Kiss Angry Birds Apparently Happening

Gene Simmons of Kiss is no stranger to cross platform promotion, famously starring in the game Kiss Psycho Circus. As it turns out, he’s actively working on expanding the Kiss brand into gaming right now.

“Well, we’re talking with Sony games now,” said Simmons. “We are really trying to take it in areas that haven’t been done before and have stayed out of the marketplace because the ideas simply weren’t exciting enough. So while the gaming world is waiting for the Kiss games that are going to explode, we’re busy taking the brand to places where no band has gone before. So Hello Kitty is one of the biggest brands on planet Earth. Now there’s Kiss Hello Kitty, which we’ve already launched in 90 countries.”

“We’re talking with Angry Birds, Kiss and Angry Birds, which will become a deal,” he continued. “The Kiss and the Archie world have now teamed up and the first issues of Kiss Archie comic books hits the world this month. Kiss golf courses are starting in Las Vegas right across from the Hard Rock. That opens in January. It’s just endless what we can do, but we only do things when it’s right. Just because there are games, and just because there’s this or that out there, unless the deal is right and unless the content is exciting to our fans, we don’t do it.”

Source: IndustryGamers {link no longer active}

Social Game Copying Will Lead To Crash, Says Developer

Social gaming is the newest form of gaming in the industry, and it has many critics and skeptics. Right now, the preponderance of game design copying has led social game designer and Bossa co-founder Henrique Olifiers to conclude that bad things are on the horizon.

“Social games for me were always on the cutting-edge until they became copycat, and after they became copycat I said, ‘Well, this is not going anywhere,'” said Olifiers. “This will be like the Atari ’80s crash. Everybody and their grandmother had a version of Space Invaders, and these guys are going to do the same thing.”

“What I used to do at both Jagex and Playfish, they both felt like they were doing something different,” he continued. “Jagex was one of the first companies in browser MMOs. Playfish was one of the first companies to go into social games. They were leading the charge. What got me so disenchanted over time was that they stopped doing that. That’s when I said, ‘This is not what I’m about’.”

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Xbox Veteran Hired To Head Up App Store Marketing Division

Reports are that Apple has hired Robin Burrowes to manage the App Store Marketing division. The former Xbox Live marketing manager worked at Microsoft for seven years, helping to push Xbox Live in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Burrowes represents the latest gaming related hire from the U.K., following Nintendo’s former PR head Robert Saunders and PR veteran Nick Grange, who worked for Xbox, Activision and Electronics Arts. Gaming is becoming more prominent on iOS platforms all the time, as game revenue for smartphones represent more money than what Sony and Nintendo make combined on portable gaming software.

Source: Apple Insider

Zynga Represented $445 Million Sales For Facebook In 2011

Facebook recently revealed that their sales in 2011 were $3.7 billion with profits of $1 billion as part of their 2011 IPO. Zynga, notably accounted for 12 percent of sales in 2011, around $445 million, primarily from virtual goods sales and advertising and is a notable risk should Zynga decide to divest itself of the mobile network.

“If the use of Zynga games on our platform declines, if Zynga launches games on or migrates games to competing platforms, or if we fail to maintain good relations with Zynga, we may lose Zynga as a significant Platform developer and our financial results may be adversely affected,” stated Facebook.

AIAS Adds Social Game Veterans To Board

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced that it has named Zynga chief game designer Brian Reynolds and Nexon vice president of live games Min Kim to their board. The two parties, responsible for much of the success of FrontierVille and MapleStory respectively, are leaders in the social gaming field.

“Zynga has been leading the charge for delivering quality social gaming to an ever expanding demographic,” said Martin Rae, president, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “And they have been at the forefront of one of the major shifts in our industry. Brian’s work at Zynga has helped redefine how people enjoy and interact with the medium of gaming, and we are proud to have his experience and deep insight on the Board as gaming further becomes a part of everyone’s everyday life.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining the Academy Board,” said Reynolds. “Their awards program has always been a gold standard of recognition and career advancement for game makers and I’m honored to have a chance to help advance it. Likewise, the D.I.C.E. Summit blows me away every year with the quality and caliber of developers they bring together. I believe this opportunity is an important step in the continuing assimilation of social games into the broader game community.”

“As one of the earliest advocates of Free-to-Play online games, Min has been instrumental in bringing this business model to gamers worldwide,” said Rae. “Their introduction of Free-to-Play, giving players free access to games in favor of generating revenue from micro-transactions, has quite literally been a game changer. Nexon has been quite involved already with Academy activities and we’re really excited to have Min’s input at the board level.”

“Min will make a welcome addition to the Board,” said Shuhei Yoshida, president of worldwide studios, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and member of the Academy’s Board of Directors.  “Through games such as their flagship title, MapleStory, and now recently, Dragon Nest and Vindictus, Nexon has paved the way for Free-to-Play titles over the last decade to push this genre forward to ever expanding audiences in MMO gaming. We will greatly benefit from that same passion – there is no doubt he will work to make great strides in pushing the mission of the AIAS forward.”

DeNA Comes To Canada

DeNA has announced that it will launch DeNA Studios Canada in Vancouver starting in late February. The CEO of the new venture will be Irfan Virk, CEO at the DeNA-owned Gameview Studios.

“We are excited to begin operations with the great talent in Vancouver,” Virk commented.  “DeNA anticipates the new studio will meaningfully contribute to augmenting the whole group’s game development and operating capabilities.”

Dark Souls Director Humbles Himself Before Fans

Dark Souls was a critically acclaimed game, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t without some technical issues. Creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki desperately hopes that players can forgive the fact that the engine couldn’t always keep up with the game’s scope.

“Yes, there were technical difficulties,” said Miyazaki. “I don’t believe that it’s okay to have them, but realistically speaking, it was quite a large-scale game—even in terms of budget and expectations. So we’re very sorry for the trouble we’ve caused by our processing errors and bugs from Japan. I didn’t mind the growing pains. We accept the game as it is, and that it’s just a part of the learning curve.”

“We don’t even know if we’ll have another chance,” he added. “We have the confidence that we can improve from our mistakes this time and create an even better Dark world, but we don’t know if the users will forgive us for the mistakes, so I cannot give an exact answer.”

Source: Edge {link no longer active}