1）据Venturebeat报道，谷歌高级工程副总裁Vic Gundotra最近透露，Google+现在已有1亿月活跃用户，以及4亿注册用户。

但值得注意的是，谷歌曾在今年6月宣布上线一年的Google+已有1.5亿活跃用户，4月份时宣布该网站有1亿活跃用户。那么这是否意味着Google+在一个夏天蒸发了5000万月活跃用户？谷歌为何要公布前后不一的数据？

google-plus(from venturebeat)

观察者推测，1亿活跃用户可能是指每月直接通过Plus.google.com或Google+移动应用访问该平台的用户流量，而1.5亿数据可能还包括通过Gmail、谷歌搜索引擎和YouTube等所有谷歌社交绑定服务渠道访问的用户。

2）据gamasutra报道，分析公司Niko Partners最近报告显示，中国玩家对硬核网页游戏需求量不断增长，一些私人股本游戏公司因此斩获了相当比例的市场份额，而大型上市MMO游戏运营公司的市场份额增幅有所下降；唯一例外的是腾讯，该公司同时运营传统MMO和《英雄联盟》等类型的在线游戏，几乎占据了整个中国大陆将近一半的PC在线游戏市场份额。

china-internet-cafe(from massively.joystiq.com)

报告指出2012年中国PC游戏收益增长37%，而上市网游运营公司收益则增长26%。

3）据gamasutra报道，Capcom元老及Game Republic创始人Yoshiki Okamoto最近表示，日本开发商制作出全球热销的主机游戏已经愈发艰难，日本主机游戏可能即将走到末路。

yoshiki_okamoto(from theverge.com)

Yoshiki Okamoto在Capcom任职时曾参与开发《街头霸王》和《生化危机》，去年因未达成一项发行协议而解散了其工作室Game Republic全体员工（游戏邦注：该工作室最高峰时的成员约300人）。

目前他已经将重心转向移动项目，他认为当前移动开发团队更像是游戏行业早期的小型团队模式。

4）据gamasutra报道，日本游戏行业元老Keiji Inafune最近表示，西方开发者认为在游戏中发挥自己的创意是很自然而然的事情，但日本游戏行业的做法却容易埋没人才。

keiji-inafune(from news.tgn.tv)

他称日本有许多杰出开发人才，但他们却总是怀才不遇，因为他们没有决定权，或者其所在公司并不善于发现人才。

日本有许多独立工作室的整个游戏设计方案都要由外部发行合作伙伴决定，他们在接受外包工作时对此几乎没有什么话语权，以致于埋没人才，甚至有许多开发者根本不知道日本曾经掌握了全球游戏行业的霸权。（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）Plus huh? Getting to the bottom of active users on Google+

Jennifer Van Grove

Google+ now has 100 million monthly active users and 400 million registered users. Let’s all break out the party favors and host a few hangouts!

But wait just a second. The new figures, revealed by Google’s senior veep of engineering Vic Gundotra in a Google+ update this morning, have me scratching my head.

Google reported in June that its 1-year-old social network had reached 150 million active users. Did Google+ actually lose 50 million monthly active users over the summer? That would not be cause for celebration, now, would it? Let’s also not forget that in April of this year, Google said that Google+ had reached 100 million active users. Now I’m getting a case of déjà vu.

So what gives?

The discrepancy in monthly active users looks to be a semantics problem. From what I’ve been able to decipher, Google sees 100 million people visit plus.google.com or Google+ mobile apps each month. The 150 million number, however, is a catch-all figure that applies to all Google+ activity happening across any of Google’s socially enhanced services such as Gmail, search, and YouTube.

Google+ the social network has 100 million monthly active users. Google+ the social layer has 150 million active users. Get? Got it? Good.

Why would Google report two numbers that essentially sound the same but mean two different things? Well, the 100 million monthly active user stat reported today is an achievement that directly addresses critics’ “ghost town” accusations. In essence, Gundotra proved that people — 100 million each month to be exact — intentionally (not by accident, naysayers!) visit Google+ on desktop or mobile to connect with friends, brands, and celebrities.（source:venturebeat）

2）MMOs in China losing ground to hardcore, competitive online games – report

By Tom Curtis

MMORPGs have long held the crown as the dominant game genre in China, but that might be starting to change, as a new market report indicates that web games and competitive titles are quickly becoming the region’s fastest-growing PC markets.

Analyst firm Niko Partners reports that Chinese players are showing an increased demand for hardcore browser-based web games, similar to those seen from North American studios like Kixeye and Kabam. With this rise in demand, smaller, privately held game companies have gained a larger share of market revenue in China, while publicly traded MMO operators have seen slower growth in relation to the market at large.

Niko Partners explained that PC game revenue in China has grown 37 percent in 2012, while public online game operators have seen their revenues increase by 26 percent. Since the rest of the market is growing faster than the typical Chinese MMO operator, Niko Partners suspects the market is moving away from that historically successful genre.

The only real outlier in Niko Partners’ report is the publically traded Tencent, which operates both traditional MMOs and competitive online games like League of Legends (pictured) and CrossFire.

Niko Partners said these types of games have helped the company grow so much that it’s taken roughly half of the market share for online PC games in Mainland China.

“For several years Niko has cautioned that the repetitive theme of cultural mythical history MMORPGs in China was beginning to bore gamers, and that new types of games would be necessary to revive waning demand for those games,” said Niko Partners’ Lisa Cosmas Hanson. “Now we can see from the data that it is a demand driven market and gamers, particularly those in their teens and twenties, are eager to try newer themes.”

This trend toward competitive and hardcore web games in China is particularly significant for the game industry at large, as China’s online game market is quickly becoming one of the largest and most lucrative segments of the entire business.

The firm added that mobile games have somewhat disrupted PC game growth in China, particularly when looking at the casual and social game markets.（source:gamasutra）

3）The end of an era for Japanese console game development

By Eric Caoili

“We’re probably heading toward the end of an era of Japanese game developers making successful console games like in the West.”

- Capcom veteran and Game Republic founder Yoshiki Okamoto argues that it’s become exceedingly difficult for Japanese developers to create a blockbuster console title that can sell significant units worldwide.

Okamoto, who worked on major series like Street Fighter and Resident Evil during his time at Capcom, laid off his entire staff at Game Republic last year (the studio employed around 300 at its peak) after a publishing deal fell through.

Like many in his situation, he now focuses on mobile projects, avoiding the massive budgets and development teams often required to make modern console games. Okamoto believes mobile teams can be more like the smaller groups that worked on games in the early years of the industry.

Mobile has become an increasingly important segment for a number of Japanese developers and publishers, and two of the biggest companies that have risen from the country recently are mobile social game network operators: Gree and DeNA.

If creating a console hit continues to becomes more and more difficult for game makers in Japan, we’re sure to see more Japanese studios and talented game developers abandon traditional platforms to look for success in the mobile space.（source:gamasutra）

4）Inafune says Japan’s hidden talent could save its industry

By Staff

“I think there needs to be a system that allows them to be more creative in their work; that would help them a lot.” – Keiji Inafune, on the Japanese industry.

While Western developers take for granted that working on games will allow them to express their creative talents, it’s not the same in the Japanese industry. In a new interview, Mega Man creator and former head of Capcom R&D says that the Japanese industry’s practices bury talent, but he hopes that he can shine a light on it.

“There are a lot of very talented creators in Japan, but often they aren’t in a position to use that talent, or the developer they’re working for hasn’t noticed that talent,” says Inafune.

In Japan, many independent studios have their entire game designs dictated by their external publishing partners, and have little say into the way the games they’re contracted to make are developed — which has a side effect of hiding talent.

Many of today’s developers, he says, also aren’t even aware that Japan once dominated the global game industry, either.

“The Japanese game industry used to pull the entire business forward, something a lot of people aren’t even aware of anymore, and I think the experience I’ve gained through those years [at Capcom] can help pull people who aren’t familiar with those times out of the woodwork,” Inafune says.（source:gamasutra）