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PocketGamer.biz Week That Was: Tizen 2.0, Real Racing 3 and PlayStation 4

The past 7 days in bite-sized portions

PocketGamer.biz Week That Was: Tizen 2.0, Real Racing 3 and PlayStation 4
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For a website that covers the mobile games industry, we sure have been talking about the PlayStation 4 a lot this week.

But it's not just that our frail minds wandered. Instead, we've been yabbering on about the PS4 because its announcement was an interesting example of how mobile gaming has affected the wider games industry.

From the socially-connected nature of Sony's new device, to the occasional mentions of free-to-play business models, it's clear that Sony is responding to developments from the world of mobile.

Whether that response is a particularly cogent one remains up for debate though.

To hear Kristan Reed tell it, Sony's engagement with our connected present was a decidedly half-hearted one. Jon Jordan was more charitable, arguing that although Sony hadn't answered a lot of questions, at least it seemed to be asking the right ones.

Danke Games' Fraser MacInnes, meanwhile, was impressed by the PS4, but felt that changes in consumer spending habits, the rising costs of console development and the inexorable advancement of mobile hardware could soon leave Sony's console an amazing, high-tech relic.

The jury's out, then, but the PocketGamer.biz Week that Was is in, so let's look back at the last seven days in mobile gaming.

Platform wars
  • US correspondent Carter Dotson examines iCloud game saves – an attractive feature that's proven too unwieldy to attract widespread developer support.
  • Agawi launches True Cloud, a one-stop cloud gaming service that streams PC games to tablets, smartphones, PCs and smart TVs.
  • BlackBerry needs games, and Unity is gaming's greatest enabler, says CEO David Helgason.
  • New publishers are being 'locked out' of the App Store, according to the latest report from Distimo.
  • Tizen 2.0 SDK and source code officially launch to developers – a "major milestone" in the open source operating system's development.
Asia
Monetisation
  • Was EA right to take Real Racing 3 free-to-play? The PocketGamer.biz Mobile Gaming Mavens debate the issue.
  • In this week's edition of the Charticle, we examine the soft launch of Real Racing 3, and conclude that EA's going to need to tweak its monetisation model before its official release.
  • Annual spend on in-app purchases will exceed $3 billion on tablets alone by 2016, according to Juniper Research.
  • Freemium devs must stay one step ahead of parental concerns, says UKIE CEO Jo Twist, or tighter controls may follow.
Industry voices
James Nouch
James Nouch
PocketGamer.biz's news editor 2012-2013