San Diego Comic Con was visited by a god, as actor Tom Hiddleston in full Loki regalia stepped onto the Hall H stage and stole the audience away. The crowd was thrilled to see the star chewing the scenery in front of them, as he revved them up to see new footage from Thor: The Dark World. A great stunt, perfectly suited to the passionate Comic Con crowd.
Hullabalu is finally bringing its well-received iPad storybook to the iPhone, with the same cast of characters and half game/half book sensibilities as its older counterpart. The company, a New York-based app maker and creator of children’s IP, is behind the hit app Pan: The Fearless Bearibolt for iPhone and iPad. The half story, half game app entered Apple’s App Store chart on the book list and surged to number one in its first week. Hullabalu recently announced it has been backed with $1.8 million in investments this year, helping it keep its hit new IP going.
Hullabalu hasn’t released download numbers for Pan. According to Hullabalu CEO and founder Suzanne Xie, average engagement time with the app is around 15 minutes per session, and one in five players will open the book up to four times per week.
What sets Pan apart from other interactive storybooks is that kids have to interact with the screen in order to move the story forward. This required interactivity turns Hullabalu’s app into something that’s more than a book, though not quite fully a game. Still, the app seems an effective way to introduce the idea of games to young children in a form familiar to parents, as a storybook and educational experience.
Source: TechCrunch
If you’re a gamer who plays the same game on multiple devices, it’s frustrating not to be able to sync game play and game achievements. Mobile game maker King.com’s Candy Crush Saga has rocketed to the top of the charts partly because it synchronizes progress across platforms, unlike the great majority of games. Now Rovio is taking that to the next level with Rovio Account, a service that will synchronize game play on its games across multiple platforms, starting with the original Angry Birds and their movie tie-in game The Croods.
Rovio Account lets users sign in on any Android or iOS device and pick up their game session where they left off on any other device. This also allows for multiple accounts, so if an iPad is shared among multiple family members, each person can have an account and track their own progress. Rovio’s goal is to bring the service to more of the company’s titles, but release dates for compatibility with their other games have not yet been announced.
Source: TechCrunch
Facebook and all online social networks have one inherent anti-social quality in common – there’s no face to face interaction. Graphic designer Pat C. Klein thinks that’s a problem that’s actually turning people more inward. He thinks Facebook: The Board Game, a concept for which he’s looking for funding, could change that. It turns the social media experience millions have come to love into a board game you play with your friends, though only the ones you’re able to get physically close to.
“Research done by Stanford University has indicated that social networking sites like Facebook can increase loneliness, depression and insecurity,” Klein says. “Facebook: The Board Game was created as a response to this. The idea is that instead of engaging with Facebook on your computer or phone, you can arrange to meet up with your friends, have a few drinks and play in real life.”
Some of the tiles on the game board evoke the real life things that can happen on Facebook, such as the Unattended PC tile where you reveal a secret about the next person to leave the room. Sadly, the game is not actually available, with Klein looking for help to fund the game and bring it to market.
Source: Design Milk
The limited edition for Ubisoft’s highly anticipated next gen game Watch_Dogs has been revealed, along with its healthy price tag of $129.99. Gamers might be getting their money’s worth with the amount of material goods in the pack, including a mask of protagonist Aiden that’s featured in the game, along with a 9-inch tall figurine, the official soundtrack, a steel-book case, and a hardcover art book. Oddly, while the special edition is available for every version of the game, the Wii U version wasn’t part of the line-up at the time of this writing.
This is the first special edition of the game to be announced in the US. There are four separate special editions of the game available in the UK with varying types of collectibles included. The UK’s “Deadsec Edition” is similar to the US version, but also has digital content not featured in the original game.
Source: Polygon
What would happen if Kerrigan’s Zerg army from Starcraft II unleashed its wrath upon China This video explores the possibility, as news agencies cover small sightings that eventually grow into a full-blown attack on the city. It’s a great blend of game and reality in this TV spot that may have people looking nervously outside.
Nearly 25 years ago, the cyberpunk-meets-fantasy world of Shadowrun arrived and became a cult classic amongst its dedicated fans. Now, through crowd funding, Shadowrun’s creator Jordan Weisman has returned to the universe to create the turn-based tactical RPG Shadowrun Returns. The game will launch July 25 on Steam.
June adhered to the pattern of the last five years for domestic retail sales of video game hardware and software. NPD reported that once again retail sales of console hardware and software dropped compared to the same month in 2012, with total video game sales (hardware, software, and accessories) down 15 percent. The small crumb of comfort is that sales didn’t drop as much as they have in some of the previous months this year, where the results have plunged as much as 44 percent over last year.
Looking more closely at the numbers, the bulk of the reduction came in hardware sales, which is what you would expect with new consoles on the horizon. Video game hardware sales dropped to $142 million, down 30 percent from last year’s $201.5 million. “Nintendo’s 3DS maintained the top spot for overall hardware sales across all platforms for the second consecutive month,” said NPD’s Liam Callahan. “The Xbox 360 was the highest selling console, continuing its streak for the thirtieth month in a row.”
The odd thing here is that despite continuing sales declines, none of the Big Three have dropped prices on existing consoles. That’s the usual strategy late in a console cycle, when hardware’s not moving: Drop the price and find a whole new audience. Apparently, if that’s going to happen it will occur closer to the launch of new consoles. For a price change to have any significant impact on holiday sales, it would have to occur by October at the latest. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have all signaled that continuing sales of existing current-gen consoles are important. A price cut will certainly boost sales, and it’s especially important with new console competition appearing at the low end.
Speaking of which, NPD noticed the Ouya’s debut at retail, though the results weren’t impressive. “June 2012 was the first month of retail sales for Ouya (not counting direct sales through ouya.tv) and were relatively light for a new console,” said Callahan. “This may be due to the lack of a major marquee title driving consumers to seek out the console, low awareness due to Ouya being a new brand, or low inventory volume due to manufacturing constraints.” So far, the $99 console isn’t changing the world, but it’s still very early days.
Turning to software, the picture was not quite as grim, with sales of $296.1 million, only down 10 percent from June 2012’s $328.8 million. The bright spot was the Nintendo 3DS, which had both strong hardware sales and strong software sales. “To quote Nintendo during E3, ‘software sells hardware’, which is evident in this month’s 3DS results,” Callahan noted. “Strong double-digit increases in the 3DS hardware sales were coupled with triple-digit digit increases in software for June sales. 3DS software sales momentum is building due to a steady flow of content over the past few months, leading to positive year-to-date sales results.”
In a separate note to media, Nintendo revealed further data. 3DS software sales were up 105 percent over last year, and through June, nearly 3.6 million combined physical and digital units of first-party Nintendo 3DS software have been sold, representing an increase of more than 85 percent over the same time frame last year. Animal Crossing: New Leaf sold through 505,000 copies with 20 percent of sales coming digitally. Additionally, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D sold over 108,000 combined units in its second month and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon added nearly 115,000 combined units in its fourth month on the market, bringing its lifetime total to more than 750,000 combined units.
Nintendo has certainly worked wonders with the 3DS after a slow start. Can the same thing happen with the Wii U It’s going to be a more difficult task for several reasons. First, the Wii U has more competition at both lower and higher price points (Xbox 360 and PS3 at the low end, and Xbox One and PS4 at the high end) with vastly larger and more diverse software libraries. Second, since Wii U development is significantly more expensive than 3DS development, it will be harder to rally third-party support. Nintendo will have to supply most of the compelling Wii U software with its own products, which is hard. The company has already admitted development of Wii U titles is taking longer than expected, which is why Pikmin 3 is late, for example.
Summing up, the retail picture for video games isn’t great, but at least it’s getting worse slower than it was earlier in the year. The real booster shot won’t come until September when Grand Theft Auto V hits, which will be great for retailers (though perhaps not so great for other game sales that month). We’ll start to see big holiday titles appearing in October, and then the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft will drop in November. The fourth quarter should look pretty good at retail, but the forecast for existing consoles may not improve unless we see some price cuts in the near future.
Zynga is partnering with SessionM, a company specializing in perks, to provide redeemable rewards in Zynga’s Scramble With Friends mobile game. Players who unlock in-game achievements will earn mPoints, which can be redeemed for rewards like iTunes or Amazon gift cards. Players can also use mPoints to enter sweepstakes and contests.
“Zynga is committed to delivering the most innovative and meaningful ways for our global network of players to engage with their favorite brands,” said Adam Sussman, senior vice president of sales and distribution for Zynga. “Partnering with SessionM enables us to launch Zynga’s first mobile real-world rewards program to benefit our players while providing a unique value to brands, which can engage directly with their target audience.”
With this partnership, Zynga is trying to solve one of the big problems that app developers have – some 70 percent of consumers either never use an app they downloaded, or only use it once. SessionM has been using mPoints in a variety of games, and advertisers with SessionM include State Farm, American Express, Degree, HBO, Ford, Old Navy, and Universal Studios. If this rewards program does boost engagement, look for Zynga to roll it out in other mobile games.
Source: VentureBeat
Through the magic of augmented reality, colAR has come up with a way to bring a coloring book to life. Users can download the app and a couple of coloring book pages from their website (only specific pages can be used with the app) and let their imaginations go wild. After coloring with any kind of utensil, the app can be opened up and the page will come to life, fully colored by you with actions and depth.
For example, one of the pages is of a dragon. A user can color in the dragon however they want. The app will wrap the page around a 3D model and voila, there is a 3D dragon roaming around the desk terrorizing a little town. The app by itself is free, and until July 28th all of the coloring pages for the app are free as well. After the cutoff, a couple of pages are free with the app and more can be purchased from the colAR website. The app is currently available on both iOS and Android.
Source: TechCrunch
