BROWSING: Glu Mobile

Shares of Glu Mobile Inc. got a lift after the company offered to buy U.K.-based rival Superscape Group plc for $36 million.Superscape has gained traction with a portfolio of both 2-D and 3-D mobile games, and claims 135 employees in San Clemente, Calif., and...

Digital Chocolate Inc. is the latest mobile-game maker to distribute its games for free.The publisher said it will make five of its games available through Greystripe, a San Francisco-based distributor of free mobile games. The titles will come wrapped in marketing messages that appear...

It seems the entire mobile gaming industry is scampering to churn out pick-up-and-play, made-for-mobile titles that emphasize simplicity and downplay rich graphics and other sophisticated features.Vollee Inc. is headed the other direction.The San Mateo, Calif.-based firm is hawking a kind of placeshifting technology that...

Glu Mobile Inc. will step up its efforts in China with the acquisition of fellow mobile game publisher Beijing Zhangzhong MIG Information Technology Co. Ltd. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company will pay $14.7 million in cash and as much as $25 million more in...

No wonder people can't agree on a cure for the mobile gaming industry. Some insiders don't even think it's sick.There's no question that the space-which just a couple of years ago was envisioned as the pace-setting genre of mobile content-has failed to live up...

The mobile gaming playground remains a tumultuous space, according to new earnings reports from three of the industry's biggest players. Shares of Glu Mobile Inc. plunged after the publisher issued fourth-quarter guidance that fell short of analysts' expectations. Glu narrowed its quarterly loss significantly-reporting...

The ad-subsidized mobile gaming space gained another backer as Vivendi Games Mobile said it will offer 10 of its titles free through Greystripe.The mobile division of Paris-based Vivendi Games said games such as "After Dark Flying Toaster," "Amy's Hangman" and several Garfield products would...

Ad-subsidized mobile games are a sure-fire catalyst for an industry sorely in need of a kick in the pants.Either that, or they're the quickest way to sabotage the space in its infancy.Hands-On Mobile last week became the first major mobile publisher to experiment with...

Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless New' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works...

I-play said it will support Nokia Corp.'s N-Gage gaming platform with a portfolio of casual titles.The U.K.-based publisher will begin to offer N-Gage games next year, starting with World Rally Championship and Super Mah Jong, and will focus on simple, "one-thumb" games. Glu Mobile...

Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. surged while Glu Mobile Inc.'s stock tumbled after both companies issued quarterly earnings reports.EA, which continues to dominate the mobile gaming space, managed to exceed Wall Street's expectations despite a net loss of $132 million for the quarter. The...

Mobile game publishers have gained steady-if uninspiring-traction churning out titles based on blockbuster movies and classic board games. But what the industry really needs, some believe, is some fresh ideas. And they're unlikely to come from some of the more familiar names in the...

The guys who founded Atlas Mobile are back with a community-based contest offering for mobile phones and PCs.Isaac Babbs, Andy Riedel and Ken Scott unveiled Tapatap Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based startup that allows members to create and play "photo contests" for prizes. The...

LG Electronics Co. Ltd. said it plans to pre-load games from Digital Chocolate Inc. on "multiple" new handsets in the United States beginning this month.The companies declined to disclose details regarding specific titles or handsets, and financial terms of the deal were not revealed....

The guys who founded Atlas Mobile are back with a community-based contest offering for mobile phones and PCs.Isaac Babbs, Andy Riedel and Ken Scott unveiled Tapatap Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based startup that allows members to create and play "photo contests" for prizes. The...

Starent Networks Corp., which sells multimedia infrastructure products to wireless carriers, raised $126.4 million in an initial public offering, beating the company's forecast. The offering of more than 10.5 million shares sold for $12 per share, which gives the company an initial market capitalization...

Online casual gaming giant Oberon Media bought its way onto the mobile playground, picking up London-based publisher I-play for an undisclosed sum.Oberon powers storefronts customers such as MSN Games Network, Electronic Arts Inc., Verizon Broadband, Comcast and Orange/France Telecom. The New York-based company is...

Online gaming giant PopCap Games launched its first internally developed wireless title with a mobile version of its popular game Chuzzle.PopCap claims to have delivered more than 200 million downloads on computers and mobile phones, and the company owns the blockbuster cross-platform title Bejeweled....

Mobile game publishers and their carrier partners are hoping to lure newbies by giving away everything from 30-second game demos to a Volkswagen Beetle. Whether they're succeeding, though, is far from certain. Wireless gaming continues to struggle to expand past the "golden nickel"-the 5%...

Mobile games publisher Glu Mobile Inc. reported improvements in both revenues and earnings for the first quarter, news that appeared to please the company's investors. Glu's stock was up almost 2% after the news to around $11.67 per share.Glu reported revenue of $15.7 million...

Glu Mobile Inc. is expanding its portfolio of licensed content with a new partnership with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.The San Mateo, Calif.-based publisher said it has secured worldwide rights to develop, market and distribute games and other mobile offerings from new film releases as...

Glu Mobile Inc. raised $84 million with an initial public offering priced near the top of its range.The San Mateo, Calif.-based wireless game maker offered 7.3 million common shares at $11.50 compared with a $10 to $12 per-share forecast range. The stock gained 4...

Amobee Media Systems is the latest startup on the ad-supported mobile game space, teaming with Exit Games to deliver marketing messages in titles running on Java and BREW handsets.Exit is a German-based firm that provides technology for connected play to customers including Cingular Wireless,...

A flurry of mobile gaming news is coming out of San Francisco in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference. Powerhouses and startups in the gaming industry have saturated the market of late; indeed, on-portal mobile gaming downloads generated more than $566 million last year,...