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If you've spent any time gaming on Android, you probably remember OpenFeint. Nearly every major game integrated it in some way, usually allowing players to log in with a single username, collect achievements, and post scores to a global leaderboard. It was handy for what it did, but if you didn't care about competing, it felt a lot like obnoxious spamware. Unsurprisingly, it closed down in December of last year. Today, however, it's being sort of reborn as OpenKit, a project headed by one of the co-founders of the original service. Only this time, the idea is much cooler.
In a continued attempt to make Android more viable as an entertainment platform, Google is working on a social gaming app in the same vein as Apple's Game Center, if Business Insider's sources are to be believed. The app would be a huge boon for social gaming on Android. As the platform grows, and gaming along with it, Google risks losing a golden opportunity to be even more deeply embedded within one of the biggest growth markets in mobile.
Gaming on Android has been accelerating at the same mind-numbing speed as Android hardware, and we have quickly gone from having a limited number of decent titles to having more good games than we can track. In some cases, these games stand out for their amazing new gameplay; in others, they stand out for their high level of polish. Stardunk is one of the latter.
Social gaming engine GameSpy has announced that they are about to release their software development kit (SDK) for developers large and small to integrate at their will.
Having just released the full version of Jet Car Stunts, mobile game development company True Axis also decided to release a demo version of the game, aka Jet Car Stunts Lite (currently live in the Market). Like the full version, the lite version features OpenFeint compatibility and gives users the ability to make huge jumps and fly through the air doing crazy stunts. For those who aren't familiar with the game, it’s a 3D driving sensation where your opponents are not other players, but the tracks. As a fan of the game, I can tell you that it is very addictive and extremely fun.
A new round of games that incorporate one of my favorite Android services, OpenFeint, has recently been released. We've gotten our all-too-idle hands on several of these games and, let me tell you, some impressive things are being brought to the table. While flipping through the games and wasting all of my time, one game stuck out to me. Maybe it was the nostalgic feel of it. Maybe it was the Indiana Jones throwback feeling of it. Maybe it was because I really like being able to flaunt my high score to the world. Whatever the reason, I'm a big fan of this game; so much so, in fact, that I made a video of me playing and talking about it. Follow me through the tunnels of Super Drill Panic, won't you?
OpenFeint, a social gaming network for Android and iOS users, already comes included with 158 Android games - not too shabby. However, it's about to get even better - five titles completely new to Android are launching today:
As far as social gaming networks go, OpenFeint's really been a huge hit - according to the company, OpenFeint-enabled games have been downloaded over eight million times in their first 60 days. Additionally, the network has seen some 1.6 million Android devices visiting from 176 different countries. As impressive as that is, interest in OpenFeint isn't dying - far from it, as today marks the launch of eight OpenFeint-enabled games, some new and some getting OpenFeint capabilities:
We just got word that the cross-platform social gaming network OpenFeint will be releasing the second round of games and delivering the best gaming experience Android has to offer. With their first few games taking the market by storm when they were released, this bodes very well for OpenFeint and the Android gaming community in general. OpenFeint has added a whole new level to cell phone gaming by adding achievements and leaderboards so you can show the world just how well you can fly those planes and slice that fruit.
About a week ago, Aurora Feint, the team behind OpenFeint, publicly unveiled their Android SDK, allowing Android developers to easily incorporate things like leaderboards and achievements into their games. With that announcement came the promise of twenty new games, and we have already seen significant successes like MiniSquadron and Fruit Ninja jumping to the top of the Android charts. But now what? I flew down to the OpenFeint offices in San Francisco to find out first-hand.
One of the weaknesses of Android has been a lack of high quality games. Sure, there are some very good games, but not nearly as many as there should be, and they are often hidden in the Android Market. Fortunately, Android gaming momentum has been increasing with hits like Angry Birds arriving on Android recently. Now, OpenFeint is further increasing that momentum with the announcement of twenty Android titles in the next month, including several top 10 iOS hits like Fruit Ninja, MiniSquadron, and Super Slyder.
