Backflip proves indie iPhone developers can create multiple hits — and make money
Backflip Studios has managed to defy the odds on the iPhone by coming up with games that have become big hits over and over.
The Boulder, Colo.-based game studio has just six employees and has been around only seven months, but it has already made more than $1.75 million — by selling game applications in multiple forms, serving ads in them, as well as offering virtual goods. The success shows that with the right games and…
Go to Story Permalink »New speakers, sponsors for DiscoveryBeat; today is last day for early-bird discount
We’ve got some great momentum for VentureBeat’s upcoming DiscoveryBeat event, which will attack the problem of how to get attention for an app in the midst of a lot of noise.
One of our newest speakers is Randy Breen, chief operating officer at Social Gaming Network, where he oversees game development, business development, strategy and executive management. He has worked in the game industry since 1986 at companies such as Electronic Arts, LucasArts and Emotiv Systems.
Today…
Go to Story Permalink »Announcing new DiscoveryBeat speakers: Smule, Playdom and Moderati
We’re pleased to announce a trio of new speakers for our DiscoveryBeat event on how to get your apps noticed. Our newest speakers at the Dec. 8 event include Ge Wang, the co-founder, chief technology officer, and chief creative officer at iPhone app developer Smule. We’re delighted because Smule has popularized apps such as the whimsical Ocarina music app that lets you blow into an iPhone and produce sound as if it were a real…
Go to Story Permalink »Video game publisher EA announces decent earnings but will lay off 1,500
Electronic Arts said today it would lay off 1,500 employees as it focuses more tightly on its best-selling video games and digital media businesses. The company also posted slightly better-than-expected revenues for its second fiscal quarter, but the big video game publisher fell slightly short on earnings.
Redwood City, Calif.-based EA also announced that the layoffs would result in cost savings of $100 million and one-time charges of $130 – $150 million. It did so even…
Go to Story Permalink »Announcing DiscoveryBeat: The event about how to get your app noticed
VentureBeat is throwing a new mini-conference and networking event, DiscoveryBeat.
DiscoveryBeat addresses one of the biggest conundrums for Silicon Valley’s most dynamic startups and developers: How to get your social game or mobile application noticed in an age of noise?
It will be held in the afternoon of Dec. 8 at the Automattic Lounge on Pier 38 in San Francisco, a hip location with an ocean view.
We’ll discuss the “secret recipe” for getting discovered in an age…
Go to Story Permalink »iTunes turned the music market on its head. Could iTunes TV do the same for TV?
Rumors surfaced this week that Apple is in the process of putting together a $30-a-month iTunes TV offering. This rumored iTunes TV is supposedly something altogether different from the currently available Apple TV.
Apple TV is a piece of hardware that makes it easy to watch media (video, audio, pictures) on your regular TV. iTunes TV, on the other hand, would be a software offering that would allow consumers to watch “channels” on a PC for…
Go to Story Permalink »5 O’Clock Roundup: Droid reviews, Apple’s secret TV plan, Sprint’s dubious netbook deal
Intuit completes buyout of Mint.com – Mint.com CEO Aaron Patzer will suck it up and shift from CEO to vice president and general manager of Intuit’s personal finance group, which also includes Quicken products.
Yes, Disney’s new film is a hand-drawn musical – “I’ve never understood why the studios were saying people don’t want to see hand-drawn animation. What people don’t want to watch is a bad movie,” Pixar co-founder John Lasseter told the Wall Street Journal. He’s…
Go to Story Permalink »Epix to launch premium movie channel this weekend (get free passes here)
Epix is launching its premium movie channel this weekend in a bid to go toe-to-toe with HBO. As we noted in an earlier story, the company hopes to outdo HBO with better shows as well as a modern digital viewing experience enabled by the Internet.
Epix is a joint venture of Viacom, Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and MGM. The channel will premiere on Verizon’s FiOS TV service, a pay-TV service that’s delivered over Verizon’s super-fast fiber optic…
Go to Story Permalink »Ubisoft to debut three short films based on Assassin’s Creed II game
MONTREAL, Quebec – Video game publisher Ubisoft is touting the beginning of its entertainment convergence strategy with the unveiling of the first of three short films based on its popular Assassin’s Creed game series.
Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, created by acclaimed Hollywood special effects studio Hybride Technologies (which Ubisoft acquired last year) and Ubisoft Montreal’s Ubisoft Digital Arts (UDA), will make its global debut on Oct. 27 on the front page of YouTube in eight countries.
The films…
Go to Story Permalink »Scribblenauts game developer makes a risky bet on being original
Everyone loves original games. But few developers take the risk of making them in the video game industry.
Enter Jeremiah Slaczka, the creative director at game developer 5th Cell, dropped out of high school in his junior year. Working with his partner Joseph Tringali, he made a string of licensed cell phone games to get their company off the ground. Then they decided to risk everything they had to make an original video game called Drawn to Life, and they…
Go to Story Permalink »Tarver Games launching a location-based shooter game for iPhone
Tarver Games is announcing today it has formed a game studio to develop games for the iPhone. The company’s first major title is Ghosts Attack, a location-based shooting game for the iPhone that gives you a different arena to fight in, depending upon your location.
The game uses your location and Google Maps to automatically generate game environments on the screen that mirror the real world. It’s a kind of alternate reality game, since the story…
Go to Story Permalink »Vivox sets up voice chat system for Facebook and online games
Vivox has built a solid business as a voice chat system for 15 million PC game players. Today, it’s announcing that it’s created a voice chat system for Facebook users and that Electronic Arts plans to build the Vivox client into several of its major upcoming games.
EA will use Vivox voice services as an integrated part of its upcoming Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twililght real-time strategy military PC game. The game features a multiplayer…
Go to Story Permalink »Storytelling startup Massiverse set to launch its first cross-media tale
Trying to tell a story (and capitalize on one) across multiple media is called Transmedia storytelling. And that’s what Massiverse is going for with its new Dragons Vs Robots property.
Today, the New York-based company is launching the transmedia property about an epic battle between science and nature, between sci-fi and fantasy. It starts as both a free-to-play online battle game, where you can start for free but have to pay for upgrades, and a kids’…
Go to Story Permalink »With Dolby Axon surround sound, listen to 50 players chat at once
Dolby Laboratories has been an audio leader in music, sound and movies for 45 years. Now it’s going to expand into the online games market with an audio chat system for gamers.
The Dolby Axon desktop client software lets gamers chat with each other in surround sound. If you’re in a virtual world such as World of Warcraft, you’ll be able to hear the direction from which sound is coming. If you’re standing with others in…
Go to Story Permalink »DEMO speakers: Mike Olson, Shanna Tellerman, on raising VC in the downturn
The life blood of Silicon Valley is venture capital, but the industry is under huge strain. Some estimates suggest venture capital dollars could be cut in half.
On Monday, Sept. 21, to kick things off at the DEMO conference in San Diego, we’ve organized a dealmaker dinner, where we’ll discuss “The good, bad and ugly of raising venture capital in the downturn.”
One thing hasn’t changed: Entrepreneurs with a great idea usually need money in order to…
Go to Story Permalink »Curt Schilling’s game company, 38 Studios, loses CEO, names new one
Retired baseball pitcher Curt Schilling’s video game company, 38 Studios, has launched a giant project to create a massively multiplayer online game that challenges the bestselling World of Warcraft.
But today, the company said it lost a major player in its line-up. Brett Close, a former Electronic Arts game design executive, resigned as chief executive of 38 Studios. Jennifer MacLean, previously senior vice president of business development, has been named the new CEO.
On the surface, this…
Go to Story Permalink »YouTube, once a pirate, now legitimate: Signs deal with Time Warner
YouTube, the popular video site that was intensely disliked by music and film labels for the endless copyrighted material it would feature, continues to make steady steps to toward acceptance.
Today, it announced on its biggest content partnerships yet: an online video distribution agreement with Time Warner that will give users access to variety of Time Warner’s news, television shows and movies. The agreement will also allow Time Warner’s Warner Bros. Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting System,…
Go to Story Permalink »Vindicia raises $7.5M more for online billing
Vindicia, which provides companies with online software to help manage web billing and payments, has raised $7.5 million in a fourth round of venture funding.
The Redwood City, Calif., startup is one of several companies (Zuora and Aria Systems are the other ones we’ve covered) trying to bring the software-as-a-service approach, where the tools are provided via online subscription, to the billing software market. Among its customers are Symantec, Intuit, Atari/Cryptic Studios, and Outspark. The company…
Go to Story Permalink »Why legendary game developer John Carmack shelved his ego and sold id to ZeniMax
Here’s an interview with John Carmack (right), the last remaining founder of id Software, the legendary video game developer which agreed to be acquired yesterday by another video maker ZeniMax Media.
Texas-based id was one of the last of the major indie developers that made mega-hit titles such as Wolfenstein and Doom. I talked with Carmack, ZeniMax chief executive Robert Altman, and id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead about why they did the deal and what the…
Go to Story Permalink »Executive revolving door spins fast as EA rehires Microsoft game exec
Electronic Arts and Microsoft are trading executives the way sports teams trade star players.
The revolving door between the two companies spun again as EA rehired John Schappert as its chief operating officer. Schappert was head of Microsoft’s game services such as Xbox Live. He will be returning to a job he vacated in 2007 to join Microsoft.
Schappert replaces John Pleasants, who is leaving EA to become chief executive of social gaming startup Playdom. Schappert will…
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