Hit video game series “Professor Layton” is getting a new social version: DeNA today announced “Professor Layton and Seven Thieves of the Century”, a social game that Mobage users in Japan can pre-register for starting today (a launch date isn’t fixed yet). This is the second social Professor Layton game on Mobage: the first one, “Professor Layton Royale”, was…
There is already a social gaming platform embedded in Japan’s real-identity social network Mixi (on both the PC and mobile versions), but that’s apparently no reason not to open a second one. Dubbed mixi Park, the new social gaming platform was launched today by Mixi itself and Konami. Needless to say, a Mixi membership is required…
It took a long time, but months after DeNA announced it has secured the talent of high-profile game maker Goichi Suda (aka Suda51), the first title is finally out. Available for Mobage on Android and in Japanese only, No More Heroes – World Ranker is marketed as a “social assassin battle game”. In fact, Suda51 last year said…
If you thought that Japan’s online gaming industry solved the real-money trading (RMT) problem, think again: Japanese business daily The Nikkei yesterday ran a story on the phenomenon, pointing out that players sell off virtual items from hit game Dragon Quest X for real money. Dragon Quest X is distributed by Square Enix as an…
Gundam Royal, a social “space action” game offered on Mobage for feature phones and smartphones, now boasts 4 million registered users. Maker Namco Bandai released the title, which is based on Gundam, a super-popular Japanese anime series, in December 2010. Gundam Royal took 7 months to get to 3 million users in July 2011. News site Social Game Info points…
Social RPG “Guilty Dragon”, social shooting game “Macross SP Deculture” and social RPG “Valkyries In The Twilight”: the list of what DeNA calls next-generation games for Mobage is getting longer. Yesterday the company released yet another title that’s being marketed as a next-generation social game, Souken No Cross Edge (a souken is a special kind of sword). Souken…
The puzzle RPGs are coming: Puzzle & Dragons, the super-popular social RPG from Tokyo-based GungHo, is getting some competition from a similar game called Sengoku Puzzle!! Animal Daikassen (“Warring States Puzzle!! Big Battle Of The Animals”). Osaka-based Racjin was clearly inspired by Puzzle & Dragons, which is only available on iOS and racked up 1.1…
Legendary video game series Ninja Gaiden is getting the social treatment. Maker Koei Tecmo announced “1 Million People’s Ninja Gaiden” for Mobage yesterday, a mix between 3D action and social card battle game. Players will take on the role of ninja Ryu Hayabusa (who is also the protagonist in most of the previous entries in…