Caperfly Ltd debuts at Develop 2012

Mobile gaming is an area I am really interested in and according to Gartner, the applications market is seeing exponential growth driven by the rapid adoption of smartphone and tablet devices, with the market predicted to reach a value of $17.5b by the end of 2012.

You can understand why I am quite excited to help spread the some buzz about Caperfly Ltd, a company based in nearby Lemington Spa, Warwickshire. It recently made its debut at Develop 2012 in Brighton.

This brand new digital entertainment and media application company aims to deliver high quality interactive titles to the iOS, Android and emerging Smart TV platforms. According to Guy Pearce, VP Brand & Marketing, the company intends to bring a new commercial innovation, production quality ethos and design expertise to these platforms.

Gavin (CEO of Caperfly)

Gavin Cheshire, the CEO of Caperfly (and Former VP of Development at Codemasters) : “Mobile is changing how people interact, play games and consume media. Our desire is to make gaming applications that enable new levels of enjoyment for the user.”

Former SEGA® America and Europe CEO Mike Hayes joins the company as a non-Executive Director for the company.

Thanks for the info, Guy.

The Sims Social now live on Facebook

Video game maker EA has brought the popular game The Sims to Facebook. Called The Sims Social, the online game is finally live today. You can create your virtual Sim, build you ideal home and interact with all your friends.

The game already has 7,324,839 monthly active users when I last checked.

Looks like Farmville has a serious competitor.

Angry Birds for PC

Just found out that one of the most popular games on the iPhone is now available for PCs and it is totally free. In case you haven't guessed by now, I am referring to the Angry Birds game which you can now play on your PC.

You can also download it as an app for the Google Chrome browser and play offline.

However, be warned. The game is really addictive.

Thanks to my friend Zaman Kadir for the link.

Lady Gaga releases songs on Farmville

Singer Lady Gaga has released 2 songs from her new 'Born This Way' album on the popular Facebook game Farmville. She has her own neighbourhood called Gagaville.

In order to access the songs, player would have to complete a few tasks on the completion of which they are allowed to listen to the songs. A really unique way to release new songs and Lady Gaga is of course unique.

Here's the list of the songs:
Marry the night - not available
Electric Chapel - available May 18
Fashion of His Love - available May 19
BORN THIS WAY album - available May 20–23

Blur - the ultimate racing game

Blur, a new racing game, comes out on May 28th. The game for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and PC, features real-world track locations from Hackney and Brighton, packed with fast curves, sneaky alternate routes and hair-raising jumps in over 50 licensed cars.

Check out their amazing official trailer and if the real game is anything like that, it will definitely be a hit.

FarmVille on Facebook

Games are the main reason that Facebook has become so popular and FarmVille is the most popular game on it by far. When I last checked it's Facebook page had 20,963,762 fans and mentions that it has 81,125,786 monthly active users.

Developed by Zynga, this Flash game allows you to build up your own virtual farm complete with crops, animals, buildings and even aliens cows. It is one of the several game applications I am playing on Facebook but of late, it is the only one I am most active on.

If you thought that online games were only for kids, you are totally wrong. Almost all my friends playing this game are in their 30s, most of them with kids and some in top managerial positions. My wife is hooked on it as well. I have just reached level 33 while top in the ladder is a lady friend who is on level 60. I know of a few of my friends who actually spent money to buy virtual stuff on this game - Yes! Real money.

I can only guess the reasons why this game is so popular. First of all, it may be due to the fact that FarmVille allows room for creativity and growth unlike other games on Facebook. You should see some of the amazing designs that some people have come up with.

Then there is the social networking part, you need to have friends and interact with in order to expand, to get gifts and experience.The game developers keep the interest up by coming up with limited edition decorations and gifts, mystery boxes, upgrades and special themes - for example, it's the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics now and Valentine's day theme a few days ago.

This could be a really interesting topic to research academically - the motivations, the virtual economy, etc. Too bad I am really busy with my own research on attitude towards blogs.

Are you on FarmVille?

3 Trending Topics game on Twitter. Join in

I am still on Twitter but just realised that the initial fascination I had with this amazing social networking medium has somewhat dimmed. I have now Crossed 2K followers on Twitter but I am tweeting less.

While going through the trending topics, I realised that there are a number of creative guys who were using them to form interesting tweets. I was suddenly excited and thought why don't we start a game.

All we have to do is use any 3 Trending Topics to form a coherent sentence. Use tag #3tt

I just posted one up:

"Here's the first one. Magic Mouse is playing Russian Roulette on Halloween #3tt"

Can you think of something creative using the trending topics?

Reply from Amazon.co.uk Customer Services about the Wii

I wrote to the Amazon.co.uk Customer Services regarding the missing games. Please refer to my previous post: 'Unpacking the Nintendo Wii'.

Hi,
I just bought the Nintendo Wii Console with Wii Sports + Wii Sports Resort and Motion Plus Controller (Wii) for £179.99. The console has already arrived and we are really happy with Amazon.co.uk's service.

I only realised that the two free games (as offered on your site) were missing. I had chosen FIFA 10 (Wii) by Electronic Arts and Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes (Wii) by Activision. However, I had not paid attention when I checked out and realise that they was not on my receipt as well.

Do I still get these games or do I have to pay extra?

Hoping to hear from you soon.
Thanks and regards,

I got a prompt reply back from Amazon.co.uk Customer Services today:

Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk.

We are sorry to hear of the difficulty you experienced with this offer. We do have the following offer available on the website; Nintendo Wii Console with Wii Sports + Wii Sports Resort and Motion Plus Controller (Wii) and Fifa 10 and Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes for £239.97

I have investigated your order and found that as you did not follow the steps associated with the offer, your order did not qualify for it. In order to avail of this offer, you needed to add both Fifa 10 and Star wars: The Clone Wars to your basket.

You are welcome to return the item in accordance with our 30-day returns guarantee. Please visit our Returns Support Centre to be guided through our full policy and to obtain a printable personalised return label.....

No! I don't want to return the console. I am really happy with it and I don't really need the other two games. All I am interested to know is whether I can still get the "two selected games" for free.

Have already sent them an email clarifying my question and eagerly waiting for a reply. Even though it was my fault, it would be nice if they could send me two games (after all it was part of the offer).

Unpacking the Nintendo Wii

Our Nintendo Wii console finally arrived yesterday. I had bought the Nintendo Wii Console with Wii Sports + Wii Sports Resort and Motion Plus Controller (Wii) from Amazon UK for only £179.99. It is a present for my daughter who celebrating her birthday soon and as a reward for doing great at school.

For your information, Amazon has slashed prices of the Wii like crazy. The normal pack that comes with Wii sports is now only £139.99 (from £179.99). I took advantage of this great deal which includes the new Sports Resort game which comes with the Motion Plus Controller. Plus I also get two other games for free. That's savings of more than £60.

Unpacking was like opening a babushka doll - there was box after box inside.

First box


Second box


Third box


And two more boxes inside


Not very eco-friendly I guess but I am so happy on finally getting my hands on the Wii that I don't really care much. Some hard core gamers to get the XBox or the PS3 but I want something the whole family can play together with and I can now understand why the Nintendo Wii appeals so much to families. It is something that brings the whole family and friends together, something that you can play along with your kids and still enjoy and it has in fact brought the game console out into the living room.

However, there is some bad news. I was supposed to choose two games for free and I had selected Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes (Wii) and FIFA 10 (Wii). But somehow while going back and forth, I must have unchecked them or something, I obviously didn't add them when I checked out. I only realised it today and I was like "where are my 2 free games" and found that they were not on my receipt either. I have emailed Amazon's customer service and am waiting to see what they say.

The Wii MotionPlus accessory which attaches to the end of the Wii Remote totally blew me away. And according to Nintendo "allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player's arm position and orientation providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion". I totally agree.

Anyway, now on my shopping list:

• Another Wii Motion plus controller and Nunchuk
• Guitar Hero 5 - Guitar Bundle (Wii) and
• Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Wii)

What are your favourite games on the Nintendo Wii?

Guy Pearce Interview - Dirt 2 video game

Guy Pearce is Brand Director, Internal Studios at Codemasters. He talks about Dirt 2 the sequel to Dirt the popular rally game in a recent interview. You might be surprised to learn that Guy lives here in Coventry, UK.

Check out the cool preview video.



The game will be released on 8th September in North America and 11th September in the UK.

Hooked on Spymaster

While going through Twitter recently, I noticed that one of the top trending keywords was #spymaster. Found out that Spymaster is an online game for Twitter which is now on private invite only beta.

The game works like this:

First of all you choose which spy organisation you would like to join - I choose MI6 naturally. You then carry out tasks and earn money and gain experience. As you gain more experience, more challenging tasks (with higher rewards) are unlocked.



You can buy items such as guns from the Blackmarket and finally carry out assassinations. you can even open a Swiss Bank account.

I am not sure but I think this is the first Twitter based game and if you are on Twitter, you might think twice before signing up. I am warning you - it is really addictive.

First Commentator:
Azwan

Pet Society on Facebook

Facebook celebrated it's 5th birthday this Wednesday and it's growing from strength to strength.

I guess one of the reasons this online social network has become so popular are the wide choice of applications that anyone on the network can sign up for, depending on their interest.

Definitely, the most popular applications are the games. Apart from Knighthood, my favourite game on Facebook, I have a few others on my profile. This includes Pet Society, a virtual world where your pet lives, eats, meet friends, play and buy stuff. In case you are wondering how the developers make money from these game, just take a look at the Pet Society website. You can buy t-shirts, mugs and loads of other stuff. Once you open their application on Facebook, you can also visit the bank to buy coins using Paypal and other means of payment. You can then use the gold to buy stuff including virtual wallpaper and seasonal decorations.

This is but one of the interactive games from Playfish.com. Other popular games include "Who has the biggest brain?", "Word Challenge" and more.



Unfortunately, this has become my daughter's favourite game as well and I would have to let her play with it every day after coming back from school. Looking at the bright side, she has a better understanding of money - how to earn it, spend it and more importantly - saving it.

If you are on Facebook, do check out the game.

#1 Knighthood player in Warwick

One of my favourite games on FaceBook is Knighthood, an online multiplayer role playing game where you recruit friends as vassals, construct and expand buildings, rise in rank (I am now a Viscount on Knighthood), form alliances and even attack other players.

There have been several updates and among the new developments is that players in peace mode are now included in the rankings and symbolized by a crown with a laurel wreath. Previously you needed to be in war mode to be ranked.

Quite surprised to learn that I am now the #1 player of the game in the University of Warwick.



If you are Facebook, do join my kingdom.

Viscount on Knighthood

I have been playing Knighthood, a strategy game on Facebook for a while. Read my previous post about being addicted to the game here. I decided to lay low for a while to lick my wounds and build up my defences. Lost a couple of my vassals to more powerful opponents the last time I was in the war mode.

I recently moved up to Viscount, thanks to Count Zaid, my leige. However, yesterday I found out that another player, Count Odd had seized me from Count Ziad and became my new liege. On the request of Zaid I went into war mode and rebelled against Odd but was not successful. I noticed that my profile is now in the "Realm" and was quite happy to find out that I am the #3 player in the University of Warwick.


If you have no idea what I am talking about, you are obviously not familiar with the game. Maybe you should join my army.

Addicted to KnightHood on Facebook

Sometime back I was invited to join KnightHood, one of the hundreds of applications on Facebook by one of my friends. I signed up for the online multi-player game but it seemed a little to complex and I promptly forgot about it.

Quite recently, another friend was telling me about this "amazing strategy game on Facebook" and that's how I rediscovered the game. And after doing some research, quickly got into the thick of it.

You start out the game as a Squire and then move up to become a Knight (or Lady), then a Baron (or Baroness), a Viscount (or Viscountess) and so on. So far the highest ranked player is a Duchess Marina . To get started, you recruit your friends as your vassals. You then go ahead building, expanding and upgrading new buildings including Castles, Marketplace and Walls among others.

Building a Marketplace will being generating gold, which can then be used to hasten the construction and upgrade of other buildings including your defences, namely, Wall, Watchtowers and Pallisade.

Building Barracks allows you to raid other players and steal their vassals. I made some mistakes in the past such as expanding my Barracks too fast without building up strong defences. This brought me into the attack bracket of some very aggressive players and ended up losing several of my Vassals. I later learnt that it is advisable to build up very strong defences (at least 2 levels above your Barracks) before expanding and upgrading the Barracks

I was released by my leige who said that I was pushing up his attack bracket and I thus became a "Sovereign". I was loosing too many Vassals and decided to disband my troops and went into peace mode (no one can attack me in this mode nor can I attack anyone else while I build up my defences.

There were some interesting offers on the discussion boards. One guy was offering 10000 gold per week or 1000 gold everyday to join him as a vassal with the freedom to be released any time. This sounded good with me and I became his Vassal.

I will be gathering back my armies as soon as I finish building the dreaded Trapper. Don't be surprised if you find the servers down once in a while. The game is still in Beta.

Yeah! I am really into this game.

Join me here .

PS. Neewbies! I suggest you go through the KnightHood Wiki Help site before you start playing.

MyMiniCity - another great way to waste time

Go over to Adamok - my virtual city. Every visit will improve my city. The first stage involves increasing the population followed by industrialisation.

You can go over there and create you own virtual city for free as well.

Got this from the Niterider.

Fun games for Mac users

One thing you notice about Mac users is that they are fanatically loyal. They proudly go around with a "Think different" or a "iThink, Therefore iMac" sticker on their car windscreen. Don't even think of even trying to point out any negative about Mac machines. However, there is one thing that most grudgingly agree - that computer games for the Mac are too few. Most computer games are targeted at PC users. I guess it just a matter of targeting the majority of computer users - PC users. However, there might be a great niche market for companies who target the Mac users.

For some great mac games go over to midoritech.com. This company is based in Burgundy, France and they have some great quality recreational games. They have taken two all-time popular games that never goes out of style and come out with versions for the Mac, namely and You can download the demos for free. The full version of the mahjong for the Mac OS X costs $19.95 while the the mac solitaire costs $9.95.

Talking about solitaire brings back memories of spending hours on my dad's computer playing the game dragging cards on the screen. It was a great way to pass time or to relax. This game available for download for PCs as well as the Mac OS. The game developers have compiled a collection of all the favorite solitaire games and more.

Midoritech also carries some games for kids and one of them is called 'Ladybugs'. It is aimed at stimulating your child's thinking and color recognition skills and enjoy at the same time. According to the website, they will have more software and games coming your way in the near future.

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