Industry Highlights
Social, MMO Game Studios Raise Money For Haiti Relief
Helping fund relief efforts for those affected by Haiti's devastating earthquake earlier in the month, many MMO and social gaming studios have raised money through virtual goods sales for donations. The latest companies to launch campaigns and contribute to Haiti aid include Outspark, Frogster, and Tall Trees. »
Story on Gamasutra
Analysis: How MMOs decriminalize real money trading
Real money trading (RMT) may not be something you read about in your high school economics class, but it’s something every massively multiplayer online gamer encounters every day. If the buying and selling of virtual goods using real money isn’t something actively encouraged by the game itself, you at least hear horror stories about gold farmers causing prices of in-game goods to go up, or find eBay auctions of in-game items for crazy-huge sums of money. GamePro investigates the hazy intersection between law, economics, and gameplay that many massively multiplayer online gamers cross so many times when they buy or sell virtual goods. »
Story on GamePro
Scott Jennings: Legendary Failures of Legend
Columnist Scott Jennings uses his column this week to discuss "some of the most spectacular MMORPG flameouts" in a part one of this two part article. "Today, let's learn from failure.
Specifically, let's look at some of the most spectacular MMORPG flameouts, and try to find some common cause between them." »
Article on MMORPG.com
Chinese Ministry not ready to rate online games
Despite the government's anti-porn crackdown, China is not ready to impose a ratings system that would warn parents if online games contain scenes of sex and violence, the Ministry of Culture announced Thursday. The ministry's official publication, China Culture Daily, responded to previous media reports that an age-appropriate ratings system would soon be implemented, indicating whether the games were appropriate for children and young teenagers. »
Story on Global Times
World of Warcraft "will not be beaten"
MMO specialists have told MCV that predicting the fall of World of Warcraft is ‘futile’. Blizzard’s title is the world’s most lucrative MMO, raking in over $100 million a month. And rival developers admit that even when there are some big name MMOs on the horizon – such as Star Wars: The Old Republic, FFXIV, APB, DC Universe Online and Star Trek Online – none of them will beat Warcraft’s huge installed base. »
Article on MCV
Is net neutrality good for gaming?
The FCC has been working since October of 2009 to establish "net neutrality" guidelines. In a nutshell, net neutrality means that all service providers must allow nondiscriminatory access to all lawful content and must consent to all reasonable requests regarding the disclosure of service management information to ensure that all customers receive equal broadband access. »
Article on Computer World
Facebook's New Games, Apps Dashboards Curtail Notification Spam
Ahead of launching its new Games and Applications Dashboards "in the coming weeks," Facebook detailed new features for the specialized pages designed to cut down on news feed-spamming notifications while still helping users discover new games and apps. While news feeds in Facebook are useful for users wanting to follow their friends' activities, photos, links, and other media, many have complained over frivolous game and application notifications that also appear in the stream. The social network hopes to address those criticisms by moving these notifications to Dashboards separated from the default news feed page, in a major change that may affect many Facebook game creators. »
Story on Gamasutra
Jagex Wants To Be "A Developer's Publisher"
Jagex head of communications Adam Tuckwell told IncGamers that the company is "moving to be a developer's publisher." Jagex, best known for developing and publishing the absolutely gigantic free-to-play browser-based MMO Runescape - which Tuckwell estimates has had "165 million people create accounts" - moved into the world of third-party publishing with yesterday's launch of War of Legends, a free-to-play browser-based Chinese MMORTS developed by Ultizen. »
Interview on IncGamers
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The game industry is a global family filled with talented, smart, and caring people, and this is never more apparent than when we begin reviewing session submissions. The LOGIN Advisory Board certainly has their work cut out for them this year. We received a record number of submissions — up nearly 50% from last year. What is encouraging, despite the effort involved in selecting which ones to approve, is the overall quality present in nearly all the submissions. You have dazzled and amazed with your professionalism and knowledge.
