No knock against LeBron James, but when it comes to NBA star power, nobody tops Michael Jordan. As if to drive home that point, 2K announced that Jordan, who retired in 2003, will be on the cover of its Special Edition NBA 2K16 video game…
Digital Celebs
Grumpy Cat Grows Her Brand
April 20, 2015
Digital celebrity Grumpy Cat continues to ride the cyber wave by making new license agreements with Dynamite Comics, Playrific, and Bay Northwest…
Entertainment/Character
Minions Go Mobile
April 20, 2015
A new partnership between video game maker Electronic Arts, Minions producer Illumination Entertainment and Universal Partnerships & Licensing will bring the quirky yellow creatures and other characters from upcoming illumination films to mobile games, beginning with Minions Paradise…
Digital Goods
Class Action Lawsuit Against Facebook
April 6, 2015
A federal judge in California said a lawsuit by hundreds of thousands of parents nationwide against Facebook could go forward as a class action. The suit contends that Facebook let kids use their parents’ credit and debit cards to buy the virtual currency Facebook credits and violated California law by citing its “all sales are final” policy in refusing refunds to parents who complained…
Digital Publishing
Disney Goes 4D
March 16, 2015
Disney and children’s publisher Bendon have teamed up to bring coloring books to life via new 4D technology. The Disney Color and Play app allows Disney characters to jump off the pages of the Bendon coloring books and into the kid’s iPad. Kids can also use the app to turn their own drawings into jigsaw puzzles…
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
Licensing of Entertainment Properties for Virtual Reality Products
March 2, 2015
Hollywood is getting into virtual reality. VR was all the rage at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where festival goers reportedly waited in line for hours to experience the VR flight simulator “Birdly.” And this was just one of almost a dozen VR displays at Sundance, most of which used the pricey and cutting edge Oculus Rift “head-mounted display” to create their experiences…
Mobile Apps
Staying One Tech Ahead
December 1, 2014
Outfit7 is licensing its app, Talking Tom & Friends, to Toyze
to enable users to customize 3-D-printable game characters. Users—there are 230 million of them monthly, according to the company—can use a free app to personalize Talking Tom…
Celebrity
Ripped From Headlines
December 1, 2014
Tightrope artist Nik Wallenda has licensed mobile gaming companies Tapinator and Hyperpower Game Group to release of “SkyBalance by Nik Wallenda,” a licensed mobile game for iOS, Android and Amazon. The game commemorates a live Discovery Channel event in which Wallenda traversed skyscrapers in Chicago…