#stereotypicalharley

Do you ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, or see one in your future? How do you defy a stereotype as a Harley rider? Capture a photo of you and your Harley motorcycle {link no longer active} – or an H-D bike that you’re dreaming about – that shows how you defy a stereotype. Tag your image with #stereotypicalharley on Instagram or send a shout out on Twitter. Once submitted, fans can “like” and share their favorite photos.

The Quest For The PS Vita

The hunt is on! Scour the web for hidden PlayStation Vita app icons with special codes. Collect all codes across PlayStation Online Communities, and you’ll be entered to win. SCEA is giving away one PS Vita System Uncharted Prize Pack every day for a week. The earlier you enter, the more chances you have to win. Start at the Vita home page and follow the clues to the next page that contains the hidden icon. Write down each code as you travel across the web and submit all three codes back at the contest page. Good luck!

What Are You Afraid Of?

In anticipation of The Cabin in the Woods, a UGC video driven site has been launched at scarewall.com. On the site, fans can watch some of the most famous user-submitted scare videos of all time, submit or nominate a video for a chance to make it into the top 100. Fans will be able to catch hints of the film’s biggest secrets and win swag from The Cabin in the Woods. Each video will be judged in order to be eligible for the contest.

iPad Gaming Close To Reaching AAA, Says Remedy Entertainment

Production values on mobile games are going up all the time, and the power of tablets and smartphones is increasing very quickly. Remedy Entertainment CEO Matias Myllyrinne thinks that AAA quality gaming for iPad is right around the corner.

“[We’re] not far at all,” said Myllyrinne. “Or at least I’d like to see games made for the medium. You still see ports of console titles being brought to iPad. While some of those are cool, I think the really powerful things would be when they’re made for the medium. When you take the interface into serious consideration in your design. But I don’t think we’re far away from that at all. If you talk to any of the smart kids in the class, I think all of them are looking at how do we build good IP for theses devices, and I think Infinity Blade is now the benchmark and I think Epic and Chair have done a wonderful job there.”

“I think we’ll see loads of people come to that space and obviously, as the processing power goes ahead and increases, I don’t think that’s going to be the limiting factor,” Myllyrinne added. “I think the nut to crack right now is to build the right kind of content for that medium.”

Source: GI.biz

Amazon One-Click In-App Purchasing Now Active

Amazon announced that one-click purchasing of in-app items is now available. Now, developers will be able to include subscriptions and other paid content in their games, with purchases made using a user’s Amazon account.

“Many of Amazon Appstore’s customers have shopped with Amazon before and they trust Amazon’s easy payment process, which leads to higher conversion of developers’ in-app content and subscriptions,” said Amazon App Store director Aaron Rubenson.

Republique — Ambitious iOS Kickstarter

Jumping on the Kickstarter bandwagon is Camouflaj + Logan who want to make a stealth action game for touch-based platforms. They are seeking $500,000 for the game, which will focus on what they describe as a “believable, non-sexualized female lead.”

“Developed by industry veterans behind AAA games like Metal Gear Solid, Halo, F.E.A.R., Kinect, and cutting edge videos like the Skyrim television spot and the iconic iPod ‘silhouette’ ads, République represents a strategic alliance between Camouflaj and Logan to make an epic action game designed specifically for touch-based devices,” posted Ryan Paton. “On October 31, Logan founder, Alexei Tylevich, and I wrestled with feedback we received from industry colleagues who told us that our ambitions were too big. They suggested we do something simple and small like so many other games on iOS… Alexei and I spent hours reviewing the production and financial risks. We discussed our belief that gamers will embrace iOS when more games are made for them. By sunset, we were even more committed to doing something different, big, and risky.”

“We immediately went to work on developing a gameplay system that drives the symbiotic relationship between Hope and the player. Our internal design pillar is ‘Hope is Alive,’ meaning Hope is not a marionette for the player to manipulate, but rather a smart, believable, and empathic hero,” he continued. “Books like 1984 have served as key sources of inspiration not only for the narrative, but also the core gameplay. In République, players become Big Brother: Hope’s protector and growing threat to the Overseer’s grip over his secret nation as players gain control of any network-enabled devices, introducing really cool puzzle scenarios. With the tap of a finger, players can power down lights, wiretap calls, summon elevators and — like a good big brother or big sister — protect Hope by slamming doors on her pursuers.”

What the veteran development team hopes to do is push a true AAA experience on a mobile platform. “Thanks to the global proliferation of iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, hundreds of millions of people are now carrying a powerful gaming device with them every day. Finally, game makers can truly speak to a global audience, an audience that — thanks to touch controls — can easily jump into the interactive experience,” wrote Paton. “iOS is becoming a great gaming platform, but where are the games for people who love intense action and story-driven experiences Where are the AAA games designed specifically for touch-based devices As someone who loathes virtual joysticks, I have great respect for what Chair Entertainment did with Infinity Blade: they built an action game specifically for touch devices. We aim to do the same.”

Rewards for those investing in the Kickstarter include a soundtrack CD, a making of DVD and a journal detailing elements of the world for those that invest enough.

“République will cost north of $1 million to complete. After months of meetings and due diligence, we have secured investment partners in Seattle area who are willing to pony up half of the development costs if we can prove, through Kickstarter, that there is indeed a market for a serious game like République on iOS. In exchange for outside investment help, we must promise a percentage of net profits. Creative control and IP ownership is not (and will never be) on the table,” said Paton. “In the very happy event that we exceed our $500,000 Kickstarter goal, this will grant us more financial freedom and will allow us to build an even better game. We will also consider the idea of developing République for other platforms, however this is not a decision we take lightly, as we firmly believe in developing our games to the strengths of each platform.”

Source: Kickstarter.com

PS3’s Qore No More

Sony has announced that the latest episode of Qore will be its last. The interactive digital PlayStation magazine started in June 2008, and while no reason for the sudden cancellation was given, it was likely part of the massive cutbacks at Sony where over 10,000 people are losing their jobs.

“This episode also features a retrospective look back at Qore’s nearly four years on PlayStation Network,” said Kevin Furuichi, Executive Producer at PlayStation Network. “As the first interactive digital magazine on a game console, Qore provided an innovative mix of quality HD video and interactive content covering over 160 new games. With this April episode, Qore concludes its run on the PlayStation Network. As a send off, the Qore team built one final DLC package: the Qore Ultimate Arcade features a compilation of 11 mini games offered throughout the series. Our thanks to all involved in the creation and production of Qore and to the many fans who regularly watched each month.”

Source: PlayStation Blog

Miniclip Content Coming To Smart TVs

PlayJam has announced that they are working with Miniclip for a smart TV content delivery platform. This will bring Miniclip’s games to PlayJam’s platform on all new smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Sony, Western Digital and Vestel.

“The opportunity presented by Smart TV is very exciting,” said Miniclip’s VP and commercial director Chris Bergstresser. “By working with PlayJam, we can further expand our large established fan-base and extend our reach to TV.”

Instagram Hits 5 Million Android Downloads

Instagram was purchased by Facebook for $1 billion and has now announced that it has seen 5 million Android downloads in six days. By comparison, it took six months to reach 5 million users on iOS when the program was just starting out.

When Instagram opened pre-registration for its Android variant on March 24, it attracted 430,000 sign-ups before launching. Soon after launching on Google Play, Instagram was seeing 2,000 sign-ups a minute.

Tylted Is The New Cellufun

Cellufun has announced that it has changed its name to “Tylted.” The name was determined by a competition where users submitted and voted on different names, where over 30,000 participated and the winning entrant received $10,000 as stipulated by contest rules.

“We all love ‘Tylted,’” said CEO Lon Otremba. “It’s a great name to build a brand upon and the fact that it was created by someone in our user community perfectly illustrates where we sit at the convergence of social networking, casual games and the mobile web.”

The new title is reflective of the company’s new brand strategy going forward. The company will expand its virtual goods business, offer more social options and focus on customer acquisition, while focusing on non-hardcore casual gamers representing a mass audience for social networking features like personal avatars, in-game chat, and the ability to share virtual currency.

“Social play is a critical part of our infrastructure and the enthusiasm around the name change demonstrates the importance of casual games as a place where millions gather and connect over the mobile web,” said Otremba. “We remain committed to publishing the most popular social games on the HTML-5 platform and creating an unrivaled games experience with all the mobile web has to offer.”

Leading the way for the company’s rebrand is the new title CuBug. Described as a Tetris-style tile matching game, it will feature virtual wallpapers, social media elements and brand integrated with a highly-targeted audience of players chatting, comparing scores, exchanging points, customizing virtual goods, and celebrating special occasions.