Mobile Games Highlights: Garfield, Halo

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Welcome back to another edition of Mobile Games Highlights, where we look at some of the newer releases that have dropped into the Apple App Store and Google Play. Here are this week’s highlights!

Garfield: Survival of the Fattest (PIXOWL, free-to-play, available for iOS {link no longer active})

Garfield has been hating Mondays and eating lasagna for many years now, but he hasn’t really made a big impact on the gaming scene — until now, that is. PIXOWL’s Survival of the Fattest follows a similar format to previously released Simpsons and Family Guy games, letting players build their dream eating utopia around the popular tabby. Featuring a variety of characters from the strip (including, yes, Odie) and many mini-games to choose from, Survival of the Fattest is a delectable treat.

WWE 2K (2K Games, $7.99, available on iOS and Android {links no longer active})

Wrestling fans, it’s “time to play the game.” 2K’s WWE franchise has finally made its way to the mobile front, featuring a number of top-tier superstars from yesterday and today, from John Cena to Sting to The Big Show. Players will guide their favorite heroes and villains through a series of matches, in the hopes of capturing the WWE championship. Featuring stunning visuals, fun gameplay and plenty of unlockable items (including gear to customize a superstar from scratch), WWE 2K is a real slobberknocker.

MLB Perfect Inning 15 (Gamevil USA, free-to-play, available on iOS and Android {links no longer active})

Now that baseball season is literally in full swing, developers are producing some great apps that will help fans get the most out of their favorite pastime. MLB Perfect Inning 15 is the latest game to join the ranks, featuring a number of teams from the American and National League as they compete for the championship. With a full-blown season mode, sharp visuals and the collect authentic players from the sport, Perfect Inning swings for the fences and connects.

Halo: Spartan Strike (Microsoft, $5.99, available on iOS {link no longer active})

After spending the longest time exclusively appearing on Microsoft’s Windows devices, Spartan Strike pulled a surprising move this week, simultaneously appearing on iOS devices as well. The sequel to the popular Spartan Assault includes plenty of top-down action, as you blast enemy forces using a member of the Spartan squad. Players who enjoy twin-stick shooters with a great deal of challenge will no doubt get traction out of this Strike.

Halo: Spartan Assault (Microsoft, $5.99, available on iOS {link no longer active})

As if Spartan Strike didn’t offer enough thrills, Microsoft surprised the App Store community by also releasing the original Spartan Assault for their favorite iOS devices. Featuring all the run-and-gun action we’ve come to expect in the series, but with crisp visuals that take advantage of Apple’s high-end screens, Assault will definitely appeal to fans of the genre — and those feverishly awaiting the arrival of Halo 5: Guardians this fall.

Side note: both Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike can be purchased in a bundle package for $9.99, for a limited time.)

See you next time for Mobile Games Highlights!

‘Minecraft’ Still Leading Video Game Content On YouTube

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Videos on YouTube have no shortage of popularity, and video game-related content in itself is growing through the roof, between designated Let’s Play videos, pieces produced by top-tier broadcasters, and more. Newzoo recently conducted a study that breaks down just how popular the Top 20 Game Franchises fare on the video channel.

Titled the Octoly-Newzoo Top 20 Game Franchises on YouTube, the report breaks down the deeper links between game brands, fan-created content and video streaming.

Video game views in general continued to rise to an all-time high, as fan-created videos accounted for 97.6 percent of all views on the channel back in March 2015. The total views of overall rankings multiplied incredibly over February’s numbers, rising 1.5 billion to 12.3 billion, a gain of 14 percent.

Out of all videos, ones related to Ubisoft’s Just Dance generated the most with 169 million views, 98.7 percent consisting of fan-generated content.

One other franchise that continues to move forward is Nintendo’s Super Mario series, which gained over 100 million views over the one month period, reaching a total amount of 547 million views. Again, most of the content came from fan-generated content, especially when an unlicensed high-definition version of Nintendo’s classic Super Mario 64 arrived on the Internet. Even though the game was eventually taken down, views continued to pour in for the content, keeping Mario’s success at an all-time high.

Microsoft’s Halo series continues to be a big draw on the video front, with triple the view rates at the beginning of this year. Between fan-related content on the multiplayer front, footage from the previously held beta for Halo 5: Guardians, and new trailers, it managed to gain 127 million views for March — up from the 42 million for February. This interest is expected to keep going, between last week’s release of Spartan Strike and Spartan Assault on iOS, and, of course, the release of Guardians coming later this year.

Other games that were hits on this chart include zombie-related titles like DayZ and Arma, as well as the survival horror game Five Nights At Freddy’s, with videos spanning across all three releases. Minecraft is also a huge draw in the community, with 3.9 billion monthly views.

The general ratings breakdown shows Minecraft at number one, followed by Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto in second place with nearly 1.4 billion views. The rest of the top 20 consists of Five Nights At Freddy’s (1.27 billion), Call of Duty (851 million), EA’s FIFA franchise (770 million), Garry’s Mod (690 million), League of Legends (667 million), Super Mario (547 million), Counter-Strike (362 million), DOTA 2 (282 million), Clash of Clans (259 million), Battlefield (177 million), Just Dance (169 million), Arma (156 million), World of Tanks (134 million), DayZ (134 million), Team Fortress (131 million), Halo (127 million), Mortal Kombat (123 million) and Destiny (118 million).

Not every franchise is benefiting, however. Angry Birds managed to drop out of the top 20, and Clash of Clans also lost some interest, despite being a strong seller on the mobile front.

 

 

The full report can be found here.

Facebook Versus YouTube

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Facebook continues to try and battle against YouTube when it comes to pushing its video content, and it may have just found a new tool to help in its fight – exclusive content from publishers and partners.

Adweek has reported that several partners have already come on board to help push Facebook’s video features. Popsugar, for instance, will push a new program called Popsugar Rush, which will run exclusively on Facebook for 24 hours before being published on its YouTube account. “In every way, we are crafting the video specifically to be optimized for Facebook,” said Popsugar Studios president David Grant about the show.

That’s not all, either. Popular clients like Buzzfeed and Jimmy Kimmel, who hosts a late night talk show on ABC, have also struck similar deals with Facebook, producing video clips that either run exclusively or with a certain timed window on its channel before going to its competitor. The article also reports that several other partners have programs in the works as well.

Ever since it partnered with the social site back in September, Popsugar has seen strong dividends from its Facebook videos. It stated that views of the videos jumped to a whopping 18.5 million views in just a few months’ time, compared to the 20,000 it had when it got started. “Facebook has become a natural extension of our brand,” said Anna Fieler, executive vice president of marketing for Popsugar.

While Facebook feels that exclusive videos aren’t a part of its core strategy, it’s pushing for them anyway in an “aggressively” strong manner, according to the report. One anonymous publisher stated that video view results have been stronger on Facebook through direct posting, instead of just linking to YouTube – a practice that the social site isn’t too fond of, particularly with its pre-roll advertisements.

“Most companies know that a best practice on Facebook is that an image of a video performs better than a direct link (to a third-party player,” said Paul Kontonis, executive director for the Global Online Video Association. “But Facebook native video performs better than everything.”

Content promotion goes a long way with the site, and it appears that Facebook is offering plenty of incentives through deals with programming, although they weren’t highly detailed. Jimmy Kimmel co-executive producer Doug DeLuca said the show teamed with Facebook to help promote the content, through premium placements on the site. “Discovery tends to be easier on Facebook when you are doing something specific,” he said. “I don’t know if as many people would have found (the series) if we had posted it on our YouTube channel among celebrity-driven, high-profile pieces.”

Facebook could announce an even more company-friendly program this week with the forthcoming Facebook Anthology branded-content program, with several partners like Vox, The Onion and Funny or Die reportedly on board with its own content.

While this could have an effect on YouTube’s business in the future, Kevin Cronin, partner for search and social at Universal McCann, noted that it continues to be the biggest view driver in online video overall, and that if the site asks publishers for exclusive content, marketers creating branded content may be forced to limit said content to a single platform.

More details on the report can be found here.

Over Half Of U.S. Teens Are On Instagram

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If you’ve been around or live with a teen these days, glued to their phones, you can bet that they are spending a good portion of their time scrolling through their Instagram feeds. According to research by Defy Media, 52 percent of U.S. teen Internet users are on the platform. To put that in perspective, Instagram is the second most adopted platform by the age group behind Facebook of which 71 percent of teens use.

US Teen Instagram Users

eMarketer estimates that this year, Instagram’s proportion will move up significantly to 61.9 percent penetration and may stand to surpass Facebook’s stronghold in 2019.

But who is Instagram *more* popular with Instagram users tend to be just slightly older than young teens, as 58 percent of 15 to 17 year-olds say they use it compared to 44 percent of 13 to 14 year-olds. Instagram is also more popular among females (61 percent) than males (44 percent).

Income, is of course, also another major factor in its userbase as Instagram is primarily a mobile platform. It makes sense that Instagram would be most popular among teens with a household income of over $75k. It also makes sense for it to be second most popular for under $30k household income as the traditional notion of Internet access is changing, with the key entrypoint being mobile.

Despite Instagram’s dominance, it appears many brands are not taking advantage of the platform. Predominantly, restaurants, hotels and retailers are more keen on Instagram, but adoption rates for those brands are still barely over 30 percent {link no longer active} or below.

Trailer Highlights: ‘Guitar Hero’ Returns And ‘Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture’

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Guitar Hero: Live – World Reveal Trailer

 

If anything, a trailer is supposed to make the consumer curious about a game they’ve never seen much of to the point where they want to learn more. Gazing upon The Escapists for the first time, all I want to do is learn more. A sandbox prison setting with a heavily reliance on crafting and a simple overarching goal (ESCAPE!), this indie shows all of the promise without having to flaunt production value. You know what denotes solid production value Making an enjoyable, immersive game. This looks like a damn good game.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture – Available Summer 2015 Trailer

 

Take the time to watch this a couple times over – you’ll catch something new every time. A rapture would make you assume that people just went *poof* ala The Leftovers, but that doesn’t seem to be the whole story. Quarantine and Influenza flyers litter the empty room, and empty mattress with splatters of blood increase the mystery, not to mention the mysterious wisps of light speaking remorsefully to one another. Mystery created, interest piqued.

BONUS: Star Wars Battlefront – Reveal Trailer

 

MUST REMAIN CALLM. SO MUCH EPIC STAR WARS’ING HAPPENING. OH MAN.

Seriously, every Star Wars fan, especially the ones that wore their original Battlefront discs raw, must have lost their collective s**ts when they watched this. Personally it took three views until I remembered to breathe again. The Dice engine is perfectly suited for this franchise, and I can’t wait to see more of what EA is doing with this fan favorite. November 17 is too far away.

Let’s also take a moment to acknowledge how fast you throw “no man left behind” when you come face to face with Vader himself. BRING ON THE BATTLEFRONT, BABY!