Category Archives: openfeint
Stumble Upon
Del.icio.us
Buzz
The Portable Podcast, Episode 50: An Interview with OpenFeint’s Jason Citron About The Future of OpenFeint
The Portable Podcast, Episode 50: An Interview with OpenFeint’s Jason Citron About The Future of OpenFeint is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
On This Episode:
OpenFeint currently stands at a crossroads – with Apple taking on OpenFeint in the metagaming space on iOS, they find themselves trying to remain relevant in the long-term. And as of today, it appears as if OpenFeint is looking beyond iOS for the future of their products. Today, OpenFeint is announcing that they are launching their service and Feint Spotlight app for the Android Marketplace, along with launch month titles such as Fruit Ninja from Halfbrick, MiniSquadron from MrFungFung, Flick Kick Football from PikPok, and Mega Jump from Get Set Games.
The CEO of OpenFeint, Jason Citron, was kind enough to sit down and speak with me about this announcement and what OpenFeint is doing in the future on iOS. According to Jason, OpenFeint’s goal is to unify the various platforms – for people to be able to play games with their friends on other phones, to bridge the gap between the various hardware that people have. As well as their future on Android, OpenFeint is launching tools for developers to let their OpenFeint scoring and achievement systems work with Game Center easily while still taking advantage of OpenFeint features that Game Center does not provide, such as replays, asynchronous multiplayer services, and the upcoming voice chat feature PlayTime, launching with OpenFeint 3.0.
Jason Citron spoke at length with me on the new episode of The Portable Podcast to discuss what they’re doing on Android, the challenges that Android’s various devices bring, and the perception of the Android market versus the reality of the situation. On the iOS side, we talk about how Game Center and OpenFeint can coexist (including Jason recommending that developers take advantage of Game Center), and how iOS fits in the future of OpenFeint.
Who Are We:
Music:
How to Listen:
Apps Mentioned on This Episode:
FREE!
iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-01-08 :: Category: Entertainment
[ The Portable Podcast, Episode 50: An Interview with OpenFeint’s Jason Citron About The Future of OpenFeint is a post from 148Apps ]
OpenFeint Now Available on Android – Cross Platform Competition Coming Soon!
Dragooo HD for iPad Review
Croak!
Aurora Feint Reveals iOS/Android Cross-Platform OpenFeint PlayTime
OpenFeint Debuts New Online Gaming Service: PlayTime
The Portable Podcast, Episode 47
OpenFeint Announces New Viral Game Sharing System
How To Beat GameCenter – OpenFeint Opens Its Services To Android
How To Beat GameCenter – OpenFeint Opens Its Services To Android is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
GameCenter is Apple’s answer to the absurd fragmentation of the iPhone gaming world. It is trying to become the X-Box Live of the App Store, the go-to place for high scores, achievement badges, and game invites. Unfortunately for many of the other services out there, such as Plus+ and Crystal, if GameCenter takes off, their existence could be coming to a screeching halt.
OpenFeint, one of the pioneers in social gaming in the App Store, has another idea. Instead of waiting for extinction, they are tapping into a market that Apple can’t touch: Android. With many of their supported games being released cross platform, OpenFeint has decided to let iPhone users and Android users coexist in game matchmaking harmony.
The new system works primarily by SMS and e-mail, allowing for a user to invite their friends to an OpenFeint supported game. With the insane expansion of the Android market, having the ability to play against someone over there seems rather tempting.
“One glaring problem with today’s mobile gaming community is how fractured it is across platforms, OpenFeint is bridging the gap between gamers,” says Peter Relan, Executive Chairman of Aurora Feint. “As we expand cross platform this summer, we’re going to roll out services that will help friends that use different device platforms play against each other.”
In my eyes, what system I am playing on doesn’t matter in the least. While I generally prefer the ease of use of OpenFeint as opposed to the other systems, I don’t choose my games based on that. Apple’s game center is appealing to me just because I expect the interface to be nice and pretty, but if I can have my high scores stacked up against a bunch of Droid lackeys, I’ll be much happier.
It’ll be interesting to see which service game developers end up going with, and if Apple’s plans for iPhone unification work out. It sure seems to me that OpenFeint is making a pretty strong push with its cross platform integration.
I’m also putting a $50 bet down that Apple will somehow ban the use of rival game platforms, citing that it will become extremely confusing for customers. Watch out!
[ How To Beat GameCenter – OpenFeint Opens Its Services To Android is a post from 148Apps ]
OpenFeint 2.6 Introduces Out-of-Network Invites, Cross-Platform Play
OpenFeint 2.6 Introduces Out-of-Network Invites, Cross-Platform Play is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
Social gaming infrastructure developer Aurora Feint announced that the latest version of its OpenFeint network allows users to send SMS and e-mail game invites to any contact listed in their smartphone’s address book.
While out-of-network invites will be available first to iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad users, OpenFeint positions the feature as key to its upcoming Android expansion. The company notes that both Android and App Store developers will benefit from increased promotion through users of the OpenFeint network.
“With [Apple's social gaming network] Game Center just around the corner and thousands more games coming on the market every year, effective and unique promotion is more important than ever,” says Jason Citron, CEO of Aurora Feint.
“By creating this out-of-network invite system, we’ll help players give more organic game endorsements shedding light on the best games out there and resulting in more game downloads.”
Aurora Feint also revealed plans to promote cross-platform play for supported applications.
“One glaring problem with today’s mobile gaming community is how fractured it is across platforms, OpenFeint is bridging the gap between gamers,” said Peter Relan, Executive Chairman of Aurora Feint. “As we expand cross platform this summer, we’re going to roll out services that will help friends that use different device platforms play against each other.”
Coming Soon: Chopper 2 Universal App can be played on your TV
Toast Shooter HD
Four Devs Sign Up For OpenFeint X Mobile Virtual Goods Platform
Four Devs Sign Up For OpenFeint X Mobile Virtual Goods Platform is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
Aurora Feint announced that has partnered with four developers — Halfbrick Studios, PikPok, Retro Dreamer, and Hypercube — for the private beta of its OpenFeint X iPhone and iPad virtual goods platform.
Currently designed for iOS devices like iPhones and iPads, the OpenFeint platform allows developers to integrate social features into their games, such as online leaderboards, friends lists, chats, and more. Over 2,200 games so far have integrated OpenFeint, reaching some 28 million users.
OpenFeint X takes advantage of cloud-based servers to enable companies to add virtual goods to their games. With the platform, developers won’t need to build their own infrastructure of servers to offer digital items that players can purchase inside games.
The four announced partners plan to release games with virtual goods later this year. Other interested studios can request for more information on OpenFeint X at the mobile platform’s official site.
“With few good quality virtual goods-based social games available for smart phones, the market already exceeds $168 MM,” says Aurora Feint CEO Jason Citron. “We think that this is a tremendous revenue opportunity for game developers.”
He continues, “OpenFeint X offers game developers the opportunity to enter this market quickly without having to build the internal server expertise required to support scalable social games.”
Study: Americans Spent $168M On Mobile Virtual Goods Last Year
Study: Americans Spent $168M On Mobile Virtual Goods Last Year is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
U.S. consumers spent an estimated $168 million on mobile virtual goods in the last year, according to a new study from research firm Frank N. Magid Associates and mobile social gaming network OpenFeint.
Magid says more than 70 million Americans now own smartphones, or around 23 percent of the U.S. population. The firm believes that 45 percent of those smartphone owners play mobile games, and that 16 percent of them have purchased in-game virtual goods, spending an average of $41 per year on them.
While the firm’s research indicates that 75 percent of smartphone owners in the U.S. have not bought virtual goods, it says 55 percent of them have shown an interest in buying them. Magid argues that the mobile virtual goods market is “poised for strong growth” as the number of games offering virtual goods ramp up.
The group also found that smartphone gamers download an average of 14 titles per year, paying for around four of them while acquiring the other ten for free. It notes that Americans are most likely to review app store rankings to discover new games but also rely on word of mouth and friend suggestions, too.
Magid and Aurora Feint revealed this data in the the first half of its two-part study Magid Media Futures 2010 Wireless and Consumers. It plans to publish the second half of its findings later this summer.
“Everybody knows free-to-play social gaming models on PC platforms have been making a killing but mobile virtual goods aren’t as well understood,” says Magid Advisors president Mike Vorhaus.
He adds, “With almost 20 percent of smartphone gamers already making purchases, there’s a lot of room for the market to keep taking off as smartphones continue to increase in popularity.”