Hot Five

The PG.Biz Hot Five: In-app purchase panic, HTML5 love and Air Penguin's revenue rise

Last week's top 5 stories

The PG.Biz Hot Five: In-app purchase panic, HTML5 love and Air Penguin's revenue rise
Welcome to PocketGamer.biz's weekly rundown of the stories clocking up the hits, picking up the click-throughs and generally keeping the advertisers happy by serving up page views.

Or, if you'd prefer, the top five stories currently dominating our readers' attention.

Each week, we'll be counting down the biggest news from the previous seven days, giving just a glimpse of the industry's big issues, from five to one.



Ngmoco buys longterm development partner Rough CookieA week after its short term future as a developer had been called into question, ngmoco acquired Dutch cross-platform mobile studio Rough Cookie.

No fee was given, but it's expected to be relatively modest, given the Star Defense studio numbers in the single digits when it comes to employees.


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SPIL Games' Peter Driessen says it's already seeing great traction for mobile HTML5 gamingHaving been behind a series HTML5-based mobile game making competitions, SPIL Games CEO Peter Driessen took time out to talk up the web standard, stating that it represents the future for mobile browser games.

"It's early days but we're already seeing great traction on HTML5," he said. "The technology means we can't provide deep gameplay at the moment, but what's important is we can offer games in a social environment, so players can see what their friends are playing."


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IAP patent claimant Lodsys defends position, claims Apple, Google and Microsoft are licenseesThough missing out on the top spot, the issues surrounding a patent claim relating to in-app purchases by Lodsys arguably provided the theme of the week, with the company's response to criticism – delivered via a length and bizarrely worded Q&A session on its website – gaining hits aplenty.

The most interesting aspect of its reply, however, focused on its assertion that Apple, Google and Microsoft are all licensees of the patent, but they are unable to "provide 'pixie dust' to bless another (3rd party) business applications", which is the basis of its threat of legal action against individual developers.


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Apple 'actively investigating' Lodsys in-app purchase patent claimThe suggestion that Apple was looking into the issue proved popular, with developers spending the week vocalising a desire for the giant to get involved.

It's believed by many that the Lodsys patent could be proved invalid in court, but the process of doing so would require the money that only the likes of Apple could stump up, making the suggestion that the firm's legal department was "actively investigating" the matter a crucial development.
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Air Penguin revenues hit $1 million in first month on App StoreA success story proved the most popular of the week, however, with Enterfly's Air Penguin topping revenues of $1 million in its first month on sale.

The Gamevil published title also topped the App Store's paid charts in the US, France, Germany and the Netherlands in the process, with in-app purchases a major driver.

Click to read more.

And there's even more

Also proving popular last week was a reaction by NaturalMotion's Torsten Reil to former Pocket Gamer Apple editor Tracy Erickson's analysis of the freemium market a week earlier, while Tag Games MD Paul Farley's discussion of the transitional challenges of moving from single player to social game development was yet another favourite on the site.

Until next week, Pocket Gamer pickers.
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With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.