David Cage Talks Sequels Killing Innovation

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Quantic Dream CEO David Cage says that sequels are an anathema of innovation in the gaming sphere. However, the creator of the upcoming Beyond: Two Souls claims that gamers are the ones clamoring for sequels most of the time.

“If you’re interested in innovation and believe that games could be more than shooters, then you realize that sequels kill creativity and innovation,” said Cage. “We don’t give people what they expect. We want to give them something they want without knowing they want it.”

“Gamers invest money in publishers having no interest in innovation,” he added. “[Gamers] encourage [publishers] to keep making the same game every Christmas, and everybody’s happy.”

Source: Official PlayStation Magazine UK

Minecraft Sells 15 Million Copies In 2012

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Mojang announced that Minecraft sold 4.2 million units across all formats in December, pushing its total for the year past 15 million. The Xbox 360 version sold over 5 million copies in 2012, with 325,591 of those between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Meanwhile, the PC version of Minecraft sold 4,177,843 units in 2012. Finally, proving the vitality of the mobile sector, Minecraft: Pocket Edition sold 5,899,727 times across both iOS and Android.

Source: Mojang.com

PlayStation Store Coming To Web Browsers In the U.S.

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Sony Network Entertainment COO Shawn Layden revealed that Music Unlimited has 18 million tracks, with over 1 million active users, and is available in 17 countries. Later this month, the service, will increase the baseline streaming codec from 48Kbps to 64Kbps AAC and add a high-fidelity 320Kbps option for all of its songs.

“It will take a while to update the whole catalog to this spec, but new songs will have that option immediately,” Layden noted.

Sony will also launch a browser version of the PlayStation Store in the U.S. allowing users to buy a game on the browser, then have the content automatically download to a PS3 or PS Vita. Layden noted that the PlayStation Store redesign (the first such major change in six years) led to double-digit growth in the U.S. and Europe.

Source: Cnet.com

The World According To Xbox And PlayStation

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If you’re in North America or you read a lot of game industry news, you’re liable to think Xbox has leapfrogged PlayStation as the favorite among console gamers. Not so worldwide, according to Facebook fans.

Social media analytics firm Socialbakers used a new function being provided by Facebook that maps out fans by region to break down where in the world fans favor either Xbox or PlayStation. It’s worth noting the breakdown is not for current systems Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, rather looking at where each console brand has the largest number of fans. So while Xbox 360 is winning the console race in this generation, it’s safe to say Sony’s stats are being helped by its multiple generations of PlayStation console and handheld hardware, and the 150 million plus units the PlayStation 2 is said to have sold worldwide over its lifetime.

Socialbakers says it’s uncovering other interesting results using Facebook’s new function, for instance that Pepsi’s fans outnumber Coca-Cola’s in the US. The firm told Venture Beat that Facebook’s new tool is going to help unmask brands that have been buying fans, for instance with findings showing large fan distribution in countries such as India and the Indonesia for brands that have no presence there.

Source: Socialbakers

Mobile Media Summit’s Paran Johar

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With the first leg of Mobile Media Summit 2013 on the horizon, the show’s founder and CEO Paran Johar is a busy man. The summit is gathering more than 40 speakers from mobile app makers, marketing agencies and major brands ranging from entertainment and tech to consumer products. The area of focus is “Apps and Ads,” as the organizers call it, with speaking sessions and panels looking at the growing branded app and in-app advertising categories.

 

Paran Johar

Mobile Media Summit takes place January 22 in San Francisco. [a]list daily partnered with organizers to help them get the word out, and get interested readers discounted access. We also managed to get a little insight from Johar as to what attendees can expect.

What inspired you to launch Mobile Media Summit?

In order to move an industry forward it was important to put the advertisers at the center of the equation. Though mobile and technology innovation is critical for start-ups, actual monetization and adoption of it relies on advertiser adoption. In the beginning it was just about getting my friends together from the mobile ecosystem with my friends from advertising and it just grew organically.

Tell us more about what the “Apps and Ads” theme means.

The theme is about how app developers are using advertising to gain distribution and how brand marketers are using app advertising to meet their marketing goals.

What makes mobile apps effective for branded messages

App advertising allows for a richer advertising experience as compared to mobile web which advertisers prefer as a creative palette.

The show has a fairly eclectic lineup. Is that indicative of how branded mobile apps can work for any brand?

Yes. Apps are just one subset of the mobile ecosystem that almost all types of advertisers, big and small in almost any vertical.

Tapjoy is on a panel, and they recently commissioned a Forrester study that showed mobile ad engagement and targeting needs improvement. Where do you see room for improvement in what branded apps are currently doing?

Data and targeting are critical in engaging the mobile consumer. Mobile is not about the number of impressions you buy in the medium, but rather the impression you make with your audience.

What do you expect each set of attendees — brand reps and app developers — will take away from the summit?

Hopefully they will learn best practices for small app developers to large Fortune 1000 companies on what’s new in mobile and how to integrate app advertising into the marketing mix.

Thanks, Paran.

MLB 2K13 Confirmed For Release

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2K Sports has announced that they have reached agreements with Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and Major League Baseball Advanced Media to release Major League Baseball 2K13 on March 5, 2013. David Price, pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays and American League Cy Young Award winner, will be the cover athlete and the Perfect Game Challenge will be back for its fourth straight season.

 

“We’d like to thank our league partners for their support in helping us reach an agreement to bring back MLB 2K,” said Jason Argent, vice president of marketing for 2K Sports. “We know fans are extremely passionate about the MLB 2K series and the Perfect Game Challenge.”

“It’s a dream come true to appear on the cover of MLB 2K13,” concluded Price. “I’m looking forward to working with the 2K Sports team again, and welcoming another skilled gamer into “˜The Perfect Club.'”

Tera Rises To Free-to-Play

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En Masse announced that the MMORPG Tera is making the switch to free-to-play. The switchover will happen in February 2013 and anyone who put money into the game (now called Tera Rising) before will have founder benefits in the form of character slots, bank tabs, a “Founder” title and more.

Free players have two free slots and have no restrictions on the sort of content they can accesss or level they can achieve. However, those who subscribe as “elite” players will receive extra dungeon rewards, 10 bonus quests per day, a daily delivery of items and boosts, an elite mount, in-game store discounts, waived brokerage registration taxes, and more.

Find out more at Tera.EnMasse.com/free.