Archive for December, 2008

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Big Stage seeks to make You Portable

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Riding high from their first success: The Digital You, Big Stage Entertainment wants to help you create your perfect avatar and then carry it around with you, cross platform.

As Dean Takahashi from VentureBeat reports, Big Stage uses a 3D facial modeling system to render a rather convincing 3D version of a person from 3 digital photos take from slightly different angles.  This image can be created in roughly two minutes, so no complex know-how is necessary.  Once your perfect digital you is created, the Big Stage technology will then allow you to carry this avatar with you from one application to another, provided that the platform conforms to Big Stage’s API.  While this API is still proprietary, the long-term goal at Big Stage is to make this API an industry standard.

The portable avatar is currently available at Big Stage.com and interfaces with Facebook and MySpace.  But Big Stage has larger aspirations, with speculation about using you digital you in MMO’s such as World of Warcraft and Star Wars.  IBM took point on opening discussions with a number of virtual worlds, but the going hasn’t been easy.  The first virtual world that will make use of Portable You is Icarus Studios, a white label virtual world creator.

“The idea could catch on because it fits with the theme of personalization that is taking over everything, from YouTube personal video channels to social networks,” says Big Stage CE Phil Ressler

And Big Stage isn’t just limited to social networking and games customization.  The Venue Network is already using Portable You in its VenueGen virtual conference product that is slated to hit the streets in 2009.  What’s more, Big Stage has secured a deal with Lion’s Gate Entertainment, and will run a promotion tied to the upcoming film, The Spirit, where users can create their Portable You avatar and insert it into key scenes from the movie.  Who needs Keanu Reeves to do all the cool stuff when you can simply insert yourself?

Ressler says that the company plans on monetization via microtransaction based avatar customizations including glasses, different hairstyles, etc.

The South Pasadena, California company currently has 20 employees on staff and was founded in 2007.  The company grew out of an advanced stereo reconstruction technology R&D project at USC funded by the CIA and other government grants.  Big Stage Entertainment has raised $7.9 million in funding from investors Mission Ventures, Selby Ventures and Tech Coast Angels.

Having a cross platform portable avatar does have a number of appealing aspects, so long as it’s an option and not a requirement.  For example, I’d rather keep my bad @$$ looking orc face on my warrior, rather than plaster my mug all over it.  Something about leading a raid with my baby face might not exactly inspire confidence in other players.  On the other side of the coin, watching my face battle through some highflying space battles with Han Solo at my side would be pretty darn cool, I have to admit.  Cross platform avatars, what’s next – a cross platform currency for microtransactions?  If only there was a company that could accomplish that.  Oh wait….there is!

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SEGA launches free gaming site – microtransactions coming

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

SEGA of America (SoA) has launched a new gaming and community-based site full of free-to-play pixel goodness just in time for the holidays.

Both Mac and PC users have full access to the new free service at PlaySEGA, self described as “a mini web game portal” giving SEGA fans a wide range of titles to choose from.  Right now these games spread across almost every genre including arcade, word, card, puzzle, quiz and sports games.

A highlight of the PlaySEGA portal includes ‘Brain Assist’, a title initially developed for the Nintendo DS, along with ‘Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games’, originally a mobile phone game, which features SEGA’s long standing mascot of mayhem: Sonic The Hedgehog.

Not wanting to be pidgeon-holed as a portal with only classic games, they’ve also tossed a few new titles in the mix including Ice Shuffle, Hollywood Adventure Quiz and Aquatic Word Burst.  And along the ‘not just another’ lines, SEGA says that they’ve included a “unique integrated system to calculate players’ highest scores,”  which then places them on an achievement leaderboard on the site.

Keeping the door open for future microtransactions, PlaySEGA players also collect PlaySEGA rings (the site’s currency) throughout the portal wide games.  Through playing various games across the site, and playing longer, users will amass Rings.  These Rings can then be used as currency for avatar customization, along with creating personal profile pages or ‘Escape Areas’ that include designs ranging from a Caribbean Villa, Haunted House, an NYC Loft, or Swiss Chalet (it’s actually an Austrian Chalet).

“SEGA fans and new gamers alike can now come together in one place and enjoy some of our most exciting vintage and new titles,” notes Nick Pili, Network Business Director at SEGA.

“There was a story out there recently that we have a locked vault full of retro SEGA classics in Japan,” added Pili. “Well it’s true – and we’ve been given full access to a lot of the properties in it.”

SEGA also plans on opening up a VIP (Very Important Player) section on PlaySEGA that will charge a small fee (what was that about microtransactions?) in order to play Mega Drive (Genesis) classics including Columns, Puyo Pop, Chu Chu Rocket, Sonic The Hedgehog, Super Monkey Ball Tip ‘n’ Tilt and more.

Find out more and get your retro gaming flava on at PlaySEGA.com.

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Korean Government serious about Games -$200m serious

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Gaming is no joke in Korea.  Not only is Starcraft played competitively, but cybercafe’s run around the clock.  To this end the Korean government is taking serious steps in making sure that Korean game developers stay on the map.

The Korean government recently announced that they’re pumping 350B Korean Won (approx. $200M) into a fund that’s designed to be used by the video games industry.  This fund should ensure that Korean developers not only stay competitive, but should also fund innovation.

Yu In-chon, Korean minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism made the announcement noting that the current growth rate must be maintained if the country is to reach it’s goal of becoming the world’s 3rd largest video gaming market, only behind the US and Japan.  In-chon noted that in addition to the cash influx, the government has an additional 59 projects to ensure these goals are met.  The proposal seeks to fund the gaming industry through 2012 with the end goal of exporting a massive 5 trillion won ($3.3 billion)

In a rough and tumble economic climate, obviously this is a noted departure from the norm, and a refreshing vote of confidence from a national government.  NCSoft, one of the world’s largest developers of MMO’s is headquartered in Korea, and could be on the beneficial end of this deal.

What strikes me as slightly odd is that it took the Korean government this long to actually notice the video games industry?  When Starcraft tournaments are broadcast on live television, and specific video gamer training camps are established, this is clearly no longer under the radar.

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OMG! zOMG! nets half a million signups!

Monday, December 8th, 2008

OMG rly?  Gaia Onlines’ first entry to the casual MMO space has certainly stuck a chord with audiences world wide, with Gaia recently reporting that zOMG! has reached the 500,000 player benchmark – clearly indicating that they’re onto something good.  Something VERY good.

The new MMO entered it’s open beta testing phase on November 6th, and in just over a month Gaia has seen a landslide of registrations and active players on it’s servers.

As discussed in our coverage of the opening of the beta, zOMG! is flash based a casual MMORPG that pits players against monsters and enemies in 16 different zones with a wide variety of battle rings and recipes to choose from.  The main story centers around the unexplained transformation of inanimate objects into now living beings bent on wiping out the human race.  The ‘Animated’, as they’re know in-game consist of yard flamingos, gnomes, plungers, etc. can only be defeated by characters equipping themselves with magical rings and battling it out.

Existing zOMG! players now have an entire new army of fellow players to engage and play with in their ongoing campaign to smash the evildoers and live in peace and harmony.  And it’s not all just smash and grab in the land of zOMG! as the game also incorporates elements of social networking and entertainment, streaming music, and naturally, Gaia Online’s in-game, microtransaction based item mall.

When zOMG! went into an open beta phase, Senior Producer David Georgeson stated,

“Our top priority is providing a high-quality MMO gaming experience that’s fun and challenging, and also user-friendly for all levels of players.  We received a lot of great feedback from gamers during our Closed Beta, so we’re throwing open the doors as we update the game with new features and additional content.”

It seems like Gaia and company are and have been listening to players’ feedback,

“Positive feedback from satisfied players not only aids our team in modifying and ultimately perfecting the zOMG!! gameplay experience; it is truly rewarding,” said David Georgeson, Senior Producer of zOMG!! at Gaia Online. “After a lengthy development process, it’s almost surreal to watch players dig right into the storyline and begin realizing the game’s full potential.”

While Gaia Online is no stranger to massive usership, currently home to seven million plus gamers that enjoy Gaia’s wide selection of free-to-play titles, another 500,000 players in the zOMG! space doesn’t hurt anything.

Given the troubling financial climate, Gaia Online is also attributing a bit of the success of zOMG! to the inherent nature of the business model: Free-to-play.  If the price wasn’t enough of a selling point, providing a feature rich game in a browser based format makes adventuring through zOMG! even easier with no download, or credit card required.

Learn more and take zOMG! for a spin on your own over at zOMG.com.

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New concept virtual world SecretBuilders seeks to engage and educate

Friday, December 5th, 2008

In case you missed it a few weeks back, it looks like Google’s attempt at a virtual world competitor to SecondLife: Lively, wasn’t so lively at all, and is about to go down the tubes.  While it’s a sad day anytime we hear of a game/world/concept go sayonara, how’s that expression go…there’s a silver lining in Tokyo?  Or something like that.

Now entering the ring in the white corner, weighing in with StoneSoup magazine and The Huffington Post, hailing from Northern Californiahhhh…..Secretbuilders!

SecretBuilders is another new entry to the virtual world sector – but with a new an innovative twist.  Specifically not targeting the Lively/SecondLife demographic of 30-40 somethings, SecretBuilders is aimed at the 7-14 year old market, thereby putting it in the same pot as Club Penguin and ZooKazoo, an already boiling hot market.  eMarketer places 53% of all kids involved in one virtual world or another (or several) by 2011.

But hold up there Mr. Naysayer.  SecretBuilders has an interesting twist.  Fun AND education.  Players can create their own 2D avatar and play approximately 30 mini-games throughout the different areas of the virtual world.  Kids can talk to each other within the world with offensive language filters in place.  Nothing new to see here, but….this is where things get interesting.  Let’s say a player approaches a man by the name of Galileo and wants to talk to him.  Here they can find out a number of things regarding Galileo, when he lived, what he’s famous for, etc.  His profile will also reflect these teaching tools.  Likewise, players can create pictures via their mouse cursor, but what they may not realize is that they’re painting over, or mimicking a painting done by a famous artist – learning tools included.  The world also includes a plethora of writing and art contests to enter, a kids magazine and room customization/personalization tools.

So far we’ve got a new Virtual World with an innovative concept – but how about some support?  Well getting a nod from Arianna Huffington at The Huffington Post isn’t a bad way to start.  On December 10th, SecretBuilders will launch a contest titled “Dear Mr. President” where users can submit a photo including a caption addressed to president-elect Barack Obama.  The Huffington Post will publish the winning entry on President’s Day.

The site membership is free for now, but plans to introduce premium subscriptions and microtransactions in the coming future.  SecretBuilders is open to product placement and in-game advertising, and currently has join ventures with Art in Action, The Monterey Bay Aquarium, WildPlanet Toy Company, and StoneSoup Magazine.

This new entry to the virtual world space is the brainchild of Umair Khan, who founded the company in January 2007.  14 programmers based in Bulgaria also support the Menlo Park based team of 7 US programmers.  After a short testing phase of only a couple of months, the world now has approximately 5000 members in 27 countries around the world – all via word of mouth marketing.

Khan has raised $2.4M in tow rounds of funding via Angel investors Scott Hassan of eGroups and a founding member of Google, Carlos Cashman founder and CEO of CourseAdvisors, and Ken Morse, co-founder of 3Com, Aspen Technologies, and professor at the MIT Sloan School.

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IGA provider Massive Inc. signs Blizzard – workin’ hard for the money

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Holy smokes is Redmond turning up the heat.  In less than a week, the relatively quiet IGA (in game advertising) arm of Microsoft: Massive Inc. has sent up two very loud and clear flares, signaling that they are indeed very real, and mean business.  Last week, THQ, this week Blizzard, next week????

Massive announced yesterday that they’ve inked a multiyear deal with Blizzard Entertainment Inc. as exclusive advertising service provider for Blizzard’s website and Battle.net game service in the US, Canada, Europe, South Korea and Australia.

Sadly, Massive wasn’t able to achieve complete and total ad world domination, BUT…to really put the icing on this chocolate slice of IGA love, they’ve also announced that they’re teaming up with Intergi Inc., the world’s largest web-based video game and interactive entertainment network and advertising representation company.  This duo will power and provide ads to the massive (yes, pun intended) Blizzard audience.  Integri is currently powered by Microsfot Atlas AdManager platform, delivering advertising across it’s 700+ sites.

“We are thrilled to work with two industry pioneers; both Massive and Blizzard are two of today’s leading names in the world of gaming, and their confidence in our network and advertising representation services is a true testament to what Intergi offers when it comes to reaching today’s gaming enthusiast,” said Jayson Dubin, CEO of Intergi.

Massive will be delivering ads to an already captive audience across Blizzards’ network of heavily trafficked sites including Battle.net.  Titles across these sites include StarCraft, Warcraft, and Diablo series of games including the upcoming StarCraft II and Diablo III.  And naturally, Massive will be serving up fresh advertising goodness across the jewel in Blizzards crown: ‘World of Warcraft’ website.

COO Paul Sams has already anticipated the questions coming from all sides, and decided to squash any rumor mills before they even ground to life, “Our decision to partner with Massive was based on several important factors, including their technical expertise, global sales presence, and willingness to work with us to ensure advertisements appear only in contexts and environments that make sense,” said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. “This partnership does not include in-game advertising, as Massive understands and respects our stance against advertising that might detract from gameplay or offend our players.”

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True Games and Petroglyph announce new free-to-play: Mytheon

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

The new free-to-play, microtransaction based Action Strategy/RPG Mytheon is the title of the upcoming offering from the True Games/Petroglyph partnership we first reported back in August.

Petroglyph is best known for their award winning work with Star Wars: Empire At War and Universe At War real time strategy games.  Key members of the Petroglyph team were also involved in the development of the original Command and Conquer series while at Westwood Studios.  Mytheon hails as uncharted territory for Petroglyph, as this is their first microtransaction game.

Mytheon has a planned launch date of Fall 2009, and is slated to combine the best elements of action, strategy, and RPG game-play with a heavy emphasis on collectability and combat (read – blow shit up!).  Players will find themselves in a fantasy universe heavily laden with mythology themes.  The starting area turns out to be a no-surprises-here-isn’t-this-where-it-all-started Greece.  Ongoing expansions will follow that will further adventurers into exotic mythologies from every corner of the world and historical time period.  Designed with ‘not just once’ playability in mind, Mytheon seeks to offer players real-time combat and customizations that will invite them to play the same scenarios in a wide variety of ways via group, PVP, and solo play, an addition to an integrated social networking component.

“There really isn’t a game on the market today that someone could compare to Mytheon,” said Jeff Lujan, Founder and Chairman of True Games Interactive. “The game truly creates an entirely new genre offering a combination of features that gamers would normally have to play several different games to get. There is no doubt it is an ambitious project, but Petroglyph has routinely delivered AAA quality, genre-defining games and Mytheon continues that pedigree.”

Thus far, Mytheon is offering three different character classes each with it’s own specific “power stone” specialty.  These power stones are collected throughout the game and offer players unique abilities including the abilities to conjure spells and summon minions.

“The passion and energy behind Mytheon has been tremendous at Petroglyph. This is exciting new territory for Petroglyph to explore,” said Chuck Kroegel, CEO and General Manager of Petroglyph. “We are making a compelling and addictive new genre that will have you fully immersed and entertained. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner than True Games to take this journey with us and I’m certain that together we’ll deliver a long-lasting new franchise.”

Again, Mytheon is slated for a Fall 2009 release, and something tells me, there’ll definitely be a True Games/Petroglyph presence at this coming summer’s GDC in Cologne.

For further info about this exciting up coming free-to-play, visit the True Games/Petroglyph team at www.mytheongame.com.

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Gaming gets even bigger in Cologne GDC 2009

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Hang on to your hats folks, as the ‘Showdown in Cologne’ is headed your way this summer.  If the GDC (Game Developers Conference) wasn’t already decorated with enough pixels to make your eyeballs fall right out of your head – this year seeks to outdo even the best of the best!

Think Services (a division of United Business Media) will be presenting this coming years’ GDC in Cologne, Germany in conjunction with gamescom, the hottest game related ticket in Europe when it comes to consumers, publishers, and trade folks.  Global Games Media, an event management firm specializing in marketing and business development for the international interactive entertainment industry, will now be working with Think Services.

GGM CEO Frank Sliwka, formerly Leipziger Messe (home of the 2008 GDC) international and national advisor and conference director will be on board with Think Services as VP of European Business Development and Event Director, GDC Europe.  Silwka brings years of game industry conference and event management experience to the table and will lead the GDC Europe this coming August 17-29, 2009 in Cologne Germany.

“We are thrilled to present GDC Europe during gamescom,” Kathy Schoback, Executive Vice President, Global Events, Think Services, said. “A world class game developer event belongs at the premier European game industry event. With the support of Koelnmesse, BIU (the German Trade Association of Interactive Entertainment Software), and the City of Cologne, Europe’s most significant games gathering will definitely be a great success, and we couldn’t be more excited to have Frank Sliwka bring his deep experience to helping deliver GDC Europe.”

“We are pleased to welcome the European development community to GDC Europe during gamescom,” noted Oliver P. Kuhrt, Executive Vice President of Koelnmesse GmbH. “The team in charge of GDC Europe, Think Services and Frank Sliwka, are professionals who are renowned for organizing internationally respected developer events and who have deep industry experience, strong networking connections, and know how.”

After having attended last year’s GDC on Leipzig I can honestly say, this is THE games event in Europe, and to have Silwka on board, as well as presenting together with gamescon is enough to put this one right outta the park.  From hundreds of displays and test-drives to great sit downs, dinners, and wild afterhours parties (sponsored by Nokia – did I ever say thanks for the vodka?)  with developers, publishers, and industry peeps, the European GDC is an outstanding conference not to be missed.  Slapping gamescon on top of all this is like the pat of butter on those freshly cooked flapjacks on a cold January morning!

Details about this coming Augusts’ games smorgasbord in Köln are still sparse at the moment, but keep your radar tuned to gdceurope.com for updates.  Given the scale of this event and the already involved participants, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a surprise of two heading our way in the coming months.

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Acclaim set to bring free-to-play music based game to the masses

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Teaming up with WaveGroup, Warner Music, Sony, and EMI, Acclaim is set to release a music-based free-to-play on the scale of Guitar Hero/RockBand.  Based on the premise that Rockband and Guitar Hero are immensely successful, but can be a bit expensive, Acclaim set out to lower that barrier of entry.  The result?  FreeRock. (Freebird?)

Will Littlejohn, whose resume includes credits on Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II and III, Karaoke Revolution Volumes 1, 2 and 3, and Blade Runner is leading the charge via WaveGroup.  The free-to-play will feature over 40 new songs being produced for the game, along with already available three licensed songs: Iron Man, Fat Lip, and Woman.  Rockfree’s main focus isn’t that far off from those that it’s taking on: create custom avatars, open a rock club, and battle against other rockers from around the world.  This is the first music based free to play/microtransaction title we’ve seen, and are quite keen to see how Acclaim will be doling out character customizations and Les Pauls.

“Acclaim Games is excited about offering an online rock game that connects people through music and a multiplayer experience. People don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars to play ROCKFREE, and because it’s free-to-play the entire world can now enjoy a music based game.” says Howard Marks CEO of Acclaim Games.

“We’ve had a simple vision for this game… Just imagine Rocking out to really GREAT music online, for FREE, on a game that you can play anywhere, anytime, where you don’t need to buy CD’s or install anything, where the music is directed by the company the Guitar Hero team went to, where we DON’T charge for extra songs, that will quickly have over 1,000 amazing songs, as users upload new tracks, that can allow EIGHT people to compete on any stage, and that’s just about hanging out with friends and having fun. That’s our long-term goal here, and here’s a sneak peek to see if were on the right track so far.” says David Perry, Chief Creative Officer.

While Acclaim has done a pretty good job of keeping this one under the radar for quite a while now, it seems like Saturday’s sneak peek was well received, as I tried to get in on 7 different occasions and had no luck.  Details are scant at this point, but I wouldn’t expect that to be the case for very long.

David Perry – where’s my beta key?

Have a view of, and keep tabs on freerock at: www.rockfree.com.

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