Much criticism has been laid at the door of traditional publishers following the rise of the App Store, with many commentators believing they've failed to grasp the differing principles of this new audience and marketplace.

Capcom Mobile appears keen to show it's now fully on board, announcing it's releasing three free to download social games for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad before the end of 2010.

Embracing the pirates

The first release – the sea bound Lil' Pirates - will hit the App Store later in October.

Developed by Canadian studio IUGO, it will ship with 100 items of content available via in-app purchases to fund its release. It will also be fully integrated with Facebook for an additional social pull.

Capcom's other games are a licensed title based off a children's entertainment property - due in November - and Zombie Cafe.

In this time management game, the player partners with an evil corporation to use zombies as free workers to build a cafe empire.

Casting a wider net

"The release of these titles marks a new direction for the company as we complement our traditional premium pricing model with freemium social games for our customers," said Capcom COO and president Midori Yuasa.

"By creating a line of casual freemium games we can appeal to consumers not serviced by our more hardcore IP and cast a much wider net over the burgeoning smartphone app marketplace."

[source: Marketwire]