In an effort to improve the discovery process for applications on mobile devices, Hooked Media has teamed with Best Buy to launch an Android game development contest.

The contest is also in partnership with Trinity Ventures and VentureBeat, It aims to help Android game developers gain wide scale distribution.

?Hooked Media is seeking to improve the discovery process for apps on mobile devices,? said Prita Uppal, CEO of Hooked Media Group, San Francisco. ?People are all playing the same games and not discovering some of the hidden gems that are available in the Android Marketplace.

?It has become apparent that most consumers are finding out about new games either via their friends or simply scrolling through the list of top games,? he said. ?Hooked Media provides a platform for consumers to find content based on their preferences and what they like and don?t like.

?Our platform is intended to help developers get their games discovered, find the right audience and create engagement with their games. The Get Discovered contest is an extension of this strategy.?

With hundreds of thousands of apps currently in the Android Marketplace, it can be difficult for game developers to break through the clutter and have their games seen by the public.

The Get Discovered worldwide competition for Android game developers gives them a unique chance to win both wide scale distribution through Best Buy's App Discovery Center and seed funding from Trinity Ventures, a top Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

The winner will also receive an online advertisement package from VentureBeat, one of the industry's most widely-read blogs.

?The contest is an opportunity for developers to get their content discovered and have consumers find their content,? Mr. Uppal said.

?We are proud to partner with Best Buy, as they bring an incredible expertise from the consumer-side and they have recently launched their Discovery Center, so this contest was a perfect fit to further help consumer learn about apps that might be of interest,? he said.

Contest details
The Get Discovered competition is open to all game developers, who will first submit their games by integrating with Hooked Media's new discovery platform at http://www.hookedmediagroup.com/contest.

During the first phase of the competition the platform will track metrics including user rating, play-time and installations based on recommendations.

The metrics will be used to determine the finalists. The judges will analyze finalists that graduate from the online competition. The contest will feature two tracks ? one for companies that have secured Series A financing and one for companies still seeking Series A financing.

Judging the final competition will be:
Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product, Google+
Gus Tai, general partner at Trinity Ventures
Dean Takahashi, lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat
Margita Labhard, director of digital business models at Best Buy

Every game entered into the contest will use Hooked Media Groups' SDK and be integrated into the recently launched Hooked app, which is available for free in the Android Marketplace.

The app is a game recommendation and discovery platform that uses a proprietary algorithm to learn a users? gaming preferences, game play statistics and social mapping to provide them with personalized game recommendations and advanced search features.

The more games a user ranks, the more customized the recommendations will become, thus providing the users with introductions to games that they may have never been exposed to, including those from smaller developers whose games may have not received significant exposure.

Contest finalists will receive distribution from Best Buy, increased game downloads and plays, as well as recognition among top leaders in the game industry.

Developers can submit their games between now and Jan. 24, 2012.

Interested parties can obtain more information at http://www.hookedmediagroup.com/contest.

The finals
The competition culminates in an event in March, hosted at Dolores Labs, an incubator space in the Mission district of San Francisco.

The developers will be given the chance to pitch their games to the audience and judges. There will be a live evaluation of each game by the panelists of judges.

The event provides developers with a tremendous opportunity to meet, interact and network with some of the most influential names and companies in game and app development.

In addition, the event will be attended by respected VC firms, investors and advisors, providing finalist with another opportunity to help grow their companies and produce the best games possible.

?Our initiative as a company has been to help developers with distributions and monetization for their games,? Mr. Uppal said. ?The Get Discovered! contest is an extension of our efforts and helps developers realize their vision of finding the right audience for the right games.?