AllThingsD will be there keeping an eye on two questions in particular: How is the business of mobile games changing, and how are the makers of consoles and other physical media responding to mobile’s ascendance?

This year’s conference also promises to at least touch on the growing relevance of women in the gaming community, and will also highlight the gap between small independent games studios and the larger legacy companies that are finding different degrees of success in staying relevant as their industry continues to expand and fracture.

If you only read one gaming statistic this week, let it be this one: In a pre-conference survey, GDC 2013’s organizers found that 58 percent of gaming professionals attending either last year’s conference or this one plan to release their next game on smartphones or tablets. That’s a tad greater than commitments to the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s next console, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U and Wii combined, which together garnered “next game” pledges from 56.5 percent of developers.

Nevertheless, interest in gaming hardware is still strong, particularly for established consoles and for the Android-based consoles Ouya and GameStick, both of which bested the next Xbox and the PlayStation 4 when those same survey respondents were asked what platforms most excited or interested them.

Stay tuned for more!

Ask Disney Mobile SVP Bart Decrem what Disney is doing with games, and he has an answer ready: “We are trying to create new Disney characters and new worlds.”

His company, though, has found success primarily by doing just the opposite: Digging into its seemingly infinite catalog of IP from past movies and TV shows to make games consumers are interested in. In fact, Disney, Pixar and/or Marvel characters are absent from only about 10 percent of the 116 titles Disney has published on Apple’s App Store.

Disney Interactive — under whose umbrella Decrem’s mobile games studio falls — is still the runt of the company’s units, delivering $9 million out of $2.4 billion total operating income in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013.

But that’s still far better than its seven- and eight-digit quarterly losses, consistently found in every Disney earnings report since Q1 of FY 2009, when the company started reporting Interactive Media as its own segment.

So, for the first time since Decrem came to Disney from its acquisition of Tapulous in 2010, he’s part of a unit that can finally expect a bit more attention and respect.

Presumably, those new characters can now come out to play, with Decrem in the middle of building new IP and franchises that originate in mobile games.

So far, the first and only one created in-house is Swampy, the star of Disney’s puzzle game Where’s My Water?, which has garnered 200 million players to date.

Most of Disney Mobile’s other titles — recently, Temple Run: Oz and Toy Story: Smash It — were developed with the long-term vitality of existing characters in mind. While movies get bumped out of the box office after a few weeks or months, a good game can stick around for much longer. Thus, a kid who wasn’t old enough to play Temple Run: Brave when it debuted in late May of 2012 can easily find that it’s still in Apple’s Top Paid iOS charts more than nine months later.

Decrem added that games will be a part of Disney’s growth into China and India, where he claims children are “discovering Disney largely through the games that are on these app stores.” His team’s goal, he said, is to eventually make a game that reaches one billion players.

The gaming studio isn’t always required to do whatever the movie guys tell them to do. A few times a year, Disney Mobile gets pitched on upcoming movies and is told which ones matter most to the company. But when the developers aren’t interested in or don’t have an idea for a game spun off of a movie, Decrem said, “We do say ‘no’ a lot.”

If a big push for more original characters is afoot, the rest of 2013 will be an interesting test of just what the bosses — and, more importantly, Disney’s audience of casual gamers — will say yes to.

Of course, mobile isn’t the only thing that matters here — Disney is still quietly readying Disney Infinity, its big cross-platform console project, for this summer. It’s worth noting that both Decrem and spokesperson Brian Nelson alluded to mobile initiatives attached to the project, but Nelson did not go into details or name the mobile operating systems that will be involved.

The former Microsoft exec turned gaming entrepreneur didn’t rent out a hotel ballroom or hire Big Bird or Maroon 5 to get the attention of the press. In fact, as far as we know, Valve’s only presence at the show was a small private booth for meetings, and an interview with The Verge.

But since many covet Newell and his quirky company, when he speaks, everyone listens as if it were videogame gospel.

Valve is popular for producing mega hits like Half-Life and the Portal game series. It also gets huge props for Steam, its consumer-focused PC games-distribution platform (referred to by the rest of us as an app store).

This preamble is to help you better understand why it was a big deal when Newell said yesterday that Valve is building its own hardware that will essentially be a gaming and media hub for your whole house.

This isn’t some half-baked Kickstarter idea. With an estimated valuation of $3 billion, and more than 50 million users (in comparison, Xbox Live has 40 million), Valve has the money, the distribution system and the clout to try something outrageous.

And what Newell described to The Verge yesterday is a little out there.

He confirmed that the company is building a “Steam Box,” which will be a game and entertainment server for the home that can be used by eight TVs and eight controllers at one time.

For the average consumer who likes to stream Netflix to their TV, this will come off as pretty abstract stuff, especially when you hear more details.

First, it’s going to be built on the Linux OS, which is not exactly mainstream. Second, if not done absolutely correctly, hooking it up to multiple TVs sounds like a networking nightmare. Third, Valve says it will be inventing new types of controllers “that use a lot of biometric data.”

In July, Newell was interviewed onstage in Seattle, where he elaborated on this topic. He said touchscreens are “short-term,” and that your tongue is one of the best mechanical systems to your brain. “I don’t think tongue input will happen, but I do think we will have bands on our wrists, and you’ll be doing something with your hands, which are really expensive.”

In other words, we’re talking really sci-fi stuff here.

Generally, what’s interesting about Newell’s desire to build something on Linux is that he believes it is a hedge against Windows 8. Increasingly, operating systems have become locked down, where the OS maker, like Apple, owns the software distribution on the device, like the iPhone and the App Store. That’s happening on laptops and computers, as well, which is a threat to Steam.

On multiple occasions, the former Microsoft executive has disclosed his disdain for the software giant’s new operating system.

In the interview with The Verge, Newell put it bluntly: “Windows 8 was like this giant sadness. It just hurts everybody in the PC business … When I started using it I was like ‘oh my god …’ I find [Windows 8] unusable.”

Newell can say pretty much whatever he wants. Valve is a privately held company with few or no investors, so there’s no pressure for a public offering or a sale. Clearly, if he wants to preannounce something, he will.

In addition to laying out some of the Steam Box’s specs and confirming its existence, he also discussed pricing. The boxes, which will be built by partners in some cases, will have three tiers, he said. The low-end device will start at $99. A midrange device could cost around $300, and the high-end device could be even pricier.

But when a Steam Box will be released remains a mystery. Presumably, to be competitive with the next generation of consoles from Microsoft and Sony, it would be expected around the end of this year.

To get some feedback on what Valve’s plans mean, I asked Pete Hawley, co-founder and chief product officer of Red Robot Labs, what he thinks. Although he’s creating a location-based games platform today, he previously worked at PlayStation, and just a month ago told me during a conversation that he thinks Valve will win the next console war.

“I think this news is huge,” he said. “Gabe and Valve are building something amazing here.”

Hawley also said that while the experience Newell describes today sounds futuristic, he could easily imagine the box appealing to a wide audience, ranging from everyday users who want to stream movies through a browser to the most hardcore gamers.

“The openness and ‘hackability’ is there for those core users that are more heavily engaged — the creators. I think you’ll see some users that absorb content, plugged into the TV like a traditional console,” Hawley said. “Others will run servers, create content, have their own store, push to multiple screens, etc., etc. I think its flexibility in that sense is really interesting.”

One daunting challenge, which Newell acknowledged in the interview, was getting Steam’s current content to work on Linux. This summer, Newell mentioned wanting to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux. Valve will also have to work on a way to get the content to work with a game controller. Since most of the titles today run on PCs, they use a mouse and a keyboard. As Newell told The Verge, “the problem to solve is how to interact with a Web browser, how to get all the games to support controllers, and how to make it all seamless.”

In the meantime, Valve has developed a feature called Big Picture, which allows you to connect Steam to your TV. Big Picture is designed to be used with a traditional game controller, but also supports a keyboard and mouse.

Here’s Valve’s video explaining Big Picture, which may also provide a sense of how Steam Box will eventually work:

And here’s the simple reason why: Despite all the new categories being built over the past two years — like social and phone and tablet gaming — consumers are still spending less than they used to on videogames.

Anita Frazier at the NPD Group said the gains that digital gaming formats are realizing were not quite enough to offset a 16 percent drop in consumer spending during the second quarter.

Right now, the industry is close to a break-even point, with half of its sales coming from digital and half coming from software. It’s just enough to make the argument that companies should be investing in digital, but basically not enough for them to be rewarded for it, especially with standalone entities like Zynga eating up most of the profits in one category.

In the second quarter, $1.39 billion was spent by U.S. consumers on videogame software for consoles and PCs, including new, rental and used sales. In the other category, which includes digital downloads, subscriptions, mobile and social, sales in the second quarter totaled $1.47 billion, NPD Group said.

In June, those trends continued, with consumers spending a total of $1.1 billion, of which $439 million came from digital sales.

Based on how history tells it, the industry is fueled by cycles, with new hardware resulting in a jump in software sales. But the current generation of consoles are hitting their seventh year, which means that consumers have started to get tired of their ancient systems, and have started to slow their spending. Only one console maker, Nintendo, has plans to launch new hardware — the Wii U — in time for Christmas.

After two straight weeks of earnings reports, this trend is obvious.

Last week, Take-Two Interactive disappointed analysts with a wider than expected loss, Activision was down compared to the prior year, Electronic Arts’ results showed signs of weakness, and the week before, Zynga shocked investors after wildly missing expectations.

Frazier said in July that there was only one hardware platform that experienced an increase in sales compared to last year: Nintendo’s portable game unit, the 3DS. This month, we can look forward to a potential lift from the release of Nintendo’s 3DS XL, which boasts a bigger screen.

Otherwise, it’s Microsoft’s Xbox that is sweeping up the remnants in the space. But increasingly, the console is being used to stream video and other content to users’ TVs — not to play games.

Microsoft said that, based on the NPD results, it sold 203,000 units in July, which was more units than any gaming hardware. It currently holds 49 percent market share of current-generation consoles, and total spending on platform in July (including hardware, software and accessories) reached $218 million. At that rate, consumers spent more on Xbox 360 products in July than they spent on the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3 combined.

At the Microsoft Xbox press event at E3 today, the software maker said all new, downloadable expansion content from Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will launch exclusively on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 to start.

Xbox 360 is already listed as a console partner on the game’s official Web site, alongside Sony’s PlayStation 3, and the game will be playable on the PC, as well. But Xbox owners will get an early jump on the extra game content.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is the next and highly-anticipated installment in the record-breaking franchise. It was first announced on May 1 of this year; the game’s official Web site says the game will be released on November 13, 2012.

One thing that sets this version of the popular first-person shooter game apart from its earlier software counterparts: This one is set in the future, around a 21st Century Cold War, while the others have focused on historical battles and wars.

The franchise has been a bright spot in the softening hardcore game industry. Late last year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, surpassed $1 billion in sales in just two weeks and two days.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will cost $60, and is available for preorder now.

Despite some industry gains from January to February, overall sales totaled $1.06 million last month, down from $1.33 billion year over year; software sales fell 23 percent to $464 million, and hardware sales dropped 18 percent to $381.4 million.

February’s best-selling software title was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, from Activision Blizzard.

While most hardware platforms posted declines year over year, “all current-generation platforms improved sales over January 2012 by more than 50 percent,” NPD said in a note.

A consistent bright spot has been the Microsoft Xbox, which was the best-selling hardware platform for the seventh month in a row. Some 426,000 Xbox units were sold in February, marking the 12th consecutive month Xbox has held more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share.

And all eyes were on the Sony PlayStation Vita handheld gaming device, which came to market in late February. Only four days of retail sales for the PS Vita were included in this reporting period, but the device gave overall hardware unit sales a month-over-month boost. Not including the PS Vita, hardware unit sales increased by 62 percent over January, NPD said; with PS Vita sales included, the increase was 87 percent.

“More than 1.2 million PS Vita units have been sold globally since launch,” Patrick Seybold, senior director of communications at Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in a statement. “Customer satisfaction rates are very high and momentum will continue as gamers get their hands on a deep lineup of blockbuster titles that take advantage of PS Vita’s unique features, including cross-platform play with the PlayStation 3.”

In January, the videogame industry saw a double-digit decline in physical software sales, as my colleague Tricia Duryee reports, following a number of noteworthy game launches ahead of the holiday season.

The videogame company’s stock has also been hammered by recent concerns about how well its new online blockbuster title Star Wars game is selling after launching in December.

In 2011, U.S. retail sales of new physical videogame content — including portable and console hardware, games and accessories — totaled $17.02 billion, an 8 percent decline over the $18.6 billion generated the year before, according to NPD.

Additionally, multiple reports indicate that while unit sales were up year over year in December, overall revenues suffered from steep discounting. Game retailers, such as GameStop and Amazon, both reported that holiday sales fell below expectations.

Electronic Arts’ third-quarter figures will be released today after the bell.

Its stock is trading down 12 cents, or .62 percent, to $18.46 a share. That has fallen significantly from its recent high of $25.20 back in November.

Back in October, the company said it was expecting third-quarter revenues of $1 billion to $1.1 billion and a loss per share of 77 cents to 63 cents. Excluding some stock-based compensation, acquisition-related expenses and other charges, the company said it is expecting a profit of 85 cents to 95 cents a share.

Analysts are expecting revenues of $1.61 billion and earnings per share of 93 cents.

The company also faced a setback when it announced that Barry Cottle, who was in charge of the company’s digital efforts, was leaving the company. Cottle took a job with Zynga, the company’s rival when it comes to talent and publishing games on Facebook.

And, while the industry is continually contracting on the hardware and physical retail front, one area of tremendous growth is digital.

At the time of Cottle’s departure, which was the third high-profile steal Zynga made over the past year, EA confirmed the company had achieved more than $1 billion in digital revenues in 2011.

Digital revenues include everything from downloadable content on consoles to social games, like the company’s hit The Sims Social, to the new release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is set to challenge Activision’s World of Warcraft game.

In the second quarter, EA said digital revenues were growing 30 percent year over year, and because of that, it was able to raise its full-year guidance.

Check back here to see if the company can deliver.

Fearless Studios was co-founded two years ago by notable game makers Haden Blackman and Cedrick Collomb.

Blackman was the creator and senior executive producer of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Collomb was formerly director of engineering at LucasArts. The two will immediately join Kabam, along with all members of the team from Marin, Calif.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Acquisitions in social gaming are common, especially as emerging companies try to gain scale. But it is not often that a social game company purchases a console game developer.

In the case of Kabam, it matches with what that company is trying to achieve. It is the goal of the Redwood City, Calif., company to challenge the notion that all gamers on Facebook are housewives in their mid-40s. Instead, it wants to bring some of the high-end games found on consoles to social networks in order to attract more engaged players, who are willing to play — and pay — more.

In a release, Kabam CEO Kevin Chou said the team at Fearless has the right game-design skills and technology set to help social games become higher fidelity.

“Having the background and emerging technologies and proficiency in making the transition from 2D to 3D on consoles mesh perfectly with Kabam’s strategy,” Chou said.

It is not clear if Fearless Studios ever released any games, but in an interview with USA Today, the founders did say the team was interested in developing for the Xbox, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, and for other devices, such as the iPhone.

Fearless will be joining a much more established organization, with roughly 400 employees. But there are already some common threads between the two companies: Kabam’s COO, Chris Carvalho, worked at Lucasfilm for a decade; and Blackman spent 13 years with LucasArts.

Microsoft was proud to announce that over its lifespan, more than 66 million consoles have been sold and that 40 million users have signed up for an Xbox Live membership.

To be sure, the Xbox continues to be one of the top-selling videogame consoles, beating both Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii for the past year.

But breathing new life into the device is the motion-controlled accessory called the Kinect, which was introduced right before the holidays in 2010.

Microsoft provided a sales update last night for the Kinect, saying it has now sold 18 million of the units, which represents about one in four Xbox owners. The last update — that 10 million had been sold — was provided 10 months ago when Microsoft said the Kinect shattered the Guinness Book of World Records for fastest-selling consumer device ever.

But the device’s future is a little hazy.

On the Xbox, one of the most popular use cases has been to play dance simulation games. The controller has yet to break substantially into the more hardcore titles. More recently, Microsoft has made it clear that the Kinect will be an integral part of the user interface by providing a wider selection of entertainment options in the living room.

On Dec. 6, the company rolled out a free update to Xbox Live that allowed people to use the Kinect to conduct a Bing search to find games, music and video across several providers. The user interface also allowed people to control the box with voice commands instead of the game controller.

During the keynote, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer announced the Kinect will be coming to Windows on Feb. 1.

In a follow-up blog post, Microsoft said the hardware will have to be optimized for the Windows platform, and the price will reflect that. The Windows-based device will cost $250, more than double the price of the Kinect for Xbox, currently $120 on Amazon.

Microsoft also points out that it can mark down the cost of the hardware for the Xbox because it is subsidized by the purchase of games.

The biggest change to the hardware perhaps is that the camera will be able to see objects as close as 40 to 50 centimeters away from the device, whereas the Xbox version requires you to stand a few feet away from the TV and use most of your living room.

Microsoft also said Kinect for Windows will support gestures and voice on Windows Embedded-based devices, such as systems in manufacturing, retail and other industries.

There will be a slightly cheaper version, priced at $150, for qualifying educational users, to fuel additional innovation on the platform.

Coming up with compelling reasons to buy the technology will be important, especially since Microsoft is charging such a premium price.

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The drop-off in players affected almost all developers, but did not hit all titles equally.

For example, Electronic Arts saw 1.2 million fewer monthly users over the past week for its top title The Sims Social; Zynga’s Empire & Allies game lost one million monthly users, and its newest game, CastleVille, lost 900,000, according to AppData, which publishes such information.

On the flip side, many of the games that performed well were old favorites; these logically would have longer-term, more-committed players, who would make a point of returning during the holidays to take advantage of seasonal promotions.

The games that benefited from the holidays include Zynga’s Words With Friends and FarmVille, which gained 1.3 million and 800,000 monthly active users, respectively, according to Inside Social Games. Other gainers rounding out the Top 5 were Tetris Online’s Tetris Battle; Wooga’s kingdom-building game, Magic Land; and Men vs. Women, a role-playing game by Social Point.

Still, the general direction for the week was heading down.

That contrasts with other game platforms, such as consoles, PCs and mobile, which largely benefit from the holidays and from more free time in general.

Console games often skyrocket in popularity as kids and adults unwrap new titles for Nintendo, Xbox or PlayStation on Christmas morning.

PC gaming also typically surges during the season. EA timed the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic ahead of the holidays, in hopes of drawing new players who would be sold on sticking around for months, after spending time on the game during their time off.

But perhaps the biggest competitor came from mobile, which benefited from breaking records for the number of new Android and iOS devices that were gifted during the holidays. Flurry reported that more than one billion apps were downloaded worldwide during the last seven days of 2011, breaking the all-time weekly record. Games are often one of the most-downloaded categories of apps.

So the more important question to ask is, why would Facebook be an exception, if other platforms performed well?

Clearly, all of the platforms are competing for a limited number of minutes in the day, and so are other forms of media, like the Internet, TV and the movies. But when it comes to Facebook, a larger driver may be the environment — after all, it’s no big secret that a lot of social networking and social gaming is done in the workplace.

In a study conducted last summer, advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi found that 47 percent of respondents said they play social games at work during a typical day, and that 28 percent play for at least 30 minutes. Without that dedicated time in front of the computer every day, people may have had the opportunity to be more obsessed with other screens, such as phones or TVs.

Another potential reason that Facebook and social games did not see a lift from the holidays is because they have not yet figured out how to capitalize on the Christmas economy.

For years, console games have been timed with the end of the year, so they could be wrapped up and placed under the tree. More recently, smartphones and gift cards for music and apps have helped mobile prosper. Perhaps there wasn’t enough hype and promotion for social games to compete for people’s dollars.

Regardless of the reasons, the drop may ultimately be a small a blip on the radar screen for most game developers, who also see several spikes in activity during the year.

The bigger impact may be felt at Facebook, which takes a 30 percent cut of all virtual goods sold inside social games, and would feel the cumulative impact across all of the games.

According to research outfit Media Create, which closely tracks the Japanese console gaming industry, Sony sold just 72,479 Vitas during the crucial shopping week before Christmas. That’s a massive decline in sales following the device’s debut — well over 75 percent.

In fact, at 72,479, the Vita actually sold fewer units that its predecessor, the PS3.

So what happened?

That’s not at all clear. Certainly, inventory issues could be to blame. The decline could also have something to do with early reports of problems with the device. While Sony was quick to refute such allegations — which ranged from laggy gameplay to freezes and crashes, it wasn’t able to stamp them out before reports echoing them appeared in the broader tech media.

Could such negative chatter have put this big a damper on holiday sales? Maybe. A more likely explanation, though, is the Vita’s high price, its underwhelming lineup of games at launch, and Nintendo’s decision to debut its wildly popular Monster Hunter game at the same time. Knit those three things together with reports of software glitches and you’ve got a pretty big wet blanket.

Either way, those hiccups will be well behind Sony when the PS Vita hits the U.S. and Canada on Feb. 22, with a pretty impressive lineup of launch titles.

(Media Create chart courtesy of Neograf)

“This November marks the best November on record for sales of new physical content,” said NPD Group’s Anita Frazier.

Activision said within the first five days of sales, Call of Duty shattered all previous entertainment records, grossing more than $775 million. In fact, its first month of sales beat the game’s predecessor by about 7 percent, NPD added.

In NPD’s report released today, it analyzed videogame sales for November, taking into account sales made at retail across both hardware and software. It excludes the sale of digital content, like mobile games and downloadable content.

In November, NPD said software sales totaled $1.7 billion, jumping 15 percent from $1.45 billion in the same month last year. Hardware sales weren’t so lucky, falling 9 percent to $982 million from $1.1 billion in November 2010.

The second-most popular title during the month was Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Xbox, PlayStation and the PC. “In one month, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is just about half a million units shy of matching Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in lifetime sales. Its first month performance was a five-fold increase over Oblivion’s first month sales,” Frazier said.

The rest of the titles in the top 10 are:

• Battlefield 3, Electronic Arts
• Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Ubisoft
• Just Dance, Ubisoft
• Madden NFL 12, Electronic Arts
• Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Sony
• Saints Row: The Third, THQ
• The Legend of Zelda: SkywardSword, Nintendo
• Batman: Arkham City, Warner Bros. Interactive

In all, physical sales of both hardware and software totaled $1.08 billion, up from $1.07 billion year over year, according to NPD Group’s monthly U.S. game industry report.

The biggest console performer was the Xbox for the ninth month in a row. It sold 393,000 units, up 21 percent compared to October 2010 — resulting in a 44 percent industry share.

David Dennis, Group Product Manager of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, told AllThingsD that sales were driven by blockbuster games that started to launch in September and grew in October.

During the month, six of the top 10 console games were available on the Xbox, including Battlefield 3, Batman, NBA 2K12, Rage, and exclusives including Forza Motorsport 4 and Gears of War 3.

The other hardware platform that performed surprisingly well was Nintendo’s portable 3DS, which clearly has benefited from a steep price drop. After a poor reception in July, Nintendo slashed the price of the 3DS to $169.99 from $249.99.

The 3DS was the second-best-selling hardware platform, and when combined with the older DS model sales, Nintendo sold 25 percent more compared to last October.

In all, it sold 1.65 million units, Nintendo said, to put it on track to surpass the first-year total of the Nintendo DS, which sold 2.37 million in its first 12 months on market.

Nintendo’s home console system, the Wii, didn’t do as well. It sold 250,000 units.

It may be taking a longer route, but after spending a year or so experimenting, it says it is getting close.

At a press event in San Francisco on Wednesday, it unveiled plans to launch seven Facebook games over the next several months.

The games are being built in-house and some through third-party studios.

Meanwhile, other companies have gotten up to speed much faster, such as Electronic Arts, Disney and Zynga, which have spent millions, even billions, to get big quick.

“I’m not going to make hundreds of millions of dollars in acquisitions,” said Ubisoft’s VP of Digital Publishing Chris Early. “We’ll never stop looking for acquisitions, but it will be mostly smallish developers with great IP as opposed to buying our way into the market. We said let’s do it organically and understand it as we build.”

Over the past year or so, he said all of Ubisoft’s 23 studios around the globe have been able to experiment. “Five of them liked it and have devoted expertise to it going forward,” he said.

Ubisoft, which is headquartered in France with offices in San Francisco, hosted an event in the states to show off the company’s upcoming lineup of digital titles.

Currently, the company has two major games on Facebook including Smurfs & Co., which rose to the top of the charts in conjunction with the movie release, and CSI: Crime City.

Over the next several months, they have seven more titles planned, including CSI: Miami; House, M.D.: Critical Cases; NCIS: Major Crimes; CSI: New York; NCIS: Los Angeles and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon. Another undisclosed game is also in the works with Loot Drop, a studio founded by John Romero, known for Doom and Quake.

It also announced several more mobile games, which are also being built in-house or through a partnership with Gameloft. As part of that, it plans to launch its first Android games to join Apple’s iOS. Some of the games include Assassin’s Creed Rearmed, Rabbids Go, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, Michael Jackson the Experience and Monster Burner.

Early said in the past month alone, Ubisoft’s digital revenues have increased 45 percent.

Digital revenues include social and mobile games and digital downloads on consoles.

Early said the company’s strategy with mobile and social is to leverage its existing games from the videogame console market to make what he calls companion apps.

Last year, it experimented with its well-known franchise Assassin’s Creed. The Facebook game was called Project Legacy, and the only way of discovering it was if you played Assassin’s Creed on the console. By playing both, users could earn currency, earn points and unlock treasures that could be carried back and forth from console to Facebook.

This year, you’ll see Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon overlap between the console, the PC and Facebook games in the same manner.

On sale Oct. 16, the game, called Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, represents a major deviation from the company’s hugely successful war-based Call of Duty.

The game melds physical toys with videogames by using a “portal,” which is plugged into the console. Once an official Skylanders toy is placed on the portal, the character transports into the game and comes to life on the screen.

The game is similar to one announced recently by Disney that uses miniature toy cars and an iPad. In this case, kids place the physical toy on the iPad’s screen to interact with the game, which is based on the movie “Cars 2.”

Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, told me in a phone interview that Skylanders has “got a couple real innovative stories to tell.”

Not only does the game enable physical toys to come to life inside of a virtual world, Hirshberg said, it also can be played cross-platform. “The toys travel from console to console and to the Web, and they remember everything that happens to them,” he said.

That means a child’s chosen character will remember what level it has attained and transfer that information from the player’s Nintendo Wii to an Xbox or Sony PlayStation at a friend’s house. Players will also be able to pick up where they left off on Android, iOS, Nintendo’s 3DS and online.

“If you play on your Wii and level up to 10 and then go to the Xbox, those all go with you,” Hirshberg said. “And then, on a road trip, you can log in to the iPhone version and the same thing happens.”

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure will have more than 30 different characters.

The plot is about a mysterious world that has been taken over by a sinister Portal Master known as Kaos, who has frozen the Skylanders as toys and banished them to Earth. The players are charged with helping to return these heroes back to their world.

In a release yesterday, Activision said the games would be on display in Toys“R”Us as soon as this weekend, to get the buzz started ahead of the holidays.

Toys“R”Us Chairman and CEO Jerry Storch said, “We believe that the product line will be one of this holiday’s hottest gifts, and we can’t wait to offer customers a one-of-a-kind way to discover Skylanders at our stores.”

A $70 starter pack includes a copy of the game (on PlayStation 3, Xbox or Nintendo Wii), three Skylanders characters, the portal of power, a character poster, trading cards, stickers, Web codes and batteries.

“We have a new hardware platform and we’re putting out software every 90 days,” Riccitiello told IndustryGamers. “Our fastest growing platform is the iPad right now and that didn’t exist 18 months ago. … Consoles used to be 80 percent of the industry as recently as 2000. Consoles today are 40 percent of the game industry.”

An interesting observation coming from the CEO of one of the biggest games publishers in the world. It seems that iOS and the devices that run it have indeed created pricing and customer migration pressure for the traditional gaming platforms whose proprietors initially dismissed them.

As Riccitiello observed during EA’s Wednesday earnings call: “Gone forever is the 4- to 5-year console cadence that gave developers ample time to invest and retool for the next big wave. Consider that just 18 months ago, there was no iPad, Google was just experimenting with Android and most big games were limited to a single revenue opportunity at launch. Consider that each of the major consoles now has a controller that encourages users to get off the couch and get into the action. On smartphones and tablets like the iPhone and iPad, the top paid apps are all games.”

Which is true, I suppose. That said, smartphones and tablets do seem to cater more to casual gamers than hardcore ones these days. But continuing enhancements in processing power and graphics and further hardware improvements should make them more appealing to the latter crowd in the future.

The NPD Group reports today that in the first quarter of the year, digital revenues totaled $1.85 billion, coming in just below traditional sales of $2 billion.

The estimates were released today ahead of its monthly report coming out on Thursday, which is expected to show another weak period for traditional physical sales due to a lull in big game releases and the less than stellar demand for Nintendo’s new 3DS handheld, according to MarketWatch.

Unlike the estimates released today, the Thursday report only accounts for sales made at retail for hardware, software, and accessories — and not the digital format content distribution, which is currently seeing the most growth.

Zynga’s IPO may be the biggest example of this trend.

The San Francisco company, known for such games as CityVille on Facebook and Words With Friends on mobile, reported revenues of $235.4 million in the first quarter of this year. None of those revenues would be accounted for in the traditional physical channel because they come primarily from microtransactions inside online games.

“While the new physical retail channel still generates the majority of industry sales, our expanded research coverage allows us to assess the total consumer spend across the growing number of ways to acquire and experience gaming, including mobile apps and downloadable content,” said Anita Frazier, an analyst at the NPD Group.

MarketWatch reports that two analysts expect more declines in June after sales slid 19 percent in May compared to the same month the previous year. Doug Creutz of Cowen & Co. wrote in a note to clients that he believes sales will decline 12 percent; Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities predicted a drop of six percent.

New game releases for June include Duke Nukem Forever from Take-Two Interactive, which received disappointing reviews.

Today, it wants to change gaming again by introducing a new console called the Wii U.

The Wii U comes with a touchscreen, tablet-style controller that looks like a mix between clunky handheld gaming systems, like the 3DS, and Apple’s iPad in terms of functionality.

Nintendo did not say when the console will be released or how much it will cost.

In the time since the Wii hit the market more than six years ago, Nintendo has sold more than 47 million consoles in the U.S., making it one of the best-selling videogame systems of all time.

But since then, Xbox and Sony have both brought motion-controlled gaming to the next level with the Kinect and Move, respectively, and sales of Nintendo’s latest handheld gaming device, the 3DS, have failed to impress.

This morning at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, Nintendo is hosting a press conference to announce its plans for regaining its gaming throne in the living rooms around the world. The press conference takes place on the official opening day of E3, the annual event the videogame industry uses to announce its plans for the coming year.

Follow the live blog here for all the details:

8:49 am: Thanks for tuning in. We have another 10 minutes or so before things kick off.

I’m excited about this announcement. Nintendo has a way of shaking things up in the industry, and I’ve seen more than my share of first-person shooters already this week.

Whether the E3 crowd wants to admit it or not, there are more people out there who enjoy playing games–it’s about fun.

8:55 am: Nintendo is entertaining the crowd with trivia on the big screen. What was the first Super NES game to feature Donkey Kong?

9:05 am: Whoa, I didn’t even notice this until now, but in the very front of the auditorium, there’s a full orchestra. Very classy. Looks and sounds like we are about to begin.

9:09 am: We are listening to a full orchestra and choir with scenes from Zelda, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, playing on the big screen.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Zelda, has just come on stage.

He’s bringing a translator on stage to help him out.

Last year was the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., this year it’s Zelda’s turn.

Both the games and the music have evolved along with the consoles. He’s been listening to the music for a while now at his office, but to hear it in a hall like this is amazing.

Since we have the full orchestra, why not hear the music live?

First, a chime for getting a prize.

Next, the noise for getting an item.

Now a longer melody from a fairy’s fountain.

9:15 am: To celebrate the anniversary, they are releasing a game for all of the company’s hardware.

Nintendo’s eShop just launched yesterday on the 3DS, but today, you can download the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

Next weekend, there will be a 3-D version for the 3DS.

There will also be a free version of Zelda: Four Swords for the DSi, and a version called Skyward Sword for the Wii. Special for the launch of the game will be a gold remote!

Miyamoto says there will also be symphony concerts held around the world to play the original Zelda soundtrack in the Fall. More later on the specific dates. There are also CDs coming of the music.

9:19 am: For the last 25 years, the series has been supported by an incredibly large team, Miyamoto says. Within Nintendo, there are 200 people who have worked on the series.

Miyamoto says several of the people are here today that have worked on the project.

And, of course, he’d like to thank the fans for playing.

Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata comes on stage.

He says they have been working hard to expand the number of people playing games, but as an industry we haven’t achieved yet a game platform that is equally satisfying for everyone.

This is what we want to create with our new platform.

How?

Two words: Deeper and wider.

He says that they can appeal to a wider audience than even the Wii accomplished. The full details are coming later this morning for the Wii. (The audience says boo, hiss….They don’t want to wait!)

“I think the new platform takes a major step in hitting our goal,” he says, but what about now?

The new Wii is for next year, and they have a bunch of new experiences to roll out for the 3DS, which hasn’t been doing so well, partly because of the lack of games to play.

9:27 am: Welcome to the stage Reggie Fils-Aime.

He asks: Is it possible to deliver something for everyone?

In the same way that’s the goal of the new Wii, this is the goal for the 3DS, he says. We are about to get a sneak peek of new games that will be in 3-D. Although they will only be in 2-D for us in the audience.

First game is Mario Kart.

That will be coming in time for the holidays.

Next game is StarFox 64. In the game, you can either use buttons, or you can turn and tilt the 3DS to navigate through the world.

Additionally, you will be able to use the forward-facing camera to see the face of the friends you are playing and how they are reacting to the game play in real-time.

It arrives this September.

Next up, an all-new Super Mario 3-D that’s been created from scratch for the 3DS. Fils-Aime says, “If it’s true that software sells hardware, it’s also true that Mario has sold a lot of hardware.”

It looks like an all-new Mario, but with plenty of mushrooms and monsters to battle.

The game will hit the market by the end of the year, but oddly no promise of it coming out in time for the holidays.

9:35 am: Another new game is Kid Icarus: Uprising, a fantasy-style game coming soon.

This game will use augmented reality cards to conduct battles.

Next game is Luigi’s Mansion 2. They promise the lovable Italian still has his vacuum to suck up ghosts. It’s not a simple revision, it’s a new game that makes use of 3-D and several new mansions.

9:39 am: Now we are switching gears to see third-party games for the 3DS. In a quick video montage, we see Resident Evil by Capcom, Driver Renegade by Ubisoft, Pac-man by Namco Bandai and many others.

Fils-Aime says that the new browser and eShop downloads that came out this week allow you to get new games. A Virtual Console also allows you to download classic games. For a limited time, they’ll be giving out 3D Excitebike, a super retro title.

But even bigger news: For the first time ever, Pokemon will spring to life in 3-D. The games will come with enhanced Pokedex.

I’m not too familiar with these games, except that I know it’s an essential game that kids play around the world.

Fils-Aime says there’s one more order of business left today.

A proper introduction to a new gaming companion. The name Wii made sense once we started to say it a lot and realized it was all about “we.”

So, today, welcome to the Wii U.

It’s about a system we will all enjoy together and is tailor made for you. (Other word associations: unique, utopia?)

9:46 am: They’ve just unveiled what the new controller looks like, and it’s a tablet!

Use it to draw and sketch with a stylus, or use it to play Othello with a friend, like an iPad.

Use it to play golf. Place it on the floor to see where your ball is lying in the sand trap, and hit it out with the controller in your hand.

Connect a gun accessory to it, to see your target more clearly.

This is wild.

Now we are seeing how you can video conference call with it, like Skype.

The tablet can also be used as a big touch pad remote control for your TV. You can swipe photos off the tablet to land on your TV screen.

9:49 am: The audience goes wild.

The Wii U is like the iPad tied to your TV. The touchscreen has a 6.2 inch display.

The device can also be used without the TV. For example, you can weigh yourself on the Wii Fit Scale just by holding the tablet.

The tablet itself has a gyroscope, a speaker, a microphone and many buttons found commonly on a typical console controller.

But it’s not a portable video game machine, even though it shares some characteristics. In other words, they don’t see it cannibalizing the 3DS.

9:53 am: The Wii U will have a strong connection to the Internet, including browsing the Web on your TV and video conferencing.

But what we haven’t seen a lot of yet is how it will be incorporated into games.

The answer isn’t clear.

We are hearing that there won’t be a shortage of ideas, and that it could be used for numerous ways to play.

There’s a whole interview with Miyamoto at www.E3.Nintendo.com on all the ideas he has on how he believes the new platform could be used.

To kick things off, they are promising there will be Super Smash Bros. for both Wii U and 3DS.

Of course, this is a product for the future. But here in LA, there is software for all of us to test today.

Not sure when Wii U will be released, or what the price point will be.

9:58 am: There will be a handful of interactive demonstrations on the show floor at E3 to show off the system’s capabilities.

10:00 am: Fils-Aime is back on stage to give us a few ideas of the games. There will be Super Mario Me. If you have the new controller, you’ll have a birds-eye view of the birds that are catching you, but you can still play if you have a regular Wii remote.

“What I just described is prototypes, they are not actual games, but one game I can tell you we’ll publish is a new installment of the Lego series called City Stories.”

He says developers around the world see the vast use cases of the Wii U. A bunch of interviews now are playing on the big screen of major game makers, like EA, Ubisoft and Disney.

They are saying that Nintendo has heard the voice of the hardcore game player, who will now be able to play titles, such as DarkSiders, Assassin’s Creed and Ghost Recon, on the Wii U.

10:07 am: If other consoles added motion-controlled gaming to expand its user base to more casual gamers, this appears to be Nintendo’s attempt to attract the hardcore gaming audience.

In a video demonstration, I’m seeing explosions, blood, guts, blasts and lots of shooting and killing.

That’s in stark contrast to the orchestra music we heard from Zelda that welcomed us to the press conference.

10:09 am: EA joins Nintendo on stage. Here comes John Riccitiello, the CEO of Electronic Arts.

“Over the years I’ve made several appearances with our console partnerships, but never before with Nintendo. Nintendo’s new console will have great HD graphics….Imagine a shooter like Battlefield with jaw-dropping graphics brought to you on a Nintendo system with a break-through controller.”

Finally, he says, imagine EA content on a console that can be expanded to mobile and the Web.

“We are changing games from a thing that you buy to a place that you go. Nintendo’s next platform has deeper online capabilities and this is an unprecedented partnership between EA and Nintendo.”

10:12 am: Fils-Aime is back on stage.

The Wii changed gaming, and last year you found out that glasses-free gaming could change 3-D gaming. Now there’s Wii U, a second window into the world of gaming.

If you are here on site, he says you can have hands-on with key new 3DS games. And, then there’s eight new Wii U experiences in the convention center.

10:14 am: For more information, you can check www.e3.nintendo.com.

Let the exploration begin and enjoy the show.

That’s it for the live blog. As a member of the press, I’ll be getting a special hands-on session immediately following the keynote, so stayed tune for pictures and video.

More From E3

• At E3, Xbox Lets Kinect Lead the Charge on Gaming, Live TV Ambitions
• Justin.tv Broadcasts Gamers’ Every Move on TwitchTV
• Who Needs War? Sparks Will Fly in EA’s New Sims Game for Facebook.
• Sony Unveils Vita Gaming Device at E3; Will Launch This Year for $249
• E3: Nintendo Unveils the Wii U With Tablet-Style Controller
• Three Key Takeaways From Nintendo’s Wii U (Plus Photos!)
• No Hacks to Report at Xbox, But Microsoft Isn’t Letting Its Guard Down
• Forget About 99 Cents, What If You Could Rent Mobile Games for 25 Cents?
• Digital Game Revenues Hit $5.9 Billion in 2010

So far, Zong’s payments have been used primarily for paying for virtual goods or items within games on Facebook and Android phones.

Today, the Menlo Park, CA, company says it is extending carrier billing to other environments, such as Adobe’s Flash, Interactive TV, gaming consoles, the mobile web, and Unity, a gaming development tool that works across various platforms. It will also be supporting Android’s new operating system for tablets, called Honeycomb.

Zong said to collect payments, it will ask the user for his or her mobile phone number. Zong will then verify the number with a text message that is sent to the handset, which will complete the transaction. The charge will appear on the consumer’s mobile phone bill or prepaid mobile account.

Collecting payments is frequently a challenge, no matter what the platform. Often, children or young adults don’t have access to credit cards. Users across the age spectrum might prefer the convenience of charging small transactions to their carrier bills rather than having to input a credit card number.

Mobile phone billing has been around for years, but has been used primarily for buying ringtones and other mobile content. It’s only been in the past few months that it has become viable for other expenses, as carriers have lowered the rates they charge.

Zong, along with other startups in the space, like Boku and BilltoMobile, have been negotiating with carriers to lower those rates to make it more feasible to use the carrier bill as a viable payment method.

Zong’s CEO David Marcus told us recently that a lot of progress has been made in recent months with carriers dramatically lowering rates, so they are more in line with credit cards (although still more expensive).

In the not so distant future, he believes carriers will lower the rates enough to enable charging for even some lower margin physical goods. Potentially, it won’t be low enough for everyday items such as groceries or gas.

But next up is for things such as vouchers from Groupon and LivingSocial.

On March 27, Nintendo is introducing the 3DS. This apparent breakthrough turned negative for some when Nintendo added a warning to the device that said viewing 3-D images by children age 6 and under may cause vision damage.

Unaffected by age restrictions, I’ve been using the 3DS for the past week, and it’s a lot of fun—though its chunky design looks like the company is taking a step back rather than forward. Its 3-D screen works as advertised without 3-D glasses, though its effects can’t be seen from side angles, so friends trying to peek at the screen won’t see much. It made me a bit dizzy after a while, so I adjusted a 3-D Depth Slider to make the screen images appear less three-dimensional. This slider, or a setting in parental controls, can turn off the 3-D.

The videogame industry has a lot riding on Nintendo’s launch. Sales of new videogame consoles in 2010 fell 13% to $6.29 billion from $7.19 billion a year earlier, according to market-research firm NPD Group. Sales have begun edging up in the past few months following the launch in November of Microsoft Corp.’s Kinect motion-controller for its Xbox 360 console.

The industry is facing competition from sleeker, lighter smartphones which offer good quality, downloadable games free or for a few dollars, much less than the average $40 price for each Nintendo 3DS game. While Nintendo has created products with 3-D capabilities since the mid-1980s, none have caught on. Nintendo 3DS is the result of improvements in screen technology and lower prices for these screens. The company, which is based in Kyoto, Japan, saw no apparent damage to its headquarters after the recent earthquake, a spokesman says. Business operations, including future product shipments, haven’t been affected, he adds.

Nintendo’s competitors aren’t jumping on the portable 3-D bandwagon quite yet. Apple has no intention of introducing a 3-D, portable display anytime soon, say people familiar with the situation. When Sony announced plans for its Next Generation Portable gaming device in January, the company confirmed this device wouldn’t have 3-D. A spokesman says Sony considered including 3-D during the development process for this device, but decided to focus on other features. A Microsoft spokesman says as consumer demand evolves for 3-D, the company is committed to evolving its technology. Both Sony and Microsoft offer 3-D games and movies in the living room via their PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

On March 27, 18 game titles will launch including Nintendogs + cats from Nintendo, and Madden NFL Football and Sims 3 from EA Sports. Almost all Nintendo DS games and DSiWare games will be playable in 2-D on the Nintendo 3DS.

Games that come loaded on the 3DS include Face Raiders and Nintendo 3DS Sound, which plays MP3 or AAC files and mixes your voice using funny sound effects. A Mii Maker program lets people make a Mii (personalized game character) with photos they take with the device. I created a particularly funny looking Mii with features that mirrored some of mine. But these Miis can’t be exported back to the Wii gaming console, where Miis first became popular.

Nintendo’s 3DS has cameras that capture 3-D photos for use in games.

Another cool game called AR Games lets users look through the 3DS cameras at six augmented-reality cards that come with the device. The cards make images more animated and three-dimensional. I found the effect so realistic, I reached out with my hand to make sure the imposed images, like a card with mini bull’s-eyes, weren’t actually on the table in front of me.

The 3DS has a few new features besides 3-D. A new circle pad works like a super flexible joystick for smoother navigation. Two outward-facing, stereo cameras take 3-D photos of friends or things, which can then be used in games. This made the games more personal and fun.

I used the 3-D photos I took in games like Face Raiders, which makes use of its motion and gyro sensors. The 3DS has an Internet browser, which wasn’t available on the device I tested. A Nintendo spokesman says it won’t work on devices until May. Also in May, Nintendo will start offering downloadable games for the 3DS.

Programs called SpotPass and StreetPass allow the 3DS to wirelessly receive or send data on the go even when the device is in sleep mode. SpotPass detects wireless hot spots so the 3DS can download free software, videos or game data. In late May, SpotPass will let users access AT&T’s Wi-Fi hot spots, free of charge. StreetPass lets one 3DS wirelessly exchange data with others within range (roughly 100 feet). A light on the 3DS indicates when the device has received new notifications.

The 3DS can perform other functions in sleep mode, like counting steps for a built-in pedometer. I carried the 3DS in my bag on several occasions throughout a conference and noticed a tiny icon of feet at the top of the screen with a number of steps beside it.

But the addition of 3-D technology to this device meant compromises on some key features. At eight ounces and 0.8-inch thick, the 3DS is slightly heavier and thicker than its comparable predecessor, the Nintendo DSi, which came out in 2009. (Apple’s iPod touch weighs less than half as much and is 0.28-inch thick.)

The 3DS’s estimated battery life is up to five hours while playing 3DS games, while regular Nintendo DS games will last up to eight hours. The DSi’s estimated battery life is up to 14 hours of game play. The 3DS is $100 more expensive than the DSi and its games are also pricier.

The Nintendo 3DS does a good job of incorporating 3-D with photos and games, as long as the games don’t make you feel dizzy. But its clunky form and limited functionality is up against steep competition from smartphones that cost less and offer more games.

Ian Sherr in San Francisco contributed to this article.

Write to Katherine Boehret at katie.boehret@wsj.com

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110315/nintendos-3ds-brings-dizzying-fun-on-the-go/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110303/sony-move-creator-richard-marks-on-the-future-of-motion-control-but-he-doesnt-call-it-that/ http://allthingsd.com/20110303/sony-move-creator-richard-marks-on-the-future-of-motion-control-but-he-doesnt-call-it-that/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2011 03:24:08 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://emoney.allthingsd.com/?p=3274 The Microsoft Kinect, which gives users the ability to play hands-free on their Xbox, was a runaway hit of the holiday season, selling eight million units.

Meanwhile, Sony released a similar accessory for the PlayStation 3 called the Move, which sold 4.1 million during the first two months.

The two devices signal a wave of new gaming techniques by moving your body and arms — and brings what the Nintendo Wii started to the next level.

All three motion-controlled platforms help introduce gaming to a new demographic, who would have never envisioned themselves being comfortable picking up a controller that has a dozen or so differently colored buttons.

For Sony and Microsoft, it also breathes new life into their aging gaming systems, by creating new reasons to buy games, or even the console.

Sony charges about $100 for one controller and one game; and Microsoft charges about $140 for the Kinect plus one game.

So, is it a fad?

Richard Marks, who created the Sony Move, said no we’ve just gotten started.

“I don’t call it motion-control, even though Sony does. We are adding a level of finesse to gaming that hasn’t been there before. By calling it motion-control, it’s selling it short,” he said.

While most of the popular titles for the platforms so far are centralized around dancing or sports, Marks said the technology has the ablity to add a lot more to the gaming experience.

In fact, that’s one big difference between the Move and the Kinect.

“The traditional controller is intimidating, so this is addressing that audience, but it is also addressing the same core gaming audience.”

With the addition of a gun attachment, players can then use it to participate in hard core games, such as Kill Zone 3, where users pull a trigger to shoot someone and physically duck behind obstacles, so they don’t get shot.

At first, he said they didn’t know how traditional gamers would react to adding Move to these games, but as it turns out, it makes the game feel much closer to reality. ”People don’t want to die as much, so they end up playing the game slower. It personalizes it more,” he said.

But adding Move to both casual and hard core game titles is just the beginning.

He says the technology has the ability to be so precise, you can imagine reaching your hand into a 3D world and picking up an object to inspect it. Or, in an intense fight scene, you could create a shield to defend yourself, by grabbing two sides of a imaginary fabric and stretching it to block a shot — using both hands.

He argues that’s a much more better experience than pushing a button. “It’s not a fad and it won’t replace the controller, but is good for when you want a special input.”

Where he thinks the technology will stop short is when it comes to bringing it to other devices.

The images in Minority Report, where Tom Cruise is moving around objects in thin air is not the best use case. “Doing that for eight hours a day is not practical. It’s being oversold because it’s cool. There’s more natural interfaces for that…The Move is a game controller, it was never desinged to be for the desktop.”

Here’s a video of Marks, who elaborates on his vision for the future of motion-controlled gaming, or uh, whatever he wants to call it:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110303/sony-move-creator-richard-marks-on-the-future-of-motion-control-but-he-doesnt-call-it-that/feed/ 3 http://allthingsd.com/20110228/survey-finds-video-game-usage-on-phones-tops-consoles-computers/ http://allthingsd.com/20110228/survey-finds-video-game-usage-on-phones-tops-consoles-computers/#comments Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:59:10 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://emoney.allthingsd.com/?p=3179 Seattle-based PopCap has commissioned a study that doesn’t necessarily support the bulk of its business to date — making games for consoles and computers. The pre-IPO casual-game maker of Bejeweled said the survey, conducted by Information Solutions Group, found that among mobile phone gamers in the U.S. and UK, 44 percent say the phone is the primary gaming device of choice, leapfrogging video game consoles (21 percent) and personal computers (30 percent) since a similar survey was last conducted in 2009.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110228/survey-finds-video-game-usage-on-phones-tops-consoles-computers/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110131/popcap-games-ready-to-play-public-markets-in-2011/ http://allthingsd.com/20110131/popcap-games-ready-to-play-public-markets-in-2011/#comments Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:00:23 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://emoney.allthingsd.com/?p=2144 PopCap Games is planning to go public this year after spending more than a decade as an independent company.

The Seattle-based company is the king of casual, for producing hit titles such as Plants vs. Zombies, Zuma Blitz and its most-recognized title, Bejeweled, which four million people still play every day.

“We are ready to be public this year if we think it makes sense,” said PopCap’s CEO David Roberts.

For most of the company’s existence, it has made money primarily by charging users for a game that they either buy in a box off the shelf or download over the Internet. In 2010, PopCap’s revenues totaled $100 million.

But the revenue mix is slowly starting to change.

Always an equal-opportunity platform developer, PopCap has aggressively developed games for computers, video-game consoles and mobile phones, leaving no gem unturned.

Now it’s focused on Facebook, the ridiculously lucrative market that has spawned new game companies like Zynga, Electronic Arts’ Playfish and Disney’s Playdom.

Two years ago, PopCap started to see Facebook’s potential and launched Bejeweled for free. In May 2010, it started monetizing the game by selling virtual goods, like coins and power-ups. It took only two months for PopCap to hit $1 million in monthly revenues on Facebook.

Roberts declined to say how much it is making on virtual goods now, but points out that it is the sixth-largest developer on Facebook in terms of daily active users, after other game makers, like Zynga, Electronic Arts and others, according to AppData.

“Our biggest growth is Facebook, virtual goods and microtransactions,” he said. “We are halfway through our transition from license to Facebook.”

If it is not already obvious, Roberts says, the two dominant themes of the year will be social and mobile.

PopCap’s iPhone games have also done exceedingly well, scoring two of the top 10 best-selling apps of 2010. Bejeweled 2 and Plants vs. Zombies were ranked fourth and ninth, respectively.

Interestingly, of the games that made the list, each of them costs 99 cents, except for Plants vs. Zombies, which costs $2.99.

What makes gaming such a big opportunity?

The major trend developing from smartphones and social is that games can now be as popular as a movie and “not be a weird, niche-y thing,” he said. “The new platforms are what drove that change.”

The trend that Roberts is referring to was cemented late last year when Activision Blizzard reported that Call of Duty: Black Ops hit $1 billion in sales after slightly more than one month. In its first five days alone, it outpaced all records for five-day box office receipts of any movie.

Unlike Call of Duty, PopCap’s games are more inviting. It forgoes guns and missiles for brain teasers and puzzles that offer players a few minutes of relaxation.

That’s not a small niche. On average, roughly 50 million people are playing a PopCap title across its network every month.

Roberts said there’s an opportunity to communicate with that audience more, but it has some learning to do, about how and when to send messages on game tips or cross-promoting titles. “If we are going to be a broad-based consumer company, we have to learn to be that kind of company.”

PopCap has 400 employees, half of which are based in its downtown Seattle sky-rise offices and the other half at its studios around the world, including Shanghai and Dublin. It has the enviable position of being profitable and self-funded, other than taking a small mezzanine round of funding a couple of years ago.

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