Video Games, Apps | featured news

New research shows that tablets have made big inroads against traditional gaming platforms among U.S. adults who play video games. For marketers, the research brings good news in the form of an acceptance to seeing advertising within video games—as long as the games themselves are free—and a willingness to see familiar brand names and products within games.

Just weeks after the National Rifle Association forcefully blamed violent video games for gun violence, the gun-rights organization has released a new shooter game for kids as young as four.

Here's the scenario: You were the lucky recipient of a new Apple iPad this holiday season, and you're slightly overwhelmed by the 275,000 app choices (not including the thousands of universal apps that are compatible with iPhone, iPod, and iPad) in the iTunes Store.

Rovio has had more than 1 billion downloads of its games focused on its wildly successful Angry Birds franchise. But can it have as much success with its next franchise? Peter Vesterbacka, the quirky CMO of Rovio, wearing an Angry Birds sweatshirt, talked about Amazing Alex, the first non bird-pig game from Rovio, at the GamesBeat conference in San Francisco Tuesday.

Tuomas Erikoinen, the man who drew the hit "Angry Birds" app, doesn't really resent his creation. He's just bored with it. He sees the game's grumpy, ball-shaped, wingless birds everywhere he goes, their furrowed brows staring him down. Here in Finland's capital, where "Angry Birds" began, Erikoinen's drawings have been turned into T-shirts, "plushie" stuffed animals and two brands of soft drinks -- Tropic and Paradise.

Game company Nintendo denied reports that it was preparing apps for Android and iOS devices, telling Bloomberg that it was not changing its policy to develop software only for its own gaming devices. Pokemon, an independent Nintendo affiliate, is developing software for Apple and Google and this summer will release a game for those companies related to its popular series.

The Finns behind Angry Birds seek global domination... “We think we can hit a billion downloads by the end of next year,” Vesterbacka says, casually. Then, almost as an aside: “We think we can be the leading entertainment brand in China by 2012.” Excusez-moi? “We think we can be bigger than Disney in China,” he clarifies. As growth projections go, this sounds absurd. Rovio grossed $20 million (the company is profitable) in the first three months of 2011. Disney will spend that amount every ten days for the next five years building its 1,000-acre theme park in Shanghai.

The company behind the Angry Birds mobile phone game sensation wants to list on the stock market.

We all know Angry Birds has been downloaded loads of times. My personal estimate was somewhere around a million-kabillion, but developer Rovio's latest figures put me off by just a few.

The hit game is one of the unlikeliest pop-culture crazes of the year — and perhaps the first to make the leap from cellphone screens to the mainstream.