Saturday, June 28, 2014

Dungeon Hunter Enriches Group Gaming Experience

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Mobile gaming has become pretty efficient at the turn-based grouping systems –you challenge me, I challenge you, and we battle back and forth. This methodology isn’t bad, in fact it’s pretty good –but Dungeon Hunter 4 has taken it to a whole new level in their already popular, fantasy themed, action-RPG.

Updates to the game now provide game players with a full-featured guild system that provides the opportunity to create alliances and join other players –even chat live with your teammates. As a side-benefit to playing in a guild, there are special exclusive events with new weapons, armour, and rewards.

The premise of the game remains the same: take on the persona of a mage, sentinel, or blade master and eliminate all of the evil forces from a mysterious world populated by magic and knights.

If you haven’t immersed yourself in the series, download Dungeon Hunter 4 for free now and give it a try!

Dungeon Hunter Enriches Group Gaming Experience is a post from: Good e-Reader

3M Cloud Library to Unveil New Reading App with Built in Audiobook Player

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Audiobooks were the major trend of the American Library Association Annual conference in Las Vegas. Many of the top eBook distributors to libraries were all showcasing their next generation app platforms that put a priority on synergy and ease of use with all of their content. The 3M Cloud Library platform is developing a new app that will be released in September for Android and iOS.

3M is putting a heavy priority on their collection of audiobooks for patrons to borrow and listen from libraries. Their new app allows you to borrow and listen to each edition right within the app, instead of diverting you to a 3rd party. Each book will sync automatically with the cloud, insuring you can pick up where you left off on your tablet or smartphone. Currently, 3M is sourcing all of their audio content from FindAway World, which has a library of 14,000 titles.

Tom Mercer of 3M said that in a recent survey done by his company that 50% of all libraries were interested in purchasing and distributing audiobooks. He also mentioned that the new app will put a heavy priority on curated and editorial content. This way, the best new or established titles will be promoted on the main page by staff members. This will insure that the best and most successful titles will have an easier time being discovered.

We currently are living in a golden age of audiobooks. The global industry is currently worth around 2.4 billion dollars and the UK is growing at 6% annually. Amazon owned ACX is assisting indie authors in connecting them with producers and narrators. Other companies such as Findaway World, Recorded Books and Hoopla all have their own production studios that ware capable of digitizing exiting titles or making new ones.

3M Cloud Library to Unveil New Reading App with Built in Audiobook Player is a post from: Good e-Reader

Simon and Schuster Mandates Libraries Act as Retail

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Simon and Schuster has expanded on a 20 library pilot project and has rolled out a Nationwide eBook lending plan. The publisher has mandated that their eBooks will only be made available if libraries opt into selling the eBooks. The Buy it Now button was pioneered by Penguin, who petitioned Overdrive, 3M and Baker and Taylor to develop e-commence solutions to allow libraries to sell digital books and then the library, publisher and distributor would each earn a commission.  It basically boils down to Simon and Schuster is forcing libraries to act as eBook sellers, just to loan them out for free.

Whether you are for or against selling eBooks in the library there is one big factor to consider. Some US States such as Colorado and Louisiana have outlawed the ability for libraries to sell books of any kind, which means no library will be able to carry Simon and Schuster digital titles.

The American Library Association event is ongoing in Las Vegas. Good e-Reader has spoken to over one hundred librarians and digital content distribution companies. The overarching consensus was that libraries have public trust because they are funded by community dollars. People have disclosed that they feel that libraries are leveraging their public trust in order to become a bookseller.

Penguin initiated a pilot project last year at the New York public library where the publisher tested the waters to surmise the viability of a nationwide roll out. Christopher Platt, the Director of Collection & Circulation Operations  mentioned that publishers often choose his library for pilots because of the sheer amount of visibility and internet ebook loans they get. The library saw over 753,000 loans in 2013  just for trade-fiction, which was a huge jump from 173,000 three years ago. Overall lending in one year toppled 28,000,000 digital books, audiobooks, movies, physical books and music files.

One of the new things Penguin experimented with, was a Buy it Now button. This program allowed library patrons to purchase the digital book from Kobo or another online retailer if the book had a waiting list. Instead of having to wait a few weeks,  patrons could get instant gratification. Overdrive, 3M and Baker & Taylor were basically forced by Penguin to create back-end, e-commence solutions that could process payments in a safe and secure environment. Penguin basically has an optional program for libraries to opt into, where the Simon and Schuster is 100% mandatory.

The buzz around ALA was uniformly nasty. Librarians did not want to play the role of showrooms or bookstores. Others proclaimed this was a slippery slope that had the potential to lose the public trust.

Simon and Schuster Mandates Libraries Act as Retail is a post from: Good e-Reader