1）法国发行商Gameloft营销及销售融总裁Gonzague de Vallois近日对媒体表示，他们正致力于开发一个将于2012上半年发布的手机社交游戏平台，计划为硬核及休闲玩家提供多样化的免费、付费游戏体验。

gameloft-surprise-sale(from games)

但他认为要平衡免费与付费这两个运营模式确实是个挑战，因为用户品味各有不同，游戏的盈利方式也互有差异。

2）东京移动内容供应商MTI最近宣布，将于1月11日正式推出一个名为entag!的手机社交游戏平台，支持用户免费注册会员。与Mobage和GREE等竞争对手一样，entag!也将供应大量通过微交易创收的免费休闲社交游戏。

entag-social-games-japan(from serkantoto)

用户可在这个面向日本智能手机及功能性手机的平台创建自己的个人资料，博客，与其他用户交流，加入社区等。该平台首批登陆游戏包括索尼电脑娱乐公司出品的《Ape Escape》等。

MTI成立于1996年，已在日本JASDAQ证券交易所上市，目前有700多名员工，目标是在2013年中期收获1000万entag!用户。

3）Square Enix近日向Mobage平台正式发布经典RPG游戏《最终幻想》的手机社交版本《Final Fantasy Brigade》，目前仅推出针对日本智能手机平台的版本，但已投入开发智能手机版本。

Final Fantasy Brigade(from serkantoto)

该公司还推出了包括《Gleipnora》（投放于Mobage和GREE平台）等其他手机社交游戏。

4）据games.com报道，Facebook最近取缔了一个Chrome及火狐浏览器插件Friendly Gaming Simplifier（简称FGS），该插件创建者为Flies，主要运行于多款热门Facebook游戏的news feed，可简化用户点击游戏的操作，例如帮助玩家自动拾取游戏中的奖品（游戏邦注：其实际安装量仍不明确，但该插件的Facebook页面已收获13.5万个“赞”）。

Facebook将Flies界定为“破坏Facebook基础框架的危险人物”，后者在Facebook网站上的任何行为（即使是个人行为）也属于“越权访问Facebook计算机网络”。也就是说，只要Flies继续支持FGS，或者使用Facebook，都会遭到Facebook“制裁”。而Flies只是一名毫无还手之力的学生，其推出的插件及其源代码显然要从Facebook上绝迹。但目前有5000个网民签名、1400条评论支持Flies，并请求Facebook改变决策。

the-simpsons-movie(from games)

观察者称，FGS插件本身并非作弊工具，不属于让玩家投机取巧的外挂插件，也并没有让玩家直接由此进入Facebook“后台”，Facebook此举难道仅是为了让玩家“更麻烦”地体验游戏？Zynga首席执行官Mark Pincus曾称他不希望玩家每次登录体验游戏的时间过长，那么这是不是Zynga或其他Facebook游戏开发商要求Facebook采取行动的结果？

5）据pocketgamer报道，虽然苹果限制奖励安装下载行为，但Facebook却并不排斥这种运营模式，最近放宽了之前的限制条款，允许开发者向用户提供此类服务。

CityVille-offerwall(from insidesocialgames.com)

Facebook通过其开发者博客表示，这类服务可帮助开发商更好地从那些非付费用户身上实现收益，允许开发商向完成相关任务（例如观看视频、注册Netflix、Flixster、信用卡服务等）的用户提供游戏内虚拟货币或者Facebook Credits作为奖励。

6）在本周MAU增长最快的Facebook新晋游戏（MAU在100万以下）榜单上，BitRhymes游戏《Bingo Bash》从上周的第四名晋升至榜首，居于其次的分别是Paprika Lab游戏《Toyz & Zombies》和Ravensburger Digital游戏《Puzzle Adventures》。

Top Gainers This Week(from AppData)

值得注意的是HalfBrick游戏《Fruit Ninja Frenzy》在发布两个月后又实现了MAU的回升（之前的MAU和DAU均呈现下降趋势）。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom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）To battle! Gameloft sees DeNA, GREE with mobile social game network

by Joe Osborne

Look, it’s tough enough to keep up with both Facebook and Twitter, so can’t we all just make one network like a happy family? French mobile (and social) game maker Gameloft revealed to Inside Mobile Apps (ISA) that it’s working on a mobile social games network set to launch in 2012. And whadd’ya know, so are Japanese game companies DeNA and GREE.

“We are indeed working on the development of a mobile social gaming network,” Gameloft senior VP of marketing and sales Gonzague de Vallois told ISA in an interview. “The target is to launch it first half of 2012. The goal is to keep enriching our fans’ gaming experience through new innovative features.”

According to de Vallois, the plan is to diversify Gameloft’s offering of games as much as possible with new releases for both core and casual game players, meaning both more free-to-play and premium-priced games are in Gameloft’s future. However, while de Vallois foresees harmony between the two schools of mobile gaming, he predicts challenges, too.

“In terms of business model, we think a balance will happen between premium and freemium as we see that consumers have different tastes and games have different monetization logics,” he told ISA. “2012 will also be the emergence of mobile gaming social networks and there will certainly be a fierce competition on this field.” The Gameloft exec is certainly right in saying that, but the question is, will there be room for yet another place for mobile gamers to socialize? Read the full interview here.（source:games）

2）New Mobile Social Gaming Platform “entag!” Launches In Japan [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

Tokyo-based mobile contents provider MTI is planning to launch a Mobage and GREE competitor. Dubbed entag!, the mobile social gaming platform is set to start operations on January 11.

Not too surprisingly, membership will be free. As Mobage and GREE, entag! will offer a host of casual social games for free that will be monetized via avatar-related and in-game virtual item sales.

Users will also be able set up profiles on the platform, blog, exchange messages with other entag! users, join communities, etc. etc. entag! is designed to be used on Japanese feature phones and smartphones from the get-go.

The initial line-up includes titles from Sony Computer Entertainment like Ape Escape or Popolocrois Story (click to enlarge):

The launch of entag! will be promoted on national TV, with commercials starring super-popular Japanese boy band KAT-TUN.

MTI isn’t a lightweight: the company was founded in 1996, is listed at the JASDAQ, and currently counts 700 employees (more information on MTI in English can be found on their corporate website).

The company aims at 10 million entag! users by mid-2013 (probably knowing very well that will not happen).（source:serkantoto）

3）Square Enix’ Final Fantasy Brigade Goes Live On Mobage [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

Another Japanese triple A video game brand is going social: it took a bit longer than announced last month, but Square Enix started offering Final Fantasy Brigade on Mobage today, a social game based on the super-popular RPG franchise.

DeNA actually announced the title first back in October last year.

At this point, Final Fantasy Brigade is only available for Mobage on Japanese feature phones. A smartphone browser version is already in the works, however.

Other mobile social games from Square Enix in Japan (on Mobage and GREE ) are Gleipnora or Knights of the Crystals, for example.（source:serkantoto）

4）Facebook hits game simplifier with cease and desist, players riot

by Brandy Shaul

Well, they may not have grabbed torches and pitchforks just yet, but I wouldn’t rule it out… Players of many Facebook games were left disappointed this morning, as popular (and free) Chrome and Firefox browser plug-in Friendly Gaming Simplifier (FGS) was hit with a death knell in the form of a legal notice from Facebook, Inc. based in Menlo Park, California.

While not all users actively utilized the Friendly Gaming Simplifier (the plug-in would click on news feed posts in many popular Facebook games such as The Sims Social, CityVille or Ravenwood Fair), the plug-in had racked up an impressive following of players “in-the-know,” who kept the project a secret for fear of such an outcome (the actual amount of installs is unknown, but the plug-in’s Facebook page has over 135,000 Likes). Unfortunately, player secrecy can only go so far, as Facebook has deemed the creator, who goes by the handle Flies, an “unwelcome/dangerous person to [the] Facebook infrastructure” and that any continued activity on the site, even of a personal nature, will be “regarded as unauthorized access to [Facebook's] protected computer network.”

In other words, if Flies continues to support FGS, or even tries to use Facebook as a basic social network, he’ll be hit hard by Facebook legal. Needless to say, Flies (a student) doesn’t have the resources to fight back, so the plug-in and all associated websites and source codes will vanish at the end of today, January 6. A petition has already shot up to almost 5,000 signatures and 1,400 comments, begging Facebook to change its decision.

While this is definitely devastating to Flies, it’s more interesting when looking at the situation from Facebook’s or even the average game player’s standpoint. Was this legal action really taken because Flies was doing something wrong? The plug-in itself wasn’t a cheat, as it wouldn’t collect items that had already reached their intended limits (set by game developers), and it never gave users direct access to any sort of Facebook “back end.” That being the case, does Facebook simply want games to be “harder” to play? Zynga CEO Mark Pincus has already stated that he doesn’t like when players have longer play sessions, which this plug-in would definitely allow for, so who’s responsible really? Did Zynga or another Facebook developer ask Facebook to get involved, or is this really all of Facebook’s doing? Either way, it leaves users scrambling to find an adequate replacement, as game releases are never-ending and users must spend that much more time manually collecting bonuses to not get left behind.（source:games）

5）Facebook lightens up, enables offerwalls to use in-game currency

Additional flexibility alongside Facebook Credits

by Jon Jordan

Notoriously, Apple has very hard lines when it comes to incentivised actions – certainly when it comes to incentivised downloads.

Facebook, however, is happier to embrace some aspects of the business model.

Indeed, it’s now relaxing previous restrictions, allowing developers to create offerwalls that use their own in-game currency, alongside official Facebook Credits.

Paid to play

“…these offers can be a valuable additional source of revenue by helping them monetize users that may not otherwise pay for virtual currency,” sagely notes Facebook’s Abhishek Doshi, on the company’s developers blog.

“Today we’re launching in-app currency offers, which lets developers award users with their own in-app currency (e.g., Fred Currency in Fred’s game) upon completing an offer.”

In terms of how the system works, Facebook enables developers to take deals from Offerwall and TrialPay’s Dealspot.

These provide offers such as watching videos or signing to up to Netflix, Flixster and credit cards etc, the payback being you get virtual currency, or Facebook Credits for such actions.

Obviously, for developers, being able to offer their own currency provides a lot more flexibility compared to Facebook’s official virtual currency, which is more comparable, being available across hundreds of games.

“We hope this new product provides you an additional source of revenue, and we look forward to seeing how you incorporate this new functionality into your apps,” Doshi adds.

If only Apple was as forthcoming…（source:pocketgamer）

6）Bingo bash tops this week’s list of emerging Facebook games

Kathleen De Vere

BitRhymes’ Bingo Bash rises to the top his week’s list of emerging Facebook games, moving up from the No. 4 spot it held last week. Paprika Lab’s Toyz & Zombies and Ravensburger Digital’s Puzzle Adventures round out the top three

The first week of 2012 was quiet one. Most of the games on our list added less than 100,000 MAU week-on-week. In a fairly mixed lot of generes, promotional movie and TV games like A&E’s Storage Wars and Funtactix’s Mission Impossible continued to grow, likely spurred on the the popularity of their source material. It’s also interesting to see HalfBrick’s Fruit Ninja Frenzy catching a second wind after two months of steadily dropping MAU and DAU.（source:insidesocialgames）