gameloft posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Yep, it says it all right there in the headline, folks. Gameloft swiftly took $122 million from consumers in 2009, roughly equating to 15 million digital copies of DSiWare Oregon Trail. Alright, alright, the digital distribution-based publishers probably sold some of its other games too, we guess -- mobile games (in general) represented a whopping 94 percent of the company's sales in 2009. And despite our voracious habit for mobile games here at Joystiq, North Americans were second place in terms of worldwide sales at 32 percent, with Europeans leading at 39 percent and the rest of the world trailing at 27 percent. Good luck catching up, rest of the world!

And yes, even amidst the global economic recession, Gameloft predicted "further growth in 2010 in terms of revenue and profitability." The publisher also pointed out its strong position in the long term, saying it will "benefit from the rapid emergence of digitally distributed video games on mobile phones, tablets, consoles, and from major technological innovations." You catch that tablet reference in there? Yeah, we did too. Hey, it's 2010, right? The future. We're in it.

We couldn't care less about our email, videos and music, all we wanted to know is if the newly announced iPad could play games. The answer? If you've been spending a fortune in $0.99 chunks on iPhone games, you've already got a big iPad library. The device, as just announced by Apple, plays all your iPhone apps unmodified, out of the box. That said, to take advantage of the system's full screen, devs will have to implement some modifications to their apps.

We're not sure if we're happy or sad about this, as we were kind of hoping for a whole new gaming platform -- and we're not convinced a lot of games will translate well from the iPhone, even if they technically work. Oh well, Jobs is still talking, maybe he'll have something else for us.

Update: The game Apple chose to feature at the iPad debut event was Gameloft's FPS N.O.V.A. It's kind of an odd choice though, right? It's a neat trick for a phone, but does it stack up on a larger screen? Additionally, EA showed off an updated Need for Speed: Shift (again, the iPhone version; hardly akin to the console iterations). Look for the iPad versions of both these games later this year.

Not to be confused with Assassin's Creed 2: Discovery, Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles is now available on the WebOS platform. The previous Gameloft-developed iPhone port of the poorly received DS title was a bit easier to stomach due to a drastically reduced price, and the same applies here on WebOS -- you can download it from the App Catalog now for $6.99.

Altair's Chronicles takes place before the events of 2007's Assassin's Creed debut.

[Thanks, Jared]

You know, when Zombies Ate My Neighbors showed up on the Virtual Console, we were plum surprised. Save for a whisper here and there years earlier, we had no idea to expect the classic (and beloved) SNES title. Today, Nintendo has unleashed that game's sequel on the Virtual Console, accompanied by a bunch of other titles -- including Gameloft's WiiWare release, Uno, and Nintendo's feng-shui board game, Number Battle.

One of the biggest players in the battle against Apple's ubiquitous iPhone is Palm. webOS, introduced in the Pre, is an attractive mobile operating system, but has sorely lacked the one thing gamers are most interested in: booth babes games. That's about to change, as Palm has announced a significant update to the webOS platform at CES today.

Seven 3D games from EA, Gameloft and Glu have been announced for the Palm App Catalog, including Need for Speed Undercover, The Sims 3, Let's Golf! and X-Plane. Best of all for Pre and Pixi owners, these games can be downloaded right now. Engadget noted that the games "integrate seamlessly in webOS," allowing users to automatically pause a game to respond to a text message.

The Palm App Catalog is still in its infancy, with approximately 1000 apps currently available to download. Who knows? Perhaps today's announcement will encourage the billions of fart app developers for Apple to start looking at multi-platform flatulence programming.

Nintendo's been on quite the roll recently, providing plenty of content in its weekly offerings -- and today is no different. There are ten new titles to check out, including high-profile downloads such as Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, Oregon Trail and -- finally! -- Pilotwings on the Virtual Console. Head past the break to check out the full list.

As promised, Sunsoft's brought Blaster Master to the Virtual Console -- though we think the impact is somewhat dulled by the quantity of other games available for download this week. There's a total of 11 different games available, so head past the break for the full list.

Gameloft announced today it's planning on releasing games for the second generation of Android phones and reiterated its support for the current generation of devices using Google's mobile platform. The affirmation comes a mere weekend after the mega mobile publisher's finance director, Alexander de Rochefort, stated the company planned to "significantly cut" its development for Android devices.

Gameloft's statement today in no way negates Rochefort's words, as the latest release is just some yammering about the second generation devices allowing the development of high definition games, but the timing and its lack of substance is suspect. The executive previously noted Gameloft sold "400 times" as many games on iPhone as on the Android. Of course, if Google's platform develops a more significant install base, we're sure Gameloft will be happy to invest more and take everyone's money equally.

The unsinkable publisher Gameloft recently revealed that it is planning to "significantly cut" its development on Google's Android platform. Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort added that "many others" in the industry have scaled back Android development as well. The reason, according to Rochefort, is the organization -- or rather lack lack of organization -- of its application store, the Android Market. Rochefort stated that the Android Market "is not as neatly done" as Apple's App Store. Rochefort noted that Google hasn't really gotten many Android users to buy products, saying, "On Android nobody is making significant revenue."

To put things in perspective, Rochefort said that Gameloft has sold 400 times as many games on the iPhone as on the Android platform. Of course, it's worth noting that Apple's iPhone has a significantly larger market share than Android. According to a recent Gartner report released in August, the iPhone accounted for nearly 14 percent of the smartphone market, while Android phones accounted for less than 2 percent. With more and more carriers offering Android phones -- notably the recent release of the Droid on Verizon -- the Android market is likely to expand in the coming months. It will be interesting to see how the mobile market changes -- and whether Gameloft and others change their tune -- a year from now.

[Via Washington Post]

Apple's App Store has attained over 100,000 fart simulators apps and blown by the two billion download mark. GI.biz reports that games make up 19.6 percent of the store's content. EA Mobile VP Travis Boatman notes that the store, which is now available in 77 countries, has allowed his company to make high quality games that "have been a huge success with customers."

If Gameloft's sales figures are any indication, the App Store shows no signs of slowing down in the game department. Now, if only that alleged iPhone app piracy rate could be brought under control.

Gameloft's iPhone remake of Shiny's classic Earthworm Jim has found its way to the App Store, at a price of $4.99. It's a great game, but trying the iPhone version means you're willing to punish yourself by attempting the already-difficult run-and-gun without the benefit of a D-pad or buttons. We're going to have nightmares if we think too long about playing the submarine level that way.

In addition to the download-anywhere convenience and painful controller substitution, the iPhone/iPod Touch release lets you play your own iPod music as you play. That should be a welcome addition to one intentionally annoying level.

After the break, see gameplay footage captured by Touch Arcade.

Earthworm Jim ($4.99)

[Via AppShopper]

We recently found out that when Gameloft announced intentions to make a new Earthworm Jim game, the company really meant it intended to remake the first one. And while the next-gen version has some cleaned-up graphics, the iPhone release, as seen in the new trailer (after the break) might as well be a port. If you ignore the total lack of buttons, it might as well be the Genesis or SNES game. And speaking of buttons, have fun playing that submarine level on a touchscreen.

If the graphical improvements aren't more obvious in the WiiWare release, then the only real difference between the game on Virtual Console and WiiWare will be one extra level and difficulty selection. Awkward!

GamerBytes has some details about the remake of invertebrate warrior Earthworm Jim's first outing. Speaking with Gameloft, the graphically updated title will be based on the Sega Genesis version, but will have "smoother animations" and feature several difficulty levels. The game will also include the bonus "Big Bruty" level that was featured in the Sega CD and PC releases of the original.

Earthworm Jim will blast onto Xbox Live Arcade first, followed by PSN and WiiWare. Gameloft is currently "considering" a PSP Minis version.

This week's content for European Nintendo fans is quite the bevy of scrumptious content. There's a new chapter in the Tales of Monkey Island franchise to laugh through, as well as some new stuff for your little ne'er-do-well in My Life as a Darklord. If WiiWare isn't your thing, you could always shoot everything in sight in some R-Type on the Virtual Console. See? Totally a bevy.

• You, Me, and the Cubes (WiiWare, 1 -2 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
• Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay (WiiWare, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points)
  
• Sexy Poker (WiiWare, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
  
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord - Palom ally add-on (WiiWare, 1 player, 200 Wii Points)
  
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord - Living Room Set add-on (WiiWare, 1 player, 400 Wii Points)
• R-Type (Sega Master System, 1 - 2 players, 500 Wii Points)
  
• Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam (DSiWare, 500 DSi Points)