Author Archive

Gaming Goes Mobile: Issues and Implications

August 24th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

Mark Finn has writen quite an intresting paper on the mobile gaming market and trends. The paper aims to investigate the industrial and social implications of mobile gaming, by bringing together some of the current research on both mobile communications and computer games.

Beginning with a broad overview of the major stakeholders in the market, the paper examines how mobile gaming functions as a vehicle for convergence, bringing together previously disparate industries around a common form of content. It also examines the regulatory complexities that arise when gaming becomes mobile, and in particular how the rise of technologies like location-based services might impact on issues such as privacy. You can download the paper here …

Time Warner bets on mobile games

August 24th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Media conglomerate Time Warner has made a $7.5 million investment in Glu Mobile, the privately held mobile gaming company said Tuesday.

In a move related to the investment, Andy Heller, president of domestic distribution for Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting, has joined Glu’s board of directors. Glu, which will use the money to continue its global expansion, already publishes video games based on characters from Turner’s Cartoon Network. Read on … Read on …(2)

The top Two (2) reason why people are into mobile gaming – To kill time or to alleviate boredom

August 24th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

A new report published by The NPD Group indicated that half of all USA wireless subscribers now own mobile phones capable of downloading games. A full 27% play games using their mobile phones, including purchased downloads as well as free demos and pre-loaded games, compared to 20% last year. Another 6% of current non-gamers confessed an interest in playing on their phone over the next year. The top Two (2) reason why people are into mobile gaming – To kill time or to alleviate boredom. Read on …

Bluetooth has mobile gamers fighting tooth & nail

August 24th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

Human intelligence versus artificial intelligence

Warhammer 40,000 goes mobile

August 24th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Games | No Comments »

Nokia, Games Workshop and THQ Wireless today announced the debut of the highly successful Warhammer 40,000 franchise to the N-Gage platform with Warhammer 40,000: Glory in Death. The highly acclaimed classic tabletop strategy game from Games Workshop has been produced and developed for the N-Gage platform for Warhammer 40,000 fans to unite and embark on multiplayer war game via Bluetooth connection and the N-Gage Arena, Nokia’s global mobile online gaming community. Read on …

Star Trek Phone Set to Thrill

August 24th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Brand Licensing | No Comments »

Get ready for your phone to go where no phone has gone before.
Sona Mobile and Viacom Consumer Products are set to offer a Star Trek communicator-themed mobile device that will let users make calls, play video clips, play online Star Trek games and surf the internet.

The cool gadgetry on the classic TV series has made dreamers drool since the first time Captain Kirk barked the words "Beam me up, Scotty!" into his little black box and snapped it shut. But this is the first time Viacom, which owns the rights to the TV and movie franchise, has put its licensed imprint on such a device. Read on …

Mobile Online Casino Games Gain Popularity

August 22nd, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Gambling | 6 Comments »

Online casino gaming has reached a new height in popularity and one area that is catching on at a fever pitch is the mobile online casino. For those who like to play at online casinos but are away from their PC, there is still an option to play casino games: via a mobile or handheld unit. Some of the most popular online casinos now offer their games in three flavors: download, no-download and mobile versions. This gives player a wide variety of choice depending on where they are. Read on …

AEGF Mobile Games To Partner With NBC Sports

August 22nd, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Brand Licensing | No Comments »

AEGF Mobile Games, a partnership between Abandon Entertainment and GF Capital Management & Advisors, and NBC Sports, announced a partnership on an exclusive worldwide mobile gaming license to create NBC Sports branded games. Under the deal, AEGF will use NBC Sports content to create unique and challenging wireless video games available on mobile phones, many of which will be directly interactive with NBC Sports broadcasts. The announcement was made by AEGF Mobile Games Principal, Marcus Ticotin and NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer. Read on …

Got a minute? Then they have a game for you

August 22nd, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Other news | No Comments »

Ramon Ortega of Los Angeles killed time by using a handheld device to send e-mail while waiting for a northbound Surfliner train in San Diego. From the $200 million business in quickie cell-phone games to such new forms as "Mobisodes"

Ziff Davis Video Game Survey: Mobile Gaming Doubles Again

August 19th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

According to Ziff Davis Media’s annual "Digital Gaming in America" survey of more than 1,500 randomly selected U.S. households, cell phone gaming continued its meteoric rise in 2005: the number of households engaged in cell phone gaming nearly doubled again, jumping from 16.3 million last year to 27.9 million this year.

The 2005 Digital Gaming in America study reveals a number of surprising shifts in mobile and portable gaming habits and consumer preferences. Mobilephone gamers in the study reported spending 19 minutes per gaming session.They spent an average of $13 on mobile phone games in the last 60 days, and core gamers spent even more on mobile phone games — $19 in the last 60 days. ("Core gamers" are defined as those who bought four or more games in the last
six months and play ten or more hours per week.) Read on … Read on …(2)