New game targets lonely wireless subscribers

August 24th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Games | No Comments »

Artificial Life Inc. announced the upcoming release of Virtual Girlfriend, a J2ME-based mobile game featuring animated three-dimensional characters. Users can interact with their “girlfriends” via text or multimedia messages and can send virtual gifts to move on to higher game levels.

The characters follow daily and weekly schedules, taking trips to the mall or going out to restaurants, and their behavior is “based on scientific principles and algorithms,” according to a press release. More …. More … (2)

Enpocket’s Mobile Media Monitor Finds Mobile Ownership and Sophistication Growing Fast in US

August 23rd, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

The Mobile Media Monitor also indicates increased sophistication of usage in the US market. The fastest growing media downloads are Java and BREW games, which show a 75% increase quarter over quarter. In Q2 there were 4.4 million adults downloading games to their phones – this has risen to 7.7 million in Q3. This growth is particularly dramatic in the 18-25 year age group. In Q2 11% (or 2 million) of 18-25 year-old phone owners were downloading games – rising to 22% (4 million) by Q3 2004. More …. More …(2)

Caveman Arts signs first games contract

August 23rd, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Mobile games specialist Caveman Arts has signed an agreement for the supply of its Climber-X title in a move that will bring first revenues to the Dundee-based start-up.

Assuming all of these games achieve sales of no more than 1% of the UK mobile games market

Cell phones and kids: Do they mix?

August 23rd, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Trends | No Comments »

It wasn’t so long ago that parents asked their teenagers to double-check that they had a quarter so they could call home, if need be. Then came cell phones.

In 2000, just 5 percent of 13- to 17-year olds had cell phones. Today, 56 percent do, according to Linda Barrabee, wireless market analyst for The Yankee Group.

Teens aren’t just using their phones to talk. From rapid-fire “texting” to full-fledged Web browsing to videos and video games, cell phones have become portable computers. And that’s opened up a whole new set of concerns. More …

Mobile gaming market set for `big growth’

August 23rd, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Games, Research & Stats | No Comments »

GAMING is emerging as big business in India coinciding with the growth of mobile and PC use and is expected to get a further thrust with broadband rolling out shortly.

According to Mr Gondal, last month 29 per cent of the downloads on AirTel were for Spiderman and 20 per cent for Van Helsing; the rest from existing 400 products. This clearly indicates the consumer shift to Hollywood-based gaming properties. More …

MFORMA Acquires FingerTwitch

August 19th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

MFORMA has acquired FingerTwitch, Inc. of San Francisco, a pioneering developer of advanced porting and quality assurance processes for the mobile entertainment industry. FingerTwitch is an industry leader in porting mobile applications to multiple devices and platforms and has developed proven technologies and methodologies for enabling mobile applications to play on both Java and BREW platforms and virtually every wireless handset. More …

Capcom and Nokia Announces Catan for N-Gage

August 19th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Games | No Comments »

Nokia announced today Catan, a strategy game for the N-Gage based on the popular German board game. The first Capcom title for the handheld, players will compete with each other to build roads, settlements and cities, occupying new lands to squeeze out competitors. More …

MFORMA Closes Second Institutional Round of Financing; New Round of Funding Closely Follows $44 Million First Round Announced in June

August 18th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

MFORMA Group Inc., a leading global provider of wireless entertainment media, announced today a new round of institutional financing on the heels of closing a $44 million round in June. The new round will total up to $40 million based on the company’s needs in pending acquisitions being reviewed. The company announced a first close on $19 million in the new round, led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and including participation by existing investors General Catalyst Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.

“The market for interactive mobile media is accelerating,” said Daniel Kranzler, MFORMA CEO. “At the same time a land grab of consolidation is underway with companies jockeying for market position. With MFORMA now reaching over 500 million mobile users through more than 100 wireless operators, we are perfectly positioned to be the leader in market consolidation. This round plus our previous funding gives us as much capital as if we had gone public, yet we still have the flexibility of a private company to innovate in our business. We were approached by one of the strongest and most experienced venture teams in the world, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and their managing director, John Fisher, is now joining our board, giving us over 20 years of experience and insight in rapidly growing a business on a global scale.” More …

Digital Bridges: 1st 3D Pool game to launch on mobile

August 18th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Games | No Comments »

Mobile games publisher Digital Bridges and specialist developer Distinctive Developments, today announced the launch of 3D Pool, the world’s first full 3D mobile pool game.

For the first time, Distinctive Developments’ sophisticated graphics engine displays the entire game in 3 dimensions, giving players the ability to rotate and spin the camera to show the table from every possible angle. This huge advance over the common ‘top down’ view of the table provides a more engaging, realistic and accurate gameplay experience. 3D Pool is the only pool game for mobile phones that allows players to see the table exactly as players would in the real game. More …

Digital Chocolate Intros First Games

August 18th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Games | No Comments »

After simmering in the planning stages, Digital Chocolate is ready to sweeten the mobile gaming pot with the introduction of its first two games. The products initially will be available on BREW-enabled handsets.

The first two games out of the gate are Baseball Heroes of the MLBPAA and DChoc Bubble Ducky. Both games, according to company President and CEO Trip Hawkins, are designed for mobile phone users who want to enjoy a game in a short period of time. “The vast majority of mobile games available today are video games coming from the video game industry — the culture is to make them for hard-core gamers,” says Hawkins. “But that way of thinking doesn’t work for the mobile environment.” Digital Chocolate’s games are designed to let players play until they win, not lose, like most games. “It is a different way of looking at the industry,” Hawkins says. More …

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