Archive for January, 2010

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Payment Card Industry (PCI) Grants fatfoogoo PCI Level 1 Compliance Status

Friday, January 15th, 2010

fatfoogoo, the leading provider of in-game and online commerce ecosystems, today announced it has attained the highest standard of data security as measured by the Payment Card Industry – PCI Level 1. Joining the elite group of just 1,000 service providers worldwide, fatfoogoo continues it’s commitment to both consumers’ and clients’ online security , making it one of the most secure ecommerce platform providers available today.

pci_dss_logoThe PCI Security Standards Council, founded by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa, Inc., has defined detailed qualifications for various levels of PCI compliance. The service provider designation for PCI Level 1 compliance indicates that all payments and credit card transactions sent through fatfoogoo meet the highest standards possible for data security.

The PCI Level 1 certification process involves a rigorous audit process conducted by PCI Security Standards Council representatives. Auditors from Stuttgart, Germany based Acertigo meticulously examined and tested fatfoogoo’s software architecture, ensuring that it would uphold the highest levels of security. In addition to software testing, PCI auditors also examined fatfoogoo’s system and hardware infrastructure, ensuring their PCI Level 1 standards. Auditors addressed the human element and verified that fatfoogo staff have been properly trained on both internal and external vulnerabilities that could compromise data or credit card security.

“fatfoogoo prides itself in providing our customers the very best in microtransaction technology,” said Martin Herdina, co-founder and CEO, fatfoogoo. “Having been granted Security Standards Council’s PCI Level 1 compliance status, we recognize the importance of data security and provide our clients with the safest e-commerce technology available.”

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Ubisoft: we’re 100% committed to social networking

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Ubisoft France CEO Geoffroy Sardin recently sat down with Gamekult to talk about the company’s future plans and how social networking factors into the mix. Sardin confirmed that Ubisoft developers are hard at work, incorporating social networking features into each and every single product in their lineup.

UbisoftTo speed up the process and get in the game, Ubisoft recently acquired casual games developers Nadeo, makers of TrackMania and QuestMania. Sardin said that the idea is to basically let Nadeo do what they do best, and try not to micro-manage the team. “Nadeo is not in the studios of Ubisoft… I, personally, I’ve never met [with the studio since its acquisition]. So it proves the independence they have and we want them to continue their adventure.”

“Nadeo enjoys the support and knowledge of Ubisoft, but mostly we are now experts in the community… that will help us to develop just about anything online,” Sardin continues. “And Nadeo is at the top of this level, especially for communication with their community.”

And while this is a good move for the company, for multiple reasons, Sardin does admit that there’s a bit of a ‘late to the party’ effect already taking place. He admits that Ubisoft’s presence in the social networking domain is, “growing exponentially, but still tiny compared to overall business.”

Addressing the elephant in the room, Sardin acknowledges that Facebook integration is key. He says that everyone across the board has been mandated with getting products rolling under the Facebook banner. “All studios of Ubisoft in the world are working on that subject.”

So if Ubisoft is trailing other competitors efforts in the social networking space, what can they do to up the ante? When asked about further or future acquisitions, Yves Guillemot said that Ubisoft would be interested in working with other companies if the opportunities are right.

An interesting position to be in. As major ‘traditional’ gaming studios stand by and watch social gaming upstarts such as Zynga, some are now scrambling and having to play the catch up game. Some start from scratch and build their social networking integrations from the ground up, while others like Ubisoft acquire outside sources. It should be interesting to see where and how Ubisoft will be able to put it’s own unique fingerprint on the genre.

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Final Fantasy creators Square Enix to bring free-to-play MMO to North American market

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

News of a Korean or Chinese free-to-play MMO export to the U.S. market is an seemingly everyday occurrence. On the other hand, when a Japanese games development firm announces that they’re bringing a product to the U.S., it’s enough to take notice. When that company happens to be the producers of mega hits such as the Final Fantasy franchise as well as Dragon Quest, well, it’s definitely something to sit up and take notice of.

Fantasy Earth ZeroAnnounced yesterday, the American publishing division of Japanese gaming mecca Gamepot Inc. (not to be confused with GameSpot) will soon be bringing a high quality free-to-play MMO to North American gamers. Initially announced by Square Enix in the Japanese market in 2004 under the title Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion, this new import will be titled Fantasy Earth Zero for the U.S. market.

Fantasy Earth Zero bills itself as a traditional MMORPG, with all the trappings of a massive gamescape, an engaging battle system, including rewards for loyalties to friends and country. Interestingly, Fantasy Earth Zero will combine the two most popular MMORPG play formats, Player versus Environment and Player versus Player, and making it into a Player versus Player versus Environment (PvPvE). Fantasy Earth Zero will feature a 50 vs. 50 PvP system that is sure to entertain with non-stop action. The new free-to-play will feature three distinct playing classes to choose from, as well as five unique kingdoms that will vie for players’ allegiance. The soundtrack has been provided by Hitoshi Sakamoto, noted for his work on Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 12.

“Imagine a world of perpetual warfare, legions of unique classes, and a Hyper-Active Battle System —Think the best scenes in Gladiator or Braveheart, with the action ratcheted up to 20,” said Thomas Lee, senior director of business and marketing, Gamepot (USA), Inc. “It’s quite unlike any MMORPG available – our 50 vs. 50 PvP system is pure, pulse-pounding excitement. And now, for the first time ever, North American players can step into a world from the creators of so many high-quality RPGs, completely for free.”

Fantasy Earth Zero is expected to launch on U.S. shores ‘early this year’. For more information and a chance at beta registration, visit Fantasy Earth Zero at Gamepot.

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Bigpoint.com tops 100 million registered users

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Hamburg, Germany based free-to-play gaming portal Bigpoint.com has recently announced that they’ve topped over 100 million registered users. The number now places them as the world’s largest online German community. Not just gaming communities, but the largest German online community overall. The 100 millionth user also puts Bigpoint on top in terms of browser-based gaming portals, but also one of the world’s largest online gaming sites.

us.bigpointBigpoint, launched less than 4 years ago claims that they see 250,000 players register every single day. “A few years ago, I never would have dreamed that we would one day reach this crazy goal,” comments Heiko Hubertz, CEO of Bigpoint GmbH. “This is a great achievement for us. But, the approximately 250,000 new daily registrations at Bigpoint.com shows that we have the potential to be even bigger.“

With over 50 different free-to-play titles available, Bigpoint attributes it’s success to the free-to-play model. At Bigpoint, users can test and play every aspect of the game for free, for as long as they want. Should they chose to delve deeper into their favorite Bigpoint game, they can purchase virtual goods with real money to heighten their gaming experience. And as with most other free-to-play online gaming portals, Bigpoint also offers players the opportunity to gain a number of these RMT items, however play time is greatly increased.

And while Bigpoint’s 50 various games is enough to keep almost any gamer happy, in May of last year, Bigpoint opened the doors to third party publishing, as well as making a set of development tools available to independent developers. The advantage here is twofold: Major corporations including Sony have already taken advantage of Bigpoint’s (now) 100 million user database, and the DevLounge tool gives independent developers the tools to stand side by side with giants such as Sony.

Looking forward, 2010 will see attention to license and royalty games from Bigpoint. The company already has a number of quality titles in its arsenal, most notably, Sony’s ‘Free Realms’. The company also has the post-apocalyptic strategy game ‘Nemesis 2030’ waiting for launch, as well as the anime role-playing game ‘Wonder King. In addition to Sony, Bigpoint boasts a media partner list with over 1000 accounts. MTV, NBC, MySpace and Facebook are all associated with Bigpoint.

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Shanda Games acquires Mochi Media

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

China based Shanda Games Ltd., the gaming unit of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd., announced today that they’ve reached an agreement to acquire browser based games network Mochi Media. The total selling price was set at $60 million in cash and $20 million in equity retention arrangements.

Shanda Games, by name a newcomer to the gaming world, but in practicality, around for quite some time now. As we reported back in September, Shanda Interactive Entertainment spun off a gaming division, aiming to focus the holding company’s efforts on e-book publishing and distribution, as well as a digital music service. Shanda Games currently manages and operates both in-house developed games, as well as co-developing games with developers acquired either through investments or a third party license.

Perhaps a coincidence, but this announcement also appears just one day after holding company Shanda Interactive Entertainment announced that they’ve appointed Xu Chaojun as Chief Operating Officer.  In their last quarter, Shanda Interactive Entertainment brought home a healty $63.7 million in profit on $202.5 million in sales. I guess it’s fair to say we know where that profit margin will be headed.

“We are excited to be bringing two of the best teams in the online game industry together in the perfect marriage of content and platform. Mochi Media’s impressive array of browser-based games is an ideal complement to Shanda Games’ portfolio of nearly 70 multi-player online games,” commented, Diana Li, chief executive officer of Shanda Games.

With approximately 15,000 games being displayed on almost 40,000 publisher websites, and 140 million active monthly users, Mochi is/was a prime candidate for purchase. San Francisco based Mochi Media is an open platform that offers game developers products and services to help them push their product. These tools range everywhere from analytics and tracking data, to distribution and microtransaction monetization methods.

“The additions of Shanda Games’ extensive content catalog and proven monetization capabilities unlock tremendous value on our platform for everyone involved,” noted Jameson Hsu, co-founder and CEO of Mochi Media.

This buy signals a very strong foothold for Shanda in the North American gaming market. As well, Shanda is not only buying into an established player in the field, but one that’s been pushing the envelop from the very beginning and is looking down the road; most recently evidenced by their Flash Games survey.

The final sale is expected to close in the first quarter 2010.

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CES 2010: Virtual Goods go from Zero to Hero

Monday, January 11th, 2010

While it’s often a short but sweet affair, this year’s Consumer Electronics Show came to a close on Sunday, but not without a multitude of new gadgets and gizmos, the associated press that comes with them, and of course, a number of industry talks.

ces_logoOne talk in particular revealed some great numbers for the virtual goods sector. In his opening speech on Thursday, Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro acknowledged that 2009 was, “a year none of us would wish to repeat,” noting that the industry overall dropped 7 percent over the course of the year.

However, for those working in the virtual goods and online gaming sector, 2009 might have seen a number of twists and turns, but overall, it was a very good year. A random sampling of vendors at CES estimated that U.S. virtual goods revenues went from zero to hero during 2009. That is to say, the sector went from almost negligible numbers in 2008, to a $1.2 billion dollar industry in 2009, with many saying that these numbers will at least double in 2010. If this were to be the case, the U.S. virtual goods market would not still not equal even half the global industry’s take, which current estimates put around the $6 billion mark, with the Asian market leading the charge.

But what exactly is driving this massive upswing in virtual goods purchases? While initially created to thwart pirates, the microtransaction business model has it’s birth in the MMO world, but has taken on a new character of it’s own. A number of industry experts point to social networking is a major force. David Laux , IBM global executive of games and interactive entertainment clearly agrees with the Q Interactive study that was released earlier this year, stating, “Midwestern housewives are willing to spend on virtual goods,” when referring to Zynga’s FarmVille.

The days of creating that one solid ‘killer app’ may be a thing of the past, but there are a number of ‘critical apps’ that have spawned a generation of similar applications and products. If one were given the choice, it’s not far off to say that Zynga’s FarmVille may just be the one that broke the camel’s back. That is to say, it’s a wildly popular, simple game that just about anyone can play – including Midwestern housewives. Through promotional work, word of mouth, and the ever crucial monetization method that makes it fun for all, Zynga managed to tear down the walls of buyer trepidation through cute virtual cows and corn rows. And how? By designing virtual goods into the virtual world from the very beginning. “People are in these worlds to play and socialize,” says Mark Hansen, Lego director of business dev and project leader from the upcoming Lego Universe MMO. “Items that help gamers accomplish those objectives will be successful.”

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Sony rolls out impressive numbers at CES 2010

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Sony has spent much of 2009 not only slimming down it’s flagship console the PlayStation3 in both size and price, but ratcheting up their virtual world hosted on said platform: Home. And while not exactly first on the scene with lower prices, or a slimmed down version of it’s previous self, Sony’s work has been rewarded, especially this past holiday season. At yesterday’s presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show held this year in Las Vegas, NV, Sony revealed sales numbers for this past holiday season. During the traditional consumerfest that occurs between the American Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas, Sony moved nearly 4 million PS3 consoles worldwide. To put this in perspective, looking at year-over-year numbers, Sony increased sales by 75 percent.

At the end of the day, this upswing in sales, combined with increased efforts to make ‘Home’ a serious part of the package bodes extremely well for Sony. As with size and price, Sony’s Home hasn’t exactly lived up to the hype. It’s already been through a few iterations, but it seems as though Sony might very well now be on the right path. They recently drove the “we’re serious about Home, MMO’s, and microtransactions” flag into the ground with the launch of Sodium One. Early reports have indicated that players have taken to Sodium One, which again, bodes well for Sony. They’ve now got an attraction within Home that has not only generated a bit of press, but is also getting the people through the door.

Electronic Theatre ImageNot coincidentally, VEEMEE, an independent creator of branded and original content for platforms and virtual worlds, yesterday launched The London Pub for PS3 Home users. Priced at €4.99 the virtual watering hole and hangout features a mulit-player darts game, a roaring open fire to chat by, comedic beer taps, crank phone calls, and hand dryers that don’t dry your hands. Kirk Ewing, Creative Director at VEEMEE comments, “It’s always nice to inject a bit of humor into the games industry. In a virtual pub you can get all the banter but obviously none of the booze. Also offering a real world tie-in, VEEMEE has partnered with Unicorn, makers of fine dartboards, and will be giving away 30 real Eclipse Pro Dartboards within the first 30 days of the London Pub’s opening, and tops the pub darts leader board on PlayStation Home.

Late last year at Sodium One’s introduction, Sony rolled out some Home user numbers, touting a decent 10 million users. With a lot of wrapping paper now making it’s way to the incinerator, there’s sure to be a whole new onslaught of Home users, as they plug-in, fire-up, and (hopefully for Sony) start enjoying home so much that they’re ready to make a microtransaction. Or two. Or 10 million.

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New, legal, iTunes alternative App Store premiers at CES 2010

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

While it’s waned in the overall ‘must see’ show of the year, the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is still alive and kicking. This year’s CES, held in Las Vegas has already had a notable highlight, and just on it’s opening day. The mind behind one of iPhone’s earliest hit apps, Steve Sheraton of Hottrix (iBeer), announced a fully legal iTunes app store alternative.

YourAppShopTitled YourAppShop, Sheraton says that the platform was created out of the frustration he, and a majority of other developers have faced in the past of Apple’s highly restrictive (and time consuming) approval process. Sheraton seeks to bypass the middle man with YourAppShop, and allow developers to ship directly to consumers.

“For years, developers of all sizes have been denied access to the world’s largest app store for a variety of reasons thanks to a lengthy and convoluted corporate process,” Sheraton said. “These policies have hampered certain labels from creating personalized, branded apps. Your App Shop is a brilliant opportunity for companies with content not allowed on iTunes or those that just want to bypass Apple completely.”

The YourAppShop platform will provide developers with a ‘one stop shop’ solution that will allow developers and companies to reach customers with specific, targeted apps. On the other end of the spectrum, users can access these apps in very much the way the do now, however, instead of going to the App Store found within iTunes, users visit yourappshop.com to access apps. Apps are then downloaded for free and are available immediately via a cloud based admin. This method will allow for both on and offline content delivery. Notably, the platform also offers a integrated micropayment system that allows users to use the similar ‘one click purchase’ method familiar to iTunes App Store users. No word yet on the availability of microtransaction monetization for developers, but if the project is a success, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this be one of the first features added to the lineup.

YourAppShop isn’t a project that’s been born overnight. It’s already been tested and based on technology used by two genre specific app shops – the Premier App Shop, and store for magic trick apps, and the Sex App Shop, do I even need to describe this one? Incidentally, the Sex App Shop has already seen 2 million downloads since it’s launch.

“It’s amazingly simple for content owners to sign up, create an app and repurpose their content with our technology,” said Maria Gara, owner of Premier App Shop LLC. “The Premier App Shop was created out of our own need to find an alternative to iTunes. This means we did all the hard work so others can enjoy the benefits of having their own licensed, branded app store with the content they want, delivered when they want it.”

While market competition is always a good thing, there IS a word to be said about Apple’s approval standards. The App Store is already an overcrowded party, with special award ceremonies and spotlight features needed to help consumers separate the wheat from the chaff. And there seems to be arguably, quite a bit of chaff in the silos already. By letting just about anyone into the iPhone party, is YourAppStore simply letting poor quality/gimmicky apps in the front door? If the safeguarded iTunes App Store is already packed with useless apps, how will YourAppStore guarantee the same experience, without the corporate bureaucracy? And if they don’t…would you want YOUR business’ app swimming in a sea of mediocrity?

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8 out of 10 ‘2009 Best App Ever’ contenders are games

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Sponsored by 148Apps, the second annual ‘Best App Ever Awards’ nominees have recently been published at bestappever.com and voting is now open. The annual competition seeks to find the best apps in the iTunes App store. The goal of the project is to spotlight the very best apps based on consumer views, not just the highest sellers of 2009.  And according to consumers, 8 out of the top 10 ‘best apps’ this year are in fact, games.

bestappeverLasting just under a month, the public nomination process saw 26,899 opinions, and listed 3,639 different apps. BestAppEver breaks apps down into 56 unique award categories. Along with public opinions, 148Apps also brought in a team of industry people and iPhone application developers to help narrow down the nomination process.

Again, while BestAppEver breaks nominations out into 56 distinct categories, there’s one category that is very unique: (quite literally) Best App. The nominees for this category represent the top 10 vote getters in the initial round of voting.  App developer Firemint had two entries make the list, Real Racing and Flight Control, priced at $4.99 and $0.99 respectively. But perhaps the most notable of all nominees is ngmoco’s free, free-to-play FPS shooter: Eliminate.

You’ll remember that ngmoco was one of the very first iPhone app developers to take advantage of Apple removing the microtransactions restriction, even choosing to break the news via a tweet. A little over a half a month later, they made good on their promise and delivered a free-to-play handheld shooter with quite good graphics and a microtransaction system in place. Now, not that I’m trying to rig the voting – but doesn’t a free-to-play app certainly deserve a vote? Especially when it’s the only free app in the list?

Voting is now open at bestappever.com and closes on January 31st. Winners will be announced on February 10th at the 2010 Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

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Record $330k buys Planet Calypso virtual space station

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Score another record for Sweden based virtual world developer MindArk. The First Planet Company, a part of MindArk, and creators and developers of Planet Calypso set out last year to put one of it’s biggest offerings to date up on the auction block: a fully functional (virtual) space station. The final selling price? 3.3 million PED – Project Entropia Dollars, with an exchange rate of 10:1, making the real world price a staggering $330,000.

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The winner is one ‘Buzz “Erik” Lightyear. Buzz now holds the property rights to Crystal Palace inside the Planet Calypso world. Granted, a $330k purchase for a virtual property might seem a bit steep to some, as this purchase has raised the bar substantially on private investments in virtual properties, but it’s not without precedent. Back in 2004, David Storey paid $26,500 for a virtual plot of undeveloped land in Project Entropia, while a year later Jon Jacobs dropped $100k on a Project Entropia virtual resort. And let’s not forget about Anshe Chung becoming a real life millionaire via Second Life in 2006.

2009 saw the rise of free-to-play gaming, and a multitude of monetization options. Microtransactions, virtual offers, etc., we’ve seen quite a bit of activity in the sector as of late. With this said, it’s almost a bit surprising to see Mashable author Ben Parr baffled by the sale. Yes, it’s a bit off the beaten path, but given the staggering amounts of revenue social gaming companies such as Zynga are pulling down each month, is it really so unreasonable to treat virtual properties as real world investments? Yes, there are a million and a half unforeseeable variables that could turn your virtual investment into bunk over night….but isn’t that the case with any real world investment? As a point of comparison, we hear about venture capitalists dropping massive amounts of cash into new media companies or web or app development firms. These are physical ‘real world’ investments, but they (more or less) operate on the same platform – all tied to a platform that arguably does or does not exist. With that said, given the economic climate, who’s to say that a real world investment is more concrete than a virtual one? Who’s to say the virtual investment isn’t the safer bet?

Lightyear could be poised to make a killing. Planet Calypso boasts the world’s largest virtual economy, and Buzz now has dibs on one of the biggest, and after the sale, most probably one of the most popular destinations for Planet Calypso players. Within his virtual world within a virtual world, Buzz has complete control over tax rates, what will be sold, to whom, and at what price. With an investment of this size, it’s a forgone conclusion that Lightyear probably already has a virtual world business model in place, and perhaps a team in place to capitalize on the new real estate. If Erik’s investment in Crystal Palace is a success, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a small niche crop of investors that would be willing to take the same leap. If this is the case, the ‘backburner’ secondary, or player-to-player, market could see a massive surge in popularity.

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