1）Rovio首席执行官Mikael Hed最近透露，公司下一款游戏名称是《Amazing Alex》，但并未公布更多项目详情。

Amazing Alex(from games)

据其所称，这是自2009年《愤怒的小鸟》问世之后，公司推出的首款原创游戏（将包含教育元素），预计于7月份入驻多个应用商店。

2）据Techcrunch报道，Zynga日前收购手机游戏公司Wild Needle，后者于2010年由前Playdom联合创始人Rick Thompson成立，其首款游戏《Shoptown》已在App Store下架，Zynga本次收购主要目标是Wild Needle的人才。

best price(from games)

目前Zynga尚未公开具体成交金额，但有人估计这笔交易介于500万-2000万之间；在此之前，Wild Needle主要锁定女性休闲手机游戏市场，观察者猜测Wild Needle团队将并入Zynga其他手机游戏工作室，而非自成一体专门开发瞄准女性用户的手机游戏。

3）Square Enix最新财报（截止2012年3月31日）指出，公司在这一财年净销售额同比上年增长2.1%，达到1278亿日元（16亿美元），净收益达60.6亿日元（7590万美元），而去年则净亏损120.4亿日元（1.508亿美元）。

该公司数字娱乐部门（包括传统掌机游戏及手机游戏业务）净销售额同比增长11.9%，达到71.8亿日元（8940万美元），营业收入同比增长11.7%，达到12.6亿日元（1570万美元）。

Square Enix是数家因手机游戏业务而重获新生的日本游戏公司之一，上周其竞争对手Capcom在最近财年的手机游戏业务收益也增长76.4%，达到2890万美元，弥补了该公司其他业务的不足。

consolidated forecasts(from insidemobileapps)

financial results(from insidemobileapps)

Square Enix预计下一财年的净销售额将达1650亿日元（20.6亿美元），净收益为90亿日元（1.11277亿美元）。财报公布之后该公司股票下跌2.96%，降至1442日元（18.06美元）。

4）ABI最近调查结果显示，约70%美国手机用户很少或几乎不为手机应用程序花钱。手机应用市场目前的消费主力军就是鲸鱼用户，这些高消费群体在所有用户中仅占比3%，但却为该市场贡献了近20%的收益。

mobile spend(from ABI)

有三分之二手机用户表示，自己至少曾为一款手机应用花钱，这些用户平均每月为手机应用投入14美元，这部分群体每月消费额的中间值则是7.5美元。这意味着有一小撮“高消费用户”在整个市场收益中发挥了重要作用。

5）据pocketgamer报道，在3月份时曾有传闻称谷歌将与台湾制造商宏碁合作推出7英寸的Nexus平板电脑，但最近的传言称谷歌的这一合作对象是三星。

Google-Nexus-tablet(from eeepc.net)

从Android开发者Adam Green所公布的一些谷歌Git Repository代码来看，该平板电脑设备可能将采用Exynos 5250双核处理器，Mali GPU、分辨率为1280 X 800的S6E8AB0屏幕（游戏邦注：Exynos处理器此前已现身三星Galaxy S III智能手机设备）。

此外，谷歌还很可能在6月27至29日的年度I/O大会上发布新的Android操作系统Jelly Bean。（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）Angry Birds maker’s take on Casey’s Contraptions is Amazing Alex

by Joe Osborne

That’s the name of the game … likely the most anticipated mobile game of the summer. Angry Birds creator Rovio recently revealed what its next mobile game will be known as: Amazing Alex.

Rovio CEO Mikael Hed said as much to Finnish news outlet YLE Uutiset, though he unfortunately didn’t say much more on the upcoming game.

“The quality pressure is high. We want to maintain the high standard Angry Birds fans have come to enjoy,” Hed told YLE. He’s got a fine point–this is the first (somewhat) original game from Rovio since it struck gold with Angry Birds way back in 2009. A lot rides on what the studio will do with the acquired Casey’s Contraptions property, namely whether it can prove that has the chops to craft not one, but two outstanding game franchises.

Amazing Alex will have an educational element when it hits various app stores in two months’ time, Hed said to YLE. That said, surely Rovio will focus on putting Amazing Alex out when it’s done regardless of whether it misses that July target. At this point, whether Amazing Alex will be the next Angry Birds is a completely valid question.（source:games）

2）Zynga flexes its haggling muscle, buys Shoptown maker Wild Needle

by Joe Osborne

Zynga wants to win mobile like it’s effectively won Facebook, and that’s a goal without a price tag. The next mobile game maker to fall under the giant’s shadow is Wild Needle, the Shoptown creator backed by Playdom co-founder Rick Thompson. Since its first game, Shoptown, has already been pulled from the App Store, TechCrunch reports this buy was solely for talent.

Of course, the terms of the deal were not disclosed, but is estimated at between $5 and $20 million, like most of the talent-focused deals Zynga has made in the past. Wild Needle focused on female-focused casual mobile games before it was picked up by the FarmVille house, a target audience that’s right up Zynga’s alley.

We imagine the Wild Needle team will be incorporated into one of Zynga’s many mobile-focused game studios. It would be silly for the developer to use this talent for making games focused any other audience than women. Perhaps the company wants to attack CrowdStar’s “Girl” franchise in the very place it ran to in hopes of escaping the mighty Zynga. Better run faster.（source:games）

3）Mobile helps Square Enix back to profitability, $75.9 million in net income

Kathleen De Vere

Square Enix is once again profitable, thanks to an increase in net sales and income assisted by its growing mobile gaming business.

According to the company’s most recent financial results for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2012, net sales rose 2.1 percent year-on-year to 127.8 billion yen ($1.6 billion), good enough for the company to see 6.06 billion yen in net income ($75.9 million). Its a significant turnaround for the company, which reported a net loss of 12.04 billion yen ($150.8 million) last year.

The company’s digital entertainment division, which includes both traditional console games and the company’s growing line-up of mobile titles saw net sales increase by 11.9 percent year-over-year to 7.18 billion yen ($89.4 million). The division’s operating income grew to 1.26 billion yen ($15.7 million), up 11.7 percent year over year.

Square Enix credited its return to profitability on the success of titles like like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Final Fantasy Brigade, a social battle game on DeNA’s Mobage network.

The game recently passed two million total members, and Square Enix’s earning results described the title’s growth as “robust”.

Overall, Square Enix has moved aggressively into the mobile market. In addition to its lineup of Japanese mobile-social titles, the company has re-released many classic games from its back catalogue as premium iOS ports ranging in price $8.99 to $15.99. The company has developed several original-to-mobile series like Chaos Rings, Song Summoner and Crystal Defenders, and is also trying its hand at publishing, releasing Freeze Tag’s hidden object game Victorian Mysteries: Woman in White on May 3.

Square Enix is one of several well-known Japanese game companies seeing its fortunes boosted by its mobile business. Last week rival Capcom reported its mobile income rose 76.4 percent to $28.9 million during its fiscal year, helping offset the company’s otherwise sluggish sales.

The company is predicting its net sales will hit 165 billion yen ($2.06 billion) in the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2013, with a net income of 9 billion yen ($112.77 million). The company’s stocks fell 2.96 percent on news, declining to 1,442 yen ($18.06).（source:insidemobileapps）

4）How’s The Gold Rush Panning Out? 70% Of Mobile App Users Pay Little Or Nothing, Study Says

Colleen Taylor

There’s been a lot of buzz about how important mobile apps are for years now, and an increasing number of tech startups are launching with mobile-only strategies. But a new study indicates the sector still has a ways to go before it attracts significant money from a wide breadth of users. In fact, the majority of people who use mobile apps today do not spend any money on them at all.

According to a recent study of US consumers conducted by ABI, some 70 percent of mobile app users spend “either nothing or very little” on or in applications. It turns out that, much like gambling or gaming, the mobile app market of today relies mostly big-spending “whales” to account for a bulk of its direct sales. The highest-spending three percent of all app users account for nearly 20 percent of the total spend in the market, ABI said.

Now, it isn’t that a majority of mobile users are uncomfortable with the idea of spending on apps at all: Two-thirds of app users said they have spent money on an app at least once, and of those people, the mean spend is a healthy $14 a month. But the whale issue becomes apparent when you look at the median mobile spend among those users, which is $7.50 per month. This shows that a small number of “big spenders” play a “disproportionate role” in the overall market’s revenue, ABI says.

It’s unlikely that this data will put the immediate brakes on the ongoing mobile app development gold rush. And it’s important to point out that a whale-driven customer base has allowed for long-term sustainability in a number of industries, in the tech space and beyond.

So what should be the takeaway here? According to ABI, it’s all about balance. “Don’t get obsessed by mobile and apps, but remember also the web,” ABI senior analyst Aapo Markkanen is quoted as saying in a press release accompanying the new data. “Most of the successful app concepts either support, or are supported by, a web component.”

There has been growing word for a while now that many of the companies who jumped head-first into the native app frenzy, particularly traditional news publishers, are starting to focus once again on their traditional and mobile web experiences. If the uneven revenue issue does not balance out over time, it will certainly be interesting to see how the larger landscape adjusts.（source:techcrunch）

5）Rumour: Google teaming up with Samsung, not Asus, to produce Android-powered Nexus tablet

by Anthony Usher

Back in March, rumours began to circulate that Google and Taiwanese manufacturer Asus would produce an 7-inch Android-powered Nexus tablet.

According to new rumours, though, the search giant could be teaming up with Samsung, instead.

Android developer Adam Green has apparently uncovered bits of code in Google’s Git Repository that are reminiscent of Samsung specs.

The code references an Exynos 5250 dual-core processor, a Mali GPU, and a S6E8AB0 display with 1280×800 resolution, for instance. A version of the Exynos processor is, of course, found in Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphone.

It’s very likely that Google will unveil the next version of its Android operating system, Jelly Bean, at its annual I/O conference, which is scheduled to take place between June 27th and June 29th.

If Google’s purported Nexus tablet is indeed real, there’s a chance it’ll launch packing Android 5.0.（source:pocketgamer）