Kobo has created an augmented reality game to promote eReading. The game is called The Descent and is inspired by Dante’s Inferno, Dan Brown‘s upcoming book Inferno and the works of the self-published author J.F. Penn, which are themed around Dante’s Inferno and the nine circles of hell.

The promotion encourages readers to download and read two free eBooks by Penn  – Sins of Temptation and Sins of Violence (both of which are Kobo exclusives)– in order to look for clues to crack the code of the online game.  The author’s third book in the series, Sins of Treachery, comes out in September. The first player to arrive at the final step of the gave will be awarded $5,000 and an eReader signed by Dan Brown. The promotion runs through May 14th, when Brown’s new book hits bookshelves.

Kobo has introduced a new high resolution eInk eReader called the Kobo Aura HD, offering a $169.99 answer to Amazon’s $179.99 Kindle Paperwhite 3G. Like other Kobo devices, the new device lets readers access ePUB titles a format not available on Kindle devices.

The new eInk device from Kobo has a 6.8″ screen which boasts a 265 dpi resolution, slightly more than the Kindle Paperwhite which has 212 ppi on a 6.7″ display. The new Kobo weighs slightly more than the Amazon device at 8.5 oz, compared with the 7.8 oz. Kindle.

The Kobo device has a 1GHz processor and claims to turn pages 25 percent faster than other devices. The new eReader comes with 4GB of storage though, owners can expand this up to 32GB. The Kindle has 2G and access to the Amazon Cloud.

Kobo claims that the new device’s battery life can last up to two months. It comes in a few colors including: ivory, espresso and onyx. The device goes on presale tomorrow on Kobo.com and through select retailers. Read more

Thinking about self-publishing your book with Kobo’s Writing Life Program? The video embedded above will give you a detailed introduction to the platform.

You should also download a copy of the Kobo Writing Life User’s Guide (PDF). If any of the terms are confusing, you can check this Kobo Writing Life FAQ. Here’s more from the digital publisher:

Do you have a story to tell? Are you an author with a bestseller just waiting to be discovered? Want to reach out to millions of readers in over 190 countries? Do you own the digital rights to your work? Then have we got the tool for you! Kobo Writing Life is the one-stop, do-it-yourself publishing portal.

Kobo is now selling its eReaders directly to consumers on Kobo.com to customers based in Canada and the United States. The company is now selling four devices, as well as accessories through this e-commerce enabled site. The company will continue to sell its devices through its retail partners which include: Best Buy, Indigo-Chapters, Toys“R”Us, Target,Walmart, and Staples.

The Canadian-based company, which is owned by the Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, also revealed today that it is on track to become a billion dollar business this year. The company now has more than thirteen million customers at its eBookstore, which is accessible through Kobo eReaders and through various apps.

The company also revealed that so far this year, Kobo users have spent 10 million hours reading and turned more than 1.3 billion pages.

Canadian eReading company Kobo has opened up an eBook store in Japan and will introduce its eReaders to the country on July 19th. Kobo eReaders go on presale today  through the new Japanese Kobo e-commerce site for ¥7,980 or $100 US.

The news comes as Amazon has its own plans to enter the Japanese eBook market. The company recently listed Kindles in Amazon’s Japanese store explaining that the devices are coming soon.

Kobo’s business strategy has always been to push into the global markets and already has stores in Canada, the U.S., Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, among other places. Japan is an obvious next move for the company, because in January, Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten bought Kobo for $315 million in cash. Read more

Canadian eBook company Kobo reported today that its business has tripled in the last year. In January, Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten bought Kobo for $315 million in cash. And now according to Kobo, eBook downloads grew by 400 percent and eReader sales are up 160 percent and the number of people reading with Kobo internationally has grown by 280 percent year over year.

Today the company also reported its new open reading platform, ‘Read Freely.’ The company’s website explains how it works: “The eBooks you buy with Kobo are yours. You’re free to read them on the most popular open devices. Or, you can buy books from other eBook retailers and read them with Kobo.” Read more

Since launching their timeline app in January, digital reading platform Kobo has seen its traffic from Facebook grow by more than 50 percent. In addition, the company is reporting that a 90 percent increase in daily registrations.

Kobo used Open Graph, which lets developers turn a web page into a rich object in a social graph, to implement the timeline.

Kobo developer Bryant Lee explained the implementation process in a Facebook Developers blog post. He wrote: “Kobo defined Open Graph actions for some of the most conversational aspects of reading a book – such as beginning and finishing a book – to encourage sharing and stimulate discussions with friends. Kobo provides detailed controls for people to manage what stories are shared to Facebook.”

Digital editions of The Sacramento Bee, The Miami Herald, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer, The News & Observer and El Nuevo Herald are now available for sale on the Kobo newsstand, thanks to a new partnership between Kobo and publisher the McClatchy Company.

The partnership expands the newspaper company’s existing digital presence. The McClatchy Company’s 30 daily newspapers are already available to Kindle and Nook users. The McClatchy Company papers join Kobo’s existing digital news shelf which already includes: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the Harvard Business Review.

To promote the new offering, Kobo customers can get a two-week free trial subscription to any of the company’s 30 daily newspapers.

Kobo is running a couple sale right now on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy. If you’re planning to go watch the movie, here’s your chance to read the eBooks first.

The first sale is for the combined trilogy. It marks the price down to $5 (from $26). You’ll need to enter the code HungerGamesDeal5 while checking out in order to get the lower price.

Update: Kobo has informed us that they’ve replaced the above sale with the one below. The code above is no longer valid.

The other sale is a straight 85% off any single title in the trilogy. The code you’ll need for this sale is HungerGamesDeal.

It may have taken a while, but it looks like the Kobo Vox is finally going to be available in Kobo’s German eBookstore.

Thorsten Schroer, head of Kobo’s European operations, was interviewed recently by Teltarif, a German blog. According to Thorsten, the Vox will be shipping in Germany this summer. Retail price has not been set, but it is expected to be around 200 euros.

Kobo launched their German eBookstore in July 2011, and they started selling the Kobo Touch in Germany later last year. The Vox launched last October, and it is currently carried in stores in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK (WHSmiths, £149).

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