Tuesday, September 15, 2009

“The NPD Group: Gamers value word of mouth above flashy ads - BizReport.com” plus 3 more

“The NPD Group: Gamers value word of mouth above flashy ads - BizReport.com” plus 3 more

The NPD Group: Gamers value word of mouth above flashy ads - BizReport.com

Posted: 15 Sep 2009 02:50 AM PDT

npdLogo.gif In a survey of almost 21,000 respondents aged 2 and older, 41% said they trust word of mouth when it came to choosing a new game. This isn't surprising as many gamers get their game information from online communities and gaming forums. Their common interests and online gaming interactions forge strong relationships.

And when they're not online, they're checking out what their friends and family are playing - 31% cited hands-on play at others' homes as being a means by which they decided whether or not to purchase a game title.

It looks like bad news for on- and offline gaming magazine publishers. It appears word of mouth carries more weight than flashy ads. Even social networking doesn't do it for gamers with just 5% using them to find game information.

"When it comes to developing successful games and targeting marketing and promotions, each gaming platform has its own unique challenges and opportunities to consider," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst for The NPD Group.

Tags: e-commerce, gamers, gaming, viral marketing, word of mouth



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Turbine Selects PlaySpan as In-game Virtual Goods Marketplace Provider - Businesswire.com

Posted: 14 Sep 2009 04:56 PM PDT

PlaySpan's Technology Powers Dungeons and Dragons Online®: Eberron Unlimited™ In-game Store

WESTWOOD, Mass. & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Turbine, Inc., the premier creator and operator of massive, persistent online worlds, and PlaySpan, the leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, today announced an agreement to provide a comprehensive virtual goods marketplace for Dungeons and Dragons Online®: Eberron Unlimited™ (DDO Unlimited). DDO Unlimited is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) that delivers heart-pounding game play featuring the industry's best combat system, a massive world with state-of-the-art graphics and gameplay, and a rich set of features that until now could only be found in premium subscription-based MMOs. PlaySpan's microtransaction platform powers the new DDO Store that was recently introduced into the award-winning game.

"We are excited and pleased to partner with PlaySpan to deliver the next evolution in online gaming to our players," said Jim Crowley, President and CEO of Turbine, Inc. "PlaySpan's in-game marketplace provides an easy to use experience that will enable our gamers to choose how they pay and play DDO Unlimited."

PlaySpan's microtransaction platform enables gamers to stay in the game while shopping for wearables, weapons, potions, hirelings, and other helpful items in the integrated marketplace. In addition, the marketplace will showcase items based on the character's level, making shopping fast and easy.

"Turbine is a leader in online interactive entertainment, and we're thrilled they selected PlaySpan as their partner to create new microtransaction-based business models featuring in-game digital goods marketplaces," said Karl Mehta, Founder and CEO of PlaySpan. "Turbine's selection of PlaySpan is a key endorsement of our market leadership and continued progress in powering virtual world economies for today's most popular online games."

Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer for DDO Unlimited, will demo the game and its new digital goods marketplace powered by PlaySpan at the Monetization 2.0 Forum at GDC Austin today, between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. To learn more, or to register for the event, please visit: http://corp.playspan.com/gdc/. Demos will also be available at the PlaySpan booth #801 at GDC Austin.

About Turbine

Turbine, Inc. is the premier creator and operator of massive, persistent online worlds that foster powerful social gaming communities. Turbine has grown to become the largest privately-held online gaming studio in North America. Turbine has created some of the world's most popular and award-winning online games, including The Lord of the Rings OnlineTM, Dungeons & Dragons Online® and Asheron's Call®. For more information on Turbine, its products and services please visit www.turbine.com.

About PlaySpan Inc.

PlaySpan™ is the leader in monetization solutions for over 1,000 online games, virtual worlds, and social networks. PlaySpan's patent-pending in-game virtual goods commerce and micropayment platform enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users, and extend the loyalty of existing users.

PlaySpan also offers global payment solutions through its subsidiary PayByCash® with 85 payment methods in 180 countries. The ULTIMATE GAME CARD® is used by consumers to pay for 300 multiplayer games and around 700 games on popular social networking sites. It is available in about 45,000 retail locations across North America and growing rapidly worldwide.

Social network payment solutions are available through Spare Change©. Acquired by PlaySpan in April 2009, Spare Change is the first and leading payments platform designed specifically for social networks. Featured on over 700 applications, across Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, Spare Change empowers developers to successfully monetize their applications through micro payments. The Spare Change platform enables users to make safe, convenient, and friendly 1-click purchases through a variety of funding sources.

PlaySpan is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Charlottesville, Virginia, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mumbai. Investors include Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC and Novel TMT Ventures. The company has recently won the 2009 OnHollywood Category Award for Best Gaming Company.

For more information about PlaySpan, visit http://corp.playspan.com

For more information about Spare Change, visit: www.sparechangepayments.com



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Vivox, Bringer of Voice to Virtual Worlds, Strikes Major Deal with ... - Xconomy

Posted: 15 Sep 2009 04:59 AM PDT

IT, Gaming, startups

Wade Roush 9/15/09

For a long time, Second Life was stuck in the cyber equivalent of the silent-movie era: people communicated by typing, and their words showed up in little thought bubbles above their avatars' heads. All of that changed drastically around 2007, when Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life, hired an obscure outfit called Vivox to equip its 3-D virtual world with a voice communication system. Now any Second Life citizen who has a headset connected to their computer can simply speak, and everyone whose avatar is standing nearby will hear them in living stereo.

For the Gloria Swansons of Second Life, like myself, the changeover from typing to talking was a bit traumatic—and indeed, 20 percent of Second Life citizens still abstain from voice communication. But the other 80 percent gab for a billion minutes every month, which is a rather convincing demonstration that most people inside 3-D computer environments prefer talking to texting.

And now Vivox, a four-year-old startup based in Natick, MA, is about to introduce its technology to three new communities that could vastly increase its user base. The company announced this morning that it has formed a partnership with Redwood City, CA-based Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), the world's largest entertainment software company, to add its voice services to several online EA games. First up is Command & Conquer 4, a continuation of EA's hugely popular real-time strategy game that's expected to launch early next year.

Second Life avatars converse using VivoxAt the same time, Vivox is announcing the launch of Vivox Labs, an incubator-within-a-startup where the company is trying out different ways of delivering its voice services over the Web. And the first two Vivox Labs experiments are aimed at big targets: Facebook, where the lab's "Vivox Web Voice for Facebook" application will allow members to invite their friends to instant Web voice conferences; and World of Warcraft subscribers, who will be able to use a new Vivox-powered website called Puggable to assemble teams of players for in-world campaigns. Both the Facebook and Puggable applications are in private beta testing and are expected to go public by January.

"We started the company about four years ago with the goal of making voice a seamless, natural part of every online experience," Vivox co-founder and CEO Rob Seaver told me when I visited the company last week. "Our view at the time was that more and more human interaction would take place online, and the richest form of communication we have is talking to each other. So we thought there would be an opportunity to turn the Web from this silent, barren place into one filled with the warm sounds of human voices."

That's exactly what could happen if even more gaming, virtual-world, and social networking communities turn to Vivox's services. Not bad for a company that started out as a wacky idea from Jeff Pulver, the founder of the company that became Internet phone service provider Vonage.

You've probably heard of Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP; it's the technology behind Vonage and Skype, and the one that has turned the telecom industry upside down by transforming phone calls into digital data packets and routing them over the open Internet. Vivox's system works on similar principles, except that …Next Page »

Wade Roush is Xconomy's chief correspondent. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com, call him at (617) 252-7323, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wroush.



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City: Naperville not so game for video gaming - Batavia Sun

Posted: 11 Sep 2009 01:58 AM PDT


Naperville residents have shown their hand, and they're in favor of banning video gambling.

In July, Illinois legalized video gambling outside of casinos with the Video Gaming Act but gave local governments the option to ban the practice in their communities.

• Gambling debate at town hall meeting
You said it

A sample of public comments sent to the Naperville city manager's office about video gambling:

Segregating gaming to a few places (e.g., casinos) is sufficient; making gaming as convenient as buying a soda at the corner store would be terribly destructive -- particularly to those who can afford it least, but would tend to participate disproportionately the most.

Scott B. Anderson

Naperville

I vote a resounding YES to gaming in Naperville. Since there is a short drive to Aurora for gambling, this seems to be a great way for Naperville to at least compete on some level for the tax revenues.

Dan Pianetto

Naperville

I have mixed emotions. One or two machines in a bar might not be too bad. I would NOT like to see a parlor of them.

Deb McGuffey

Naperville

There's an old saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Thanks to Gov. Quinn and our state legislature who passed a law legalizing video gambling to generate tax revenue for the repair of Illinois' infrastructure, we may now add an addendum to that old adage. The roads in Illinois will be paved with ruined lives.

But we don't have to participate in that form of road improvement. Local government - counties and municipalities - may vote to ban the machines in their jurisdiction. The DuPage County Board has just done that. The City of Naperville can follow the county's lead and do the same.

Rev. Jason Reed

Wesley United Methodist Church

Naperville

I believe that gambling steals from people. First, it steals their money by seducing them to believe that they can win extra cash by paying out cash. Second, it steals by allowing people to win cash and not use their many talents and abilities to earn cash. And, finally, it steals from the family by keeping those entangled by it away from their homes where they are so desperately needed.

So many in our community have worked so hard to make our city a great place to raise a family as well as provide a family oriented atmosphere, why would we want to change that?

Please do not allow the "seducer" to come to our city.

Patti Van Dorn

Naperville

We are very much opposed to the state's recent legalization of video poker gaming machines and would like to see them banned by the City of Naperville. We feel the social costs of gambling addiction are far too high to justify the easy access to these devices. We feel the state's attempt to raise needed money by the general legalization of gambling is a travesty. If the state needs the money, it should be raised by raising taxes.

Bob and Ruth Kinsman

Naperville

I have worked with too many young people (mostly young men) who received their paycheck on Friday afternoon and went right to the Aurora boat, only to be crying on Monday. It is hard enough in today's world to get our young people settled into adulthood and financially stable. We don't need to add another obstacle. As far as I'm concerned, they should close the Aurora boat. But we don't have any control over Aurora. If we did their crime rate would be more on par with ours. There is a reason adults with families come to Naperville. Let's keep it that way.

Lisa Haas

Naperville

DuPage County has banned it in unincorporated areas. Will County is considering it. Naperville has collected public comments by mail, phone and a dedicated e-mail address since Aug. 20. Of 226 total comments, 201 oppose video gaming and 25 support it, according to Dan Di Santo, assistant to the city manager.

In a memo to the City Council, Di Santo said the city could receive an estimated $11,250 in tax revenue per participating establishment per year. The City of Naperville has approximately 125 eligible establishments. In addition, the city can impose a fee on video gaming terminals subject to no limit.

Many writers mentioned there are better ways to raise money.

Barbara Hoyle of Naperville was one who asked the City Council to prohibit video gambling.

"My father had a gambling problem when I was growing up," she wrote. "It was very stressful and scary. The situation was aggravated by his alcohol abuse. Fortunately, he was able to get both under control, and life was so much better. Unfortunately, scars were left. I still carry those scars at age 56."

Naperville resident Ryan Otto, who identified himself as a recovering drug and alcohol addict, said addiction can come in many forms -- "simply add the phrase 'too much' after them and there is a type of addiction," he wrote. He said his opinion is simple: Gambling has age limits.

"Those who partake in video poker and other forms of gambling know what they are getting into, just the same as any other potential form of addiction," he wrote.

Christine Charlton of Naperville listed five reasons she is opposed to video gambling, making the case that it is not a game but a fast track to addiction.

"It makes the state government a predator of the citizens of Illinois, not the protector," she wrote. "By becoming 'the house,' state government will need aggressively to promote addiction in order to balance the budget. All in all, there are better ways to fill potholes than to destroy lives."

Staff members recommended the City Council wait until November to vote on video gambling. It would allow them to analyze the Illinois Gaming Commission's emergency rules -- to be released as early as today -- and collect more public comments. A second option is for the City Council to direct staff to prepare an ordinance prohibiting video gambling.

It is scheduled for discussion at Tuesday's City Council meeting.






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