Call Of Juarez: The Cartel Blasts Your Friends Away

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The Call of Juarez Shooting Range is now open on Facebook so start choosing your friends and enemies wisely. Use the link to access the shooting range to start unlocking levels in the game and more along through the the Cartel Map. The rules are simple: enemies are marked in red, friends and marked in blue. Shoot your enemies, but don’t shoot your friends, to gain points. Missing, or letting enemy targets get away will cost you health, and could end your game. The faster you hit the targets, the higher you score. Keep an eye on your ammo count, if you run out of bullets before the timer expires you’ll need to ask a friend for more shells. Have no friends willing to help It’s game over for you. Shooting ranges include Sequoia National Park, Los Angeles, Grand Canyon, the Sonoran Desert, Interstate 10 motel, White Sands and Juarez.

Nexon Makes Social Gaming Push With MapleStory Adventures

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Nexon has announced that they are bringing their hit MapleStory franchise to Facebook. MapleStory Adventures already saw 30,000 players in its beta; considering the 100 million players of MapleStory worldwide, the sky may be the limit for the franchise.

MapleStory Adventures has the potential to make a huge impact and really shake things up in the social games space, said Daniel Kim, CEO of Nexon America. While this does not represent a  shift from our core business, we definitely see the Facebook space as a promising market for our games, starting with MapleStory,  one of our most  popular titles not just in North America but in online gaming worldwide.

Nexon also announced that they are pushing MapleStory Cygnus Knights Edition for the iOS platform. This follows the successful launch of the first MapleStory iOS game from Nexon Mobile.

YouTube Asking For Millions In Web Series Sponsorships

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YouTube has pitched advertisers to fund big-budget web shows to the tune of millions of dollars. The concepts include Kobe Bryant fulfilling the wish of a lucky child, a series of shows about entrepreneurs making their ideas real, and a live Lady Gaga concert.

The pitches are part of YouTube’s foray into Hollywood for polished, TV-style web video that can attract the kind of advertisers that devote most of their ad budgets on TV, writes Michael Learmonth. The concepts were pitched as branded entertainment, shows created for or in conjunction with advertisers. YouTube is separately trying to seed the market for professional web video by funding as much as $5 million in start-up costs for producers to create YouTube content channels around advertiser-friendly categories like food, fashion, sports and comedy.

Some of these ideas, like Chief Household Officer, pitched by YouTube as a 10-week series for $2.8 million, are running on YouTube with a sponsorship deal from HP. Unlike the channel strategy, these shows are pitched as branded entertainment that are only green-lit with a big-ticket advertiser attached.

YouTube has been in the branded entertainment business for some time, but its involvement in selling the shows and working with Hollywood studios signal new ambition to win major marketing budgets. Indeed the price tags suggest YouTube is seeking higher ad rates than seen typically on TV, said Learmonth. Assuming YouTube can deliver a hefty 100 million views to a series for $3.5 million in six months, that’s still a cost-per-thousand viewers of $35, higher than a typical TV ad rate of $20, and more in a league with Hulu, which sells TV spots on the web for $40.

This is all part of YouTube’s larger plan to be the cable TV of the Internet and these sorts of deals might change the playing field in the online video market. “Every time you see a YouTube or Hulu or Netflix move into original content creation, it’s more opportunity for brands,” said one agency exec. “It’s a bigger playing field and more ways to reach an audience.”

Source: AdAge.com

Women Online Gamers Play More Than Men: Survey

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Doritos has announced the results of a study with 2,502 respondents that found that nearly half of all women played online games, only slightly less than men. Interestingly, the women who played online gaming spent more time gaming on average than men and more preferred gaming sessions over sex.

“Social and mobile gaming is hugely popular and, as the survey reveals, amongst women as much as men,” said Doritos marketing manager Hugo Amos. “We wanted to create a game that is fun and entertaining for everyone. It will be exciting to see who tops the Doritos Dip Desperado Facebook leaderboard over coming weeks.”

Source: mcvuk.com

Crysis Developer Thinks PS Vita Might ‘Have A Hard Time’

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PS Vita made a positive impact with most people who got to experience it at E3 2011. However, despite the potential for the device, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli thinks that competition in the mobile space may hold it back.

“The Vita is an absolutely fantastic platform, but it will have a hard time, and it might be too late,” said Crytek boss Cevat Yerli. “I love Sony as a company, and we have great relations with them, but the Vita is going to have a hard time against the next generation mobiles and all the tablets. There’s also the 3DS investing in this market.”

“It’s going to be a battle, and it will be about content and the platform’s ability to receive the content, he added. Streamlined social connectivity will also be very important.”

Source: Develop

Google+: Can Early Growth Be Sustained?

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Despite the fact that Google+ is a limited set up right now, reception to the social networking service has been positive. Google CEO Larry Page said during a recent earnings call that the site has over 10 million users who share and receive more than 1 billion items daily on the site.

The growth of Google+ has been great, Page said. That s a great achievement for the team.

The defining of what a shared item is on Google+ is quite a bit more liberal than on Facebook, but people involved still seem to be enjoying it. While the service is currently chock full of tech professionals, analysts, reporters, and enthusiasts Chris Brogan, president of Human Business Works, thinks that Google is here to stay for social.

“Google finally has their social media hit,” said Brogan. “Sharing is huge.”

Brogan noted that Google+ has already become an engaged referrer, often topping Google search. Considering he has 186,000 followers on Twitter and about 13,000 on Google+, that’s significant.

“To have Google+ beat Twitter is a huge number,” he said.

Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, however, is more skeptical of it’s long term growth, labeling it more like a super Twitter rather than a Facebook alternative. Facebook s a more mature offering . . . as in the network has settled down to a kind of steady state. Google+ is still in an early adopter state. I d expect that over time it would drop down and be much closer to Facebook, said Enderle. The advantage is still in Facebook s court. [But that s] the same condition that existed with Myspace and Facebook. Just because they have the advantage now doesn t mean it s going to continue.

While Page never directly referred to Facebook, he made a pointed response when asked about elements might be difficult to migrate, like photos. “There is legacy . . . [but] Google as a company believes in users owning their own data,” he said. “Some of our competitors don’t believe in that. But we believe users will ultimately move to services that reflect their best interests and work well for them.”

Source: AdWeek.com

Just Dance 2 Best Selling Non-Nintendo Wii Title

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Ubisoft has announced that Just Dance 2 is the best selling third-party game on the Wii ever. The game (along with the original Just Dance and Just Dance Kids) have sold over 14 million units, with Just Dance Summer Party coming soon.

“Ubisoft is incredibly proud of the monumental success Just Dance 2 has had the past nine months,” said president of Ubisoft North America Laurent Detoc. “The game s outstanding performance solidifies the Just Dance brand as a pop culture phenomenon. We re excited to bring fans that are eagerly awaiting the release of Just Dance 3 in October a new selection of dance tracks to play with Just Dance Summer Party.”

Microsoft Considering Unified OS Platform

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With the way that Microsoft has refreshed the interface of their Xbox 360 console, Windows Phone and PC of late, there are more similar elements than ever in the different platforms. As it turns out, Microsoft might be setting the stage for a universe OS across all platforms.

What we’ve been told is that Microsoft is planning to somehow harmonize not only Windows for PCs and Windows Phone, but also the Xbox operating system sometime within the next four years a timeframe that perfectly lines up with both the end of the Xbox 360 s 10-year lifecycle and the end of Windows 8 s expected three-year run, writes Nilay Patel. That would mean Microsoft s next next OS will run on PCs, tablets, phones, and the next-gen Xbox when it hits sometime in 2015 / 2016. Yes, it sounds crazy, but it fits perfectly within the broad outlines Lees confirmed during his keynote yesterday.

Source: thisismynext.com

Tapjoy Critical Of Apple’s Pay-Per-Install Policies

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Apple recently banned the pay-per-install incentives, believing that it tipped the scales in various top 25 app lists. Mihir Shah, CEO of app distribution company Tapjoy, says that the ads that they can offer has dropped significantly and the policy pushes them towards Android.

“As you squeeze user choice, those users have less choice to engage in great content. The good news is when you have a really open platform like Android, and you can give more high-quality choices, your transaction volumes go up, said Shah. “It’s terrible what Apple has done. We will play nice within their rules, because we have to – but I disagree with them strongly.”

Source: MobileBeat

Harry Potter And The Box Office Records

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Reports are that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II took in $168.55 million from the domestic box office during its opening weekend, surpassing the record previously held by The Dark Knight, which grossed $158.4 million domestically. The movie also took in a staggering $307 million through screenings in 59 countries, bringing its worldwide debut to $476 million and shattering the previous benchmark of $394 million set by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II set two more records during its debut. The wizard film managed the largest midnight gross with $43.5 million and the largest IMAX opening with $15.5 million from 274 theaters.

Source: Hindustan Times