Mark Cooke’s G-Mixer

In a blog post nearly two months ago, I mentioned Prescription for Sleep was the #1 application in the “Health & Fitness” category in Japan. Now it has suddenly become the #1 application across all categories. We are still trying to figure out what caused the usage statistics to skyrocket.

We are currently beating out these other top-10 applications - “Sexy Japanese Girl” at #3, “PeekababeLite” at #6, and “iSashimiLITE” at #9. I can see what our new marketing slogan should be - “More popular than babes and fish!”

The application was not featured by Apple so that wasn’t the cause. It may have been featured on a prominent website or possibly on TV but we have not been able to find out where just yet. Hopefully it will become an Apple featured application now that it has hit the top of the App Store here. If anyone has seen anything about this application in mainstream media in Japan please leave a comment or get in touch with me.

Here’s a graph from our Pinch Media statistics to give you an idea about how much of a change has occurred in the last three days.

My silly drinking minigame Get Dirk Drunk, also known as Hebereke-kun in Japan (へべれけくん), is getting some release press on a number of Japanese iPhone blogs. The minigame was created as a comical play on the spirit of Japanese drinking culture so I’m glad some people are enjoying it and not taking it too seriously.

Here is the direct iTunes Store link if you are interested in checking it out further.

Coverage:

• あいほん野郎: 酔っ払いに酒を飲ませろ！へべれけくん - this guy loves it
• 新着iPhoneアプリ | meet i [ミートアイ] - uniqueness rating 5 out of 5!
• iPhone用よっぱらいシミュレーションゲーム「へべれけくん」
• へべれけくん - 飲みの席で重宝するゲーム [プレスリリース]

If you want to see the game in Japanese first download the latest version (1.2) if you haven’t already and then set your iPhone language setting to Japanese (written as 日本語 in the menu) and you can check it out. Hebereke-kun’s voice comes courtesy of my friend Yoshi to give it the authentic Japanese feel.

You have two options for watching the presentation.

First, here’s a screencast I recorded after the live presentation. The voice and picture quality is clear but it lacks the crowd reactions.

Next is the live version. The quality is much worse but it is still watchable. The presentation is a bit different as I played up some things for the specific audience and fed off their reactions. The audience reactions also make the atmosphere more lively and more fun.

Thanks to Jean Snow for the heads up on the opportunity and to James Kay, Paul Caristino, and all friends who showed up to support me live. You guys rock.