The PocketGamer.biz week that was: Smart money on SmartGlass, GREE gets its game on, and BlackBerry tinkers on the brink
The past 7 days in bite-sized portions
The curious side effect of the world and his wife hopping on a plane over to Los Angeles for the planet's largest entertainment expo – known as E3 both for those of us who were there, and for those of us who weren't – is that huge scoops, massive industry shifting developments, are hard to come by.
Who wants to talk shop when no-one's around to listen?
Nonetheless, PocketGamer.biz never sleeps – especially when half the team are away and muggins here if left running the ship. And it's not as if there hasn't been anything important to talk about.
Indeed, while have some have claimed mobile made its first real big splash at E3 this year, it has come around at a time when some former industry giant have futures that look anything but stable. Such tales of woe, naturally, featured heavily during our coverage during the last seven days:
Smartphone wars- BlackBerry needs to pull focus away from games and focus on what it always did best if it is to survive, argued deputy editor Keith Andrew. Not so, countered editor Jon Jordan.
- Samsung announces Galaxy S shipments have now topped 50 million, with the Galaxy S II accounting for 27 million.
- Sony and HTC partner up to bring PlayStation games to the manufacturer's handsets through the newly rebranded PlayStation Mobile platform.
- RIM reveals 16GB PlayBook is to be discontinued once existing stocks runs out....
- ...but firm looking to bolster tablet's app library with additional support for Android titles in new beta release.
- Kindle Fire making inroads on Apple's iPad when it comes to ad impressions, reports Jumptap.
- InMobi adds Amazon's tablet is the only serious challenger to iPad in the US...
- Though ChangeWave Research claims, after an initial high, demand for Kindle Fire is falling off fast.
- Rovio suggests Angry Birds may take back seat in coming months with the firm focusing on new releases.
- Activision, however, reveals to the world at E3 it's won the right to take the IP to consoles.
- Meanwhile, Angry Birds Space passes 100 million downloads in little over two months.
- GREE follows up big splash at E3 with deals with both 2K Games and PopCap, as well as a buyout of Korean social gaming studio Paprika Labs.
- Zynga refuses to be left out of the party, acquiring multiplatform studio Buzz Monkey and rebranding it Zynga Eugene.
- Business Insider proclaims EA's acquisition of Playfish a 'dud' following SimCity for Facebook's debut at E3.
- DeNA partners with social network Renren to expand hand in Chinese market.
- Xbox SmartGlass – which looks to use smartphones and tablets (Android, iOS and Windows Phone all on board) as controllers for Xbox 360 – arguably steals the show from a mobile perspective at E3.
- Deputy editor Keith Andrew enthuses that, even if SmartGlass doesn't change the world, it's a signal of Microsoft's intent to merge console and smartphone gaming.
- Ad network Millennial Media states Windows Phone is 'here to stay' and represents a considerable opportunity for developers and advertisers alike.
- IDC predicts Windows Phone will top iOS by 2016.
- Chatter suggests iOS 6 will feature far deeper Facebook integration.
- Facebook streamlines in-app purchase payment flow for web-apps.
- The social network launches its App Center for mobile, though its roll out is to be staggered.
- The PocketGamer.biz Mobile Gaming Mavens discuss whether they'd deliver fresh games or iOS ports for an app-equipped Apple TV.
- Meanwhile, the rest of the TV market forges ahead, with news of OnLive partnering with LG to demo its games service for smart TVs quickly followed by the unveiling of an alliance between Samsung and Gaikai.