1）据MSNBC报道，芬兰开发商Rovio首席营销官Peter Vesterbacka日前表示，他认为Rovio目前已价值数十亿美元，《愤怒的小鸟》品牌价值与Zynga游戏《FarmVille》不相上下。但彭博社近期的报道则指出，Rovio目前估值为12亿美元（游戏邦注：据称Zynga目前身价是200至250亿美元左右）。不过观察者认为，只要《愤怒的小鸟》持续扩大品牌影响力，Rovio有朝一日定会成为堪与Zynga匹敌的游戏公司。

Vesterbacka还表示，除非有人肯出高价，否则他们现在不会出售公司，Ropvio正准备在三年内在纽约证券交易所上市。

angry birds cosplay(from games.com)

2）Medio Systems公司近日宣布与Rovio进行合作，通过其游戏分析工具，对Rovio提供的《愤怒的小鸟》每周14亿分钟的玩家游戏数据进行分析，帮助Rovio理解玩家操作行为，并由此增强用户的游戏体验。

这项合作对双方均大有裨益，Rovio可通过深入了解用户优化游戏体验，而Medio的分析平台也可以由此扩大追踪用户规模。

3）休闲游戏公司PopCap Games最近与金斯密斯大学联合展开的一项调查表明，有五分之一家长认为玩电脑游戏有助于培养孩子掌握技术的能力。（游戏邦注：该调查受访者为3250名父母和祖父母）。

kid is palying games(from carguydad.com)

有三分之一的家长相信玩游戏会提高孩子的注意力，53%家长认为休闲电子游戏有助于增强孩子解决问题的能力，27%的家长称孩子每天都向他们借智能手机玩游戏；调查还发现，不少父母和祖父母都会与孩子、孙子女连网共同玩游戏。

4）白标签应用商店Appia（游戏邦注：white-label，白标签是指一方提供产品，由另一方用自己的品牌进行销售的行为。Appia主要为Opera、三星、T-Mobile、AT&T、威瑞森等公司提供创建或运营应用商店的服务）日前宣布其7月份下载量为4000万次。Appia上线38个月以来累计下载量共达2亿次，在过去四个月中下的下载量超过1亿次。该应用商店目前共有14万款应用，3.2万名主流手机平台的开发者，其7月份下载量来自200多个国家的3500种手机。

app stores' growth rates(from appia)

该应用商店最直接的跨平台竞争对手是GetJar，不过后者在今年4月份就已取消为第三方创建应用商店的白标业务。GetJar在去年7月至今年7月间的下载量下滑了37%，而Appia下载量却增长了2282%。

谷歌Android Market同期下载增长率为728%，诺基亚Ovi Store则是347%，黑莓App World则是200%，苹果App Store是91%。

5）西班牙开发商Over The Top Games最近与英国发行商Chillingo合作，将任天堂WiiWare游戏《NyxQuest》移植到iOS平台。该游戏于8月11日登陆App Store，同时推出了标准版和高清版（iPad版本），售价分别为3.99美元和4.99美元，另外还分别发布了这两个版本的简精版。

NyxQuest(from insidemobileapps)

该游戏主角是一个带有双翼的女孩Nyx，玩家需要控制Nyx让她在2.5D的横向卷轴平台奔跑、跳跃、飞翔和滑行，在寻找丢失伙伴Icarus的途中还要与敌人进行对抗。该游戏的部分玩法使用了触摸屏功能，其手势操控方法类似于原版游戏的Wii Remote使用方法。

6）据pocket gamer报道，瑞典手机游戏开发商G5正准备于8月25日向iOS平台发布一款风格、玩法与《CityVille Hometown》相似的游戏《Virtual City Playground》。该游戏绑定了Game Center功能，同时也支持玩家与Facebook版游戏上的好友进行互动。

Virtual City Playground(from games)

这是一款免费游戏，玩家若想获得完整的游戏体验，可以花钱购买另外85项任务。

7）AppsGeyser公司日前对1万款在今年6月至8月间使用appsgeyser.com服务的Android应用进行分析，发现纽约是全球Android应用产量最高的城市，该城市是仅次于硅谷的第二大风险投资集中地。

where apps ideas are boom(from appsgeyser)

洛杉矶排名第二，当地开发的应用多含视频内容，因为当地的好莱坞是世界视频内容生产之王；

排名第三的是旧金山，当地应用开发者可接触大量的开发资源和风险资金，所以其开发流程是：创意->反馈->开发->投资，而非一般开发者经历的创意->投向市场这种简单的循环；

第四名是堪萨斯城，其应用开发的繁荣得益于考夫曼基金会对当地企业的支持，它也侃侃其他城市和地区争相复制这种“硅谷效应”；

第五名是伦敦，它是美国本土之外的世界第一大应用开发地点；

第六名是荷兰阿姆斯特丹，原因是荷兰的手机市场发展十分成熟；

第七名是印度班加罗尔，它是印度第二大应用创意来源地，上榜的另一大原因是该城市拥有大量技术娴熟的开发者；

第八名是阿拉伯半岛利雅得，其开发的应用数量比纽约地区少4倍，它表明发展中国家与发达国家市场的应用开发差距正在缩小。

8）《High Noon》是一款由开发商Happylatte（游戏邦注：该公司位于北京，由原来的IT外包公司Exoweb转型成为现在的游戏开发商）推出的同步射击游戏，该游戏现在的月收益超过了100万美元。

High Noon(from insidemobileapps)

据该公司成员Bjorn Stabell所称，自他15年前从挪威来到中国，当地开发者每年工资增长20%，中国劳动力成本不断上升，外包项目并非长期可持续发展的业务。于是公司开始针对人人网以及摩托罗拉手机等多个平台开发游戏。

这款游戏于去年4月发布，但在今年春季才跻身美国应用营收榜单前列，目前下载量超过600万次，今年7月份的DAU为25万，并首次实现了100万美元的月收益。

Happylatte表示公司的下一个作品采是基于Unity 3D引擎的游戏，并将发布一个Android版本。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Angry Birds worth at least as much as FarmVille, Rovio exec says

by Joe Osborne

The Mighty Eagle has dollar signs in its eyes, as Rovio chief marketing officer Peter Vesterbacka said recently to Finnish magazine Kauppalehti Optio that his company is worth several billion dollars, MSNBC reports. And by, “several million,” Vesterbacka means somewhere in the FarmVille range–he noted to estimates that Zynga was worth $20 to $25 billion (which sounds a bit inaccurate to me)–according to MSNBC.

But Bloomberg recently reported that the Angry Birds creator was worth at least $1.2 billion, and this valuation would mean Rovio is 100 percent viable to compete with Zynga. I’ve never read it being discussed seriously, the two being competitors, but perhaps those talks will start now. Rovio could be the second major company of the new age of publishers to combat the first. (And here we thought the birds were looking to get bought.) Rovio is looking for 1 billion users, and fast. Perhaps Zynga was more of a motivation to the birds than previously imagined.

“We are not selling though – unless somebody offers enough,” Vesterbacka was quoted saying in the interview published on Thursday, according to MSNBC. The exec went on to say that Rovio plans to list on the New York stock market within three years. If Rovio can enter new territory with the Angry Birds and take full advantage of the freemium model, then there is no reason it can’t be a viable competitor to Zynga.

The more Rovio attempts to introduce the Angry Birds to new media (and sources of revenue), the further it will inch toward defeating Zygna, which only is within a single, though massive market. What I’m getting at is to warn you that there is more swiping and harvesting in your gaming future where the first three years of it came from.（source:games）

2）Rovio Partners With Medio To Track Angry Birds Player Analytics

by Frank Cifaldi

Medio Systems has announced that its game analytics platform has been licensed by Angry Birds publisher Rovio.

Rovio will provide player data from its estimated 1.4 billion minutes of weekly Angry Birds gameplay to Medio, who will in turn provide analytics to Rovio to enhance its understanding of its players.

“Our platform will provide Rovio the tools to make real-time product changes that optimize game play, fan satisfaction and revenue,” said Medio CEO Rober Lilleness in a statement.

“In this fast-evolving market, the players that get big data will win, and those that don’t will disappear.”

The partnership is mutually beneficial: Rovio will have a better grasp on its audience and be able to make game update and revenue decisions, and Medio will inherit an extremely substantial amount of users to track on its platform. （source:gamasutra）

3）PopCap study: Play games with your kids, they’ll be better for it

by Joe Osborne

Man, there’s nothing like a feel-good study to cheer you up on a Friday. PopCap Games, creator of Bejeweled and Zuma Blitz for Facebook, has helped in a study by Goldsmiths University that finds some comforting results for gamer parents, at least. According to the study, one in five parents said that playing computer games has helped their children develop a better understanding of technology.

While the organization does not reveal the exact number of participants, it goes on to report on findings that a third of parents believe gaming has increased their kids’ concentration and that 53 percent believe that casual video games have improved their kids’ problem solving skills. And the kids want more, apparently, as 27 percent of parents reported that their children attempt to borrow their smartphones to play casual games on.

“These findings are important because they highlight the social benefits of playing videogames,” said Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Reader in Psychology at Goldsmiths in a release. “Previous research has tended to look only at the individual effects of video games, but in the era of social networking games appear to play a vital role in enhancing social relationships. The fact that both parents and grandparents are using games to connect with their children and grandchildren, and quite successfully, suggests that video games can improve social skills and make a key contribution to both effective parenting and child development.”

Well, there’s your educated, scientific opinion, so take it or leave it. Keep in mind, however, this survey comes from the help of a company that may have interest in this particular market (with all due respect, of course). For those of you who hand the toddler the iPad or the Wii remote every once in a while, more power to ya. (Besides, a two-year-old with an iPad is YouTube gold.)（source:games）

4）Appia-Powered App Stores Now Seeing 1 Million Downloads Per Day

Leena Rao

Appia, a startup that powers a white-label content and commerce platform for everyone and anyone who needs a mobile app store, has passed an important milestone—the company is now seeing 1 million downloads per day (that’s up from 500,000 a few months ago) across all of its app stores.

For background, the company powers mobile app storefronts for more than 40 partners, including four of the world’s top five handset manufacturers (Samsung, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless). The bonus of using Appia’s white-label offering is that it enables its partners to deliver apps to more than 3,200 different mobile device makes and models. And company powers an App Stores for Opera Software and Telcel, Mexico’s largest operator.

In July alone, Appia’s marketplaces reached over 40 million downloads. And in the 38 months since launching, the Appia marketplace has delivered 200 million cumulative downloads, with over 100 million downloads generated in the last four months alone. In fact, Appia’s download rate is an impressive 2,282% from July 2010. Appia’s recently launched pay-per-download marketplace also helped deliver 2.5 million sponsored app downloads in 3 months for 30 partners including Amazon, Priceline and Cupid.com.

The Appia Marketplace boasts 140,000 applications from more than 32,000 developers across every major operating system, including Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Java, Windows and Symbian, with thousands of Android apps being added every month. During July, Appia saw downloads from over 200 countries and 3,500 different handsets.

Of course, for basis of comparison Apple’s App Store is seeing 1 billion app downloads per month, and has racked up an impressive 15 billion total downloads. But as you can see from the chart included in this post, Appia’s app downloads are growing at an impressive rate compared to other mobile app stores. And thanks to an exploding app download market, perhaps this growth will continue.（source:techcrunch）

5）Greek Mythology takes flight in Chillingo’s NyxQuest for iOS

By Randy Nelson

Spanish developer Over The Top Games ports partners with Chillingo to bring action-platformer NyxQuest to iOS devices. The game is a port of the original Nintendo WiiWare version. The game hit the App Store August 11 in both standard and HD (for iPad) editions, priced at $3.99 and $4.99, respectively. Lite version of both editions are also available.

NyxQuest stars a female protagonist named Nyx in the era of ancient Greece. This winged hero is on a quest to uncover the whereabouts of her missing friend, Icarus. The game tasks players with controlling Nyx as she runs, jumps, flies and glides through 2.5D side-scrolling levels, navigating platforms and battling enemies. There are also some light puzzle elements involving the moving of blocks in order to proceed further in the game’s levels.

During her adventure, Nyx is bestowed with new powers and abilities by the Greek gods. Some of these, such as controlling currents of air, involve the use of the device’s touch screen. The gestures performed by players are similar to those that could be done using the Wii Remote in the original console version of the game.

The game is on the short side, lasting just over three hours. Chillingo has given no indication that downloadable content or any in-app purchases will be made available to extend the gameplay experience.（source:insidemobileapps）

6）Virtual City Playground for iOS looks like HD CityVille … on your phone

by Joe Osborne

So, CityVille Hometown is great, but I get the feeling some fans were looking for something more like the actual web game. It looks like G5, a Stockholm, Sweden-based developer of mobile games for iOS, might bring the goods. Virtual City Playground, a sequel to the original with a much more social twist, is set to hit the App Store this Aug. 25, Pocket Gamer reports.

The game will allow players to create and cultivate their own city on an enormous scale in pseudo-3D, isometric graphics. The game will guide players much like Zynga’s city-builder does, but offers support for far more friend interaction through Game Center Support and Facebook friend challenges.

Your job, essentially, is to grow your city by populating it with homes and businesses that grow off of one another all the while being supplied by agriculture, like any old city game. This updated version also brings an in-game currency, completing that old quarter pit feeling. That’s right, Virtual City Playground is 100 percent free to play. (Well, at least the creation part is.)

Players will have to purchase optional 85 quests, if they want the full game experience. However, G5 has added 90 new buildings, landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and decorations. （source:games）

7）Guess which cities produce the most Android apps

Estuardo Jose Robles

The mobile application business is projected to reach $38 billion by 2015, but will the boom be global or will it be confined to a handful of innovation hotspots? A recent study of Android app creators that my company, AppsGeyser, conducted indicates that it will be both.

We drew the data from a sample of 10,000 apps that were created using appsgeyser.com between June and August, 2011. From that information, we collected the App makers’ IP addresses and used then to create this map.

In addition to the usual suspects — New York, San Francisco, London — there were a few surprise cities in the rankings. Here’s a closer look at some of the notable cities on the list.

New York City:  New York brings the advertising, business and technology industries together in one location. It’s the number two spot for venture funding after Silicon Valley, so it’s no surprise that most of the world’s apps are created there.

Los Angeles:  LA has the second largest number of app creators per square mile in the U.S. One reason is that most of LA’s apps include video, and Hollywood is the world leader in creating video content.

San Francisco: The city by the bay actually scores low on the App Ideas map (see below for potential study weaknesses). App makers in the region have access to a large pool of development resources and venture capital, so their app ideas go through Idea -> Feedback -> Develop -> Invest cycles rather than the Idea -> Go-to-Market cycle.

Kansas City: One of the highest ranking cities in the U.S. for app creators per square mile is Kansas City. This could be a result of the efforts and investments made by the Kauffman foundation to generate entrepreneurial support systems in Kansas, and it could give hope to other cities and regions that have invested heavily into efforts to replicate the “silicon valley effect.”

London: Europe’s largest megalopolis definitely contributes a lot to the mobile sector. London has the highest number of apps created of any city outside of the U.S.

Amsterdam:  Dutch cities in general rank high on the global list of app creators per square mile. This is in part because the mobile market is very well developed in the Netherlands.

Bangalore: The second largest source for app ideas is in India. Although Bangalore is well established as the Indian IT capital, it has historically been an outsourcing hub. One reason for its ranking could be that the city is filled with highly skilled technology workers who have tools that get apps to market faster.

Riyadh: And Riyadh, Saudi Arabia comes in at number five on the list of world cities. This region generated just four times fewer apps than the New York metropolitan area, which means that the chasm between developed and developing markets is decreasing for mobile development.（source:venturebeat）

8）High Noon Transforms China’s Happylatte Into a Gaming Company — And Makes $1M A Month To Boot

By Kim-Mai Cutler

Synchronous shooter game High Noon is one of the more original titles to grab a place atop iOS’ highest-grossing lists. And like many of the other mobile gaming companies which have found success in the smartphone era, High Noon’s maker Happylatte comes from an unexpected corner of the world.

In between the skyrises and slums that circle Beijing’s city center, the company is transforming itself from an IT outsourcing firm called Exoweb into a gaming company on the back of High Noon’s success — which is now pulling in more than $1 million a month.

Happylatte’s story is emblematic of the economic changes that have rocked China over the last decade. As wages for local developers have risen, the old outsourcing business model has become less viable with each passing year. At the same time, iOS’ global reach, its seamless payments system and its cheap distribution has made it easier for companies like Happylatte from the developing world to take a direct route to consumers.

“We were feeling the pressure from prices in China,” said Bjorn Stabell, who moved to the country from Norway 15 years ago. “Salaries were going up 20 percent a year. Outsourcing wasn’t a long-term sustainable business so we started a labs program.”

The company started exploring building apps and games for many platforms including Chinese social network RenRen and for handset manufacturing partners like Motorola. “It was sort of a spaghetti-against-the-wall-approach,” he said.

The company’s earlier game ideas were often — let’s say — irreverent. Pee Monkey Toilet Trainer and Pee Monkey Plant Bloom are about getting a monkey to urinate in toilets and on flowers.

Then they started to think about other ideas. One of Happylatte’s other partners Michael Welch, who came to China with plenty of memories of the Midwest and his childhood in Oklahoma, took charge of developing a gunfighting concept. The title took eight or nine months of development time.

It was challenging because unlike many of the other casual simulation games that rule the charts, High Noon requires synchronous play. In the game, players draw their “weapon,” or their phone, and try to shoot a live opponent matched with them based on skill. Because it can be difficult to match live players and deal with latency, synchronous games haven’t historically taken off on social and mobile platforms.

Happylatte also put a great deal of thought into designing the game’s economy. Each player has a bounty or price on their head. If a player shoots a rival, they can earn the bounty. More advanced players obviously have higher prices on their head. Like many freemium games, there’s an earned currency and a premium currency that players can pay for. Paying for the premium currency, called Wampum, lets players customize their avatars. The game has a very natural social layer too with a “Shitlist,” where users can keep track of other players and friends they want to duel. There are also little competitive flourishes too — when you die, your opponent buries you alive and can steal from you.

Since launching in April of last year, High Noon has seen more than 6 million downloads. While that may not be high considering that developers like Rovio and Outfit7 are clocking download numbers in the nine-digit ranges, High Noon pulls in some decent figures in terms of actives and revenue. The game has 250,000 daily active users and had its first $1 million month in July.

The game didn’t become a regular presence on the top-grossing charts in the U.S. until this spring, when Happylatte started acquiring users through incentivized install networks. The one-time push helped the title find sustained momentum. ”Our revenue kept going up even as our spend was going down,” Stabell said.

As for what’s next, Happylatte is close to launching a version of the game that’s based on the Unity 3D gaming engine, which will also bring the title to Android. Then after that there will be more original games.（source:insidemobileapps）