Electronic Arts - spend less and innovate more

The mighty EA now under stress--

4 moves Electronic Arts must make now - Fortune Tech: "4.  Spend less, innovate more. EA, like many other major gaming companies, often operates under the philosophy that if you throw enough money at a game, it will sell. Not always. Dead Space 3 may have been a bestseller, but the company's Medal of Honor franchise took a major hit with the disappointing release of Medal of Honor: Warfighter last year. The game was so poorly received, even EA confessed it was an "obvious miss" and pulled the franchise "out of rotation." "We don't think it's a genre problem. It's an execution problem," Richard Hilleman, EA's Chief Creative Director, admitted earlier this year. "It's much more that we had some things we should've done better." Instead of stuffing its release schedule with releases and rushing development, focus on product. Yes it's a tired adage, but quality over quantity." (read more at link above)


Follow @miateq
Seguir a @miateq

Zynga Makes Facebook Connect Optional

Turns out Facebook is no longer "the platform"--

Zynga.com Makes Facebook Connect Optional As It Looks To Build An Independent Platform For Players And Developers | TechCrunch: " . . . Last March, Zynga announced its ambitions to create a web and mobile platform for social games. Zynga.com is a destination for both the company’s own games as well as for third-party developers who want to leverage Zynga’s social feed and users. In September, Zynga debuted its first third-party games. And today, Zynga is rolling out a number of changes to Zynga.com, namely how you sign in. The platform itself allows developers to post to the stream of social gaming activity at Zynga.com, and also to include social features like chat and real-time multiplayer. One of the major changes with this update is how players sign in. Previously, you signed in via your Facebook login, and your experience was built around all your previous Zynga gaming interactions on the social network (based on your permissions). With the new sign-in, you actually sign in with a Zynga account that is created and Facebook Connect is optional. . . ." (read more at link above)


Follow @miateq
Seguir a @miateq

Firaxis about "to blow your mind"

Firaxis is on a roll--

Firaxis' Haunted Hollow on iOS: The Next Angry Birds?
iTech Post
Get ready Angry Birds fans: Firaxis is about to blow your mind. The game developer best known for such titles as the Civilization series and last year's smash-hit XCOM: Enemy Unknown is gearing up to release Haunted Hollow for iPhone and iPad users. (read more at link above)

iTech Post

Follow @miateq
Seguir a @miateq

Chrome Game World Wide Maze

Gaming via http://chrome.com/maze/ - Turn your favorite website into a 3D maze. Play now with your PC and mobile phone

Google Chrome Experiment Turns Web into Maze Game: " . . . Dubbed Google Chrome's World Wide Maze, the game involves opening the same tab on both your phone on your desktop and then using your phone as the controller for a little ball that appears on your screen. You tilt your phone to make the ball roll around your favorite sites. Engadget reports that the game will work with both the iPhone and Android devices, though you need to be running Android 4.0 or iOS 5.0 or higher for it to work. Check out the video for yourself below, or head on over to Chrome.com/maze and give it a whirl. . . ."

Follow @miateq
Seguir a @miateq

EA CEO resigns

Gaming industry disintermediation claims another victim--

Electronic Arts Chief Resigns - John Riccitiello, who became chief executive in 2007, fell victim to internal errors and falling sales of traditional video games as consumer tastes changed. "“E.A. is the face of the gaming industry at a time when the market is in some important ways going sideways if not downhill,” said Lewis Ward, research manager for gaming at IDC. “It has been outperformed by some smaller and more nimble companies.” Larry Probst, the company’s chairman and former chief executive, will run Electronic Arts until a new chief executive is found. The news, released after the market closed, pushed shares up by nearly 3 percent in after-hours trading. But after the market opened Tuesday, the shares fell sharply. In midday trading, they were down 8 percent from Monday’s close. E.A.’s shares had increased sharply in recent months on the promise of new gaming consoles from Sony and Microsoft. “E.A.’s strategy and future are rock solid,” Mr. Probst wrote on Monday in a post on the company’s blog. But the company simultaneously said it was less optimistic about its revenues and earnings for the current quarter than it was only six weeks ago. . . . " Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/technology/electronic-arts-chief-resigns-sending-stock-up.html?smid=pl-share

Follow @miateq

Seguir a @miateq