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Rise and Shiny: Game of Thrones Ascent
There are several things that Game of Thrones Ascent, a social game by Disruptor Beam, does right. At the top of that list is the way the game works as a vehicle for easily digestible content, content that comes from some of the densest reading material in modern fantasy. For the record, I still haven't read any of the books that the Game of Thrones television series is based on, but luckily I have a wife who will simply burst with excitement when she reads some new tidbit... unless she tells the nearest person (me). It must be hard making a game based on such a popular piece of fiction. The fact is that I didn't expect the little-known developers to do much good. I thought players would be smashing through a game that served as nothing but a cheap commercial for the HBO series. I was very wrong.
Game of Thrones Facebook title in the works
HBO's Game of Thrones is getting the online gaming treatment for the second time in the space of a calendar year. First it was Bigpoint's free-to-play browser MMO, and now it's a Facebook game called Game of Thrones Ascent, which is being developed by Disruptor Beam, a social gaming company headed by former GamerDNA CEO Jon Radoff. The company says that players will "lead the life of a noble during the time of upheaval as portrayed in the books and the series thus experiencing a new type of game that unites both story and strategy." Precious little info is given on the title, including a release date, but we'll bring you the latest as it becomes available. [Source: Disruptor Beam press release]
GamerDNA to unleash new Discovery Engine this Monday
This Monday, gamerDNA will be unveiling their newest feature entitled the Discovery Engine, specifically created for members of their social networking site. This new engine aims to show gamers what types of games they would be interested in playing based on more factors than simply what they've purchased previously or what game they might be playing right now. It is created to refine gaming interests based on the "hows" and the "whys", more than simply the "whats". We caught up with gamerDNA's founder Jon Radoff for a comprehensive tour of this new feature and an explanation of how it works to benefit the current generation of gamers immersed in a world of overwhelming choices. Follow along just after the cut below for our impressions and more information on the Discovery Engine.
GamerDNA's new WAR signature generator
We've been hearing quite a bit about gamerDNA lately, and for good reason. Following our interview with their CEO, Jon Radoff, during PAX this year, they've been steadily making headlines everywhere. In fact, just last week they surpassed 500,000 sign-ups for the quizzes on their site, and now they've announced their very own Warhammer Online Signature Generator.This handy little generator isn't a separate downloadable app, like others, but instead is done straight through the gamerDNA site itself. It displays your class, rank, reknown rank, server name and guild name. Check out their press release for complete info on getting one for yourself. Also, don't forget about their 60-day WAR game card contest still going on! Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
PAX08: GamerDNA interview focuses on subscription numbers
During our time at PAX08 this year, we got together with Jon Radoff, Founder and CEO of GamerDNA, a company that focuses on the community aspect of today's online games. Radoff was kind enough to give us an overview of what the company is about and how it pertains to the ever-growing MMO market. Originally this rough audio was meant for notes only, but it came out fairly well, so we thought we'd go ahead and post it for all to hear themselves.So in this audio interview that you'll find enclosed below, Radoff explains something that we found quite peculiar. "Interestingly, a high percentage of those people who quit Age of Conan didn't go back to WoW, they actually just went off MMORPGs in general," he explains. This is the type of number-crunching that they do at GamerDNA to discover not only subscription numbers and box sales, but who is actually playing what, and how dedicated they are to their games. We encourage you to learn more about this truly unique company at their website, and be sure to listen to the complete interview below.
