Tag Archives: Gaming

iOS and Android squeezing Sony and Nintendo

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Shaun

A new report from Flurry highlights the squeeze that the traditional console makers are feeling from the smartphone industry. While the total US gaming revenue is moving slowly towards smartphones (just a 3% increase last year from 5%), the portable market shows a different picture as can be seen in the graph below-

“From 2009 to 2010, iOS and Android game sales have spiked significantly, resulting in nearly a doubling of their market share.  With both Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable shrinking in sales, while smart-device game sales simultaneously grew by more than 60%, iOS and Android games now represent more than one third of the portable game category.  The net effect is that the U.S. portable gaming category, as we define it, has declined from $2.7 billion in 2009 to roughly $2.4 billion in 2010.

Wedbush Morgan Securities video game analyst, Michael Pachter, points out that the “onslaught of $1 games is going to continue” and that “[Nintendo and Sony] are going to have to share the market with Apple and Android.”  Our numbers quantify just how much.  Further, as iOS and Android continue to change the paradigm of casual gaming, the battle between Nintendo against platforms such as iOS and Android will intensify.  Mario may indeed be standing on a burning platform.”

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Angry Birds set to conquer non-digital worlds

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Shaun

Angry Birds has so far conquered every mobile and desktop platform it has touched and is now looking to go one step further and conquer the ‘real’ world.

From May you will be able to buy Angry Birds Knock On Wood which lets you build real defences and then challenge your opponent to knock them down. I suspect this is one of the first instances of a digital game finding its way to toy form.

From Electricpig- “Based on the insanely popular mobile game Angry Birds, this latest take on the addictive title is a charming tabletop game where two players compete for points.

Players build obstacles, complete with replica birds and pigs from the game before catapulting them into a blocky mess. Here’s the clever bit. It’s also a card-based strategy game. Player One pulls a mission card. Player Two then builds the structure shown on the card for Player One to attempt to knock down to score as many points as possible. The first to 1,000 points wins.

In the box you’ll find three Angry birds replica figurines, four pigs, one slingshot launcher, 14 blocks and 56 mission cards. Angry Birds Knock on Wood will cost $14.99 (about £9.70) and won’t be in shops till May 2011 worldwide.”

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Panic parachuting onto Java mobiles

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Shaun

One of the major iPhone successes of last year, Parachute Panic, will soon be landing on Java enabled mobiles of all shapes and sizes. There is no exact time frame, but late 2010 is a good guess.

Connect2Media have today secured the rights to bring smash hit PC Poker title ‘Governor of Poker’ to mobile phones.  The deal will allow Connect2media to offer the multimillion hit title to the wider casual market of mobile phone users worldwide.

Currently one of the most successful PC Poker Games, with a massive US fan base and over 10 million people having played the PC game to date.  Connect2media plan to initially launch the mobile version to the US markets as part of a global launch program. With significant experience in the Poker sphere, having developed World Poker Tournament titles for a number of years, and distributed titles outside the US markets.

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The PSP Phone “could happen”

Posted on May 9, 2009 by Shaun

pspphoneSony Ericsson’s President and COO, Dick Komiyama, has publicly stated that a PSP Phone could happen. The complete phrase was “a PlayStation mobile, building on the Walkman and Cybershot phones, could happen.” which is a bit vague, but you never know what is around the corner. More at unwired view.

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Wii Breakfast: Where will it all end?

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Shaun

This is off-topic, but very funny. Where will the Wii accessory ideas end?

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