Mobile Phone Games

Electronic Arts brings out Orcs and Elves

2006-05-07T22:34:00.000+03:00

Verizon Wireless customers will have the chance of enjoying Orcs & Elves later this month. Guys that created Doom are behind the title, so expect something pretty amazing. Electronic Arts starts to get in to the mobile game field after their recent purchase of Jamdat. Let’s give them some time after we judge this move.

PlayerX booked Miami Vice

2006-05-04T20:58:00.000+03:00

Many have been asking why a relatively small publisher and distributor, PlayerX, got Miami Vice into their stables. Because they care their partners, that’s why. They offer excellent service that can overtake bigger competitors who have degenerated back to corporatism. Now all they need to do is to produce a great game, easier said than done... Original news source The Inquirer has a picture of

Mobile games for women

2005-09-13T21:54:00.000+03:00

Here is an interesting article where Kristin Asleson McDonnell is telling about the history of LimeLife a start-up company that is making mobile phone games for women. COMMENTARYTo me this seems to be an excellent idea, because all the women I know have mobile phones and they like to play those simple games that are readily installed on them. Mobile phone is the gaming platform for women.

Platform independent games

2005-09-10T18:26:00.000+03:00

I was just wondering the fact that the most important features of mobile phones - voice and messaging - are interconnectable. Games are not. Games are severely limited by the specifications of different mobile devices.Somebody should use Scalable Vector Graphics to produce games that could be sent to another phone, bit like email attachments. These games would work in every mobile device of

Nokia N-Gage becomes a platform

2005-05-22T19:42:00.000+03:00

N-Gage is just another smart phone among others and now Nokia is planning to extend N-Gage’s special gaming features to its other smart phones. This wonderful move will eventually increase the number of devices, which are capable of running N-Gage games. Nokia pulls a carrot from the hat to tempt mobile phone game developers.According to Nokia’s statements, it would be their high-end smart phones

Blue Lava Wireless acquired by JAMDAT

2005-04-23T15:26:00.000+03:00

Gamesindustry.biz informed that JAMDAT has bought Blue Lava Wireless. They have paid a hefty price of 137 million USD in cash and in stock. In the core of the deal lies a 15 year Tetris license. To my opinion this is a great move from JAMDAT. They have been very successful in producing simple mobile games for different platforms. Their most successful titles have been based on physical games like

Turning a new page

2005-04-07T10:44:00.000+03:00

Mobile Phone Games is the name and still there are no reviews over here. I bet that most people who surf to these pages are looking for reviews and downloads. To accommodate this need, I have decided to start a long-term project to develop the content. I will set up sub categories for different gaming platforms and eventually analyze them. I will start offering game reviews for all of these

Gizmondo games announced

2005-04-06T21:05:00.000+03:00

Gizmondo doesn’t want to fade away. In this Gameindustry.biz article they say that they already have 89 titles in pipeline. Pipeline? To me this is almost as if they were saying that they have plans to introduce some titles. For the moment the selection of games for Gizmondo pretty much sucks.In the article they (Eric Peterson) also say that they are looking into expanding their game assortment.

Books on your mobile phone

2005-04-05T09:52:00.000+03:00

Japanese are using their mobile phones to read books. Here is the link, let’s hope it stays online. These cell phone novels come as small Java installations and then you are free to read. Books travel with you conveniently packed into a phone and as screen technologies have advanced by leaps and bounds, it is not so tiring to ogle the phone screen. I personally think that big part of the success

Nokia's last stand

2005-04-03T16:59:00.000+03:00

Now every game site is talking about the launch of Splinter Cell for N-Gage, same here. I don’t really want to get into talking about the game. It is great you can play it with your friends etc. I was wondering if N-Gage Arena is going to grow its popularity through new mobile game launches. To me this looks like the last upper ground for N-Gage – growing online community that is being served

Mobile oligopoly

2005-03-31T09:14:00.000+03:00

Command & Conquer is coming to PSP in no time. The reputation of the platform is so important that I suppose any crappy game deck would suffice as a PSP just because it is PSP. Well, PSP happens to deliver against the expectations so they did not fumble on that respect.Now it sure looks like GBA and PSP will form the oligopoly to the mobile game markets. N-Gage will be pushed aside and only

Will Gizmondo imitate N-Gage?

2005-03-30T21:14:00.000+03:00

Matthew Maier wrote interesting piece in Business 2.0, called Gizmondo: Loaded With Features, but Hopelessly Doomed. He compares the launch of Gizmondo to the launch of N-Gage, because it will probably end miserably. According to Matthew, Gizmondo is all you can ask for and it doesn’t have any major design flaws like N-Gage had when it was first launched.Similarities come when he looks to the

Nokia should parrot Gillette

2005-03-29T16:59:00.000+03:00

Yes, Gillette is the company that Nokia should copycat. Practically give out those game decks and then charge money with networked wireless games. Give them one wireless game for free to roam about, just like in PC persistent world genre. They will be nailed into the game, it follows them all around and they keep on paying subscription fees.Not interested in never-ending games? Not to worry,

PSP vs N-Gage

2005-03-28T16:27:00.000+03:00

PSP has amassed impressive slate of titles in this short time that it has been on the market. Surely it didn’t happen in a snap, but these games have been in development for a long time. Still it is interesting to watch, how much more buzz they are able to raise on the field, compared to the Nokia’s N-Gage.Unlike PSP, N-Gage came to the market without the strong support of game brand. Nokia had

Is N-Gage pricing strategy flawed?

2005-03-22T11:52:00.000+02:00

I have to ask, whether the new pricing model of N-Gage is still flawed? What Nokia tries to do here is that it keeps the prices of the game deck and the games on the level where it can still make money from both. This way they are still not able to break into the portable gaming platform genre. Sales will definitely increase, but I doubt that they are able to start positive cycle where sales feed

New RedLynx mobile game for N-Gage

2005-03-09T13:01:00.000+02:00

All About Symbian informed that RedLynx, the company that came out with wonderful ”Pathway to Glory” mobile game title for N-Gage, is now mulling new project, which is called “High Seize”. This new project is about pirates and is coming to markets for Christmas 2005. Surprise, surprise, it takes place on Caribbean and mixes fantasy storyline and strategy game playing. I suppose lot of good

Nokia plans redesign for N-Gage

2005-03-08T12:59:00.000+02:00

Reuters reported that mobile phone maker Nokia is mulling possible redesigns on its N-Gage mobile console. One of the changes could be the support for CDMA networks. Price cuts for US are also planned to boost the sales. Prices have already been slashed in UK.

JAMDAT and Gameloft race for growth

2005-03-04T20:44:00.000+02:00

JAMDAT and Gameloft both announced their numbers for year 2004. JAMDAT is approximately twice as big as Gameloft, but this smaller competitor is much more profitable. Gameloft benefits from its close relationship with Ubisoft, but JAMDAT had to fight its way to the top. This can be seen in the product palettes of these two companies – JAMDAT has more licensed and casual game material, while

Ring back tones are coming to West

2005-03-04T17:26:00.000+02:00

Red Herring wrote about ring back tones that are widely popular in Asia. For those of you, who don’t know what it means – ring back tones are the sound you hear while calling to someone and still waiting for them to answer your call. In this case, ring back tones just aren’t dull bleeps instead they can take a shape of any sound, from noise to talking and music. Article elaborates the business

Mobile game show from Indiagames

2005-03-01T13:36:00.000+02:00

According to Mobile Entertainment Analyst, Indiagames is going to start a 24/7 mobile “Game Show” that actually runs as an online mobile game. Game runs on several platforms and one can take part via SMS, WAP and JAVA. Basically it should be just like any radio or TV game show, without the radio and TV (duh). Vivid and beautiful Mandira Bedi (Google her to see some colorful pictures, I did...)

Shanda Upgrades Game Worlds

2005-02-16T20:39:00.000+02:00

According to Zhou Zhengqian at Pacific Epoch, Shanda has expanded some of their online game areas and raised the price for playing on those areas. Players get twice the experience but also pay twice the price. Not a clear sign of pricing power but definitely a sign of people wanting more.

NCSoft Introduces Guild Wars In Europe And USA

2005-02-16T15:21:00.000+02:00

NCSoft is once again pushing the envelope or at least markets. Now they are launching the Guild Wars in North America and Europe. They are managing their business in a very clever manner. First, introduce the successful product and establish sales channels and support organizations. Then it is time to follow the trail with new products and reap the benefits of scale - straightforward and

Kayak Buys Synergenix

2005-02-14T09:00:00.000+02:00

Kayak Interactive saw its chance and grabbed Synergenix a Swedish mobile publisher. Together the two companies form a mobile publisher of some considerable size. This was especially smart move from Kayak, as they were able to bolster their technical expertise on mobile platforms. After this move, Kayak will also be fighting for the top position in mobile gaming.

Activision Management Sell Shares

2005-02-13T13:18:00.000+02:00

Activision put out good numbers but the stock took a hit from surprising source – insider selling. Regulatory filing was accompanied with normal soothing comments about the sale. It was interesting to notice that it was widely speculated on the markets that this sale brushes off acquisition speculations.I would like to offer different view, as the management owns less stock they have less

Mobile Surround Sound

2005-02-13T00:33:00.000+02:00

According an article, written by John Borland, A British start-up Sonaptic has gotten its surround sound technology introduced in a mobile phone on Japanese markets.Now we have 3D sound and 3D graphics. Still waiting for that phone, which finally combines both.

Atari Financial Trouble

2005-02-12T11:03:00.000+02:00

It’s Atari’s turn to shed light on their darkest pages of account books. What do we see? TheStreet.com, Motley Fool and Reuters, they all play very moody concerto for Atari. Basically everything went to nuts - revenue tanked, margins dropped and titles had lapses. Atari introduced a new kind of portfolio thinking. They will focus on improving returns for invested capital. Sounds clever, they have

Chinese Online Game Companies Doing Well

2005-02-10T15:06:00.000+02:00

Week ago I expressed my worries regarding the intensifying competition on the Chinese online game markets. I still think that the market is getting crowded and the margins will sink, but for now there are no worries in investors minds. Since the previous week, stock prices of game companies have climbed again. Both Shanda, and The9 had considerable improvement. Especially Shanda’s star was

NCSoft Rockets Stellar Growth

2005-02-10T09:31:00.000+02:00

I told you once and I am telling you again - NCSoft is the kind of company that I would associate my retirement savings. They are now operating on all the major markets for online games and their products, while not especially innovative, are well presented and affordable. This is a great combination to gush cash. They just informed about their financial results for the past year. They have

Activision Posts Excellent Results

2005-02-10T08:24:00.000+02:00

I wrote about THQ, which I consider to be a company that is boxed in to US markets. Activision is like the other side of the coin. They have wonderful slate of products that fit to the international markets. Activision grows fast and one can almost label this growth as organic, since they mainly purchase only those companies that they have a close working relationship.

THQ Posts Excellent Results

2005-02-03T13:34:00.000+02:00

For me this was really a surprise. To me THQ had nothing but rubbish in their product slate, well few exceptions like OddWorld and Sonic. Seems like their games are geared towards younger audience and therefore the company might be bit off the radar, what comes to analysts. Now, if only they had a way to market these games efficiently to audiences outside US. I admit that I wasn't impressed, but

NCSoft Starts In Europe

2005-02-03T11:23:00.000+02:00

So now those super heroes are coming to Europe. NCSoft seems to get good reviews for their games, so I anticipate good launch and solid earnings. This is the benchmark company to follow in online gaming.

Chinese Online Game Companies Fall

2005-02-03T10:57:00.000+02:00

Shanda and The9 have lost some stock value during the past week. Both companies have expressed their desire to expand their scope of business outside of operating online games. The9 keeps it together bit better and remains on game related field but Shanda has higher ambitions. Except updated business strategies the other news that has been playing against Shanda and The9 is a barrage of news

In-Fusio Acquires Thumbworks and Mobile Scope

2005-02-03T10:38:00.000+02:00

For a company of such a short history, In-Fusio has managed a lot. After the recent purchases it has pushed itself to the top of mobile entertainment. I see this as desirable development because I consider In-Fusio to be a European company even it has lot of American capital to back it up. Latest consolidation does good for the mobile game industry because it makes the business simpler. Less

Kingsoft Advertises Fengshenbang

2005-02-02T14:09:00.000+02:00

Chinese software and online game developer Kingsoft has high hopes on their new online game - Fengshenbang. Kingsoft plans massive marketing operations that include billboards and TV to support their new title. In short time, they have already used double the average annual amount that goes to marketing to promote their new title. The number of Kingsoft's userbase has risen rapidly and they are

Empire Interactive Stock Falls

2005-02-02T13:06:00.000+02:00

Major shareholder of Empire Interactive sold its stake in the company, crashing the stock price. Company moved on to calm people that there is nothing to worry about, everything is just fine. It is common sense that if any major owner sells shares before announcing financial results, the odds are that those results are not going to be especially great. Now we wait for those results and hope for

UbiSoft Expands In Montreal

2005-02-02T11:38:00.000+02:00

The news is out. UbiSoft will expand their operations in Montreal and increase the workforce with thousand people by the year 2010. This grand scheme will obtain some government subsidies and tax breaks. Well nothing amazing, company wants to grow so they need to decide where it is going to happen. This time around Montreal got lucky. How this will work towards maintaining their independent

Gamania Makes A Move In China

2005-02-01T21:53:00.000+02:00

Gamania is in talks with several big Internet Cafe Unions in China. They are discussing about the possibility of launching EverQuest II themed Internet cafes in eastern China. This will not be good news for local online game operators since this could be the start of competitive armament of themed cafes. Costs are going to rise, check out that Shanda stock price.

Motion Recognizing Mobile Phone

2005-02-01T15:51:00.000+02:00

Sharp designed it for Vodafone. In Japan people will be able to fool around with their cell phones without touching the keypad - just twist and roll... or whatever... Most interesting applications for this phone model will be specially designed games (I don't believe in shaking my phone to make it call to someone). However, it will be great fun to balance a marble on the screen by balancing the

UbiSoft Press Conference In Canada

2005-02-01T09:50:00.000+02:00

On February 1st, UbiSoft will hold a press conference in Montreal. Lot of important people especially from Canada's and Quebec's governments are present but Yves Guillemot will not be there. What could it be? Education center? Probably nothing too commercial, maybe a purchase of small development studio. Lots of tea and biscuits, let's wait this out.

UbiSoft Drops The Settlers Bomb

2005-01-28T15:35:00.000+02:00

You probably heard it already, UbiSoft makes yet another version of Settlers and this time it will abandon the good old 2D graphics and introduce more realistic 3D environment. You DO understand me when I say that this was a monster surprise! How can it BE? All those cute little helpers that built the empire, one could even have named them, so dear they were. What a great mood that game had,

Electronic Arts Drops The Bomb

2005-01-27T19:04:00.000+02:00

On a conference call with investors, Electronic Arts told that they could be thinking about buying more UbiSoft stocks, maybe even a controlling stake. Naturally this had an unfavorable effect on UbiSoft's stock price, because with an open challenge like this, UbiSoft has to spend quite some money to defend itself. All the work UbiSoft has to do to defend themselves will be away from normal work.

Deal Shakedown

2005-01-26T13:09:00.000+02:00

The story takes place in modern time. The characters involved are as follows: Electronic Arts Big game company, which thrives for domination of industry News Corporation Media conglomerate which plans to dominate game industry Activision Mid-size game company, which is fighting for survival Eidos Big game company, which is in financial troubles Infogrames Big game company,

Gravity Corporation

2005-01-24T17:31:00.000+02:00

Gravity Corporation from South Korea is looking for capital. In order to fill their pockets they have filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to set up an IPO on Nasdaq. Sure it's fun to follow these situations where company is located in a country where it is difficult to raise money and they therefore resort going abroad with their financial needs.

UbiSoft In A Hurry

2005-01-20T22:10:00.000+02:00

It is fun to look at an organization under pressure. Everything is so frantic and things have to get done in the earliest possible moment. It kind of a reminds me of those occasions, when the roast is still in the oven, but the quests are already ringing the doorbell. So what is the UbiSoft doing in their hurry? They are announcing the Christmas sales figures one week early of scheduled there

Electronic Arts And ESPN Deal

2005-01-18T22:06:00.000+02:00

This is just what I spoke about. An American company taking the advantage of securing intellectual rights with their well managed cash reserves. Excellent move that surely will put some competitors to a passenger seat. After this deal, Electronic Arts will hold the rights for ESPN sports brand and name. Are there any non-EA sports left out there?

Running Out Of Time

2005-01-18T09:23:00.000+02:00

In Telegraph, Andrew Murray-Watson wrote about the difficulties that Eidos is facing in its quest to find a buyer. I write some of my thoughts, based on that article. Eidos first announced its intentions in July. After that, they have had to update the negotiations status for several times. The sale drags on and on, nobody’s buying. Eidos has one of the most celebrated

Running Out Of Money

2005-01-17T13:36:00.000+02:00

Julia Fields wrote an excellent article for Sunday Herald. Article goes in to the difficulties that British game industry is facing. I won’t provide any summary, but discuss the topic freely, adding my own opinions. Key problem is the profitability of the industry. To improve the financials, companies have jumped the trend of cutting fixed costs. This means less property and more

Continental Differences

2005-01-16T15:00:00.000+02:00

Here I go again with my skewed opinions. Now I would like to point out the almost imaginary difference between the business practices of American (ok, ok, mainly Electronic Arts, I really can’t pull Acclaim into this) and European game companies. The hypothesis goes like follows: American companies pay more attention to business management like obtaining copyrights and keeping very tight

Shanda Down, The9 Up

2005-01-15T23:42:00.000+02:00

Shanda dropped, but the competitor - The9 - did not. Naturally The9 didn’t notify investors of any unexpected changes in its business activities, something like stem cell research or CRM software development. Oh, that was bit rude from me... Actually The9 had a great week, they reported to have received the right to operate The World of Warcraft online game. That surely is good news for this

Shanda Stock Falls

2005-01-15T11:41:00.000+02:00

Could loose money have clouded the vision of the company? Shanda has announced that they are to move to TV, movies and print. Just a slight change into plans or what would you say? So, instead of having clear-cut game operator in their hands, they have to worry about budding media company, which has its arms around the whole China market. This is very bad news for the investors as they put their

EA Speaks Out

2005-01-15T11:32:00.000+02:00

Electronic Arts has spoken out about the situation with UbiSoft. EA says that they have had lots of discussions with other game companies, including Activision, UbiSoft and Eidos. So, EA is saying that they have not making hostile bid, they just happened to have the chance to buy that much talked 20% stake of UbiSoft.

News Corporation Eyes Game Industry

2005-01-14T23:56:00.000+02:00

Is another giant forming to the game markets? According to Peter Chernin, who is the Chief Operating Officer of the company, News Corporation is seeking an acquisition in the video games market. News Corp., said Mr. Chernin, is kicking the tires of pretty much all video games companies. They have a bit of a dilemma with the divide between pricey all-in-one game companies and cheap-o

Cross Media Success

2005-01-13T23:39:00.000+02:00

It has been fascinating to follow the development of cross media or cross platform content. We have old comics that have turned into movies and games. Game characters are turning into consumer brands that can advertise almost anything. UbiSoft happily announced their latest cross-media victory as Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell climbed to the New York Times bestseller list. What

New Titles From UbiSoft

2005-01-12T21:04:00.000+02:00

So what about those news that show UbiSoft having a future? We got two recent announcements of new titles that are called Bard’s Tale and Pippa Funnell: The Stud Farm Inheritance. Pippa Funnell is old news, as the game will already be released during March. It is intriguing to see how the market accepts this title. For me it reads “teenage girl” all over the retail box. It

Good News From UbiSoft

2005-01-11T20:50:00.000+02:00

This is what UbiSoft needs, good news after another. We all now know that Prince of Persia is selling well. Furthermore we know that there are some promising prospects as what comes to merger partners. Now UbiSoft is able to paint a picture of coming, successful titles, this can not do bad for the stock price.

Expensive Game Studies

2005-01-09T18:50:00.000+02:00

Game industry is a field that is hard to get on. Talent is desperately needed, but is hard to find. People try to find way to land a job by being enthusiasts and developing their own mini games or having relevant education. Being enthusiastic hobbyist and coding away small demos takes lot of time. Getting an education on games field is faster but very costly. Doesn’t look too promising for a

Nostalgia Joysticks

2005-01-09T13:53:00.000+02:00

Have you come across one of those fun joystick gadgets that you can directly plug into a TV? They are now wildly popular and of this, big thanks go to the Commodore 64 that has come to the markets in such a form. It is not mere nostalgia that is creating the market demand, but the whole simplicity of the use not to mention all those fantastic classic games.

Who Wants To Buy Eidos?

2005-01-09T11:20:00.000+02:00

According to Guardian, there was some speculation on the market that Eidos would be bought by its American rival. The deal would have given bit premium over the present stock price. However, it turned out that there was no backing with this rumour and owners of the Eidos stock had to sigh and give up their hopes. Eidos said that even the negotiations continue with a number of interested parties,

UbiSoft And Gameloft Merger Results

2005-01-07T15:03:00.000+02:00

This new possibility of UbiSoft and Gameloft merging... Well, it got me thinking what might lie in the future of gaming industry at least in the European gaming industry. Do you want to read, what I think? Ok, for the starters, let’s presume that since Guillemot brothers still have such a strong grip in both UbiSoft and Gameloft, they will be able to merge the companies and the entity that

UbiSoft And Gameloft

2005-01-07T08:49:00.000+02:00

Gameloft is UbiSoft subsidiary, which focuses on mobile games. The latest plan, as white knight offers appear to be scarce, is to merge the parent company and the subsidiary. The move is not directly related to business operations, but the ownership of UbiSoft. Guillemot brothers happen to own the majority of Gameloft's stock and whether these companies are to merger, Guillemot brothers would

Infogrames To The Rescue

2005-01-06T17:46:00.000+02:00

Infogrames CEO Bruno Bonnell put his spoon to the UbiSoft soup. Mr. Bonnell says that UbiSoft should resist Electronic Arts plans (whatever they might be). He goes on and says that Infogrames could take part into supporting UbiSoft’s defensive battle against Electronic Arts. However, it seems improbable that Infogrames could actually do anything to help UbiSoft, because the financial future

Vivendi Denies Rumours

2005-01-06T15:48:00.000+02:00

Vivendi Universal denied having interest on UbiSoft merger. UbiSoft is on its own again. All alone in the dark... ;) But wait, there is still Disney, Atari, Take-2-Interactive, Activision... Any others?

UbiSoft Bid Twist

2005-01-06T14:52:00.000+02:00

Real life developments are now more interesting than any game UbiSoft has published (sorry Settlers, I didn’t mean it). According CBS Market Watch (which in turn had spotted unnamed sources from French business newspaper L’Agefi that told that Vivendi and UbiSoft had some preliminary talks), the latest twist to the story comes in a form of a white knight, called Vivendi Universal. Vivendi

UbiSoft Deal Update

2005-01-05T09:47:00.000+02:00

Some new and interesting developments have come up with the Electronic Arts and UbiSoft wrestling match. Until now UbiSoft has been cast as the unlucky underdog that Electronic Arts is harassing. Martin Arnold wrote an article for Financial Times, which sheds new light to the situation. He suggests that Ubisoft, like so many French companies

Peter Molyneux Knighted

2005-01-04T22:10:00.000+02:00

The title says it all. Mr. Molyneux has been made an OBE (officer of the Order of the British Empire). He can thanks his contributions to the games industry for obtaining such a cool title. It sure is nice to have a royal family... By the way, does this mean that Peter has to buy an armour and a horse?

Eidos Under Talks

2005-01-03T11:20:00.000+02:00

The Sunday Times wrote about excellent merger & acquisitions year 2004 on their business section. What was interesting in the article was the mentioning of Eidos as possible merger target during the year 2005. Just rumours, nothing solid yet. Who could pull together such a stunt, now as Electronic Arts is busy with UbiSoft? If you have any ideas, let me know.

N-Gage Arena Contest

2005-01-02T18:30:00.000+02:00

Pocket Kingdom contest has started. People from every continent can take part into the fun. Players are pitted against each others and according to the rankings, best players are then picked and set loose among themselves. In the end there can be only one and that person will have cool "Owner of the World" title. Some actual prizes are to be grabbed too.

Artificial Life Inc.

2005-01-01T13:05:00.000+02:00

This innovative company has few terrific products, nothing huge yet, but something that makes you think about future accomplishments that they will realize. Some of their products are: ecochamp v-girl (Best Mobile Game - Ericsson Mobile Application Awards 2004) botme Their presence on Asian markets gives them the edge over most of the competition. They know the Asian consumer, but

Happy New Year

2005-01-01T08:46:00.000+02:00

Best of Fortunes for all of you.

SEGA Rumours

2004-12-31T20:56:00.000+02:00

I noticed this rumour at Pacific Epoch. They (EricWan) wrote that Changhong and Zarva Technology could be planning the purchase of SEGA's R&D team and subsidiary Sonic Team, which both are located in China. Changhong and Zarva have a joint venture in IT field and Zarva Digital Entertainment runs SEGA's Phantasy Star Online in China. This is considered to be some sort of basis for closer

UbiSoft Insists On Going Alone

2004-12-30T10:49:00.000+02:00

UbiSoft repeated that they consider EA's offer hostile. Stock price of UbiSoft slipped over two percent. What goes up must come down. Seems like UbiSoft is not able to push the stock price so high that EA looses interest. As a result, we better start betting, when EA will accomplish ruling stake in UbiSoft. Man, that will be a dark day for European game industry (Disclaimer - I support free trade

Vodafone Innovates Again

2004-12-29T13:09:00.000+02:00

Mobile innovation meets the ski jumping. Vodafone will offer mobile TV content from ski jumping contests and also related ski jumping mobile game. Sounds interesting? Uh, not really. Vodafone's mobile content business starts to form a pattern "Brand names make popular games". From the business point of view, this is good strategy, just embrace the masses and give them simple ways to entertain

UbiSoft Strikes Again

2004-12-29T13:03:00.000+02:00

Just couple of days after EA's announcement, UbiSoft had an announcement of their own. They boast with excellent sales of their Prince of Persia game. Franchise has amassed total sales of 1,8 million copies. Sort of an odd number to me. Usually companies celebrate round numbers. In this case, two million copies wasn't that far away. Could it be so that company tried to create some pricing

Christmas Holiday

2004-12-23T11:27:00.000+02:00

Back at 28. or 29.12.

UbiSoft Fights Back

2004-12-23T10:53:00.000+02:00

UbiSoft Entertainment SA is really giving us some entertainment. They declared EA's offer to be hostile. Now that's more like it - Good old French co-operation spirit. However they say that there still is possibility for negotiations, we just have to wait and see how this plays out. The stake in this game was 19,9% ownership in UbiSoft. Just one fifth of the company's ownership, but EA would

Mobile Games In South Korea

2004-12-21T13:43:00.000+02:00

South Korean market is speeding what comes to mobile games. There are about 500 domestic game developers, which introduce over 80 games every month. In a year this will total over thousand games. Several mobile games have managed to hit the one million mark in downloads during this year. Quite a demand there, right? The estimates of the market size have risen from 218 billion wons this year to

Electronic Arts Buys A Stake In UbiSoft Entertainment

2004-12-21T13:26:00.000+02:00

Oh my! For me this is bad news. I have been so proud of our European game companies. I must admit that UbiSoft has not been gushing cash but they have very strong slate of games. They are a sizeable game company so why this move? Can company of this magnitude still benefit from the benefits of scale (EA is about 6 times bigger than Ubisoft)? What can EA bring for UbiSoft? Layoffs maybe? Will EA

Tom Online Buys Indiagames

2004-12-18T15:50:00.000+02:00

Tom already has a certain reputation as a company that is doing well in internet content. This move brings a new steady cash flow for them and an opportunity to expand for large Indian market. Tom Online bought 80,6% of Indiagames with 17,7 million USD. Very good move indeed and at reasonable price. This new development must give chills for Western companies. The two promised lands of

InfoSpace Doing Some Christmas Shopping

2004-12-16T18:36:00.000+02:00

It is not long ago as InfoSpace announced their previous acquisition - IOMO. Now they have gone shopping again. This time it is German company called Elkware. Must be heartaching times for American company to buy European companies. Let's hope that InfoSpace is able to put their acquisitions into work. It would be a shame to see them not able to realize the potential synergies. At first glance

Leiki Mobile Technology

2004-12-15T23:55:00.000+02:00

Following I copied from the company's website:"Leiki Ltd produces mobile services that learn users' preferences. In other words, the services optimise themselves based on the behaviour of the users." Very interesting. What do they think up next?

Mobile Games Are Pop

2004-12-14T10:41:00.000+02:00

Just think of it. So many people have a personal mobile phone, compared to this, few people have personal computer - often families share one. Phones are used by young and old, men and women. This creates huge user base that could use phone to play simple and personal games. There is amazing potential unused in the area of mobile games. Adults don't play games, they just don't have the time it

Innovative Mobile Games

2004-12-13T11:50:00.000+02:00

I read an article from the Miami Herald. Very interesting stuff there. They introduced Tomo Software, a company that develops massively multiplayer social experience. Their Sora City looked simple and fun. Digital Chocolate is planning to release "Message in a Garden", which would be a variation of popular virtual pet genre. I prefer to water my virtual garden instead of feeding my virtual pet.

Mobile Overtakes Land Lines

2004-12-13T11:34:00.000+02:00

In their annual publication, Trends in Telecommunication Reform, International Telecommunication Union will conclude following: "Mobile phones are expected to generate greater revenue this year than traditional land lines." The trend is not as strong in developed countries, since the historical investment for land lines has been sizeable, therefore the market situation is also more challenging

TV Shows Come To Mobile Phones

2004-12-12T17:12:00.000+02:00

Recently there have been more and more news about mobile fitted series. Vodafone promised to deliver us series based on famous American TV series called 24. MediaCorp Studios is now planning to produce soap opera for advanced mobile devices. Best thing in these plans are that the shows are designed for mobile devices and are not just normal TV programs that are shown on mobile screen.

Khronos Mobile OpenVG Draft Out

2004-12-11T09:24:00.000+02:00

This is an interesting project that has wide support, especially in the Asia they have signed up some new supporters. Asia happens to be the market area that will dictate the technological platforms of the future that gives bright future for this project. Macromedia better watch out. They have Flash Lite, but they have fumbled with the monetizing models. I have no idea, why they stubbornly try

Macromedia Holds Mobile Content Contest

2004-12-11T09:20:00.000+02:00

Here are the categories for the contest: Most Innovative Use of Flash LiteBest AnimationBest Business ApplicationBest Educational ContentBest GameBest Interactive ContentBest Productivity ApplicationBest Overall Use of Flash Lite Prices are consumer electronics.

Common Mobile Platform For Asia

2004-12-10T19:22:00.000+02:00

Asiatele.com had interesting news on their website. Seven Asia-Pacific operators have teamed together to create a regional mobile infrastructure and common service platform. Potential is huge, since Asian mobile markets are a mixed bag, having few universal rules would ease cross-border interaction. It would be easy to introduce new service that would immediately be functional on several markets,

PalmSource Goes Linux

2004-12-10T13:36:00.000+02:00

Company announced their plans to come out with Linux-based operating system for mobile and handheld devices. They are doing this because, according to them, it is fast to introduce and it is cheaper. No question that they are doing this in order to penetrate the Chinese market. There you need to be fast and cheap. Thank goodness for China, you guys are saving the software world by making people

China To Ban Football Manager 2005

2004-12-10T11:26:00.000+02:00

The Guardian wrote today that even Football Manager 2005 is not officially sold in China, the Chinese government has ordered officials to search for pirated versions of the game. Why such drastic measures? In the game, Taiwan is presented as a sovereign state. Well, we just can't have that, can we... Any game had better make sure that the content fits into the limits of acceptability of all

European Galileo Is American GPS

2004-12-09T20:31:00.000+02:00

Today the decision was not made yet. Hopefully tomorrow we will get good news from the ministers. Galileo is a satellite positioning system, which works in similar manner as American counterpart GPS. Background for the project seems promising: European and American systems will be compatible and private companies have promised to offer substantial financing for the project. If this enterprise is

Apple iPod Is Going Down

2004-12-09T11:05:00.000+02:00

No matter how dominating iPod's market share is, things are about to change for Apple. Taiwanese (whenever Taiwan is uttered in electronics design people start to have that certain look on their face) MSI will come to the markets with their player series, which is named MEGA (scary). This Taiwanese gadget has everything that iPod has + (PLUS) it has video capabilities, you can use it as a simple

Virgin China And Virgin India

2004-12-08T11:41:00.000+02:00

Richard Branson announced that Virgin is in talks with Chinese telecom company. Discussion is about starting a joint venture in telecommunications sector. Apparently Virgin is to give their brand and Chinese partner would offer their network - convenient. Virgin is doing the same in India, this lady sure knows her value. Personally I wouldn't be surprised if Virgin would ultimately pass Vodafone

Finnish Government Selling TeliaSonera

2004-12-08T09:36:00.000+02:00

Decision of Finnish government to sell 250 million shares of TeliaSonera will have an effect on price of the stock. On the long run this is good news for the company, because no matter what they say, government can be bit over concerned with workers policies and other meaningless stuff like that. Europe is full of telecoms, which have government as a major stock owner. This will further open the

Mobile Lottery

2004-12-07T23:44:00.000+02:00

Finnish company EGET has new gaming platform that enables offering mobile lotteries and other legally licensed money games. Horse races, betting, gambling we can never hide these vices anymore as they follow us in our pockets.

Mobile Instant Messaging

2004-12-07T23:27:00.000+02:00

It is here - again. Movial had this idea of mobile IM a long time ago, but as the product didn't break through to the markets, guys put it on hold for some time and made money with projects. Now they come again, but this time with partners. This is a day that I have been waiting for. No more - ok, few less - calls that enquire, "Where are you?" People start maniacally check their smart phones to

Nokia Venture Partners Expands

2004-12-07T23:12:00.000+02:00

Nokia Venture Partners has started a new 100 million dollars fund, which invests into fast growing tech companies, which already have a commercial product. Do you need extra sales via strong partner or is there otherwise good uses for cash? Ask for Markus Salolainen and Rob Trice, they are in charge of the money.

Smartner Mobile Email Partner

2004-12-07T22:40:00.000+02:00

Smartner is a company, which I have been following for over two years now. Their middleware is just excellent. With it you can conveniently read your email on the move and it is not only about email anymore, you can have your office on your pocket. I had a chance to follow their first steps in Asia quite closely. I liked the product then and I like it now. Market conditions weren't the best few

Sari Baldauf Leaves Nokia

2004-12-06T19:44:00.000+02:00

So, Sari Baldauf (prior her marriage Sari Niiranen) announced that she is leaving Nokia. Does anyone know who she was (good time to get to know someone, eh)? Here is Sari Baldauf's biography. First of all she was born 10th of August 1955 in Kotka, Finland. She studied in Helsinki School of Economics (HSE) and got her Bachelor in 1977. From 1977 to 1978 she worked as a researcher in HSE and in

Mobile Trash Revisited

2004-12-06T13:13:00.000+02:00

It appears that recycling companies are already doing the business that I just "invented". Many phones are just refitted and check that they are in working order and then they are shipped to a poor country. So far so good and my plan is working smoothly. However, it is here where the problems arise. In Third World countries, there are even less consumer knowledge about environmental effects of

Mobile Trash Problem

2004-12-06T11:41:00.000+02:00

In Seattle Post, Ellen Simon wrote that old electronic gadgets are presenting a massive problem as what comes to recycling. There is just no use for old stuff as new and improved makes previous models obsolete. I have several old mobile phones, computers and gaming devices somewhere in storage, all in good working condition. The army of variegated devices presents logistic problems beyond