Gameloft LIVE is a feature available on some of our iPhone and iPod touch games allowing you to find people to play with, make friends, chat, send messages, compare your trophies, earn Gameloft points and much more!

Gameloft LIVE is currently available in 6 of our games:

• UNO
• Brain Challenge 2
• Real Soccer 2010
• Blades of Fury
• Dungeon Hunter
• Asphalt 5

But a lot of other games featuring Gameloft LIVE are coming your way, including Castle Frenzy, Skater Nation and N.O.V.A. – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance!

Follow me and I’ll show you all you can do with Gameloft LIVE!

First, launch one of the game featuring Gameloft LIVE and tap on the Gameloft LIVE icon in the main menu.

If you don’t have an account yet tap on « Create Account » and get started!

In the main menu you can see all the Gameloft Points you have earned so far, the more points you have the more stars you’ll get. Aim to be a 5 stars player!

Trophy: To earn points you have to win trophies (or achievements) in the game. By tapping the « Trophy » icon you can see your trophies details.

You can win up to 2000 points per game. There are various achievements, from « Win a fight » to « Finish the game without dying », some of them are really hard to get and will give you more points!

Profile: In the profile menu you can select your country and modify your Username, password or e-mail. You can also select an avatar or upload one of your own picture.

Chat: In the chat menu you can… chat. Entering in the Chat menu will automatically open a new chat room where you can invite friends by tapping the « + » button. You can gather here to decide which game you wanna play next, establish a strategy for your next match or discuss anything you want.

Message: By tapping the « Message » icon you’ll enter your Message Box. From here you can check your messages and send new messages to your friends. If someone asks you to be his friends you’ll receive an invitation in this Message Box.

Friends: The friends menu displays your list of friends. If you want to add a new friend, tap on the « + » icon and type your friend’s username. You can also add people from a game, for example if you’re playing UNO online and want to become friend with one of your adversary just tap the « + » icon next to his name.

By tapping on one of your friend you’ll open his profile.

In his profile you can see if your friend is online, and if he is playing a game. If you want to play with him just tap on the “Invite To Play” button (this will invite him to play the game you’re currently in). If he has the game he’ll receive a push notification inviting him.

If he hasn’t got the game he’ll automatically receive a message notifying him that you want to play with him.

From this menu you can also invite him to chat, send him a message or compare your trophies.

When tapping the “Compare Games” icon you’ll see an overall view of both of your scores and trophies. If you want to see the details tap the icon of a particular game.

Now you can see which trophies you have in common or not.

If you want to get some more friends don’t hesitate to visit our dedicated forum post and give your username!

Meanwhile you can still add me to see if you’re better than me ;)

My Gameloft LIVE username: Sara

See you there!

HALLOWEEN! It’s one of the most stressful times of the year for me – picking out the best costume is not an easy feat. I’ve spent the last few hours brainstorming costume ideas for Sara and I. We’ll be hitting a few costume parties and we are determined to win best costume at at least 2 of them! I looked at some of Gameloft’s games for inspiration. Here are the ideas I’ve come up with so far.

• Shrek Kart: Sara would dress up as Fiona and I would dress up as Shrek and we would walk around with a fake race car around us.
• Sexy Poker: Sara would go as a sexy poker player and I would dress up as a Royal Flush.
• A home run (Derek Jeter Real Baseball): one of us would dress up as a house and the other as a runner.
• Athlete Bobbleheads (NFL 2010): We’d dress up as our favorite NFL athletes and “bobble” our heads all night long.

I think it’s a good start. What do you think? Suggestions are welcome.

A few weeks ago I had the chance to listen to a panel at a local book festival that included author Ethan Gilsdorf talking about his book Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. The book explores and celebrates fantasy and gaming cultures and the people involved in them. Gilsdorf is a self-proclaimed geek and was happy to sit down and answer a few questions relating to his geekiness, gaming, and why he chose to write a book about such an interesting subculture.

Nate: Thanks for taking the time to chat with me about your book. I may be a little biased, but it’s such a great topic to talk about! You must get asked this a lot, but would consider yourself more of a fantasy freak or gaming geek?

EG: While I used to be a hardcore Dungeons & Dragons player (OK, maybe addict?), nowadays I seem more attracted to fantasy movies and books than gaming. Perhaps it’s because I don’t have the time to immerse myself in role-playing games, or I just haven’t connected with a group of friends who also like to game. This is one of the topics I talk about in my book and I’d say in general, I tend towards “escaping” into a fantasy realm like Tolkien’s Middle-earth more so than playing Xbox or World of Warcraft. Besides, I never had all that good hand-eye.

Nate: I saw on your website you are full of Geek Pride. What was the geekiest thing you did while researching this book?

EG: I would have to say dressing up in costumes to participate in live-action role-playing games (LARPs) and events for the Society for Creative Anachronism (or the SCA, a medieval re-enactment group). For the LARP, I dressed in a blue monk’s tunic and wore a belt and carried a mace (and a reporter’s notebook). For the SCA’s biggest event, 12,000 folks dress in medieval garb for two weeks and camp in period tents. I hung out in the hot sun in an itchy brown tunic I’d made myself. Maybe the fact that I sewed it, and a matching medieval man-purse (to carry my reporter’s equipment secretly in the medieval world) was the geekiest thing I did. No, wait, I think me flying to New Zealand and traipsing around for three weeks on a quest to see as many of the Lord of the Rings filming locations might count as the geekiest thing. I even took pictures of my Lord of the Rings figurines in various locations, and made geeky fan movies. Hmmmm. I flew my freak flag pretty proudly on that trip.

Nate: That. Is. Amazing. Now that you are on tour promoting your book, how do you find time for these geeky/completely awesome activities?

EG: Yes, the tour is pretty much all I’m doing these days it’s all-encompassing, and it’s all powerful. Mwwahh hahah! So, at the moment, a lot of my nerdly ways are being fulfilled vicariously by interacting with others. One of the joys of being on tour and traveling across the US, is meeting so many other fantasy freaks and gaming geeks. I’ve spoken to so many folks who are dying to share their stories of how they got into gaming or what role fantasy plays in their lives. That said, I did recently attend a special screening at Radio City Music Hall of the first movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, complete with live accompaniment by an orchestra and choir, some 300 musicians in total, who played Howard Shore’s rousing and moody score in front of the hall’s massive screen. When Elijah Wood, Howard Shore and Billy Bowd came on stage after the movie, we all got more than our share of geek moments.

I would like to thank Ethan Gilsdorf for taking the time to speak to this gaming and give a little insight into his fantasy worlds. For more information, to pick up a copy of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, or to enter his Great Geek Giveaway, visit his site.

Author Ethan Gilsdorf showing his geek pride