The amount of social platforms available on iOS is staggering, but few have enjoyed the same kind of ubiquity as OpenFeint. Apple's release of Game Center in 2010 stole much of its thunder, but the plucky service fought the good fight and managed to stay afloat. That is, until now. GREE, who acquired OpenFeint back in April of last year, has informed developers that the service will be shut down on December 14.
This year's WWDC keynote has drawn to a close, and while it wasn't filled with any life-changing news, it did see Apple revealing some pretty interesting items. An upcoming version of the MacBook Pro with a retina display, for example, as well as several tweaks and features for the iPhone and iPad coming in the form of iOS 6. They didn't forget about gaming, though, as evidenced by the reveal of Game Center's forthcoming arrival on Mac.
Tired of having to jump through third-party game networks on Android while your smug iOS friends gloat about their Game Center? According to a source that spoke with Business Insider, it looks like Google might be aiming to supply Android devices with a native Game Center-like app of their own.
Apple today shared details of its upcoming Mac operating system update, dubbed, Mountain Lion, launching this summer. Basically, it takes all the cool features and gestures of the iPad and brings it to the Mac, minus the touch screen, of course.The significance to gamers is that Apple will bring Game Center to the Mac with the launch of Mountain Lion, providing true cross-platform gaming across all Apple devices --- the iPad, iPhone, and Mac.
While most of the gaming world is getting lost in an endless series of press conferences at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, we iOS faithful have spent our day gobbling up every tidbit of information to spill out of Apple's Worldwide Develpoer Conference in San Fransisco. Now that their keynote address has come to a close, we were saddened to see that there was little impress on the gaming front. Still, that doesn't mean changes aren't coming.
The creation of a system-wide social gaming network for iDevices is a great idea, but Apple's announcement of Game Center is a little late in coming. Over the past year a number of services have come to the forefront to fill the social networking void on the iPhone, including AGON, Geocade, Scoreloop and ngmoco's Plus+. Currently supporting more than 1500 games and reaching 19 million players, OpenFeint is the biggest player in the field and seemingly has the most to lose from Apple's recent announcement - so why does their CEO seem so chipper and optimistic?