1）据venturebeat报道，Supercell最近宣布旗下第三款手机游戏《Boom Beach》发布不足一个月已经在iOS免费应用榜单名列第二。

该游戏玩法与《Clash of Clans》相似，但其背景是虚构的第二次世界大战风格，玩家要攻击由纳粹敌人或好友建设的堡垒。尽管玩法像是硬核游戏，但采用了卡通风格的角色。

Boom Beach(from goodnewsfinland)

《Boom Beach》在iOS评价的平均得分是4.4（满分为5），如果这款游戏发挥了与《Clash of Clans》相同的市场表现，那就充分说明Supercell这家成员约190人的公司的确潜力无限，其收益与Zynga去年收益相当，但后者成员却超过了2000人。

2）据venturebeat报道，微软在近日向iPad发布了Office套件，这套免费应用发布不到12小时就成为苹果App Store免费iPad应用榜单冠军。

App Annie数据显示，微软Word工具的iPad版本在该平台免费应用榜单排名第一，第二名则是Excel的iPad版本，第三名是Powerpoint的iPad版本；微软OneNote则排名第七。

3）据pocketgamer报道，日本游戏发行商Capcom日前修订2014财年（截止2014年3月31日）预测报告，指出由于《Monster Hunter 4》的出色表现，公司销售额有可能达到4400万美元（45亿日元），但净收益可能下降1900万美元（20亿日元），原因是其手机游戏业务方面的亏损，以及PC游戏《Monster Hunter Frontier G》表现不济。

Capcom-logo(from vg247.com)

2013财年第三季度，Capcom Mobile销售额为4900万美元（52亿日元），同比上年下降39%。这部分要归咎于日本游戏平台GREE因功能性手机游戏市场的衰落而降格，以及 Capcom Mobile旗下休闲游戏部门Beeline Interactive鲜有新作问世。

4）据venturebeat报 道，ZeptoLab工作室日前向Android平台发布了《割绳子2》，该游戏最初于2013年12月份登陆iOS平台（售价1美元），但现在发布的 Android版本则采用免费模式，支持玩家购买虚拟道具解决困难的谜题，花费2美元左右解琐更为困难的关卡内容包。

cut-the-rope-2(from geeky-gadgets)

除了Google Play平台之外，ZeptoLab还计划向亚马逊Appstore发布这款游戏。该公司指出《割绳子》系列目前下载量已经超过5亿次。

5）据gamezebo报道，日前一款名为《2048》的手机游戏在Google Play和App Store榜单登顶。值得注意的是，该游戏与Greg Wohlwend和Asher Vollmern不久前合作推出的第二款手机游戏《Threes!》（游戏邦注：它开发时间将近一年半，在苹果App Store发布数小时就在付费游戏榜单称冠）存在诸多相似之处。

2048 vs Threes(from gamezebo)

《2048》是由Gabriele Cirulli在一个周末的时间开发而成，是一款免费游戏。令Greg Wohlwend和Asher Vollmern二人最抓狂的是，有不少人甚至认为《Threes!》剽窃了《2048》，还有人认为后者比《Threes!》更优秀。

6）据gamasutra报道，动视在今年初承认可能关闭英国工作室The Blast Furnace（游戏邦注：其代表作为手机游戏《Call of Duty:Strike Team》和《Pitfall》），于近日正式宣布将于月底关闭这家工作室，并表示将帮助受此影响的47名工作室成员找到新工作。（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）With Boom Beach, Supercell guns for a third smash hit — and it’s already at No. 2

Dean Takahashi

Supercell, maker of the insanely popular Clash of Clans and Hay Day, is aiming for a third gargantuan mobile-gaming hit with Boom Beach. The free-to-play title has been out for less than a month, and it has climbed to No. 2 on the iOS free-apps rankings.

The game should be a good test of whether Helsinki, Finland-based Supercell, which had $892 million in revenue last year from just two games, will become a hit factory amid a sea of one-hit wonders. Clash of Clans was so huge that SoftBank invested $1.53 billion in Supercell last year at a $3 billion valuation.

Boom Beach resembles Clash of Clans in terms of gameplay, but the newer release is set in a fictionalized World War II-style universe. Rather than raiding Viking villages, you attack island fortresses created by the Nazi-like enemies or those of your friends. That seems like a description for a hardcore game. But, like Zynga, Supercell uses a cartoon style for its characters, which makes them more broadly appealing.

The game has two-dimensional graphics, but they look pretty, with translucent, 3D-like waves crashing on the beach. You set up defenses and production. Then, you try to grow. Enemies attack your base, but you can join a clan to get more protection. The attacks are asynchronous, which means they happen when you are not online. If an enemy destroys all of the buildings in your base, they win the battle. If you defend successfully, then you win. You can expand your island empire by taking over other islands in a big tropical archipelago.

Boom Beach has its own storyline to keep players engaged. The enemies are known as the Blackguard. You have to discover why they are enslaving the natives in pursuit of ancient statues and life crystals. They have fearsome bosses and diabolical plans.

Boom Beach has that Supercell touch, as it focuses on some uniquely fun touchscreen mechanics. You have landing craft full of soldiers that you can send at an invasion beach. You can also pound the ground defenses with your gunboat. The sound of gunfire and crashing shells are loud, and the music is whimsical. You can continuously upgrade your buildings and troops. Those are just the sort of characteristics that have kept Clash of Clans riding high.

But Clash of Clans, which launched in mid-2012, rarely shows up in the top-free-apps list. Rather, it dominates the rankings of the top-grossing games, which don’t always get downloaded the most but monetize extremely well. Clash of Clans is a free-to-play title, but it generates a lot of revenue from in-app purchases. That’s because players like to get revenge against others who attack them. And they’re sometimes willing to spend for that privilege.

With Boom Beach, the monetization scheme is similar. But the game is more interactive than Clash of Clans, where you mainly focus on choosing which units to attack with and where to attack the enemy’s defenses. With Boom Beach, the addition of the gunboat allows you to select a strong point, like a machine gun nest or sniper tower, to pummel with shells. You can only fire the gunboat a couple of times, and then your troops have to attack. If they destroy more buildings, then you can fire more gunboat shells.

You can also direct flares at certain targets you want your troops to attack, but you only get so many flares. So, the player is much more involved in the action of Boom Beach than in Clash of Clans. The only problem with the combat system right now is that the troops are too dumb to attack the weapons that are firing directly at them. They will simply attack the nearest building.

The greater interactivity could bode well for Supercell, which has so much money coming in from Clash of Clans, ranked No. 1 on the top-grossing list on iOS, and Hay Day, which ranks No. 7 on the top-grossing list. Supercell can afford to advertise Boom Beach at advertising rates that other developers can’t afford. And with improvements in mobile-ad targeting, Supercell can have an easier time reaching the right players with ads.

Boom Beach has a 4.4 out of 5 rating on iOS. If the game’s appeal is anything like Clash of Clans, it will likely get a huge following. So far, Supercell’s performance is awesome for a company that has around 190 or so employees. By comparison, its revenues were almost as large as Zynga’s last year, but Zynga has more than 2,000 employees.（source：venturebeat）

2）Microsoft Office hits number one spot in Apple’s App Store after just 12 hours

Harrison Weber

Following two years of rumors, Microsoft finally launched its Office suite of apps on the iPad today. And despite how frustrating it was to wait, it looks like iPad users aren’t bothered at all.

The freemium app is now ranked number one in Apple’s App Store among free iPad apps — less than 12 hours after it launched.

Microsoft Word for iPad hit the top spot globally today, according to App Annie. Following closely behind, Excel for iPad currently ranks as the second most popular free iPad app globally. And Powerpoint for iPad holds the number three spot.

While not as much of a hit, Microsoft OneNote for iPad still comes in as the seventh most popular free iPad app today.

These stats show no indication of long-term traction, but it’s nevertheless impressive to see Microsoft’s products dominate Apple’s App Store like they are doing today.（source：venturebeat）

3）Capcom takes a $48 million charge on underperforming mobile and PC online games

by Jon Jordan

Japanese game publisher Capcom (TYO:9697) has revised its FY14 forecast for the 12 months ending 31 March 2014.

The good news for investors is that due to sales of Monster Hunter 4, it now expects sales to be $44 million higher (¥4.5 billion).

The bad news is that net income will be down by $19 million (¥2 billion), because of a special loss that follows an examination its mobile games operations and the performance of PC release Monster Hunter Frontier G.

Inexperience matters

Capcom says that the performance of its mobile and PC online business has been “consistency below expectations”.

Notably, it had split mobile development between its offices in Osaka and Tokyo, with the Osaka teams lacking the experience of making native games. It will now look to combine the skills of its Tokyo and Osaka workforces.

Capcom said it also experienced “fierce competition” within the PC online market.

For that reason, it’s reorganised the products and operations of these groups and decided to record a “business structural improvement expenses” of around $48 million (¥5 billion).

Last quarter

During FY13 Q3, Capcom Mobile saw a year-on-year 39 percent drop in sales to ¥5.2 billion ($49 million).

This was partly due to the decline of Japanese platform GREE as the Japanese feature phone gaming market collapsed, and partly due to the lack of recent hits from its western-focused casual gaming division Beeline Interactive.（source：pocketgamer）

4）Cut the Rope 2 ready to gobble up players on Android after dropping its $1 pricetag

Jeffrey Grubb

A sweets-loving monster is making a reappearance on Android, and it has nothing to do with Candy Crush Saga.

Developer ZeptoLab released Cut the Rope 2 for Android today. The physics-based puzzler has players manipulating objects to help a little creature named Omnom get his precious candies. Cut the Rope 2 first debuted for iOS in December for $1, and the studio worked over the last few months to adjust the game to make it free for its Google Play launch.

“Our fans with Androids have been eagerly awaiting Cut the Rope 2 since the iOS game first became available in December,” ZeptoLab chief executive Misha Lyalin said. “We have been working hard to bring new content and challenges to this free version, while maintaining the all of the fun and simplicity that made Cut the Rope 2 great.”

In addition to the Google Play release, ZeptoLab plans to launch Cut the Rope 2 on Amazon’s Appstore on March 30. This will enable Kindle Fire owners to get in on the monster-feeding action.

While this is the first direct sequel to Cut the Rope, which debuted in 2010 on iOS, the franchise has seen a few previous spinoffs. These include Cut The Rope: Experiments and Cut the Rope: Time .

Travel. Both featured similar gameplay with slight twists. ZeptoLab also released a new game called Pudding Monsters in 2013, which is another physics puzzler.

The company noted today that the Cut the Rope franchise has surpassed more than half a billion downloads.

While Cut the Rope 2 is free to play on Android, it will bring over the microtransactions it featured on iOS. Players can purchase digital items to help them solve difficult puzzles, and they can also unlock the more difficult level packs for around $2.（source：venturebeat）

5）2048 is why we can’t have nice things

By Jim Squires

2048 is the #1 game on Google Play and the App Store, and that’s a damned travesty.

Our story starts a little over seven weeks ago. Sirvo LLC, better known as Greg Wohlwend and Asher Vollmer, released their second mobile game collaboration: Threes!. It was a great little puzzle game that had the perfect mix of addictive and charming that can help a game shoot to the top of the App Store. And it did. Seemingly within hours, this indie darling jumped to the #1 spot – and not just any #1 spot, but the #1 spot on the paid games list.

Rumors of paid mobile gaming’s death, it would seem, were greatly exaggerated.

Or at least they would have been if it weren’t for 2048.

A UI designer and web developer, Gabriele Cirulli “created” 2048 in the span of a weekend. You may have noticed my use of quotation marks there. That’s because, while he no doubt programmed the game and did the art, the creative process – aka developing an original idea and making it work – lays at the feet of Team Sirvo.

Actually, it’s a clone of 1024, which is another clone of Threes, which… yeah. This is starting to make my head hurt.
Interestingly, though, Cirulli doesn’t appear to be the one reaping the benefits here. His version of 2048 that came out on March 9 is web-based (and playable in your phone’s browser). The versions that are currently topping the App Store and Google Play are clones of his work.

The App Store versions, like the web-based version, are free, while Threes is a paid game. It’s a terrible situation for Wohlwend and Vollmer. As popular as Threes is, it’s pretty much impossible to have the same kind of virality with a paid game as you can a free one.

“Been in a bunch of airports this past week,” Vollmer tweeted recently. “Seen people playing 2048 in all of them. This is frustrating.”

Even more frustrating, though, is the accusations that have been hurled Wohlwend and Vollmer’s way: that their game is the clone, and not 2048.

“It’s all in good fun,” the pair wrote in a recent blog post addressing the situation. “At least we’d like to think so, but try as our logical brains might, we still got the same ‘cloning feeling’. Especially when people called Threes, a game we poured over for nearly a year and a half, a clone of 2048. Others rifled off that they thought 2048 was a better game than Threes. That all stung pretty bad. We know Threes is a better game, we spent over a year on it. And obviously, Threes is the reason 2048 exists.”

The same blog post goes on to show the whopping 570 emails that led to the creation of Threes, starting all the way back in December 2012. It’s a long read, so pack a lunch – but it’s well worth it. (Sidenote: we had a pretty great article on the making of Threes ourselves back before all two thousand and forty eight pieces of @#$% hit the fan – be sure to give it a read sometime, too!)（source：gamezebo）

6）Activision opts to close The Blast Furnace mobile studio

By Mike Rose

Earlier this year, Activision admitted that it may have to close UK studio The Blast Furnace, as part of its evolving business plans — although there was hope that the team would be able to remain intact in some fashion.

The company has now told MCV that keeping the team together was not possible, and that The Blast Furnace will close later this month.

“Having explored a range of options, including a potential sale of the business, and consulted with the staff about the options, we have not been able to find a suitable alternative for the talented team in the timescales set by the consultation exercise and have agreed to close The Blast Furnace,” reads the statement.

Activision noted that it is helping the 47 staff affected by the closure to find new jobs, and well as offering tools and resources to those people.

The Blast Furnace was best known for creating mobile games like Call of Duty: Strike Team and Pitfall.（source：gamasutra）