LimeLife Releases Top Chef Challenge

Mobile content publisher LimeLife announced the launch of Top Chef Challenge, a new mobile game inspired by cable network Bravo's reality series Top Chef. Set behind-the-scenes of a fictional new restaurant, Top Chef Challenge enables players to customize their own characters--beginning as an entry-level dishwasher, they advance to chef status via a series of mini-games and kitchen drama test reflexes. Bravo will debut the mobile game tonight (9/8c), in conjunction with its Top Chef Holiday Special broadcast.

This is the first we've heard from Limelife in awhile - they bill themselves as the only company which specializes in publishing mobile content for women. They have put out some decent titles in the past including Girls Night Out Blackjack, but they haven't made much noise in the mobile gaming space recently. More pointedly, we are anxious for them to commit to the off-deck marketplace. There certainly is an audience wating for their games in places they may not have considered (womengamers.com and grrlgamer.com come to mind).

We (Movaya) will try to find some time to play Top Chef Challenge, which certainly is targeting a solid genre of mobile gaming. Game play is similar to Diner Dash and CakeMania, both of which have done well in mobile, and I imagine this was very intentional. Stay tuned, if the game blows us away we will report back. Hopefully I won't get fired for publishing an average review if it is called for :)

Hottest Casual Games for Mobile Now Available Off-Deck from Sandlot Games

Online Store Powered by Movaya Offers Cake Mania, Slyder for Mobile

BOTHELL, Wash — November 27, 2007 — Sandlot Games® (www.sandlotgames.com), the world's premier developer and publisher of casual and family-friendly games, and Movaya (www.movaya.com), a leading provider of mobile content distribution software solutions, today announced the availability of mobile games direct from Sandlot Games web site.

Through Sandlot Games' branded online store, powered by Movaya's mobile game e-commerce solution, consumers can now purchase popular mobile game titles including Cake Mania® and Slyder®.

"Now consumers have a very easy, instantaneous way to get the most popular Sandlot Games' on their phones," said Daniel Bernstein, founder and CEO of Sandlot Games. "Movaya's e-commerce mobile game solution is a great fit for our online store and we expect it will dramatically improve sales of our mobile titles."

In addition to powering the online store's mobile game distribution, Movaya processes mobile game order transactions, provides real-time reporting services, and offers customer support services.

"Movaya is focused on the off-deck distribution of mobile games in the U.S. via websites and WAP sites," said Phil Yerkes, CEO of Movaya. "By taking advantage of our mobile game distribution platform, Sandlot Games can expand its mobile game sales opportunities by offering customers a user-friendly experience directly from their own website."

Popular casual game titles for mobile, including Cake Mania and Slyder, are now available for purchase at www.sandlotgames.com.

About Sandlot Games
Sandlot Games Corporation, headquartered in Bothell, Washington, is the world's premier developer and publisher of casual and family-friendly games. Sandlot Games boasts a captivating portfolio of popular game titles and franchises including Cake Mania®, Glyph®, Super Granny®, Tradewinds® and Westward®. Sandlot Games reaches millions of game players worldwide through a variety of distribution channels including online, PC, PDA's, handhelds, videogame consoles and mobile phones. Since 2002, over 100 million games have been downloaded by its loyal fan base. For more information or to play one of our award winning games, please visit us at www.sandlotgames.com.

About Movaya
Movaya (www.movaya.com) is a Seattle-based technology company, whose mobile-content management and distribution software system allows mobile game publishers and online retailers to effortlessly extend their businesses to the growing off-deck mobile gaming marketplace. Movaya PlugNPlay is the company's flagship product, which brings together Mobile Game Publishers, Online Retailers and consumers in one marketplace for Mobile goods. Movaya is powering the off-deck, mobile gaming industry.

Contacts:
Jared Nieuwenhuis
Sandlot Games
425-486-5822 x291
jared@sandlotgames.com

Justin Hall
Voxus Inc.
253-853-5151 x234
jhall@voxuspr.com

Capcom Interactive is Revving Up Off-deck Mobile Game Sales

Capcom Interactive, the mobile division of Capcom (makers of the legendary Street Fighter series, for one), has launched an advertising campaign on IGN.com's WIRELESS section to promote it's latest mobile game blockbuster 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'.

Capcom uses the Movaya PlugNPlay service (the free mobile content distribution service our company has) to sell its game off-deck.

It is fair to say we are very excited about this campaign, as off-deck mobile games sales are a small fraction of the overall market. However, Capcom is eager to increase the volume in this channel, as are most other mobile game publishers. The fact they are launching a major campaign such as this is a big indicator of their position on whether or not off-deck matters.

Company plug: We (Movaya) are positioning ourselves to help all mobile game publishers succeed off-deck, and currently we are promoting the fact that we are here to help the entire industry move forward, which means opening up distribution for game publishers, helping merchants with the technology they need to sell games off-deck, and raise the overall awareness of the mobile gaming industry in the eyes of consumers.

Movaya Releases PlugNPlay 2.0 for Mobile Content Distribution, and Welcomes Casual Game Merchants

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) November 15, 2007 -- Movaya (www.movaya.com), a leading provider of mobile content distribution software solutions, today announces that it has released PlugNPlay 2.0, the newest edition of its Mobile Game and Application distribution and management platform.

With PlugNPlay, Movaya enables online merchants, casual game merchants and anyone with a website, blog or forum to create a store for selling mobile games, mobile applications or any type of mobile content. From the website to the sales page, everything that the customer sees can be branded with the company's logo, style and formatting.

Version 2.0 of PlugNPlay introduces three new, key components:

• Instant WAP store that allow any PlugNPlay client to have a mobile version of their store
• FLASH Interfaces provide the easiest way for clients to get online
• XML Feed for advanced programming.

"The ability to use the PlugNPlay XML Feed has allowed Capcom to build a custom web application and sell our games directly to consumers," said Matt Gillis, Senior Vice President of Publishing, Capcom Interactive, Inc. "This has created an additional revenue stream for us with little to no risk to the company."

With these new features in place, and more games in the system (currently over 400 titles from companies such as RealNetworks, Capcom, COM2US and more), Movaya readily welcomes Casual Game Merchants to use its system to add Mobile Game sales to their existing stores.

"Movaya is focused on developing the most complete, flexible, easy to use system for off-deck distribution," said Phil Yerkes, CEO of Movaya. "And this includes distribution of mobile games not only via websites but WAP sites as well. By taking advantage of the flexibility of our mobile game distribution platform, anyone can expand into mobile game and application sales."

Platinum Studios, an entertainment company that specializes in developing and adapting comics and graphic novel content to other media, has gone online with a website for mobile content sales, PT78Mobile.com. Additionally, with the new features of PlugNPlay 2.0, Platinum was able to instanly add a WAP store. Using your cell phone you can visit m.pt78mobile.com.

An example of the PlugNPlay Flash Interface can be seen at PhonePimp.com.

About Capcom
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment. Founded in 1983, the company has created world-renowned franchises including Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man®, Breath of Fire®, Devil May Cry® and the Onimusha® series. Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, the company maintains operations in the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Tokyo and Hong Kong. More information about Capcom and its products can be found on the company's web site at www.capcom.com.

Since its establishment in November of 2005, Capcom Interactive, Inc. has published several mobile games based on Capcom’s celebrated intellectual property, including 1942, Ghost n' Goblins, Mega Man and Resident Evil®: The Missions, to commercial and critical acclaim. For additional information on the company and its offerings, please visit www.capcommobile.com.

About Platinum Studios:
Platinum Studios is an entertainment company that specializes in developing and adapting comics and graphic novel content to feature film, television, animation, games, the Internet, and other media. Our independent library of comic characters is the largest in the world and contains more than 3,800 characters that have appeared in hundreds of millions of comics in 25 languages and more than 50 countries. Simply put, we create, produce, and distribute comic-based content, and lots of it.

About Movaya:
Movaya is a Seattle-based technology company focused on creating the premier E-Commerce Solution for Mobile Software Publishers and Online Merchants.

"Powering the Next Generation of Mobile Content Distribution"

Since its founding in 2006, Movaya has been dedicated to the development of its revolutionary mobile-content management and distribution software platform; a platform that has created a new distribution channel for mobile publishers and enables any one to sell and distribute mobile-content such has video games, applications, music and videos.

Gameloft - Making $$ in Mobile Gaming

One month after announcing they had sold over 100 million mobile games worldwide, Gameloft has announced record sales of 24.4 million euro for the third quarter.

During the first nine months of 2007, the company had sales of 70.2 million euro, up 51% from the same period last year. In addition, Gameloft has reiterated its annual sales target of 95 to 100 million euro.

Europe accounted for 44% of sales during the first nine months of 2007, North America 35% and the rest of the world 21%. Over this period, the strongest growth took place in the rest of the world, up 82%.

Gameloft said that it intends to release approximately 25 titles between the end of September and December 2007, including Heroes, CSI: Miami (pictured), Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia Classics and Beowulf.

This is great news because there has been a lot of talk about limited growth in mobile gaming over the last year. Perhaps it's possible that Gameloft is simply taking market share from other mobile game publishers but I highly doubt this accounts for all of the 51% growth in the period.

Glu, another big mobile game publisher, is scheduled to announce their most recent quarter results on Thursday, so we'll report on that later this week.

Cake Mania Mobile - Huge Success!

Top developer and publisher of casual and family-friendly games Sandlot Games, and leading digital entertainment services company RealNetworks, Inc. last month announced the continued success of the smash hit casual game Cake Mania – this time on the mobile platform.

“Over the last few months, Cake Mania has been one of the most downloaded mobile games in the U.S.” said Matt Turetzky, Vice President at Real. “With its success on the PC, we anticipated a similar performance for the mobile version. Those expectations were surpassed and we’re proud to have teamed with Sandlot to deliver this hit casual title to gamers on their mobile handsets.” At the end of second quarter, RealArcade Mobile moved into the top ten ranked mobile publishers by downloads, in part due to the success of Cake Mania.

Originally developed by Sandlot Games for PC and online play, Cake Mania became the best-selling casual game of 2006 and was voted Yahoo’s 2006 Casual Game of the Year. In March 2007, Sandlot partnered with RealArcade Mobile to bring the hit title to the mobile handset.

“As a runaway hit on the PC, Cake Mania was a prime candidate for conversion to the mobile platform” said Daniel Bernstein, founder and CEO of Sandlot Games. “Gamers continue to get hooked on the challenging and unique elements that make Cake Mania such a fun experience, and by partnering with Real we were able to extend this hit game to the mobile community.”

Cake Mania is a time management game in which players help young entrepreneur Jill open her own bakery, bring in customers and earn enough money to re-open her grandparents' troubled business. The mobile version allows fans and new players alike to play a hit game in small sessions of easy mobile play, without losing the favorite elements of the original.

If you are an AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile subscriber in the US, you can buy this game at BustedThumbs by clicking HERE.

Capcom partners with Movaya to launch Off Deck game sales

Here is an old press release we need to post (note that we are promoting our relationship!). Also note that this is significant, in that a major video game publisher is taking the step to reach out to its audience directly, off -deck, and using its own marketing dollars to support this D2C effort. Another small step towards opening the garden walls of Americas carrier giants

Capcom® Interactive, Inc., a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of mobile interactive entertainment in North America, today announced the launch of a new e-commerce service on the company’s website. The new service allows customers to locate and download Capcom branded mobile games directly to their handset using a simple and intuitive web interface.

"For mobile games to expand we need to find easier ways to get interactive content into the hands of consumers," said Matt Gillis, Senior Vice-President, Publishing at Capcom Interactive, Inc. "With the launch of our new e-store, it’s our intention to give Capcom fans a quick and easy means to experience classic Capcom content on their mobile devices."

To power the e-commerce services, Capcom partnered with Movaya, a leading provider of mobile content distribution software solutions. Movaya will manage the online sale and Over-the-Air (OTA) delivery in addition to jointly managing the store with Capcom. In addition Movaya is providing real-time reporting services and customer service support.

"Movaya is laser focused on the Off-Deck distribution of Mobile Games in North America," said Phil Yerkes, CEO of Movaya. "By taking advantage of our mobile content distribution platform, Capcom can expand its mobile game sales opportunities and offer customers a user-friendly experience directly from their own website."

Capcom is currently made available several of its best selling titles on the online store including Mega Man II, ESPN Poker Club, Millionaire ’07 and the newly released Street Fighter II.

Capcom Mobile Store powered by Movaya

Capcom Mobile - Go Buy a Game

Capcom Interactive, the fastest growing mobile game publisher in the US, recently launched a new website which allows consumers to buy their favorite Capcom games directly from the web.

Titles include:
Lost Planet, ESPN Poker Club, Mega Man II, Street Fighter II, and my personal favorite, Millionaire 2007.

The site is extremely easy to use. Using the downloader, consumers pick their carrier and phone model and then Capcom displays compatible games. Pick a game and enter the phone number and then you receive a text message with a link to download the game over the air.

This is one of the best implementations we've seen for selling mobile games outside of the carrier stores. Click here to get started and buy a game to play the next time you have 10 minutes to kill. You might actually learn something by playing Millionaire...