Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore, Google's Cardboard VR move, and more Apple Watch games
WEEK THAT WAS
This week marked the beginning of Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore, and we've been receiving updates from our travelling news ed Alysia.
We covered talks from Reliance Games CEO Manish Agarwal and Mike Bithell of Thomas Was Alone fame to get things started, with plenty more to come.
Also this week, we updated our list of confirmed Apple Watch games, including a rather high-profile Pocket Gems release which features integration with the hi-tech timepiece.
And elsewhere around the site we scrutinised the monetisation of Fast and Furious: Legacy in The IAP Inspector, and quizzed our Mobile Mavens about finding a mobile equivalent to hardcore PS4 darling Bloodborne.
Industry voices- We spoke to Big Bucket Software about the making of Space Age.
- Vlambeer's Rami Ismail was revealed to be the keynote indie speaker at Develop:Brighton.
- Reliance Games CEO Manish Agarwal predicted at Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore that the Indian mobile market will be larger than PC and console.
- Mike Bithell's talk at PGC Bangalore took the line that individuality, over design by committee, can bring its own rewards - he urged developers to ignore advice.
- We asked our Mobile Mavens what they see as mobile gaming's equivalent of Bloodborne - i.e. a badge of honour by which a group of users identify themselves.
- Jari-Pekka Kaleva shared his concerns that 'regulatory barbed wire' could mean Minecraft-scale success stories becoming a thing of the past for European developers.
- Our Stateside columnist warned developers of gaming PR's incompetence, stressing the importance of finding a clued-up representative.
- The IAP Inspector cast its attention to Kabam's Fast and Furious: Legacy.
- Top-grossing JRPG Logres of Swords and Sorcery has been downloaded more than 6 million times since its December 2013 launch.
- Speaking at Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore, Rovio's mighty eagle Peter Vesterbacka pointed out that Angry Birds Go's 130 million downloads eclipses the sales figures of all Mario games since 1999.
- In a fine example of extreme UA, the Amazon App Store is currently attempting to entice downloads by offering a free app bundle worth $105.
- F2P veteran Pocket Gems has released War Dragons on iOS in selected territories, a midcore battler with a PvP focus and Apple Watch integration.
- YeahMobi shared how its App Developer Boost Program can help Chinese indies achieve success internationally, with its simulataneous monetisation and UA services.
- We continued our quest to list all confirmed games for the upcoming Apple Watch with some new additions.
- Apple Watch-integrated brain trainer Rules! will be free to download for a limited time via the Apple Store app - the first wrist-based game to be given an official nod of approval by Apple.
- Chukong Technologies reported that over half of the Chinese market's top grossing mobile titles are currently using its free, open-source middleware Cocos 2d-x.
- Rational revealed ex-Zynga exec Lloyd Melnick as the firm's new director of social gaming.
- Educational app publisher TabTale acquired Sunstorm Games, abosrbing the casual developer's 100+ games into its own library.
- Frenzoo raised another $1 million in funding to accelerate development and finance ambitious integration among games in its Me Girl franchise.
- Monetisation and user engagement platform Bee7 announced its partnership with ad specialists Vserv, which aims to simplify monetisation in emerging markets.
- Berlin-based UA firm GameGenetics appointed Jeffry van Ede as CEO.
- London-based mobile video platform LoopMe signed a series of deals wth high-profile Chinese app publishers, adding Cheetah Mobile, Sungy Mobile and Baidu to its roster.
- Helskinki-based PlayRaven is looking to fill 4 senior roles to help develop a sequel to Spymaster.