1）PopCap联合创始人John Vechey在最近的采访中指出，随着休闲/手机游戏市场的不断发展，这一领域的Rovio和Zynga等主流公司终会成长与影响力堪比迪士尼的跨媒体大型企业。

Vechey表示休闲/手机游戏玩家将越来越依赖自己最喜爱的开发商推出的产品，而这些公司的业务也会开始涉及多样化的周边产品。据他所述，“我认为总有一天大家会发现，游戏只是这些公司的运营项目之一，总之用户会通过玩具、电影、电视或其他媒介来表达自己对某个产品的喜爱之情。”

他认为由于现在许多玩家都开始在手机平台体验休闲游戏，所以索尼PSP和任天堂DS等专用游戏机设备将面临极大挑战，“掌上游戏以及掌上游戏设备面对的共同挑战就是手机平台，我外出时从来不会随身携带DS设备，这种游戏机只适合坐在同一个地方，体验专门运行于这个平台的游戏。”

Vechey还指出虽然掌上游戏机设备会陷入困境，但苹果iPad 2却为休闲游戏带来了许多发展机遇，并特别称赞了iPad 2可在相对较低硬件配置下支持本地多人模式的强大功能。

john-vechey

2）市场调研公司comScore最近发布的报告显示，在2011年第一季度，Android仍是美国智能手机市场的头号种子，市场份额达34.7%。三星则是美国排名第一的手机设备制造商，其市场份额达24.5%。排在Android之后的智能手机平台是RIM（占27.1%），其次是苹果（占25.5%），微软（7.5%），Plam（2.8%）。

该报告指出，今年第一季度美国共有2.34亿的13岁以上人口是手机用户，其中有7250万美国人拥有智能手机，比去年第四季度增长了15%。

调查发现在今年3月份，使用手机发短信的美国手机用户达68.6%，而手机浏览器的使用率也达到了38.6%，下载应用程序的比例为37.3%，通过手机访问社交网站或博客的用户占27.3%。手机游戏玩家占所有手机用户的25.7%，而将手机用于听音乐的用户比例为17.9%。

comscoredec-march

3）据知情人士透露，苹果有可能专门针对中国市场定制iPhone手机，优酷首席执行官古永锵已和苹果乔布斯进行商谈，有可能将优酷应用预装入苹果在中国销售的iPhone手机中。知情人称由于YouTube是中国大陆禁用的应用程序，所以优酷可以由此入手，填补中国iPhone手机视频服务的空缺。但两家公司合作的时间表还没有出台，或许等到iOS 5以及下一代iPhone问世时答案才会揭晓。

4）日本手机游戏发行商Capcom上一财年（截止2011年3月31日）财报显示，Capcom Mobile销售额（游戏邦注：包括手机及社交游戏销售额）约5000万美元，同比去年增长13%，共占Capcom公司总销售额的4%（其全年总销售额为12亿美元，同比去年增长46%）。与之相似的是EA Mobile，它的销售额则占EA公司总营收的6%。

Capcom Mobile在2011财年的营业收入为1700万美元，环比增长83%；Capcom公司的净利润为9600万美元，增长率达258%。

Capcom Mobile的辉煌业绩主要得益于采用免费模式的《蓝精灵村庄》和《僵尸咖啡厅》等iOS及Facebook游戏。

beach volley

5）芬兰开发商Rovio最近发布了《愤怒的小鸟：里约》新关卡的预告视频，这个新关卡名为Beach Volley，它将游戏背景切换到了海滩上，支持玩家在阳光沙滩白浪的宜人环境中与猴子们展开战斗。

Spider Jack

6）英国发行商Chillingo旗下部门Clickgamer最近推出了一款风格与《糖果小怪物》（Cut the Rope）颇为相似的物理游戏《蜘蛛杰克》（Spider Jack）。该游戏也是由俄罗斯工作室开发，但这次并非ZeptoLab，而是一家名为MaxNick的开发商。游戏共含有75个关卡，画面制作十分精美，支持Retina高清显示和Game Center功能，目前在App Store售价为99美分。

1）PopCap Chief: Major Casual Developers Could Grow To Be ‘More Like Disney’

PopCap chief executive John Vechey spoke out on the growing casual and mobile games market, claiming that major companies like Rovio or Zynga could eventually grow to resemble multimedia corporations like Disney, .

In a recent interview with the Guardian, Vechey said that in time, the growing audience for casual and mobile games will begin to expect more ways to interact with products from their favorite developers, spurring these companies to expand beyond game development.

“I think that what’s going to happen is, at some point we’re going to see that gaming is just one aspect of what we do,” he told the Guardian. “Whether that’s toys or movies or TV or some other medium, it’s another way that customers gain appreciation for it.”

With so many players turning to mobile phones for casual gaming, however, Vecey said that dedicated game platforms like the PSP and 3DS face significant challenges looking forward.

“I think the thing with portable gaming – and portable gaming devices – is they all have the same problem; the mobile phone. I don’t carry my DS with me anymore when I go travelling. It just sits there until there’s a game I absolutely have to play on it, which isn’t available on any other platform,” he explained.

Vecey pointed out that while gaming handhelds might be in trouble, Apple’s iPad 2 offers interesting opportunities for the casual space, particularly noting its ability to enable local multiplayer with little hardware setup.（source:gamasutra）

2）comScore: Android Continues To Top RIM And Apple’s iOS For U.S. Smartphone Share

comScore’s mobile subscriber stats are in for the month and Android continues to top U.S. smartphone share over Apple and RIM. Additionally, during the three month average period ending March 2011, Samsung was top handset manufacturer overall with 24.5 percent market share. Google Android led among smartphone platforms with 34.7 percent market share.

The report shows that during the period, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices (this number remained steady from the previous month). But, in terms of smartphones, 72.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in March 2011, up 15 percent from the preceding three-month period.

Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers. LG ranked second with 20.9 percent share, followed by Motorola (15.8 percent) and RIM (8.4 percent).

Apple continued to gain share following the launch of the Verizon iPhone earlier this year, up 1.1 percentage points to reach 7.9 percent of subscribers.

With respect to smartphone share Google Android grew 6 percentage points to a 34.7 percent market share, while RIM ranked second with 27.1 percent share. Apple grew 0.5 points to 25.5 percent share, followed by Microsoft (7.5 percent) and Palm (2.8 percent). Google’s share continues to grow after passing both iOS and RIM for smartphone share in February.

comScore also examines how mobile subscriber are using their phones and reported that in March 68.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers texted using their phone. Browsers were used by 38.6 percent of subscribers (up 2.2 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 37.3 percent (up 2.9 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.6 percentage points, representing 27.3 percent of mobile subscribers. And Playing games comprised 25.7 percent of the mobile audience, while listening to music represented 17.9 percent.（source:techcrunch）

3）Apple rumored talking to use YouKu on Chinese iPhones

Apple was rumored on Friday to be making a rare exception and customizing the iPhone for a particular country. Chinese video site YouKu’s head Victor Koo was purportedly talking with Apple chief Steve Jobs about having a YouKu app preloaded in the default configuration for phones sold in China. Since the YouTube app is banned by the Chinese government, YouKu would effectively be filling in, TechNode was told by a “trusted resource.”

The timing for the claimed change wasn’t given out, though it might wait until iOS 5 and the next iPhone.（source:electronista）

4）Capcom Mobile sees FY11 sales up 13% to $50 million

Japanese game publisher Capcom (TYO:9697) has announced its figures for the financial year ending March 31, 2011.

Capcom Mobile’s portion of sales (which includes mobile and social revenues) was ¥4.03 trillion yen (about $50 million), up 13 percent year-on-year.

This is around 4 percent of Capcom’s total sales; ¥97.7 trillion ($1.2 billion), which was itself up 46 percent compared to FY2010.

In comparison, EA Mobile accounts for around 6 percent of EA’s total revenues.

More impressively, cross referencing its Q3 figures, which put nine month revenues at $29 million, this suggests Capcom Mobile had Q4 sales of $21 million – thanks to its free-to-play games such as Smurfs’ Village.

Capcom Mobile’s operating income for FY11 was ¥1.37 trillion ($17 million), up 83 percent year-on-year.

Overall, Capcom posted net profits of ¥7.75 trillion ($96 million), up 258 percent.

The social promotion

Capcom Mobile’s performance was boosted by the success of its free-to-play iOS and Facebook titles Smurfs’ Village and Zombie Cafe, which despite some controversy, performed very well in terms of the top grossing US chart thanks to their in-app purchases.（source:pocketgamer）

5）Angry Birds Rio To Get New Levels With Beach Volley Update

If you’ve already busted through all the levels of Angry Birds Rio and you’re not planning on getting the recently announced Samsung Infuse 4G for that pre-loaded exclusive Angry Birds level, then you’ll be glad to know an update is on its way. The update is called Beach Volley, bringing new levels as well as bringing the birds to the beach.

The makers of the whole Angry Birds empire, Rovio, has just unleashed a teaser video for the new update. The birds are as furious as ever despite the lovely location, and they’re battling it out against evil monkeys. （source:slashgear）

6）Clickgamer’s Cut the Rope-esque Spider Jack crawls onto iPhone and iPad

Chillingo subdivision Clickgamer has launched a brand new title on the New Zealand App Store.

MaxNick’s Spider Jack is the latest offering from the casual gaming giant, and it bears more than a striking resemblance to a certain rope-cutting labelmate.

The game sees the eponymous arachnid swing from a thread as he attempts to collect the stars scattered across each screen on his way to the juicy six-legged meal that’s stuck in his web. Sound familiar?

There are 75 levels, apparently with multiple solutions to each one, with more to come via free updates. Meanwhile, there’s Retina display support for those with newer iPhone models.（source:pocketgamer）