Apple's social gaming network currently on the iOS will be supported by Mac OS X with the release of Update 10.8 Mountain Lion, according to Edge. Update 10.8 Mountain Lion is a paid update that will be released this summer. Like its iOS counterpart, Game Center on Mac will include support for achievements, scoreboards, online play, game invites and matchmaking, and add cross-platform play and in-game voice chat.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that his company is committed to working with manufacturing partners that offer its employees a "fair and safe work environment."

"Where they can earn competitive wages and they can voice their concerns freely. Apple's suppliers must live up to this to do business with Apple," he said.

Imangi Studios' Temple Run has been downloaded more than 36 million times since launching in August of 2011, according to Gamasutra. Some of that increase in downloads can be attributed to a couple of things. The first is the last five months of switching from a pay title to free-to-play game. The company also claims that the game has 7 million daily active users at present.

In 2011 AT&T warned its heavy data using mobile customers that it would reduce their connection speed if said usage inched in to the "top five percent." AT&T is defining that metric as anyone who uses more that 2.1 GB of data a month. As chronicled in this NYT blog post, one of AT&T's customers hit the 2.1 GB mark and had his connection throttled. The problem, that customer says, is that he has a data limit of 3GB a month because a legacy unlimited plan.

New research from Parks Associates finds that the percentage of U.S. gamers who regularly download games or apps to their mobile devices has increased from seven percent in 2008 to 18 percent in 2011. Among tablet owners, 71 percent of adults and 79 percent of teens use the device to play games at least one hour per month. Gamers already spend $29 per month on Facebook games, and $21 per month on free-to-play games - on purchases of virtual goods and in-game upgrades.

Apple is apparently cracking down on applications that they consider to be clones of other popular apps on its App Store. Evidence of such a crackdown comes from web site VideoGameWriters, who noted that one particular app developer - who is fond of using "familiar titles" for his apps - seems to have less of them available on the APP Store today.

According to a Touch Arcade forum user, a company has been offering to boost the ranking of free apps using bots on Apple's App Store. According to a user named "walterkaman," the unnamed company will set up automated and repeated downloads of a client's app in order to push it into Apple's Top Free charts. While the company was not named and the story has - as of yet - remained unverified, it has caught the attention of Apple.

By Kevin Dent

I started to play Triple Town as of last weekend; I had a blast and even more so when I see that they were actively supporting it with frequent updates. Then I started to hear some rumblings in the industry about how another game basically ripped it off.

Since then, we have seen Spry Fox issue proceedings against Lolapps. Most of us have read about it and shook our heads; I want to take the rhetoric out of it. I wanted to just look at the basic facts.

Valve has started the closed beta testing phase of a new Steam App for both Android and iOS devices. While the device won't let you do too much beyond being social with your Steam friends and mucking about with your account, it's a first step into the world of mobile devices for Valve's popular PC games distribution platform.

Apple continues to prove that whoever runs its approval department for iOS apps may not be paying attention. As this C&VG story points out the latest offenders is a Mario Kart rip-off called 'Mole Kart.' Available for right around $2, Mole Kart looks suspiciously like Mario Kart.

2D Boy's iOS version of World of Goo has hit a major milestone - more than 1 million downloads in just over 13 months. Developer 2D Boy says that sales have been steady on both iOS and Android devices, with numbers being pushed even higher thanks to the HD Universal edition available for the iPad.

Epic Games and ChAIR Entertainment announced that Infinity Blade I and II has earned the company more than $30 million in just one year since the introduction of the original game on iOS devices.

Those who use jailbroken iPhones and enjoy pirating software are in for a rude awakening as Apple uses the DMCA to take out a frequently used service - Apptrackr. According to Apptrackr developer "Dissident," Apple has sent what he calls "huge takedown notices" to cut off access to pirated apps found through the software. Apptrackr has decided to move the physical location of its servers outside the United States to get around Apple's legal maneuvers and is also employing a form of redirection to avoid "direct" links to infringing content.

Calling it a "socially responsible adventure," MindJolt SGN announced the release of Fluff Friends Rescue. The iOS game, which was developed with the help of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), challenges players to rescue pets, nurse them back to health, run their own animal shelter and contribute to The HSUS.

According to iOS game developer Black Powder Media, Atari is removing games from the App Store (with the help of Apple, of course) that resemble anything from its extensive back catalog of classic games. The company developed a game called Vector Tanks 3, which bears a slight resemblance to Battlezone. Atari has also threatened legal action against iOS developers who are developing games that it deems are rip-offs of its owned IPs.

Mojang business developer Daniel Kaplan recently told Gamasutra that he did not know what version 1.0 of the mobile versions of Minecraft - Minecraft Pocket Edition for Sony's Xperia Play and iOS - would look like.

"Oh, wow, I really don’t know, said Kaplan. "I can't answer that."

In a press release issued this morning video game retailer GameStop trumpeted the success of its iPod, iPhone and iPad buy-back / trade-in program. The company claims that in the months since it began accepting trades on iOS devices, it has seen "strong consumer enthusiasm for the program." GameStop customers trading in an iPod Touch get up to $180 in cash or in-store credit, up to $300 for an iPhone, and up to $400 for an iPad.

Microsoft has released its My Xbox Live App on Apple's App Store. The free app lets Xbox Live users access their profiles on the go much like the Xbox Live hub on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. The app features the Metro UI style that Microsoft has deployed across all its current products, including the recent Xbox Live dashboard update and Windows Phone 7. The app also links to a browser-based demo of the Windows Phone 7 OS.

OnLive brings its cloud-based gaming services to smartphones and tablets with a new app for iOS and Android. The app allows those that subscribe to the service to stream playable PC games to smartphones and tablets. Some companies, such as Rockstar Games are even working with OnLive to tailor the experience; the company is creating a specific touch screen interface for L.A. Noire as part of a collection of 25 games with reconfigured controls ready for the launch.

Ever since Trevor Eckhart uncovered the true nature of Carrier IQ, a program that monitors everything that's going on on a smartphone it is installed on, it has been dominating headlines. Consumers are obviously concerned about their privacy - particularly if they happened to be a customer of a company that used the software like Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. While the company that makes the software insists the software is not malicious, several parties have decided to sue them for allegedly violating federal wiretap laws.

While Apple managed to get a number of preliminary injunctions against Samsung in other countries in their ongoing battle of trademark disputes related to iOS devices, it looks like the US courts aren't playing ball. US District Judge Judy Koh has denied Apple's request for a preliminary injunction that would have barred Samsung from selling its Galaxy brand tablets and smartphones on Friday. While thing could go Apple's way eventually after a full trial, the decision allows Samsung to continue to sell its Android-based devices without interference from the courts or Apple.

The ESRB and the CTIA detailed a new ratings systems for mobile games this week - backed by such companies as AT&T, Microsoft, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless. Two companies that were curiously absent from that list hold the lion's share of the market when it comes to platforms: Apple and Google.

EPIX, the premium entertainment service that is a joint venture of Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM, will soon be on some pretty familiar devices. The premium programming is already available on a number of platforms including Android and the iPhone. Emil Rensing, Chief Digital Officer for the company, says that the service will be available next month on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Apple's iPad.

Marketing firm BlueKai has compiled the profile of the typical iPad buyer, listing three traits that land in the "highly likely to buy" category. The data shows that the typical iPad buyer owns a pet, is male, and is a frequent purchaser and player of video games. Health care professionals, international travelers, apartment dwellers and organic food fans also scored high on the list. The firm also found that vitamin takers, domestic business travelers, married couples and college graduates had common attributes of iPad owners.

Train2Game and Epic Games announced the winners of the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, the 48-hour event that was held November 4-6 at the University of Bedfordshire, England. More than 100 game developers showed up for the event and created 10 playable games for the iOS platform using Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK). The final Game Jam winners will receive a commercial Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS. The winner will be crowned at Make Something Unreal Live, to take place at the Gadget Show Live in Birmingham, UK from April 11-15, 2012.

Ford is sponsoring what it calls the "largest Words with Friends" game ever to promote its all-new Ford Escape. The public gaming event will take place tomorrow at 11:00pm - Wednesday at 12:00am at Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave or on the company's Facebook page via a livestream.

It's bad enough when a fellow developer steals one idea from someone else, but how bad is it when they steal three and combine them? That's exactly what the makers of the iOS game Cut the Birds did. Taking the cuddly characters from Angry Birds, the slashing action of Fruit Ninja and the unique title of Cut The Rope, developer SolverLabs LLC managed to get the game on Apple's App Store

Apple announced today that its latest phone, the iPhone 4S, has broken sales records, with its latest offering enjoying 4 million in sales in its first weekend at retail. Apple started taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4S in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, and Japan on October 7. On the first day of pre-orders, over 1 million customers reserved the device for its October 14 delivery date. The iPhone 4S launched on Friday.

According to a new report called "Digital Omnivores: How Tablets, Smartphones and Connected Devices are Changing US Digital Media Consumption Habits," Apple's iPad held 97.2 percent of all tablet internet traffic in the US in August 2011.

Apple is reporting that over a million pre-orders have been taken for its latest iPhone model, the new iPhone 4S. The company claims that these pre-orders came in the 24-hour-period after the company announced the new phone last week. The pre-orders came from its online store as well as third-party service providers that will offer the phone when it is released.