Join the Axe Apollo Space Academy

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The men’s personal care product company AXE has teamed up with famed moonwalker Buzz Aldrin to send 22 people into space, and make sure they smell nice doing it.
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The company kicked off its new AXE Apollo Space Academy, an online contest that promises to send 22 winners to the edge of space and back aboard a private spaceship. The winning space travelers will launch aboard a suborbital Lynx space plane built by the U.S. company XCOR Aerospace and operated by the tourism firm Space Expedition Curacao.

The contest is open to men and women in more than 60 countries who sign up on the AXE Apollo Space Academy website (AXEApollo.com) and write about why they should be chosen to fly in space, while others will vote on the entries.

Winning space travelers will fly, one at a time, aboard Lynx space planes once Space Expedition Curacao begins operational flights. The reusable space planes are designed to fly two people — one pilot and a passenger — to an altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers) during suborbital flights. The rocket plane is built to take off and land horizontally on a runway.

iTunes Links Dropping Ranks On Google Search

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Google search is making searching for iOS applications using typical user queries harder. In one example searches for “Whatsapp” and “Whatsapp iPhone,” don’t appear in Google until the bottom of page two and three, respectively.

Other strange instances include “Twitter iTunes” returning the iTunes URL in spot eight, below several links to iTunes Twitter accounts. Some other apps like Snapchat, Tweetbot and Alien Blue were also buried.

Source: TechCrunch.com

Gas Powered Games Working On Free-To-Play MMO

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Gas Powered Games recently had to undergo major ups and downs, dealing with a failed Kickstater campaign and heavy layoffs. However, now that the company was purchased by Wargaming.net, Gas Powered Games CEO Chris Taylor thinks the company is on the rise.

“It’s not a publisher acquiring a developer,” said Taylor. “It’s a developer acquiring a developer […] There was a 99 percent overlap in terms of company culture, genre choices, and leadership.”

Taylor noted his company has tentatively been renamed “Wargaming Seattle,” saying, “That’s not 100 percent sure, but it’s not a bad thing to say.”

As for the future, the Wildman game is no longer in development. What he is developing will be a F2P MMO with PvP (if that’s enough acronyms for you) like popular Wargaming titles such as World of Tanks.

After dipping down to a low number of employees, Taylor said they’ve been able to rehire some of the employees that were laid off earlier this year.

“We went down to less than ten people, but we’re back up to 30 now, and that number continues to grow,” Taylor said.

Source: Polygon

Apple Reportedly Starting On New iPhone Manufacturing

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Apple is reportedly working on a iPhone similar to the iPhone 5, possibility for a launch in Summer 2013. It is believed that production plans are being set down for what will probably be the iPhone 5S.

It is also believed that Apple is communicating with partners in Asia about a less expensive iPhone. This device will probably have a different casing and will launch in the second half of the year.

This reflects a new tack from Apple as competitors in the smartphone category such as Samsung put pressure on them.

“There isn’t really any major differentiator between the players at this phase,” said Neil Mawston, an analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics. “The panacea is to transform the industry with a revolutionary design. [Until then] you have to do the traditional business school implementations like manage costs and move quicker than rivals.”

Investor confidence in Apple has been waning, with the stock at $429.79, below a high of $702.10 last September. While it is believed that the company has innovations that could disrupt the market, things like bendable displays or mainstream wearable devices are years away.

Source: WSJ.com {link no longer active}

OMGPOP Founder Out At Zynga

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OMGPOP founder Dan Porter has left his position at the studio, now known as Zynga New York. He will be replaced by Sean Kelly, vice president of mobile at Zynga, at the studio primarily responsible for Draw Something.

“Developing and launching games is a team effort, and we’re proud of the great work the Zynga New York team has done with Draw Something 2. Our follow up to the original hit is even more social and engaging, and we’re excited to get it into the hands of our players globally. We thank Dan Porter for his efforts in making the Draw Something franchise a success and wish him well in his future endeavors,” said Zynga COO David Ko. “We’re proud to see talent like Sean Kelly take a bigger leadership role as the Head of our New York studio and lead the team to the global launch of Draw Something 2.”

Porter has made controversial statements over the past year, including Twitter comments bashing a former employee who decided not to sign onto the Zynga acquisition of OMGPOP and recently having to qualify remarks that Zynga copies games.

Source: VentureBeat

Rovio Doubles Revenue In 2012

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Rovio Entertainment saw its revenue in 2012 at $195.3 million, up 101 percent from 2011’s $97 million. Profits were at $71.2 million, up 57 percent from the previous year’s $45.4 million.

During the past year the company more than doubled its headcount from 224 in 2011 to 518 in 2012, while the Consumer Products division saw its revenues triple from 2011 to account for 45 percent of the company’s total revenues in 2012. Rovio’s monthly active user base across all games was 263 million, having seen over 1.7 billion downloads from all its games.

Rovio looks to growth in 2013 from more expansions for its existing brands like Angry Birds, new IPs, and more partnerships with outside companies.

Nintendo Retail Flyer Asks ‘Why Wii U?’

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It’s been a public secret from the beginning that Nintendo has had difficulty differentiating the Wii U from the Wii, some of the confusion stemming from the focus on the Wii U GamePad rather than the Wii U console itself. It seems there are still issues with messaging, if a recent leaflet is any indication.

Nintendo still sells the Wii, and while that console is on the downswing, its monthly sales are still comparable if not better than the Wii U. Whether or not a plain text checklist of items comparing the Wii U to its predecessor is the way to go, Nintendo needs to make the argument to consumers right now, since Sony and Microsoft’s next consoles are in position to steal a lot of the attention for core gamers later in 2013.

Source: Twitter.com

Zynga Launches Real-Money Gambling Games In U.K.

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Zynga announced their first real-money gambling titles in ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino. Available to players ages 18 and above, these are promised to be just the first of many such real-money gambling titles to release in the U.K. this year.

“Our long term vision is to offer our players the next generation of real money games on multiple platforms in regulated markets worldwide. We take responsible gaming seriously and are proud to partner with bwin.party, an industry leader and a reputable company that is fully licensed by a premier regulatory authority,” wrote Zynga chief revenue officer Barry Cottle. “This is just the beginning for us and we’re looking forward to seeing what our U.K. players think about ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino, and creating the most valuable casino games and social experiences for them.”

Source: Blog.Zynga.com

Raph Koster Moves On From Disney/Playdom

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Raph Koster has confirmed that he has departed Playdom, the social gaming subsidiary of Disney. The now former vice president of creative design for Playdom says that he’s exploring his opportunities and won’t do a Kickstarter.

“Most likely, I will simply start making games. Lots and lots of games. Fun ones. About all sorts of things,” said Koster. “I want to get my hands dirty. I want to explore ideas. It is a crazy exciting time in the industry right now, and I came away from GDC inspired.”

Source: RaphKoster.com

Sega Europe Admits That Aliens: Colonial Marines Trailers Misled

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Sega Europe admitted to the Advertising Standards Authority that its trailers for Aliens: Colonial Marines were misleading. Sega Europe says that that all trailers were created with the Colonial Marines in-game engine, but admitted the content “did not accurately reflect the final content of the game.”

As a result, Sega Europe acquiesced to add a disclaimer to all videos published on its website and via YouTube stating that they depict a demo version of the game. “We consider that with the disclaimer in place, customers are unlikely to get the impression that the trailer shows the finished product, and the ads are therefore unlikely to mislead,” read the response by ASA complaints executive Niall McVeigh.

Source: Reddit.com