A new iPhone app made me realize that my life is nothing but a game. The Carrot to-do list is Siri’s evil twin. She’s a condescending, sadistic program that resides in your iPhone with the sole purpose of putting you down as you carry out real-life tasks. Forget any sense of accomplishment: She’ll shoot it all down.

Normally, iPhone apps and games exist for my amusement. In this case, I exist for her amusement. Each time you clear a to-do list, you complete a level. The first level works as a tutorial to teach you the app’s gestures: Swipe down to add an item, swipe left to open the menu, swipe right to clear an item. After you complete those tasks and clear them according to the instructions (that includes adding your own item and clearing it), you proceed to level two.

Carrot congratulated me by saying, “You made it to level 2? Pardon my surprise. Without direct supervision, I figured you’d just sit there drooling mindlessly.” Ouch. Then she rewarded me by telling me how to say “manatees” in binary code, adding, “I’m sure you’ll find that useful one day.” Thanks, Carrot. She once even told me that I’d be killed by setting my hair on fire.

I’m not making that up.

Part of the fun of doing everyday things with this app, like grocery shopping, is that you cross it off your list and have Carrot criticize you every step of the way. You have to be a bit of masochist, and failing to complete your tasks will only piss her off. It’s a lose-lose for you.

It’s no accident that Carrot’s first to-do list plays out like a game tutorial. Carrot’s creator, Brian Mueller, says on his blog that he looked to games for inspiration. “When you play a game, you start out with only one or two basic abilities. New ones are introduced over the course of the game, once you’ve gotten used to messing with the old ones,” says Mueller. “You start off with the ability to create and complete tasks, then you unlock additional features as you kick ass in real life and level her up in her game.”

You can check out Carrot on her official site.

[via TUAW]

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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There I am, standing in the bathtub humming Material Girl.

Actually, that’s not unusual for me, but this time I’m humming into my iPhone. I’m in the tub because I’ve locked myself in the bathroom out of fear that my roommate will hear me. Yup. That’s me playing Hum a Song.

Hum a Song by Hibernum Creations is a new app for iOS that puts you up against other players in a fight for who has the best vocal chords and musical ear. Players are given a number of songs — all provided by the iTunes Store — in a range of categories, such as ’80s, theme songs, and classic rock.

You select a song, record yourself humming it, and send it to the other player who then has to guess the name of the song you were trying to re-create. It feels like a musical take on Draw Something. It’s definitely not for the shy, and everyone will hate you if can’t carry a tune. It’s possible to cheat by saying the song’s name in the recording, but what fun would that be?

Hum a Song can match you up with a random player, which is probably a better idea since you’ll never have to look these people in the face again. If you’re feeling brave, you can match up with a Facebook friend so long as he has downloaded the app. Selecting a buddy who doesn’t have it will send him an app request through the social network. Just be warned that most might chicken out when they learn the rules.

Players will find themselves humming into their iPhones — often reluctantly — to the tune of songs, like the theme from Cheers, as they kiss any last ounce dignity goodbye, but some may have fun doing it.

Hum a Song is available now on Apple’s App Store.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Saban Brands, a transmedia investment company, has acquired hit iPhone gamemaker The Playforge for an undisclosed price.

San Mateo, Calif.-based The Playforge has made the hit game Zombie Farm, which was the third-highest grossing app on the Apple iTunes App Store in 2011. It has been downloaded more than 37 million times. Saban Brands plans to extend The Playforge’s brands via licensing, merchandising, and media opportunities. Saban is another newcomer in the game business, and it believes that mobile gaming is the next big thing in entertainment.

The Playforge started as a husband and wife team — Vince McDonnell and Susan Salvador — in 2009. It now has 25 employees and three games in the market: Zombie Farm, Zombie Life, and Tree World. Saban is a subsidiary of Saban Capital Group, and it invests in “transmedia” entertainment properties. It currently owns the Power Rangers and Paul Frank brands, acquired in 2010.

“Mobile is becoming the default medium for entertainment, and games are the future of social engagement,” said Dan Silberberger, vice president of digital at Saban Brands. “The Playforge has a demonstrated record of creating sustainable, high-quality mobile social games. This acquisition allows us to take a leadership position in the space, combine our brand expertise with the development capabilities of The Playforge, and further expand our reach to wherever consumers want — from mobile to online to television. We’re excited to see the new developments that result from this exciting partnership.”

The Playforge will continue to release games under its own brand, with a focus on character-based games. The company is the only app maker besides Angry Birds creator Rovio to be in the top 10 grossing apps on the App Store in both 2010 and 2011.

“By partnering with Saban Brands, we’re able to take our products to new heights, where they can be enjoyed and experienced by a much broader audience through licensing, merchandising, and media opportunities, areas that are tremendously exciting to us,” said Vince McDonnell, CEO of The Playforge. “We look forward to collaborating with Dan and his team in support of our three additional title launches in 2012 and as we plan for the future.”

In July, Saban Brands acquired Vortexx, a broadcast television block on the CW Network. The Playforge’s rivals include PopCap Games (now part of Electronic Arts) and a host of other mobile game companies.

Tim Merel, managing director at Digi-Capital, an investment bank focused on games, said, “We think there is huge potential in transmedia games, but it requires a special combination of skills to make them work. Saban is one of the leading lights in making transmedia work across TV/games/toys (Power Rangers), so we think this deal is very interesting.”

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Tempted to purchase the Mass Effect Infiltrator mobile game to aid your campaign in Mass Effect 3? Don’t. The spin-off app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch feels more like a clumsy cash grab than an enjoyable extension of the Mass Effect universe. Instead of fighting the Reapers, you’re primarily fighting the controls.

Electronic Arts has shipped more than 3.5M units of its latest science fiction blockbuster Mass Effect 3 to retailers. The lengthy campaign is about gaining partners for a transgalactic alliance against the invading reapers, a nasty kind of alien machine race. Main character Commander Shepard collects war resources by completing campaign missions. The larger the military resources and the higher the “galactic readiness” score, the better the chances for a happy ending.

There are several side activities that connect to the main campaign in order to increase the galactic readiness rating. One way to become a little more ready is to participate in the co-operative multiplayer mode that is part of the Mass Effect 3 game. Another, much less entertaining approach, is to spend $6.99 for Mass Effect Infiltrator — and be prepared to shell out more money for unlocking the extra powers dearly needed to finish its nine stages.

I like the idea of staying connected with the Mass Effect universe even when I’m away from my main gaming system. Infiltrator is a universal iOS app that runs on iPhone (3G and up), iPod Touch (3rd generation and up) and all iPad models. It’s a decent-looking third-person shooter with tight levels that are quite suitable for short play sessions on the go.

Infiltrator allows me to “upload” intel I’ve collected in its levels by defeating enemies to the Mass Effect 3 campaign associated with my EA Origin account. The system works nicely, although the boost is negligible; about 90 minutes worth of intel bumped my galactic readiness up by 3 percentage points.

The big problem with Infiltrator is that it focuses on the Mass Effect game mechanic least suited for touchscreen controls. It’s a watered-down version of the third-person shooter action that requires a lot of maneuvering from cover to cover and the selection of different weapons and special abilities. It’s so feebly executed that players might get an unfavorable perception of what the combat in the Mass Effect 3 main game might be like (which, for the record, has great controls and is a blast to play).

Developer Iron Monkey Studios — creators of the acclaimed iOS version of Dead Space — tried to come up with a unique input system suitable for touchscreen controls. It’s somewhat serviceable, but lacks precision and can be quite irritating. On not so rare occasions I accidentally left cover, had trouble targeting, lost track of my surroundings due to bad camera angles — or simply died because the app crashed in the middle of action. I played the game on a first generation iPad and pity the brave souls who dare to tackle the finicky touch and swipe controls on the smaller iPhone screen.

The combat difficulty seems to be tuned for encouraging additional in-app purchases. I can unlock and upgrade weapons, special abilities and armor in Infiltrator’s store. The required credits flow slowly for average gamers who don’t have the time and nerve to replay every level to achieve a perfect score. Alternatively, I could buy some extra credits for as little as $1.99 (up to $49.99 for the ‘CEO’s pack’ worth 200,000 credits. EA chief executive John Riccitiello must be smiling). I find this practice acceptable in free-to-play games, but in a $6.99 app it’s much harder to swallow.

Mass Effect Infiltrator has decent 3D graphics, but little else to show. The small impact of uploading intel and the promise of gaining another war asset for Mass Effect 3 are not worth that much time or money. I’d much rather play another campaign side mission or bump up my galactic readiness by completing a 20 minute round of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer.

Infiltrator disappoints, but the concept of connecting smaller spin-off games with a major release has promise. In the smartphone space, EA should focus on game genres that are better suited for touchscreen controls. The Mass Effect universe could be the foundation for a great strategy or a pure role-playing game, for example. But let’s leave the cover-based shooting to gaming devices that have such amenities as physical knobs and buttons.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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I fondly remember playing Mega Man X for SNES when I was younger and loved the challenge and attention to detail. The game introduced you to Zero, Mega Man’s friend, who uses an energy sword instead of an arm cannon. But as much as I want to re-live the experience, angry complaints around the web and a terrible-looking trailer (see below) are not making me download this in a hurry.

Fans are angry for good reason. First off, the game functions less smoothly than the 1993 SNES version despite the fact that the iPhone is capable of incredible 3D graphics. The game makes you load portions of each map you play through, with jarring black-screen transitions. Those in-level loading times were never required on the SNES, so it’s inexcusable to include them on the iPhone version.

The other major offense of the iOS version of MMX is the ability to purchase upgrades like “all weapons” or “all health boosts” with real money instead of making the player unlock it by completing the game the proper way. Way to cheapen the experience even more, Capcom.

You can see the whole mess in a 7-minute trailer below:

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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It has happened with Rovio, maker of Angry Birds; Outfit7, maker of Talking Tom Cat; Lima Sky, maker of Doodle Jump; Halfbrick, maker of Fruit Ninja; Bolt Creative, maker of Pocket God; and Andreas Illiger, creator of Tiny Wings. So the question isn’t why were two Russian brothers so successful with their iPhone game, Cut the Rope, which has been downloaded more than 60 million times in just a year. It’s more, ‘Why not?’

Semyon (pictured above left) and Efim Voinov (above right), two twin brothers in Moscow in their 20s, have been making games since they were ten. They have put in their time, making dozens of games for the old feature phones and a handful for iPhones too. So it’s only right that, finally, one of their games has paid off with blockbuster results.

Efim got his first iPhone in 2008 and decided to work on games for the device. He created  ZeptoLab, a game development company where he serves as technical director and his brother Semyon works as creative director. Misha Lyalin (pictured middle) is the chairman of the company. With a team of just four people, they created a zany game called Parachute Ninja. The game, which stars a ninja with a ball-like body that bounces and floats, debuted in February 2010.

Parachute Ninja was almost based on the rope mechanic that’s in Cut the Rope. Efim spent a lot of time getting the physics right by creating a custom engine that could simulate the behavior of the rope. There were other open-source physics engines available, but Efim liked the challenge of creating his own. He wanted to create a rope engine that worked well even on a device with a weak processing brain. To do so, he had to dust off his old physics books.

At the last minute, the developers decided to substitute a parachute for the rope. Parachute Ninja was downloaded 3 million times — a solid hit, but not as spectacular as some of the other mega-hit games on the iPhone.

“We found that there were no barriers for small developers,” said Efim Voinov, in an interview. “It is possible to be successful without a huge team on the iOS platform.”

The game gave the small team some good experience with its core development tools. After the first iPhone game shipped, the brothers decided to make use of their rope engine with another creation. They studied their first game and felt like the combination of touch and tilt controls made Parachute Ninja tricky to understand for players. Other games used rope physics.

“We experimented with different ideas,” Semyon Voinov said. “One of them was Cut the Rope.”

The concept phase was in the spring of 2010 and the prototyping took place in the summer. The team settled upon a mechanic where the player can draw a rope on the screen to solve various puzzles. Playing with a rope was pretty universal. The game play involved predicting the behavior of different objects in the rope environment.

It turned out that the visual element of how the rope looked wasn’t the key. The game play was the secret. It was an arcade-like experience that was simple to learn but players had to think and act fast.

The team also decided to create a funny character since casual gamers enjoy interacting with animated characters more than blocks or geometric shapes. They decided to use the rope to deliver food to Om Nom, the little green monster with a big appetite. Semyon thought that the monster should be cute, like a baby or a pet. That would tap into the feeding instincts of the players.

The 99-cent game came out on the iPhone on Oct. 5, published by Chillingo, which is now a part of Electronic Arts. Chillingo helped to get it off the ground and noticed with promotions and marketing. On its first day, the game shot into the top ten on the App Store. On its second day, it hit No. 1 on the App Store charts. Within 10 days, it crossed a million downloads. In June 2011, the game made its debut on Android. The game took off, Efim said, because it makes people smile.

“The monster is like a stress reliever,” Efim said. “They look at the animations and feel better.”

After the runaway success, the fairy tale has continued to play itself out. The team has done six or seven updates of the game, and Zeptolab has now grown to 20 employees in Moscow thanks to profits from Cut the Rope. Zeptolab has no plans to raise fuding, since it already has a lot of money coming in from game sales. The brothers are now mini-celebrities in the mobile game development world.

“I don’t have a lot of girls standing by my house yet,” Efim said. “But we are known in the industry. What we see as a great sign is that Om Nom is liked by people. We see a hunger for something more.”

And, of course, like Angry Birds before them, there are Om Nom plush toys. The toys hit the market in September and they’re selling well. On Nov. 18, they released a free holiday edition with new game content on iOS.

Efim and Semyon have some advice for small developers. “[If you] do what you like,” Semyon said. “You will not waste time doing things you don’t like.”

They suggest developers study games that have been successful and understand the features that made them successful. They also say developers should study games that were duds and understand what people didn’t like. Developers should create games that appeal to as many people as possible and to keep at it. Altogether, the brothers had worked on 30 mobile games before they had a major hit.

“We were mentally prepared to work on many titles, hoping one would be a hit,” Efim said. Semyon added, “It’s very important when you develop games to show it to others. Listen to them. Understand what they like. Show it to non-gamers.”

And what’s next, beyond the plush toys? They are working on a sequel to Cut the Robe that should be released in 2012. They want to keep fans happy with updates and they are working on a new intellectual property (an original title) that should come out next year as well. That’s where the 20 employees come in. The company now has the ability to work on multiple projects at once, including a new digital comic book.

“We want it all, basically” Efim said. “We want to expand the Cut the Rope brand. We plan to offer new titles that are similar. At the same time, as creative people, we have an urge to work on something different.”

The team will expand Cut the Rope to new platforms, but is aware that it can’t pursue all opportunities due to resource constraints. The company continues to hire, but only people who are perceived as the best at what they do. Facebook is intriguing, as is HTML5 for multi-platform games. The growth of the mobile game industry, which is now in the billions of downloads, is surprising them most of all.

“We started working on mobile games a long time ago, when the phones were not powerful and had tiny screens,” Efim said. “There was hype back then, and we expected it to become huge. I had some illusions. It didn’t happen then, but it surprisingly happened with the iPhone.”

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Also known as the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the ESRB, along with the CTIA Wireless Trade Association, is attempting to invade and evaluate the world of Android, iOS and Windows Phone mobile games. The groups would like to have all mobile gaming applications rated based on whether or not their content and context are appropriate for various age groups.

For mobile games, ESRB wants developers to submit a survey form for each game, giving thorough details about the kinds of content it contains. The ESRB will then use that information to deliver a rating, which the developer can appeal if she or he feels it is inaccurate or unfair. The game will have the same rating on all app markets and operating systems.

While Microsoft is planning to play along with the new system for its still nascent Windows Phone platform of devices and apps, Google and Apple have showed no inclination to do so.

Although Google and Apple seem resistant to this level of oversight from an external organization, they do police the apps on their own markets. It’s unlikely that such legacy systems would be overturned without some serious external pressure.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into Android Market’s rating system, which now works well globally,” a Google spokesperson told DigitalTrends.

“While we support other systems, we think it’s best for Android users and developers to stick with Android’s existing ratings.”

Apple’s iTunes App Store also has a ratings system of its own as well as age-appropriateness indicators.

ESRB is a bit of a Johhny-come-lately to the mobile games world; its homestead is in console gaming. For games for the Xbox and Playstation, for example, the ESRB has devised a six-tiered rating system ranging from games appropriate for even the youngest children to games only appropriate for adults due to factors such as intense violence or graphic sexuality.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Company: Booyah
Location: San Francisco
Founded: August 2008
Founders: Keith Lee, Brian Morrisroe, Sam Christiansen
Funding: $29.5 million
Employees: 50

In the heart of San Francisco, Booyah cofounder and chief executive Keith Lee is taking his video-gaming experience and bringing it to the location world. Often times referred to as the new Monopoly, Booyah’s MyTown, an iPhone and iPod Touch game, allows users to buy their favorite locations and charge virtual rent as a way of scoring points. The gaming model goes beyond other services’ badges and titles for a potentially more engaging experience. We caught up with Lee to talk more about his quest to build a new generation of games and how MyTown is helping to lead that charge.

Why did you start the company?
All the founders worked at Blizzard Entertainment and were hardcore gamers. While there, we worked to create epic games with the goal of deep engagement. We began to notice the iPhone and other platforms starting to explode, so we said, “Why don’t we make a real-life game and improve people’s lives by validating their location and having fun?”

What’s the coolest place you checked into recently?
AT&T Park. Unfortunately, I wasn’t at a playoff game, but still ended up paying $80 for parking.

When did you realize it was working?
I remember going to several parties and events and having people come up to me saying the game was really cool and that it was liike playing Monopoly on their phones. After the first month, there wasn’t a location in our database in the U.S. that hadn’t been bought yet on the game.

What’s next for the location-based industry and services?
Now that people are familiar with the check in, it’s now about providing the incentive and activities to make people want to continuously share their location. In addition, the technology for validating a check-in is going to get better and better and is going to be critical. Finally, the check-in is going to expand outside of location and be a key for validating any activities you do. For example, if you go to Equinox to exercise, the check-in will allow the user to share that they went running, which opens up a lot of great opportunities.

Where are you checking in next?
The Hard Festival in Los Angeles for Halloween.

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