All posts tagged ‘Wagner James Au’
by Wagner James Au, Blogger, GigaOm
With so much venture funding going into Web-based, ad-driven casual games (both the companies that create them and those that monetize them), you’d think the gaming industry as a whole was moving in that direction. I certainly did, at least until today. But Yahoo Games just told me that starting this week, they’re going to host free, downloadable casual games embedded with video ads. (Think games that play more like TV shows, with commercials between breaks.) Fifty of them are available now; by end of the year, according to division head Kyle Laughlin, they plan to have 400 of these ad-wrapped games online.
This is no small play, and has the potential to reshape the game industry.
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by Wagner James Au, Blogger, GigaOm
Based on publicly available data, it looks like an Internet milestone will be passed by the end of next month: World of Warcraft will lose its undisputed status as the most popular massively multiplayer online world. It’s struggling to defend that title as Habbo Hotel, the Web-based, social MMO from Finland’s Sulake Corp., is nipping at its heels. Habbo just sent me news that it has logged its 100 millionth registered avatar, and more crucial, that Habbo “attracts close to 10 million monthly visitors to its services worldwide.”
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by Wagner James Au, Blogger, GigaOM
I finally understand why Spore has been delayed for so long. Originally expected for a 2007 release, the simulated evolution game from Electronic Arts studio Maxis was suddenly withheld, much to EA’s chagrin. Maxis head Will Wright explained the delay, saying that the company wanted to make the follow-up to its wildly successful Sims franchise more accessible. That turns out to be an understatement, as I found out this week at an advance press peek hosted at Maxis’ Emeryville, Calif., office.
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by Wagner James Au, Blogger, GigaOm
Here’s the metaverse mystery of the week: This strange new private island with a very familiar name recently emerged on the server grid of virtual world Second Life. Spotted yesterday by Second Life blogger Tateru Nino (and confirmed when I checked the world’s dynamic map today), we have to assume it’s an official Nintendo property. When someone buys a virtual island from Linden Lab, they also get to name it. Given Linden’s DMCA enforcement policy, it’s unlikely they’d let just anyone dub an island “Nintendo.”
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