Japan’s mobile social gaming giants continue their global expansion. After having opened an office in San Francisco in January, GREE today announced it will establish offices in Singapore, Beijing and London this spring. In Singapore, GREE acquired a stake in mobile social network mig33 in...
Article on TechCrunch: “Save Japan” Initiative At SXSW 2011 (And How You Can Help)
I am currently in Germany, following a tough trip to Austin (for SXSW 2011) I took after the big earthquake hit Japan: I spent 51 hours at the Tokyo airport, started suffering from sudden hear loss, got “emergency” medical treatment in a hospital near the airport, etc. etc. But...
Uma Tama: Konami Releases Horse-Raising Game On GREE [Social Games]
The newest title that has been added to GREE yesterday proves two things: a) big makers of “traditional” console games continue to develop mobile social games, and b) even unusual concepts can be turned into social games. Case in point: Uma Tama. Developed by major video game company...
List Of All Japan-Related Panels And Parties AT SXSW 2011
Here’s a quick list of all Japan-related panels and parties during SXSW 2011 (also see Paul Papadimitriou’s post). I will be moderating two of the four panels and also plan to visit both parties. PANELS Sunday, March 13, 12.30pm Big in Japan: Outreaching to a unique market Fumi Yamazaki...
Yahoo Mobage / Mobagetown Users Can Now Pay Via BitCash [Social Games]
DeNA announced that users of the Yahoo Mobage platform for PC-based social games as well as those playing games on Mobagetown on smartphones can now pay for virtual items using BitCash. BitCash is a popular e-money service in japan that can be used to make payments on the web. Users can transfer...
DeNA Scores Anime Licenses For Social Games [Social Games]
It’s no secret that Japan is very much an anime nation, which is why the license deal DeNA () inked today with Toei Animation is potentially good news for them (Toei is one of Japan’s biggest anime production studios). Under the deal, DeNA will develop mobile social games based on anime...