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Mobile analytics firm Flurry today reports on the continuing shift in portable gaming from dedicated devices to smartphones and other multipurpose devices. According to results compiled by Flurry from NPD market research and Flurry’s own mobile app data, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating systems will account for 58% of portable gaming revenue in the United States for 2011, an almost exact flip-flop from 2010 when dedicated device leaders Nintendo and Sony held 57% of the market.

The most striking trend is that iOS and Android games have tripled their market share from roughly 20% in 2009 to nearly 60% in just two years. Simultaneously, Nintendo, the once dominant player, has been crushed down to owning about one-third of market in 2011, from having controlled more than two-thirds in 2009. Combined, iOS and Android game revenue delivered $500 million, $800 million and $1.9 billion over 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Flurry’s data for 2011 is based on estimates for the final two months of the year, but suggests that the rapid growth in gaming on smartphone platforms is showing no signs of slowing. The market dynamics of free or low-cost games sometimes supplemented by in-app purchases and played on multi-function devices versus dedicated gaming devices with relatively high-cost game titles are clearly playing out in favor of iOS and Android. The result has been a surging gaming market increasingly attracting casual gamers willing to spend a few dollars to play on their phones, while established players have seen not only their shares but also their revenue declining each year.

Nintendo has been resisting increasing pressure to bring its games to the iPhone and other platforms, sticking by its long-standing tradition of making its games exclusive to its own hardware. Flurry suggests that the rapidly-shifting landscape of portable gaming may soon bring Nintendo face-to-face with a “Nokia-like” decision whether to jump over to smartphone platforms or watch its business erode away.

[Originally Posted on MacRumors]

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Hardcore privacy advocates might want to think twice about playing EA games in the future, per a recent press release fired off the starboard bow of the U.S.S. Electronic Arts corporate battleship. What EA legends does is summarized in this hilariously buzzword-laden sentence: "The insights suite aggregates metrics, brand impact, social buzz, ad effectiveness, and ROI across all of EA's ad products and platforms." In other words, EA has came to the realization that they've got over 300 million players in their games worldwide, and will be providing marketers as much about you as they can to effectively run ad campaigns and dabble in other forms of sponsored content.

The motivation behind al this is actually fairly reasonable, even if it does feel a little creepy to know that EA is essentially analyzing you for maximum profits. With the rise in the popularity of gaming, combined with the forecast of EA increasing its audience reach by 30% this year, they think they're going to have a real shot at competing directly with advertising dollars that would have traditionally been funneled into TV ads.

It makes sense too, as it's not very hard to find someone in the advertising industry who is more than happy to tell you how the way lots of people are shifting how they're entertained (as opposed to, say, sitting in front of the TV watching network programming for hours on end) is rapidly changing. As far as what information of yours EA will have access to and will be able to offer advertisers, we'll have to wait to find out, it seems until EA Legend is premiered at the Advertising Week convention next week in New York City.

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I'm not the biggest crossword person. I love word games and trivia, but crosswords have just never grabbed me. So I'm a little surprised by how much I've enjoyed playing CRUX Crosswords HD [4.99].

Maybe it's the way it manages to capture the feel of playing on paper without all the messy stuff that goes along with actually playing on paper. You can't beat the aesthetic, with each puzzle laid out on a page of virtual newsprint with a nice clean handwritten font. I can almost smell the ink when playing this game.

Or maybe it's all the helpful little features. You can write in pencil or pen mode, so you know which answers you're certain about and which are still iffy. When you highlight a cell, you can see both the clues that intersect it at a glance. If you're getting close but can't pick an answer, use the rebus option to enter up to twelve options per cell. If you're really hard up, you can set the game to double-check your answers or reveal cells, entries, or the whole shebang. That saved me from a shameful trip to Google on a few occasions.

As a newbie, the source list mystifies me a bit. CRUX has a list of nearly 30 sources, split between U.S. and U.K. style puzzles. A few (those from New York Times and Telegraph) require subscriptions to their respective crossword services, which is to be expected. But I'd love to see a little more information on the sources. Are People Magazine puzzles more or less difficult than Onion A.V. Club puzzles? Or Washington Post puzzles? It's pretty much trial and error for me, but if you know your stuff, the hearty source list should be quite satisfying.

You can download each puzzle as it's published online, and once you've got it its yours to keep. A recent puzzles list lets you hop between in-progress or recently downloaded puzzles at will. You can also create user profiles if more than one member of your household has the crossword bug.

Every time I ran into an irritation, a few moments of investigation solved it for me. I was frustrated that the game would skip over already completed cells when I typed in a full entry. Turns out you can toggle that option off. If the timer makes you feel a little too pressured, turn it off too. There are almost too many ways to navigate each puzzle—you can tap on a cell, tap on a clue, swap between intersecting clues, or use the on screen direction pad to move between cells. You can also set CRUX to show only incomplete clues or only those that intersect your current selection. I have yet to run into a feature or convenience I felt was missing, but if you do, the developers have been taking feedback in the forums.

Like I said, I'm a crossword newbie. But CRUX Crosswords HD is pro. It looks fantastic and comes with everything but the kitchen sink packed in to make your crossword solving more convenient. If you enjoy crosswords, you should definitely give it a shot.

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We've been tracking Elite's retro game releases through its ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection [App Store] and associated apps for some time now. This weekend, Elite released another emulated classic that many gamers on both sides of the pond will recall fondly: Barbarian from Palace Software.

Barbarian (distributed in the U.S. by Epyx as Death Sword), originally released for the Commodore 64 in 1987, is a hack and slash fighter that places you, the barbarian, in a series of fighting pits on a mission to slash your way through warrior after warrior and ultimately defeat the evil wizard Drax and rescue the ample Princess Mariana. It's all in the spirit of Conan. The game was noted for its realistic character animation (despite its simplistic graphics), considerable gore, and pleasant dose of wit. More than all of these, perhaps, it was noted for its racy box cover art featuring a bikini-clad Maria Whittaker, who had recently made an appearance as a topless Page Three girl in The Sun, and some dude. The outcry was dramatic.

Being a title running in Elite's ZX Spectrum emulator, Barbarian: ZX Spectrum is, of course, the ZX Spectrum version of the game. Unfortunately, this was not one of the strongest ports. Due to limitations of the Speccy's hardware, the actual play area and the characters within are rendered in monochrome. The detail is there, but the presentation feels pretty sparse. Another negative in this emulated iOS release is the control scheme. Despite Elite's "iDaptive" control system, where button (or key) layout can be custom arranged, the types of wildly varying moves that you need to pull off in rapid succession to excel in this game are not particularly conducive to touchscreen-style D-pad play. Happily, the customizable controls let you move the D-pad out of the way of your character in landscape mode, but that doesn't help with the feel of the controls.

Barbarian for the C64 and other platforms of old featured both a single player campaign mode (the quest to rescue Mariana) and a two-player challenge mode. It's worth noting that the version presented here offers only a single player mode.

See a video of the game as played on the ZX Spectrum.

Barbarian: ZX Spectrum is a stand-alone title with versions for both the iPhone [link] and iPad [link], and will be appearing as part of a new download pack for Elite's ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection [link] on Friday, when the number of available games in the collection will reach 108.

As a fan of what I knew as Death Sword on the Apple II back in the day, I was happy to see Barbarian arrive on iOS, even if it's come in a non-native fashion. I'd wager that the happy customers here are going to be other oldschool gamers who have fond memories of gut kicks and decapitation as Palace delivered them. Those unacquainted will probably find this one wanting.

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Last December, MacRumors reported on survey results showing that users of portable games are increasingly defecting from dedicated devices such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP to smartphones such as the iPhone.

New data from analytics firm Flurry comparing overall video game market share in 2009 and 2010 reveals a similar trend, with iOS and Android combining to take 8% of the overall market and a full 34% of the portable gaming market as measure by revenue. In the overall market, console games continue to dominate, growing from 71% to 76% on only a slight increase in total video game revenue.

From 2009 to 2010, iOS and Android game sales increased from 5% to 8% market share within the U.S. video game market. Specifically, we estimate that iOS and Android game revenue increased from $500 million in 2009 to more $800 million in 2010. Of this, the significant majority of revenue was generated by iPhone games.

But setting aside the console market, the success of iOS and Android (primarily iOS according to Flurry's data) as gaming platforms is more obvious in the portable market, where the smartphone platforms have increased their share of revenue from 19% in 2009 to 34% in 2010 at the expense of Nintendo's and Sony's offerings.

From 2009 to 2010, iOS and Android game sales have spiked significantly, resulting in nearly a doubling of their market share. With both Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable shrinking in sales, while smart-device game sales simultaneously grew by more than 60%, iOS and Android games now represent more than one third of the portable game category.

It is also important to note that the surge in revenue share for smartphone platforms comes at a significantly lower average price point than for dedicated devices, meaning that even the strong growth from those platforms has eaten into the total portable gaming market, which dropped from $2.7 billion in 2009 to $2.4 billion in 2010. The "race to the bottom" has long been one of the main concerns for smartphone application developers, particularly traditional game developers who have been accustomed to the pricing model for dedicated gaming devices. But users are clearly shifting toward more casual gaming at lower price points on their smartphones, and developers that have embraced that market are in many cases seeing solid results.

Originally posted on our sister site MacRumors!

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Retro gaming junkies, you may want to sit down for this. In a launch that's sending pixellated shockwaves across the App Store, Atari has just released Atari's Greatest Hits [NZ App Store], a Universal app that brings 100 (yes, one hundred) Atari games, along with the original cabinet and box art, to your iPhone and iPad.

The app is a free download that comes bundled with PONG, with the additional titles — 18 classic arcade games, 92 Atari 2600 games — available as in app purchases. The additional titles can be downloaded as 25 separate game packs at $0.99 each or at a price of $14.99 for all 100. Some titles have been enhanced to provide Bluetooth multiplayer modes.

This news is made even sweeter considering our earlier report that Atari and Ion have teamed up to bring forth the $99 iCade iPad-based retro game cabinet, which should be available shortly. We had only heard a few titles specifically mentioned, but the indication was that Atari would be publishing "a huge suite" of classic games with support for the device. We're gonna go ahead and call the 100 titles in Atari's Greatest Hits' "a huge suite," indeed.

The available game packs include:

• Asteroid Pack
  • 1. Asteroid
  • 2. Asteroid Deluxe
  • 3. Asteroids 2600
  • 4. Canyon Bomber – Bluetooth Multiplayer
• Battlezone Pack
  • 1. Battlezone
  • 2. Red Baron
  • 3. Air-Sea Battle – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 4. Submarine Commander
• Centipede Pack
  • 1. Centipede
  • 2. Millipede
  • 3. Centipede 2600
  • 4. Millipede 2600
• Black Widow Pack
  • 1. Black Widow
  • 2. Space Duel – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 3. Desert Falcon
  • 4. Space War
• Crystal Castles Pack
  • 1. Crystal Castles
  • 2. Crystal Castls 2600
  • 3. Surround – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 4. Maze Craze
• Gravitar Pack
  • 1. Gravitar
  • 2. Gravitar 2600
  • 3. Radar Lock
  • 4. Demons to Diamonds – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
• Star Raiders Pack
  • 1. Star Raiders
  • 2. Liberator
  • 3. Star Ship – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 4. Human Cannonball
• Missile Command Pack
  • 1. Missile Command
  • 2. Missile Command 2600
  • 3. Fun with Numbers
  • 4. Flag Capture – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
• Lunar Lader Pack
  • 1. Lunar Lander
  • 2. Sky diver – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 3. Video Pinball
  • 4. Code Breaker
• Super Breakout Pack
  • 1. Super Breakout
  • 2. Breakout – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 3. Off – the – Wall
  • 4. Circus Atari – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
• Tempest Pack
  • 1. Tempest – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 2. Tempest 2600 – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 3. Outlaw
  • 4. Atari Video Cube
• Majar Havoc Pack
  • 1. Major Havoc
  • 2. Secret Quest
  • 3. Sentinel
  • 4. Yars Revenge – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
• Warlords Pack
  • 1. Warlords – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 2. Warlords 2600
  • 3. Combat – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 4. Combat 2 – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
• Adventure Pack
  • 1. Adventure
  • 2. Haunted House
  • 3. Return to Haunted House
  • 4. Save Mary
• Tic-Tac-Toe Pack
  • 1. 3d Tic-Tac-Toe
  • 2. A game of concentration
  • 3. Backgammon
  • 4. Brain Games
• Fatal Run Pack
  • 1. Fatal Run
  • 2. Dodge ‘Em
  • 3. Night Driver
  • 4. Street Racer – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
• Quadrun Pack
  • 1. Quadrun
  • 2. Slot Racers – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 3. Stellar Track
  • 4. Math Gran Prix
• Casino Pack
  • 1. Casino – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 2. Slot Machine
  • 3. Video Checkers
  • 4. Video Chess
• Sword Quest Pack
  • 1. Swordquest Earthworld
  • 2. Swordquest Fireworld
  • 3. Swordquest Waterworld
  • 4. Sprintmaster
• Championship Soccer Pack
  • 1. Championship Soccer – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 2. Golf
  • 3. Double Dunk
  • 4. Basketball
• Football Pack
  • 1. Football – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 2. Home Run
  • 3. Miniature Golf
  • 4. Bowling
• Real Sports Basketball Pack
  • 1. Realsports Basketball – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 2. Realsports Boxing – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 3. Realsports Tennis – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 4. Realsports Baseball – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
• Real Sports Football Pack
  • 1. Realsports Football – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 2. Realsports Soccer – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 3. Realsports Vollyball – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
  • 4. Video Olympics – BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER
• Battlezone Pack
  • 1. Battlezone 2600
  • 2. Super Breakout 2600
  • 3. Super Baseball
  • 4. Super Football
• Hangman Pack
  • 1. Hangman
  • 2. Black Jack
  • 3. Steeplechase

Atari's Greatest Hits can currently be had in the New Zealand App Store, and should be available in the U.S. store late tonight. We're digging into this pile of retro goodness right now and will post a close look, in a bit.

App Store Link: Atari's Greatest Hits, Free (New Zealand link)

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One of the surprise hits from last year was Game Dev Story [$3.99/Lite] from Kairosoft. This quirky simulation game allowed you to create your own game development company and release a series of titles across multiple platforms. Game Dev Story was littered with all kinds of references to the real history of video games, making it especially appealing to long time gamers like myself. We loved the game when we reviewed it last October, and Game Dev Story went on to suck countless hours from iOS gamers ever since.

Coming off the huge success of Game Dev Story, Kairosoft has talked about their plans to bring a sequel to iOS in the distant future. Then earlier this year, they launched an interesting looking title called The Game Dealer in the Japanese App Store. Similar to Game Dev Story, The Game Dealer has you heading up a brick and mortar video game store and dealing with all the simulation elements that go along with it.

We speculated that The Game Dealer would be the next to get a localized US release, but earlier today we were surprised to see that Kairosoft’s US follow-up to Game Dev Story is instead a game called Hot Springs Story [$3.99]. In Hot Springs Story, you (unsurprisingly) manage a Japanese hot springs inn, building it out to your liking and attracting customers to patronize your establishment. AppBank has a gameplay video of the Japanese version of Hot Springs Story to give you an idea of what it plays like:

Hot Springs Story has been available in the Japanese App Store since December, and seeing as how it was their follow-up release to Game Dev Story in Japan I still think we’ll end up seeing The Game Dealer localized as well in due time. For now, though, you’ll be able to live out your fantasy of running a relaxing hot springs resort, just as you’ve always dreamed… right? Early impressions in our forums are positive, noting that the interface and mechanics are nearly identical to Game Dev Story but with a few welcome enhancements like zooming and landscape display.

The gameplay appears to be just as engaging as well, and chances are if you liked Game Dev Story then you’ll get similar enjoyment out of Hot Springs Story. Just don’t start playing too close to your bed time if you value sleep. We’ll have more on Hot Springs Story once we’re able to break away from our GDC shenanigans long enough to engulf ourselves in the world of hot springs management, but you can grab the game right now for an introductory sale price of $3.99.

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Early last month we took a look at Elite's ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection (Vol. 1) for the iPhone, a collection of 8-bit, British classics wrapped in a capable emulator, designed to deliver nostalgic gaming reverie to the iPhone- or iPod touch-wielding player. Late last week Elite released ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection HD [App Shop] for the iPad, featuring not only Vol. 1 but Vol. 2 of their game collection, making it the ultimate iOS ZX Spectrum experience.

The Elite Collection HD features all of the games from Vol. 1:

• Turbo Esprit
• Saboteur
• Chuckie Egg
• Harrier Attack
• Frank Bruno's Boxing
• Buggy Boy

As well as the new, Vol. 2 titles:

• Roller Coaster
• Beyond the Ice Palace
• Saboteur II: Avenging Angel
• Batty
• Kokotoni Wilf
• Battle Ships

As with the earlier iPhone release, the iPad Elite Collection plays the games very smoothly with decent controls — about as good as can be managed in a multi-touchscreen adaptation of a system of this sort. I've particularly appreciated these collections as I've long had an interest in experiencing the UK games of the 8-bit era but, being unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the Spectrum systems, I've had trouble with traditional emulators. Having everything neatly packaged up here has been a big win for me.

Though U.S. gamers never really had the chance to play many of these classics on their 8-bits back in the day, classics they are, and ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection HD is a great way to get to know these titles.

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It's Labor Day Weekend in the U.S. and most every retail sector in the land is offering major product sales — and the App Store is no exception. So, without further ado, the following games are available for a reduced price through this three-day, holiday weekend.

Namco

• BurgerTime Deluxe $1.99 → 99¢
• Garters & Ghouls $1.99 → 99¢
• Ms. PAC-MAN $4.99 → 99¢
• PAC-MAN $4.99 → 99¢
• PAC-MAN Remix $2.99 → 99¢
• PAC-MAN (iPad) $4.99 → 99¢
• Pole Position: Remix $2.99 → 99¢
• Pool Pro Online 3 $1.99 → 99¢
• Rolling 5 Dice Poker $4.99 → 99¢
• Solitaire: Deck of Cods $4.99 → 99¢
• Star Trigon $1.99 → 99¢
• Tamagotchi: 'Round the World $4.99 → 99¢
• Lt. Fly Rise of the Arachnids $1.99 → 99¢
• Brain Exercise with Dr. Kawashima $4.99 → 99¢
• Galaga REMIX $2.99 → 99¢
• Dig Dug REMIX $2.99 → 99¢
• PAC-MAN Championship Edition $2.99 → 99¢
• I Love Katamari $4.99 → 2.99
• Ridge Racer Accelerated $4.99 → 2.99
• …among others

Sky Burger, Free (down from $1.99) NimbleBit’s Sky Burger is a fun exercise in burger stacking that’s seen a great deal of success since it recently went free; presently it’s sitting at #6 free title in the App Store. Now’s the time to grab it.

Glu Mobile

• Build-a-lot $1.99 → 99¢
• Transformers $1.99 → 99¢
• Build-a-lot 2 $2.99 → 99¢
• Mini Golf $1.99 → 99¢
• Transformers G1 $1.99 → 99¢
• Deer Hunter: African Safari $6.99 → $2.99
• Jump O'Clock $1.99 → 99¢
• Stranded: Mysteries of Time $1.99 → 99¢
• Deer Hunter 3D for iPad $4.99 → 99¢
• Glyder 2 for iPad $1.99 → 99¢
• Super KO Boing 2 for iPad $2.99 → 99¢

Robot Unicorn Attack, $0.99 (down from $2.99) If there’s any game in the App Store that is double rainbow all the way, it is without question Adult Swim’s Robot Unicorn Attack. It’s got unicorns!!

Electronic Arts

• Boggle $1.99 → 99¢
• CLUE $1.99 → 99¢
• Littlest Pet Shop $2.99 → 99¢
• MONOPOLY $2.99 → 99¢
• MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition $2.99 → 99¢
• RISK: The Official Game $4.99 → $1.99
• THE GAME OF LIFE Classic Edition $2.99 → 99¢
• Trivial Pursuit $2.99 → 99¢
• YAHTZEE Adventures $2.99 → 99¢

I Dig It HD, $4.99 (down from $9.99) InMotion Software’s I Dig It HD is an iPad take on the iPhone original that we — and most everybody else — loved. On the bigger screen, it’s bigger action and all the fun of the iPhone version.

The titles listed here represent a pretty good highlight of what's out there for less this weekend, and additional deals are being discussed in an active forum thread.

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No long-time aerial combat fan can be a stranger to NovaLogic's Comanche helicopter combat series. Known for its comparatively realistic terrain rendering thanks to its use of voxel technology, the series culminated in the 2001 release of Comanche 4 for Windows PCs. A recent banner spotted on NovaLogic's website seems to indicate that iOS gamers may soon get the opportunity to deal out some death and destruction from the cockpit of a RAH-66 gunship.

Mixed in among a number of promotional graphics on NovaLogic's site, the banner in question depicts an iPhone 4 with the silhouette of a Comanche helicopter rendered on its screen, along with a blueprint side-shot sketch of the craft shown below phrase "Coming Soon." Since we became aware of the banner a few days back [ thanks Kamil ], we've sought confirmation and any details on this upcoming title through several NovaLogic channels, sadly with no success.

The Comanche series made its debut in 1992 and is centered around the Boeing / Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche helicopter gunship which was in development / prototyping at the time of the games' releases. And, while the Comanche program was cancelled by the U.S. Army in 2004 before fielding, NovaLogic's Comanche series stands as a rather unique and satisfying combat simulation experience — and one that's definitely more sim than simple arcade, first-person blaster.

See a game trailer for Comanche 4 for Windows, featuring in-engine play samples.

Having enjoyed Comanche 3 and 4 on the PC in days past, the prospect of a new iteration of the title on today's iOS devices — which are far more powerful than the PCs of the games' day — with full accelerometer / gyroscope controls has me pretty excited. You can be sure we'll pass on any details we're able to dig up on this upcoming title as soon as we get them.

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