Samsung's new wearables, Molyneux on F2P, and our Mavens on that South Park episode
The past 7 days in bite-sized portions
With the Samsung Developer Conference 2014 in full swing, you won't be surprised to find that some of this week's big hitters come from San Francisco.
PocketGamer.biz events editor, George Osborn, was our man on the ground, and, like a news seeking missile, he didn't miss a beat as Samsung looked to make a splash in the world of wearables.
Indeed, the mobile manufacturer made its focus on wearables abundantly clear by announcing Project Beyond - a new 360 degree camera technology that it says will help developers to transport VR users across the world - alongside the Gear S and Simband, which allow consumers to choose between a general smartwatch experience and a health-focused device.
Outside of Samsung's conference bubble, the rest of the world carried on spinning. Sega and Gumi joined forces to release Chain Chronicle in the west, Peter Molyneux opened up about the challenges of free-to-play, and our Mavens weighed in on South Park's recent depiction of feemium gaming.
As always, there's more where that came from, so, grab a mug of joe, and ready yourself for another Week That Was.
Industry voices- F2P monetisation is extremely challenging that's why mobile devs need to learn about community, explained Peter Molyneux.
- MyGamez revealed why full localisation wasn't key to Hill Climb Racing's success in China.
- We asked, and our Mavens answered: Is South Park's criticism of F2P games valid?
- Handy Games explained why it's backing smartwatch gaming instead of VR.
- Zynga's Clive Downie was the latest industry pioneer to join our Hall of Fame.
- We found out more about hóPLAY and the rebirth of videogame development in the Basque Country.
User acquisition, retention, and discovery
- Sega and Gumi joined forces to release Chain Chronicle in the west.
- GameRefinery lifted the lid on its Game Power Score tool, which aims to improve your game's commercial potential.
- Amsterdam-based developer Lunagames hit 5 million downloads on Windows Phone.
Tools & Platforms
- Samsung announced the Gear S and Simband at SDC 2014.
- Samsung also announced Project Beyond: a new 360 degree camera technology that it says will help developers to transport VR users across the world.
- Sixense STEM adds full motion tracking to Samsung Gear VR.
- Imagination GPUs look setp to provide a graphics boost for wearable tech.
- Candy Crush continued its sweet success in our exclusive look at the UK App Store charts.
- TapSense awarded $10,000 ad spend to the winning team of its 2014 Hacker Bus hackathon.
- LINE and Tencent invested $110 million in Korean startup 4:33 Creative Lab.
- Intel led a $9 million funding round for VR Kickstarter success, Avegant.
- Game accelerator and investment platform Execution Labs announced plans to step up its support for independent developers following a $6 million Series A funding round.