Zapak To Add 100 More Android Games Soon

Zapak to add 100 more Android games soon

Zapak currently offers over 2,000 flash-based online games and about 500 mobile games

Zapak Digital Entertainment Limited, a game publishing company of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) subsidiary Reliance Entertainment-Digital, is backing the Android platform as its mobile format of choice, according to chief executive officer Manish Agarwal.

“We believe that India will go the mobile ‘free-to-play’ route. We are focused on mobile...and towards making Zapak the largest free-to-play destination on mobile. Our idea is to add 100 Android-based games to our current portfolio of 43 in the next 60 days,” he told Business Standard.

Launching in 2005, Zapak currently offers over 2,000 flash-based online games and about 500 mobile games across four genres – action, racing, cricket and puzzle. Of these, Zapak owns 100 IPs (intellectual property).

While the gaming platform sees roughly 12 million game plays a month for its online games, it garners an equal number of downloads a month on the mobile touch point.
“The Internet boom, which was supposed to happen in 2005, now looks much closer. With the 3G and 4G investments by the government, and the prices of devices (mobile) going down, I think we will now see an explosion in gaming. And, that’s where Zapak is in. We look at India as the primary market,” he added.
The Android devices’ base itself is 10-12 million units in India. However, what you need to look at is the Android phones’ capabilities and features. As the Android-based phones become more capable, it (gaming) is going to be a sizeable market, he said.
Leveraging the mobile gaming expertise of Jump Games, a game developing arm of Reliance Entertainment-Digital, is a very viable preposition for Zapak, Agarwal said.



SOURCE:BUISNESS STANDARD

Over 70% Of The Games At The Tokyo Game Show Are For Phones And Tablets

There has been a lot of news coming from the Tokyo Game Show this year. We’ve heard about Metal Gearand Phoenix Wright and a host of other games for and from Sony and Nintendo, as we have come to expect.

And yet the console and handheld games that so many of us are fans of make up just a tiny minority of what’s on display at the TGS this year. IGN broke down the numbers , and created a list outlining how many games are at the show by platform. The numbers are surprising:

iOS/Android Phones & Tablets: 365

Other smartphones: 142

PlayStation 3: 57

Nintendo 3DS: 34

PC: 32

PSP: 30

PlayStation Vita: 24

Xbox 360: 24

Wii: 5

Wii U: 2

That’s a total of 715 games. It’s likely that some titles appear counted multiple times; for example, a game released for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 may well appear as three games (the list doesn’t specify). Even so, that list says rather a lot.

Of the 715 games being shown, 507 are for iOS, Android and other smartphones and tablets. That’s a total of 71 per cent of the Tokyo Game Show. Handheld games on the PSP, Vita, and 3DS add up to 12 per cent of the show, at 88 games, and all four set-top consoles (including both the Wii and Wii U with the 360 and PS3) plus the PC combined add up to just 120 games, or 17 per cent of the total.

It is true that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are both winding inevitably into the ends of their cycles, likely to be replaced in the next year or two with new hardware, which in turn will likely cause developers and publishers to push out new games and franchises. Perhaps the 2013 TGS will be overflowing with new console game announcements. Those games of the future, though, will almost certainly be announced alongside, as opposed to instead of, the ever-growing cavalcade of mobile games.

SOURCE:KOTAKU AUSTRALIA

ROVIO RELEASE COMIC FOR BAD PIGGIES

Rovio releases comic for Bad Piggies

one of the most prominent names in mobile gaming is Rovio and its Angry Birds franchise. Earlier this month, the company had announced the release date for its Angry Birds spinoff title called Bad Piggies. Rovio has now released a comic for the game on the Bad Piggiesofficial website . The comic aims to give some information about the story in the game, though I doubt many people play the Angry Birds games for its deep and intricate plotline.

As per the announcement earlier this month, Rovio Entertainment, the creator of Angry Birds, announced its newest game, Bad Piggies, which will launch on September 27 for devices such as iOS, Android and Mac. The company claims that this innovative game turns the franchise on its head by letting the fans play as the pigs. It comes with all new, never-before-seen gameplay and has a strange lack of slingshots.

Speaking at the announcement of Bad Piggies, Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio said, “There's a lot of empathy towards the lovable enemies from the Angry Birds games, and we've been constantly asked: what about the pigs' side of the story? Bad Piggies gives you the chance to play as the second-most-loved characters in the Angry Birds universe, and explore this rich world through their green eyes.”

Rovio has announced that this upcoming game will be launched for iOS, Android and Mac on September 27, while the versions for Windows Phone, Windows 8 and PC will follow shortly thereafter.

"We've had a lot of fun creating a totally new and unique gameplay experience," said Petri Järvilehto, EVP Games at Rovio. "There's so much more to these pigs than what is seen in the Angry Birds games, and Bad Piggies is the first glimpse into what's going on in the imaginative and ingenious minds of the pigs."

The Angry birds series has been undeniably successful. Starting with its debut on iOS devices and eventual ports into other platforms, the franchise has proved extremely popular. At one point, the Playstation 3 version of Angry Birds even became the best selling game on PSN. The company announced 1 billion downloads for Angry Birds in May. The download count, however, includes all platforms and all the Angry Birds games that Rovio has made, which are: Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Space, as well as the free, light versions of the games.

Rovio has seen massive success with the series. The first game debuted for iOS devices in 2009 for $0.99, with the Android release shortly after, which was free and ad-supported. When the game was in development, the folks at Rovio liked the idea of building wingless and legless birds. To choose an enemy for the birds, they thought pigs were appropriate as the swine flu epidemic was in the news at the time. Rovio partnered with Chillingo to publish the first Angry Birds app to the iOS App Store. After that, Rovio self-published all its Angry Birds titles with the exception of the PlayStation Portable version of the game, which was published under the production of Abstraction Games and distributed by Chillingo.
SOURCE:TECH2.IN