GameFly Launches Writer Rumble

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GameFly has announced its first published game in Writer Rumble, a word fighting game that lets you play as literary legends. The game is available on iOS now for $0.99, and will be available in early 2013 for Android users.

“We are thrilled to have an addictively fun, quality-driven game such as Writer Rumble as our first foray into publishing under the new GameFly Games label,” said Sean Spector, GameFly co-founder and SVP of Business Development and Content. “Mobile gaming is an ever growing part of the gaming experience, and publishing high quality games is an important part of our digital strategy at GameFly.”

“Writer Rumble has been a long journey for our small company, and we could not be more excited for people to be able to play it,” said Gian Cruz, designer and co-founder of Feel Every Yummy. “We’re very proud of this game, and are glad we could work with GameFly Games to take us through the home stretch to release it.”

Watch for an exclusive interview with Spector on GameFly’s digital initiatives, including their recently launched Steam-like PC client download service, on [a]list soon.

Facebook Friends May Lead To Stress

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A recently posted study by University of Edinburgh Business School says that the more groups of people in someone’s Facebook friends, the more stress it can add. Adding employers or parents can raise anxiety for people who show off behavior that other might disapprove of such as swearing, recklessness, drinking and smoking.

“Facebook used to be like a great party for all your friends where you can dance, drink and flirt,” said Ben Marder, author of the report and early career fellow in marketing at the Business School. “But now with your Mum, Dad and boss there the party becomes an anxious event full of potential social landmines.”

Source: Business-School.Ed.AC.UK

Art Of Destiny

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Bungie’s Destiny project has been detailed by a series of concept art leaked out to IGN. What is depicted is a sci-fi universe where the remnants of humanity in the Last City on Earth fight against mysterious aliens from the edge of the universe.

A massive, mysterious alien ship called “the Traveler” hangs overhead like a second Moon and is apparently humanity’s protector.

Source: IGN.com

Ubisoft CEO Says Long Console Cycles Bad For Publishers

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Long hardware cycles have benefits to the platform holders, as they do not have to manage expensive hardware launches. However, Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot says that such moves are not beneficial to software publishers.

“I think that what has happened is the transition has been very long,” said Guillemot. “You know, in the industry, we were used to changing machines every five years. This time we are in the seventh year of the 360. We need new consoles and at the end of the cycle generally the market goes down because there are less new IPs, new properties, so that damaged the industry a little bit. I hope next time they will come more often.”

Guillemot thinks that console transitions are the best time for a company to reinvent itself. “Transitions are the best times, are the best ways, to make all of our creators take more risks and do different things,” he said. “When a console is out for a long time . . . you don’t take as much risks on totally new IPs because even if they are good, they don’t sell as well.”

“Everybody who is taking risks and innovating is welcome because there are lots of hardcore gamers and those guys want new things, where the mass market will be more interested in having the same experience and doesn’t want to take as much risks because it’s not aware as much of what is going to change its experience. So, the beginning of the machines is always a good time for innovation,” he concluded.

Source: Polygon.com

Kongregate Adds Free-To-Play Games

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Kongregate has added free-to-play downloadable games to its catalog of browser titles. The GameStop subsidiary will feature Super Monday Night Combat, Smashmuck Champions, and Bomb Bubbies, with more F2P titles coming over the new few weeks.

“This is a huge evolution forward for Kongregate, our gamers, and game developers,” said Kongregate CEO Jim Greer. “We look forward to applying our expertise around game launch and monetization to our new downloadable games catalog.”

“Adding downloadable titles brings a new level of gaming to core players looking for high-definition graphics with more options and content to select from,” said Greer. “For game developers, we want to help them leverage our network of distribution and promotional channels to acquire and retain users, and ultimately monetize those interested in enhancing their gaming experience.”

Nintendo’s Iwata Apologizes for Wii U Day One Download

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The large firmware update for the Wii U, mandatory for the console to access the Internet, has rankled some users. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is aware that the situation is sub-optimal, and apologized to consumers.

“Personally I think that users should be able to use all the functions of a console video game machine as soon as they open the box, so I feel very sorry for the fact that purchasers of Wii U have to experience a network update which takes such a long time, and that there are the services which were not available at the hardware’s launch,” said Iwata. “It is challenging to communicate attractions which are hard to understand unless you actually touch and experience them yourself. This is especially so with Wii U because it has unprecedented entertainment potential.”

Source: IGN

God Of War Screenwriters Given Leverage To Be Different

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According to God of War screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, Sony is allowing them some freedom in creating the backstory of Kratos. Also, the pair said they hope to differentiate themselves from recent films based on Greek mythology like Clash of the Titans and Immortals.

“[Sony], you think they’d be sacred about the origin story and all of that, but they were encouraging us to make it different from those [games] and if that means going in dramatic shifts, they were cool of it. And they’re involved,” said Melton.

“Those movies can inform the God of War to step in a more bold direction,” said Dunstan. “Not to join those ranks, but to stand head and shoulders apart like other reinventions have done within that genre. The satisfying element is to look at those movies as a commentary on the genre and now say something different.”

Source: Shock Till You Drop

Game Connection Marketing Awards Winners Revealed

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The Game Connection Marketing Awards were announced, and Ubisoft was the top winner, with three different awards for two different campaigns; two for Just Dance 3, the other for Assassin’s Creed III. Also a multiple winner was NCsoft for their work on Guild Wars 2; Ayzenberg collaborated on the game’s branding and print campaigns.

The full list of winners follow:

  • Best Marketing Team of the Year
  • Crispin Porter + Bogusky – “Autodance” smartphone app for Just Dance 3 (Ubisoft)
  • Best Broadcast Campaign
  • Sid Lee Paris – “Rise”: European trailer for Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft)
  • Best Digital Campaign
  • NCsoft – branded online campaign for Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft)
  • Best Experiential Marketing
  • TBWA\Brussels – train station football stadium for PS Vita (Sony Computer Entertainment)
  • Best Mobile Campaign
  • Crispin Porter + Bogusky – “Autodance” smartphone app for Just Dance 3 (Ubisoft)
  • Best PR Campaign
  • Wargaming.net – western Europe campaign for World of Warplanes (Wargaming.net)
  • Best Print Campaign
  • NCsoft – European campaign for Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft)
  • Best Social Media Strategy
  • neoco – European graffiti campaign for Borderlands 2 (2K Games)