1）据games.com报道，《割绳子》开发商ZeptoLab日前宣布其新款手机游戏《Pudding Monsters》将于12月20日登陆iOS和Android平台。

该游戏同样包括可爱的角色，要求玩家通过划动屏幕将布丁小生物凝结成为一个Mega Monster，躲过冰箱主人的“魔爪”。该游戏风格类似于桌游，这也是继问世的《割绳子》之后，ZeptoLab在两年后推出的首个新作。

pudding-monsters(from pocketgamer)

2）Canalys最近报告指出，美国苹果App Store与Google Play两大应用商店在11月份头20天中有半数以上收益来自25家开发商。

在该时期，这25家开发商总共通过付费下载及IAP模式创收6000万美元。除了Pandora所推出的音乐服务应用Pandora Radio之外，所有收益靠前的应用均属于游戏类型，这些顶级游戏开发商包括Zynga、EA、迪士尼、Kabam、Rovio、Glu、Gamelot和Storm8旗下的TeamLava。

top ranking(from news.cnet.com)

Canalys指出在苹果App Store前300名热门付费应用中，游戏占据145个席位；在Google Play前300名付费应用中，游戏则占据116个席位。此外，游戏在苹果与Google Play前300名免费应用中分别占据94和110个席位。

高级分析师Tim Shepherd指出，由于顶级游戏开发商的内容占据两个应用商店热门应用榜单，其他出色的应用很难从中获得足够的曝光度，非游戏开发商需考虑如何借助其他渠道，例如利用社交网络及社交推荐、促销及折扣策略、品牌绑定和匹配型应用内置广告来推广应用。

报告还显示，成功游戏开发商几乎都推出了多款能够实现收益的游戏，例如在苹果App Store平均每天有15款Zynga游戏跻身iPhone前300名畅销应用榜单，而在Google Play这一数据则是9款游戏。即使是Rovio也有多款《愤怒的小鸟》位列这一榜单。

对其他游戏开发商来说，更为不利的情况是，这些顶级开发商主导应用商店排行榜的情况在假期季期间只会加强不会削弱，因为它们会通过折扣及优惠策略，以及交叉推广优势持续巩固其排行榜位置。

3）GSM Association调研机构Wireless Intelligence最新报告指出，截止第三季度末，北美LTE移动用户已达2150万，占所有北美移动用户的7％。

全球有将近半数（48％）的LTE设备使用的是美国或加拿大的15个LTE网络，欧洲采用4G技术的速度相对缓慢，该技术在亚洲目前仅覆盖韩国和日本市场。

在这些4G用户中，美国用户达2050万，加拿大用户则是100万左右。在这些美国用户中，有四分之三（1490万）采用的是Verizon Wireless网络，该公司是全球首个推出LTE网络的主流运营商，目前已向400多个市场提供4G服务。

4）据venturebeat报道，苹果iPad上季度销量为1400万部，预计在圣诞这一季度销量将达2600万部。

Apple iPad(from apple.com)

分析师Sameer Singh预计iPad销量在本季度销量将达2400万至2600万部，其中第三代和第四代iPad销量将达1900万部左右，iPad mini则是600-700万部。

5）据Touch Arcade报道，手机游戏开发商Hunted Cow战略模拟游戏《Battle Dungeon》（售价4.99美元）最近不得不因盗版问题而撤出iOS平台。

battle dungeon(from pocketgamer)

该公司表示，由于游戏服务器难以负荷从多个盗版游戏产生的庞大数据，导致游戏出现团队难以修复的技术问题，因此他们只能选择向付费用户退款，并关闭游戏。

观察者认为，这款游戏极高的人气以及4.99美元售价，可能就是它遭遇诸多盗版问题的主要根源。（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）Cut The Rope maker’s next adorable mobile game is Pudding Monsters

by Joe Osborne

Surely, you’ve played Cut The Rope … right? Either way–though you really should rectify that–the folks behind the enormously successful mobile puzzle game, ZeptoLab, have announced their next creation: Pudding Monsters. Set to launch on iOS and Android on Dec. 20, Pudding Monsters is yet another puzzle game with adorable characters, but with a decidedly fresh hook.

Rather than cutting ropes and generally playing with physics, Pudding Monsters players stick pudding critters together by swiping to become an ultimate Mega Monster and escape the clutches of the cold-hearted fridge owner. Based on these brand new screen shots, Pudding Monsters looks more like a board game than the physics puzzles of Cut the Rope. This is also the first new intellectual property to come from ZeptoLab since Om Nom graced mobile devices two years ago.

“Pudding Monsters is a logical next step in our strategy. Our focus is just as much on innovating and creating new IP as it is to strengthen our existing brands,” ZeptoLab CEO Misha Lyalin said in a release. “Now, we’re ready to bring fans a great new game that is suited for all ages and provides new opportunities for further expansion. We’re building a portfolio of exceptional pick-up-and-play games, and Pudding Monsters helps to showcase our ambitions as a studio.”（source：games）

2）Analyst: Just 25 Developers Grabbed 50% Of App Revenues On U.S. App Store, Google Play Last Month; Earning $60M Between Them

Natasha Lomas

posted 7 hours agoCommentsProof, if proof were needed, that the apps gold-rush has resulted in the majority of the riches being concentrated in a few developers’ hands: analyst house Canalys says just 25 developers accounted for half of app revenue on the two dominant U.S. app stores, Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play, over a 20-day period last month.

The finding is an estimate based on Canalys’ daily App Interrogator surveys, and refers to revenue generated in the U.S. in these stores during the first 20 days of November. Between them, the 25 developers accrued $60 million from paid-for downloads and in-app purchases over this period, according to the analyst. All the top-grossing developers — bar one — are games developers. The exception is the Pandora music streaming service with its Pandora Radio app. Games developers in the list include Zynga, Electronic Arts, Disney, Kabam, Rovio, Glu, Gameloft and Storm8’s TeamLava — with Canalys going on to note:

During the same period, games accounted for 145 on average of the top 300 paid apps in the Apple App Store and 116 of Google Play’s top 300 paid apps. Games also accounted for 94 of the top 300 listed free apps for Apple and 110 for Google Play.

It follows that developers not making games have an uphill battle to get their wares noticed and monetized. “Discoverability is a particular issue in the Apple App Store and in Google Play given the huge inventories they boast,” noted Canalys Senior Analyst Tim Shepherd in a statement. “With top game developers’ content so prevalent in the stores, it can be hard for other good quality apps to get the attention they deserve. Developers of other kinds of apps need to consider how to promote them. Depending on the type of app, they should consider how best they can exploit social media and social recommendations, tactical sales promotions and discounts, branding tie-ups and targeted in-app advertising.”

If there are any lessons here for striking it lucky by making money with games apps, successful game developers “almost invariably have multiple titles generating revenue,” says Canalys — so, in other words, don’t put your (Angry Birds) eggs in one basket. The analyst notes that Zynga had 15 titles in the list of top 300 grossing iPhone apps “on average” in Apple’s App Store every day, and nine titles in the equivalent list in Google Play. Even Angry Birds’ maker Rovio had “multiple game variants” in the list.

As for games developers who aren’t on the list for November — there’s more bad news ahead: the analyst expects many of the top 25 developers to consolidate their dominant position over the holiday season by “employing discounts and special offers, taking advantage of their ability to cross-promote within their app portfolios.”

“This is expected to ensure that over the Christmas period in the US, the dominance of key game developers will only increase,” added Canalys VP and Principal Analyst, Chris Jones, in a statement.（source：techcrunch）

3）LTE accounts for 7% of all North American mobile connections

By Kevin Fitchard

In just two years LTE has come a long way. At the end of the third quarter there were 21.5 million LTE connections in the U.S. and Canada, accounting for 7 percent of all North American mobile subscriptions, according to new data from Wireless Intelligence, the research arm of the GSM Association.

In fact, nearly half (48 percent) of all global LTE devices reside on one of the U.S. or Canada’s 15 live LTE networks. Europe has been much slower to adopt the new 4G technology, while LTE activity in Asia has been confined primarily to South Korea and Japan.

The U.S. accounts for 20.5 million of those 4G subscribers, while Canada’s networks host about 1 million. And of those U.S. subscribers, three-quarters or 14.9 million reside with Verizon Wireless. Verizon was not only the first major global operator to launch LTE, it has rolled its network out surprisingly fast. It now offers 4G in well over 400 markets.（source：gigaom）

4）Analyst: Apple will sell a record-breaking 24-26M iPads this quarter, including 6-7M minis

John Koetsier

After selling just 14 million iPads last quarter, Apple may blow off the barn doors with 26 million units flying out this Christmas quarter.

Analyst Sameer Singh is predicting sales of between 24 and 26 million iPads, including 19-19 million third and fourth generation iPads, and 6-7 million iPad minis.

26 million iPads would be dramatically up from 17 million in Apple’s fiscal third quarter this past summer, the 14 million sold last quarter, and even the 15.43 million iPads sold in Apple’s record-breaking Q1 2012.

Singh’s numbers are based on Apple’s iPad growth patterns, which are traditionally strong in fourth calendar quarter (Apple’s Q1 2013), the fact that some tablet buyers seem to have waited until this quarter before buying — believing that Apple was about to release the mini — and of course, the traditional Christmas buying spree.

In addition, record sales this quarter would make sense based on Apple’s almost-complete revamping of its iPad line-up at its October 23 live event announcing the new mini.

Apple’s fourth-quarter growth spurts are slowing, however.

According to Singh, Apple had 133 percent quarter-over-quarter growth in Q4 2010, 66 percent in 2011, and will have 33 percent in 2012. The percentage growth is shrinking, of course, as the total sales numbers are growing, and as the tablet market matures.（source：venturebeat）

5）Rampant piracy puts paid to Battle Dungeon on iOS

by Keith Andrew

Piracy is a prominent beast on Android – Sports Interactive one of a clutch of developers who regularly speak out about it – but is a somewhat less regular intrusion on iOS.

One developer operating on Apple’s ecosystem, however, has been forced to pull its game following unsustainable demand on its servers created by players taking on pirated copies.

A real cow

As detailed by Touch Arcade, Hunted Cow’s strategy sim Battle Dungeon is now no more on iOS, with the developer citing piracy as the cause.

“Unfortunately we have taken Battle Dungeon down for the foreseeable future,” reads a statement published on the game’s website.

“This was due to high levels of server load created by large numbers of pirated copies of the game. The high load revealed technical issues which we don’t feel we can fix to the level that our paying customers deserve.”

To its credit, Hunted Cow is offering to refund customers who purchased the app or paid out for any in-app items.

Indeed, it’s Battle Dungeon’s very popularity that appears to have led to its downfall, with players unwilling to pay the $4.99 purchase price bringing about its demise.（source：pocketgamer）