October 28, 2004
Mobile Phone Gaming to Top $1 Billion in '04
LONDON (Reuters) - Video game and mobile phone companies are set to make money this year as customers use phones to zap space invaders or sink game-winning golf putts, pushing the mobile gaming market over $1 billion, a study said.
According to London-based consultancy Screen Digest, mobile phone gaming also will grow by more than six times to $6.4 billion between 2004 and the end of decade. Currently, Japan and Korea are well ahead of North America and Europe in market size, accounting for nearly 80 percent of all revenues derived from video game play and game downloads, Screen Digest said on Thursday.
A confusing maze of tariffs for downloads and gameplay charged by mobile operators in Europe is depressing early growth in the region, Screen Digest said. "We think the mobile operators in Europe have not yet got the strategies right to exploit this market to its full potential," said Screen Digest chief analyst Ben Keen.
The firm added that North America, despite having a less sophisticated mobile phone market than Europe and Asia, is expected to grow at a faster clip than those regions. Compared to the booming video games business, the nascent market for mobile-phone gaming has only recently begun to show signs of life as a new breed of sophisticated handsets has hit the market and more gaming companies have developed top titles for the small screen.
Earlier this year, gaming giant Electronic Arts (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said it will boost production of video games for mobile phones over the next year, bringing four top-selling titles including "Fifa Football" and "The Sims" to handsets. Rivals Eidos (EID.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , Ubisoft (UBIP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and THQ Inc. (THQI.O: Quote, Profile, Research) have been investing more money into the promising market as well.
Posted by richard ting at October 28, 2004, 01:17 PM
October 19, 2004
Nintendo Game Handhelds
During the early 1980’s Gumpei Yokoi was asked to create a new toy for Nintendo which would result in the Game and Watch pocket systems. The small handhelds similar to the Tiger brand LCD games. The Game and Watch were a small pocket sized system that often folded in half to protect the LCD screen it contained and many popular games were created utilizing the Nintendo trademark figures such as Donkey Kong, Mario, and Zelda. Some systems, like Zelda, contained a double LCD screens. From this achievement, Yokoi also patented the Directional Pad or D-pad that Nintendo has used for many years. At the time of production for these small units, a joystick would be too difficult and clumsy to incorporate into a small system, so Yokoi, the great inventor created the D-pad, he called it ‘control cross’, which provided the most reasonable and accurate movements. The production line lasted from about 1980-1989 and produced about 60 or so different games. Two LR44 batteries are required for play. From my stand point, because of it’s historical significance, one can argue that a collection of Game and Watches (1 or more) could be counted as one system total, but this does not include the Tiger games. A series of three Game and Watch Galleries was released for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color which include ‘generic’ Nintendo titles such as the Octopus game.
Posted by richard ting at October 19, 2004, 11:24 AM
October 14, 2004
BloodRayne 2: does sex sell videogames?
[By James Ransom-Wiley]
Majesco resorted to the oldest trick in the book when it came to publicizing its vampire-vixen sequel: sex sells. Yes, the boys (and girls too?) over at Majesco broke some serious boundaries while generating hype for BloodRayne 2. We’re talking digital boobies, Playboy: October issue. But if you’re anywhere half-way-interested in videogames, you already know that. You may have even spotted Rayne’s handiwork in the latest Evanescence video, appropriately titled, “Everybody’s Fool”. And so, as expected, BloodRayne 2 is simply the latest offering of style over substance. It’s a game plagued with bugs (of the programming sort) and mindless violence. But it sure is pretty, and the type of game that anyone can pick up and play. So, while it’s still a bit early to judge, we’re betting that BloodRayne 2 will sell. And that’s just the current state of the industry.
Read more.
Posted by richard ting at October 14, 2004, 05:46 PM
October 02, 2004
Mobile gaming growing in Asia
According to IDC's latest report,"Asia/Pacific Wireless Gaming 2004-2008 Analysis and Forecast: Ready to Play?", the wireless gaming market in Asia/Pacific (ex Japan) reached US$237.4 million in 2003, and is expected to reach US$1.3 billion in 2008 with a 40% CAGR.
Korea accounted for approximately 73 % of the total wireless gaming revenues in 2003 in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan. This was due to the fact that the market in Korea is much more developed and the carriers' next generation networks have been in place much longer compared to other countries.
Posted by richard ting at October 02, 2004, 11:42 AM
October 01, 2004
Michael Vick Arcade Game Launch
Nike launches an arcade version of MV7 experience from nikegridiron.com.
Posted by richard ting at October 01, 2004, 10:45 AM
Tokyo Game Show
The Tokyo Game Show opened yesterday — with all the usual fanfare — at Makuhari Messe in Chiba. Amid the pounding music, laser light shows and the 3G's (Games, Geeks and Girls), we found what has been one of the most highly anticipated product debuts of the season: Sony's new PlayStation Portable; the device is also Sony Entertainment's first step into the mobile gaming market. Today's program brings you close-up video of the PSP during its first public unveiling. (Subscribers will also get a hands-on look at a several new games for DoCoMo's F900i-series of handsets.)