1）据mobile-ent报道，为配合发布Windows Phone 8以及Windows 8，微软计划为Windows Phone Market应用商店更名，将其重命名为Windows Phone Store。但该公司目前尚未正式确认这一消息。

windows_phone_8(from ubergizmo.com)

2）据pocketgamer报道，Epic Games最近成立新工作室Impossible Studios，旨在面向iOS平台开发《Infinity Blade:Dungeons》，该工作室吸收了已关闭工作室Big Huge Games成员。

infinity-blade-dungeons(from gametyrant.co)

该工作室将由Sean Dunn领导，预计于今年向App Store发布《Infinity Blade:Dungeons》。

3）据mashable报道，Zynga近日向加拿大App Store推出新游戏《Gems with Friends》。

Gems with Friends(from games)

该游戏风格类似于《Matching with Friends》，玩家每次可进行三轮游戏，每一轮游戏都会进行计时。其玩法与《Triple Town》较为相似，此外还包含一些可放慢计时器的道具。

4）Akamai第一季度网络报告显示，目前全球宽带网络速度平均为2.6Mbps，高于上一季度的2.3Mbps，比一年前增长25%。韩国仍是网速最快的国家，平均网络连接速度达15.7Mbps，美国却仅为6.7Mbps，同比去年增长29%，比上一季度增长17%，但仍无缘网速最快的前10个地区之列（游戏邦注：美国位居第12名）。

global average broadband(from Akamai)

位居韩国之后的是日本，平均网速达10.9Mbps，第三名是香港，网速为9.3Mbps。

在韩国使用网速不低10Mbps的宽带用户比例为53%，日本宽带用户的这一比例为37%，香港是28%，拉脱维亚是26%，荷兰是24%。

在移动宽带上最为领先的是德国，平均网速为6Mbps。全球有65家运营商网速超过1Mbps，在Akamai调查分析的对象中，仅有3家运营商网速低于500kbps。但Akamai并未指出网速最快和最慢的运营商名称。

5）据Techcrunch报道，Facebook最近推出了一个非社交广告单位，移动用户点击这个news feed广告单位就能打开相应的Android和iOS应用商店购买页面。

facebook-first-standard-mobile-ad-unit-done(from techcrunch)

通过这一功能，Facebook手机应用广告将出现在news feed的“尝试这些游戏”(Try These Games)模块中，该模块会显示一些应用的名称，缩略图、正玩该游戏的好友数量等内容。

这是一个按每次点击成本而非每次安装成本收费的广告，Facebook正邀请开发者报名参与该功能的内部测试。（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）Microsoft in process of rebranding the Windows Phone Marketplace

by Mike Shaw

Say hello to… the Windows Phone Store.

In preparation for the launch of Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, Microsoft is planning to rebrand its Windows Phone Marketplace app and content store.

The new storefront will be called Windows Phone Store, and is thought to be a move to bring Windows Phone in line with Windows 8, which will use the Windows 8 Store.

While it seems odd that the company isn’t going to use a unified storefront a la the App Store and Google Play for Android, Microsoft hasn’t yet confirmed the rebrand, so perhaps there are more details to come.（source:mobile-ent）

2）Epic unveils new Infinity Blade dev Impossible Studios

by Keith Andrew

Two months after founding the studio in Maryland, USA, Epic Games has lifted the lid on its latest development house: Impossible Studios.

The new outfit is set to work on Infinity Blade: Dungeons for iOS, crucially taking on board staff from the now defunct Big Huge Games in the process.

No impossible job

“We were so glad we could help keep this great team together, and we’re lucky to have them,” said Epic Games president Dr. Michael Capps.

“At the time, I said that finding a full team of superstars was ‘impossible’ and apparently the name stuck. Pairing the imagination and experience of Impossible with Epic’s technology, IP and resources makes for a business greater than the sum of its parts.”

Impossible will be headed up by studio director Sean Dunn, with the outift set to add its “own distinct design and technical sensibilities” to the pool of talent working on Infinity Blade: Dungeons – which, naturally, also includes ChAIR and Epic itself.

Epic game

“Epic Games has truly embraced this stellar collection of developers who were displaced by the closing of Big Huge Games,” said Dunn.

“They have looked after us with complete care, giving us all the tools and resources we need to make a lot of gamers happy.”

Infinity Blade: Dungeons is set for release on the App Store later this year.（source:pocketgamer）

3）Zynga quietly launches Gems with Friends on the Canadian App Store

by Brandy Shaul

If you don’t routinely check the Canadian iTunes store for new app releases, Zynga’s surprise launch of Gems with Friends probably passed you by. Luckily, the folks at Mashable noticed that the game was released solely in the Canadian App Store this week, and we’ve personally been able to go hands-on with Zynga’s newest mobile game to see what makes this …With Friends game tick.

Gems with Friends initially looks similar to Matching with Friends, but instead of focusing solely on the colors of the symbols that we’re given, we’re asked to focus on the numbers contained within each as well. Each game (which can be launched against Facebook friends or complete strangers) lasts three rounds, with rounds being timed. This experience offers much more of an arcade-style of gameplay, as you’ll work to place three more more like numbers next to one another, creating a gem with the next highest number in the process. To be specific, you’ll place three “1″ tiles to create a “2″ tile, three “2″ tiles to create a “3″ tile, and so on. In this way, the game plays very similarly to Triple Town, for those that are familiar with Spry Fox’s iOS hit.

Gems with Friends also includes a series of power-ups that will slow down the clock, act as wild card symbols and more, but whether or not this latest …With Friends game will earn the same recognition from mobile gamers as its predecessors is of course up in the air. We’ll have more complete thoughts on Gems with Friends after the game launches in America “soon.”（source:games）

4）Akamai: Global Average Broadband Speeds Up By 25%, U.S. Up 29% To 6.7 Mbps

Ingrid Lunden

Globally, the speed for broadband connections is steadily on the rise: according to Akamai’s Q1 2012 State of the Internet report, it’s now at 2.6Mbps, compared to 2.3Mbps in the last quarter, and a rise of 25% on a year ago and a reversal of the 14% decline of last quarter. South Korea continues to remain the connection king, with an average connection speed of 15.7Mbps. The U.S., meanwhile, doesn’t make it into the top-10 countries (it’s ranked 12th) but at least it’s speeding up: it is now at 6.7Mbps, up by 29% on last year and 17% from the previous quarter.

But as broadband continues to improve, so do attacks. Akamai notes in its study that attack traffic is on the rise, concentrating in particular regions and ports, with Asia Pacific, led by China, accounting for 42 percent of attack traffic originating from Asia Pacific; and the top 10 ports for attack traffic accounting for 77% of all attacks (up from 62% last quarter).

After Asia Pacific, Europe accounted for 35% of all attack traffic originations, while North and South America accounted for 21%. Africa represented less than 1.5% of attacks. However, although the Americas appear to account for less attack traffic, in fact the U.S. ranked second to China on an individual country basis, with 11% of all attacks; China accounted for 16%.

Other notable figures:

The Internet continues to grow: Akamai notes that it registered 666 million unique IP addresses from 238 countries and regions connecting to the Akamai Intelligent Platform in Q1 2012, a six percent increase over Q4 2011 and 14 percent increase compared to Q1 last year. More growth is happening in smaller countries than in larger ones. In the wake of the global launch of IPv6, Akamai says that the number of unique IP addresses from the top 10 connecting countries was at 66%, but that this is down by about one percent on the quarter before. China, Brazil, Italy and Russia are all growing at rates of 20%.

Broadband high and low: Akamai’s seeing enough growth at higher broadband speeds that it’s now breaking out progress in this area. It notes the number of countries where people are using broadband at speeds of 10Mbps or higher is now at 10%, a rise of 19% on last quarter. South Korea, being the world’s broadband leader, has high-speed broadband penetration of 53%. Japan is at 37%, Hong Kong is at 28%, Latvia is at 26% and the Netherlands is at 24% penetration for high-speed broadband.  Overall, 125 countries are seeing increases in speed over last year, Akamai notes, with only 10 countries seeing declines. Given the speeds below, you can see why Google’s fiber project is so compelling and has so many people excited at what it might bring next.

Mobile broadband: Germany takes the crown for fastest mobile broadband at 6Mbps. Worldwide some 65 carriers had speeds greater than 1Mbps. Interestingly, only three carriers analysed had connection speeds below 500kbps, meaning those carriers that are upgrading to mobile broadband seem to be doing it in a largely unified mass, with less speed fragmentation than we’re seeing in the area of fixed broadband. Akamai doesn’t name and shame the slowest providers — or say who the best ones are.

As for how we are using mobile broadband, this graphic that Akamai presents of the last five years shows just how much data is growing with respect to voice usage.（source:techcrunch）

5）Facebook Unveils First Non-Social Mobile Ad Unit, Allowing Developers To Buy Clicks To App Stores

Josh Constine

Until now, every Facebook mobile ad had to be triggered by you or a friend’s activity, but today Facebook begins testing a new non-social ad unit that lets developers buy mobile news feed ads that open Android and iOS App Store purchase pages when clicked. They’re designed to help developers grow their business. The ads are cost per click, not cost per install-based, however Facebook tells me it hopes to let devs measure installs driven by their app ads in the future, and is now taking developer signups for the currently small private beta.

By opening up the mobile news feed to traditional, non-social ads, Facebook may please its investors but will have to be very careful about how often these promotions appear to make sure they don’t drown out organic content and cause us to stick our phones right back in our pockets.

Facebook mobile app ads appear in a “Try These Games” panel in between traditional stories on the mobile news feed. The panel shows the name, thumbnail image, and number of friends playing (if any) of a few app (three in the example we’ve received).

Organic and paid entries into the panel can appear side-by-side, with ads marked “sponsored”. Clicking through opens an app’s native iOS App Store application or Google Play application on your phone or tablet.（source:techcrunch)