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EA preps 'single identity' system to bridge gaming experiences across platforms
Now that EA has gotten Origin for both Windows and Mac under its belt, it's clued GamesBeat into its plans for a cross-platform account system that's taken 1,500 engineers 18 months to build. With the "single identity" solution, gamers can play games tied to their accounts, find friends currently online and join up for multiplayer, message fellow users and access save states across platforms ranging from consoles and smartphones to tablets and social networks. Of course, the business side comes into play too: by keeping tabs on users, Electronic Arts could make better game recommendations and boost its marketing's effectiveness. As of now, there's no word on when the system will find its way into your gaming.
Apple cracks down on app-ranking manipulation
Apple's facing a growing problem on its App Store platform: ranking manipulation. While a lot of the spotlight areas are curated by humans, the rankings are generally not. Instead, computer-driven algorithms determine where each app falls in the various rankings for the store and each section. Ranking position can often mean the difference between making or losing money for a lot of developers. As a result, there are ways for developers to manipulate those rankings, ranging from the generally acceptable (asking customers to rate the app highly if they like it), to the not-so-much (hiring networks of computers to log in and download or leave ratings for an app). Some of this manipulation is essentially an open secret for developers. In fact, there are even companies devs can hire (again, some more credible than others) that will promise a certain ranking or claim to improve sales. It's been a constant challenge for Apple to crack down on devs who are using unsavory techniques without interfering with those employing acceptable means. More than a few innocent apps have been caught in the crossfire, either by being banned from the App Store for behavior they say they didn't do, or by having their rankings hurt by changes in the algorithm. As this long GamesBeat post says, Apple's methods for determining rankings aren't clear at all, and that fact can hurt developers. There's no easy way out of this one. Apple wants to keep its algorithm hidden, just to try to keep the rankings as objective as possible. But there will always be devs who try to crack it open, and companies ready to prey on the App Store rules to scam a few bucks from hopeful developers. In the end, the best way to climb the rankings is to have a great and popular app. People will always try to dodge that requirement, and Apple will continue to try to stop them, with good and bad results. But for developers with talent and the knowhow to make good, noticeable apps, the hope is that the App Store will always find a way to get them seen (and bought) by consumers.
Game-related startups raise $600 million in 2009, down 36%
Game-related startup companies raised $600 million throughout 2009, according to GamesBeat's analysis. And while $600 million is a lot of money if you're, say, trying to sell a shooter based on the art of modern warfare, it's not quite that much when you're an up-and-coming game developer. Total investments in the field were actually down by 36% since last year. That's not a bubble bursting, but it does mean that startup investors might be a little more careful with their money in the year to come. The biggest winners in the scene include Zynga, makers of Mafia Wars and a few other popular Facebook titles, who nabbed a big $180 million investment from a Russian technology company, and Playdom. You may not have played Sorority Life, the company's MySpace hit, but Lightspeed Venture Partners must have, because it invested $43 million in the company. If there's a theme here, it's social networking and online games: PopCap is probably the highest traditional game developer on the list, but even its $22.5 million investment was marked for putting its games on the web, mobile platforms, and social networks. Of course, that pull doesn't include the buck we gave them for Peggle.
WoWPals helps you find more friends in Azeroth
WoWPals.net is a brand new social networking site targeted at you WoW players that just got a nice bit of coverage over on VentureBeat's GamesBeat site. Social networking is taking off just as much as World of Warcraft lately, and so there's a whole slew of companies trying to step up and become the de facto social service for gamers, from GamerDNA and Rupture to wowtwitter and even our own little enterprise. WoWPals isn't too different -- it's run by a few gamers based in Israel, and is currently in alpha, and hoping for a beta by the end of the year. You register to the site with your first character, and after a short wait for an activation email, you can jump in and find friends by guild or server, or punch in your location and search around that way. Once you're friends, there's not much more to do but chat and message each other, but what more do you need, really?Personally, I think WoW already covers the bases of a social network (though in the past I've said I would like to have the option to see more about players than the characters, and these sites can certainly fill that need), so all of these end up being either extraneous -- do I really need another Twitter just for my characters? -- or just plain unnecessary: maybe I don't want my friends to know exactly what I did in game last night.So no, I personally haven't been sold on any of these sites yet (though I do like reading through the player blogs here on WoW.com, and I'm not just saying that because I work here). I'm active ingame, and I'm active on various social networks, and keeping the two separate is fine by me. But if you are looking for even more ways to find new friends in World of Warcraft, maybe you can meet some new pals with WoWPals, too.
Microtransactions anticipated by game industry professionals
If you thought microtransactions weren't taking off, think again. In a recently conducted survey by VentureBeat, the microtransaction business model was voted the most impactful area of the games industry by a sample of 160 industry professionals.The second place choice for the professionals who answered the survey was the appearance of smartphones as a game development platform. The two results came in very close, with 66 percent voting for microtransactions as the most impactful and 61 percent voting for smartphones.The survey comes as a part of VentureBeat's GamesBeat event, where the main conference is scheduled to take place tomorrow in San Francisco. The GamesBeat conference isn't a part of the main Game Developers Conference, but their wish is to view their conference as complementary to the main GDC instead of competing against it.
GDC09: PixelJunk Eden profitable after one day of sales
Publishers looking for a quick buck don't need to focus their efforts solely on the iPhone. Sony's Susan Panico touted the values of PSN development by providing a case study on PixelJunk Eden, Q-Games' third PSN-exclusive title. Panico told the GamesBeat audience that "PixelJunk Eden made its return on investment within 24 hours." Sales after that period become pure profit.Of course, the success of Eden is a little unsurprising, considering the popularity of PixelJunk Monsters. Regardless, it's impressive that a small independent studio was able to create a trusted franchise exclusively through the PlayStation Network. With so much green made off of Eden, it's no wonder Q-Games is working on an expansion for the game. Eden Encore will be available in April.%Gallery-48237%
