1）Beeline Interactive工作室最近宣布将与梦工厂合作，以史莱克这一动画形象开发新款社交游戏《Shrek’s Fairytale Kingdom》。

shrek(from awn.com)

预计该游戏将于2012上半年问世，将以动画电影《怪物史莱克》故事为背景，让玩家探索史莱克的沼泽世界，以“爬满鼻涕虫的木桩、泥巴浴缸和茅厕等元素”个性化装饰史莱克的屋子。

随着游戏进程发展，玩家还将亲历史莱克的传奇之旅，遇见Donkey、Drago和Fiona等角色。

值得注意的是，法国发行商Gameloft之前也已向App Store推出多款史莱克游戏。

2）IMS Research最近报告预测，由于伦敦奥运会等重要市场机遇的推动，2011年NFC手机出货量将达3500万部，2012年将增长至8000万部左右（伦敦奥林匹克公园将支持由Telefonica UK、VIsa Europe和三星提供的NFC技术）。

nfc-phone-unlock(from ubergizmo.com)

分析师IMS Research指出，在过去12个月中，包括三星、诺基亚、苹果和HTC等在内的多数主流手机制造商已经推出支持NFC技术的手机，在美国发布的Google Wallet、Orange UK以及Barclaycard在英国推出的“Quick Tap”支付解决方案将助推这一趋势的发展。

3）Zynga日前通过企业博客宣布向美国App Store发布iPhone、iPad新游戏《ForestVille》。该游戏数天前已先投放加拿大App Store进行测试，从测试情况可以看出该游戏的正式发布时机已经成熟。

ForestVille(from itunes.apple.com)

该游戏采用的是森林主题，但风格与其他Ville系列游戏并无明显差别。

4）加州初创企业PlayPhone近日宣布其智能手机社交游戏平台正式上线，目前注册用户已达300万。

该平台于去年就已投入运营，但现在才完全开放服务，已有1500多名开发者下载其软件开发工具。

playphone(from vitaps.net)

PlayPhone应用目前支持运行于iOS、Android、Flash、Windows Phone 7和HTML5平台，支持开发者跨平台体验多人游戏。

该平台目前仅有15款游戏，将在1月份推出更多新内容。

5）据gamasutra报道，在Visceral Melbourne工作室关闭后，其部分成员最近在澳大利亚创立了一家新手机游戏工作室Playside。

playside(from joystiq.com)

这家新工作室联合创始人及首席执行官是Gerry Sakkas，计划于下个月开发首款游戏，目标是为手机用户带来AAA级质量的游戏体验。（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）35m NFC phones shipped in 2011

by Zen Terrelonge

IMS Research reports the figures for the contactless tech, which allows phones to store mobile wallets and then ‘touch’ to pay. It’s a platform that’s gaining growing interest from brands, retailers, developers and manufacturers alike.

The firm claims ‘significant market events’ such as the Olympics will lead the 35 million NFC phones shipped this year to reach almost 80 million in 2012.

NFC will be available at the Olympic Park in London with firms including Telefonica UK, VIsa Europe and Samsung all involved.

Don Tait, senior analyst at IMS Research, said: “After seven or so years of false dawns and frequent disappointment, 2011 has proved to be something of a breakthrough year.

“Most of the leading cellular handset manufacturers have launched NFC-enabled handsets over the last 12 months. They include Samsung, RIM, Nokia and HTC. Apple is the main player yet to release an NFC-enabled handset.”

A couple of key moves in the NFC sector includes the US launch of Google Wallet and the Orange UK and Barclaycard’s ‘Quick Tap’ contactless payment solution in Britain.（source:mobile-ent）

2）Now you can venture into ForestVille in the good old US of A, too

by Joe Osborne

But for whatever reason, The Big Z didn’t make a big stink of it. Zynga has released ForestVille for iPhone and iPad to the US App Store for the wonderful cost of “free”. However, the company merely made the announcement on its blog, rather than its usual teasers through the media. ForestVille has been available on the Canadian App Store for a few days prior.

“Farms, frontiers, cities and castles are all important and familiar ‘Ville’ territory,” Zynga wrote in its announcement. “Today, we head to the wilderness to bring you Zynga’s newest mobile game ForestVille. And we’re sure you’ll find it quite a different kind of ‘Ville’ and forest when you look beyond its trees.”

We were under the impression that the game’s presence in Canada was merely a test. As it turns out, ForestVille is ready enough for release. We first heard word of the woodland creature-filled addition to the ‘Ville franchise through a series of domains registered by Zynga, and later the game’s Facebook fan page was found. It seems that Zynga decided to simply let the cat out of the bag.（source:games）

3）Cross-Platform Mobile Gaming Network PlayPhone Formally Launches

by Mike Rose

San Jose, Califonia-based PlayPhone today announced the formal launch of its smartphone social gaming network, with three million users already signed up to the service.

The platform has been up and running since last year, but PlayPhone has now fully launched the service, with more than 1,500 developers having downloaded the software development kit for the service.

The company is looking to take on Gree’s popular OpenFeint network, and hopes to create the largest mobile social network available, according to business website Venturebeat.

The PlayPhone app currently runs on iOS, Android, Flash, Windows Phone 7 and HTML5 platforms, and allows players to compete in multiplayer games across different platforms.

The platform comes with its own virtual currency called Playcredits, which can be bought and accessed via any platform.

Ron Czerny, chief executive of PlayPhone, explained, “We think that is something that nobody else will be able to do. You’re not limited to playing with friends who have the same operating system as you.”

The platform currently has just 15 games available to play — however, the company is looking to add a game every day by the time January rolls around. （source:gamasutra）

4）Beeline to send Shrek on a new quest in 2012

By Jim Squires

Beeline Interactive seem to be proving themselves something of a hitmaker when it comes to combining popular kids properties with social gaming. The team was responsible for Smurfs’ Village and Snoopy’s Street Fair, and it seemed like it was only a matter of time until they added another big family friendly license to their catalogue. And today they’ve made it official – Beeline will be teaming up with Dreamworks to create Shrek’s Fairytale Kingdom.

“We’re extremely pleased to be working with Beeline Interactive on the world’s very first Shrek-based social game,” says Chris Hewish, Head of Global Interactive for DreamWorks Animation. “Fans of all ages will enjoy creating and personalizing their own fractured fairy tales in the world of Shrek as they interact with the lovable ogre in ways they never imagined.”

The game will be available sometime in the first half of 2012, and will start its tale long before the setting of the first film. Shrek is still a solitary ogre in a swamp – a strange choice for a game that’s aiming to be social – and will embark on “mini-games and brief quests,” according to Beeline, as player’s explore his world. They’ll also be able to customize Shrek’s swamp with “slug-laden logs, mud baths and an outhouse guaranteed to make any ogre green–er with envy.”

As the game progresses, players will experience many of Shrek’s notable adventures, meeting characters like Donkey, Drago, and Fiona along the way.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing the world of Shrek to smartphones in a way fans have never before experienced,” said Midori Yuasa, President and COO, Beeline Interactive, Inc. “By retelling the story in a way that allows players to build Shrek’s world, we hope to create a strong emotional attachment with the characters and the films’ many touchpoints.”

Of special note is the fact that the game isn’t being developed by Gameloft, a company that has brought a number of Shrek games to the App Store before, and has even started to make a name for itself in the world of social freemium gaming with recent releases like Green Farm 2 and The Oregon Trail: American Settler.

Will Beeline’s Shrek game be better than Gameloft’s past creations? It looks like we’ll be finding out sometime in the first half of 2012.（source:gamezebo）

5）Former Visceral Melbourne Staffers Establish Mobile Games Studio

by Mike Rose

In the wake of the Visceral Melbourne closure, a group of former staffers has formed a new Australian studio with a focus on mobile games.

PlaySide has been founded by developers from EA’s defunct Melbourne studio, which contributed to the development of the Dead Space series.

Originally a game designer at Visceral, Gerry Sakkas founded PlaySide along with other former staffers, and is now the company’s CEO. PlaySide is looking to begin development of its first game next month.

“The goal was to create a studio with people who were accustomed to aiming for AAA quality, take that talent, and tailor it to a mobile audience,” said Sakkas, as reported by Kotaku.

The studio is looking to develop for a variety of mobile platforms. “The mobile space has always been a love of mine and, although some studios are doing it right, there are many that have got it terribly wrong,” Sakkas explained.

“Some of the larger studios have simply taken their hit titles and slapped them onto a mobile platform, however this is not what mobile consumers want and it is the complete opposite of what we are setting out to do.” （source:gamasutra）