Minecraft has broken the one day sales records of Trials Evolution and has become the fastest selling title in Xbox Live Arcade history. Markus ‘Notch’ Persson took to Twitter to celebrate this fact.
“Well then. Saw the official sales numbers for the first 24 hours of Minecraft Xbox 360, and it’s very, very good. Profitable in an hour,” tweeted Persson.
Source: Twitter
Facebook has announced the launch of a new App Center that will help with discovery of mobile apps and games. The platform will serve up mobile and web apps that follow Facebook’s guidelines.
“In the coming weeks, people will be able to access the App Center on the web and in the iOS and Android Facebook apps. All canvas, mobile and web apps that follow the guidelines can be listed,” explained Facebook software engineer Aaron Brady. “For the over 900 million people that use Facebook, the App Center will become the new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something, Pinterest, Spotify, Battle Pirates, Viddy, and Bubble Witch Saga.”
Source: Facebook Developer Blog
According to a study by Magid Associates, mobile and social gaming have become the number two and three top ways for people to game, behind only console gaming and moving past PC games, online portals, handheld games and MMOs. A full 64 percent play video or computer games between the ages of 8 to 54.
60 percent of male console gamers between 12 and 24 who play on their console at least once a week say they can’t live without it; the number is 20 percent of all U.S. respondents 8-64. “The console is still king: Console gaming has more players, money and time spent than any other platform,” the report noted.
While console gamers are the most active sort of gamers, tablet users now list playing games as the number two use of their devices. 23 percent of tablet gamers are paying for virtual goods, averaging $62 per spender over the past year, with games topping the monetization charts for tablets.
Smartphone users are also increasingly gaming at a rate of 43 percent overall, broken down into 52 percent for iPhone users, and 42 percent for Android users. Games top the monetization charts for mobile, and 14 percent of smartphone gamers are paying for virtual goods, averaging $25 per spender over the past year.
Perhaps coincidentally during the 60 year anniversary of Mr. Potato Head, someone named Ginger Troll has created their own “Big Spudder.” The photos identify the custom figure as the Potato Daddy.
Source: Flickr.com
The third and final video for the Behind the Mask series focuses on the Darksiders II‘s storyline. Vigil Games talks about crafting a unique world for the Four Horseman.
Assassin’s Creed III is the opening chapter of two new stories: one of Connor, the newest Assassin, and one of a new nation, both in an epic fight for land and freedom. In this gameplay world premiere, see colonial Boston, see fights with man and beast and see parts of the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Battle great monsters, venture into dungeons, tombs, castles, forests and much more with your pawns. In Dragon’s Dogma, you are a child of man bound to the Dragon, the destiny of this world lies in your hands; what will you choose to do as an arisen
Halfbrick has announced that Jetpack Joyride has entered beta on Facebook. Players can compete with their friends on Facebook and power up Barry Steakfries through microtransactions and achievements.
“With Jetpack Joyride‘s success on the iOS platform, it only made sense for us to bring Barry and his mischievousness to the entire Facebook community,” said Phil Larsen, chief marketing officer at Halfbrick. “The active and casual nature of Facebook gaming allows us to do even more with the beloved franchise and focus on the game’s addictive competitive elements and endless replayability.”
Jetpack Joyride has eclipsed 25 million downloads on mobile and has earned a 90 percent aggregated score on Metacritic.
Rovio’s purchase of Casey’s Contraptions has been confirmed and details are coming out. The company has withdrawn it from the App Store, and will overhaul and rebrand it before launching it again on iOS and Android as a follow up to Angry Birds.
“Working with [developers] Noel and Miguel has been fantastic, and this is a game that we all fell in love with from the first play,” Heijari commented. “The gameplay is a perfect fit in our arsenal with its approachable, fun and highly addictive take on the physics puzzler genre.”
Source: TechCrunch
Funcom revealed that The Secret World beta test now has 1 million users registered, much higher than Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. The Secret World websites have seen more than two million unique visitors, and the Secret War social media game has almost 250,000 registered users.
“Shattering our previous beta records gives us great hope for The Secret World‘s launch and its future,” says Funcom SVP of Sales & Marketing, Morten Larssen. “Combining this positive number with the excellent feedback we have received from both beta testers and the press that have played the game, make us very optimistic for a successful launch of The Secret World.”
This weekend will also see the game’s first public beta weekend for the game. Pre-order the game, and you can participate in every beta weekend.
