Posts Tagged ‘gaming’
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
When then-at-the-time social network Hi5 announced almost one year ago to date that they’d failed to secure another round of financing, and were forced to dramatically cut staff members, it looked as though the social networking site was on death’s door.
Less than one month later, Hi5 had more or less reinvented itself, titling the platform as a social entertainment site, Hi5 switched from social networking – to social gaming. They brought Bill Gossman on to steer the ship, and in just over 8 months, had reached a visibility level high enough to lure Alex St. John over to the Hi5 side.
Could MySpace now be on a similar trajectory?
Announced at yesterday’s GDC events, MySpace has completely revamped the Games section, allowing both developers and players much easier access to application and analytics tools, and discovery and sharing, respectively.
From a users’ point of view, the new format should allow them to stay up-to-date with personalized game notifications, as well as discover new games through a system tailored recommendation system – including data from popular games charts and friends’ games. Users’ rating input will also affect future search and recommendations results.
On the developer side of the table, new analytics tools, as well as a new API, will allow devs to review application specific analytics. These tools will allow for invitation conversion, active users, notification responses, and demographic data, as well as tracking of the source of app invites. MySpace is also now utilizing the Unity 3D engine (as is Bigpoint with their Battlestar Galactica MMO), which allows developers to crank out 3D browser based entertainment. MySpace has also implemented Scoreloop technology, which allows games to share leaderboard, achievement, challenge, and buddy lists across different platforms. Rounding out the shiny new toys for developers is GroovyCortex, a cloud-based service that is designed to provide a “low latency push [data] for multiplayer games.” And just for that added extra push – MySpace announced MySpace Neon, a slated iPhone app that will give users mobile access to their MySpace games. While no mention of mobile play is to be heard, MySpace says that users will be able to interact with their games, share notifications, view their game related stream, and allows for remote installation of games.
So while the news that News Corp (MySpace’s parent company) is putting the push on focusing on MySpace as a gaming platform, this is the first solid ‘flag in the ground’ that we’ve seen come out of the games division at MySpace. But the question is…is it enough, and is it in time, to help the once King of the Hill regain it’s place back at the top?
Tags: Alex St John, Bill Gossman, gaming, hi5, myspace, social gaming
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Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Los Angeles based Big Stage Entertainment, Inc. has recently received an additional $2.7m in series B funding from their original investors, Mission Ventures, Selby Ventures and TechCoast Angels. This round of funding brings Big Stage Entertainment’s total raised to a healthy chunk of change at $10.6 milion. Presumably, Big State will use this new injection of funding to further advance and accelerate their research and development and sales and marketing for its 3d photorealistic facial avatar modeling technology. Outside investors still have a shot at getting in on the action, with and additional $3.3 million still remaining in series B funding, open until June 8th.
As reported back in December, Big Stage uses a 3D facial modeling system that renders 3D versions of a person from 3 digital photos taken from different angles. Now known as @ctors, the entire setup and processing method should take users less than two minutes, making creation easy for even the non-technical. Third parties can integrate Big Stage Entertainment’s proprietary PortableYou 3-D facial modeling system seamlessly into video games, virtual worlds, Web sites, mobile apps, kiosk-based systems and more. The BackStage white label product offers a turnkey solution to partners who want to leverage the same 3-D face modeling technology as part of high impact participatory experiences under their own brands, with the added benefit of easy-to-use social sharing tools to maximize viral effect.
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’s initial round of funding raised $7.9 million from investors Mission Ventures, Selby Ventures and Tech Coast Angels.
“Big Stage Entertainment offers the most realistic 3D facial avatar-creation technology that’s accessible to consumers today. Our service is built on a hub strategy to provide consumers a single online location for the projection of self into digital life,” said Phil Ressler, Big Stage Entertainment CEO. “With this investment, we will continue to push the limits of participatory media to meet the evolving needs of brands and content owners who recognize the immense potential of enabling audiences to star in media experiences created by themselves or others.”
“Big Stage Entertainment brings the deeply personal phenomenon of projection of self to mainstream consumers, breaking new ground in interactive entertainment,” said Robert Kibble, managing partner, Mission Ventures. “Mission Ventures led this Series B investment out of recognition of the huge long-term opportunity in helping Big Stage Entertainment realize its full potential.”
This new influx of cash should keep Big Stage right on track, and delivering top-notch products to current and future clients. At the present time, Big Stage counts some high level clients amongst their roster including Sony BMG, Lionsgate, Funcom, Intel, Stephen J. Cannell Productions, GGL Global Gaming, The Venue Network, Icarus Studios, Virtual Space Entertainment and Splash News.
Tags: digital photos, Funcom, gaming, government grants, Lionsgate, modeling system, modeling technology, Phil Ressler, PortableYou, reconstruction technology, Robert Kibble, sales and marketing, Selby Ventures, Sony, Stephen J. Cannell, turnkey solution, USC, virtual worlds, white label
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Monday, June 2nd, 2008
The Dutch Game Garden has announced that they’ll be launching at the NLGD Festival of Game on June 19th in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Coming hot off a nice pat on the back, the Dutch gaming industry is 
poised to be a major force to contend with in the Euro gaming market. The Dutch Game Garden foundation is financed in part by the Dutch government, and is supported by a number of universities and schools. These schools along with the government are extremely interested in promoting the growth of the gaming sector. In 2007, the Dutch gaming industry revenue exceeded that of the Dutch film industry, and figures report the gaming sector to have a growth rate of 50% faster than any other Dutch economic sector.
The Dutch Game Garden will support, encourage, and do all it can to help fledgling developers and startups located in the Netherlands, along with companies that choose to relocate to the Netherlands. They tackle this via a three pronged attack:
The Game Development Club which seeks to encourage students of game design, media, arts and programming courses at universities and school to work together in collaborative projects.
The Game Incubator is a pot o’ soup for talented young entrepreneurs. The Incubator project helps young entrepreneurs navigate the often hectic ropes of not only setting up a company, but keeping it afloat, and ultimately, bringing their product to market. By providing training in entrepreneurship and coaching, assisting with housing, providing tools and a network of technical, financial and legal experts, the Incubator seeks to help Mr./Ms. ‘Hey I got an awesome game, but where the heck do I start?’ to hit the ground running.
The Game Development Business Centers provide top-notch facilities for existing and growing game firms in the Utrecht region. The ultimate goal of these facilities is to create a hotspot of gaming, with access to other important companies, A1 research institutes, universities and schools.
The Dutch Game Garden will offer an official presentation along with a panel discussion at the NLDG festival.
To learn more about the Dutch Game Garden: http://www.dutchgamegarden.nl
To learn more about the NLDG: http://www.nlgd.nl
Tags: business centers, collaborative projects, developers, dutch film, dutch game, dutch government, entrepreneurship, Euro, game, game design, game development business, game development club, gaming, gaming industry, gaming market, gaming sector, hotspot, important companies, incubator project, Legal, legal experts, Market, NLDG, programming courses, setting up a company, The Netherlands, US, Utrecht, young entrepreneurs
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Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
ION Game Conference in Seattle: redefining online
Under the motto “Redefining Online”, the Annual ION Game Conference took place in Seattle, WA 
between the 13th and 15th of May. The global gaming industry converged at ION to discuss the future of Online Gaming, exchange news, and set new goals for the coming years. Besides industry titans from both the US and Asia such as EA Games, Bigpoint, Crytek, and Epik; fatfoogoo was one of the few European companies present. We were here not only to represent Fatfoogoo, but also to get a view of the newest developments in online gaming. How these developments look, and where they will be taking the next generation of Online Gaming, we proudly present to you here:
Free Games with downloadable content and additional services
The first Trend that’s abuzz in the industry is the increasing alternatives to drive revenue generation. Publishers will sooner or later move further and further away from costly subscription fees and expensive stand alone games, and more in the direction of a “Free to play” platform, i.e. the game is free to download and play, but it’s also self financing by additional downloadable content, services, and micro-transactions between player to player or publisher to player. An excellent example of this concept would be South Korean publishers Nexon, who with Court Rider and Maple Story have banked over $230M in turnover, or German publisher Bigpoint whom already have over 10 million users. On average 8%-30% of these users have already, or will in the future pay for additional functionality and levels.
Outsourcing
The second trend amongst game publishers deals with competition in the global market and the often negative feelings/opinions associated with outsourcing. In order to spend more time in developing games, publishers are increasingly relying on third technologies; game engines, sound creation tools, and/or micro transactions (the selling and/or trading of objects, items and services within a game), between players or between publishers and players. The time and money saved with outsourcing should be reinvested in the core components of manufacturer; game development. There’s already a prime example of a masterful use of outsourcing in Epik’s Unreal 3. Unreal 3′s engines are pretty much the same as any 3D shooter, but they employ various sound engines from the Dolby Engineering labs, or micro-transactions from operators like fatfoogoo. The already existing cooperation with second and third line suppliers of engines and services should be worked out in the future. At it’s essence this will free up game publishers to do what they do best: Develop and publish games.
The merging of (suppossed) opposites
The third trend focuses on the fusion of the various different pieces of Social Networking and Gaming. The border between PC and Console, virtual worlds, games and personal net applications, mobile and casual games is becoming more and more blurred each day and should interoperate with each other – technically, functionally and economically. The platforms will be open to each other, and offer the end users several different levels of interaction. Nevertheless, the challenge for this kind of openness in technology lies not only in the tech sector, but the judicial as well. Copyright and tax laws vary from state to state, country to country. The challenge of a functional multinational system is a priority not only for software and hardware manufacturers, but for politicians as well.
Final Thoughts
Final thoughts and personal observations from Martin Herdina, our foogoo on the ground at ION:
A letter from America
Being back in Europe the jetlag still doesn’t allow me much sleep at night but – and what’s a lot more relevant – I am looking back to a super exciting week at fatfoogoo.
Listening to the industry legends from EA, THQ and NCSoft talk about micro-transactions as the future revenue model for online gaming and to the success stories around Nexon’s “Cartrider” in Korea ($ 250M p.a.) has been extremely interesting and demonstrated once again that fatfoogoo is serving exactly the right market segment at exactly the right time.
Apart from these business aspects I met a full crowd of great people from the US gaming industry, enjoyed some super cool US Ska music at night (check out http://www.myspace.com/dealsgonebad) and was successful at avoiding all business-development meetings taking place in one of Seattle’s strip clubs.
Best,
Martin
Tags: America, Asia, bigpoint, conference took place, Console, content, content services, crytek, Demo, developing games, download, ea games, Europe, exchange news, fatfoogoo, free games, FTW, game, game conference, game engines, game publishers, gaming, gaming industry, german publisher, global gaming industry, industry titans, Korea, maple story, Martin Herdina, micro transactions, money, negative feelings, new goals, revenue generation, Seattle, sound creation, techno, US
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Monday, May 26th, 2008
Recently, an ultra rare Star Fox satin jacket popped up on ebay. RawMeatCowboy over at GoNintendo eagle eyed this gem popping up the other day. This rare piece of video gaming history was given out only to those the reached specific high scores at the Star Fox Competition Nintendo hosted back in the day (1993).
According to the item description on ebay, the jacket has only been worn a few times and is a size medium. The seller is also tossing in a couple of rare Star Fox pins, the original documentation sent direct from Nintendo, and a copy of Star Fox for Super Nintendo (I still have mine, got yours?). If owning a piece of gaming history wasn’t enough for you, you can also walk away with a nice feeling knowing that 10% of your purchase price is going to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.
While Star Fox might be 15 years old now, it WAS the first 3D polygon Nintendo game, and in it’s own right, changed the way we look at gaming forever.
I’m placing my bid right now – if I win, who’s up for a contest to re-win this gem?
Tags: 3d polygon, ebay, game, gaming, gaming history, GoNintendo, marine toys for tots, marine toys for tots foundation, Nintendo, nintendo game, RawMeatCowboy, satin jacket, star fox, super nintendo, video, video gaming
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Friday, May 23rd, 2008
So here’s the thing, how are YOU controlling your gaming experience? I ask only because I recently got a new rig, and of course I had the “shiny new toy, let me buy some other toys to go with it’s shopping” experience afterward.
That being said, I use my machine not only for pwning some n00bs, but also for graphics (photoshop and illustrator) and purchased a wacom bamboo graphics tablet. I also like to edit video, and purchased a NuLOOQ to rapidly scrub through unedited video (it also makes for a very handy iTunes controller).
But when it came time for a main HID, I really started to look around. I’ve had the Logitech MX Laser pretty much since the first day it came out (before it was even labeled the MX1000 laser) and have been very happy with it. But lets face it, we’re all techno junkies, and if there’s something better out there: well goddamnit, I gotta have it!
So I started searching various other forums and pages, reviews and corporate homepages. The two names that I saw over and over were Logitech and Razer.
Logitech:
Logitech offers 5 ‘Gaming Grade‘ mice with only one cordless option. Sure, everyone tells me that I’m going to get a better response from a corded mouse, but personally, I’ve used a wireless mouse for so long now, I’m not sure I could really go back to giving up another USB port. But hey, maybe I really don’t know what I’m missing.
The two Logitech that showed up most often were the G7 (cordless, btw) and the G5 (corded, but with a swanky skin over it). While the G5 offers a custom weighting option, it looks as though the G7 does not. Similarly, Logitech’s newest offering the G9 also offers the included weights that you can either insert or remove from the mouse to fine tune you playing style. Neat concept, but I haven’t read any “OMFG u gotta get the G9, FTW!” reviews. It also looks slightly odd in my opinion. And alas, none of these mice have Mac support, which may not be the death bell, because technically, the MX1000 Laser doesn’t offer mac support either, but yet, a quick trip to the support downloads does offer a Mac OSX driver. Again, I know it’s time for a new mouse.
Razer:
Razer’s got 10 offerings currently available for your pwning pleasure. Until recently, Mac users were forced to deal with the (in my opinion) cheesy cousin of razer’s badboys. But, as of April 29th, Razer’s added the DeathAdder Mac edition for those of us playing on Jobs’ OS.
What can’t be said about Razer? I had the opportunity to use the Boomslang Collectors edition at a friends place, and I can honestly say that it’s the smoothest, most comfortable, most responsive mouse I’ve ever used, gaming or no gaming. Alas, no mac love for the collectors edition. Sure, I’ve read the forums where I can try and trick the mac into believing that it’s a mouse (as it normally shows up as a keyboard upon a simple plug in), but really, it’s just not as good as original drivers.
Fair enough, I’ll grant that Razer is not offering a cordless option, and maybe I should be taking notes on this one. Razer offers a wide variety of mice each with it’s own twists and quirks, sizes and weights.
So really: now it’s your turn *peeps* hit me back in the comments, what’s your personal preference when it comes to the mouse FTW!?
Tags: April, Death, death bell, download, experience, FTW, g5, g7, g9, gaming, gaming experience, graphics tablet, HID, King, Mac, Mac OSX, mac support, mice, n00bs, neat concept, NuLOOQ, omfg, Orc, razer, shiny new toy, shopping experience, techno, techno junkies, US, usb port, wacom, wireless mouse
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Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Canadian residents are not required to pay an entry fee for Blizzard’s upcoming arena tournament. Instead, Canadian residents are required to write a 250 word typewritten essay comparing the video gaming culture in the Great White North to the video gaming culture in the States. Click here for the tournament main page and then click on rules (Blizz isn’t allowing direct linking to this page).
Canadian residents are not required to pay an Entry Fee in order to enter. Instead, Canadian residents may enter by submitting a 250 word typewritten essay comparing the video gaming culture in Canada to the video gaming culture in the United States on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and mailing their essay to Essay Entry for The North American Blizzard Entertainment Arena Tournament, P.O Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92623. Essay entries must be received no later than March 31, 2008 in order to be eligible. Essay entrants represent and warrant that the essay is their original work and does not infringe the rights of any third party. By entering, essay entrants hereby grant, without further consideration, all right, title and interest in and to their essay to Sponsor.
Ok, so the deadline has passed, so if you’re living somewhere in a province under a red maple leaf, sorry, but you missed the boat. On the other side of the coin here, gotta hand it to Blizz, excellent crowd sourcing and market research all within a highly specialized field. I’d LOVE to be sitting on the marketing review and research and development panels on the receiving end of these essays. Nice work Blizz!
On a side note, all Canadian contests involving a game of skill or chance must have a no fee entry clause. Normally this is covered by the STQ. The STQ is a skill testing question, used in order to qualify a ‘potential’ winner. While this question is usually mathematically in nature, sometimes a trivia question has also been used. I’m assuming that a 250 word essay will be a perfectly acceptable STQ.
A skill testing question is a legal aspect attached to all contests that Canadian residents can enter. Some contests may require you to answer the STQ when you enter the contest, other may require it only after you are declared a ‘potential’ winner. Because Canadian law prohibits “for-profit” gaming or betting, but does allow prizes to be given for skill (or mixed games of skill and chance), chance-based games (which, a random draw for contesting is), stays legal when contestants are required to answer the “skill” testing question. The STQ is a mathematical question, which you must answer correctly to be declared the contest winner. Contests which are run by sponsors in the USA are required to include a STQ if the contest winner is a Canadian resident, even though STQs are not required by contest winners in the USA. Some Canadian contests will ask a trivia question in place of a mathematical STQ.
Tags: Blizz, Blizzard, blizzard entertainment, Canada, canadian contests, canadian residents, crowd, Entertainment, entertainment arena, game, gaming, gaming culture, Irvine, irvine ca, King, Legal, maple leaf, Market, market research, marketing, North American, red maple, research, research and development, skill test, stq, third party, tournament, trivia question, typewritten essay, United States, USA, video gaming, word essay
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Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
AMD is rolling out a new branding scheme to highlight hardware that is optimized for gaming software. The new AMD Game! Brand is meant to bring ‘console-like’ simplicity to desktop/laptop users.
The New logo with be plastered on all PCs that include an Athlon X2 5600+ processor, 2GB of memory, a Radeon HD 3650, and an AMD 770 or Nvidia nForce 500 series chipset or higher.
The super swanky “AMD Game Ultra” logo is reserved for top shelf systems only. These Johnny Walker Blue Label systems need to have a minimum of a Phenom X4 9650, 2GB of memory, a Radeon HD 3870, and an AMD 770 chipset.
According to AMD’s site, “We’ve tested the games, hardware, and components to make sure you get an amazing playing experience, right out of the box. And best of all, you don’t have to know every detail about your PC to get started.”
In other words, AMD will be reviewing, selecting, and matching peripherals such as mice, keyboards and controllers for max compatibility (um, where do I apply for this gig?). Again, stressing the console like, plug and play right outta the box simplicity.
Whether you prefer to build your frag machine from the ground up, or simply leave the choices up to AMD, my guess is that we’ve going to be seeing a bit more of AMD in the gamers galley.
Tags: 2gb, amd, amp, amping, Athlon, athlon x2, Brand, chipset, Console, controller, experience, frag, FTW, galley, game, Gamers, gaming, gaming software, hd, johnny walker, Johnny Walker Blues, keyboards, laptop users, machine, memory, mice, nForce, nvidia, nvidia nforce, peripherals, phenom x4, plug and play, processor, radeon, shelf systems, simplicity, software, top shelf, US
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Monday, May 19th, 2008
Market research firm NPD released April data on Thursday putting Nintendo’sWii on top.
Nintendo also released their own press release using the NPD numbers:
According to NPD, the Wii outsold Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3. The Wii moved 714,000 units in April bringing it’s total US sales since launch to 9.5 Million units.
NPD’s numbers show that Microsoft milked the cash cow for 188,000 units and Sony, 187,100 PS3′s.
Perhaps having a bit of advanced knowledge of the upcoming numbers, Microsoft released a statement of their own on Wednesday that they’d reached the 10 Million units sold mark, making the Xbox 360 the first next-gen console to reach this landmark. Microsoft gave itself a pat on the back, arguing that this is the landmark that that usually indicates the eventual winner of each console generation.
Speaking of April, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto IV launched on the 29th on Xbox 360 and PS3. Granted, GTA IV had only been out for 2 days last month, and box Microsoft and Sony saw an increase in these sales, and yet Wii still came out on top.
NPD’s data on GTA IV places the game in two of the three top slots of software sales, with the Xbox version cashing in with 1.85M copies, and the PS3 version selling 1M units.
Again, Nintendo backs that ass up with Mario Kart Wii coming in as the second best selling game for the month of April, pushing 1.12M bananas out the door. Overall, 6 out of the top 10 best selling games during April were Wii games.
Let’s not forget about the other white meat: handheld gamers. The Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP outsold both the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The DS cranked out 414,800 receipts, with the PSP paling in comparison at only 192,700.
Overall, NPD’s research indicates what we’ve already mentioned, even though the economy sucks, the gaming industry is still partying like it’s 1999, with total sales in April racking up $1.23 billion. Yep, that’s Billion. That’s a 47% increase over the $839 million only one year earlier. Likewise, hardware sales were up 26% from $339 million in April 2007 to $426 million in April 2008.
Tags: April, Auto, best selling games, bit, cash, cash cow, comparison, cow, door, economy, firm, game, gaming, gaming industry, generation, Grand, grand theft auto, grand theft auto iv, GTA, gta iv, industry, knowledge, landmark, launch, Mario Kart, mark, Market, meat, Microsoft, Million, month, month of april, Nintendo, nintendo ds, NPD, pat on the back, playstation 3, press, PSP, release, research, rock, Rockstar, rockstar games, software, software sales, Sony, sony psp, Speaking, statement, Theft, Thursday, top, US, version, Wednesday, white meat, Wii, wii games, winner, Xbox, xbox 360, xbox version
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Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Sure, you could/can download it directly from eve-online.com, and I’m sure most gamers that are interested in having a crack at a free 14 day demo probably do. But: CCP games has done something very smart by making a demo version of the game available directly from Apple.com.
For Mac gamers the choices have always been a bit thinner than PC users (although that number is steadily growing, given to apple’s rising sales numbers) , and putting a short description about the 200K+ gaming community along with the link in Apple’s download section is a genius idea.
Along with Eve Online, there are quite a few other demos and freebies on the Mac site for Apple users. If you’ve not already checked them out, head on over and see what goodies Mac is giving out.
Tags: Apple, Demo, download, Eve Online, gaming, Mac
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