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Kamcord localizes SDK to Japanese, Namco Bandai first to use its game recording technology

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Late last year in Kyoto we happened to run into Adi Rathnam, the co-founder of of Kamcord, who at the time was speaking to potential Japanese gaming partners for his company’s game recording platform. As you may recall, Kamcord offers an SDK that enables game developers to put a ‘movie’ button in game, and when it is pressed, they can then share video clips/replays of their game play. These can be shared directly to Kamcord where they can be viewed by other gamers, or they can be shared to places like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or even email. Back in December Adi informed us of plans to localize their SDK into Japanese, as well as a number of other Asian languages. That localization has now been realized, and Kamcord is also announcing that Namco Bandai’s title Gregg is the first game that takes advantage of that Japanese localization. Kamcord also tells us that they have also localized their SDK into Chinese, with Korean soon to follow. Unreal growth Adi says that they are experiencing huge growth right now, with a new video uploaded once every five seconds, and a total of two billion videos recorded in total. “We’re working hard to…

Late last year in Kyoto we happened to run into Adi Rathnam, the co-founder of of Kamcord, who at the time was speaking to potential Japanese gaming partners for his company’s game recording platform. As you may recall, Kamcord offers an SDK that enables game developers to put a ‘movie’ button in game, and when it is pressed, they can then share video clips/replays of their game play. These can be shared directly to Kamcord where they can be viewed by other gamers, or they can be shared to places like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or even email.

Back in December Adi informed us of plans to localize their SDK into Japanese, as well as a number of other Asian languages. That localization has now been realized, and Kamcord is also announcing that Namco Bandai’s title Gregg is the first game that takes advantage of that Japanese localization. Kamcord also tells us that they have also localized their SDK into Chinese, with Korean soon to follow.

Unreal growth

share_tab_japanese
Kamcord’s share tab

Adi says that they are experiencing huge growth right now, with a new video uploaded once every five seconds, and a total of two billion videos recorded in total. “We’re working hard to ensure our servers will scale,” he explains. “Our growth has been pretty exponential.”

Kamcord is also announcing today that it has joined the Unreal Engine 3 Integrated Partners Program. That program includes 25 other leading companies like Oculus VR, NaturalMotion, and Intel. The founder and CEO of Epic, the company behind the Unreal game engine, had this to say about the tie-up with Kamcord:

The Kamcord integration with Unreal Engine 3 provides awesome real-time video recording and social sharing functionality that developers can drop into their mobile games for added appeal. We’re proud that Kamcord has joined Epic’s Integrated Partners Program to bring their technology to Unreal Engine developers as seamlessly as possible.

This is an important step for Kamcord, because games using the Unreal engine typically have pretty stunning graphics (Infinity Blade is one of the best known examples), as well as a tendency to attract more hardcore gamers. It stands to reason that video recordings of such games would be extremely sharable.

Kamcord will also be making an effort to bring independent developers into the fold as well, and to that end they have already landed Limbic’s Tower Madness 2 (shown in the video above) and PennyPop’s Battle Camp as users of their technology.

App of the Week: Pac-Man is the top iPhone app in 44 countries

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More than a video game, Pac-Man – as one of the earliest hit video games – is a global icon. Even my grandmother recognizes Pac-Mac. So perhaps it’s not surprising that when Apple made the iOS version of Pac-Man free last week as its “App of the Week” that fans around the world welcomed it warmly. Just how well has Pac-Man been doing over the past week since it was made free? Well, it’s currently the number one free iOS app in an astounding 44 countries, including the US and Japan. I confess, I don’t think I can remember when any app has been number one in so many countries. It just goes to show that in addition to really liking free stuff, people around the world really love Pac-Man too. I’m constantly recommending apps to my wife, and this is one of the few that she actually downloaded once I told her about it. The iOS game offers the classic maze for you to play, with eight new mazes that you can try, and optionally buy. One annoying part about the game, however, which is odd for a paid app, is that developer Namco-Bandai really doesn’t hesitate to overwhelm…

pacman

More than a video game, Pac-Man – as one of the earliest hit video games – is a global icon. Even my grandmother recognizes Pac-Mac. So perhaps it’s not surprising that when Apple made the iOS version of Pac-Man free last week as its “App of the Week” that fans around the world welcomed it warmly.

Just how well has Pac-Man been doing over the past week since it was made free? Well, it’s currently the number one free iOS app in an astounding 44 countries, including the US and Japan. I confess, I don’t think I can remember when any app has been number one in so many countries. It just goes to show that in addition to really liking free stuff, people around the world really love Pac-Man too. I’m constantly recommending apps to my wife, and this is one of the few that she actually downloaded once I told her about it.

The iOS game offers the classic maze for you to play, with eight new mazes that you can try, and optionally buy. One annoying part about the game, however, which is odd for a paid app, is that developer Namco-Bandai really doesn’t hesitate to overwhelm its users with ads. It’s pretty irritating, and if I had paid for the game I might be a little upset right now.

Since 1980 when Namco initially released the game, Japan has been producing a steady stream of iconic games and characters to follow in Pac-Man footsteps [1]. Over the years there has been Donkey Kong, Super Mario, Final Fantasy, and many more cultural exports that few countries (besides maybe the US) can match. China, for example, still hasn’t really produced anything to compare.

But I digress.

Do check out Pac-Mac over on the App Store if you haven’t gotten it already. The week is almost over, and it won’t be free for too much longer!


  1. Note that these are metaphorical feet only. Pac-Man, as everyone knows, does not have any feet with which to make footsteps.  ↩

Namco Bandai hopes to increase global presence with new subsidiaries in Vancouver and Singapore

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Japanese game developer and publisher Namco Bandai (TYO:7832) has announced that it will be establishing subsidiaries in Vancouver and Singapore, with the intention of improving its presence in global markets [1]. The Vancouver office, to be called ‘Namco Bandai Studios Vancouver,’ will develop online social games for North American and European markets. It is set to begin operations in June, and will be located within the Center for Digital Media, a post graduate school supported by local universities. The British Columbia provincial government said it its announcement that it provided ‘significant assistance’ to Namco Bandai, including tax credits. Vancouver is quickly becoming an international hub in the gaming space with over 85 studios there so far. As for Singapore, the new Namco Bandai Studios Singapore will also start operations in June, and it will be located at Mediapolis at One North district. Namco Bandai says that this office will be instrumental as the company has many development partners in the region, many of which have also set up shop in Singapore. For both subsidiaries, the company plans to bring in locally hired staff, with help and support from its Tokyo headquarters. Namco Bandai’s announcement is here (PDF). I’m aware that…

namco-bandai

Japanese game developer and publisher Namco Bandai (TYO:7832) has announced that it will be establishing subsidiaries in Vancouver and Singapore, with the intention of improving its presence in global markets [1].

The Vancouver office, to be called ‘Namco Bandai Studios Vancouver,’ will develop online social games for North American and European markets. It is set to begin operations in June, and will be located within the Center for Digital Media, a post graduate school supported by local universities.

The British Columbia provincial government said it its announcement that it provided ‘significant assistance’ to Namco Bandai, including tax credits. Vancouver is quickly becoming an international hub in the gaming space with over 85 studios there so far.

As for Singapore, the new Namco Bandai Studios Singapore will also start operations in June, and it will be located at Mediapolis at One North district. Namco Bandai says that this office will be instrumental as the company has many development partners in the region, many of which have also set up shop in Singapore.

For both subsidiaries, the company plans to bring in locally hired staff, with help and support from its Tokyo headquarters.


  1. Namco Bandai’s announcement is here (PDF). I’m aware that the company writes its name in all caps, but in the interests of readability and common sense, I’ll refrain from doing that in this article.  ↩