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Mobile Miscellany: week of January 30th, 2012

Posted by Zachary Lutz | Filed under Techie Stuff

Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This week, we've spotted a leaked Android 4.0.4 ROM for the Nexus S 4G, and we've also come across a price and release date for the Droid 4. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride. Let's explore the "best of the rest" for this week of January 30th, 2012.

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of January 30th, 2012

Mobile Miscellany: week of January 30th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tags: iphone

Read more | Comments (0) | February 4th, 2012

THQ partners with Innovative Leisure for digital and mobile

Posted by Jordan Mallory | Filed under gAmINg

You gotta hand it to THQ, despite posting a $56 million loss last quarter, the publisher is still willing to take a risk on bringing a fresh-faced developer into the fold. Of course, when you take into account that said developer is staffed by a who's who list of classic game designers, the proposition sounds less risky.

Innovative Leisure, the brand-new developer in question, touts Seamus Blackley, Ed Logg, Ed Rotberg, Rich Adam and others among its ranks. If those names sound slightly familiar, it's for a good reason: Blackley co-wrote the original Xbox proposal and helped shepherd the product into existence. Meanwhile, Logg was responsible for Asteroids, Centipede and Gauntlet, while Rotberg and Adam were responsible for Battlezone and Missile Command, respectively.

The studio will focus on creating titles for mobile, downloadable and social platforms; THQ is applying Innovative Leisure's extensive collective experience in design-driven experiences to produce accessible titles that work well in small doses. Here's hoping for a Saints Row-themed Missile Command clone for iOS and Android.

THQ partners with Innovative Leisure for digital and mobile originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tags: iphone

Read more | Comments (0) | February 4th, 2012

Square Enix thanks games for 2011′s rise in revenue, profit

Posted by Jessica Conditt | Filed under gAmINg

Deus Ex is leading the revenue revolution for Square Enix, whose digital entertainment -- games -- department in April-December 2011 grew 6.2 percent from the previous fiscal year, totaling $704.7 million in net sales. Games now comprise 56 percent of Square Enix's total revenue, where in the same period of 2010 they made up just 52 percent.

The company's operating profit rose 11.5 percent to $169.4 million and its net income ended at $65 million, up 175.2 percent from the previous period. Square Enix cited Deus Ex: Human Revolution and its online and social titles as the main factors behind its financial progress.

Square Enix thanks games for 2011's rise in revenue, profit originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tags: iphone, PC

Read more | Comments (0) | February 4th, 2012

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies iOS update adds ray gun, monkey bombs

Posted by David Hinkle | Filed under gAmINg

How many times have you been in the middle of an intense Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies round when you've had to suddenly stop? Well, Activision has a solution in the latest update: save and load games mid-session.

It's just one of the additions in this free update, which also adds the ray gun, six different tiers of in-game point packs that players can purchase through the app, and monkey bombs -- relax, they're not real monkeys strapped with dynamite or anything. They're actually cute little toys that explode, which may actually be worse now that we think about it. We like toys!

Gallery: Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies (2/2/12)

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies iOS update adds ray gun, monkey bombs originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tags: iphone

Read more | Comments (0) | February 3rd, 2012

NCSoft’s iOS Gem Keeper goes free for now

Posted by JC Fletcher | Filed under gAmINg

Perhaps our recommendation of NCSoft's Gem Keeper last year piqued your interest -- but your interest didn't reach a 99-cent level of piquedness. Luckily, thanks to a Free App a Day partnership, you can now download the iOS tower defense title for free!

NCSoft's iOS Gem Keeper goes free for now originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tags: iphone

Read more | Comments (0) | February 3rd, 2012

Skyrim takes top honors at NY Video Game Critics Circle Awards

Posted by Ben Gilbert | Filed under gAmINg

You'd have to be a fus-ro-dummy to think that Skyrim would be through with receiving accolades. At last night's New York Video Game Critics Circle Awards, the Bethesda Game Studios-developed RPG took home yet one more, earning the "Big Apple Award for Best Game" as decided by a cabal of NY-based game journos from various outlets.

Other winners include two apiece for Bastion and Portal 2, portable love for Super Mario 3D Land and Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, and explosive nods to both Crysis 2 and Saints Row: The Third. Harold Goldberg's "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" took home the "Algonquin Roundtable Award for Best Book" and Sony's "Michael" commercial won the "Mad Men Award," mysteriously beating out Robin Williams' luxurious beard. Frankly, we were baffled. The full list of winners can be found below the break.

Continue reading Skyrim takes top honors at NY Video Game Critics Circle Awards

Skyrim takes top honors at NY Video Game Critics Circle Awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tags: iphone, PC

Read more | Comments (0) | February 3rd, 2012

How Death Rally became a hit with little marketing

Posted by JC Fletcher | Filed under gAmINg

Alan Wake wasn't the biggest hit at retail. Developer Remedy needed to refill its coffers after that expensive project. Death Rally achieved just that, recouping its own development costs in three days and going on to build an audience of millions.

A new Forbes feature details just how Remedy got Death Rally to take off. The developer spent only $10,000 on marketing, the article notes -- $5,000 on PR, and $5,000 on a FreeAppADay offer. Two months later, the price dropped to $0.99, at which point the game hit a worldwide #1 on the App Store.

Then the game went free, and any losses have been offset by in-app purchases.

The rest of the story is familiar for iOS hits -- frequent updates and expansions, and a potential Android release. Remedy EVP Aki Järvilehto told Forbes that he estimated Android gamesto generate roughly 30% of the revenue of the same iPhone game.

How Death Rally became a hit with little marketing originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tags: iphone

Read more | Comments (0) | February 3rd, 2012

Canalys: More smartphones than PCs shipped in 2011

Posted by Daniel Cooper | Filed under Techie Stuff

2011: the year Smartphones supplanted computers, at least according to the bundle of spreadsheets that just arrived from Canalys Research. Vendors shipped (shipped, not sold) 488 million of the devices, compared to 414.6 million "PCs," which erroneously includes Tablet PCs of all shapes and sizes. Looking at Smartphones exclusively (IDC's numbers from yesterday concerned all mobile handsets), Apple remains king of the hill having shipped 93.1million iPhones. Samsung is close behind, with 91.9 million and Nokia is kicking along in third with 19.6 million. For all of the doomsaying around RIM, it's nestled in fourth, although Canalys chose not to include its numbers. Framing the research as "PCs versus Smartphones" isn't the wisest, given the fragmentation and hybridization prevalent in the market today. Drilling down into those numbers, we learn that 63.2 million tablets were pushed out last year, cannibalizing netbook shipments (dropping 34.5 percent in a year), but desktop and laptop movements remained relatively stable. We've included the full report and the most relevant table of data for your perusal and insight (hint: there's no points for saying netbooks are on the way out).

Continue reading Canalys: More smartphones than PCs shipped in 2011

Canalys: More smartphones than PCs shipped in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tags: iphone

Read more | Comments (0) | February 3rd, 2012

Epic Quest coming to Zen Pinball, Pinball FX2 this month

Posted by Alexander Sliwinski | Filed under gAmINg

Zen Studios, the developer of Pinball FX2 and Zen Pinball, did say it was going bigger this year with different ideas, which leads us to pinball-meets-RPG hybrid: Epic Quest. The new table will be available through your Zen pinball platform of choice on XBLA, PSN, Apple iOS and Android this month.

"It is our quest to deliver the most entertaining and original pinball tables, and Epic Quest delivers on both fronts," said Mel Kirk, Zen's VP of Marketing and Public Relations. "With a wink and a nudge towards classic RPG tropes, Epic Quest blends frantic pinball action, obsessive character building, and liberally applied tongue-in-cheek humor."

What also makes this table different is experience and loot carry over from one game to the next. Players will be able to dress up the knight Max and defeat monsters to collect epic gear. It's an interesting hook to the classic fail state of any other pinball table.

Gallery: Pinball FX 2 (Epic Quest Table)