The future of mobile gameplay may be broadcasted and recorded, if Twitch has its way. Today, Twitch announced it is releasing a mobile SDK to enable the live broadcasting, video capture, and archiving of play in mobile games.So what? Startups Everyplay and Kamkord have been doing this for years. The big deal is that Twitch is so ginormous that I'm using the term ginormous instead of big.How ginormous? Twitch attracts 45 million viewers per month. That's bigger than Hulu. It's mobile app has been downloaded 10 million times, with an equal amount between iOS and Android. It's game streaming and broadcast service has created the genre of Let's Play videos on the PC, taken esports mainstream, and made League of Legends a household name. A recent Pokemon game on Twitch attracted hundreds of thousands of players. "And now Twitch is coming to the mobile phone.
Now that a week has passed since Facebook bought WhatsApp for $18 billion, it's time for our obligatory post about it.Just to get it out of the way, I have no clue why Facebook bought WhatsApp for this amount. My guess is that Facebook's social network is dying (especially among teens) but its ad platform is revolutionary. Buying WhatsApp and its 450 million global users enables Facebook to remain on top for mobile and ads, though given WhatsApp owns no real data on its users, that's in theory. Mark Zuckerberg is far smarter and more successful than I, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.What does WhatsApp have to do with games? Absolutely nothing. But, messaging and chat could be the next big thing in games, Facebook and WhatsApp notwithstanding.WhatsApp really has nothing to do with games. Just look at the famous handwritten note between WhatsApp founders. WhatsApp has no interest in games, and the founders believe that this is partly the secret to their success. Given they just sold their company for $18 billion, they could be right.
Outernauts was brilliant. We said as much when it launched back in 2012, and I stand by every single word of praise we've heaped upon it. It's arguably the best Facebook game I've played (though Marvel: Avengers Alliance could probably argue just as strongly for that title), and unlike many of you reading this, I've played a lot.Outernauts was Insomniac Games' first foray into casual gaming, and it proved not only to be a great free-to-play Pokemon clone, but the first Pokemon clone that I found myself enjoying on par with the real thing. And don't just take my word for it - YouTube's leading Pokemaniac TheJWittz wrote the Gamezebo review of Outernauts and gave it a perfect score.They shut the web-based game down earlier this year to focus on a mobile-only relaunch. As a fan of the original, I was more than a little excited.That excitement was misplaced.
Assassin's Creed fans with Mac love in your hearts, rejoice! The first two chapters in the saga of Ezio Auditore da Firenze - aka everybody's favorite 16th century assassin - can be grabbed together in the latest Gamezebo Deals bundle for just $14.99.Both games, Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, are included in their "Deluxe Edition" format, which means more maps, more characters - more everything. You'll even get the complete movie Assassin's Creed Lineage.What are you? A Templar? Quit stalling and click "buy" already!
Until Sauron devises the One Service to connect all mobile games, we've had to make do with a patchwork quilt of systems to serve up achievements, leaderboards, friend notifications and the like. There's GameCenter for iOS, Google Play Games for Android, and products like OpenKit attempting to cover all the bases.But a familiar face with plenty of resources at its disposal might be entering the fray. Sources have told The Verge that Microsoft is looking to expand Xbox Live to offer mobile games some of the same features the service has provided to console games, even going so far as to create job posts looking for developers to aid in the initiative.
Firaxis did an amazing job resurrecting the XCOM (or X-COM, if you prefer) with Enemy Unknown. Now that their alien invasion strategy simulation has its own outstanding port on iOS, it was only a matter of time before imitators made their way to the platform as well.With a name like X-Mercs: Invasion, developer Game Insight isn't making any bones about where its inspiration comes from."In X-Mercs: Invasion, players will spearhead their very own military campaign," the developer's press release reads "by assembling an army of the finest mercenary soldiers in the world, constructing a military base, and researching and converting alien tech into deadly weapons to use against their extraterrestrial creators."
Zynga's new CEO is confident that he can get the company into the mobile future, or at the very least, to the present. But what mobile gamers can expect first are some offerings very much rooted in past successes.Former Xbox chief and EA executive Don Mattrick is that CEO, and he's ready to face Wall Street types today for the first time. He also gave an exclusive interview to the San Francisco Chronicle that detailed what the company has up its sleeve over the next few months as it finally launches a concentrated assault on the mobile market after floundering in its efforts for quite some time.Initially, Zynga is banking on a long overdue mobile-first FarmVille game called FarmVille 2: Country Escape. Unlike previous, half-hearted efforts to bring the brand to smartphones and tablets, this one is a full-featured game that has the company saying all the right things. Most notably, it can be played offline, and it won't require you to spam friends to advance (wait, can it really be FarmVille then?).
This isn't your grandmother's point-and-click adventure. Ever since I played the original Ludum Dare 26 build of Gods Will Be Watching, it's a game that's stuck in my memory. I was almost haunted by how well Deconstructeam was able to portray emotions through a handful of moving pixels. Gods Will Be Watching is a post-apocalyptic leadership simulator where the player has to make the tough choices that no one else wants to make.The game was originally developed during the 2013 Ludum Dare 26 game jam, and went on to receive second place in the jam in both the Best Overall and Mood categories. After the success of the jam, the team went on to launch an IndieGoGo campaign, looking for €8,000 to develop Gods Will Be Watching into a full game. The campaign was a large success and resulted in €20,385 worth of funding.Now, six months after the campaign, Deconstructeam has announced that Gods Will Be Watching will release this June for PC, Mac, and Linux, on Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store.The Ludum Dare 26 build of Gods Will Be Watching is available for free, in its entirety, on Deconstructeam's official website. Follow Deconstructeam on Twitter.