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Mytopia reinvents Yahoo! Games for the MySpace generation
Are casual, social games the wave of the future? In years to come, will we lovers of the swinging sword, the flashing fireball and the gigantic gun be left reminiscing about the "good old days" as we sign on for another evening of massively multiplayer bingo? The makers of Mytopia took a look into their crystal ball, saw the success of MySpace and Facebook and casual-game havens like Popcap, Yahoo! and Neopets and said, "These great tastes... would taste great together!"Thus was born Mytopia, a Flash-based virtual world where you can create your own super-deformed avatar (like Wii's Miis) and play popular board and card games with people from around the world, build friends lists, send email, and gamble away virtual money challenging other players to backgammon, chess, Sudoku and several other similar games. It works not only as a standalone web site, but also as an application you can install in Facebook, MySpace or Bebo. No matter how you arrive in Mytopia, though, you'll be able to play with everyone else -- there's only one game world shared by all.Mytopia has a cheerful art style, bouncy music, and well-rendered board games. What it does not have, though, is bloody avatar fights in the Battledome. Come on. Even Neopets has that.[Via Techcrunch]
Nickelodeon's 1600 games and what it means for MMOs
Word's been floating around the gaming news space that Nickelodeon has put up a gigantic order for online games in their content space: they want to add 1,600 titles to their library, including some created by users. Obviously not all of those are MMOs (if you've ever spent any time around a kid in a browser, you'll have seen all the crazy flash games there are out there for them), but Nickelodeon's stable does include Neopets and Nicktropolis, both of which are super-casual virtual worlds.Basically, online gaming for the youngster set is huge, and only growing bigger. And while what they're playing now isn't too exciting (most of it is all clones of each other, with not much more social interaction than chatting between minigames), today's AddictingGames.com players are the MMO players of tomorrow.Think 10 million players is a big number for WoW to hit? That's nothing compared to the flood of young online gamers coming up right now. To them, there's no difference between online or offline games -- games are online and social, and Nickelodeon's big order only means there are going to be more and more of them.
Nickelodeon to bulk up online game library
MTV-owned Nickelodeon recently announced plans to add a whopping 1,600 Flash games to its network of web sites. That might sound like a lot, until you consider that the children's network already controls roughly 5,000 web games that reach over 20 million users every month.Sure, a good proportion of those games are probably Space Invaders clones found at the acquisition AddictingGames.com. But the Nick portfolio also includes some deep, popular virtual worlds like Neopets and Nicktropolis, and the company has announced they'll be creating three more kid-focused, web-based MMOs in the future. When exactly did the first kids network become the first kids gaming network?
GDC08: Thinking outside the virtual world
Tuesday afternoon, Michael Acton Smith, CEO of Mind Candy, presented attendees at the GDC's Worlds in Motion summit with an interesting look at the confluence between real goods and virtual worlds. For some background on where Smith is coming from, Mind Candy "creates games and puzzles that span multiple media.... [they] use all forms of technology to tell stories and interact with... [their] audiences." They run Perplex City, an alternate reality game that uses clues puzzles in the real world combined with web-based resources to create a unique type of gameplay. Their upcoming game Moshi Monsters is an adoptable pet game geared towards kids. Smith says it's a "new type of virtual pet experience." The pets will be very alive with their own emotions (driven by a behavior engine which will cause your pet to act different ways depending on how you treat it) that will be reflected in the pet's animations. The game will also incorporate a number of social tools, so both you and your pet monster can hang out with friends. And, of course, there will be toys, oh glorious toys. (Some already available, though the game itself is still in beta and closed to the public.)%Gallery-16441%
Neopets: Petpet Adventures now available to download
This week's PLAYSTATION Store update features a surprise downloadable title: Neopets: Petpet Adventures sneaks onto the Store. This isn't an original title. Rather, it's a UMD game from a few years back that's now available for $14.99. Reviews were rather mixed for the game, so unless you're a fan of the virtual pet, chances are you won't really find much incentive to download this.Wallpapers for the game were also added in this week's update.%Gallery-15053%
