Doodle Jump Hits An Astounding 10 Million Downloads

Doodle Jump

Image: Appular

It's the two year anniversary of Doodle Jump hitting the iOS App Store, so we hopped on the phone with one half of the team behind the app, Igor Pusenjak.

The $0.99 game has been downloaded 10 million times in 2 years on iPhone and Android, which means it's generated around $7 million in sales after Apple and Google get their cut.

The app is seeing around 500,000 downloads per month on iPhone, which is way up on a year over year basis. As of this writing, Doodle Jump is number 11 in the paid app listings for iPhone/iPod Touch.

Angry Birds Are Flying To Facebook

Angry Birds has enjoyed more than 75 million downloads, so it’s about time that the game developer Rovio is expanding the franchise to the Facebook.

The official Angry Birds page on Facebook says that the game will come to the social network in a month, promising to update you on the release if you click “like.” Already 1,260,347 people have done exactly that.

The version for Facebook will somehow leverage the social graph — actually the game developer uses the word “collaborative,” which could have something to do with the translation from Finnish. However, Rovio’s Chief Executive Officer Mikael Hed has said, “there will be completely new aspects to it that just haven’t been experienced in any other platform,” and “the pigs will have a more prominent role.”

Gamification Needs to Level Up — Here’s How:

Gamification has been a buzzword for 2010, and now we’re seeing the inevitable backlash. For every company trying to add points, badges, challenges and leaderboards to their apps, websites and products, there’s a critic complaining about the trend. It’s not just haters looking to squash the next big thing; there are many underlying issues plaguing gamification, also known as funware. I still think game mechanics can be a force for good and positive outcomes for things like aiding people’s health or improving the environment, but for that to happen, gamification needs to take the next step.