Mobage Town – Asiajin

DeNA Recruits Legendary Japanese Game Designers Into “Super Creators” Initiative

In a press conference yesterday, DeNA announced [J] the formation of the “Super Creators” initiative, an all-star team of five veteran game designers from the traditional Japanese games industry who will create social smartphone games for Mobage. All games will be published by AQ Interactive. The veteran game designers include: Keiji Inafune: Legendary game designer formerly employed… Continue reading DeNA Recruits Legendary Japanese Game Designers Into “Super Creators” Initiative

DeNA To Introduce Unified Brand ‘Mobage’ Worldwide

DeNA, a Japanese company who runs the Japan’s possibly-No.1 social network Mobage Town, announced [J] that they would change their current brands, Mobage Town(mbga.jp) in Japan and Plus+ Network (by ngmoco, which DeNA purchased in October 2010) in overseas, into single brand Mobage from March 28, 2011. At now, Japanese Mobage-Town’s logo is mix of… Continue reading DeNA To Introduce Unified Brand ‘Mobage’ Worldwide

Japanese Web Community As Person

Gijinka (anthropomorphization) is what Japanese anime/manga people love, and it often passes the language barriers. On giant anonymous bulletin board 2-channel, some amateur cartoonists seemed to vie in their personification sense [J]. 2-channel: They know who they are well. derision for everything is their basic attitude. Nico Nico (Douga): Hatsune Miku, young girls’ livestream on… Continue reading Japanese Web Community As Person

Japan’s No.1 Social Network – Gree And Mobage Town Competes

At the beginning of February, two of Japanese social networking giants, Gree and DeNA(Mobage Town company) released quarterly financial reports. Gree’s 2011-2Q report [J] showed its sales record, 14.32 billion yen(US$175 mil), 83% of which is from virtual items. It is the historic high. DeNA 2011-3Q [J] also recorded their highest 29.49 billion yen(US$361 mil)… Continue reading Japan’s No.1 Social Network – Gree And Mobage Town Competes

For Social App Development: Mixi And CyberAgent Launch Joint Venture

Japan’s social apps boom isn’t ending: Today, two of the country’s biggest web companies, namely Mixi and CyberAgent, announced they will launch a joint venture to produce social apps for mixi, Japan’s biggest social network, on February 1. CyberAgent is best known for its massive Ameba blog platform, Japan’s biggest (12.4 million registered users). The… Continue reading For Social App Development: Mixi And CyberAgent Launch Joint Venture

Video: DeNA CEO Tomoko Namba’s Interview at LeWeb’10

Tomoko Namba, the CEO of Japanese mobile social gaming giant DeNA (and one of my personal heroes), gave a pretty interesting interview at web industry conference LeWeb’10 earlier this month. LeWeb organizer Loic LeMeur asked her for a full 20 minutes about her company’s history, present and future plans Namba, speaking in excellent English, doesn’t… Continue reading Video: DeNA CEO Tomoko Namba’s Interview at LeWeb’10

DeNA Exports Mobage In Alliance With Samsung

Yesterday issue of The Japan Times, on my monthly article I reported two social gaming network giants DeNA(Mobage Town) and Gree competition. And the competition between the two rivals is set to continue beyond their desire to be Japan’s leading social network as both companies are seeking another growth possibility — international markets. In the… Continue reading DeNA Exports Mobage In Alliance With Samsung

Breaking: Japan FTC Conducts Investigation On DeNA(Mobage-Town)

Kyodo reports [J] (11:08) that DeNA, who runs one of Japan’s largest mobile social networking Mobage-Town, is subjected to an on-site investigation by Japan Fair Trade Commission(JFTC). DeNA was rumored to ask their third-party game application providers not to provide games for Gree. [Update] Nikkei follows [J] (11:13) with more detail. It says that the… Continue reading Breaking: Japan FTC Conducts Investigation On DeNA(Mobage-Town)

First Social Game Magazine Appli-Style On Sale

On December 2nd, Japan’s first (maybe the world first? do you know?) cellphone social game application magazine “Appli Style” has been released in Japan. The magazine, costs 680 yen (US$8), published by a publisher Eastpress, are sold at bookstores and convenience stores around the nation. (->