Don't drop your cellphone in the water THQ Wireless Inc. said it signed a worldwide agreement with Playboy Enterprises to be the exclusive developer of Playboy-branded mobile games. The multi-year agreement gives THQ development and publishing rights to a variety of Playboy-branded, lifestyle-themed...
Most mobile games challenge players to use their phones to kill alien invaders or drive race cars. But LimeLife Inc. CEO Kristin McDonnell wants gamers to use their phones for . plating?LimeLife targets 15- to 30-year old women with a host of mobile entertainment...
Vivendi Games said it will distribute some of its mobile titles through Nokia Corp.'s Download Application and Nokia Catalogues.Download is embedded on more than 50 Nokia handsets including NSeries and ESeries devices and offers a rotation of recent mobile game releases. Vivendi said franchises...
Mountain highTrango Systems Inc. said it is supplying the Mount Washington Observatory with highspeed fixed wireless point-to-point wireless backhaul and point-to-multipoint broadband access equipment. Mount Washington Observatory is a scientific weather research station based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Mount Washington is...
Ad-subsidized mobile content appears to be gaining steam even as the paid gaming segment treads water.MobileRated, a Canadian ad-subsidized gaming subsidiary of Kalador Entertainment Inc., said it has seen downloads increase one-third over the past three months, delivering more than 1 million free mobile...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
Glu Mobile Inc. will step up its efforts in China with the acquisition of fellow mobile game publisher Beijing Zhangzhong MIG Information Technology Co. Ltd. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company will pay $14.7 million in cash and as much as $25 million more in...
Revenues from mobile games will grow to nearly $10 billion by 2009, driven by the increasing popularity of casual gaming and the larger variety of gaming-friendly handsets, according to a report from Juniper Research.The company predicts more than 460 million mobile users will download...
No wonder people can't agree on a cure for the mobile gaming industry. Some insiders don't even think it's sick.There's no question that the space-which just a couple of years ago was envisioned as the pace-setting genre of mobile content-has failed to live up...
The ad-subsidized mobile gaming space gained another backer as Vivendi Games Mobile said it will offer 10 of its titles free through Greystripe.The mobile division of Paris-based Vivendi Games said games such as "After Dark Flying Toaster," "Amy's Hangman" and several Garfield products would...
Ad-subsidized mobile games are a sure-fire catalyst for an industry sorely in need of a kick in the pants.Either that, or they're the quickest way to sabotage the space in its infancy.Hands-On Mobile last week became the first major mobile publisher to experiment with...
PLAYA VISTA, Calif.-A visit to the Electronic Arts Inc. campus in Playa Vista, Calif., is like walking into another land-a world where gaming trumps all, and the lap of luxury seems to beckon around every corner. Hoodies and beanies handily outnumber suits, a full-scale...
WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather has helped build some of the world's highest-profile brands during its 60-year history, and subsidiary Ogilvy Interactive is known as one of the leading advertisers in new media. Maria Mandel, executive director of digital innovation for Ogilvy New York,...
China's Sina Corp. launched five mobile games connected to Nokia Corp.'s SNAP Mobile gaming platform.The online media company is distributing the titles 3D Pool Hall, Jellypop, Sudoku and new versions of Link Up and Stone Park to Chinese users through its popular Internet portal....
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks...
Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. surged while Glu Mobile Inc.'s stock tumbled after both companies issued quarterly earnings reports.EA, which continues to dominate the mobile gaming space, managed to exceed Wall Street's expectations despite a net loss of $132 million for the quarter. The...
Shares of Oasys Mobile Inc. continued their descent after the company lost two board members and defaulted on an $8 million loan.The Raleigh, N.C.-based outfit filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing the resignations of J. Winder Hughes and Stephen Finn, claiming...
Tira Wireless said it will expand beyond mobile entertainment after pocketing $5 milion in a Series D funding round.The San Mateo, Calif.-based company has gained considerable traction by helping game-makers and other publishers deploy their offerings across a broad swath of devices and networks....
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.-Hollywood and gaming have been cohorts for quite a while, but their relationship is budding in new ways as film and TV properties look to drive their brand beyond the big screen.Whereas mobile games may have been an afterthought following the typical course...
For a few seasons, it looked like TV producers had tapped into the mobile mint of premium text messaging as they encouraged viewers to win money by voting for their least favorite Donald Trump wannabe or enter other contests via cellphone. But those kinds...
Mobile game publishers have gained steady-if uninspiring-traction churning out titles based on blockbuster movies and classic board games. But what the industry really needs, some believe, is some fresh ideas. And they're unlikely to come from some of the more familiar names in the...
Despite the prevalence of end-to-end billing systems as operators have consolidated in recent years, some companies may prefer a one-shot solution to a particular problem without the expense and effort of replacing an entire system. According to Forrester Research senior analyst Michele Pelino, service...
Amp'd Mobile Inc. blamed its rapid growth, back-office systems and collection problems as the reasons for its need to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and said that nearly half of its youthful customer base were not paying their bills by early 2007, according to...
Mobile game publishers and their carrier partners are hoping to lure newbies by giving away everything from 30-second game demos to a Volkswagen Beetle. Whether they're succeeding, though, is far from certain. Wireless gaming continues to struggle to expand past the "golden nickel"-the 5%...
