Gymkhana Five: Ultimate Urban Playground

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DC Shoes co-founder and professional rally driver Ken Block has launched a new video in his viral series called Gymkhana Five: Ultimate Urban Playground. Filmed over four days on the streets of San Francisco, with special appearances by rider Travis Pastrana and Jake Phelps, it’s perhaps the most impressive Gymkhana production ever.

Social Point Raises $7.4 Million

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Social Point announced that it has raised $7.4 million in series B funding. This was led by Idinvest Partners, with contributions from BBVA and existing investor Nauta Capital.

Social Point is looking to take the capital and strengthen its workforce while concentrating more on mobile devices rather than social networks. The Barcelona-based company has 15 million MAUs playing its catalog of mid-core social games.

Gear Up For The Aftermath Of Emergence Day

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On the official Facebook page for Gears of War: Judgment, announced at E3, fans that share the official trailer on their wall will receive a redemption code to for Baird’s goggles for their Xbox Live Avatar. Gears of War: Judgment takes place before the events of the original Gears of War trilogy to the immediate aftermath of Emergence Day — the defining event of the Gears of War universe.

 

Nintendo’s Iwata says that 3D Excitement Isn’t As High Anymore

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When the 3DS emerged, stereoscopic 3D was entering a sort of boom period following the release of Avatar. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata acknowledged that 3D enthusiasm isn’t what it used to be and that it’s not likely to be a main feature of Nintendo consoles going forward.

“I think when we launched the 3DS there was a kind of 3D boom, which is perhaps slightly on the wane again, but there are plenty of people out there that create 3D video and I think that some of those who create and distribute 3D video would be very interested in the 3DS XL,” Iwata said.”So, now we’ve created the 3DS and 3DS XL and also have some games out there that are really using that 3D effect that we can see, from my point of view, that it’s an important element. But as human beings are this kind of surprise effect wears off quickly, and just have this 3D stereoscopic effect isn’t going to keep people excited.”

“It’s nice to have good graphics but not necessarily on their own, so I don’t think we’ll present [3D graphics] as one of the key features of our consoles but will probably stick with 3D as one of the minor elements of our consoles in the future,” added Iwata.

Source: The Independent

Ultima Forever: Welcome Back To Britannia

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Electronic Arts announced that it is developing Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, a cross-platform iPad and PC, at BioWare Mythic. This free-to-play game seems to be a recreation of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar that will meld both storytelling and action RPG elements into a brand new title set in Britannia.

“There’s a fundamental shift underway in how gamers play and pay for games, and Electronic Arts is a leader in providing new business models and new ways to consume content,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, GM of BioWare. “With Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, we’re excited to give gamers the opportunity to play a high quality game with their friends anytime, anywhere, on both iPad and PC.”

“As huge fans of the Ultima franchise, the team at BioWare Mythic is not only excited to be able to bring this reimagining of the original rich world to the fans of the classic RPGs, but also to introduce a new generation of gamers who have never had a chance to discover why this is one of our industry’s most beloved worlds,” added BioWare Mythic GM, Eugene Evans.

PapayaMobile Introduces AppFlood

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PapayaMobile has launched their new service, AppFlood, designed to help Android developers cross promote their games by registering developers to exchange users and buy and sell installs without paying any commission. Infolife, Frenzoo, Bulkypix and Caesars Game Studio all took part in the private beta.

“Developers share with us their anxiety over the ever-increasing cost of user acquisition, so we decided to create a solution that compliments any mobile strategy,” said CEO Si Shen. “We made AppFlood completely free so developers can get their games in the hands of users in a way that’s simple, flexible, and fair.”

“It was super easy to get AppFlood up and running,” said Jack Li, CTO of Caesars Game Studio. “It took me literally 10 minutes to integrate the SDK and I had a campaign live within the hour.”

Metal Gear Solid 4 Gets Trophies, Full Install

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Konami has confirmed that it is releasing a major patch for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots four years after its initial release. Done in time for the latest budget release of the game in Japan, it will include 34 Trophies and the ability to fully install the game.

Konami will also hold a Metal Gear Solid 25th Anniversary Event on August 30 at their main office. There will be an announcement relating to Kojima’s vision of connecting people, first demonstrated in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker‘s “Transfarring” component.

Speculation as to what the announcement can be have ranged from an official Metal Gear Solid 5 reveal to Metal Gear Solid 4 on PS Vita with “Transfarring” support.

Sony Affirms Commitment To Retail, Despite Downturns

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Retail has been declining for gaming over the past few years and the number of specialized game retailers in the U.K. has dropped by 300 in the past year. Despite this and the fact that Sony recently purchased cloud gaming specialists Gaikai, Sony U.K.’s VP and MD Fergal Gara affirmed his company’s commitment to retail.

“Coming down off that 2008 peak has been a steep ride for many and has involved fallout on many levels, not least of all retail,” said Gara. “So what we’re seeing is not really a surprise, a bit of a readjustment if you like and it isn’t just happening to the specialists on the High Street. There is a bit of a reappraisal around space and the commitment from other retailers.”

“We’d love to see as many of those retailers as possible maintain their interest in servicing the space because clearly down the road many of us are going to be doing our best to give another injection into the market whenever the next cycle starts,” said Gara.

Source: MCV.com

Amazon Enhances MMO Offerings With Game Connect

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Amazon has launched Game Connect, designed to offer not only free-to-play and pay-to-play MMO downloads, but also a means by which to purchase virtual items and other content in those games. The store features a unified payment system for developers to integrate, making payment easier and even potentially unlocking exclusive in-game content in certain titles.

“Customers can now discover a new category of free-to-play games and can experience the convenience of having virtual items purchased with their Amazon account delivered directly to their game accounts,” says Mike Frazzini, director, Amazon Games. “Game Connect helps game developers reach more customers, move more quickly and grow their business by simplifying the purchase process for customers. This is an exciting next step for the Digital Games Store and we have even more to come.”

“We think that Game Connect is a fantastic new program that directly benefits our Tera fans and we are very excited to be involved as we continue to build out and expand our offerings,” said Chris Lee, Vice President of Publishing at En Masse Entertainment.

Source: Amazon.com

Global MMO Games Spending Over $12 Billion: Report

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SuperData Research and Newzoo released a study on the growth of the MMO market, finding that the global market will rise above $12 billion in 2012, and is set to reach $17.5 billion in 2015. The year-on-year growth in the West ranges from 14 percent in the U.S. to 24 percent in Germany, totaling $2.9 billion and $700 million, respectively.

Despite this growth, individual MMO game revenues are sometimes struggling as the number of available MMO games has almost doubled since the beginning of 2011. The analysis shows that in Germany, with a stable monthly ARPPU, the growing share of paying players is the main driver, while in the U.S., ARPPU figures for individual titles in a single month are down, but higher annual spend per paying gamer pushes the market upwards.

For the 50 million MMO gamers in the U.S., 23 million spend money on free-to-play or subscription MMOs, a 3 percent increase from last year, and will spend $127 for the full year, 11 percent more than in 2011. The ARPPU for individual titles in May 2012 was $17 compared to $27 in October 2011, which can be explained by an increase in purchase frequency, a lower average transaction size and spending on a number of different games.

In Germany, a larger share of MMO gamers spends money than in the U.S. (59 percent versus 46 percent) and the number of paying MMO gamers has jumped an impressive 37 percent year on year. With so many new paying players, the average annual spend has dropped slightly with 9 percent to a total of $100 expected for 2012, while the ARPPU in May 2012 was stable at $25 compared to the $26 in October, indicating higher transaction size, lower purchase frequency and more paying players.

“The current market saturation forces MMO publishers to compete over a finite gamer population,” comments Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData. “This makes it of critical importance to closely monitor conversion rates and ARPPUs on an ongoing basis well as keep track of changing consumer behavior. Together with Newzoo, we are able to provide better insight into the mechanics of this growth market.”

The share of revenues coming from free-to-play MMO games continues to rise, increasing to 50 percent this year, up from 39 percent in 2010, while German free-to-play spending already passed the 50 percent mark in 2010 and is expected to grow above 60 percent in 2015. Increasingly, companies are putting free trials and in-game purchases into pay-to-play games, blurring the lines between MMO business models.

“MMO players are very dedicated gamers,” adds Peter Warman, CEO of Newzoo. “As the majority already plays games on other screens, it will be interesting to see if publishers succeed in extending and monetizing their MMO experience across all screens. Working together with SuperData adds enormous value to both our own insights as well as those of our clients.”