1）据CNN Money报道，Epic Games日前宣布热门手机游戏《无尽之剑I》、《无尽之剑II》在iOS平台销量已超过1100万份，收益超过6000万美元。

这两款游戏至今仍仅在苹果App Store独家发售，售价分别为6美元和7美元。值得注意的是，作家Brandon Sanderson根据该游戏所著的小说《无尽之剑：觉醒》（发布于2011年10月）也曾跻身苹果iBook商店第一名，至今仍是该平台最畅销的奇幻类书籍之一。该书的续作《无尽之剑：救赎》刚于上周二发布，也迅速跻身热门榜单之首。

Infinity-Blade-3(from phandroid.com)

（游戏邦注：据venturebeat报道，Epic旗下公司Chair Entertainment还在苹果iPhone 5S产品发布会上表示，公司正在开发《无尽之剑III》，该游戏将于9月18日亮相，售价为7美元，支持运行于iPad 2，iPod Touch 4和iPhone 4及其更新版本的设备。）

2）据venturebeat报道，苹果工程副总裁Craig Federighi在日前的产品发布会上宣布下个月iOS设备出货量将达7亿台，iOS 7将迅速成为全球最受欢迎的操作系统。

ios7(from pocketgamer)

3）据venturebeat报道，手机游戏公司Gameloft日前公布2013上半年财报指出，该时期公司销售额达1.452亿美元，比2012年时的1.263亿美元增长15%。毛利润达1.1975亿美元，同比上年增长11%。营业收1486万美元，超过2012年时的876万美元。

Despicable-Me-Minion-Rush(from pinoytechblog.com)

Gameloft指出IAP和广告在其智能手机业务收益中占比80%。（游戏邦注：据mobile-ent报道，该公司基于动画电影《卑鄙的我》授权游戏《Despicable Me: Minion Rush》发布三个月下载量已突破1亿次）

4）移动广告公司MediaBrix最近引用eMarketer数据预测，美国每10个智能和机用户中就有8人将成为手机游戏玩家，手机游戏用户增长速度超过其他任何游戏领域。

美国手机游戏玩家数量在2012年超过了网络休闲游戏玩家，这种趋势至少将保持到2014年。

现在美国手机游戏玩家将近1.26亿人，预计到2014年这一数据将增长至1.44亿，出时手机游戏玩家在全美智能手机用户中将占比80%。

kids mobile gamers(from www.cnn.com)

5）分析公司NPD Group最新报告指出，今年有53%移动设备用户在游戏上的投入时间超过了2011年，其中以12-17岁用户群体最为典型，该群体在2011年每周玩智能手机和平板电脑游戏时间达5小时，现在则增长至每周7小时（游戏邦注：NPD Group调查样本为2-17岁的3842名少儿用户）。

尽管如此，主机和PC等传统游戏平台仍是玩家接触游戏的首选设备。使用移动设备接触游戏的儿童起始年龄低于以往，一般为8岁开始玩游戏，而2011年的这一数字则是9岁。（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）Epic’s Infinity Blade has made more than $60 million in revenue

Jeffrey Grubb

Epic Games’  and developer Chair’s hack-n-slash mobile game Infinity Blade is a pretty big success, and now we know exactly how big of a success it is.

Epic has sold over 11 million copies of Infinity Blade and Infinity Blade II on iOS devices, according to CNN Money. These games combined to generate over $60 million in revenue.

Infinity Blade and Infinity Blade II are still exclusive to the iOS App Store and sell for a premium price of $6 and $7, respectively. It’s one of the standout premium games in a market overflowing with free-to-play titles.

The franchise isn’t just a success as a game, either. Author Brandon Sanderson wrote an e-book the links the story of the first two games titled Infinity Blade: Awakening. He released it in October 2011, and it debuted at No. 1 on Apple’s iBooks store. It is still on the best-seller chart in the fantasy genre.

Sanderson just released the second book based on the franchise titled Infinity Blade: Redemption. It just went live on iBooks last Tuesday and immediately shot to the top of the charts.

In an interview with CNN Money, Sanderson explained that his working relationship with Chair enables him the freedom to riff on ideas for the Infinity Blade universe that the studio may then use in the next game.

“The characters that I added in the [first] book became main characters for the game, and Chair extrapolated that and took things in a direction and tossed story back to me for the second book,” Sanderson told CNN Money. “At the end of Infinity Blade II, they left the characters in this terrible situation, and I had to deal with that. We brainstorm on all of this stuff, and we work together, but it’s been a blast to see how what I do for a book influences what they do for a game and then to be influenced by that to make the next book.”

Epic and Chair aren’t talking about the future of the Infinity Blade franchise. Epic previously had a different studio working on a new game in the series called Infinity Blade: Dungeons, but it cancelled that project in 2012.（source：venturebeat）

2）Apple: 700 millionth iOS device shipping next month

John Koetsier

Apple is pumping up iOS 7 as it is unveiling the new operating system at the Apple Event in Cupertino today.

“Next month, we will ship [iOS] to 700 million iOS devices,” Apple engineering VP Craig Federighi said on stage. “And since we make updates easy … iOS 7 will quickly become the world’s most popular operating system.”

That’s a major accomplishment, and I’m not just talking about the number of devices. Google just announced that one billion Android devices have been activated, which sounds like more … but because Android is a somewhat fragmented mobile operating system, iOS 7 will have more users than any one flavor of Android, including Jelly Bean, Gingerbread, or the latest version of the operating system, KitKat.（source：venturebeat）

3）Gameloft sales increase 15 percent through first half of 2013

Jeffrey Grubb

Mobile-gaming firm Gameloft reported the results of its first half of 2013, and it turns out that friendship is still magic.

Gameloft generated $145.2 million in sales through the first six months of 2013. That’s up 15 percent from $126.3 million in 2012. Gross profits came in at $119.75 million, which is up 11 percent year-over-year. The publisher also reported an operating income of $14.86 million, which is up from $8.76 million in 2012.

The company credited its growth to its lineup of smartphone and tablet games, which continue to perform well. Gameloft also pointed to the success of in-app purchasing and advertising, which accounted for 80 percent of its revenue on smartphones.

The mobile company noted strong performance from titles it released in 2011 and 2012. This includes games like Ice Age Village, Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour, World at Arms, My Little Pony, Order & Chaos Online, and Six-Guns.

Looking forward, the company claimed it has “development capacity” to release around 30 games annually. Gameloft s currently planning to release a mobile title based on the upcoming Marvel film Thor: The Dark World.（source：venturebeat）

Despicable Me: Minion Rush dominates charts with 100 million downloads

by Phil Tottman

The epic-app shows no signs of slowing as it says more updates are in the pipeline.

We don’t just pick any old app for our apps of the day, perfectly displayed by our previous AOTD Despicable Me: Minion Rush.

Since its release just three months ago, the game has experienced 100 million downloads, firmly holding its place at the top of the app charts.

The app has been played for more than 260 million hours, with users collected around 2,000 billion bananas and performing 55 billion completely Despicable actions.

Gameloft says that its success is due to the polished look and feel to the game, all merged in with the heart and soul of the Despicable Me franchise.

We reckon its because it’s a great little game.

Julien Fournials, SVP production at Gameloft, said: “We’ve been lucky to work with such creative and visionary minds like the team at Illumination Entertainment.

“Bringing the Minions to life in a game was great fun. Our collaboration brought a lot of authenticity to the table, from Minion voices to the uniquely comedic gameplay, and that authenticity helped introduce a lot of fans to the game.”

Universal has announced that it is working on bringing new content to the game, keeping it fresh and new for current players and new comers.

An update is available now on Google Play and will soon be coming to the App Store.（source：mobile-ent）

4）Chart of the Week: Smartphone games headed for 80% penetration

by Keith Andrew

If you thought everyone, from your Gran to your postman, was already regularly taking on Angry Birds and co., you ain’t seen nothing yet.

A new report by mobile ad specialist MediaBrix citing eMarketer figures predicts that 8 out of every 10 smartphone owners in the US will soon be playing mobile games, with the mobile market already the driving force behind a surge in social gaming.

“Mobile gaming audiences have been increasing more rapidly than other gaming sectors and are poised for continued growth,” details the report.

“US mobile gamers surpassed online casual gamers in 2012 and will remain the largest audience segment through at least 2014.”

By 2014, 144 million Americans will be playing mobile games – up from the near 126 million currently sampling their delights. Skip forward another two years and that figure will have risen further, accounting for 80 percent of smartphone owners.（source：pocketgamer）

5）NPD report: Kids playing mobile devices nearly as much as consoles and PC

Jeffrey Grubb

Kids still do a ton of gaming on their consoles and computers, but they are spending an increasing amount of time with their mobile devices, according to a report from industry-analysis firm The NPD Group.

In its recent “Kids and Gaming 2013″ report, NPD revealed that 53 percent of mobile-device owners are spending more time gaming on those platforms compared to 2011. Teenagers ages 12 to 17 are seeing the biggest increase. While they were already using smartphones and tablets to play games for five hours a week in 2011, they are now using them for games an average of seven hours per week.

“Kids embrace change, adopting new devices and technologies, for the experience of gaming and accessing other entertainment content, and it is critical to understand the current mindset of the highly engaged 2- to 17-year-old gamer,” NPD analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement. “Kids are engaged with mobile devices as less expensive tablets and an increasing amount of hand-me-down phones create greater accessibility to these platforms than before.”

Despite the increased use of iOS and Android devices, traditional platforms like console and PC remain the top devices for gaming. The NPD notes, however, that the momentum is clearly in favor of smartphones and tablets.

“The question becomes whether this mobile usage will continue to grow for 2 to 17 year olds, and if usage will become more prevalent than gaming on consoles and computers as time progresses,” said Callahan. “More importantly, we need to understand how these forms of gaming provide different types of experiences for young gamers.”

The NPD report indicates that children are starting to game using mobile devices at a younger age than ever. The average kid starts playing at age 8. That’s down compared to age 9 in 2011.

NPD expects that age to continue to plummet.

The information firm based this study on 3,842 children between the ages of 2 to 17. NPD held an online survey for female adults between the ages of 21 and 60 who are members of its online panel.（source：venturebeat）