Editor’s note: AJ Redmer is the region head of North America Studios and VP of gumi Inc.

Asia has inspired and dominated the global video-game market since the past decade and has given no sign of relinquishing its throne. Japan and China represent two of the top three video-game markets in the world, and the Asia-Pacific region generated $12.2 billion in mobile game revenue in 2014, as compared to $4.9 billion and $3.2 billion for North America and Western Europe, respectively.

These staggering numbers are partly the result of supportive local ecosystems for game development, which encourage both large corporations and independent developers to thrive. For instance, Tencent had more revenue than Activision-Blizzard in 2013 thanks to its majority ownership of Riot Games, maker of League of Legends.

South Korea alone has four mobile game companies that are part of the billion dollar valuation club (Com2uS, BCSoft, Nexon and Smilegate), and 80,000 Chinese app developers released a staggering 100 games daily in 2013.  Also keep in mind that Japanese telecom giant SoftBank owns a majority of Finland-founded Supercell, and Tencent bought 40 percent of Epic Games, which is based in North Carolina.

These companies have met with tremendous success due largely to innovative mobile-first strategies. Let’s take a look at some clever Asian mobile game mechanics that I predict will influence how the rest of the world plays.

Chatting to the Top of the Charts

The competition among messaging apps in Asia is fierce. A “wicked chat war” is brewing among a handful of powerful companies to win the “hearts and devices” of the region’s 4.4 billion potential users. The contenders include China’s WeChat, Japan’s Line, South Korea’s Kakao Talk, and WhatsApp, which is now owned by Facebook.

In an effort to win this battle, each of these companies is expanding their scope beyond simple (and free) chat functionalities by offering a slew of social networking and entertainment features. The ultimate goal is to become a portal for other types of mobile services that present better monetization opportunities — like games.

Games work well in chat apps because they can easily leverage social mechanics to bring people into the games, and have the bonus of a built-in audience. A prime example of this is Candy Crush prompting players to send invitations to their friends so they can get more in-game play time. Another benefit is that games increase time spent in chat apps.

WeChat, Kakao Talk, and Line have all integrated mobile games into their messaging platforms and seen results. Line revealed last year that the biggest source of its revenue are free-to-play games that make money from in-game purchases, and Kakao Talk earned $54 million off games in the third quarter of 2014. It’s only a matter of time before Western companies try to recreate the success of their Asian counterparts.

Proximity Gaming

To put it simply, there are a lot of games out there. Discoverability is one of the biggest concerns and biggest hurdles for app developers today, and many are willing to go to great lengths to break through the noise. In Asian markets, location is proving to be a powerful tool for helping people discover new and relevant games. The Chinese flirting app Momo shows what games people nearby are playing. It currently claims 180.3 million users in China and 60.2 million monthly active users, and it expanded its user base by 160 percent in a year. It’s also worth $3 billion.

Enabling people to connect via proximity is one of the major “secrets” of Momo’s success. Leveraging location is also a brilliant way to keep your finger on the latest commute boredom-buster and provide that ‘crowded room’ atmosphere that makes gaming feel like a communal activity rather than a solitary diversion.

Soon, we will start to see more apps in the West harness these powerful network effects by adding the ability to chat and interact with people nearby, gather info on local events, etc. This strategy increases discoverability and helps developers create a vibrant and growing community around their apps.

Kickstarting New Gaming Levels Via Crowd Downloads

The old adage “a rising tide lifts all boats” can be applied to mobile gaming. The basic idea here is to get every player invested in a game’s success by tying unlocks to download numbers. This great innovation comes from Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy. His mobile game Terra Battle introduced a novel promotional plan he refers to as a “download-starter” (à la Kickstarter).

This means that in order to unlock additional content, the game has to reach certain download milestones. The more people play, the better the game gets with new music, new storylines and new characters — and new missions emerge. Every player thus becomes highly motivated to promote the game.

Certainly, Sakaguchi’s pedigree helped get this game on the map in the first place, and the team did an outstanding job of executing this approach by pulling in well-known composers, illustrators, etc. to drum up excitement. However, that’s not to say that other games couldn’t also reap the benefits of this strategy.

What other new innovations are inspiring the world, and will Asia continue to dominate the industry?

Casetext, a Y Combinator-backed legal tech startup that is both a community site for attorneys to share knowledge and a service that gives users free access to legal texts annotated by attorneys, today announced that it has raised a $7 million Series A round led by Union Square Ventures. Other participants in this round include Formation 8 and former Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer, as well as existing investors. This round brings Casetext’s total funding to $8.8 million.

As Casetext CEO Jake Heller told me, the company was able to grow quickly on the back of its seed funding, and the site now has over 250,000 visitors every month. The site currently features over 100,000 posts from about 35,000 users. “We decided to raise now to build on our initial successes,” he told me. “We need to expand our team to tackle some of our most ambitious technological goals, and we’ll increase the coverage of our legal library so that more attorneys can rely on Casetext as their primary source of legal information.”

He also noted that USV was a natural choice to lead the investment because of its investment history, but also because two of its five partners are lawyers, including John Buttrick, who will join Casetext’s board.

Over the last few years Samsung has tended to keep things quiet at MWC, preferring to hold a separate Unpacked event a few weeks later. This year the Unpacked event will be held at MWC on Sunday March 1st according to the invite sent out.

The invite confirms the event will be in Barcelona at MWC and teases a curved edge design similar to the side of the Note Edge. This could mean the S6 will have a curved screen or that there will be two versions, similar to the Note 4 and Note Edge which were announced together. We will have to wait until next month to find out. Thankfully February is a short month so it’ll fly by.

 

An advert by a leading U.S. manufacturer of SUVs featuring a Muslim woman has sparked a mixture of reactions on social media, with some detractors slamming it as “un-American” and defenders praising the commercial for depicting religious diversity.

Set to the tune of the American folk song “This land is your land,” the advert by U.S. automaker Jeep begins with images of American landscapes before moving around the world.

But the inclusion of a Muslim woman in the advert, which was produced for Sunday’s Superbowl, seemed a step too far for some people, British newspaper the Independent reported.

On the website YouTube one user wrote: “Who is in the advertising department? Fire them. This is an American song. AMERICAN. Why showing other foreign countries? Not only that I think it’s an insult to show Muslim women, rather anything muslim related.”

“Maybe #Jeep can sell all their vehicles to MUSLIMS because good Americans shouldn't buy them,” @MilamBill, a Twitter user, said in one post.

Other Twitter users defended the commercial, with some saying it celebrated religious diversity.

“Thank you @Jeep for celebrating diversity by featuring a Muslim woman in your #SuperBowl ad! http://bit.ly/169r074,” one user using the Twitter handle @mpac_national said.

“I've always been a big fan of #Jeep ... And I'm a Muslim Women! The #JeepCommercial was perfect,” ‏@amas_d, another Twitter user said.

“I find it utterly disappointing that there are individuals who are upset about a Muslim woman being in the #Jeep commercial. #SuperBowl #Smh,” Twitter user @InnominateMe276 said in a post.

This bottle is #1 of only 200 being produced worldwide, and they won’t be sold in restaurants (File photo/Reuters)

Fast-food giant McDonald’s is giving Australians the opportunity to buy a bottle of the special sauce used on their famous Big Mac - the only problem is it will cost at least Aus$23,100 (U.S.$18,000).
The 500 ml ‘Limited Edition Big Mac Special Sauce Bottle #1 of 200’ is being auctioned on eBay with all proceeds going to charities run by the global chain to help sick children and their families.
“This bottle is #1 of only 200 being produced worldwide, and they won’t be sold in restaurants,” the eBay ad reads, adding that the sauce could be used to improve anything from goulash to cupcakes.
McDonald’s said the special sauce was one of the company’s most iconic ingredients, and customers often ask where they could buy it - but until now it was trapped between the buns of a Big Mac.
“We’re excited to be auctioning off the first-ever bottle of Big Mac sauce for a cause we are passionate about,” chief marketing officer for McDonald’s Australia Mark Lollback said.
The auction for the sauce - whose ingredients are known to include relish, mustard, distilled vinegar, onion, garlic and salted egg yolks - will run until Feb. 9.
Australian customers of McDonald’s will also be able to buy 25ml tubs of special sauce at restaurants around the country in February, the company said.
McDonald’s is the world’s largest burger chain, with 36,000 outlets in more than 100 countries, but changing consumer tastes are proving a challenge as are agile new fast-food chains, compounded by a slump in sales in China and Japan after a scare over food safety.

‘My strategy is more natural than Botox and more effective than any expensive beauty cream or facial,” she told the daily,’ Tess said. (Courtesy of Daily Mirror)

 

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By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Monday, 2 February 2015

A British woman has gone without smiling for 40 years, more than two thirds of her life, in a move to forestall the wrinkles associated with old age.

“I don’t have wrinkles because I have trained myself to control my facial muscles,” Tess Christian, 50, the Daily Mail newspaper reported.
“Everyone asks if I’ve had Botox, but I haven’t, and I know that it’s thanks to the fact I haven’t laughed or smiled since I was a teenager. My dedication has paid off, I don’t have a single line on my face,” she said.

Her friends have given her the nickname of “Mona Lisa” because of her atypical demeanor.

Tess’ habit began when she was a teenager at a strict Catholic school that discouraged pupils from smiling.

“The joyless nuns there didn’t like children to smile. I was always told to wipe the smile off my face so I learnt to smirk instead,” Tess said.

Later in her life, she found the somber expression suited her.

“If I did smile I developed big hamster cheeks that made me look deranged. I looked up to old-school Hollywood icons such as Marlene Dietrich for inspiration; she never smiled and I loved the way she shouldered glamorously.”

Withholding her smile wasn’t easy at first, she explained.

“When I found something funny or I was tempted to laugh — which happened on a daily basis — I learned to control my facial muscles by holding them rigid,” Tess explained.

Tess Christian. (Courtesy of Daily Mirror)

“The corners of my mouth might go up a little but I never looked anything other than faintly amused. Friends knew I was fun to be around, so it wasn’t an issue.”

Tess claims her strategy is more natural and cost-effective.

Tess Christian. (Courtesy of Daily Mirror)

“Yes, I am vain and want to remain youthful. My strategy is more natural than Botox and more effective than any expensive beauty cream or facial,” she told the daily.

She also says it has not come in the way of her relationships with other people.

Tess Christian. (Courtesy of Daily Mirror)

A number of celebrities including Kim Kardashian have admitted to using the unorthodox practice and some experts believe the trick might just work.

However, some mental health professionals have noted the importance of smiling for people’s psychological wellbeing.

Three French soldiers standing guard outside a Jewish community centre in the southern French resort of Nice have been attacked by a man armed with two knives.

Two of the soldiers were slightly hurt, one on the arm and the other in the face, and the attacker was wrestled to the ground by two tramway workers and a passing civilian. The justice ministry is treating the incident as a terrorist attack.

However later details indicate the attacker, only named as Moussa by the authorities, had just got off a tram where he had been stopped and fined for riding without a ticket, and apparently approached the soldiers before drawing one long-bladed edged weapon.

Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice told France Inter radio: “He paid his fine, but refused to show his identity papers. He got out suddenly near the soldiers and with a sharp knife struck the cheek of one and arm of another.” 

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UPDATE: French police cordon off area of the attack in Nice, attacker arrested, 2 other suspects fled scene #France"