Tag Archives: mobile

Train2Game News Mad Catz joined Design for Samsung

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Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (“Mad Catz”) (NYSE MKT/TSX: MCZ), a global provider of innovative interactive entertainment products, announced today that it has joined the Designed for Samsung (DFS) program.

As the first company to offer traditional video game controller hardware for the Designed for Samsung program, Mad Catz will be introducing a range of mobile gaming products from its award-winning GameSmart™ portfolio, optimized for Samsung smartphones and tablets.

With a wide variety of innovative controllers and gamepads, Mad Catz will provide Samsung Mobile consumers the opportunity to enhance their gaming and multi-media experiences with features and functionality that take full advantage of their Samsung smartphone or tablet, as well as other Bluetooth® enabled connected devices and PCs.

Each certified product will also feature the ‘Designed for Samsung Mobile’ logo on packaging, communicating seamless compatibility with Samsung smartphones and tablets.

“We’re excited to join the Designed for Samsung Program and provide Samsung Mobile customers with a range of high-quality mobile gaming products designed to enhance their mobile experience,” said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz.

“Our GameSmart line of mobile gaming controllers and accessories continue to lead the industry in product innovation and through our participation in the DFS program, gamers can be assured of getting the ideal gaming product for their Samsung smartphone or tablet.”

All participating Mad Catz DFS program products will be available to purchase through the Mad Catz Online Store (store.madcatz.com) as well as from other leading retailers. For more information, please visit: http://madcatz.com/

Train2Game News PreLaunch.me Launched

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Adways Interactive (Head Office: San Francisco, CEO: Ken Asakura) today announced the full launch of PreLaunch.me.

Adways Interactive are releasing the Android app out of Beta with new features and debuting the PreLaunch.me web app for iOS and Android, available for publishers and gamers in the US, Canada, Australia and UK.

PreLaunch.me is a new pre-registration platform for game developers to enhance pre-launch exposure by building and engaging a targeted audience of gamers with new assets, closed beta testing periods, robust social tools, and participation rewards. PreLaunch.me also provides the industry’s first built-in A/B testing combined with pre-registration services, including a full-service user data analytics suite. Developers that have used PreLaunch.me have seen significant post-launch results with one week ARPUs hitting $1.50 and one week retention rates performing 270 percent higher than non-PreLaunch.me users.

Gamers can use PreLaunch.me to research a curated roster of featured games they want to closely follow from announcement through launch. After pre-registering, players can receive in-game gifts, participate in closed beta programs, build a social network through a player-driven guild system and receive immediate notification once their game is live.

“The best part about PreLaunch.me is that it really is a social platform for gamers and developers to work together and make everything about the game the best it can be before it launches to the wider market,” said Ken Asakura, CEO of Adways Interactive, parent company of PreLaunch.me. “Through the PreLaunch.me program, publishers can receive direct gamer feedback that is native and conversational, enabling them to update their product in an authentic way.”

Soft-launched in 2015, PreLaunch.me is the Western iteration of Yoyaku Top 10, the world’s first pre-registration platform for game developers to build an audience and engage a community before launch. This platform quickly gained widespread success and evolved into an essential ingredient for mobile game marketing. With more than one million users reached and more than one million pre-registrations per month, Yoyaku Top 10 provides a contemporary preview of PreLaunch.me’s potential success.

To download PreLaunch.me to your Android device, visit Google Play, while iOS users may visit www.PreLaunch.me via the Safari web browser.

Train2Game News First look at vTime

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Starship, the UK-based innovation studio, today unveil a first glimpse of mobile social VR network, vTime, with the release of a new video and screenshots. Set for launch in November, vTime offers friends and family a compelling new way to spend quality time together in virtual reality.

Using just a smartphone and a VR headset, cross-platform network vTime allows users to meet-up and interact with people around the globe. Combining breath-taking virtual locations with intuitive and hands-free controls, vTime users can chat, enjoy music, and share images, videos, and spherical media in rich virtual environments. Running on 3G and 4G cellular networks as well as Wi-Fi, vTime transforms the smartphone into a passport to the metaverse.

vTime users are able to personalise their experience by customising the appearance of their avatar, hosting virtual meet-ups and creating friends lists. Newcomers can quickly expand their social circle and immerse themselves in engaging conversations through vTime Search, which focuses on matching users based on interests and trending topics.

Friends without a headset can still be a part of the conversation by using vTime Mono – a 2D window into the vTime metaverse through which they can interact and chat with other participants using a tablet. Users are also able to view live public exchanges happening within vTime through Spectate Mode, accessible through tablet, phone and PC.

“vTime brings social VR to virtually everyone, from virtually anywhere on virtually any device,” explains Starship CEO Martin Kenwright. “We’ve taken complex technology and made it simple, beautiful and accessible. Just download the vTime app, put on your headset, and you’re vTiming.”

The free and platform agnostic network will launch its open alpha to Android users in November. Compatible with multiple mobile headsets including Gear VR and Google Cardboard, Starship has opened a mailing list for those interested in being the first to experience the network.

View the trailer for vTime at http://www.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=k8BSftnVMRA

Train2Game News VS Social media

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Using only a smartphone and a VR headset, cross-platform network vTime allows users to meet and interact with people around the globe.

Networking with friends or alone, users are able to enjoy music, and share images, videos, and spherical media in rich virtual environments. From the majestic beauty of nature through to futuristic urban landscapes, vTime transforms the smartphone into a passport to the metaverse.

vTimers can personalise their experience by customising their avatar’s appearance, creating friends lists, and hosting virtual meet-ups.  Newcomers can quickly expand their social circle and immerse themselves in engaging conversations through vTime Search, which focuses on matching users based on interests and trending topics.

Friends without a headset can still be a part of the conversation by using mono mode – a 2D window into the vTime metaverse. Using a phone or tablet, spectators are able to view live public exchanges happening within vTime, or request an invite to view private chats.

“vTime takes complex technology and makes it simple, beautiful and accessible,” explains Starship CEO Martin Kenwright. “Connecting with friends, old or new, in a wealth of incredible environments couldn’t be easier – simply download the vTime app, put on the headset, and you’re away.

“VR will be huge, but surely biggest of all on mobile where there’s a massive, pre-installed user base. Unlike console and PC headsets, the barrier to entry for mobile VR is low. People are already carrying the devices that will propel VR forward in their pockets. It’s not just for the early adopters, VR is for everybody, and vTime brings social VR to virtually everyone, from virtually anywhere on virtually any device.”

The free and platform agnostic network will launch its open alpha to Android users in November. Compatible with multiple mobile headsets including Gear VR and Google Cardboard, Starship has opened a mailing list for those interested in being the first to experience the network.

Starship will reveal vTime to the press during Oculus Connect in LA in September.

Train2Game News Mobilize your games

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iQU Group today announced the launch of its new outfit, Mobilize, focused exclusively on the mobile games market to help developers self-publish successful mobile titles, engage players and operate profitable games.

In a crowded, confusing market, Mobilize gets involved in the development process early to offer a holistic, bespoke go-to-market and growth strategy with scalable products and solutions. Led by mobile games guru, Oliver Kern, the Mobilize team is already working with established developers such as Hutch Games, Mind Candy and more… and will be rolling out additional services in the coming weeks.

“In today’s saturated mobile games market it’s very important for developers to not only make a great game but to also create a viable strategy to soft-launch, launch, run and monetize their game properly”, said Oliver Kern, the group’s VP and Chief Mobilizer. He continued “There is a lot of noise with too many companies claiming to provide the silver bullet in terms of player acquisition or analytics or some other such service. However, a game is successful when many factors work in harmony. In a nutshell, our goal with Mobilize is to help developers understand all the levers of launching a successful game and maximizing their opportunity when self-publishing their titles. We want to start working with them early on in a project to help create a cohesive strategy for launch, promotion and live operation that will benefit the life and commercial viability of the game”.

iQU Group’s founder and board member, Reinout te Brake, said, “We are very proud to announce the launch of Mobilize as a new addition to the group. For over 5 years, iQU has been helping games developers and publishers increase the value of their games by providing solutions that extend and maximize the player life-time and value of their marketing spend. The current games landscape is extremely complex, with small teams having to master technical, creative, analytical, tactical, marketing and industry knowledge to be successful. With Mobilize we have brought together an experienced, world-class team to help clients navigate this landscape and increase their probability of success.”      
                       
Mobilize services include campaign management, soft-launch management and data analysis, channel expansion to help mobile developers reach every relevant channel, regardless of studio size, and country management to execute international marketing campaigns in French, German, Russian, Spanish, Dutch, Italian and English.

For further information on Mobilize, please visit: www.mobilizemygame.com

Train2Game News Clan of the Cloud

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Clan Of The Cloud has today unveiled its new ‘platform agnostic’ CloudBuilder framework for any developer to incorporate social elements into their app, game or any program they are working on, whether for corporate content to social gaming.

The company is already partnered with and speaking to many indie game developers, medium sized studios and healthcare companies including Pastagames, The Game Bakers, Astraware & Advanced Mobile Applications.

The launch of this new version for the framework sees these libraries come out of Beta and phased into general release and can be accessed here:

https://account.clanofthecloud.com

Clan of Cloud is truly disrupting the social experience – with only one line of code you can add many features such as:

    Social Features – Chat, Twitter & Facebook sharing, Leaderboards, Challenges, Push Notifications, Offer Rewards/Gifts and more.

    Monetisation – IAP, Set your own virtual currency, view sales/ROI, Virtual items on the fly, Rewards & promotions all in real-time.

There’s also a full CRM system, which gives developers complete data collection & control per user in real-time including data export/bulk push notifications.

Whether you’re working on Mobile (Android, iPhone, BB, Windows Phone), web (HTML5) or desktop to third- party middleware including STEAM, Unity3D, Marmalade, all these features are available and cross pollinated seamlessly with all of these platforms.

The features the cloud-based framework offers would usually take developers a minimum of four months to create via dedicated programmers – Clan of the Cloud are already there.

The latest version of the framework is online from today via http://cloudbuilder.clanofthecloud.mobi/

Train2Game News Mobile Chatter

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Fresvii, the one-stop platform service for smartphone game developers, today announced Open Beta for APPSTEROID, a Mobile Game Cloud Platform.

APPSTEROID features Chatter, the first in game mobile voice chat, providing mobile developers a feature never before available for mobile games. Chatter allows players on iOS and Android devices to talk with each other while playing a game together, and developers can integrate the voice chat feature seamlessly using Fresvii’s APPSTEROID platform.

“We are excited to introduce the ability for in game chat for mobile gaming. No other platform provides the breadth of community features. APPSTEROID encourages player loyalty which helps mobile developers acquire and retain players,” said Hiro Nakagawa, CEO of Fresvii.

Fresvii also announced that the company has raised $1.8 million funding led by Nissay Capital Co., Ltd. a VC firm based in Japan and other angel investors.

The APPSTEROID Open Beta introduces new features in addition to Chatter:

In-Game Texting: Developers can easily integrate in-game texting into their mobile games.  Players can text to friends while playing their mobile game.

Leaderboards: Quickly integrate Leaderboards that display across both iOS and Android devices. Developers can change the Leaderboards user interface to match their games’ aesthetics.

Matchmaking: APPSTEROID will automatically find opponents across both iOS and Android devices. Developers can setup and define filtering conditions to create the ideal matchmaking systems for their games. The initial release supports turn-based games with up to 16 players.

APPSTEROID services range from community management, game forums, social network integration, and push notifications.  Developers can integrate these features easily via the SDKs, which are specifically designed for developers to add components as needed. The APPSTEROID SDK is cross-platform and supports Unity, Android, and iOS.

Fresvii already has game developers creating games using the APPSTEROID platform:

“APPSTEROID’s suite of game community tools lets me bypass the costly process of building social network infrastructure and focus on great game play instead,” said Chris Pruett, CEO of Robot Invader, a game development studio based in the Silicon Valley.

“Developers can easily wrap other APPSTEROID community features around Chatter such as forums, group and friend management,” said Sherman Luong, Chief Strategist at GameCo, a game development studio based in Newport Beach, CA.

Fresvii also provides a robust platform for 3D avatar automation called Frenbee that allows developers to create avatars easily with Unity.

The Open Beta Release is free and now available for mobile game developers to download at  http://www.fresvii.com.

Train2Game News LootXP

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Want free gaming stuff? Of course you do! LootXP is a new app (and website) that delivers you the best perks gaming has to offer, including Steam codes, beta keys to the latest upcoming games, in-game items, discount codes and so much more! Best of all, it’s all free!

LootXP is also a win-win solution for publishers and developers, as well as gamers. LootXP will provide them with an easy and risk-free method to expand their audience and raise the awareness of their game. The platform will help promote their game titles in a engaging and reliable way while at the same time giving value to gamers.

Now available via Google Play, users can simply download the LootXP app to their Android enabled mobile device and the iPhone version is coming to the Apple Store soon. LootXP connects our Looters with the best gaming companies in the world, and provide them with all the free loot they can handle.

For more information, head over to http://www.lootxp.com

Train2Game News Ms PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign

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BANDAI NAMCO Games America Inc. has joined forces with the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) in the fight against the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women with the launch today of its Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign.

Headlined by BANDAI NAMCO’s iconic Ms. PAC-MAN mascot and anchored with new gameplay incentives across the video game publisher’s range of mobile titles, this new effort will raise funds for NBCF to help women now and inspire hope to those affected by breast cancer through early detection, education and support services.

“Awareness and early diagnosis are critical in the fight against breast cancer,” said James Kucera, head of Mobile at BANDAI NAMCO Games America Inc. “We are proud to lend our voice to the fight with Ms. PAC-MAN and BANDAI NAMCO’s Pink Ribbon Campaign.”

“While video games often bring amusement and joy to our lives, this is a chance to bring hope as well.” Senior Producer Ben Acevedo said. “Breast cancer has directly affected my immediate family and it’s a fantastic opportunity for gamers and the industry to get involved. While the mazes we are offering in October are fun, the real challenge is to raise awareness and get players, producers, artists, programmers across the mobile industry to join us and Join the Pac.”

“We are very excited about our new partnership with Bandai Namco and the Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign,” says NBCF Founder & CEO, Janelle Hail. “By encouraging their gamers to Join the Pac, we can reach more women than ever with our message of hope. The funds they raise will allow us to provide early detection services for women in need.”

The heart of the Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign is an exclusive new maze for sale across a multitude of Ms. PAC-MAN and PAC-MAN iOS and Android titles for $0.99 through October. All proceeds from purchases of this new level will go directly to support the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The in-game user interface and artwork for these products will change to a new pink ribbon theme for October alongside this new content. In addition, players can share their scores via Facebook and Twitter, inviting friends to meet the challenge with a donation and high score of their own.

The full list of titles the new Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign content can be downloaded on includes:

iOS

    PAC-MAN/Ms. PAC-MAN
    PAC-MAN Lite/Ms. PAC-MAN Lite
    Ms. PAC-MAN for iPad/Ms.PAC-MAN for iPad Lite

Android

    Ms. PAC-MAN
    PAC-MAN + Tournaments

Ms. PAC-MAN and PAC-MAN are two of gaming’s most historic characters, the stars of a long series of high score-fueled retro arcade experiences. Players navigate either character through labyrinths of tight corridors, dodging dangerous ghosts while gobbling up points, fruits, power-ups and extra lives.

The Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign will run from now until October 31.

Train2Game News Apple creating jobs

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App Store creator claims credit for half a million jobs in Europe

In a slew of new figures focused around job creation, Apple reports it has paid European app developers a total of $6.5bn since the App Store opened in 2008.

In 2014, the overall app economy is expected to generate revenues of $16.5bn to European GDP, according to figures published by Apple, with worldwide GDP contributions coming in at an estimated $86bn.

The company also claims that 497,000 jobs created in Europe since 2008 can be directly attributed to the App Store.

Of these, 132,000 are directly or indirectly supported by Apple, and 116,000 were created at other companies as a result of Apple’s growth.

“This job growth for coders, developers, entrepreneurs, and others would not have existed without Apple’s innovations and technology,” the firm wrote.

“With more than 1.2m apps and over 75bn downloads, the App Store has created an entirely new industry: iOS app design and development.”

Source: Develop