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Gameloft sales up 50% so far this year
Mobile games publisher Gameloft announced they posted €45.9 million ($62.9 million) in sales during the first half of their fiscal year. According to Gameloft, this is a 50% increase from last year, which means they are well on their way to hitting their €95 million ($130.3 million) objective when the games industry goes into overdrive sales for the end of Q3 and the Q4 holiday season.The sales come from standard issue back titles and, in the same way Activision pulled ahead in the first half of this year, Gameloft saw significant revenue from movie/TV licensed games like Shrek the Third, Desperate Housewives and Lost. Yes hardcore gamers, you may curse the heavens for that if you wish.
Ubisoft: Prince of Persia on XBLA next week
Speaking to Eurogamer, a representative from Ubisoft has confirmed that Prince of Persia will be arriving on Xbox Live Arcade next Wednesday, June 13. Developed by Gameloft, the game is a remake of the original Prince of Persia featuring completely revamped graphics. In addition to the graphical upgrade, the game will feature new traps, enemies, and puzzles that expand on the traditional gameplay. The original Prince of Persia tasked players with clearing the game in one hour. We have to wonder if the new Xbox Live Arcade port will have the same restriction. At any rate, what we've seen so far looks promising. Assuming Prince of Persia comes out at a decent price, are you planning on picking it up?
Gameloft brings Lost mobile game to iPod
Mobile game developer Gameloft is bringing its cell phone title based on ABC's Lost to the iPod for $4.99 / £3.99. Gameloft joins just five other developers -- Electronic Arts, Namco, Astraware, PopCap, Fresh Games -- who sell games on the iTunes music store, as Apple has kept the device a closed platform for development.With so many unsolved mysteries, you'd think playing a game based on Lost would involve asking lots of questions while never getting around to the answer portion. (We kid 'cause we love.) Gameloft is currently working on a cell phone title based on NBC's Heroes; a Lost game for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is in development by Ubisoft.At the time of this publication, the season finale for Lost is currently underway for Americans on the East coast. West coast readers should be advised that commenters might leave spoilers below.
Prince of Persia Classic on XBLA, what? No turban!?
OK purists, let's keep it together. For the XBLA release of Prince of Persia Classic, expected in early summer, Gameloft and Ubisoft have slapped a beautiful fresh coat of paint on the classic 1989 title. That may not make the purists so mad as the prince ditched his classic turban for his Sands of Time look. Yup, Prince of Persia Classic has the prince in his post-turban, but pre-emo (Warrior Within) look, so at least there's some consolation.Allegedly everything else but the graphics will remain the same including level design, combat and -- oh gawd help us -- controls. For the youngin' in the room who never played the original, you haven't experienced pain until you've tried tackling the original Prince of Persia's unforgiving controls. Yes, it is truly painful, more painful than every time the faux-metal music played in Warrior Within. Still can't figure out what they were thinking there -- but it sold well!
Dial Hard: John McClane goes mobile
A new Die Hard game is in development, and while those of you still waiting for a fitting sequel to the awesome Die Hard Trilogy (no, we refuse to count Viva Las Vegas) are still out of luck, it's good news for people using mass transit or killing idle bathroom minutes. That's right: Gameloft has announced they've nabbed the mobile game rights to Live Free or Die Hard, due out in theaters this summer.We know it may not be what you were hoping for, but take heart. Gameloft VP Gonzague de Vallois said that they're trying to capture the movie's "action, intrigue and humor" ... in their cell phone game. We'll give them action and (maybe) intrigue, but humor? Is it possible? Can pressing the "7" key make you chortle? We'll find out when the game is released before the movie's June 27 debut.
"Heroes" game on the way ... to your mobile phone
Yes, a video game based on NBC's series Heroes may be on the way, but don't expect to be picking up the "Have a Haitian Guy Erase Your Wife's Mind 20 Times" Achievement any time soon.In its mobile gaming roundup, Gamesindustry.biz mentions that publisher Gameloft has picked up the rights to develop games based on the geek favorite for the very small screen. No details are available yet about which of the show's many characters will be playable in the cell phone game ... or if the story will be separate from the show's storyline or ... well, really no details are available about any of it, save that it will be based on Heroes.It's well-worn territory for Gameloft, which has already given similar treatment to hot TV properties like Lost and Desperate Housewives. Looking at those rather unlikely choices, Heroes may just be their easiest adaptation to date. Though light on details, what the announcement does provide is an opportunity for you junior marketers to come up with your own witty, cell-phone based play on one of Heroes' many infamous taglines.Right now, we're leaning towards "Save the RAZR ... save the world."
Gameloft bringing games to BlackBerry smartphones
If you're a mobile gamer, odds are you're probably not using a BlackBerry -- but if a major publisher has any say in the matter, that may not be true for long. Gameloft, Europe's biggest mobile phone games provider, announced this week that it will soon be making and selling games for the BlackBerry platform. This is quite a boost for BlackBerry owners who have probably wanted official support for cutting-edge mobile games for some time. Right off the bat, Gameloft titles such as "Asphalt Urban GT 2," "LOST" and "Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones" will be the first titles for the BlackBerry platform released by Gameloft, and will cost from $5.99 to $7.99 each depending on where the carriers price each title. With the U.S. mobile gaming market seeing 2006 revenues of $722 million, it's no wonder Gameloft saw such a nice opportunity here. BlackBerry owners aren't all business, right?
Nokia to release new N-Gage this September
You don't have to tell Nokia that the original N-Gage was not the success they had imagined. They already know. That won't stop them from giving it the ol' college try as Nokia plans on rolling out a new N-Gage by this September. In a brief statement on the official N-Gage blog, Nokia makes mention of a September release amidst reassuring that more than two publishers are on board for the new platform.At the moment, only EA Mobile and Gameloft have known commitments for the new N-Gage with both publishers having already released titles for the original device. With Gameloft holding the lucrative Totally Spies license, we can only cross our fingers and hope for a next generation N-Gage follow-up.
Rainbow Six Vegas goes mobile
This ain't your Xbox's Rainbow Six, but Wired's GameLife was impressed by Gameloft's version of Rainbow Six Vegas for the mobile platform -- at least for the duration of a 10-minute play session. The first two stages featured some variety, including a sniper task (pictured) and then a casino assault. GameLife noted that the second stage worked particularly well because players simply control a cursor; it's essentially a point-n-click action game.Gameloft has a lot of experience developing mobile games, including 11 previous Tom Clancy titles. Last summer, the company was named the 'Best Mobile Games Studio' at the Develop Conference & Expo.
New developer wants to work on PSP
Indie developers just love downloadable and mobile games, so it makes sense when a new developer forms and ventures into these less risky waters. According to gamesindustry.biz another new developer has expressed interest in creating mobile games and most importantly, wants to work on PSP. OneNine is the name of the new outfit and they are comprised of former employees of Activision, Vicarious Visions, Gameloft, Digital Extremes, and Kush Games. The company had this to say about their focus, "OneNine is dedicated to making great games for both casual and hardcore markets, on all possible platforms. We are looking to expand into DS and PSP development as well as games for the web.downloadable and Xbox Live Arcade markets." The article did not mention any game specifics in regards to the PSP, so we'll all have to wait to see what OneNine has up their sleeves. Just in case they need help coming up with a PSP game idea, I'm going to go call OneNine to pitch that geriatric Rascal racer I've always dreamed of.
Paris Hilton creates a mob scene [update 1]
While we wouldn't exactly call ourselves fans of the hotel heiress, we have to admit that we were still intrigued by the idea that Paris Hilton would be making an appearance at E3 to promote a new game with her name splashed all over it: Paris Hilton's Jewel Jam. We stopped by the Gameloft booth to see it all go down. Er, you know what we mean.
Paris Hilton as an E3 booth babe
The press release arrived with a subject line that screamed, "DON'T MISS THIS E3 CELEBRITY APPEARANCE." A split second away from hitting the delete hotkey, I paused when I noticed that Paris Hilton was the celeb who'd be making an appearance. But this will be no typical Paris Hilton gaming appearance. This time, Ms. Hilton will be working the chubby hordes who visit the West Hall to snag her signature and maybe check out the game that will bear her name, Paris Hilton's Jewelry Case. (No joke.) Paris will be hanging out (and we do mean hanging out) at the Gameloft booth (#2200) on Thursday for two hours. We wonder if she'll have to abide by the new E3 booth babe rules, which state: "Material, including live models, conduct that is sexually explicit and/or sexually provocative, including but not limited to nudity, partial nudity and bathing suit bottoms, are prohibited on the Show floor, all common areas, and at any access points to the Show." Break the ESA's rules at your own risk, Paris. No sexual provocation, or we'll have you bounced. Be a good girl, got it?
