Mobile gaming big in Canada

As traditional video game sales cool, competition in the mobile market is heating up - and Canada is a major player, reports Canada.com.

Montreal is home to one of the largest mobile video game developers in the world: Electronic Arts Mobile. The company, perhaps best known for turning big-name titles, including Monopoly, Scrabble and Tetris, into cellphone games, employs more than 300 people in downtown Montreal.

Andre Lauzon, executive producer at EA Mobile, says there's a "revolution" under way that's changing the way we play, and it's being fuelled, in part, by online marketplaces where cellphone games and applications are available.

Entertainment giants Fremantle Media and MGM have signed a deal to develop online casino games based on hit MGM movies titles including Fame, Stargate, Robocop and 'spaghetti westerns' including A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, according to eGaming Review.

Fremantle gaming division FremantleMedia Gaming will develop a selection of MGM's film and television brands into games for operators and players outside of the US, under licence from MGM Interactive, MGM's business development arm.

FremantleMedia head of ventures Paul Kanareck said: “Our ambition is to become a leading publisher of branded games in this exciting market. FremantleMedia recently grew its presence in the broader gaming market with a minority stake in interactive games developer Ludia, and we're now investing further into the online gaming sector.”

Slimmer, lighter and cheaper might have been the in thing at last week's Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, but just try telling that to Razer, writes Hexus.

The manufacturer of high-end precision gaming kit has used the occasion to announce its Razer Naga mouse, a peripheral aimed at MMO players the world over. At first glance, it looks very much like a fatter version of the existing Razer Mamba.

Turn it around, and you'll see what's new. There's a 12-button thumb grid residing on the side of the mouse, creating a total of 17 programmable buttons. For MMO gamers, that could mean easy access to spells/skills without reaching for the keyboard.