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Tag: arcade

  • Vietnam to block payment for unlicensed games

    Vietnam to block payment for unlicensed games

    The Ministry of Information and Communications said it will deploy solutions to block the payment for unauthorized games in the country.

    There are hundreds of thousands of unauthorized games, card games, and gambling games which cause insecurity and disorder as well as bad consequences for the society, the ministry’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information said at a meeting on Thursday.

    The unauthorized games, mainly released on the App Store, Google Play, and online gaming platform Valse Stream, are estimated to generate an annual revenue of nearly VND5 trillion ($211.86 million), accounting for 30% of the total revenue of the game industry in Vietnam.

    The ministry is requiring organizations and businesses that provide intermediary payment services not to allow payment for unauthorized games through their systems.

    In the case of payments via IAP (in-app purchases), they should ask Apple and Google to provide sufficient information about the transaction to block the payment.

    Every month, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information will update the list of licensed and unlicensed games for payment intermediaries.

    The ministry also said it will require Google and Apple not to cooperate with intermediaries to pay for unauthorized games on their app stores.

    According to Le Quang Tu Do, the authority’s director, many games are being released across borders through the App Store and Play Store, while a number of Vietnamese e-wallets have been deployed on the two stores, making it easy for users to pay through intermediaries.

    The Ministry of Information and Communications has so far licensed some 200 game companies, but the number of licensed businesses that are actually providing games to the market is less than 30.

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  • Apple Arcade’s latest games are ridiculously fun and charming

    Apple Arcade’s latest games are ridiculously fun and charming

    If you’re using an iPhone or iPad and like to play games, Apple Arcade is the best bang for your buck. For just $5 per month, you get a collection of carefully curated games that have no ads or in-game purchase, so you can experience the full content without having to worry about hidden costs or MTX (micro-transactions).

    Apple Arcade adds new games every month, and many of the games already available for subscribers are getting updated with new content all the time. Although this is a very busy month for gamers, as many highly-anticipated titles have been set to release in February (Dying Light 2, Sifu, Lost Ark, Horizon Forbidden West, Total War: Warhammer 3, Elden Ring), there’s always time to fit a short gameplay session on your favorite iPhone or iPad.

    Four new games are joining Apple Arcade’s library in February, and while I’ve played a few of them, knowing how good the curation process is, I can’t not recommend all of them. But let’s start with the first game that joined Apple Arcade on February 4, Bridge Constructor+.

    A physics-based simulation-puzzle game initially launched on PC more than 10 years ago, Bridge Constructor+ is the dream of any wannabe engineer. Jokes aside, Bridge Constructor is quite faithful to the engineering and architecture of bridges, so you’ll be able to express your ingenuity designing and creating complex bridges for cars and trucks to cross over.

    On the plus side, the iOS version of the game includes all of the content, updates and DLC already released on PC, without any in-app purchases. The folks at Headup also revealed that their game has “several different settings and over 100 levels to master the art of bridge-building by using different materials and constructions to make sure they won’t buckle and break under the weight of ongoing traffic.”

    Moving on to the second game coming to Apple Arcade on February 18, Wylde Flowers is a non-combat game inspired by The Sims and FarmVille, but with a “witchy twist.” That’s no surprise at all considering that Studio Drydock, a new development team HQ-ed in Australia, was founded by two industry veterans with a combined 20-year previous experience at EA working on titles like The Sims.

    The best way to describe Wylde Flowers is “cozy life and farming sim,” so if you like to grind a little bit before going to sleep or while commuting, this seems like the perfect game. Wylde Flowers promises a charming world of diverse folks and magical spells, which set the stage for the game’s big mystery.

    Although during the day you’ll be tending crops, care for animals, fish, craft, and perform other farm-related activities, by night, you’ll be nurturing your inner witch as you learn to fly your broomstick, brew potions, control the weather and seasons or even transform into a cat. This sounds like an interesting twist from the typical FarmVille game, yet I can’t shake the feeling that the game should have been called Farming Adventures of Sabrina.

  • Apple is giving away three free months of Arcade with the purchase of a 5G iPhone 12 handset

    Apple is giving away three free months of Arcade with the purchase of a 5G iPhone 12 handset

    Last year, Apple awarded those purchasing a new iPhone or another Apple product 12-free months of Apple TV+. And while that freebie continues to this day, starting on October 22nd anyone purchasing a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod touch, or Apple TV gets three free months of Apple Arcade. With Arcade, subscribers get to play ad-free games and there are no in-app purchases. And you can start a game on your iPad and take it on the road with your iPhone seamlessly. In fact, you can switch among the aforementioned list of five Apple products and keep your place in a game that you’re currently playing.

    You can also download games to play regardless of whether you are online or offline. And if you’re a parent. you can use Screen Time to make sure that your kids aren’t spending the whole day playing games. After a one month free trial, Arcade costs $4.99 a month. So if you do buy a new Apple device, including one of the new iPhone 12 models, you are getting a bonus worth $14.97.

    Keep in mind that if you don’t cancel the free trial before it expires, you will be billed $4.99 a month. If you happen to enjoy more than one of Apple’s subscription services, you might want to sign up for Apple One. For $14.95 a month you save $6 per month on an Individual Apple One subscription which includes Apple Music, TV+, Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage. For $19.95 a month, the Family subscription of Apple One (which saves $8 per month) includes everything in the individual plan except with support for six subscribers and 200GB of iCloud storage. The Premier subscription is priced at $29.95 per month and saves subscribers $25 a month. It comes with Apple Music, TV+, Arcade, 2TB of iCloud storage, News+, and Fitness+ (which starts later this year). Apple One will launch later this year.

    While Apple is handing out nearly $15 in free Arcade subscriptions to those purchasing a device from the 5G iPhone 12 series, it is taking the charging adapter and the wired earpods out of the box. While the company spins this as a move to help cut carbon emissions, some see it as a move by Apple to save money and force customers to buy a new charging brick.

    Apple this fiscal year will hit the $50 billion revenue goal it has for its Services unit right on time. And it hopes to keep this part of its business surging by giving device buyers a little taste of some of the Services it is offering. The tech giant is hoping that its customers enjoy TV+ and Arcade so much over the trial period that they decide to subscribe once the trial period is over.

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  • Apple is charging employees to get their feedback on Apple Arcade

    Apple is charging employees to get their feedback on Apple Arcade

    Back in March, Apple introduced its new Apple Arcade service. For a yet to be decided monthly fee ($4.99, $9.99?) subscribers will be able to choose from over 100 new mobile games. Apple says that it expects to launch Arcade this fall, but in the meantime, the company is giving employees a preview of the service. Those toiling for the tech giant are getting a one-month free trial; once the trial period expires, they are paying 49 cents a month to test early builds of some of the games that will be offered to subscribers once the platform launches. This early access program is expected to end once the final version of iOS 13 drops.

    The games that are available for the early access program include Way of the Turtle, Down in Bermuda, Hot Lava, Sneaky Sasquatch, Kings of the Castle, Frogger in Toy Town and Lame Game 2. Apple Arcade will allow subscribers to play any title available for as long as they want, and players can switch devices from the iPhone to an iPad, a Mac and Apple TV without missing a beat. Users will also be able to play games while offline and a family with up to six members will be able to share a family subscription. Because players will be paying monthly, there are no in-app purchases offered.

    After iPhone shipments peaked in 2015 at 231.22 million units, the company decided to focus on its services unit. This was a smart move because many of the businesses under the services umbrella, like Apple Music and Apple News+, require recurring payments from subscribers. And these businesses are less reliant on new iPhone sales, depending instead on the large number of active iPhone users which at last count totaled 900 million people. The company has targeted $50 billion in services revenue by 2020 which would be twice the $25 billion that the division grossed in 2016. For the recently announced fiscal third quarter, covering April through June, the services unit took in a record $11.5 billion in revenue. That is a 12.7% year-over-year gain from the $10.2 billion that the division took in during the same quarter in 2018. Overall, the services unit is Apple’s second-largest business unit and is it’s most profitable. The success or failure of Apple Arcade will go a long way toward determining whether Apple meets its $50 billion revenue goal next year.

    Earlier this year, a report claimed that Apple has spent $500 million on Apple Arcade; analysts at HSBC Bank see the subscription service generating $370 million in revenue next year before jumping to $2.7 billion by 2022 and a whopping $4.5 billion by 2024. The bank’s analysis forecasts Apple Arcade having 29 million subscribers by 2024 with individual subscriptions costing $12.99 a month.

    Besides paying the monthly subscription price, Arcade members are expected to shell out the cash required for them to pick up accessories for their Apple devices such as controllers. While subscribers will be able to navigate through Arcade games using the buttons on their iPhone, iPad or Mac, picking up an MFi (Made for iPhone, iPad) controller could make gameplay a little easier for some.

    It seems a little strange that Apple is asking employees to pay 49 cents a month so that the company can collect feedback from them; after all, the point of the early access program is to find out where Apple and the game developers can make changes to improve the user experience. While we have no data revealing how many have signed up for the short-lived program, we’d bet that it was more than enough for Apple and its developer partners to get a good idea of the work that still needs to be done on Arcade before its launch.

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  • Microsoft to bring its best car racing game to Phones

    Microsoft to bring its best car racing game to Phones

    Microsoft has just announced that its best car racing franchise will make its debut on mobile later this year. The game is called Forza Street and seems to be part of Microsoft’s best-selling racing franchise, and, more importantly, will be free-to-play.

    As a matter of fact, Microsoft confirmed Forza Street is now available as a free-to-play title for Windows 10 users, so if you don’t want to wait for the mobile version, you can start playing right away after you download it from the Microsoft Store.

    Forza Street takes players to the streets of Miami where they can enter the ultimate street racing scene to win the car collection of their dreams. Simply pick an event, choose your car, and race for fame.The game allows players to collect and upgrade iconic cars, from classic to modern sport and retro supercars. Microsoft promises “streamlined controls,” but the best thing about Forza Street is that you’ll be able to race anytime, anywhere, assuming you have an Internet connection. You can even squeeze in a quick one-minute race while waiting for your bus, or get immersed in an endless story with multiple ways of achieving victory.

    It’s quite interesting to see Microsoft giving a damn about mobile gaming, not to mention that the Forza series includes some of the best arcade racing games of all time. Hopefully, Forza Street will follow in the footsteps of its predecessors – Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon, and provide an immersive car racing experience.

  • Apple is spending Millions on new Games for Arcade

    Apple is spending Millions on new Games for Arcade

    Last month, Apple Arcade was unveiled. Set to launch this fall, the service will offer subscribers access to over 100 “groundbreaking” new games. The Arcade will be available on all Apple devices including the iPhone, iPad and the Mac. And the only cost will be the monthly subscription fee; there are no in-game extras that Arcade members will have to shell out for. Besides allowing a family with up to six members to share, a whole new family of accessories certified MFi (made for iPhone, iPad), such as game controllers, will make playing games on an iOS device much easier.

    With iPhone sales struggling, the company is looking to take advantage of the large number of active units (nearly 1 billion at last count) by selling owners of these handsets subscription services such as Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade. Apple is looking to double its services revenue from the $25 billion it collected in 2017 to the $50 billion it hopes to garner next year. For the fiscal first quarter of 2019, the period covering October through December of last year, Apple grossed nearly $11 billion from its services unit, putting it on track to meet its goal for fiscal 2020.

    Apple has budgeted more than $500 million this year to spend on games for Arcade. In other words, the company is spending millions of dollars on each game. Will there be a payoff for the company after it keeps cutting such large checks? Global banking giant HSBC believes so. The firm’s analysts see Apple Arcade grossing $370 million next year, overtaking Apple TV+ by 2022 with $2.7 billion in sales, and generating $4.5 billion in revenue by 2024. In that year, HSBC expects Apple TV+ to bring in $4.1 billion in revenue, while Apple News+ takes in approximately $2.7 billion.

    To help generate business for Arcade, Apple is offering incentives to developers who are willing to give the new service exclusivity on new games for a few months. That would keep popular titles off of other platforms, including the Google Play Store, for a period of time. Apple is hoping that this will lead to developers debuting their games on Arcade first, which was a pattern seen years ago when App Store users spent much more money on games than Android users. Now, with Android’s huge global market share, new games are apt to launch on both platforms at the same time.

    The $500 million Apple has reportedly budgeted for Arcade is half the $1 billion it originally expected to lay out for Apple TV+. Games already announced for Arcade include one based on Sega’s popular Sonic the Hedgehog character. Subscribers will also be able to select titles from Cartoon Network and Lego. There will even be a new version of Frogger available. Independent developers, who have proven themselves with games listed on the App Store, have received larger than normal advances from Apple to deliver new titles for Arcade.

    HSBC forecasts that Apple Arcade will have 29 million subscribers by 2024, paying $12.99 a month for the service. But that is only an estimate. Only time will tell whether Apple has made the right move by laying out half a billion dollars for new, unproven games for its service. And if Arcade ends up being a big money maker for Apple, competition will surely follow. Still, Apple will have the advantage of plucking apples from the low hanging trees. Those are the nearly one billion owners of an active iPhone who will be receptive to Apple’s marketing of Arcade.

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  • TV+, News+, Oprah+, Arcade, Apple is on a War trip

    TV+, News+, Oprah+, Arcade, Apple is on a War trip

    After issuing a plethora of new hardware on the hush-hush lass week with simple press releases, starting from new iPads and finishing with AirPods 2, Apple reserved the stage today entirely for its new adventures in content and media. Multimedia.

    It took on cable and Netflix with the upcoming Apple TV channels and TV+ subscription streamer. Game streaming and distribution platforms like Steam or Google’s upcoming Stadia will face the formidable Arcade undertaking. News aggregators and standalone publishers now have another potentially huge platform to consider – News+.

    In one fell swoop, Apple wiggled its way right smack in the center of the news and entertainment industry, moving swiftly from a hardware to a content creation focal point. None of these newfangled Apple services can take on the established players on its own just yet, though.

    While News+ may give you access to 300+ magazines, the most it managed to sign up were the LA Times and WSJ – hardly the a la carte news buffet it envisaged for its freshest offspring. Ditto for the Arcade gaming platform, and the TV+ original video content streamer. The numbers they will start with are a far cry from the established competition in the fields.

    What Apple seems to be betting on, however, is the cumulative power of the platform it has, and the stickiness that will come from offering most everything that your heart desires in the world of infotainment we all live in day in and day out. Once you go that Apple rabbit hole, it imagined, it will be hard to break up with your iPhone, iPad, Mac or even a Samsung smart set with the new Apple TV app on it.

    The ability to have your movie, TV channels and shows, newspaper, magazines, or games access folded into one Apple nexus could certainly sound appealing for many an Apple device owner. If the giants of the competition aren’t worried for their own turfs, Apple’s cumulative assault on the media and content business as a whole seems to have started tonight, and with $250 billion war chest, the folks.

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