The UpStream

It might be the game titles that hardcore gamers might be wanting to hear about, but it is an important market to capture: casual, mobile games. It is a market that Windows 8 certainly had trouble wooing toward its platform, with few of the major publishers bringing their games to the platform. Clearly either the marketing from the company, or the one-on-one partnerships they have cultivated, are working.

As Windows 10 officially launched this week, one of the major players in the mobile gaming space has announced 4 titles coming to Windows 10. Game Insight is probably best known for their Paradise Island and The Tribez games, but they offer a full lineup of games on the mobile platforms. Some of those games, including new titles, will be heading their way to Windows 10's gaming section. Those games are Running Shadow, Paradise Island 2, The Tribez & Castlez and Maritime Kingdom.

Running Shadow is the company's take on the classic runner genre, which has become incredibly popular on mobile devices with games from Temple Run to Disney-themed takes. Game Insight adds a bit of RPG to the mix, standing out in an overly crowded space. Paradise Island 2 is a new version of their existing franchise, which is like a Sim City-style travel world simulator. The Tribez & Castlez is a fantasy-set city builder and combat game, and Maritime Kingdom is a sea-based city builder.

These games will be in addition to the existing titles from the company already available on Windows. The difference will be that these games will all be full HD, with Running Shadow being the first 3D title. Anatoly Ropotov, CEO, said,

Our portfolio of games on the Windows platform is expanding quickly, and has already reached over 14 million players. In the coming months we'll be introducing new genres with impressive 3D graphics and gameplay that will help us continue to provide the best possible experience for users on the platform.

Hopefully this is just the beginning of what is to come for gaming on Windows 10.

Uber may be a company who doesn't know exactly who they are, but they do seem to know what they need: drivers. As the company continues to try and expand the number of markets in which they operate, the only way they can support this is with enough drivers for the demand for rides. The problem they have encountered, however, is a general disinterest in their target demographic for people to use their own vehicles to drive others around.

This week, the company announced that, rather than trying to adjust their marketing toward their target, they have adjusted who their target is. As part of this reconsideration, Uber announced a new relationship with Live Reimagined, a division of AARP. For those who don't know, AARP is an organization that reaches out to the older population. They tend to offer discount on services, events and special incentives to their members.

In this case, the partnership with Uber will provide 2 things: a marketing channel for Uber to reach out to a new crop of potential drivers and a financial incentive to their members to give it a try. If a driver signs up through the AARP partnership and complete 10 trips, they will receive a $35 bonus. This bonus is intended to offset their first tank of gas, which should be about equivalent to the amount used on these 10 trips. Theoretically, then, this should create a zero cost opportunity to try out the service.

David Plouffe, Chief Advisor for Uber, said of the partnership,

Uber and AARP's Life Reimagined working together is a natural fit. Uber is used by many people over 40 to supplement their income, and it's a great way to make money, meet people and serve the community. We are thrilled to work with Life Reimagined to spread the word about this opportunity to their members throughout the US.

It will be interesting to see if the company does anything to try and offset the perceived dangers of driving for the company. Across the world there have been issues with riders, as well as riots by riders and taxi drivers, and it has certainly created a scenario in which drivers' personal and property safety could be in danger. As Uber attempt to woo older drivers with promises of supplemental income, protecting those drivers should become an essential priority.

China has had a ban on video game consoles for 15 years. The government claimed that it could cause "potential harm to the physical and mental development of the young" and have enforced this ban since 2000. This week, the console drought ended as China lifted the ban of video game console sales in the country.

China will effectively relax its guidelines and will allow video game makers to now manufacture and sell their gaming devices anywhere in the country. Before this lift, you were still able to buy video game consoles in China, but only in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan; the ban only applied to mainland China. In 2014, the Chinese government made a slight amendment to the ban, and allowed a "free trade zone" to exist in Shanghai so that the big three could form relationships with Chinese manufacturing plants. That move led to Microsoft and Sony working with Chinese partners to make their consoles available for sale in the country.

The decision this week to lift all restrictions certainly opens up a lot more opportunity for not only Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, but for other console manufacturers to make an impact in a space that's now open for anyone to jump in. Any company, domestic or foreign, will be able to both sell and build their devices in the country of over 1 billion people.

One thing that will not change, though, is the approval process for video games. Drug use, violence, obscenity and "anything that can harm public ethics or China's culture" are still banned in the country. That means games like Halo and GTAV are still not allowed to be sold. Publishers do have the option to sell a censored or altered game, but almost all have chosen to simply not sell the title.

Ever since Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang, the creators of MineCraft, the once indie game studio has seen more success than it ever had before. Earlier this month the company revealed details behind Minecraft: Story Mode. But that's not the only news involving Minecraft things this month as it would seem. The highly-anticipated Minecraft movie is also in the works, and the team producing it has found their director this week.

There isn't much to the news, but we now know that Mojang has brought on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's creator and lead actor, Rob McElhenney, to take on the role of director for the upcoming movie. He will now be tasked with taking the ridiculously popular game and crafting it into a film. This is indeed no small task.

Mojang made the announcement by releasing a photo of the Always Sunny star brandishing a sword while in attendance at MineCon earlier this month. Now, while I haven't seen the series, critics have been high on McElhenney and his ability. For me, I'm just happy that the movie is finally getting going and am looking forward to seeing how this game adapts to the big screen and what direction it'll take.

Last November, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki spoke candidly on the potential of paid subscriptions coming to the platform. Then just a few months ago, we saw that idea come to pass in a cryptic letter from YouTube. Now, YouTube's cofounder Chad Hurley has come out in full support of an ad-free, subscription-based model.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Hurley said that YouTube will continue to amass a powerful set of tools, resources and creators for the platform, even if that might involve charging its customers. He added that there are "different forms" of video-on-demand, hinting that some content could be charged for while others could remain free. He did say that he thought it was an option when asked if viewers could necessarily be charged for specific content.

This should come as no surprise, as YouTube has been locking up content creators with lucrative and exclusive contracts over the past year in order to keep them on the platform. However with a rumored price of $10 per month for the ad-free service, it would be more fitting if the company simply charged the monthly fee for the ability to not see ads before, during and after the videos.

Google's recent quarterly statement showed just how much the company relies on YouTube for revenue. YouTube's advertiser spending saw a jump of over 60 percent from last year, and with that much money riding on the success of the video service, it's time for YouTube to reinvent itself and generate more revenue or it may end up being usurped by an up-and-comer.

Either way, the success of a potential ad-free option relies solely on how many users would pay for that service. With Google's own browser having such an easy way to block ads, creators are already struggling to get their ads seen with their videos. What would entice a viewer to toss out the ad-block and pay $10 per month instead? I know that the web is free because of advertisers, but not everyone does, nor do they care. How do we make them care? Is it by charging for premium content?

After a series of layoffs and quarterly losses, BlackBerry hopes its darkest days are behind it. Key executives have left the company and Jabil Circuit stopped making BlackBerry devices. So what happens now? BlackBerry has started to get the wheels moving behind its turnaround plan in an effort to bring the company back from its dismal past two years.

So what's the plan? Security. BlackBerry laid out the roadmap of the next few years and the majority of it has to do with security software and other products that protect dozens of different devices. Blackberry's CEO John Chen said that the company can protect medical records, movie scripts and other sensitive data through its offerings.

I'm pretty satisfied with the progress on the turnaround so far. I laid out the $500 million software revenue target and I'm still comfortable with that commitment for this fiscal year, it looks good.

The fact that Chen has put out a goal of $500 million in software revenue is a bold move coming from a company who has been stuck in releasing unpopular handset devices over the past five years. This surely ties in with the turnaround plan, however that's now going to take longer than initially anticipated. At first, Chen said BlackBerry would be levelled out in 6 months, however last week he said that may look more like 12 to 18 months.

Still, Chen is confident in the ability of BlackBerry to make a full recovery, despite analysts' concerns.

We're patiently building the product pipeline and the sales channel. There is still a lot of work to do, I'd love for everything to move faster, but I caution people to be a bit patient because we can't rebound in a very short period of time, no company can. We are doing all the right things for the long term and the company is definitely out of financial trouble.

While the BlackBerry CEO has solved the rapid decline of the company's profits and revenue, the stock price is still gloating around where it was over a year ago, only solidifying investors' worry over the brand. The bright side is that the last year also showed BlackBerry acquiring a handful of software companies, which brought us full circle to the security software offerings we saw this week. Is it enough to save the company? Again, BlackBerry's biggest trouble will be adoption rate and competing against tough adversaries. The switch to software might work, but the challenges remain the same.