1）据All Things Digital报道，微软Windows Web Services副总裁Antoine Leblond最近表示，微软即将推出的Windows 8应用商店仅向开发者抽成20%，低于行业惯例的30%盈利分成。

但需注意的是，只有当开发者的游戏或应用销售额超过2.5万美元，他们才有望回收80%的收益，否则仍需向Windows Store出让30%的抽成（游戏邦注：Facebook和苹果均向开发者抽成30%，而谷歌Chrome Web Store却仅抽成5%）。

windows_8_app_store(from techgran.com)

Windows Store将于2012年2月发布，将支持用户从中购买游戏、应用、电子书、电子杂志等内容，采用与Windows Phone操作系统相似的用户界面。

Windows Store游戏及应用售价始于1.49美元，最高价是999.99美元，同时也将提供免费应用，限时及功能有限的试用版产品，IAP（应用内置付费功能）、应用内置广告和“第三方业务”等服务。

微软表示公司即将推出的IE 10浏览器将植入一个可展示Windows Store产品的按钮，并针对不同地区推出该应用商店的本土化版本，向230多个市场提供100种以上的支付服务，向前40个重要市场的开发者提供20多种不同的货币结算方式。

Windows Store开发者博客信息显示，美国个人用户的注册费用为49美元，商业帐号的注册费用则是99美元。

2）德国社交游戏开发商Wooga日前宣布将Facebook游戏《Diamond Dash》投放至iOS平台。

这款手机版游戏采用了与Facebook版本一致的基本框架，支持玩家在不同平台上同步游戏帐号。

diamond dash(from pocketgamer.biz)

Facebook版《Diamond Dash》发布于3月份，据AppData数据，该游戏至今已吸引2500万独立用户，当前MAU已超过1100万，目前在Facebook游戏榜单居于第8名。

Wooga于今年10月开始涉足手机游戏市场，向该平台推出HTML5游戏《Magic Land：Island》。Wooga目前在Facebook的MAU超过3400万，是该平台第五大社交游戏开发商。

3）KPMG最新报告指出，38%英国用户仅下载免费应用，从未下载付费手机应用，有88%用户至少下载过一款应用。

4）NaturalMotion日前宣布公司首款免费游戏《My Horse》DAU已达50万，总下载量为500万次，为NationalMotion所有游戏贡献了将近半数的下载量（游戏邦注：其所有游戏下载量超过1200万次）。

My Horse(from appsmenow.com)

该公司最近还聘请前W3i业务开发主管Nick Bhardwaj担任用户获得及游戏盈利副总裁。

5）EA Popcap Games日前宣布将向iOS平台推出新版《宝石迷阵》以及免费增值游戏《宝石迷阵闪电战》，将取消原来投放于iPhone和iPod Touch平台的《宝石迷阵2》。

bejeweled-blitz(from macgasm.net)

新版《宝石迷阵》iOS游戏售价为99美分，而《宝石迷阵闪电战》则支持免费下载及IAP功能。据AppData数据显示，原Facebook版本《宝石迷阵闪电战》MAU为860万，DAU为270万。

《宝石迷阵闪电战》iOS版本游戏玩法与Facebook版本相同，但调整了用户界面，并支持retina display功能；新版《宝石迷阵》的特色则包括高清图像、retina display功能、3个游戏模式、积分排行榜、排名系统等。

6）据mobile-ent报道，美国著名演员亚历克·鲍德温（Alec Baldwin）最近在洛杉矶国际机场因沉迷于玩Zynga游戏《Words With Friends》，拒绝乘务员提出的关手机要求而被请下飞机。

alec-baldwin(from gossiponthis)

他在Twiiter上还发贴不满地抱怨称当时飞机还没有飞，乘务员就让他关手机。

7）Asurion公司最近调查发现，32%年龄介于60-64岁的美国用户非常依赖自己的手机，他们自称手机是其最主要的联络工具，如果丢失手机就会“给自己的生活造成极大的困扰”。

aged mobile users(from shinyshiny.tv)

该公司高管Bettie Colombo表示，多数人认为年轻人才是最离不开手机的群体，但调查表明更年长的用户也不例外，50-54岁用户也出现了与60-64岁用户同样的情况。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Windows App Store Offers Up To 80% Cut For Developers

by Eric Caoili

Developers will take as much as an 80 percent cut from their sales on Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 app marketplace, 10 percent more than the industry standard set by Apple and Facebook.

While those companies will start off earning 70 percent of every customer dollar spent on their Windows Store releases, they will get 80 percent after their games or apps generate more than $25,000 in sales.

“We’re going to give you a bigger bite of the apple,” said Windows Web Services Vice president Antoine Leblond at an event for the online store Tuesday, according to a report from tech blog All Things Digital.

Apple currently pays out 70 percent to developers from their game and app sales, keeping the remaining 30 percent. Facebook also pockets 30 percent from in-game purchases with Credits, its universal virtual currency system.

Google, however, takes a significantly smaller cut from sales on its Chrome Web Store (built into the company’s Chrome web browser): only 5 percent.

Windows Store will debut with a beta in February 2012, and will allow users to buy games, apps, ebooks, digital magazines, and more. It will feature a Metro-style user interface similar to the Windows Phone operating system.

Prices for Windows Store games and apps will start at $1.49 and go up to $999.99. The service will also allow for free apps, time-limited and feature-limited trials, in-app purchases, in-app advertisements, and “third-party commerce”.

Microsoft noted that users will be able to deep-link Windows Store apps, and find them in search engines. Its forthcoming browser Internet Explorer 10 will feature a built-in button that will show apps from the Windows Store.

The company intends to localize the app store for all languages that Windows is localized in, and offer more than 100 payment methods in 230 markets. For the top 40 markets, it will pay developers in 20 different currencies.

Microsoft has posted registration fees for different countries on its new Windows Store For Developers blog — in the U.S., individuals can register for $49, and businesses can register for $99. （source:gamasutra）

2）Wooga’s Top Ten Facebook Game Diamond Dash Goes Mobile

by Tom Curtis

German social game maker Wooga today launched its popular Facebook title Diamond Dash on iOS platforms, further pushing the company’s business into the mobile space.

The mobile version of this arcade puzzle game uses the same basic framework as its Facebook counterpart, and allows players to synchronize their accounts between the platforms to compete with other players, regardless of their platform.

The Facebook version of Diamond Dash first debuted in March, and has since attracted 25 million unique playe rs and currently sees more than 11 million monthly active users, according to AppData. It is currently the eighth-ranked game on Facebook in terms of monthly active users at 11.3 million.

Wooga first made headway into the mobile space in October with the launch of Magic Land Island, an HTML5 game based on its popular social game Magic Land — Diamond Dash on iOS marks the company’s second mobile release.

In all, Wooga sees more than 34 million monthly active users on Facebook, and is the fifth largest app developer on the platform.

In May, Wooga received $24 million in funding, which the company said it would put toward hiring new talent and expanding the company.（source:gamasutra）

3）Over a third of Britons only use free apps

by Zen Terrelonge

Even though 88 per cent have downloaded at least one of the time-killers.

The overall number of apps worldwide are rapidly approaching one million across Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows but that selection doesn’t seem to be enough to entice British buyers.

Despite the apparent popularity of apps worldwide, KPMG’s fifth annual Consumer and Convergence report says 38 per cent of app users in the UK have never spent money on them.

The result may come as a surprise given that 88 per cent have downloaded at least one app, according to the report.

Although there are success stories for the likes of Angry Birds, which has become a worldwide craze, with an average of 2,000 apps launched each day there’s a lot of room for consumers to be selective.（source:mobile-ent）

4）NaturalMotion’s My Horse tops 5 million downloads as firm snatches W3i’s Nick Bhardwaj

by Keith Andrew

Following up its previous news that My Horse’s daily active users had hit 500,000, NaturalMotion has now revealed total downloads for the firm’s first freemium release as 5 million.

As a result, My Horse now accounts for almost half of the 12 million downloads NaturalMotion’s titles have amassed to date, clocking up 2 million game sessions – as of November – in the process.

Motion momentum

At the time, CEO and co-founder Torsten Reil described My Horse’s performance as an “incredible sign”, given the studio had “barely spent anything on user acquisition”.

It’s onwards and upwards from here on, however, with NaturalMotion – which initially specialised in animation technology, deployed in the likes of Grand Theft Auto IV, and Star Wars: The

Force Unleashed – having recently poached W3i’s former business development executive Nick Bhardwaj to serve as VP of user acquisition and monetisation.

“We are delighted that Nick is joining our growing San Francisco office,” added Reil.

“With our recent success of My Horse and a packed release pipeline for the coming months, we are assembling a strong team to build a new type of mobile games publisher.

“Understanding our users is hugely important to our business, and Nick’s experience and drive puts him in a unique position to gain deep insights and enable their execution.”（source:pocketgamer）

5）EA PopCap Moves Bejeweled Blitz Onto iOS, Discontinues Bejeweled 2

AJ Glasser

EA PopCap Games announced today that it’s launching both a new Bejeweled adaptation and a freemium version of its Facebook game, Bejeweled Blitz, on iPhone and iPod Touch. Bejeweled 2, which is currently available on both devices, will be retired.

The move is part of a as part of a new strategic direction for the franchise on mobile. As far as we can tell from the language contained in the press release, this strategy is based on making “expandable, evergreen game experiences suited to every gaming taste and budget” available on mobile devices. The new Bejeweled game for iOS is available as a 99 cent download, while the freemium Bejeweled Blitz can be downloaded for free with microtransactions available in-game to boost scores.

On Facebook, Bejeweled Blitz went through several iterations and feature sets in the last year to convert the classic match-3 game into a social network experience. The primary feature that makes the game social is the leaderboard, where friends’ weekly scores are charted. Power-up items and extra lives for additional gameplay are the main monetization features. Over the summer, Bejeweled Blitz served as a launch title for Google+’s competing games platform. According to our AppData traffic tracking service, Bejeweled Blitz currently enjoys 8.6 million monthly active users and 2.7 million daily active users on Facebook alone.

Bejeweled Blitz for iOS features nearly identical gameplay to the Facebook original, with tweaks to the user interface and retina display support. The new Bejeweled for iOS features:

New high-res graphics and retina display support

3 game modes: Classic, Zen (featuring 6 ambient sound tracks and 6 mantras) and Diamond Mine

In-game leaderboards to track personal high scores

User profiles with gameplay statistics and 30 PopCap icons to personalize the experience

7 achievement badges with 4 levels each (bronze, silver, gold, platinum),  plus 3 elite badges

A player ranking system（source:insidesocialgames）

6）Mobile gaming gets Alec Baldwin thrown off plane

by Tim Green

The actor was on a flight at Los Angeles International Airport, and was playing the iPad game while the plane was still at the gate and not moving, said his spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik.

He must have refused to stop when asked by the steward.

Baldwin tweeted: “Flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing Words With Friends while we sat at the gate, not moving.”

Zynga’s Words With Friends is like Scrabble and has 20m players. We presume Zynga is very distressed at the vast amount of publicity this story is generating.（source:mobile-ent）

7）Third of Americans aged 60+ depend on their mobile

by Zen Terrelonge

Loss of phone “would cause huge disruption” to their lives.

Tennesse-based technology protection firm Asurion found that 32 per cent of mobile phone users aged 60-64 are very reliant on their devices.

The consumers said that their mobile was the primary means of contact and its loss “would cause tremendous disruption to my life”, according to the report.

The results will likely come as a surprise to many as trends dictate that it’s mostly the younger generation that can’t go without their phones.

Bettie Colombo, spokesperson for Asurion, said: “When we envision the ‘cell phone generation’ most of us think about the teenage through college-age groups that have grown-up with cell phones.

“But our research disproves that assumption. As a nation, we’re all coming to see the cell phone as an indispensable part of our lives.”

Further results show that users between the ages of 50-54 also felt a similar way to the older age bracket.（source:mobile-ent）