Game Group faces growth fears

Game Group, the computer games retailer, has been hit by concerns about future growth ahead of its full year results on Wednesday, according to guardian.co.uk.

The company's shares dropped 10p to 170p last week - a 5.5% decline - after KBC Peel Hunt issued a sell note on the business.

Game has been caught in a two-way pull between those who believe its strong growth will continue - with consumers still keen on computer games and new console launches such as the recent Nintendo DSi - and those who think growing competition, not least from the online distribution of games, will undermine its business model.

Scoreloop is the latest technology firm to release a connected and social gaming platform for iPhone, although it has its sights set on other mobile devices too, says Pocket Gamer.Biz.

The company is offering a free SDK to iPhone games developers, as well as server infrastructure to power their titles' connected features.

Those include player-to-player challenges, score comparison and profiles, as well as the ability to tie in with Facebook. The platform also offers leaderboards customisable by location, age and skill level.

US video game sales slumped more than expected in March and were flat in the first quarter when compared with a year earlier - hurt by the recession, a shift in the Easter calendar and fewer big game launches, states The Associated Press.

March sales of hardware, software and accessories fell 17% to $1.43 billion when compared with the same month a year earlier, according to market researcher NPD Group. For the entire first quarter, sales were flat at $4.25 billion.

While analysts widely expected game sales to slow, the month's double-digit decline was larger than most estimates, which forecast software sales to come in flat to down slightly.

A deal struck between two technology companies could see hundreds of thousands of mobile games made available to punters as the gambling market continues to boom, according to guardian.co.uk.

UK-based mobile betting technology firm Mfuse, which is backed by Sportingbet founder Mark Blandford, has struck a deal with Aim-listed Probability that will see games developed by the company made available to thousands of gamblers.

Probability, which has developed more than 30 mobile games, is the first company to make use of Mfuse's mobile gambling platform, which links directly to betting firms including Betsson, Bet365, Gala Coral Group, Ladbrokes, Sky Bet, Sporting Index, Sportingbet, Paddy Power and William Hill.