Post courtesy of Max:
On July 11, 2012 Amazon announced on their mobile app distribution blog a new gaming environment for Kindle Fire users called Amazon GameCircle.
Quick and Simple APIs for Enhanced Gaming
GameCircle will provide developers with APIs, giving developers an easier way to create more entertaining gaming experiences. These APIs will be simple and quick for developers to integrate while allowing gamers a more enhanced in-game experience.
New Features
Achievements is included as one of the new features. Players will be able to keep track of their achievements without leaving the game. Players will also have the ability to receive in- game messages to track them in real-time or pause them to view a summary of earned items and establish what is still needed before returning to gameplay.
Leaderboards, another new feature, will let players check their standings against top players or competitors without having to leave the game.
Just How Big is This Cloud?
According to Chris Velazco, a contributor at TechCrunch, the most impressive new feature is the addition of syncing. GameCircle will save a player’s progress to the cloud automatically, allowing players to pick up where they left off – even if the game had to be re-installed or if the player switches devices.
Who Benefits? Everybody!
For the sake of gamers, GameCircle has been a smart move on Amazon’s part – even though these features have been aimed at a very particular piece of their technology. GameCircle will also help developers build their business on Kindle Fire. And lastly, this will help Kindle Fire in their head-on competition race with Google’s Nexus 7, another low cost tablet available whenever Google can make up it’s mind to release it.
Maybe, just maybe, GameCircle’s real potential lies within Amazon’s smartphone. The smartphone that Amazon’s spokesperson, Drew Herdener, is not commenting on that might or might not be in development, that may or may not be released this November just in time to flood the holiday sales.
Game developers can sign up here for access to the Amazon GameCircle APIs.
Game players can visit here for Amazon GameCircle Kindle Fire games.
Filed under: Amazon Store, Kindle Fire Games
