Apple Arcade game development and Stadia set to shift gaming industry
Wednesday, May 1, 2019 by Richard Harris
In the last few months, the gaming industry has witnessed major shifts as new emerging services begin to take shape across various platforms. Drilling down into mobile gaming, the recent launches of Google Stadia and Apple Arcade have presented gamers with two new mediums to flex their gaming skills. However, these emerging platforms have presented new implications, cha...
IoT Developer Survey 2019 released from The Eclipse Foundation
Tuesday, April 23, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
The Eclipse Foundation released the 2019 IoT Developer Survey that canvassed more than 1,700 developers about their IoT efforts. The survey was conducted by the Eclipse IoT Working Group in cooperation with member companies (including Bosch Software Innovations, Eurotech, and Red Hat), and support from the IoT community at large.
IoT developers are driving real...
Unity 2019.1 gets over 300 improvements
Thursday, April 18, 2019 by Richard Harris
Fresh off the heels of a successful and exciting (as always) Game Developers Conference (GDC 2019), Unity Technologies launch Unity 2019.1. Unity 2019.1 includes almost 300 new features and improvements, including powerful, production-ready versions of the Lightweight Render Pipeline, the Burst Compiler, and the Shader Graph, which is helping creators and teams of all s...
The most popular gaming platform, and why cloud gaming sucks
Friday, March 22, 2019 by Richard Harris
Gamers spend an average of 7 hours, 7 mins each week playing (up 19% from last year), and cloud is the next frontier for video games it seems, with major tech players like Microsoft and Google teasing their cloud gaming launches at GDC 19. But getting gamers on board with these new services will require developers to create interactive games that don’t frustr...
Ahead of GDC 2019, Google drops new app advertising solutions
Monday, March 18, 2019 by Richard Harris
Google has announced new mobile app advertising solutions ahead of the Game Developers Conference 2019.
The new tools aim to help developers carve out better revenue and build a better app business, especially those developers making games. There are new tools in most sections of the software lifecycle, including pre-launch, launch, and even post-launch.
...
A cloud suite for decentralized and Blockchain apps has emerged
Wednesday, March 13, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
RTrade Technologies is proud to announce the launch of Temporal, a versatile tool for companies with large amounts of data to secure, store and track. The platform can be used as is, or customarily built to manage and deploy blockchain-based applications and non-blockchain data-storage solutions for any enterprise.
Temporal is an open-source API for distributed data ...
Publishing mobile games with Gismart now possible
Wednesday, March 13, 2019 by Richard Harris
Gismart has added an investment program for mobile app startups to its already established publishing unit. In addition to developing and publishing its own titles, Gismart also acts as a strategic partner for aspiring indie developers. The newly launched investment program highlights Gismart’s commitment to helping independent developers bring their titles to mar...
Zinier gets $22M to transform field service management with automation
Monday, March 11, 2019 by Brittany Harris
Zinier has raised $22 million in Series B funding to accelerate global growth and expand its platform to meet the growing needs of field service organizations. Returning investor Accel led the round, along with Founders Fund, Nokia-backed NGP Capital, Qualcomm Ventures LLC and returning France-based investor Newfund.
The investment coincides with the field service in...
Running applications directly from Cohesity now possible
Monday, March 4, 2019 by Richard Harris
Cohesity announced new capabilities that empower enterprises to run applications from Cohesity as well as third parties directly on the Cohesity DataPlatform. This milestone is a big step forward in empowering enterprises to derive insights from their most valuable business asset, their data.
This is the first time that enterprises are able to run applications ...
Female gamers are an untapped market for developers
Wednesday, February 27, 2019 by Richard Harris
Here are some fun facts. Women gamers make up 65% of all active gamers and they also play mobile games at a higher rate than men. What's even better for app developers and publishers, is that 79% of those females are more likely to make in-app purchases.
Brands want to reach this highly engaged audience, and yet, a large part of the gaming app industry's outp...
Gaming on mobile data says you are probably a gamer but don't admit it
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 by Richard Harris
Who’s a gamer? Chances are, it’s you. Most smartphone owners in the U.S. need look no further than their own mobile phone home screen for evidence that new categories of games are changing the face of modern video game players. From the early days of arcade games to the rise of Fortnite, mobile gaming - and the rise of casual games - has democratized gaming ...
By 2020 you'll be watching sports with AR over 5G report says
Thursday, February 21, 2019 by Richard Harris
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the world’s largest network operators plan to use augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) or a hybrid of these technologies, supported by 5G, to offer richer viewing experiences to fans, both at sports stadiums and watching at home. Promising speeds up to tens of times faster and lower latency than 4G, 5G opens up the possibilities ...
Marketing experts say data analytics was a good bet
Friday, February 15, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
Industry analysts and market experts alike have predicted data would play a central role in mobile marketing during 2019. In an effort to better understand its impact, YouAppi has reached out to more than 540 of the world’s top in-house and agency marketers to find out how critical data has become for the brands they represent. A full 98 percent of respondents sai...
API standards are a real problem says Smartbear
Thursday, February 7, 2019 by Richard Harris
A new global survey from Smartbear reveals API standardization is the number one technology challenge teams face when developing APIs. The report titled "The State of API 2019 Report" uncovers API standardization as the top challenge facing API teams as they support the continued growth of microservices. The survey prompted more than 3,000 responses from ...
How a brain training app helps Tom Brady play faster
Wednesday, January 30, 2019 by Richard Harris
Despite recurring suggestions that he has peaked and that the Brady era will soon see its final sunset, New England Patriots’ Quarterback Tom Brady keeps pulling out the critical wins. How does he do it year after year, while seeming to defy the effects of aging?
Like most sports, football is a game of decision-based movements - with continuous demands for the ...
Why everyone should learn to code
Monday, January 28, 2019 by Richard Harris
Learning how to program software isn't necessarily the easiest thing you'll ever do. In fact, it's going to be one of the hardest. Programming and code are difficult, and not just in the sense of understanding logic and syntax, but also in the way that it's a never-ending achievement because it's always evolving. Programmers never stay in one place v...
Hothead games wants to make your mobile game a hit too
Thursday, January 24, 2019 by Richard Harris
Hothead Games announced that it has launched a new publishing division to help third-party game developers turn their mobile games into hits. The company is currently accepting submissions and offering financial assistance for games in various stages of development that will benefit from Hothead’s expertise in analytics, marketing, monetization, and gameplay mecha...
Lightning Platform Mobile from Salesforce aims to future-proof apps
Thursday, January 24, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
Adding another lego to the wall between native programmers and low-code app builders, Salesforce has just announced the new Lightning Platform Mobile, a set of tools and services that aim to empower business users to build quick, connected and future-proofed mobile apps.
Consumers today expect their mobile experiences to be immersive and easy-to-use. But with a...
Game developer tips and insight for 2019
Thursday, January 24, 2019 by Richard Harris
2019 offers promising new opportunities for game developers to reach new markets. But how can developers best capture diverse users’ attention and loyalty? Webpals Mobile, a performance-driven mobile-app user acquisition company, recently conducted a study comparing advertising driving gaming app downloads in the United States and Asia. Drawing on insights from th...
Blockchain development with strong APIs
Monday, January 21, 2019 by Richard Harris
2018 was the year of blockchain “pilot” projects - where companies began to truly explore all of the possibilities of the technology. For example, in PwC’s 2018 survey of 600 executives, 84 percent said their organizations had at least some involvement with blockchain technology - but only 15 percent reported having gone live.
As we jump into 2019, ...
Using eye tracking for UX design and testing
Friday, January 18, 2019 by Richard Harris
For UX designers working in fast-paced, agile environments, it is often difficult to make quick, informed design decisions. Many user testing tools and methods help to reveal the "what" behind user actions but fail to reveal the "why", subjecting decisions to opinion and bias. This makes it difficult to keep stakeholders and members of the desig...
Creating native mobile apps without writing native code
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 by Richard Harris
Native programming can strike fear into the heart of anyone that doesn't know how to write it. While we as programmers understand our limits and capabilities, we still like to brag about the complicated function or route we just wrote. But just drop the words "Objective C, or Android Java" into the next conversation you have with fellow programmers and see...
The Kin Foundation wants more app developers
Tuesday, January 15, 2019 by Richard Harris
The Kin Foundation, the nonprofit governance body for the cryptocurrency Kin, has announced the second Kin Developer Program, an initiative that awards Kin and fiat currency to select developers who successfully launch Kin-powered features in consumer apps.
Through the program, up to 100 consumer app developers will have the opportunity to integrate Kin using the new...
National Geographic just updated their app
Monday, January 14, 2019 by Richard Harris
National Geographic just launched a new mobile app that is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store to customers in the U.S. and Canada. Compatible with both Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, the app provides users with a personalized digital experience that includes access to the National Geographic magazine archives, an immense photo library, digi...
Developing video games that work for everyone
Monday, January 14, 2019 by Matias Nicolas Rodriguez
Video games are interactive experiences – as the player, you can live many different lives racing fast cars, fighting great creatures and going on exciting, magical adventures. For as long as video games companies have existed, the focus has been largely on games that are fun to play.
Of course, though, we’ve all had to sit out a round and wait for a free...
Google is turning on the Restore feature soon
Thursday, January 10, 2019 by Richard Harris
In a recent email sent to Android developers that have subscriptions enabled, Google wants to remind you that soon they will be activating the Restore feature. The email read:
"We are writing to let you know about an upcoming change to the Restore feature in the Google Play Console. On April 15, 2019, Google will be turning on the Restore feature for all develop...
5 rules of monetizing like a mobile game developer
Wednesday, January 9, 2019 by Sean Webster
Mobile game developers are some of the most successful monetizers and marketers in recent history. Need proof? Mobile gaming revenue accounted for nearly 82% of all app revenue in 2017 and will surpass $100 billion by 2021.
The formula for success for mobile game developers is simple: easy payments, a finely-tuned monetization strategy, and great customer support. Bu...
Privacy for Android boosted with decentralized VPN
Sunday, January 6, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
Mysterium Network, an open-source, not-for-profit foundation reinventing internet privacy, security, and freedom, has announced the release of the Mysterium VPN app for Android, which is now available on the Google Play store.
The app, which was released today and is also available for Windows and macOS, will allow users to participate in the world’s first dece...
Unity releases gameplay frequency report
Saturday, January 5, 2019 by Richard Harris
Unity Technologies powers more than 50% of all new mobile games today. They have just released new data revealing how much time was spent playing on mobile devices in the United States in 2018 - and the numbers are a bit shocking.
US residents spent 6.926 billion hours playing mobile games in 2018. That’s an average of 21 hours and 6 minutes for every single pe...
Independent Games Festival finalists and ceremony at GDC 2019
Friday, January 4, 2019 by Richard Harris
The Independent Games Festival (IGF) has revealed the finalists for its 21st annual awards ceremony. The IGF Awards will take place March 20th, 2019 at 6.30pm PT during the Game Developers Conference 2019, and will be hosted by Meg Jayanth, the award-winning writer of 80 Days, the acclaimed globetrotting interactive storytelling game and former IGF Award winner for Exce...
Oppo wants app developers and they are putting $145M down to prove it
Friday, January 4, 2019 by Richard Harris
Chinese smartphone vendor, Oppo, will invest one billion yuan ($145.7 million) to encourage mobile app developers to create gaming, video and other forms of quality content.
The move came after Oppo recorded 250 million monthly active users of its smartphones in the world. Oppo Vice President Wu Henggang said by leveraging its sound handset business, the company aims...
Implementing AI technology while overcoming legacy systems
Friday, January 4, 2019 by Jason Cottrell
Legacy software is not great.
That may not be a fair position to take on all legacy software, but it’s a fairly safe starting point for most of it. Typical legacy software is difficult for users to work with, prone to issues and glitches, and worst of all, doesn’t play nicely with other systems. Again: legacy software is not great.
There are a number o...
What game developers can learn from Fortnite's rise
Friday, December 28, 2018 by Richard Harris
Fortnite took over the video game world in 2018 and reached over $1 billion in sales, reaching every gaming fan with experiences on all the major consoles, mobile operating systems and even streaming platforms like Twitch. However, Fortnite seems to have reached a plateau with a recent study by StreamElements revealing viewership of the game has steadily declined since ...
Mesmerizing Titanic virtual reality game coming to PlayStation
Wednesday, December 26, 2018 by Richard Harris
Titanic VR is launching on Playstation (PSVR). The highly realistic game’s graphics and characterization are based on real-life people who were on the ship. The game's developer, Immersive VR Education (IVRE), created 800 characters, while also providing various facts on-screen about the RMS Titanic and its sinking.
The sinking of the Titanic is ...
Blockchain remakes of popular Atari games in the works
Monday, December 24, 2018 by Richard Harris
Atari, an iconic consumer brand and interactive entertainment producer, announces that it has entered into a license agreement with Animoca Brands Limited, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands Corporation Limited (listed on ASX: "AB1"). The Agreement grants Animoca Brands the rights to produce and publish blockchain versions of the popular Atari mobile game titles R...
