1）据serkantoto报道，日本社交游戏开发商GungHo日前在大阪证券交易所的市值上涨19.7%，高达46亿美元，比上周增长了13亿美元。

上周该公司市值为33亿美元时，其身价就已经超过GREE，目前其市值甚至还超过了DeNA（游戏邦注：DeNA日前市值为40亿美元，首次被GungHo超越）。

据该公司最近数据显示，GungHo旗下热门游戏《Puzzle & Dragon》拥有900万用户，但观察者预测其用户将在一周内超过1000万。

Puzzle & Dragons(from 7xz)

2）据serkantoto报道，索尼公司最近一段时间已经出售多项资产，其中包括位于纽约的办公大楼（11亿美元），东京大崎办公大楼（12亿美元），以及其持有的在线医疗服务公司M3 Inc.的股份（1.52亿美元）。

现在该公司还将把其持有的所有DeNA股份（价值4.37亿美元）套现，把这些股份出售给东野证券，并于3月7日结束这项交易（索尼将于3月31日公布其最新财报）。

3）Flurry最新报告显示，移动市场的设备分裂性问题日趋严重，开发者的应用若要覆盖Flurry所调查数据中80%的活跃设备，就必须瞄准156款不同设备优化应用。即使开发者仅锁定60%的设备覆盖率，也需要瞄准37款不同的设备。

number of device models(from Flurry)

目前尚无法确定分裂问题是否会消除或者得到改进。就当前情况来看，设备制造商应该会推出更多种产品类型（而不是更少），即使是苹果也在不断增长新屏幕尺寸和分辨率，这些都会增加开发者面临的复杂情况。

4）Android手机游戏公司Animoca最近数据显示，三星Galaxy S3已成为美国头号Android手机，Ice Cream Sandwich则是普及率最高的Android版本。

三星Galaxy S3在美国Android智能手机中占比8.8%，三星Galaxy S2排名第二，占比6.1%；在美国前十名Android手机设备中，三星产品占半数席位。

Top Android phones in USA(from Animoca)

值得注意的是，Animoca数据与谷歌开发者仪表盘所提供的Android数据差异明显，前者指出Ice Cream Sandwich（Android 4.0.4）是最热门的Android版本，在Android设备中占比33.5%；而谷歌数据则显示Ice Cream Sandwich（4.0.3和4.0.4版本）占比28.6%。

Top Android OS versions in USA(from Animoca)

Animoca数据称Gingerbread（2.3.4和2.3.6版本）仅占比22.9%，而谷歌数据则显示Gingerbread（2.3至2.3.2，以及2.3.3至2.3.7版本）最占优势，其比例达44.2%。

5）据games.com报道，EA和Playfish于2012年初在Facebook发布了《RISK：Factions》，但该游戏表现不如预期，因此EA近日宣布将于3月31日正式关闭这个项目。

Ea shutters RISK:Faction(from games)

目前该游戏仍有1万左右的月活跃用户，但用户在其中持有的虚拟货币将于3月31日失效，并且也无法将其用于其他EA社交游戏。

据报道，《JetSet Secrets》有可能成为EA下一款即将关闭的Facebook游戏，因为有人发现点击该游戏支持页面当前所出现的“JetSet Secrets Service Update”这篇文章，用户就会被导入一个错误页面，其中显示“《JetSet Secrets》已经下线”这一信息，不过该游戏论坛、Facebook粉丝页面和EA总服务更新页面均未出发布这一消息。

除此之外，该游戏官方Facebook粉丝页面自2月23日以来已经没有正常更新，而在此之前该页面至少每天更新一次，观察者据此推测这些迹象表明这款游戏也即将退役。

6）据iMore报道，苹果下一代iPhone和iPad可能很快就会面世。预计iPhone 5S将于今年8月发布（此前两代iPhone是在10月份发布），而iPad 5和新iPad Mini则可能在4月份就亮相。

iphone 5s(from pc-tablet)

报道称iPhone 5S将采用与iPhone 5相同的设计，但会添加更优化的摄像头与更快速的处理器。（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）Puzzle & Dragons Maker GungHo Now Worth US$4.6 Billion, More Than DeNA (US$4 Billion)

by Dr. Serkan Toto

I always thought I have seen a lot of craziness in Japan’s mobile game industry over the last 5 years, but the Puzzle & Dragons boom in Japan is starting to scare me.

Today, at the Osaka Stock Exchange, the market cap of maker GungHo rose 19.7% to hit a staggering US$4.6 billion. That’s US$1.3 billion more than a week ago.

With US$3.3 billion, the company was already valued more than GREE (or the smaller Zynga) last week, but it seems the stock market sees even more potential because GungHo is now worth more than DeNA, too.

The Mobage operator today had a market cap of “just” US$4 billion – it was bested by GungHo for the first time today.

I am very cautious when it comes to using big words, but this is insanity: again, GungHo’s growth has one main – and one only – driver, namely Puzzle & Dragons.

The latest official statement said that Puzzle & Dragons has 9 million users, but I am pretty sure the 10-million milestone has been passed by now or will be within this week (GungHo “traditionally” needs a few days to confirm).

While the game is estimated to make a mind-blowing US$54-75 million per month, the company doesn’t have a particularly strong portfolio of mobile titles overall (even though the games are pretty awesome), doesn’t operate a platform business (like DeNA or GREE do), and it isn’t really successful outside Japan (yet) either.（source:serkantoto）

2）Sony Sells Off All Of Their DeNA Shares Worth US$437 Million

by Dr. Serkan Toto

Sony sure seems to be in need of a lot of cash at the moment.

In the last few days and weeks, the company sold off:

•the Sony Building in New York for US$1.1 billion

•the Sony City Osaki Building in Tokyo for US$1.2 billion

•and a portion of its stake in online medical service subsidiary M3 Inc. for US$152 million

And it’s now time for Sony to turn another valuable asset into cash: its stake in Mobage operator DeNA. Sony just said that it will sell all their DeNA shares (worth a whopping US$437 million) to Nomura Securities.

The deal will be closed on March 7, just in time for Sony’s next financial report, which is due out on March 31.

To put the amount of US$437 million into context: DeNA is currently listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange with a US$4.2 billion market cap.（source：serkantoto）

3）Will Fragmentation Kill The Indie App Developer Star? Likely Not, But It Will Change How Apps Get Made

Darrell Etherington

In a new report published today by Flurry, the company notes that optimizing apps to hit the majority of mobile devices that are active out there is an increasingly difficult task. In order to reach 80 percent of the active connected devices per Flurry’s data, you’d have to take into account 156 different devices. Even just edging over the 60 percent mark requires that developers account for 37 individual devices. Flurry concludes that this increased fragmentation could mean curtains for the indie app developer.

It’s unlikely the fragmentation issue will clear up or improve. If anything, device manufacturers seem to be introducing more variation into their product lines, not less (PadFone and FonePad, anyone?). Even Apple keeps adding new screen sizes and resolutions that can make development more complicated, even though it doesn’t face as much of a challenge as Android when it comes to making sure users are all on the same version of the mobile OS powering devices.（source：techcrunch）

4）Animoca releases data on the top Android handsets and OS versions in the U.S.

Scott Reyburn

Android-focused Mobile game developer and publisher Animoca released data showing the Samsung Galaxy S3 as the top Android handset in the U.S. and Ice Cream Sandwich as the top version of the Android platform.

Samsung’s flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S3, grabbed an 8.8 share among the top Android smartphones in the U.S. The Galaxy S2 landed at the No. 2 spot, with a 6.1 percent share. In total, five of the top 10 Android phones in the U.S. were manufactured by Samsung. It should come as no surprise that the South Korean conglomerate is the top Android smartphone manufacturer in the U.S., with data from both mobile ad network Millennial Media and analytics firm ComScore showing the same result. Korean manufacturers, in general, dominated the top three spots, with the Galaxy S3, Galaxy S2 and the LG Motion 4G MS770 accounting for 19.7 percent of U.S. Android phones.

What’s interesting about Animoca’s data is how much different its Android platform data varies when compared to Google’s developer dashboard, which breaks down the Android platform usage on devices by version. Animoca showed Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0.4) as the top Android version, with a 33.5 percent share of devices running Android. Comparatively, Google showed Ice Cream Sandwich taking a 29.0 percent share (version 4.0.3 and 4.0.4 combined). According to Animoca’s data, Gingerbread (both version 2.3.4 and 2.3.6) only grabbed a 22.9 percent share at the No. 2 and No. 5 spots, while Google’s data showed Gingerbread (versions 2.3 to 2.3.2 and 2.3.3 to 2.3.7) leading all versions with a 45.6 percent share.

Animoca released a similar report that showed its findings on the top U.S. Android handsets and platforms back in Nov. 2012. Android devices running Jelly Bean or higher accounted for a 46.1 percent of the overall share back in Nov. 2012, but it’s now up to 61.5 percent in its most recent report.

The Hong Kong-based game company collected data for this report between Jan. 15 and Feb. 15 from users of Animoca’s Android smartphone games downloaded through Google Play — tablets excluded — in the U.S.

UPDATE: Shortly after publishing, Google updated its developer dashboard. Below are Google’s updated market share figures of the Android platform usage on devices for Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread and Jelly Bean:

•Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0.3 and 4.0.4 combined): 28.6 percent

•Gingerbread (versions 2.3 to 2.3.2 and 2.3.3 to 2.3.7): 44.2 percent

•Jelly Bean (Both versions 4.1 and 4.2): 16.5（source：insidesocialgames）

5）EA shutters RISK: Factions on Facebook later this month

by Brandy Shaul

When Electronic Arts and Playfish launched RISK: Factions on Facebook at the beginning of 2012, the game started out on a rocky road, simply because of its genre. Strategy and “core” games still have a hard time taking off amongst the puzzle or “Ville” games on Facebook, and ultimately, the game apparently didn’t perform as EA had originally hoped. Unfortunately, the game’s life cycle has now come to an end, as EA has announced that RISK: Factions players can have their last battle on Facebook on March 31.

The news comes by way of the company’s service updates page, but the 10,000 or so monthly active users that still play the game will also be given the news the next time they login via a page banner and a link to some FAQs. If players have any premium currency remaining in the game, they’ll be lost after March 31, with no transfer options available to move that currency to another game. Here’s the official word from EA:

“Occasionally, we have to retire games in order to re-allocate servers and resources to more popular titles. We hope you’ve enjoyed playing RISK: Factions as much as we’ve enjoyed making it. Thank you for everything you’ve added to the community.”

While RISK: Factions had great gameplay, it never seemed to be publicized enough to stand out amongst the thousands of other games available on the site. It’s s shame to see it close, but if you’d like to get in one last game, make sure to do so before the game is gone for good on March 31.（source：games）

Is JetSet Secrets the next game on EA’s chopping block?

by Brandy Shaul

Unfortunately, all current evidence says “yes.” While EA’s recent closure announcement for RISK: Factions on Facebook may have come as no surprise, we’ve discovered even more interesting news surrounding one of EA’s other Facebook games: JetSet Secrets.

EA / Playfish’s support website currently contains an article called “JetSet Secrets Service Update.” As of this writing, clicking on the link for the article takes you to broken page with an address stating “JetSet Secrets is being retired.” This is the only mention of the game being shut down, as the game’s forums, Facebook fan page, and EA’s overall service updates page are quiet on the matter.

However, there’s more than just this broken link that should cause some concern, as the game’s official Facebook fan page hasn’t been regularly updated with game content since February 23.

Prior to this date, the page was updated at least once per day, giving active players freebies to use within the game. While a quiet fan page doesn’t instantly spell doom for a title, this all does seem a bit too coincidental.

After launching in September, we praised JetSet Secrets for being arguably the best hidden object game on Facebook, so it would be unfortunate to see the game sunsetted so soon. We’ve reached out to EA for any further information on the matter, and will update this space if we hear back.（source：games）

6）Apple upgrades may come early: iPhone 5S in August, new iPads in April

Devindra Hardawar

Apple’s next-generation iPhone and iPads could appear surprisingly soon.

The iPhone 5S is reportedly planned for release in August, a few months earlier than the October release of the past two iPhones, while the iPad 5 and new iPad Mini could appear as soon as April, reports iMore.

While we typically don’t give much credit to most Apple rumors, iMore’s Rene Ritchie has proven himself as a reliable prognosticator for Apple’s updates. He was one of the first to report on the iPhone 5′s Lightning connector last year.

Not surprisingly, Ritchie notes that the iPhone 5S will feature the same design as the iPhone 5, but will pack in a better camera and faster processor. That’s typical for Apple, judging from the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4S. Given how thin Apple was able to make the iPhone 5, I didn’t expect a completely new case to appear this year.

We’re still hearing rumors about a slightly cheaper iPhone as well as one with a slightly bigger screen than the 4-inch iPhone 5. The latest rumor, somewhat perplexingly, noted that Apple’s cheaper iPhone could also sport a bigger 4.5-inch screen. It could be that we’re hearing about changes that will appear in next year’s iPhone line, much like how we heard rumors of the iPhone 5′s design almost two years in advance.

As for the April iPad announcements, Ritchie notes that “we’re not sure what to make of that yet.” Apple announced the iPad Mini and fourth-generation iPad in October, so an April upgrade seems a bit too soon. Ritchie expects a slightly redesigned case for the iPad 5, but only a slight specification bump for the next iPad Mini. Those hoping for a Retina Display iPad Mini will likely have to wait until the next refresh.

“Apple is not going to release iPads that costs more or don’t get as good battery life as the current models,” Ritchie wrote. “So if the next iPad Mini does end up getting slated for April, it could be a spec bump, or have something other than Retina as a differentiator.”（source：venturebeat）