Club Penguin Veterans Form Hyper Hippo Productions

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Lance Priebe, co-founder and creator of Club Penguin, and Pascale Audette, former Studio Head and Vice President of Global Operations for Disney Online Studios have announced they have founded Hyper Hippo Productions. The new developer will make digital properties for children that will “reward good actions and values”.

“We are dedicated to creating a fantastic studio that will not only radically change how the industry perceives digital entertainment, but one that will positively impact children’s lives for years to come,” said Audette. “In addition, it is important for us to invest in our local community through initiatives that increase the technology footprint in Kelowna, and in the global community through social outreach programs. Simply, our end goal is to make a positive impact in the world.”

Hyper Hippo’s first offering will be Mech Mice, an episodic journey, blending storytelling with a tactical strategy for kids ages 10 and up. The game is scheduled for release in 2013 and an open beta program will begin this Summer.

Apple Argues For iPhone 5 On New Site

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Perhaps feeling the heat from the recently unveiled Samsung Galaxy S IV, Apple sent notice to its customers a webpage talking about the features of the iPhone 5. The page begins with the assertion: “There’s iPhone. And then there’s everything else.”

The page goes on to talk about how satisfied iPhone customers are, how great the retina display is, how much battery life the iPhone 5 has, the power the system contains, the wonders of iOS 6, and much more.

The posting was not positively received by Jean-Louis Gassée, a business media executive and veteran of Apple. “This isn’t about optimism, it’s about hyperbole and the abuse of language. Saying ‘incredible’ too many times leads to incredulity,” he wrote. “Saying ‘maniacally focused’ at all is out of place and gauche in an earnings call. One doesn’t brag about one’s performance in the boudoir; let happy partners sing your praise.”

Source: Minyanville.com

Mailbox Bought Out By Dropbox

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Mailbox announced that it has been acquired by Dropbox. The e-mail app that requires a reservation has been well received since launching a month ago in helping users filter through their email quicker.

Currently, Mailbox is serving 60 million emails a day, and has forced users to queue up in order to use it. The new arrangement will allow the e-mail service to expand more quickly and let the Gmail-only service open its doors to other providers.

“Rather than grow Mailbox on our own, we’ve decided to join forces with Dropbox and build it out together,” said the Mailbox company in a post. “To be clear, Mailbox is not going away. The product needs to grow fast, and we believe that joining Dropbox is the best way to make that happen. Plus, imagine what cool things you could do if your Mailbox was connected to your Dropbox.”

Source: MailboxApp.com

The Phantom Pain — More Details Teased

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A new video for The Phantom Pain features grainy CTV footage of a medical procedure accompanied by Morse code. Translated, it says “Generating image hold scenario loading hold activate phantom pain dot meme hold error error error error”.

An image appears briefly at 40 seconds in. It refers to “Project Omega” and the camp that Big Boss infiltrates in Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is the Omega Camp.

Additionally, GameTrailers TV, talked to a bandaged man claiming to be Moby Dick CEO Joakim Mogren. During the Q&A session, he confirmed that a new Phantom Pain trailer will be shown at GDC later in March, where Metal Gear Solid designer Hideo Kojima is set to hold a lecture on March 27.

Tilting Point Brings On PopCap Veteran

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Tilting Point announced that it has hired Giordano Bruno Contestabile as VP of product management and revenue. Contestabile was previously manager of PopCap’s mobile business and was executive producer of the Bejeweled franchise.

“We are thrilled that Giordano shares our philosophy that the future of video games belongs to the top independent developers,” said Tom Frisina, Executive Chairman of Tilting Point. “His experience and talents will strengthen our partnerships as we redefine what people expect from a digital publisher.”

“With nearly a billion smartphones and tablets on the market, and a majority of users playing games, the opportunity for independent developers is unparalleled in the history of gaming,” added Contestabile. “Tilting Point was built to help great developers seize this opportunity and I’m really excited to join this excellent team.”

OnLive Chairman Expresses No Regrets Over Purchase

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OnLive Chairman Gary Lauder has stated in a blog that he is elated to own OnLive now, despite the difficulties of restructuring over the past several months. Also, he confirmed the appointment of a new SVP of engineering in Don Gordon, the former vice president of broadcast solutions at Gracenote with experience at Bulldog United, ActiveVideo Networks and Microsoft TV.

“When the restructuring of OnLive happened in August, many misunderstood it to mean that the service and company were shutting down,” said Lauder. “Neither occurred, nor did we go bankrupt. We should have communicated better. As Mark Twain wrote, ‘The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.’ Same with us. Our service continued without interruption both in the USA and overseas, and we have about 90 employees.”

“[Gordon] attracts tremendous talent that remains loyal to him,” added Lauder. “He is an inventor with more than 55 US patents in interactive TV and video technologies, and his innovations have already redefined the Smart TV as we know it. Don is the epitome of a ‘creative technologist,’ with all the right skills in his toolbox to lead OnLive into the future.”

Source: Blog.Onlive.com

Facebook Cuts Out MessageMe

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Last Friday Facebook blocked mobile messaging app MessageMe’s access to its Open Graph data, citing concerns that the app was too similar to its own Facebook Messenger. This puts the massively popular app in the ranks of similar sharing apps such as Vine and Voxer who relied on Facebook and the “Find Friends” feature to build up their user base, but were recently blocked by the social net.

Now when users try to bring up a list of Facebook friends on MessageMe, users are shown an error message similar to what Vine experienced.

In barely its first week of existence, MessageMe quickly climbed to the number two spot on the iOS app store. It had more than 150 million users, with a third of them garnered from its Facebook integration.

MessageMe clearly posed a threat to Facebook Messenger. Despite Facebook recently updating its messenger’s mobile functions, the MessageMe app has standout functions for both iOS and Android devices, such as sending rich media messages including YouTube videos, voice recordings and popular graphics such as memes and emoticons. The app is also beta testing features that let users share stickers and money, much like Facebook Gifts.

Both companies have stayed quiet on the issue so far. However, MessageMe’s CEO Arjun Sethi has been indirectly making his views known on Twitter by retweeting messages of support from fans.

MessageMe is also now highlighting their strategy to grow outside of Facebook, using an approach similar to the popular NHN Line messaging app. Line sells special emojis they refer to as “stickers” which they say generates monthly revenue of $3.75 milliion.

MessageMe differs from Facebook by not relying on advertising. CEO Sethi has declared that taking the ad-supported route erodes the user experience.

“We really don’t want to focus on advertising,” said Sethi. “We don’t want to be on moving users out of the experience to download game. It’s not something that we think is core to what we’re building.”

To be clear, Facebook has not cut off MessageMe entirely. The application still has platform and API access, so its users can still use their Facebook credentials to login. They just can’t discover Facebook friends.

Do you think Facebook has a right to limit access from third-party apps that compete with it Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: TechCrunch

Game Of Thrones: Season 3 — ‘The Beast’

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Get your latest fix here for Game of Thrones before the third season with this latest set of trailers. Also included is a clever fan trailer where images from The Princess Bride are inter-spliced with events from the first season.

 

Metro: Last Light – ‘Salvation’

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The world of Metro: Last Light has humanity holding on by a thread, and the threat of extremist factions looks to wipe out whatever freedom and hope remains. In this grim future, it will be up to the player to confront these dark forces as humanity’s salvation.

Killer Is Dead — Debut English Voice-Over Trailer

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Here’s the first official trailer for Killer is Dead with English voices, with lines nearly identical to the subtitles from the Japanese language trailer. Regardless of the words coming out of his mouth, Mondo Zappa will still execute dangerous criminals and assassins from around the world while working for the “Bryan Execution Firm.”