A new trailer for Naughty Dog’s zombie survival game The Last of Us was released today, focusing on the game’s multiplayer experience. The trailer shows the in-combat crafting system, the brutal combat, and the out of battle clan system, where players must watch over a team of survivors over the course of 12 weeks. The Last of Us is set to launch June 14.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=NfPhkv00bh4
The newest trailer for Injustice DLC shows Jim Lee from DC and Ed Boone from Netherrelm Studios discussing including Scorpion not only in the game, but in the DC Universe as a whole. The trailer also features an extended fight scene between Scorpion and Blackest Night Superman to showcase the moves Scorpion has at his disposal-including his trademark “Get over here!” The Scorpion DLC is out now for Season Pass Holders and will be available to everyone June 11.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=2ciHdJK96Bk
The newest trailer for massively team based FPS Planetside 2 shows off only real in-game footage of real in-game battles, with player’s real in-game voices, showcasing the impressive scale of the game. The game is currently out for PC, and the trailer announces the game’s release for PS4 later this year.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=iKt1U7PSlio
Recently technology and social media news site Mashable compiled a list of last month’s most-shared ads on YouTube. Just like April, May’s most viral ad was Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches,” which has been a viral sensation since its debut on the web two months ago. In total, it has amassed almost four million shares across all social networks. See the full round-up below:
1. Dove Real Beauty Sketches
https://youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk
2. Evian: Baby & Me
https://youtube.com/watch?v=pfxB5ut-KTs
3. Samsung: Galaxy S4 — Sound & Shot
https://youtube.com/watch?v=714jeeFv07E
4. Audi: Zachary Quinto vs. Leonard Nimoy — The Challenge
https://youtube.com/watch?v=WPkByAkAdZs
5. Kmart: Ship My Pants
https://youtube.com/watch?v=I03UmJbK0lA
6. Activision: Call of Duty — Ghosts Trailer
7. Samsung: Galaxy S4 — Hands-On
https://youtube.com/watch?v=PRYfSYg8DEk
8. Activision: Call of Duty — Ghost Masked Warriors
9. Kmart’s Big Gas Savings
https://youtube.com/watch?v=m1yir-p68xM
10. NIVEA – “Mama”
Source: Mashable
PlayHaven, the leading lifetime value (LTV) maximization platform for mobile games, announced today the addition of the team from Staq.io, a game management platform featuring advanced, real-time analytics.
With deep expertise in big data, the Staq.io team built a unique technology that helps game developers capture critical player data — providing them with real-time actionable insights and powerful testing capabilities. The acquisition of the Staq.io team enables PlayHaven to accelerate development of its data analysis capabilities that are critical to game developers launching user engagement and monetization campaigns.
“Staq.io built a truly innovative technology and we see this as a huge step forward in our mission to help developers solve the challenges unique to mobile gaming,” said Andy Yang, CEO at PlayHaven. “We both believe that real-time data analysis — particularly in the fast-changing environment of mobile — is the foundation for lifetime value maximization and look forward to helping developers capture all of their opportunities.”
With the speed at which user behavior is changing, mobile developers need real-time insights so they can take immediate action that will meaningfully impact game performance. PlayHaven aims to narrow the gap between insights and action.
“We started Staq.io with the goal of bringing valuable insights to developers struggling to make sense of their users and understanding how they want to be engaged,” said Massimo Andreasi Bassi, CEO of Staq.io. “Data is core to every game developer’s success and we’re excited to join forces with PlayHaven where we will continue solving the same set of problems we’re passionate about.”
Since announcing its latest round of funding in November 2012, PlayHaven has hired key executives from Google and Rovio, grown its employee base by more than 100 percent and opened operations in Europe. With 400 percent year-over-year network growth, PlayHaven now tracks more than 10 billion in-game events each month.
As of today, another game has been added to the eighth iteration of the Humble Indie Bundle. Oil Rush, a naval strategy game developed by UNIGINE Corp. has been added to the premium version of the bundle, which is received when donors offer more than the average contribution for the bundle. The game promises real time naval warfare across multiple locations, a rich technology tree, and easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master gameplay.
Oil Rush joins the likes of Hotline Miami, Proteus, Tiny and Big in Grandpa’s Leftovers, Intrusion 2 and English Country Tune in the bundle when a donation of more than $5.69 is given. Even if less than the $5.69 price point is donated though, the bundle still includes Little Inferno, Awesomenauts, Thomas Was Alone, and Dear Esther. Bought separately, the bundle would come to more than $150. All money given to the bundle supports indie developers like UNIGINE Corp. and charity funds.
Konami Digital Entertainment has announced the newest iteration of their Pro Evolution Soccer series today. The game is using an entirely new engine built from Hideo Kojima’s FOX engine used in Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Rising. The new game is based upon six main changes to the series that the engine offers. These include Trueball Tech, Motion Animation Stability System, and PES ID.
Trueball tech is one of the main changes, which focuses on the ball physics in the game, and changes how the ball reacts to players according to their position and angle on the field. The M.A.S.S system governs interactions between players, generating animations on the fly instead of using pre-rendered animations. The updated PES ID system has separate identifications for individual players which features AI that matches the player’s real world playstyles for 50 players. The game will be released for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC later this year.
Konami is facing a new iteration of FIFA Soccer from Electronic Arts this year, so stepping up their game is an important move. The competition will continue to improve the soccer experience for gamers. Konami may not be able to match EA’s marketing budget for FIFA, but the technology battle is sure to spark interest among soccer fans.
Harmonix and Disney have announced their new project, Fantasia, in a new trailer today containing a flurry of pop music, color, dubstep and fireworks. The new project is coming out for the Xbox One, and will utilize it’s upgraded Kinect Sensor.
According to market data from Kantar, Android is in control of the smartphone market share with 51.7 percent of the market, followed by iOS with 41.4 percent and Windows Phone devices with 5.6 percent. Despite Windows’ position in third, its market share is growing at a faster rate than both iOS and Android. Windows Phone’s market share jumped from 3.8 percent up to 5.6 percent, denoting a 47 percent growth over the course of the last year. In comparison, market share growth for Android was at only 3 percent.
Also according to the study, of the people that switched to Windows Phone 23 percent had traded in their Android phone, and 42 percent had switched from a feature phone. Windows was gaining significant share among people ages 25-34. In addition, today a new Halo game was announced for Windows 8 devices, which may have an impact on the stellar growth of the phone going into the future.
Source: VentureBeat
Microsoft has announced a new Halo game Tuesday, and it isn’t Halo 5. Instead, it’s an entirely new game developed for the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 entitled Halo: Spartan Assault. The game, which launches in July, will cost $6.99 and will share experience and achievements with last year’s Halo 4.
The game eschews the genre of the previous Halo games for a new top-down perspective. The game will take place in the time period between Halo 3 and 4, and will look at the first missions in the Spartan Ops program that was featured heavily in Halo 4. The new game may be the first of many software integrations with Xbox titles, and is more than likely part of an effort to move more Windows Phone 8 devices, which are currently overshadowed by Android devices and iOS devices in market share.
Microsoft is finally beginning to leverage its game advantage to help its performance in other markets. We are likely to see more such crossovers in the future.
Source: Microsoft
