SANTA MONICA, Ca. – In addition to saying, “Hey! We make video games too!” at E3 last week, Disney announced a new social network for kids called DGamer. I’d call it “DLater”, though, because the service doesn’t come out until May 2008. (As if the Walt & Co. can afford to wait any longer to get onto the social networking-for-kids train.)

As described at E3, DGamer will let kids chat, trade items, and acquire online achievements using in-game avatars. Disney claims that anything done on DGamer via the Nintendo DS will also be done online through a designated portal at Disney.com and vice versa, for what they call “complete synchronization.”

Little else of the online community was shown, but the move clearly shows Disney’s interest in simultaneously banking on the rise in popularity of both the DS community (40 million strong) and kid-themed social networks like Webkinz, Club Penguin, and BarbieGirls.
Continue »

Santa Monica, California – If there was one buzzword at this year’s E3, it was “casual gaming” in all its synonymous varieties: family-friendly games, games for everyone, usability, intuitive controls, and accessibility, to name a few. Almost every game maker in attendance had casual gaming on their briefing agenda, even if only name-dropping the idea.

There’s no need to be coy; Nintendo’s Wii is directly to blame for the recent surge in interest of casual gaming and its much larger audience outside of hardcore gamers. Interestingly, that reality is transcending consoles, something that is sure to excite independent developers looking to avoid unfavorable licensing terms. Highlights from the E3/casual gaming convergence after the break.
Continue »

Nintendo’s Wii gaming system has been a hit on the marketplace, but to keep the momentum, the company is making a strategic bet, and turning it into a developer platform. With enough developer momentum, iconic products say an iPod or Facebook, can become a mass market phenomenon.

Nintendo today announced a new indie developer platform for its widely successful Wii console, likely to launch in early 2008. Dubbed WiiWare, the service is said to enable developers to create smallish, new games via download on the motion-controlled system.
Continue »

The attention surrounding MMOs (massively multiplayer online worlds) has never been greater. But it’s not just role playing games along for the ride; non-game, avatar-driven virtual communities are just as popular, if not by more, and we’re not just talking Second Life here.

So in an effort to cut through the hype and glean some context, here are the most popular MMOs in terms of active users or subscribers, based on publicly available data. These titles may or may not be games, but the medium has expanded far beyond Tolkienesque fantasy worlds. They all are Mac-friendly/Web-based with exception of Guild Wars.

Continue »

Casual Flash games generate monthly pageviews in the hundreds of millions, but the game industry has been painfully slow to capitalize on this massive audience—the chief exception being Pogo.com, which Electronic Arts acquired for about $50 million in 2001. Today some 1.4 million “Club Pogo” subscribers pay $40/year – another nice $50 million in annual business.

Jim Greer, former Technical Director at Pogo, like EA thinks that there is a big business to be made out of casual games, and raised a million dollars for his new start-up, Kongregate, which aims to be the YouTube of games, offering free, ad-supported Flash games and an online community to increase the site’s stickiness. After the break, Greer talks revenue model and numbers.

Continue »

Sony and British Telecom announced a new joint venture today that allows UK residents the ability to place and receive VoIP and video calls between PSPs and supporting PCs. Initially the service will only work at BT wireless hotspots, but future plans include the expansion to include 100 countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Sadly, American PSP owners won’t be allowed to play, at least not yet.

“There are no plans currently to bring this service to the US,” said Sony’s Dave Karraker in speaking to GigaOM. Bummer for the 7.4 million PSP owners living here. Sony had offered Skype connectivity to the owners of Mylo, a communicator type device, that has vanished liked the Yeti.

Continue »

Sony unveiled a new 80GB PS3 model today, scheduled to launch this June in the broadband-pervasive South Korea. The news comes amid slow sales of the pricey console and just one month after pulling the cheaper 20GB version from North American shelves.

“At this time there are no concrete plans [to sell the 80GB model in other markets],” said one company spokesman, speaking with PC World. However, Sony also denied rumors of the newest PS3 back in March, despite filing a change request with the FCC that mentioned the 80GB’s existence.

Continue »