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MWC 2011: Samsung launches Mobage-powered Game Hub on Galaxy S II

And has Gameloft’s Asphalt 6 pre-installed

MWC 2011: Samsung launches Mobage-powered Game Hub on Galaxy S II
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There are many reasons to be very excited about Samsung’s Android-based super phone, the Galaxy S II.

It is unbelievably light and thin - only 8.49 mm - but packs in a dual-core CPU, as well as the being the first smartphone to use ARM’s top-end Mali 400 graphics chip in a quad-core architecture for power and long battery life.

More significantly for gamers, though, it’s the first phone we’ve seen to embed DeNA and ngmoco’s Mobage gaming platform: something Samsung is bringing to all its Android devices sold in the West this year.

It's labelled as the Game Hub, and accessed via a dedicated app icon. Tapping this brings up a list of social and premium games you can download.

On the devices on the MWC showfloor, 12 games were listed in the social tab including ngmoco favourites such as We Rule, We City and We Farm. Games from other developers included Qrank, Age of Legend, Touch Hockey, and Tap Slash Ninja. All of these are free or freemium titles.

On the premium tab, 13 titles were listed, all from Gameloft, with Asphalt 6 included as a pre-install free game on the Galaxy S II.

There was also a news tab, although with the device not yet out this only contained one story, about ngmoco bringing Pocket God to Android.

Of course, games will also be available via the Android Market and Samsung Apps stores, each of which has its usual icon on the device.

What’s significant about Game Hub, however, will be its ability to push gamers into DeNA and ngmoco’s social gaming system, which is built on the Plus+ platform, allowing people to interact with friends, compare scores and achievements, and also play multiplayer games.

Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.