Games Roundup: VCs Want More Than IPhone; Gameloft India; Carmack On IPhone; Glu

VCs Say It’s Not All About The IPhone: VCs at the MobileBeat conference have warned developers they should “intelligently hedge their bets across multiple platforms”… ie, not build things just for the iPhone. However, one suggestion is that the lower cost of developing for the iPhone allows companies to try something out to see if it works and is popular before expanding it to other platforms, reports NYT Bits.

Gameloft (EPA: GFT) India: Gameloft is trying to increase its presence in India by negotiating with handset manufacturers Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung, Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) and LG to embed its games in their handsets. It’s already got deals with operators Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) and Airtel, but reckons the sales are low compared to developed markets, reports The Economic Times. It’s also revising its games, and translating them into local languages like Hindi.

Id iPhone Game Promised: Doom legend John Carmack is interested in mobile games, although isn’t moving as fast as his fans might like. Forbes quotes him as saying he might make an MMO for mobile phones (instead of fighting Blizzard on the PC) but doesn’t want to be in a “bet-the-company situation” right now. Fair enough. One thing that is in the works is a title developed exclusively for the iPhone, which would be “a graphical tour de force” and based on one of id‘s existing properties. He’s being pretty conservative though, saying that the technology of the iPhone meant you could easily spend $10 million making a game for it, but the market couldn’t support that yet.

Superman/Batman, Transformers: Glu has signed a deal with Warner Bros to release a mobile game based on Batman and Superman joining forces to defeat evil — or at least, some bad guys. Glu (NSDQ: GLUU) will also publish additional content such as wallpapers, ringtones, animated screensavers, voice tones and ringbacks. (release) Glu has also announced a September release for Transformers G1: Awakening, reports GameGuru.

Peggle: PopCap confirmed it is making Peggle for mobile… the game is nearly complete and will made be available for 400 handsets in eight languages reports Mobile Entertainment.

Build-a-Lot: Glu has signed a deal with HipSoft to bring the successful online casual game Build-a-Lot to mobile phones. It lets players “tackle the housing market by renovating and selling houses in a variety of neighborhoods” reports TMCnet. The game is due out next year.

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