Microsoft is officially a founding member of R2 Leaders, a group dedicated to responsibly recycling used electronics. The company joins other technology companies including Sony America, Xerox and Goodwill Industries in this endeavor.

The popular and often copied Temple Run games on the Apple App Store have been downloaded one billion times, according to GII. Developed by Imangi Studios, Temple Run and Temple Run 2 are world-running platformer games that are extremely popular and have been cloned by other developers trying to cash in on the games' popularity.

Security software maker and security research firm AVAST Software have found several soccer apps that they describe as "ad-overloaded, data-hungry apps." As fans get ready for the World Cup to get underway in Brazil, the offering of soccer-related apps on the Google Play store is big; there are at least 125 different vuvuzela apps available. But AVAST Software is warning those keen to download these apps that some of them are wolves in sheep's' clothing.

According to new data released by Super Data, GungHo's Puzzle & Dragons beats out Super cell's Clash of Clans in mobile ARPU (average revenue per user). Super Data claims that GungHo's game generates around $12 per user, while Clash of Clans generates only around $1.31.

Glu Mobile has acquired Diner Dash maker PlayFirst, according to this GII report. The transaction is expected to close this month. Glu Mobile bought the company by offering PlayFirst shareholders 3 million shares of the company's common stock and by taking on $3.55 million of PlayFirst's debt.

Security researchers at Malwarebytes has a new blog post up talking about the dangers of "sideloading apps," or bypassing the app store on your preferred Android-based device to install games. Malwarebytes say that this practice is "best avoided" because it makes it easier for malware makers to install something nefarious on your device.

Microsoft has finally completed its acquisition of mobile phone maker Nokia. The completion of the acquisition follows approval from Nokia shareholders and various governmental regulatory agencies around the world. Microsoft announced on Sept. 3 of last year that it intended to acquire Nokia for a total of $7.5 billion in cash. The deal consisted of approximately $5 billion and an agreement to license Nokia's patents for $2.17 billion.

Video games retailer GameStop will close between 120 to 130 of its 6,457 retail locations worldwide, the company announced. The move is part of a plan to focus more on mobile called "GameStop 3.0," according to what CEO Paul Raines said at GameStop's 2014 Investor Day yesterday. As part of that initiative GameStop will focus on Mobile and Apple-based devices by launching stand-alone chains like the AT&T-branded chain "Spring Mobile" and the Apple retailer "Simply Mac."

Social and mobile game maker Zynga reported a first-quarter loss of $61 million, compared to a $25 million loss from its previous quarter and a profit of $4 million the same period a year ago. Zynga also announced that its founder Mark Pincus, who had already stepped down as its chief executive officer, would leave his role as chief product officer, basically ending his executive duties at the firm. Pincus remains the chairman of the board.

According to this PCR report Nokia will not exist as a brand after Microsoft wraps up its acquisition of the company. According to the report, the Nokia brand name will be dropped by Microsoft once it officially acquires the mobile manufacturer. This is based on a leaked letter sent by Microsoft to suppliers. In it, Microsoft tells suppliers that the Nokia Corporation/Nokia Oyj (Ltd) name will be replaced with Microsoft Mobile Oy.

Posted by Nokiapoweruser.com, the letter reads:

Lyon, France-based indie developer Little Worlds Studio said that it is "playing its last card" and "places its fate in the hands of the public" with the launch of an initiative to save the company through what it is calling a "Kickfailer." Unlike a "Kickstarter," this initiative seeks support through its already established free-to-play mobile game Mana Crusher.

In a recent interview with GamesBeat, The Tetris Company's Henk Rogers reveals that the mobile version of the classic puzzle game has been downloaded more than 425 million times. That figure does not include free-to-play versions of the game, which Rogers apparently is not a big fan of.

GameStop announced today that it has entered into a partnership with researchers from the Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School and IBM.

IBM will provide the video games retailer with its BlueMix could platform, which will allow GameStop to "incorporate new mobile and cloud apps with previously existing systems, creating an enhanced atmosphere for customer interaction online and in-store."

Research firm IHS Inc. and game network WildTangent released research today that indicates consumers are willing to put up with "value exchange-style advertising" in games. IHS describes "value exchange advertising" as a method used by advertisers to reward gamers for viewing ads with items such as in-game items or free game sessions.

Free-to-play MMO company Nexon says that the mobile games industry has let consumers down. Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney said that consumers are not being given content they deserve and has accused cloning of popular games on various App stores as a big part of the problem.

At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today, Google announced a new version of the Google Play Games Services that enables cross-platform multiplayer support for iOS and Android games. Play Games Services is a backend API for developers of Android, iOS, and even Web games that gives developers the ability to set up achievements, leaderboards, multiplayer and cloud saves using Google's cloud infrastructure and development APIs.

Developer Fireproof Games claims that it has sold more than five million copies of its mobile puzzler series The Room on Android and iOS. The second game in the series, The Room Two, launched in December of last year and has already surpassed more than 1.2 million in sales, according to Fireproof. Fireproof also claims that it has sold more than 4.2 million copies of the first game since it debuted in 2012. The first game is priced at $1, while The Room Two costs $3.

What was supposed to be a bill that would allow consumers to jailbreak their mobile phones has been poisoned and watered down by lawmakers.

According to new data from AppData, Supercell's free-to-play action strategy game Clash of Clans generates $654,000 per day in micro-transactions. Yes we have a hard time believing that figure too, but that is the figure put out by AppData, and their data is always spot on.

That $654,000 in daily revenue comes from the purchase of add-on content, booster packs, and other forms of downloadable content. The game launched for iOS devices in 2012 and made its way to the Android last year.

Around 40 percent of consumers will watch video on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones by 2018, according to a new report from research firm ABI Research. This the firm says, is in spite of strong efforts to bring online video to new devices such as Google’s Chromecast and new video game consoles from Microsoft and Sony.

The UKIE, the trade group that represents the video games industry in the United Kingdom, issued a statement today concerning the Office of Fair Trading’s principles for online and app-based games (you can read about that here). UKIE CEO Jo Twist said that her organization has worked closely with its members and the OFT to help form guidelines that protect children and continue to grow business in the UK.

The United Kingdom's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) watchdog agency has given mobile phone app developers two months to adapt to new in-app purchasing rules that better protect children (and subsequently their credit-card holding parents) from in-game micro-transactions and messaging that generally encourages them to buy things to advance gameplay. The OFT has given developers a deadline of April 1 to make their apps for iOS, Windows Phone, and Android devices comply with new rules.

Following its report yesterday that the NSA and other spy agencies were exploiting "leaky apps" such as Rovio's Angry Birds to gather information on users around the world, ProPublica has released this handy FAQ to better explain exactly how the whole process works and what consumers can do to moderately protect their privacy.

Puzzle & Dragons developer GungHo Online expects to rake in around $1.2 billion in revenue this year, and because it keeps its overhead low, it expects to keep about $700 million of that figure after expenses. These numbers are from CEO Kazuki Morishita, who recently spoke with CNN Fortune about the company's runaway hit game and business in general.

He attributes at least some of his company's success to his experience as a Manzai artist and stand-up comedian - believe it or not.

App store scammers are selling a modified version of Mojang's popular mobile world builder Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Android devices that contains a Trojan, according to anti-virus outfit F-Secure. The fake version of the game, which seems to be aimed at European customers, costs 2.50 Euros - a price too hard for some customers to resist because the real version costs 5.49 Euros.

Disney is the latest company to receive pushback from gamers who are growing increasingly tired of free-to-play games having aggressive in-game micro-transaction schemes.

Minecraft and Candy Crush Saga are the top iPhone and iPad apps of 2013, according to Apple's annual year-end report on its free and paid apps for its iOS devices.

On both the free iPhone and iPad charts, Candy Crush Saga was the king of the hill, while paid apps on both platforms were ruled by Mojang's pocket edition of Minecraft.

Both games beat out some pretty powerful competition including YouTube, Google Maps, Skype, and even Instagram.

The full list can be found below:

Top 10 Free iPhone Apps

According to a recent interview with Oculus VR chief executive Brendan Iribe on GamesBeat, John Carmack is spearheading Oculus VR's mobile efforts. Carmack left id Software earlier in the year to work for the company out of its Dallas offices, and apparently he is spending a fair amount of his time focusing on mobile platforms.

Koei Tecmo has introduced spending limits for micro-transactions in its games for those under the age of 20 in Japan. According to Silicon Era, the company will only allow $50 a month to be spent by someone under the age of 15, with the 16-19 year olds being limited to a maximum of $200 a month. No restrictions apply for players 20 years old or older.

Koei Tecmo plans to add these limits in its games in Japan before the year's end. No word on if this policy will be a global one or if it is just specific to Japan.

German mobile development studio Fishlabs has been acquired by Koch Media, According to a report in PocketGamer - citing reports from German news outlets Gamesmarket and Newsslash - the company was purchased by an unnamed buyer. Later Koch managing director Dr. Klemens Kundratitz confirmed the purchase in a statement sent to Polygon. The studio behind space sim series Galaxy on Fire, filed for bankruptcy protection in October.