Wearable Tech Market Could Grow Fast

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A report from Berg Insight is betting that wearable tech will continue to proliferate in the coming years. They are forecasting that by 2017, 64 million units will be sold worldwide, making wearable tech on track for the next tech boom.

The report shows that between 2011 and 2012, devices like smart glasses, watches and wearable fitness trackers like the Fitbit and Nike’s FuelBand were snatched up, with sales growing by almost 168 percent.

While sales of these smart devices are growing at breakneck speed, so do the concerns over privacy and it’s easy to see why. When these watches can monitor your heart rate, the caloric content of your food and act as your windows for everyday life, the fusion of oneself to so many computers can be approached with caution.

 

A poll in September of this year from Survey Sampling International showed that about one in three Internet users in certain countries were trepidatious about the invasion of privacy that wearable tech could pose. Australia is the most concerned of these countries, with 46 percent wary of the wearable tech invasion, with France and the UK a little bit more open to the idea.

Source: eMarketer

‘Clash of Clans’ Now Worlds’ Best Grossing Game In Google Play

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Within two months of its launch, Clash of Clans became the worlds’ top grossing game in the Playstore based on November revenues. On its climb to the top, SuperCell’s game exceeded the revenues of King’s Candy Crush Saga, despite having averaged only one fifth of Candy Crush Saga’s download numbers. GooglePlay now accounts for approximately one third of the total money generated by Clash of Clans. On iOS devices last month, Candy Crush Saga had slightly more than double the number of downloads than Clash of Clans.

The lead that Candy Crush Saga maintains on iOS devices secures its number one position overall across app stores. The recently launched Candy Crush Saga for Kakao version has pushed the game to over $1.3 million a day, which means a nice $1 million dollar net in the bank for King.

Overall, Google Play continues to gain market share from iOS, even now that iPhone and iPad game revenues are starting to ramp up towards the holiday season. The worlds’ number 4 country based on Google Play revenues, Germany, and Spain, ranked 13th, could well be the first countries outside of Asia where Google Play spending overtakes iOS.

November Country Rankings: iPhone, iPad, Google Play {links no longer active}.

iOS Games
The top 4 iOS games remained unchanged in October with Candy Crush Saga still the top earning title. King’s other hit title, Pet Rescue Saga, dropped one place to number 6, replaced by Game of War: Fire Age which continues its rise up the charts.

Modern War from Funzio, which debuted at number 18 last month, is now at number 11 in the charts. Slotomania – FREE Slots, which has been missing from the top 20 since September, has re-entered at number 15. Other new entries include Professional Baseball PRIDE and Dragon City Mobile. The number of Asian titles is steadily increasing, with 6 this month compared to just 2 in September.

November iOS Game Ranking: iOS Games {link no longer active}

Google Play Store Games
Clash of Clans, published to the Google Play Store in October, is now the top earning game, ahead of Puzzle & Dragons and Candy Crush Saga. This is a hugely impressive feat for the SuperCell game which is currently number 2 in the iOS charts.

Also notable is the debut of Candy Crush Saga for Kakao from King.com at number 11. While game play for the title is the same as Candy Crush Saga, currently number 3 in the charts, the game is played through the popular Korean social platform Kakao.

There were three other new entries in October: Brave Frontier, Poko Pang for Kakao and Suhoji for Kakao, at number 17, 18 and 19 respectively.

November Google Play Store Game Ranking: Google Play Store Games {link no longer active}

iOS Publishers
The top 3 publishers are once again unchanged, with Supercell taking the top spot followed by King and Electronic Arts. Last Month’s number 4 Kabam has fallen to 6th place while Puzzle & Dragon’s publisher GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc. has climbed from number 9 to 5.

Playtika LTD have re-entered the charts at number 16, with hit title Slotomania also re-enterting the games charts. Glu Games Inc. have fallen from number 16 to the bottom of the charts.

November iOS Publisher Ranking: iOS Publishers {link no longer active}

Google Play Store Publishers
The top 5 publishers in terms of revenues generated remained the same this month, Japanese LINE Corporation claiming the number 1 spot followed by King.com and Korean giant CJ E&M corp. Supercell has stormed through the charts to number 6, a jump of 8 positions.

SUNDAYTOZ, INC also did well in October, climbing four places to number 12. French publisher Gameloft has fallen 3 places to number 18. There are 3 new entries this month: NHN Entertainment corp, EA Swiss Sarl and Korean Kunlun Inc..

November Google Play Store Publisher Ranking: Google Play Store Publishers {link no longer active}

The rankings published every month are based on data from Distimo’s AppIQ and Newzoo analysis.

Gaming Gets A Reactive Grip

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We’ve already seen a fair share of motion-sensitive gaming peripherals on the market, including the Wii Remote, the PlayStation Move controller and Microsoft’s Kinect device. Still, that isn’t stopping Tactical Haptics from trying something a little new.

Speaking with Mashable, the founder and CEO of the company, William Provancher, explained the benefits of a new virtual reality device called the Reactive Grip. This combination of software and hardware allows players to use a special grip-style controller, pictured above, to experience physical sensations in their game.

With the controller, players can feel the divots in a basketball picking it up, or reaching out for objects that are within the gaming world, such as a sword or a gun. The Reactive Grip recreates the weight and texture of these objects, with a physics engine put together by the company into the device.

“It’s essentially creating a really simple yet effective solution that you have physical interaction with things,” said Provancher. “What you experience is a combination of what’s called a motion component (what you feel in your muscles) and tactile (what you feel in the skin).”

The KickStarter project is still a ways off from its $175,000 goal, but curious fans can check it out here.

Source: Mashable

Razer iPhone Controller?

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Razer, a company that has dabbled in making quality peripherals and game pads over the years, appears to be at it again. A leak from @evleaks has revealed that the company as a new iPhone game controller in the works, one that could make it easier to play your games than ever before.

With the addition of controller API in iOS 7, Apple has made it easier for peripheral makers to make quality controllers for use with their devices, and Razer’s latest looks to be the friendliest yet. The leaked Razer Kazuyo images show a game pad with a multi-directional arrow pad, a wrap-around case that allows you to pop open the screen for easier viewing, four action buttons and a durable PowerShell. In addition, shoulder buttons on top of the pad make it simple to execute certain functions in a game, including first-person shooters.

Razer had no official comment on the game pad just yet, but it’s bound to be officially announced sooner rather than later – perhaps even next month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Source: The Verge

Ad Heralds Japan’s New ‘Crush’

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There’s no question that Candy Crush Saga is easily one of the most popular games worldwide right now. However, that isn’t stopping King from going all out to introduce it to a new audience – Japan.

The company has begun running commercials on Japanese television featuring actress Mikako Tabe playing the game under a rainfall of candy – and they’re apparently being well received, as the game has jumped into the number one position on Japan’s top 100 mobile downloads as of Wednesday. This is after not even cracking the top 100 before the TV ads aired.

 

Industry analyst Serkan Toto wrote on the popular campaign. “Advertising mobile games on television doesn’t sound intuitive at this point in time, given the immaturity of the mobile gaming industry, the now less important position of TV as a marketing channel, high production costs for ads, inability to track effectiveness, problems in attributing user acquisition, and, of course, the costs of running ads on TV in the first place,” said Toto. “In Japan, however, mobile content has been advertised on national television for years.”Puzzle & Dragons from GungHo Online Entertainment is another game that has seen exposure in ads…and considering its worldwide popularity, it shouldn’t be a surprise that King chose to follow suit.

Source: VentureBeat