GungHo's popular mobile game Puzzle & Dragons cooperates with BAT MAN

GungHo announced that they cooperated with BAT MAN of the Warner Bros.' super hero in Puzzle & Dragons. This is carried out in a global region as well as Japanese region.

This is performed in commemoration of release of "Batman: Arkham Origins" and "Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate". It is the second in this that Puzzle & Dragons cooperates with overseas contents in a global region (The first was Supercell's Clash of Clan).

See Also:
Big tie-up: Japan's GungHo cooperates with Finland's Supercell by each other's games

A tie-up period is from October 30 to November 13. During this period, tie-up dungeon and tie-up Gacha appear in Puzzle & Dragons, and Characters of BAT MAN are arranged by GungHo-style. A tie-up page is here(Jp).

BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS, BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS BLACKGATE software (C)2013 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. BATMAN and all characters, their distinctive likenesses, and related elements are trademarks of DC Comics (C)2013. All Rights Reserved. WB GAMES LOGO, WB SHIELD:(TM) & (C) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s13)

Finnish mobile games attack the Japanese market, even in LINE GAME

Recently, I see many articles of Finnish game & IT industries in the Japanese Web media. Is it influence of SoftBank and Supercell? Anyway, the attention degree to Finland rises in the Japanese Tech industry. Possibly LINE aimed at this timing. They released action game "LINE Dongurissu" in their mobile game platform LINE GAME.

Well, this is This is LINE version of "Noble Nutlings" which Finnish startup Boomlagoon developed. LINE released only Japanese and Korean mobile games until now. This is the first time that they release a European game. What does Dongurissu mean? It's a Japanese coined word. "Donguri" means an acorn and "Risu" means a squirrel in Japanese.

What is different from an original? At first, all the texts are Japanese. They are not literal translations, and expressed with slang only by Japanese. they are natural and comical.

Furthermore, there are a lot of charging items and the play number of times per once is limited by five times. Okay, it's charging! The Japanese is used to charging from mobile. So, this is an effective method.
They are going to release the LINE ticker in future. This is one of the popular sources of LINE.

Son brothers conquered the Finnish and Japanese mobile game industry

Many articles had been already written, Japanese mobile company SoftBank  and game company GungHo purchased Finnish mobile game company Supercell. SoftBank became the mobile game company which made money world's most. Does Japanese money flow into Finland? Does Finnish money flow into Japan? and does this purchase change Supercell? Nobody yet understands them. However, there is an important point. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and GungHo chairperson Taizo Son are brothers. In other words the Son brothers would conquer Finnish and Japanese mobile game industry. What a powerful brothers!

By the way, Supercell's mobile agriculture game Hay Day started Japanese support at once.

I don't know whether it is accidental, GungHo's subsidiary Acquire added Finnish character in their new game for PS3/VS Vita "AKIBA 'S TRIP2". Her name is Kati Räikkönen. She is foreign students and works part-time at a maid cafe in Akihabara.



These were announced on the same day.

When we look back on past business style of SoftBank and GungHo, some kind of cross-collaborations are carried out from now on.

Let's beat HENTAI in a mobile game!---"Oshioki Punch Girl"

Needless to say, Japan is HENTAI big country. Various HENTAI are excited somewhere in Japan everyday. Japanese startup e-DragonPower released a game for iOS where a high school girl hit HENTAI. Japanese startup e-DragonPower released a game for iOS that a high school girl beat HENTAI. The title is "Oshioki Punch Girl". "Oshioki" means "Punishment" in Japanese.

Oshioki Punch Girl is a full 3D kick boxing action game. The player operates Momiji Akiyama of the high school girl and fights against various HENTAI.

Surely, HENTAI are weird. However, 3D graphic is a high quality and motion is smooth. This is fun as an action game commonly. It is high score when players aim at a vital part of HENATI(In most cases, it is a crotch). Furthermore, players change a fashion of Momiji Akiyama and can enjoy the coordinates. It is the popular element which is deep-rooted in Japan.

By the way, this is the FIRST game apps of e-DragonPower. Cool!

Legendary rock band KISS appears for not only Tokyo but also a SEGA's mobile game

Now, Legendary rock band KISS in TOkyo for some of shows.

They seem to enjoy business in Japan.

Furthermore, they appear for not only real Tokyo but also social game apps for smartphones of SEGA "Demon Tribe".

See Also:
News Flash: Legendary rock band KISS cooperates with SEGA's mobile social game

In games, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are such figures.

Players can operate them as one's daemon.

Furthermore, the refection item of KISS Bun comes up, too.

CircleK-Sunkus of the convenience store sells a tie-up steamed bun of KISS. This is a collaboration item with it.

If I remember correctly, this is the first example that KISS cooperates with a game. Surely, they make efforts in the Japanese market.

I'm envious of a Taiwanese!: Japanese smartphone apps character Nameko multiplies in Taiwan

The mobile game character which is the most popular in Japan is Nameko from Nameko Saibai Kit(Mushroom Garden) series. However, they are popular in not only Japan but also Taiwan. The Seven-Eleven Taiwan branch office of the convenience store sells Nameko products of the Taiwanese original products. Of course this is official. They put it together in a Halloween season, and the tie-up of their mascot character Open! and Nameko reaches, too. Kawaii!

via http://www.openopen.com.tw/event1/13open/13opennamepara.html

We can check the Taiwanese Seven-Eleven here(article is Chinese). According to the rumor, Nameko is more popular than Japan in Taiwan. The downloading rate of the Nameko Saibai Kit series in the population is higher than Japan. And Taiwan's original Nameko events are held. The Taiwanese local railroad operates even Nameko train! My Taiwanese friend said, "Angry Birds? I already got tired of it. Nameko is Best!"

I am envious of a Taiwanese. I want to go to Taiwan to buy Taiwanese goods of Nameko.

Japanese popular mobile game "Puzzle & Dragons" attacks the U.K.

Japanese game company GungHo released "Puzzle & Dragons" in British App Store. It is an overseas advance of the 4th country.

Puzzle & Dragons is popular in Japan in the present that passed from release more than one year. It has 20 million users in Japan, commercials are broadcasted every day in TV, a Nintendo 3DS version is released in December, the comics development was decided.

On the other hand, it is not outstanding very much abroad. It just got 1 million users in North America. They want to add to the presence in foreign countries. Probably the purchase of Supercell is this part, too.

Disney Japan cooperates with LINE for the appeal of Japan-limited goods

Now, you must cooperate with LINE if you want to get popularity in Japan. Disney Japan announced that they cooperated with LINE for the appeal of Japan-limited goods.

Disney Japan starts sale of Japanese original products series "TSUM TSUM" from today.

"Tsumu" means "Pile up" in Japanese. Cute deformation!

LINE releases game apps for smartphones which reproduced this in this winter. Originally Disney Japan was active in virtual business. They cooperated with every virtual worlds and social games. Probably there will be more examples of virtual goods offered to the Japanese by the Disney Japan than the U.S. headquarter. In addition, They donated LINE stickers of many Disney characters. They go step further, and going to profit from the games.

Social Good: Social game for iOS which can contribute stationery to Cambodian children "Social Angel"

This is one of social good examples. The Japanese and Cambodian entrepreneurs released social game apps for iOS "Social Angel" which could contribute stationery to Cambodian children. Facebook page is here.

Social Angel is a fantasy card battle of the Japanese style. But there is no Gacha. On the other hand, players contribute art supplies and summon angel cards, and the contributions are contributed to Cambodian children. This can be called gamification of the contribution.

Cambodian children drew the illustration of cards. The kinds of cards are more than 200. Players can check the profile of children who drew an illustration from cards. Birthday, future dream, character, what kind of life do they usually live?

Japanese entrepreneur Hidetaka Nakamura and Cambodian entrepreneur Cleomora Momz planned this. They raise development funds in Japanese crowd funding platform Campfire, but The game development was completed before arriving at the aim amount of money. Cambodian engineers performed all development. We can watch photos of them and children in a page of Campfire.

Paul McCartney cooperates with LINE in promotion

Japanese messaging application LINE has about 260 million users. However, they still have areas of non-conquest. They are North America, Russia, Europe. Therefore they cooperated with Paul McCartney in promotion.

They opened a official account of Paul McCartney in regions of 20 countries. The countries are Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Turkey, Thailand, Philippine, Vietnam, Mexico, Italy, US, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain, Germany, France, UK, Brazil, India and Russia. Furthermore, they offer the sticker of the comics taste of Paul McCartney for  users from October 29 ~ November 26. The design of stickers are 8 kinds, and these are available to users free for 180 days.

LINE released stickers of various artists and celebrities so far. However, this time is big name!

Poker+Collection+Card Battle+Famous Anime "Fujiko Mine: Battle Poker"

In Japan, it is popular to add something to card battle social games. They are puzzles, poker and a rhythm game etc... After a hit of Puzzle & Dragons, this tendency was strengthened. Japanese animation production company TMS ENTERTAINMENT was carried on this fashion , and released Web browser game for PCs "Fujiko Mine -battle poker-" in Yahoo! Mobage.

 This is a Poker battle RPG about their cool anime "Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine"(Wikipedia[En]). It is experimental anime released last year, and got a lot of best values.

Players steal into various halls with Fujiko Mine(She is a skilled thief), and steal treasure. It resembles an RPG having an adventure in dungeon. In addition, such thief game was popular with the Japanese social games dawns(ex: DeNA's Kaito Royale :怪盗ロワイヤル).

And players fight against enemies with poker. This resembles a card battle, but players need the knowledge of poker hands.

Players can get new cards whenever they play the scene. Whenever cards increase, it becomes easy to take out a good poker hand.

Furthermore, there is the element collecting treasure. The collection is the element which is important in Japanese social games.

In addition, naturally there is Gacha and...

There is the synthetic and reinforcement of the card, too.

Players can do other players and poker battle.

All of characteristic and elements of Japanese social games are packed this with. However, it is not complicated. Furthermore, BGM is very cool!(Naruyoshi Kikuchi of the jazz musician is in charge of it) However, unfortunately this is only Japanese support.

Kochi aims at economic activation by social games

This is not only Japan, but the economic conditions of the current local government are the worst. Some towns and villages fail. On the other hand, there are the local governments aiming at economic activation with IT power. Kochi Prefecture is one of them. They hold a social game development contest for people of the prefecture and releases winning prize works in GREE. They already extend to 5 works. Kochi and GREE perform the pre-registration acceptance of the latest mobile social game "Cross Fantasia".

The interesting point of the social game development contest of Kochi Prefecture is that there is no restriction. Amateur, indies, elderly people, Kids, etc... anyone can apply for it. How about coding knowledge? Not necessary. They can apply only by artwork and a scenario. The scenario which a junior high student wrote has been really adopted. Based on those fragmentary winning prize works, Kochi orders game development from local companies. Well, this is a local economy activity policy.

Originally Kochi was the prefecture that produced many Manga artists and musicians. This social game development contest will be the policy that not only the economy but also the personnel training put in the field of vision. If own works is adopted for a social game at the time of a junior high student? The kids will continue making works all the time.

DeNA releases a new running game for mobile. The title is "Hungry Bird"

It's not Angry, is "Hungry".

DeNA announced that they released a new running game for mobile. The title is very unique. This is "Angry Yoshida-kun and Hungry Bird". You would already notice. This is parody.

Who is Yoshida-kun? He is a character of Japanese popular Flush anime cartoon series Eagle Talon.


Eagle Talon performed a lot of media mix development until now. Mobile social games are kind of them. Various games about Eagle Talon have been developed so far. They had a common point. It is "parody". Eagle Talon keeps parody mind in what kind of works. Therefore this time, naturally they had their eyes on a Finnish game! :)

The contents of the game are action games of the horizontal scrolling. What is Hungry Bird? We do not yet understand it.

Sea fight simulation game Kan Colle opens a cafe in Akihabara

I wrote it about simulation game Kan Colle which personified battleships of the Japanese empire navy of WW II to cute girls.

See Also:
Battleships of the Japanese empire navy are personified as girls in a social game
"Kan Colle" --- simulation game that personified battleships of the Japanese empire navy as girls

Its popularity still soars, and broke through 1 million users. Because half or more are active users, server enlargement does not yet catch up with it. The "real" business of Kan Colle continues increasing as if it is its substitute. they announced that they opened time-limited cafe MAMIYA(甘味処間宮) in Akihabara.

The "MAMIYA" was a food supply ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and become a character in Kan Colle.

Opening period is from October 16 ~ December 15. During this period, various original menus in connection with Kan Colle are contributed to visitors. Furthermore, the original goods are sold, too. It is sure to get the large prosperity.

Japanese popular mobile apps character Nameko becomes the Anime at last

This business model may resemble Angry Birds. However, in Japan, Nameko raises profit in extreme popularity than Angry Birds.

Developer of "Nameko Saibai Kit" series Beeworks and their goods sale company Furyu announced that they released a long piece Anime of Nameko "Nameko Family(なめこ家の一族)" on December 20. Interesting one is in release form. They sell DVD of 2,940yen(about 30USD) suddenly. Furthermore, it has been already decided that it is released to three volumes in future.

This is general business model of the  anime called OVA(Original Video Anime) in Japan. OVA are not shown in a movie theater and not broadcasted on TV. They are made only for sale from the first. They have many experimental works because they do not need to mind broadcast rating.

"Nameko Family" is an experimental work, too. It expresses a nostalgic Japanese lifestyle(Showa period). Furthermore, Nameko do not talk at all. This is very rare in the Japanimation. Because voice actors are very popular in Japan, and their performance is an important popular element in Anime.

On the other hand, a lot of cute motions of Naneko and music are expressed in Nameko Family. This is semi-silent anime. Reservation acceptance has already begun in Amazon.co.jp.