1）据Beeb报道，现年5岁的英国小孩Danny Kitchen仅在短短的15分钟内，就在iTunes消费了2500美元的IAP内容。其家长的电邮帐单显示，他在某款iPad游戏中多次购买了售价105美元的道具。

所幸苹果现在已推出应对这一情况的政策，这一家子也无需为Danny这种不知情的行为买单。观察者建议，为避免发生类似情况，家长最好不要让子女知道自己的iTunes密码，并针对iTunes自动付款功能进行相关设置。

APPLE-KIDS-PURCHASE(from huffpost)

2）据gamezebo报道，芬兰开发商Rovio最近透露将推出一款基于梦工场动画电影《The Croods》的同名游戏，但并没有公布该项目具体情况。

从其发布的截图来看，这款模拟游戏将支持玩家在史前时代中捕捉动物，收集资源，开垦土地，风格类似于《Rune Factory》。该游戏将于3月14日在iOS和Android平台上线，同名电影则是3月22日上映。

The Croods(from gamezebo)

3）游戏开发者大会（GDC）针对去年参会的2500名开发者的调查结果显示，44%受访者计划在未来使用大众融资渠道开发游戏。

但仅有8%受访者已在开发获得大众融资支持的项目，4%表示自己的项目主要依赖大众融资。

4）英国游戏行业贸易委员会（TIGA）代表Dr.Richard Wilson最近指出，市场竞争推动了移动游戏领域的创新，这对用户和开发者而言都是一件好事。随着智能手机和平板电脑发展成强大的游戏平台，顶级移动游戏正逐渐向主机游戏看齐。

Tablet Gaming(from nerdsmagazine)

对用户来说，更强大的设备出现无疑是件好事，因为这有助于降低原有设备的售价，同时又为更为富裕的群体提供了含有新技术的新设备。

从开发者角度来看，强大的智能手机和平板电脑意味着他们可以锁定一个新市场和用户群体，而之前不太重视画面质量的独立开发者，未来将难以在移动平台找到出路。

Rebellion首席执行官兼创意总监、TIGA主席Jason Kingsley则补充表示，硬件无论有多创新，都需要与之相配的出色软件。

5）据insidesocialgames报道，Sid Meiers此前颇受瞩目的Facebook游戏《CivWorld》最近通过Facebook页面宣布将于5月29日正式关闭项目，而玩家手中的游戏虚拟货币CivBucks的有效使用截止日期则是4月2日。

civworld(from blogspot)

这款历时一年半开发而成的游戏，于2011年1月进入封测阶段，2011年5月才对大众用户开放服务，尽管游戏上线两年之外，但并未收获多少用户。

《CivWorld》最高峰时是2011年7月份，拥有8万8754日活跃用户，但随后用户流量迅速下降；到2012年1月，日活跃用户仅为5000，据AppData统计，该游戏最近日活跃用户仅为2000。（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）Kid spends $2,500 on iTunes in 15 minutes

John Koetsier

Five-year-old Danny Kitchen of Bristol, England, spent $2,500 on iTunes in-app purchases in about 15 minutes, the Beeb reports. Score!

Spending that much money that quickly would seem to be a challenge, but his parent’s emailed bills show that he bought multiple $105 items in an as-yet-unidentified iPad game. Apparently, $2,500 goes out the door rather quickly when you spend in $100 increments.

Fortunately, his parents did not have a heart attack when seeing the bills the next morning, and fortunately, Apple is being very good about the situation. The family will not be forced to pay for the virtual goods that Danny unknowingly bought.

Consumer spending on virtual goods has doubled since 2009, but kids typically don’t know what they’re doing when they’re buying, or  know that real money is involved.

Apple just settled a lawsuit a few days ago brought by parents whose children had racked up big fees on games like Tap Fish. Apple will be giving parents in that lawsuit iTunes credits of $5, which, a devil’s advocate might say, would be giving more crack to the addict.

But typically the company has been more than fair in obvious cases of childish exuberance.

The lesson for parents? Don’t give kids your iTunes password, and make sure you set up iTunes to not automatically allow payments.（source：venturebeat）

2）Rovio to release licensed game based on The Croods

By Dant Rambo

Is it just us or does Rovio always have a surprise or two up their sleeve? Earlier in the week it was the release date for Angry Birds Toons, and this time around it’s the reveal of The Croods, an upcoming game based on the animated film of the same name. Surprisingly, it won’t be about flinging birds!

Details about the game are scarce at the moment, but Rovio dropped a few hints in the form of screenshots. It appears The Croods will be a sim game where players capture animals, hunt and gather for resources, and tend to a plot of land. Kind of sounds like Rune Factory!

Just like the film itself, the game will take place during the prehistoric era. Chances are good you’ll encounter a variety of massive, terrifying animals, and having to clear skeletal remains off your land will no doubt be the norm. It’s going to be a lot of work, but the Crood clan looks pretty resilient. It also helps that the father, Grug, is voiced by Nicolas Cage in the film. If anyone could fend off malevolent beasties, it’s him.

The Croods is coming to iOS and Android on March 14, with the film hitting theaters on March 22.（source：gamezebo）

3）44% of surveyed game developers plan to try crowdfunding

By Frank Cifaldi

Crowdfunding is in vogue among game developers this year, if the results of a recent survey are any indication.

The organizers of Gamasutra’s sister show the Game Developers Conference recently surveyed 2,500 game developers — all of whom either attended last year’s show or plan on attending GDC 2013 later this month — to find out more about their development practices and, hopefully, learn where the industry is headed.

The survey found that 44% of the respondents plan to crowdfund a game in the future, meaning the landscape could be getting even more crowded soon on services like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Only 8 percent of those surveyed have worked on a crowdfunded project, and only 4 percent said that crowds were their primary source of funding.（source：gamasutra）

4）TIGA: ‘Top tier’ mobile games now resemble console titles

by Keith Andrew

With Mobile World Congress – the industry’s annual highpoint when it comes to the unveiling of new devices – currently drawing to a close, it almost seems churlish to question whether this constant technological advance is a good thing or not.

According to TIGA, however, the last few days in Barcelona have drawn attention to a mobile gaming industry now fully equipped to take on those operating within the console scene.

Dr. Richard Wilson – CEO of the UK trade association – has released a statement claiming MWC 2013 has illustrated the “extent of innovation” taking place in the sector, equipping those operating in the mobile space with the tools to punch above their weight.

Top tier

“Innovation is being driven by intense competition and this is good for consumers and developers,” detailed Wilson, drawing attention to the scores of new devices and handsets announced at the event.

“As smartphones and tablets evolve into powerful game platforms, top tier mobile games increasingly resemble console games.

“UK studios with their great experience in console development are well suited to take advantage of these increasingly powerful and innovative devices.”

But is this what the industry wants?

March forward

For consumers, more powerful devices are ultimately a good thing, pushing down the prices of existing handsets and also serving up flash new tech for those with cash to spend.

For developers, however, the debate is more finely balanced. Powerful smartphones and tablets means outfits more used to operating on consoles or PC now have a new market – and a new breed of gamer – they can target.

Indies who had previously found a space for themselves on formats less focused on graphical capability may, in the future, find life on mobile more difficult.

Rebellion CEO and creative director and TIGA chairman Jason Kingsley, however, argues that this march forward is actually a necessity. The mobile market can’t afford to stagnate.

“A massive show like the MWC in Barcelona shows just how important new technology and new games experiences are to the tech sector,” added Kingsley.

“Hardware, no matter how innovative, needs great software to give it a purpose.”（source：pocketgamer）

5）CivWorld shutting down

Mike Thompson

The social adaptation of Sid Meiers’ hailed Civilization series, CivWOrld, is shutting down.

The announcement was made via the game’s Facebook page:

Rulers of great civilizations, repent! The world is coming to an end! CivWorld will shortly cease operations and flow into the ethers, forever a fond memory of great triumphs. The last day for players to get more CivBucks using Facebook Credits will be April 2nd, 2013. The last day Civ World will be accessible is May 29th, 2013. We thank you for the time you spent with CivWorld, and beseech you to stay civilized on the other side.

After nearly a year and a half in development, CivWorld came to Facebook in a closed alpha all the way back in January 2011 and was fully-launched on the social network by that May. Although the game’s been in existence for two years now, it never really seemed to find an audience.

That said, the game’s managed to last quite a bit longer than other social tie-ins for established game franchises. Recent examples include the shutdown of EA’s Dragon Age: Legends and Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Commander. The Civilization titles are known for having a dedicated community of players who will regularly play them for years after their release, something that may have helped CivWorld last as long as it did.

CivWorld peaked in July 2011 with 88,754 daily active users (the best gauge of a title’s core audience on Facebook), but the numbers quickly dropped off after that. By January 2012, there were only 5,000 DAU and AppData estimates the game only has 2,000 now.（source：insidesocialgames）