Nintendo games on iOS?

Nintendo Is “Experimenting” With Bringing Games To IOS

Nintendo has been finding themselves between a rock and a hard place in recent years when it comes to handheld gaming versus mobile gaming, as is Sony with their PS Vita.

While the DS, 2DS and 3DS are great devices and are enjoying great sales, it could always be better. Smartphones and tablets have been taking potential profits away from their portable consoles little by little over the past few years.

The belief by many is simple, who wants to carry an additional device dedicated to gaming when our phones have everything we need already? Well I guess it really depends on the type of consumer/gamer you are and where you are going. If it’s a quick commute, maybe a quick round of Angry Birds, Candy Crush or my favorite Nimble Quest is enough but most gamers do not consider these types of games as true deep playing games along the lines of, lets say a Zelda or Mario Kart for 3DS on the go are.

To remedy (somewhat) this problem, Nintendo is looking at various experimental ways they can add their brand on mobile devices but, and here is the tricky part..not take sales away from their own devices. A catch 22.

In a recent interview, Reginald “Reggie” Fils-Aime, president/chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, suggested a shift in Nintendo’s current strategy. Fils-Aime explained that while the ultimate goal will be to draw gamers to Nintendo hardware, the company is aware of the need for expansion. “We recognize that there are a lot of smartphones and tablets out there, and so what we’re doing is we’re being very smart in how we use these devices as marketing tools for our content.” He went on to say, “We’re also doing a lot of experimentation of what I would call the little experiences you can have on your smartphone and tablet that will drive you back to your Nintendo hardware.”

Fils-Aime was also quick to point out “We believe our games are best played and best enjoyed on our devices,” so it’s unlikely that Donkey Kong 3D and Mario Kart 8 will be available in full mode on a future iOS.

Many consumers and analysts are suggesting that Nintendo get out all together from the console market and focus on the great games they make just as Sega has done. But as John Brownlee a writer for Cult of Mac suggests and I tend to agree:

“Many people will wonder why Nintendo doesn’t just give-up, and just start releasing games for iOS, but that’s too cynical. Nintendo is, in many ways, Japan’s Apple, tightly integrating hardware and software to create a magical experience. Telling them to just give up on hardware is like telling Apple to start licensing iOS to competitors and stop making iPhones. But Nintendo does need to be smarter about what a gaming console even looks like in a world saturated with smartphones, and it looks like they have finally started.”

Xbox One won’t play games on day one without mandatory update

What can be done with the system out of the box? “Nothing. You need the day one update.”

Microsoft’s Xbox One will not be able to play even disc-based games on day one without a mandatory update to the system.

The $499 machine, which goes on sale November 22 worldwide, will require a patch not just for online services and apps, but also retail boxed games and other functions due to shipping with an outdated operating system.

“Functionally, you will be able to do very little without taking the day one update,” Microsoft’s senior director of product management Albert Penello told Engadget.

When asked what consumers could with the console straight out the box, he replied: “Nothing. You need the day one update.”

“A lot of the apps come with the day one update because they wouldn’t have even been done,” detailed Penello. “You’re gonna need to take this update. It’s not gonna be really an optional thing.”

Microsoft’s online services for the Xbox One have been the subject of scrutiny and criticism since they were first revealed at E3.

That disasterous showing forced the company to backtrack on a number of requirements, but the fact remains that the Xbox One is essentially a console that requires near-constant internet connection to function as it was originally designed.

 

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App devs facing major problems with piracy, profitability

New App Developer Conference survey finds 26% of devs have had their apps pirated, and many struggle to make any profit.

Organizers of the new App Developers Conference (ADC) – taking place November 5th-7th at the Los Angeles Convention Center and co-located with another inaugural event, GDC Next – have revealed interesting data about the significant challenges facing today’s app developers.

While games clearly rule the apps world (69 percent of devs surveyed made games), the developers making the apps have numerous challenges to overcome in order to see success. Piracy in particular has become very prevalent. 26 percent of surveyed developers reported that their apps had been pirated, and even if a game is free, it’s not protected against piracy. For developers whose apps use in-app purchases (IAP), 26 percent also found that their IAPs had been obtained without any payment.

“Of our 8 million+ total downloads,” one dev confessed, “1.5 million+ have been pirated, mostly in Russia and China. 
Another dev commented that, on Android, “approximately 90 percent of in-app purchases were faked.”

Aside from piracy, the top problem for app devs remains discoverability. This was the top-cited obstacle to success in the ADC survey. Too many apps, crowded app stores, consumers’ expectations for free or $0.99-priced apps, and device fragmentation were all cited as contributing to the discoverability problem.

The bottom line is that app development isn’t the opportunity many think it is. The numbers on profitability are somewhat startling. 40 percent of all surveyed developers made zero revenue from their latest app, and nearly half made zero profit from that app (through all channels, including download fees for paid apps, ad revenue, and income from in-app purchases). That said, it’s important to note that roughly half of the zero-revenue devs are solo developers that don’t pursue development full-time. Even so, 26 percent of all full-time devs made zero revenue on their last app. Devs going it alone have an especially difficult time, as 70 percent of solo, full-time devs reported making zero profit on their latest app.

81 percent of the devs surveyed were targeting iOS as their primary platform compared to 68 percent developing on Android. Most, however, look to leverage multiple platforms; 72 percent of iOS devs also develop for Android, 36 percent for web, 32 percent for Windows, and 24 percent for Mac OS, while 86 percent of Android devs also target iOS, 42 percent target Windows and web browsers, and 26 percent for Mac OS.

 

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Angry Birds – The Movie?

It appears that the Angry Birds phenomena will take its war against the hideous army of stationary green pigs to a theater near you. The game’s creators, Rovio Entertainment have hired producers for what will be a 3D computer-generated full-length film.

After an explosion of merchandise and even a union with the monolithic Star Wars brand, Rovio’s app-attacking avians will have the summer of 2016 targeted for their inevitable collision with the big screen. The Finland-based company has reportedly brought Despicable Me producer, John Cohen on board and executive producer, David Maisel, who has worked on Marvel’s Avengers solo films like Iron Man 1 & 2, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America: The First Avenger.

While your touchscreen finger will thankfully get a rest, what could Angry Birds bring to the box-office? (Without smashing it.)

Executive producer, David Maisel briefly describes the creative goals for the film:

“It has to be everything that you’d expect from an Angry Birds movie as a fan of the game, plus so much more with surprises, innovative things and twists,” said Maisel. “It’s something that we’ve worked already a lot on and we will over the next few years. It’s an experience that you’ll say, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that.’ ”

At this point, barring a “kidnapped eggs” plot, expectations are still somewhat of a blank slate. However, the slingshot swine-slayers will clearly need to pull off the whole “angry” part throughout the whole film if they expect to live up to the name. It will be interesting to see how that gets accomplished in an animated family-friendly feature like this.

Produced and financed entirely by Rovio, this first leap into the film industry will cement the Angry Birds brand as a true multimedia presence. Given its degree of success, it could lead to app games giving comic books a run for their money as movie source material.

 

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Vice City 10th Anniversary Edition is now available for select Android devices from Google Play

Welcome back to Vice City. Welcome back to the 1980s.

From the decade of big hair, excess and pastel suits comes a story of one man’s rise to the top of the criminal pile. Vice City, a huge urban sprawl ranging from the beach to the swamps and the glitz to the ghetto, was one of the most varied, complete and alive digital cities ever created. Combining open-world gameplay with a character driven narrative, you arrive in a town brimming with delights and degradation and given the opportunity to take it over as you choose.

To celebrate its 10 year anniversary, Rockstar Games brings Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to mobile devices with high-resolution graphics, updated controls and a host of new features including:

• Beautifully updated graphics, character models and lighting effects
• New, precisely tailored firing and targeting options
• Custom controls with a fully customizable layout
• Massive campaign with countless hours of gameplay
• Compatible with the MoGa Wireless Game Controller and select USB gamepads
• Integrated with Immersion tactile effects
• Tailor your visual experience with adjustable graphic settings

Languages Supported: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Russian, and Japanese.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is now available on:
Android Phones: Motorola Atrix, Motorola Atrix HD, Motorola Atrix 4G, Motorola Photon, HTC Rezound, HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy R, Samsung Epic 4G, Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy S3, Google Nexus 4, Sony Ericsson Arc HD, Sony Xperia Nozomi, Sony Xperia Play, Sony Xperia Sola, Sony Xperia S / P / T & TL, Sony Walkman Z Series Media Player

Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, Asus Transformer Pad TF300T, Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 700, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 / 7.7 / 8.9 & 10.1, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Sony Tablet S, Sony Tablet P, Sony Xperia Tablet S, Toshiba Thrive, Toshiba Regza, Google Nexus 7, Google Nexus 10, Fujitsu Stylistic 10.1

**Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was developed and tested only on these devices. If your device is not listed, please check support.rockstargames.com for any updates to this list**

For optimal performance, we recommend re-booting your device after downloading and closing other applications when playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Please ensure you have at least 1.5 GB of free space before installing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Mobile Version developed by War Drum Studios
http://www.wardrumstudios.com

Get the game here