On the most appropriate day of the year, Tourism Ireland has announced that they’re now jumping into the social gaming world via Facebook. Titled “IrelandTown,” the title seeks to bring the St. Patrick’s day experience in Ireland to Irish, and non, from around the world. If experiencing a virtual bit o’ the Barley wasn’t enough, Tourism Ireland is offering a top prize of a 4 night adventure in the west of Ireland, as well as an Orla Kiely bag, fine crafted food baskets, and/or a box of the finest Irish chips known to man: Taytos.

And while we’ve seen a fair share of corporate interest in leveraging the power of social gaming, Tourism Ireland now holds the unique honor of being the first national tourism board to launch a social game. Noting that 24% of all active internet participants regularly play a social game, Tourism Ireland seeks to drive not only interest in the title itself, but the ultimate goal of converting those eager players into paying tourists.

“This is a new platform for Tourism Ireland to engage potential holidaymakers around the world with the kind of experience that a holiday in Ireland offers them. It is a unique promotional tool and a first, as no other national tourist board had done this before. For those fans who may be planning to visit in 2011, this is certainly a different way to research their holiday,” comments Mark Henry, Tourism Ireland’s Central Marketing Director.

As mentioned previously, the title allows participants to enjoy their own idyllic version of a quant, typical Irish town. Tour Guide Sally is along for the ride, highlighting iconic Irish sites along the way. Along their site seeking trip, users can compete in various challenges, further progressing them through the game. Overall, the game contains 32 unique destinations and 9 various tasks to complete along the way. Taking cues from other social games makers, IrelandTown offers and encourages the ability to speed up their game progress by inviting other friends to join them. And about that trip to Ireland … players that complete the 32 travel destinations/9 tasks are then entered to win said prize. Not a bad deal – play and learn…maybe put that knowledge to good use. Win/Win for Tourism Ireland.

Mark Henry adds, “Given that Tourism Ireland currently has a fanbase of a quarter of a million people around the globe, and each of the fans has in turn an average of 130 friends, Tourism Ireland can potentially engage with 32.5 million people worldwide through our new Ireland Town game.”

So whether you’re Irish, or just like to call yourself Irish once a year, have a visit to Tourism Ireland’s IrelandTown and see if you really know what you think you know about The Emerald Isle.

As reported yesterday, social gaming giant Zynga has stepped up, in partnership with Save the Children, to donate proceeds from specialty items to support relief efforts in Japan.  But what about Japanese gaming firms?  While the entire country was not directly effected, clearly March 11^th’s fall out has dramatic effects for the country as a whole.  Relief is pouring in from around the globe, but here’s a rundown of how the Japanese gaming landscape looks at present.

Square Enix took the lead when they decided to shut down Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV servers in order to conserve power.  Once offline, a number of other Japanese gaming firms followed suit, additionally announcing temporary suspensions of planned future activities including console games release dates, and maintenance and service upgrades for consoles, etc.

However, this does not mean the business-as-usual has halted completely, but rather, a number of firms are stepping up to the plate, and redirecting their tech efforts.  Below is an outline of who’s doing what, in alphabetical order with no preference given to any one relief effort program.

5pb

The firms Memories Off 6 T-wave for iPhone has seen a dramatic price reduction, down to 250 Yen (normally 2200), with all earnings presented to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

Accessport

Accessport’s “Farm Paradise” is modeling a similar program as Zynga, offering exclusive items with all monies going to the Japanese Red Cross Society.  The include:

• Supportive Kennel – 100 Yen
• Supportive Signboard – 200 Yen
• Supportive Processing Plant – 300 Yen

Aeria

Aeria has looked to their graphics department, and is not offering unique and exclusive wallpapers.  All proceeds will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

BANDAI NAMCO

As of March 15^th, the company has contributed 100 million Yen (approx. $1.2M) which will be donated to disaster relief in combination with private donations from company employees.

DeNa

DeNa is also offering exclusive items in Mbga Town and Yahoo! Mbga.  As of yesterday, March 15^th, DeNA has contributed over 100 million Yen (approx. $1.2M) , and is continuing fundraising and donation efforts.

Dwango/Niwango

All ad revenues derived from NicoVideo have been donated directly to disaster relief funds.  All sub-site platforms continue to solicit donations.

Faith

Exclusive avatars are available in the Rose Online marketplace, with 100% of all earnings to be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

GP CoreEdge Inc.

Within Alteil.net, exclusive cards and avatars are now up for sale.  Earnings will be donated to disaster relief efforts.

Nexon Group

As of March 15^th, the Nexon Group has donated 100 million Yen ($1.2M) to disaster relief efforts.

NHN Japan

Led by GACKT, a “Show your heart” campaign is underway with a number of high profile singers, entertainers and sports personalities lending a voice to encourage those that can to donate.

The company’s Dragon Nest title has stopped it’s DN-1 prize event, with the 10 million Yen now being donated directly to disaster relief efforts.

Nintendo

To date, the Nintendo Corporation has contributed 300 million Yen (approx. $3.7M) to disaster relief efforts.

Sankando

Simialr to other fundraising efforts, exclusive items sold within the M2 Online title will see their earnings donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

Signal Talk

All revenues generated on March 11^th within Maru-Jan and Fukurofu have been donated to disaster relief funds.

TECMO KOEI Holdings

To date, the company has donated 10 million Yen.  This number is expected to rise, as the company is also taking an internal collection from staff members, as well as upping their own corporate contribution to support disaster relief efforts.

West Inc.

From their flagship title, “Tsumo,” half of the rewards offered in their ongoing mahjong contest, as well as all revenues gained from the in-game item store will be presented to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

What would SXSW be without significant announcements from all the major players? Such was the case with Zynga yesterday, as the dropped the newest bomb in their seemingly endless arsenal of ‘Ville’s. This time up? – an online rewards program that provides a gateway for Zynga’s 250 million+ players to enjoy the games they love. Or so says Zynga’s PR team.

The premise behind RewardVille is simple enough, participate in a few actions here and there and rack up some network status, earn Zynga-level points and coins, and unlock a number of exclusive and limited edition virtual goods that they can apply to any of their favorite games.

“Our players are at the heart of all we do so our goal is to constantly look at ways to bring them the best and most fun experience when they play,” said Roy Sehgal, vice president, Zynga. “With RewardVille, our aim is to delight players by rewarding them with new Zynga-level points, and exclusive limited edition virtual items. We love that you love our games, so here’s your chance to reap some rewards!”

This is a first cross-gaming rewards program for Zynga, allowing Zynga players to play one title to help out the progress of another Zynga title. Zynga’s breakdown of the program looks like so:

Play a Zynga game of your choosing; City, Farm, Frontier, Yo, or PetVille, MafiaWars, Poker, Café World, Treasure Isle, and/or Vampire Wars, all of which are featured at RewardVille.

Once “in the system,” Zynga offers gamers the opportunity to rack up zPoints and zCoins. These points and coins can be put toward unlocking different RewardVille levels along the way. Players can earn up to 80 zPoints per game, or 300 zPoints per day.

The goods on the goods. Players can then spend their earned zCoins to purchase exclusive and limited edition items. Example: a “Ring of Fire” for FrontierVille is available only via a RewardVille purchase, thus providing a level of exclusivity within the game.

The French Connection. Ok, maybe not French, but RewardVille offers similar social connectivity as all of Zynga’s other titles, allowing users to send mystery gifts to other friends and family within the Zynga ecosphere. Once these players accept the sent gift, they gain zPoints and zCoins, which can then in turn be used at RewardVille.

While this seems like a great internal development and growth plan for Zynga, I’m perplexed as to why they’d begin offering this type of program now? Are they hurting for numbers? Needing to draw more people deeper and deeper into titles? Expand the brand and better utilize under-played titles? And while it’s not quite as far reaching or devious as the < href="http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/31/scamville-the-social-gaming-ecosystem-of-hell/">ScamVille controversy, anything having to do with Rewards and Zynga (and a number of other casual games makers) leaves this author with a bad taste in his mouth.

As mobile gaming becomes increasingly important to a number of developers, firms helping developers reach those goals are on the verge of a usage landslide. GameSalad Inc., former known as Gendai Games, has recognized this coming onslaught, and recently appointed Steve Felter as CEO. Mr. Felter’s first order of business is to manage the company’s rapid growth.

GameSalad is the third largest development tool for creating iOS based games. Through their proprietary technology, games developers are able to quickly design, publish, and distribute titles for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Mac, and Web, all without the need to write a single line of code. Thus far, GameSalad’s free-to-use, drag-and-drop games creation platform has been utilized to realize over 4,500 titles. Of these creations, more than 30 have reached the top 100 in Apple’s U.S. Games category.

“Democratizing game development is a mission I believe in, and it’s amazing to see our platform empower a whole new generation of game developers,” said Felter. “We have an incredible team, awesome product, passionate developer community, and exciting stuff in the pipeline. This is going to be a big year for GameSalad.”

Felter will take over the CEO reigns from co-founder and now former CEO, Michael Agustin, who will now head up product strategy as Chief Product Officer. Since putting our free game creation tools in the hands of game designers, GameSalad has taken off, quickly becoming the de facto game creation platform for mobile and the web,” said Agustin. “Steve’s proven success in managing rapid growth companies will greatly benefit GameSalad as we continue to expand, allowing me to focus on building out our product vision and designing great experiences for our customers.”

Prior to GameSalad, Steve Felter served as COO and CFO with DigiSynd, a social media marketing and analytics firm he helped put on the map, including assisting funding, acquisition, and integration with The Walt Disney Company. With the Big Mouse, Felter oversaw Disney’s first in-house social media division, implementing a number of successful strategies for brands including Pixar, ESPN, and naturally Disney Interactive Studios. Prior to Disney, Felter was onboard with Warner Bros. in the Corporate Business Development and Strategy division.