The PocketGamer.biz week that was: Piracy's rife, HTML5 sucks (unless it's accelerated) and everybody's two cents on Ouya

This week, after just three weeks on sale, Madfinger Games' zombie bloodbath Dead Trigger went free-to-play on Android.

In an interview with PocketGamer.biz, Madfinger's sales and marketing manager Anna Porizkova explained that this decision was taken in order to combat a piracy rate of 80 percent.

But this abrupt change to the game's pricing model has angered a portion of Dead Trigger's existing userbase.

These players feel aggrieved that the game they paid a dollar for is now available free of charge, and some of them haven't been shy about venting their anger towards Madfinger.

As console and PC gamers see their game experiences suffer as a result of intrusive DRM and the proliferation of the online pass, it's sad to see a mobile studio come under fire for combating piracy by cutting the price of their game.

But before we get too choked up wondering how a studio could have responded any more magnanimously to the rampant theft of its game, let's move on to our bite-sized overview of the last seven days' worth of news.

• Microsoft announces that paid Windows 8 apps will sell for at least $1.49, and the company will take a lower revenue share from top-grossing apps.
• PlayPhone unveils the second generation SDK for its Social Gaming Network, and EVP Anders Evju tells us that the company's "market-friendly strategy" will see off threats from 'deep-pocked rivals'.
• One such rival is GREE, which opened a new Vancouver studio this week and signed four new partnerships with indie studios – a move that SVP Eros Resmini says will bring innovation to the platform.
• As of 30 June 2012, Nintendo has sold more than 19 million 3DS consoles worldwide, and Nintendo announces the console is no longer being sold at a loss.
• Facebook posts a $157 million loss for Q2 2012, leading Crowdstar's CEO to claim that 'the writing is on the wall' for games on the social network, while Zynga blames its Q2 losses on 'challenging Facebook environment.'

• Opera's 'State of Mobile Advertising' report finds that traditional ads are falling away and rich media ads are on the rise.
• Wild Tangent CEO Mike Peronto argues that the industry needs to stop hunting whales and attempt instead to monetise the 99 percent with brand advertising.
• After a Russian hacker discovered a method of circumventing the App Store's in-app purchase validation process, Apple releases a fix for affected developers – but the security breach will not be permanently plugged until iOS 6 launches.
• Top Android developers are earning $25,000 a month with StartApp, claims the company's VP marketing Itay Rokni.
• Tapjoy is providing western devs with an route into China, claims CEO Mihir Shah after the company announces a 'trilateral partnership' with CocoaChina and Chinese Android app store Gfan.

• Ed Vause, the MD of mobile marketing agenecy Dimoso presents the first commandment of app marketing – "Thou shalt be of a darn high quality."
• Facebook's strategic partner manager for games Sara Brooks reckons core, sports and turn-based games are going to the next big things on the Social Network.

• HTML5 game development platform Ludei launches its open source JavaScript game engine, CAAT, and the company's CEO Eneko Knorr tells us that "game performace with HTML5 sucks, unless it is accelerated."
• Tylted opens up its web-based HTML5 games platform to external developers, insisting that "a viable mobile gaming ecosystem exists apart from Apple and Android."
• Wooga's head of communication Sina Kaufmann believes HTML5 "may revolutionise the mobile app market," but it's leaving development to the HTML5 community.

• iQU's Fraser MacInnes is rather less convinced by all this HTML5 chatter, arguing that web-based mobile games solve 'the wrong problems for the wrong people' anyway.
• Madfinger Games' sales and marketing manager Anna Porizkova tells us that Dead Trigger for Android suffered an 80 percent piracy rate before going free-to-play.
• Collaboration is key for indies seeking a larger audience, suggests Kwalee's community evangelist Joe Barron.
• Hardcore games are gaining momentum on mobile, but the casual market is a whole lot bigger, explains PopCap's Giordano Contestabile.
• PocketGamer.biz deputy editor Keith Andrew loves indies, and he's not afraid to shout it from the rooftops.

• Since Ouya appeals to the existing gamer demographic, it could well be a "rehash of what we've had for the last 20 years," argues Mobile Pie's Will Luton.
• "Ouya is pretty comical" and no "medium or large publisher will support" it, says Bolt Creative's Dave Castelnuovo.
• "If even the high-end consoles are being called doomed, how would a lower-end Android one have a chance?" asks RIM's Volker Hirsch.
• Pocket Gamer's editor-in-chief Kristan Reed examines the raft of practical concerns that Ouya must overcome if it's to achieve mainstream success – and concludes that it probably won't.