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Confused by the Galaxy Gear? Apple released a better, cheaper watch in 2010
The smartwatch market is a weird one, so when a new device enters the fray it can be somewhat confusing to pinpoint exactly where it fits in. Samsung jumped in today with the reveal of the Galaxy Gear, a $299 smartwatch that, at launch, will work with exactly one smartphone, the Galaxy Note 3. Unless you're planning on dropping the cash to upgrade your handset to the as-of-yet unreleased new Note, there's no reason to really consider the Galaxy Gear in the first place. But don't worry, Apple already released a device way back in 2010 that competes with the Gear, and it can now be found for less than half the price of Samsung's new gadget. That device is the 6th generation iPod Nano, and it might not be a smartwatch, but it does a pretty respectable job of faking it. Check out the head-to-head comparison below and see which one is the better value for you.
Guild Wars 2's first birthday by the numbers: 3.5M sold, 460K peak concurrent
Today Guild Wars 2 celebrates the first anniversary of its official launch day. On the one hand, it's hard to believe it's been a year already. On the other hand, the game has seen so many changes and content updates that my adventures in Tyria today don't resemble what they were like this time last year. According to the anniversary blog post just released by ArenaNet's president, Mike O'Brien, my experience is exactly what the team is aiming for: "I think the real mark of a success of an online world is how that world grows and evolves, and the extent to which players can take the world and make it their own," he writes. In addition to the blog post, ArenaNet has released a fancy infographic, announced a special anniversary bash, and answered a few of our questions via press conference. Read on!
Fan-made infographic summarizes Guild Wars 2's first year
How would feel about a year-one infographic for Guild Wars 2? There's one floating around the intarwebs, only it wasn't made by ArenaNet. Nonetheless, it does a decent job of summarizing GW2's content updates over the past 12 months. Redditor omlech says that "this is from a post I made over at Neogaf for the anniversary of the game. Just thought I'd share it here." "Here" is of course the Reddit link we've posted below. If you'd like to see the graphic without heading to Reddit, you can click past the cut.
Spacetime Studios celebrates 260 million play sessions with massive infographic
Spacetime Studios, creator of mobile online titles Arcane Legends, Pocket Legends, and Star Legends, just announced a big milestone: The studio's games have seen over 260 million play sessions to date. To celebrate this feat, Spacetime put together a huge infographic packed with interesting figures related to its games and the community of players who support them. According to the numbers, players have killed over six billion enemies, completed over 25 million quests, and formed over 13 million parties. They've consumed over 16 million potions and elixirs and opened enough treasure chests to provide one for every person in New York City. Perhaps most importantly, Spacetime's games have been downloaded over 20 million times. It's all right there in the infographic, featured after the break. [Source: Spacetime Studios press release]
Roku passes 5 million players sold in the US, shows off with a few more stats
Five years after the original Roku launched and just weeks after the release of the Roku 3, the company has announced lifetime US sales of 5 million units. The proclamation comes attached to a detailed infographic (linked below) that breaks down its last five years of progress, plus stats like where it's most popular (Lexington, KY) and the most minutes streamed by one player in one week (10,080.) That's quite a marathon session -- Lost plus House of Cards doesn't even get you halfway -- but its stats claim 25 percent of players stream more than 35 hours of audio and video per week. The last time we checked in on Roku sales, it was chasing the million unit mark alongside Apple's hobby. The Apple TV has since risen to 5 million sold in the last fiscal year, buoyed by the AirPlay feature that makes it an attractive accessory for the company's other devices. To Roku's favor, it claims 43 percent of owners say it's their preferred source of video for their TV. It's come a long way from its start as a Netflix Player with more than 750 channels available including Time Warner Cable and HBO Go, which makes CEO Anthony Wood's claim that the "future of TV is streaming" look closer than ever.
Square Enix dishes some Tomb Raider stats
Square Enix recently shared some interesting stats it gathered on the way gamers are playing Tomb Raider. As of the developer's posting, players have killed 5,294,879 deer and 1,417,750 crabs.Lara Croft has narrowly avoided death 13,742,891 times and has dodged the attacks of 11,067,764 enemies, killing 147,675,058 enemies with a bow. Roughly 13.95 percent of those kills were with fire arrows (20,601,083 to be exact). Keeping with the game's namesake, Croft has also raided 3,570,956 tombs in total. That's a lot of tombs.
Fuse infographics offer all the fictional facts
And here we thought all the humor left Fuse with the name change. The last Fuse trailers were pretty dark, with the occasional one-liner balanced by one of the heroes setting fire to a car with a guy in it, but now EA and Insomniac offer two infographics densely packed with joke "information."These completely fake infographics give us an important piece of (real) information: that we should expect the studio's trademark humor to shine through in the new game. Or at least in its marketing.%Gallery-180559%
League of Legends kicks off third season of e-sports
League of Legends is about ready to begin its third season of the League Championship Series, and this time Riot Games is bringing a few interesting changes to the field. Season 3 goes live on February 7th for North America and Europe and features four-days-per-week of streamed e-sports as teams battle to become the best -- and bring home the dough. For Season 3, Riot is fiddling with the structure to make a new league ranking system that should offer a "greater sense of progression." Players will battle it out in six tiers of similarly matched teams until the cream rises to the top. To help all players understand the changes, Riot's provided a handy infographic and FAQ covering the pertinent points. There's also a goofy promo video of players running around an empty stadium in slow-motion, and you know you want to see that. It's after the jump. Thank us later.
League of Legends implementing new league system for Season 3
Season 3 is on its way for League of Legends, and just like the previous seasons, players will be fighting for position in the ranked tournaments. However, this next round of ranked play comes with a twist: Riot Games is implementing a new league system. Why the change? To make competition even more compelling and play more meaningful for everyone. Instead of just one single ladder for folks to climb, players will belong to a league within one of six different tiers based on their skill. Leagues will be comprised of up to 250 players broken into five divisions (except for the top Challenger tier). Players can rise and fall within the divisions and even work their way into a new league at the next tier. The new system is detailed in the infographic after the cut; click the image to see the full-res version. And for even more details, check out the official FAQ.
Infographic offers noobs a summary of the US MMO industry
What is an MMO? If you are reading this, chances are you can already answer that! But there are still poor souls out there who can't, folks who scratch their heads and look at you quizzically when you discuss your latest pwnage. So in an effort to enlighten the uninitiated, PoetCode, the creator of Dynasty of the Magi (an app combining a MMO with an ongoing eBook series), has put together an interesting infographic to help explain MMOs at a glance. With a mini lexicon, a code of conduct, and even a list of ingredients for making your own MMO mingled among statistics, the partly tongue-in-cheek collection offers gamers and non-gamers alike a look at the industry in the US. What percentage of gamers is male vs. female? And what age group dominates the playerbase? Both of these questions and more can be answered in the full infographic after the break. Check it out, then tell us in the comments below what you think of the various points. Do you agree? [Source PoetCode infographic]
Report reveals just 34% of apps released in 2012 were paid
The App Store is a very different place than it was four years ago, and nothing makes that point better than Appsfire's 2012 roundup infographic. Arguably the most telling statistic regarding the current state of apps is that just 34 percent of apps released in 2012 landed in the Paid category, with the other 66 percent being free to download. But what does this say about the App Store? Has it suddenly become a cheapskate's paradise? Not really. As opposed to 2008, when 74 percent of apps were paid from the start, app publishers are embracing the "freemium" model more and more, relying on in-app purchases and upgrades to bring in the cash instead of charging upfront. The infographic also reveals that despite being released just days ago, Google Maps managed to take the title of highest-reviewed non-game app. On the gaming side of things, Angry Birds Space snagged the top spot.
Learn all about the MMO market with this nifty infographic
Knowing is half the battle, folks. Sometimes the process of going from not knowing to knowing can be boring and slow -- but not this time, thanks to the magic of infographics! The intelligent folks over at Newzoo have compiled a relatively brief infographic about the state of the MMO market, from the fact that there are 400,000,000 MMO players world-wide (of whom about 180,000,000 are strictly free-to-play patrons) to the fact that 30% of Australia's paying players are female. Last year, the market was split nearly 50/50 between free-to-play and pay-to-play games, but has since switched to a 53% to 47% advantage for free-to-play. Check out the full infographic after the break to feast your eyes and your brain, or head over to an interview with Newzoo's CEO to absorb knowledge the old-fashioned way.
League of Legends claims title of 'most played video game in the world'
This past week, League of Legends' Season Two Championship was sidetracked by a cheating scandal that left some fans feeling alienated. Now, on the eve of the finals, Riot Games has released a load of statistics to highlight the fact that LoL is indeed a popular competitive game worthy of its place in the MOBA pantheon. The title boasts over 70 million registered summoner names hailing from more than 145 different countries. LoL has also declared itself the most played video game on the planet, averaging over one billion monthly hours world-wide. Other graphs include comparisons of daily active players (12 million) and peak concurrent players (three million). Check out all of the stats compiled in the infographic after the cut. [Source: Riot Games press release]
Playnomics puts gamers into eight categories
Forget the Bartle Test -- there's a whole new chart for player behavior. Playnomics, a predicative gaming analytics company, has crunched a lot of numbers to neatly segment players into eight categories depending on the player's motivation and behavior. Combining behavioral science and in-game data, the company created a neat infographic that attempts to sell you on the concept of these eight categories, which uses the axes of intuitive/diligent, social/solus, and proactive/reactive. The end result of these fundamental types is composed of scientists, politicians, collectivists, soloists, habitualists, socialites, strategists, and competitors. When applied to the population of the UK, the study showed that strategists (32%) and politicians (22%) are dominant, while soloists (5%) and habitualists (5%) are the minority.
Guild Wars 2 posts online manual, talks economy and art
One of the unsung heroes of MMOs is the economist -- the guy or gal in charge of making sure that supply and demand doesn't get all wonky. Whether you think about in-game economy or not, its function impacts everyone. For ArenaNet, the man in charge of keeping Guild Wars 2's money ship float is John Smith, and he's created an interesting infographic showing the state of the economy from the beta process. From the chart, Smith deduces many interesting trends that may or may not play out in the live game. The largest sources of income during the beta were rewards, followed by dynamic events and tasks, while the most frequently traded items were crafting materials. He notes that an abnormal percentage of players gravitated to jewelcrafting as a profession, although he speculates that this was because of the temporary nature of the beta. Smith even compares the rate of gems to gold to Facebook's recent IPO and finds a similar pattern therein. Keeping up with the information reveals, ArenaNet has released the online manual for Guild Wars 2 that covers everything from "getting started" to "competitive play." If the economy and manual don't interest you, perhaps art does. MSNBC interviewed Art Director Daniel Dociu about the look of Guild Wars 2, and you can watch it right here after the break.
Order & Chaos dropping subscription, adding PvP modes and mounts [Updated]
Gameloft's mobile MMO is entering a new phase in its lifecycle. The studio announced that Order & Chaos is not only due for a major update, but is dropping its nominal subscription fee to make it completely free-to-play. The update, which is slated to be pushed to iOS devices later this month, will contain important features for the pint-sized title. First up are PvP combat arenas, which come in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 varieties. Next is the addition of four new mounts to the game: two horses and two giant wolves. Finally, Gameloft is adding the second part of the Salien dungeon for hardcore adventurers. Previously, Order & Chaos charged $0.99 a month or $2.99 for six months to access on top of the original app purchase price. Gameloft is also developing a spin-off title called Order & Chaos Heroes. [Update: Gameloft contacted us to clarify that there is still a fee for the game's download, but there is no subscription fee and current players will pay nothing extra.] [Source: Gameloft press release]
Vizify offers free infographics all about you, makes you feel like a big shot
Infographics. The stuff of high turnover websites and news channels, right? Well, yes, but now you can bring the same white space and pastel shades to your own internet footprint, courtesy of free infographic web app Vizify. It's still in its trial period for now, which means you'll have to wait for an entry code to tap into the breezy visualization generator, but we managed to plug in as many social networks as we could to see how it all works. The service is definitely centered around those that are very connected to the internet. Vizify will draw information from Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, LinkedIn and also connect through work-based websites you add yourself. It will then populate a clickable front page with circles including images, quotes and links to your profile elsewhere. The service, which is geared at recruitment, crafts a convenient short link to offer up on resumes or job emails. Edit options include a choice of color palettes, and the ability to tweak the layout of the information circles [seen above] and the larger pages that follow it, bringing either more career-centric (or interesting) content to the forefront. Sign up for an access code at the source to give it a try for yourself, or take a stalker-esque trip down an Engadget editor's social network tracks at the second link below.
Infographic: The Brainsss behind an App Store 'success' that was probably 'a mistake'
The App Store ecosystem works wonderfully for Apple and the people who purchase and play games on their iPads, iPhones and iPods; the same can't be said for all app developers, Lonely Few's Rod Green told us today. Green and his partner, Yeong-Hao Han, are out thousands of dollars and at least two years of development time on their iOS debut, Brainsss.It did well, by Apple's standards. By Yeong-Hao's standards, however, the two years he and Green put into making Brainsss an intricate, highly stylized, top-down zombie title was a poor business move."From a business point of view, that was probably a mistake, but we really wanted our first iOS game to turn out exactly how we wanted it to be," Yeong-Hao told CBS.Green and Yeong-Hao are now focused on creating titles with quick turnaround and less complexity, a method the App Store seems to support, if the flood of single-swipe hits is anything to measure by.Piracy also played a part in the dissemination of Brainsss, but Green said he doesn't see that as a negative: "In short we feel that most of the time these pirates aren't actually lost revenue at all, but more a chance to get the awareness of the game out there. It's the nature of the digital age and something we felt we needed to just accept rather than waste time trying to prevent."Below: find an infographic breaking down the sales of Brainsss over its first month, along with some more information about user behavior and piracy trends around the world.
Infographic shows the numbers behind Diablo III's opening day
A couple of weeks ago, we told you how Diablo III was rewriting the PC game sales record books. Today Forbes has posted an infographic that illustrates just how ridiculous some of those numbers really are. Would you believe that all of the box copies of D3 sold on day one would stretch from the earth to the international space station and back if stacked end to end? Did you know that D3's $210 million first-day take is enough to give every Blizzard employee a cool $42,000? These and other absurd facts are yours for the viewing courtesy of the graphic design wizards at Video Game Design Schools. We've also embedded the infographic for you after the cut.
Order & Chaos celebrates its first anniversary
Gameloft's hit mobile MMO, Order & Chaos: Online, has reached its one-year anniversary, and the studio is breaking out the goods to celebrate. To spread the joy, Gameloft is giving three months of game time, 25 runes, and a free gift box to all players. There's plenty to do inside the game as well, as the anniversary update adds quests, pets, fireworks, mini-games, and a lottery to enjoy. Order & Chaos recently received an upgrade that allows it to be played over 3G as well as wifi and upgraded its graphics for the retina display on the most recent iPad. The team also put together an infographic to show off the game's impressive numbers. According to the chart, over three million characters have been created, 831 million creatures have been slain, 35,500 guilds have been created, and 14 million messages have been sent.
