GigaOM

Electronic Arts has redubbed it “EA-Land,” but it’s The Sims Online relaunched for a new era: free, web-based, even some user-created content. Originally launched in 2002 as a multi-player spinoff of their astoundingly popular casual-crossover Sims franchise, EA (ERTS) expected the online version to do blockbuster sales, only to find it overshadowed by [...]

I’ve been covering the Game Developers Convention for nearly 10 years, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that most of the news that emerges from there typically doesn’t pan out. Announced games get delayed, partnerships fizzle. Worse, most coverage inevitably skews to hardcore products that, while sure to overexcite gamer blogs, rarely impact the [...]

Last year, Om wondered aloud what Lee Crawford at the Venrock and Rustic Canyon Partners-backed startup TwoFish was up to. Well now we finally know: Twofish Elements, billed as a “turnkey solution” for companies with online worlds and game networks that want someone to handle in-game currency, micro-transactions and other features that comprise a [...]

The vast majority of people — 90 percent, to be precise — will watch ads if it means they get to play games for free, according to a report presented by RealNetworks at the Casual Connect conference in Amsterdam. Almost 90 percent of the 1,500 players that were surveyed through its RealGames network (RealArcade, [...]

Want to know how online games are going to make money in the post-World of Warcraft era? The GigaOM Show recently sat down with Joshua Hong, co-founder and CEO of K2 Network, the company behind Gamersfirst, a free-to-play game network that boasts some 4 million monthly active users. Om’s smart and gracious co-host, [...]

The developers of Portal, the bestselling multiplatform game released last year, have confirmed they will be adding to it — though no details were provided because the details are still being worked out. A tremendously popular title with hardcore gamers, such an announcement would typically come as no surprise, except that Portal is basically [...]