Electro Rises

BY

For Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker will face off against a whole bevy of super-villains in order to prove his worth. This latest trailer proves how much of a bombastic deluge of explosions and effects that the movie will be.

 

Facebook Ads Make It Personal

BY

 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IZbQoVlGyTg

Facebook’s first attempt to advertise itself by comparing itself to chairs was odd and didn’t send quite the message the social network wanted, so they’re taking a different tack. With this new series of ads, they’re showing the personal ways that Facebook affects our lives, humanizing the hugely popular service.

Source: AdWeek.com

 

Zynga Introduces New Games To Mobile

BY

Zynga is about to make some moves on the mobile front with various forthcoming games, based on some of its most popular franchises.

A new blog post from the company highlights a number of these releases, all of which are set to launch on mobile markets “soon.” These games include the follow-up to FarmVille, aptly named FarmVille 2: Country Escape, as well as a new edition of the popular Words With Friends, simply called New Words With Friends.

In addition, Zynga Poker will also debut on mobile devices soon, considering its popularity in previous releases with over 350 million players. Words With Friends isn’t too far behind, with 100 million players thus far. Both of the new versions will feature additional features, which allow users to interact better with on another.

“You have allowed us to become a part of your daily routine through our games like FarmVille, Zynga Poker and Words With Friends,” wrote COO Clive Downie in the blog post. “We know these games in particular have struck a chord with many of you. You’ve not only spent time playing and sharing in these games, but you have also shared incredibly valuable feedback, helping us evolve these games over time in order to make them better for players around the world.

“These new mobile games are for you, by you,” he continued. “We listened closely to all of your feedback over the years and leveraged your insights to create new experiences that honor the games you’ve come to love, yet deliver the fresh unique features and gameplay you’ve been asking for.”

FarmVille 2: Country Escape, the New Zynga Poker and New Words With Friends will launch in the coming weeks in select markets and will be available worldwide by the end of Q2 2014.

Source: Polygon

iPad Loses Market Share Lead

BY

Smartphones aren’t the only advancing technology when it comes to Android support. Apparently, lower-end tablets that utilize it are on the rise – and putting the hurt to Apple in the process.

Research firm Gartner has reported that worldwide sales of tablets managed to rise 68 percent to 195.4 million units over the last year, a big increase from 2012’s 116.3 million. However, out of those, Apple tablets have seen a decline in market share, dropping from 52.8 percent to 36 percent in that time. By comparison, Android-based tablets have risen, going from 45.8 percent to 61.9 percent. The key point, it seems, is pricing of lower-end models.

“In 2013, tablets became a mainstream phenomenon, with a vast choice of Android-based tablets being within the budget of mainstream consumers while still offering adequate specifications,” said Garnet analyst Roberta Cozza. “As the Android tablet becomes highly commoditized, in 2014, it will be critical for vendors to focus on device experience.”

Regardless of dwindling numbers, Apple continues to be an effective seller, with 70.4 million units shipping last year. “Apple’s tablets remain strong in the higher end of the market and Apple’s approach will continue to force vendors to compete with full ecosystem offerings, even in the smaller-screen market as the iPad mini sees a greater share,” said Ms. Cozza.

Remember, these market share numbers represent the share of tablets sold in that period of time, not the total installed base of tablets.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Kickstarter Tops $1 Billion Crowdfunded

BY

Kickstarter has come a long way from a fad that helped Double Fine create Broken Age. The crowdfunding site recently reported that it is about to surpass the $1 billion dollar point when it comes to pledges for its projects.

As of yesterday morning, Kickstarter has reached $999,209,752 in funds for its projects, just $791,000 short of the billion dollar mark. It’s likely to reach that point sometime in the next few days, with so many campaigns currently going on.

Over 136,000 campaigns have been launched on the site, with about 43 percent of them going on to reach their funding goal. Although Games are sixth place in terms of number of campaigns – behind art, publishing, theater, music and film), games have by far  the most campaigns that have raised over a million dollars, and gaming campaigns have collectively raised more than any other category.

Here’s to the growing success of crowdfunding!

Source: TechCrunch

TV Still Rules

BY

Even though streaming services and cable channels are on the rise, regular television still can’t be beat, according to a new study from Nielsen.

The report, conducted alongside ad targeting firm Simulmedia, states that approximately 283 million Americans watch TV on a monthly basis, compared to 155 million Americans watching video content online. Out of those watching TV, each one watches approximately 146 hours of TV, ranging from sports to popular shows.

In addition, while the size of the digital video industry is no slouch at $3.5 billion, the TV industry is  whale in comparison, with about $74 billion. That’s about 95 percent growth over the medium.

While more of these network companies dabble in digital services, it’s clear they’re going to keep regular television going for some time.

Source: Adweek

Tags:

Abandoned Shopping Carts Online

BY

If you’ve ever thought about buying something online, only to change your mind at the last minute and leave the item sitting in your virtual shopping cart – you’re not the only one.

Shoppers who visit these websites and don’t complete these orders are quite frequent, with approximately two-thirds of visitors not finishing up their orders. This has been a number that’s been steady for quite a few years, according to a report from MarketLive, an eCommerce site which specializes in tracking abandonment rates.

The eMarketer report “Shopping Cart Abandonment: How Retailers Are Using the Metric to Drive Better Results,” points out the rate of abandonment over the quarter. The number has been pretty steady, starting out at 72.8 percent in the beginning of 2012 and concluding at 67.9 percent by the end of 2013.

The reasons behind said incompletion of orders It boils down to three: the stickiness of consumer behaviors, the growth of mobile shopping and slow economic recovery.

Even with these incomplete orders, however, shoppers are still getting a wealth of information about items, which retailers hope to use as insights for remarketing on certain items.

Source: eMarketer

Image source: Lies Young Women Believe

Top News Of 2013

BY

There was no shortage of news to fill out the year, and we’re going to take a look back at the most popular news items of the year, counting down to the #1 most popular story of 2013. Of course, not all of these are strictly news… some are fascinating, some are visually impressive, some are outrageous, and others are just plain fun. Take a trip with us down memory lane…

#10: Minecraft Toys Coming from Jazwares

There are few games that have become a phenomenon like Minecraft, and the news that there will be official Minecraft toys no doubt was greet with cries of glee from the ten-year-olds of the world. Seems odd that they would be finding their way to this news item, though. 

#9: Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Collector’s Edition Blow Out

Sure, it’s a gorgeous collector’s edition, and this news item neatly shows what you can get. Why this particular news item became a star performer is part of the great Googly mystery of our time. If you want to see an exceptional example of a collector’s edition, though, this is the news item to see.

#8: Superhero Posters Go Full Noir Style

Another graphic re-imagining, this time of various superheroes done in a film noir poster style. It’s a trip to see what these iconic characters could have looked like.

#7: Game Developers Of Thrones

Some clever graphic artist re-imagined the houses of the hit TV series Game of Thrones as, well, game developers. Hilarity ensued… 

#6: Gears of War Movie Gets Ted Producer

OK, it’s going to be an interesting movie if the choice of director says anything about it. Probably no teddy bear, but we can hope for a cameo. Just don’t put Ted in powered armor, please.

#5: Dead Space 3 Demo: Get Early Access Now

There was certainly lots of interest in getting early access to Electronic Arts’ Dead Space 3 demo, and this news item showed that clearly. Was the news not that widely spread Sometimes the popularity of these items is a mystery.

#4: Twitch.tv Hires In-House Sales Team

The streaming business has been expanding rapidly, so naturally Twitch has been expanding its sales force to meet the demand. It looks like the explosive growth will continue in 2014, with next-gen consoles fueling the increase with built-in Twitch sharing.

#3: Rockstar Hints at ‘Cocaine Cowboys’ Game

While Grand Theft Auto V has easily been the biggest game of the year, Rockstar is thinking ahead… and may be working on a game based around the Miami drug trade, with a female protagonist. Cue the outrage, and get ready to start counting sales in the millions again if they move forward with this plan. 

#2: Holy Press Kit, Batman!

The most impressive press kit we’ve seen since, well, ever, was produced by Warner Bros. Interactive for Batman: Arkham Origins. It’s a silver Batarang with an LCD screen and it’s going to be a hard one to top. Hear that, PR execs The gauntlet has been thrown!

#1: Skylanders U.S. Figurine Sales at Over 100 Million

It’s amazing how popular these figures continue to be, as this impressive milestone was reached in February of this year. It’s a fun game and the figures are impressively well-crafted, and next year we’ll probably be looking at new sales milestones as Skylanders continue to soar.

Un-Marketing Beyoncé’s New Album

BY

Perhaps the biggest surprise about Beyoncé’s ‘The Visual Album’ was that there was exactly zero buzz surrounding the release prior to when it dropped on Friday. Why As it turns out, no one but Beyoncé’s closest inner circle knew it even existed.

Beyoncé’s approach was direct-to-fans. In a video uploaded to her Facebook page, she explains why she decided to showcase the album in this way:

 

Super Stadiums Coming For Gaming Tournaments

BY

With eSports clearly on the rise and creating a booming competitive market, could we soon see stadiums built specifically for gaming purposes? Judging by some designs that popped up on the Internet, definitely.

A group of Kansas City architects known as Populous have such a design in mind, revealing on Gizmodo what could potentially be big gaming venues by the time 2020 rolls around.

According to the group, the multi-billion dollar industry has reached out quite a bit to the public, creating a bigger demand for competition. The stadium design features a vivid, futuristic light display, as well as private gaming pods and rearrangeable interiors to fit the gamers’ needs.

These are preliminary renderings, and nothing’s been finalized as of yet when it comes to putting together a venue, but it definitely looks like the potential for specific gaming-related locales isn’t out of the question.

Source: Gizmodo