle Studios’ Panzer Tactics DS.

“With the brand Panzer Tactics, we want to revive the popular genre of round-based strategy games with fresh elements and establish it on new platforms. These include the NDS as well as the mobile phone! With HandyGames, we have found an expert production partner who helps us greatly with the realization of this strategy,” says Chris Schmitz, Executive Producer for 10tacle Studios.

The mobile version will hit handhelds shortly before the DS release in April.