KAsiUNblog

Unkasoft's blog, where we talk about mobile games development, gaming industry, agile methodologies and all that matter we're handling every day

Friday, March 30, 2007

Save my game!


All of us, one day, we need to deal with persistent data, saving user preferences and game scores. It’s something you should have if you want to produce for hard-core gamers. I know, we live in the casual gamers supremacy, but, one day World will change.

One of our tech leaders, JM, share with me the information found related to RMS, our lucky found was a company who has a database engine for mobile.

The subject wasn’t small; they talk about features like save 5-6 mega based on 10.000 rows within a record store.

With those numbers we just had an option, contact Basemovil headquarters and ask for further information. And of course, congratulate them.

In the distant I could discern a good future in Spain based on entrepreneurial spirit and innovative companies.

After the chance to meet Narciso, one of the founders, they are already distributing the solutions, even more; they are one of the Orange partners.

I hope save our games soon, using that database engine.

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Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Advergaming, The 5 commandments


Yesterday, I went to one of my favourite blogs (errror500) as I used to. Then I was shock reading the post, we could suffer 300 the Movie ads in the game Crackdown.

Sometimes we must to remind the commandments for ideas like Advergaming. The 5 commandments are:

  1. You shall not send ads before opt-in.
  2. You shall not send intrusive ads.
  3. Honor your product. If your neighbour bought your product as other without advertising.
  4. You shall not have inappropriate or useless ads before neighbour ask for it.
  5. You shall your neighbour to send you a STOP command. If you could send information(ads) in one way, you could receive your neighbour feedback.

In Matthew 19:16-21, a rich man approaches Christ and asks "What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Jesus gave the answer: "Keep the commandments."( Matthew 19)

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Monday, March 26, 2007

70% of game buyers don't buy a second game

Reading the latest stats, 70% of game buyers don't buy a second game. That information came to me from IGDA, exactly the data source is

http://digital-lifestyles.info/ and http://www.telephia.com/html/GDC07_press_release_template.html

That inquiry corroborates what we heard from the mobile operators.

Anyhow, some press mediums are publishing the good health of the mobile games market.

The main reasons for that bad news:

· Mobile games based on a license, but poor quality

· Installation troubles, due to lack of memory, problems with GPRS configuration, and so on.

· Expensive. The cost of the game is always increased by the price of data traffic.

· Handsets fragmentation, there is no way to produce games for all.

Today I’m very pessimistic but the future is not either… the bill of that is on many or this blog’s readers, because the user cannot identify who’s doing good jobs and who’s not.

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Thursday, March 22, 2007

Mobile Instant Messenger 4 free...


... for a limited time only, as I see in the web site. I know, I know, is not a game, but is a new way to have MSN in your mobile.

I have to admit some times are really useful to connect people by MSN without to switch on the laptop.

After try it, it works fine, but, mind the wap traffic costs. It’s impressive how complex is to have a good flat rate from a Spanish op to control the money spent.

I’ve spent a lot of time looking for a good offer for GPRS services but seem the ops are still returning on their investment O:)

The download was fast due to the application size is less than 90K!! You can get it from http://wap.whizzper.com/

After configure my MSN account I can reach my mates, and chat easily because the individual taps.

The usability was fine in general, and the version seems stable. Getting to the core of one bad aspect is my Samsung X820, the cell batt life is not good enough, I guess is the price you pay for slimmest handsets.

P.S: I like the blue ‘lacasito’ logo : )

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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

“Refugee”, the videogame for mobiles with a cause, arrives


They cross minefields to reach a refugee camp threatened by the guerilla. They search for food and water in a foreign country to avoid the death of their children. These are just some of the challenges which millions of women all over the world come across and which Aissa must overcome. The heroine of a new humanitarian videogame for mobiles with a cause presented today by Intermón Oxfam in the Nuevos Ministerios underground station, in Madrid.

With this videogame we intend to inform the population on a reality which is often forgotten, and when it takes place in the real life it is not a game at all. The refugees require protection and assistance in order to survive as they have had to flee from their homes and have lost all they possessed. We see situations like these every day in places like Chad, where there are more than 230.000 refugees from Darfur, in Sudan, which depends completely on international aid in order to survive in a semi-desert landscape”, as Irene Milleiro, responsible for the area of Conflicts and Humanitarian Action in Intermón Oxfam, explains.

If you play, refugees win

After three years under refuge in camps of up to 30.000 people – to which they fled due to the violence in the Sudanese region of Darfur–, the refugees in Chad must face not only poverty but also the violence which has extended to the entire region. The funds raised with the downloads of the videogame – which costs 2.40 Euros – will go to humanitarian aid programs of Intermón Oxfam in the southeast of the country, concretely to the refugee camps of Djabal and Goz Amer.

When you become a refugee you no longer have a home, a job and, on many occasions, you lose your family and community. We must be aware that this is taking place all over the world and that it is necessary that the governments act rapidly against armed conflicts and natural disasters in order to avoid people from losing all they have. New technologies allow us to bring these realities to many people, especially to the younger ones, as it is very important to be aware of them and to act”, Irene Millerio adds.

Videogames and mobile telephones represent at present one of the most direct forms of introduction to the youth sector. Therefore a product has been developed in which the technological characteristics are not innovating; but the use it is intended for is, to help resolve a forgotten situation, the conflicts which still exist in Africa. What we value the most is the interactivity it offers the player to lend a hand directly in this problem together with IO.” according to Juan Antonio Muñoz-Gallego, Unkasoft partner.

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