Author Archive

In-Fusio: Halo Goes Mobile

September 30th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Brand Licensing | No Comments »

The Master Chief places a call to mobile gaming. IN-FUSIO answers.

One of the biggest video game franchises in the world is headed to the mobile game space: Halo. Microsoft Games Studio has tapped mobile maker IN-FUSIO to create a suite of applications (games, ringtones, etc.) based on the hit Xbox game, starring the Master Chief. Halo 2 cemented the franchise’s place as a phenom, with first-day sales totaling $125 million. A movie based on the game is due in 2007. Read on …

Square Enix plans further focus on mobile market

September 30th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Major Japanese publisher continues to look beyond console games for growth
Online and mobile gaming represents the future for one of Japan’s largest publishers and the world’s most successful creator of role-playing games, according to Square Enix president Yoichi Wada.
Speaking to Yomiuri Online in an interview partially translated by GameSpot, Wada said that online gaming – either over computers or mobile phones – represented the future of the market as a whole, and have caused a major shift in the structure of the industry. Read on …

Interview: Lincoln Wallen, EA Mobile

September 30th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

Electronic Arts has been described as the 800-pound gorilla of the videogames market – with revenues of well over $3 billion and a range of perennially successful game franchises that are the envy of all of their competitors. In the mobile space, however, EA is still feeling its way cautiously – but as mobile hardware improves, so too does the potential for involvement from a traditional videogames publisher, the firm believes.
We sat down with the CTO of EA’s Mobile division, Lincoln Wallen, to find out more about how the company views the mobile space, how committed it is to the area, and how it hopes to bring the legions of FIFA, Madden and Need for Speed fans on board with its wireless gaming efforts. Read on …

Namco America to Offer First Online Mobile Pool Game with Head-to-Head

September 28th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Multiplayer Gaming | 1 Comment »

Nice Shot! It’s Your Turn. I’ll Be Right Back. These are just some of the phrases fans of the original Pool Pro OnlineTM are using as they chat and rack with the new version of the mobile game. Namco America, a leading publisher of wireless games and content, today launched a new version of Pool Pro Online, which allows players to communicate with their competitors using a simulated chat function while enjoying the same online head-to-head play and rankings as the original Pool Pro Online. Pool Pro Online, with the chat functionality, is the first head-to-head, multiplayer pool game available on Sprint. Read on …

New Sega Mobile

September 28th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Games | No Comments »

Sega MobileTM, a division of Sega of America, Inc., today unveiled a playful new website with community and commerce capabilities for millions of loyal Sega gamers in North America and beyond. Read on …

Nokia launches a collection of connected multiplayer casual games for Java enabled handsets

September 28th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Multiplayer Gaming | 3 Comments »

Nokia, the leader in mobile communications, announced today that the launch of its casual games collection for Java-enabled cell phones is expected to occur later this year. The first four titles in the series, all powered by Nokia’s SNAP Mobile service, are Blackjack, Dominoes, Backgammon and Shuffleboard. Java-enabled mobile phone users will be able to play these and many of their other favorite casual titles in real time with other users of Java-enabled mobile phones. Read on …

Video games outsourced to India

September 27th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

Give people two weeks to learn "fun"
FORGET ABOUT outsourcing your call centres to India, the video games industry is outsourcing the whole show with low wages and an abundance of programming skills making the country an attractive place to develop games. Read on …

Blue Sphere Games Announces its Second Coca-Cola Mobile Game “Coca-Cola Soccer”

September 27th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Games | No Comments »

Blue Sphere Games, a leading developer of mobile games, is proud to announce the release of its second Coca-Cola mobile game: "Coca-Cola Soccer". Read on …

Video games become another Indian offshoring skill

September 27th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

Rajesh Rao, a 34-year-old businessman, spends a good part of his workday playing video games on his mobile phone. He also insists his new employees spend their first few weeks doing the same.
He’s not a flippant amateur refusing to grow out of his childhood. Instead he’s part of a small breed of entrepreneurs trying to make India the world’s studio for developing games on mobile phones, computers and consoles. Read on …

One-Third of Mobile Games Are Free; U.S. Gamers More Competitive

September 27th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

New data on the mobile games market shows that the puzzle/strategy genre has generated the most revenue, but it also has the biggest number of free downloads to give mobile users incentive to download more games. A separate survey also reveals that mobile gamers in the U.S. are generally more competitive than mobile users in Europe. More within…
The results of two different reports on the mobile games market were released today, highlighting the trends in mobile game pricing and genre as well as the differences in behavior between American and European gamers. Read on …