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Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond renamed to Starlite with beta incoming
In the wake of NASA successfully landing a robot rover on Mars recently, you might be wondering what happened to the NASA-themed MMO titled Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond. The first thing that's happened to it is that the project has been retitled Starlite. Project Whitecard Studios Inc. hopes the new name will be less cumbersome and also provide a better idea of what the game is about at a glance. Development has progressed on the game as well, with a beta expected to begin sometime before the end of 2012. Prospective players can experience the game on mobile devices and browsers to minimize barriers to entry. If you're interested in a game focused on the technical side of space travel and exploring to the boundary of our solar system, keep a close watch for news on the upcoming beta. [Source: Project Whitecard Studios Inc. press release]
E3 2012: not quite ready to go mobile
Perhaps E3 2012 will be remembered as the year that even Nintendo acknowledged the existence of smartphone gaming -- if only begrudgingly so, dragged kicking and screaming into the early '10s. It's a brave new world here, a strange one in which everyone and their grandmother has become a gamer by default, carrying high powered portable computers in their pockets at all times. But even as all the major players took time out to give a nod to the ever enlarging juggernaut that is mobile gaming, its an element that still feels like a bit of a redheaded stepchild inside the Los Angeles Convention Center, where console gaming is still far and away the dominant force -- it's a presence relegated to brief mentions in larger press events and pushed to the sides of the convention floor. It comes as no surprise, of course, that Nintendo didn't dwell on the matter during its show opening keynote on Tuesday. The mere fact that company president Satoru Iwata made reference at all to mobile operating systems is something of a sea change for an executive who has thus far stubbornly refused to even "consider" developing for the Androids and iOSes of the world. And the news from Sunday doesn't do much to shake that stance. While mobile operating systems were name checked, it was only in reference to users' ability to access social information from the Wii U on their browser.
Ion iCade Mobile and iCade Core review
The iCade Arcade Cabinet famously began life as an April Fool's joke, pulling the video game equivalent of Pinocchio by transforming in a real salable product. The $100 arcade machine-shaped iPad enclosure / controller hit the sweet spot between functionality and retro gaming nostalgia, proving successful enough that Ion found itself with a solid reason to expand the line. Notable amongst the new arrivals are the iCade Core, which offers up the same feature set as the original iCade in a more portable joystick form, and the iCade Mobile, a re-imagining of the product as an oversized iPhone case. The Core carries the same price tag as its predecessor, while the Mobile clocks in at $20 less. So, are these additions worthy of the iCade name? Or would the line have been better served as a one-off? Insert a coin and find out after the break. Update: Unfortunately, we were provided with incorrect information ahead of the review -- the iCade Core is actually priced at $80, same as the iCade Mobile.
Gameloft set to offer 11 games on BlackBerry 10 platform at launch, more to follow
Hot off the heels of the BlackBerry 10 exhibit, RIM announced a partnership with Gameloft that will see the developer offer a number of mobile titles by the time the new platform launches. As RIM notes, these games will be designed to take advantage of "key" features within the fresh OS, including Scoreloop social gaming tools and multiplayer functions. Among the 11 games set to be released are Shark Dash, Ice Age Village, Oregon Trail and, of course, N.O.V.A 3: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance -- all of which will range from free to $6.99. Let's not forget, though, that Jetpack Joyride and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 will also be making their way onto the platform. All in all, not a bad way for the Waterloo-based outfit to kick things off.
Monkey Quest goes portable
If you or your children are fond of Nickelodeon's Monkey Quest, you may have run into the unavoidable problem that the game requires you to be home. Like many other games, however, Monkey Quest is hopping on the mobile bandwagon with Monkey Quest: Thunderbow. Available now for the iPhone and iPad, the game stars a specific monkey from the world of Ook, the eponymous Thunderbow, as he seeks to dethrone the evil cat king Zotan. Gameplay is managed in a similar style as the popular Angry Birds games, with the caveat being that Angry Birds doesn't allow you to earn special items and equipment for use in the main Monkey Quest game. Regular updates are planned for the game to help keep players engaged and interested as Thunderbow continues his quest. So if you've got one of the portable devices and your child can't get enough monkey business, it's worth a look. [Source: Nickelodeon press release]
Apple and Google just say no to ESRB mobile app ratings
You're familiar with the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), right? They're the lot who help moms and dads ensure that their kiddies only get their grubby mitts on age-appropriate content. Recently, the ESRB's reach extended into the mobile space, but it turns out that Apple and Google aren't down with the ESRB's handy dandy ratings system. Despite being invited to the party, the two tech behemoths with matching app purchasing portals are quite content with their existing controls, thank you very much. Of course, the fact that the ESRB relies on developers to complete a detailed questionnaire instead of reviewing every app itself (not unlike existing Android Market and App Store protocols) might have something to do with Cupertino and Mountain View's reluctance to jump on the bandwagon. Looks like parents wanting to keep their kid's devices free from inappropriate content will have to remain vigilant without the ESRB's help.
Mark Jacobs elaborates on departure from EA Mythic
It's been a couple of years since Mark Jacobs abruptly left -- or perhaps was let go -- from EA Mythic, but curiosity around the split persists in the MMO industry. Yesterday, Jacobs opened up about the event that occurred after EA's acquisition of Mythic and BioWare. Long story short: The merge brought about changes, and Jacobs wasn't on board with them. "They made a decision on a direction they wanted to go and obviously, as we put out in our joint statement, that wasn't a direction that had a role for me, or at least the role that I wanted. It really is as simple as that. Or at least publicly. Whatever went on behind the scenes, whatever we talked about, I have no intention of sharing that," he said. Jacobs insists that EA has been kind to him in the subsequent years. "One thing I'll say publicly about EA, they have been very good in what they've said post-departure regarding me. Similarly I've been good about what I've said about them post departure." He has since gone on to form a new company to create social and mobile games. In an ironic twist, Jacobs says that the idea for getting into the social gaming market took root while he was at Mythic, but he left before acting on that notion.
Keiji Inafune: handheld consoles don't need to fear the smartphone... yet
Yeah, we know that the whole mobile-gaming-is threatening-dedicated-gaming thing has been done to death, but when some of the industry's software MVPs start weighing in on the matter, well... that's when our ears perk up. Nintendo has made clear that it's shunning smartphones as a gaming platform, and now it's Mega Man co-creator Keiji Inafune's turn to windmill into the argument. Speaking with our sister site Joystiq, he opines that the two worlds aren't set to eclipse each other just yet, illustrating it wonderfully through the medium of simile: "I think it's very similar between cellphone cameras and professional digital cameras. You don't use a smartphone camera for an interview, and you don't use a really professional camera to take some small pictures when you're going to work." Hard to knock the underlying logic, but it's pretty tough to pretend that handset gaming isn't seriously denting handheld gaming. For the full spiel, be sure to give that source link a tap.
Vestel, Exent bring Android games to TVs, with 'all-you-can-eat' subscription service
Just last week Vestel was busy showing of its BitTorrent Certified Television, and now the company's teaming up with Exent to deliver Android games to your boob tube -- and it's doing so by playing off your love of a bottomless buffet. Described as "the world's first all-you-can-eat Android TV game subscription service," GameTanium allows users of Vestel's Smart Box set-top box to access a suite of TV-optimized games in the comfort of their living rooms, using their Android phones as controllers. What's more, the service lets them switch between their PC, cellphone, tablet or TV without ever losing their place in a game. The service will be debuted at this week's IBC, but if this announcement has left you hungry for more, there's always the Golden Corral. Full PR awaits you and your belly after the break.
Sci-fi MMO Star Legends launches on the Android OS
Spacetime Studios, creator of the mobile MMO Pocket Legends, stepped into the science fiction realm with the launch of its latest MMO Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles. Feeding off the frenzy of the mobile platform, Star Legends debuted on the Android OS first and can be downloaded at the Android Market or VCAST. Chief Vision Officer Cinco Barnes commented on why the publisher chose to launch on Android first in a recent press release: "When we launched Pocket Legends on Android we were blown away by the response from the community. Android has since become the leading revenue driver and our primary focus. It is so easy to publish apps on their Market that it became a no-brainer for us to flip the standard mobile game strategy on its head and launch on Android before any other OS." Star Legends boasts hours of gameplay -- via wi-fi, Edge, 3G, or 4G connections on Android 2.0 and above mobile devices -- with three customizable classes, character progression, guilds, and chat. These items, Spacetime says, are usually reserved for PC MMOs. Screenshots of this innovative game are displayed below, and the brief trailer for the game is tucked behind the break! %Gallery-23010%
New iPad MMO Fleck turns real maps into fantasy landscapes
With the sheer number of GPS-enabled devices capable of gaming, it seems inevitable that games will start taking the hard part out of developing intricate maps. Sure enough, the brand-new iPad MMO Fleck is giving you the chance to fight monsters, tend gardens, and meet new friends, all by wandering around in your neighborhood. The game is build on an overlay by Google Maps, letting players explore the fantasy world at the same time that they move through the real world. The game is currently available for the iPad and browsers, and the team at Self Aware Games is also working on porting the game over to support other mobile devices such as iPhones, Droids, and similar smartphones. The game currently supports play throughout the continental United States as well as portions of southern Canada and northern Mexico. While the game's location-based setup might make travel times a uniquely involved process, iPad owners might well find something to like in Fleck as development continues.
NFC version of Angry Birds coming to the Nokia C7 as part of the Symbian Anna update
Those angry birds just keep on coming. Weeks after announcing a spin-off exclusive to Amazon's App Store, Rovio is previewing a version indigenous to Nokia handsets -- specifically, those with Near Field Communication chips. Angry Birds Free with Magic (how's that for a mouthful?) includes five "normal" levels, along with 15 others that players unlock by tapping their phones together. In total, you'll need three friends with cutting-edge phones, as each one helps unlock five levels. Oddly, though, Angry Birds continues to be a single-player game, even after you've joined forces with your buddies to help each other advance. For now, it'll be available to C7 owners as part of the upcoming Symbian Anna update, though other Nokia handsets with NFC chips will get the game this year. Rovio also says it's working on a full version, which will be available in the Ovi store. For now, you can head on past the break to see a short video of some cartoon phones and cell-shaded piggies.
GDCO 2010: UTV True Games wows with three new titles
One of the most thrilling aspects of this job is visiting game studios. It's essentially like stepping into a toy factory, complete with strange noises and funny personalities. Nerf guns are a staple, and each desk or station is decorated with all types of toys, posters, and other trophies from Nerd-dom. UTV True Games is no different, so when we were asked to sit down with three (count 'em, three) different teams to preview some new titles, we knew we were in for a good time. Of course, our professionalism prevented us from actually clapping and going "sqqquuueeeee!" every time a new product was shown, but it's very possible that the teams would not have cared anyway. So what did we see? What do we have to look forward to from the same people that brought us Mytheon? Well, click past the cut and let's take a look!
Free for All: So, what does "MMORPG" mean?
As a reader of Massively, you should have a pretty good idea what MMORPG means. Not just what it stands for, but what it feels like, looks like, and behaves like. The problem is, despite common definitions, the games keep coming in different shapes and sizes -- and from all over the world. While I receive many comments about the Western coverage that Massively features, I would only be doing half my job if I reported on only the latest half a dozen games to break the multi-million-dollar budget mark in America. The world is a smaller place, especially now. And across the world there are MMORPGs that are being played and enjoyed in many different ways. There are PvP games, games that place players into instance after instance with only a handful of other players, all while offering the potential to hang out with thousands of other people. Is an instanced combat game still an MMO? How about a game like Mabinogi, which maintains a persistent world, but is broken into several invisible channels for players to skip in to and out of? This is impossible, but I think I will try to define exactly what MMO means -- now, in this current market.
Gameloft revenues increase 11% in 2009, 122 million (mostly) digital dollars made
Yep, it says it all right there in the headline, folks. Gameloft swiftly took $122 million from consumers in 2009, roughly equating to 15 million digital copies of DSiWare Oregon Trail. Alright, alright, the digital distribution-based publishers probably sold some of its other games too, we guess -- mobile games (in general) represented a whopping 94 percent of the company's sales in 2009. And despite our voracious habit for mobile games here at Joystiq, North Americans were second place in terms of worldwide sales at 32 percent, with Europeans leading at 39 percent and the rest of the world trailing at 27 percent. Good luck catching up, rest of the world! And yes, even amidst the global economic recession, Gameloft predicted "further growth in 2010 in terms of revenue and profitability." The publisher also pointed out its strong position in the long term, saying it will "benefit from the rapid emergence of digitally distributed video games on mobile phones, tablets, consoles, and from major technological innovations." You catch that tablet reference in there? Yeah, we did too. Hey, it's 2010, right? The future. We're in it.
Analysis: Mobile games aren't worth $5.4 billion
Jeremy Laws at Cabana Mobile has an interesting little analysis up about mobile gaming that claims it may not be as big as it's cracked up to be. Laws says there's no way the mobile gaming market can hold up $5.4 billion, as was reported earlier this year by Juniper Research. Laws looks at the top 10 companies releasing mobile games (at retail -- that will become important in a minute), and claims that even if those companies make up 70% of total mobile games, the total amount of mobile game sales only comes up near $1.7 billion, far short of the Juniper number.So where's the discrepancy? It's almost certain to lie in the App Store, where Juniper says growth more than made up for the dropoff of sales in other areas, like Java-based games. Laws does list companies like EA Mobile and Gameloft, whose games are selling on the App Store, but almost all of Laws' companies are old-school mobile developers, who created games for mobile phones before the App Store was ever open for business. Plus, his "retail" mention might mean the App Store isn't included in his calculations at all -- can you call the App Store "retail"? In fact, if any mobile games marketplace is going to make up over $3 billion in the mobile games market, it's got to be the App Store, right?So this means a couple of different things: one, the App Store very well could be remaking the face of mobile gaming, to the point where old-school numbers are just plain insufficient to compare to modern App Store sales. Second, if there is a bubble, it'll likely be in the App Store: another recent report says that if you spend more than $40k on a 99 cent game, you're losing money. Laws may be underestimating the long tail of the App Store -- certainly no single developer has pulled in billions, but there are a lot of developers out there. Still, at the same time, $5.4 billion does seem high. And if games companies are convinced there's gold in the App Store hills, that's where the bubble will eventually burst.
Pachter: Mobile games are a fad, EA's emphasis on sector 'misplaced'
Some people in the video game industry predict the mobile games business could eventually grow to topple the handheld gaming market, Wedbush Morgan disagrees. In its July industry report, analyst Michael Pachter estimates the mobile games industry is currently closer to $2 billion and, even with expected growth, the market may only expand to $4-6 billion in the next three to five years. In a section titled "Mobile Phone Games are a Fad," Pachter explains that, while 1 billion iPhone applications have been downloaded across 31 million Apple products sold, "it is not evident that more than 20% of these downloads are games." Suggesting the iTunes App Store has generated "under $400 million in game downloads" in its first year. Pachter does predict the mobile game industry will grow at 25% per year for a few years, but will eventually fall as competing devices enter the market. The report also calls Electronic Arts' emphasis on mobile games "misplaced." EA Mobile has grown steadily over the last few years, but the report estimates the mobile games division is -- along with that of competitors Gameloft and GLU Mobile -- "barely profitable." According to the report, finger pointing in Apple's camp should directed toward the "open forum" structure of the store and Apple's business model. Apple runs the game download service for an estimated 30% fee, leaving 70% to the game's publisher, the report claims. The section on mobile games goes on to conclude that handheld systems, like the new PSP Go, will "maintain its niche, without significant cannibalization" from the mobile games industry.
iPhone owners make up 14% of mobile game downloaders
Hot off the heels of the news that the iPhone is dominating independent mobile gaming comes this interesting statistic: 14% of all people downloading mobile games are doing so on an iPhone. Market research group comScore says that not only is the iPhone picking up double digits of all game downloads overall, but that 32.4% of all iPhone users have downloaded a game. We're not sure if this means purchased a game over the air or bought it in iTunes' App Store and then transferred it onto the phone, but that's a lot of downloading.And the numbers are increasing -- 8.5 million Americans downloaded mobile games onto their devices in November of last year, up 17 percent from the year before. And smartphones in general are growing -- last year, there were zero smartphones sitting in the top 10 mobile devices for downloading, says a comScore analyst, and this year, six of the ten on the list are smartphones. Sounds like an emerging market to us, and the iPhone is sitting right on top.
