United Gamer Online (UGO)

by Joe Dodson
Madden sure was busy this off-season. Rather than resting on last year's multi-million copy laurels, the famous football franchise developed new weapons and sharpened old techniques for Madden 11, due out on August 10. Here are a few new features that would make the competition shake in their cleats...if there were any competition, that is.
1. Gameflow

Madden NFL 11's most highly-publicized change is Gameflow. This feature isn't entirely original, rather it builds on the series' original promise of getting you into the game of football while teaching you how to play it. It's essentially an "Ask Madden" mode that that not only gives you multiple options per down, but also offers advice on how to execute your choice. Don’t freak out, vets -- you can turn it on or off.
2. Scouting

Everything you do in an online game of Madden NFL 11 will be tracked and analyzed by EA. The resulting data will be sorted into scouting reports that anyone -- including you -- can purchase. For casual players, the cost is the retail price of the game, which includes 50 scouting reports. But competitive players are likely to win and lose based on how effectively they take into account their opponents' trends -- just like real NFL head coaches.
3. Swagger

NFL players aren't exactly the most humble athletes in the world. Swagger is a new statistic in Madden NFL 11 that measures how likely a given player is to celebrate on the way to the endzone, or after a score. Chad Ochocinco, for instance, has Swagger to spare -- he'll celebrate if he even sees the endzone. The less swagger-y Jason Witten, on the other hand, will treat a touchdown like any old first down. What a grump.
4. Momentum

In Madden NFL 10, players would turn at one speed while sprinting and at a faster speed while running normally. The idea was to make players let go of the sprint button to make cuts, but who wants to take their finger off turbo? So in Madden 11, EA switched things up. You can now make a hard cut at a full sprint, but only certain players will actually be able to make the move, contingent, as always, on their ratings. Expect the likes of Larry Fitzgerald to turn on a dime even while speeding down the field.
5. 3-on-3 Cooperative Multiplayer

Most sports games let you play co-operatively OR competitively, but Madden NFL 11 will let you do both at once thanks to 3-on-3 co-operative play. That's right -- you and two friends will be able to play on the same team against other teams of three real life players. You'll also gain nifty performance boosts for playing your chosen role well. It remains to be seen whether or not playing a whole game at receiver will turn a teammate into a whiny T.O., but consider yourself warned.

July 29, 2010

enVie Announces Virtual Island of Entertainment

Jillian McCoy, Associated Content
World of Warcraft is among the most popular video games of all time. As of 2009 it holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG, with over 10 million subscribers. The game has also made its mark on pop culture, spawning popular web series "The Guild" as well as being lampooned in its own episode of "South Park." It's so big, it's even developed its own dialect!
For new players, the game's slang and abbreviated language can be confusing. Some of the lingo comprises existing "Leetspeak" or gaming slang terms, like "LOL" (Laugh Out Loud) or "pwn" (a corruption of "Own," a way to gloat over victory). Many others are specific to World of Warcraft, abbreviating game terms and features. To make your trip to Azeroth go more smoothly, here are some of the most frequently used terms:

Char - Short for character, meaning a character avatar within World of Warcraft. Also referred to as "toon," short for cartoon.

Main - Main character. This is the character you play most often.

Alt - Alternate character. Any character you play besides your main.

Ding - Slang for increasing your character's level. A friend who knows you just reached a new level might congratulate you by saying, "Grats ("Congratulations") on ding."

Gear - Equipment. Your character's armor and weapons.

XP or Exp - Experience points. Points gained when defeating enemies or completing quests, which go toward increasing your character's level.

Loot - Treasure, usually found on the corpse of a fallen enemy.

NPC - Non-player character. Any character that can be interacted with that isn't controlled by another player. NPCs include quest givers, merchants, and city guards.

Mob - Attackable enemies, or a class of enemies such as "Those bats are level 24 mobs."

Dungeon - An area that can only be entered by a single group, with more difficult enemies and better loot. Dungeons are often referred to as "instances" in World of Warcraft. Dungeons may have their own abbreviations, e.g. "RFD" for Razorfen Downs, or "UK" for Utgarde Keep.

Raid - A group that holds up to 40 players, used primarily to fight in World of Warcraft's most difficult dungeons. A guild that does these sort of dungeons regularly is called a "raiding guild" or "raid guild."

BE, UD - Short for Blood Elf and Undead, 2 of the available player races within World of Warcraft.
Buff - Status effects that improve your character's performance for a limited time. "Debuff" indicates negative status effects, like poison or disease.

DK, Lock, Pally - Short for a few of World of Warcraft's player classes. DK is short for Death Knight, lock means Warlock, and pally is short for Paladin.

Rez - Short for "resurrection," or being brought back to life after dying within World of Warcraft. Some classes can resurrect friendly players, such as priests and paladins. If there's no one around to rez you, your spirit will appear at a graveyard. You'll need to run in "spirit form" or "ghost form" back to where you died. This is called a "corpse run" or "rez run."

Zone - An area within World of Warcraft. Usually indicates open areas rather than cities or dungeons. May be used as a verb to indicate switching areas, such as "Zone into the dungeon." Nearly every zone or dungeon in World of Warcraft is referred to as an acronym. The Stranglethorn Vale zone is known as STV, for example.

PST - "Please Send Tell." Also known as "tells" or "whispers," this means sending a direct message to another World of Warcraft player, i.e. "/tell Player Hi!"

LFG, LFM - Looking for group, or looking for more. Used to recruit players to play together, usually for a specific objective like a dungeon or quest.

Hearth - Your character's home point, to which you can teleport at any time, set by an item called a hearthstone. Used as a noun, as in: "My hearth is in Dalaran." Also used as a verb, as in: "I need to hearth to check my mailbox."

AH - Auction House. World of Warcraft's marketplace, responsible for most of the game's trade between players.

WTB, WTS, WTT - Willing (or wanting) to buy, sell or trade. Used to trade directly instead of using the AH. These terms will be yelled out in populated areas, along with the goods or services players are interested in.

Soulbound - When an item or piece of equipment is "bound" to your character and cannot be traded to other players.

BoE, BoP - Bind on equip, bind on pickup. BoE items can be traded as long as they're never worn; these are usually items you find as loot. BoE items become soulbound as soon as they're equipped, while BoP items are soulbound immediately.

Craft - Creating goods through in-game crafting professions. Many of the crafting professions have their names abbreviated, such as WS for weaponsmith.

Mats - Short for "materials," or the ingredients needed to create a crafted item.

Tank - A character designed to take most (or all) of the damage from enemies, especially in dungeons. Also used as a verb, as in "My pet can tank that mob."

PvE, PvP - PvE (Player vs. Environment) indicates when players are fighting against monsters or NPCs. PvP means fighting against other players. BG - Battleground. One of the PvP-specific areas within World of Warcraft, such as Warsong Gulch (WSG).

Read our preview of the World of Warcraft "Cataclysm" expansion >>

by Ben Silverman
July 28 5:55 P.M.
Is the office looking a bit...empty? Find the streets oddly quiet? Notice that a few of your co-workers caught the same mysterious illness this week?

Don’t blame swine flu -- blame StarCraft II.
The official follow-up to 1998's classic intergalactic strategy game arrived on store shelves Tuesday, prompting hordes of fans to skip work in favor of catching up with a brand new version of a dear old friend.

That work exodus included game critics, who were forced to wait with the rest of the gaming masses for Blizzard to flip the switch on their online servers and allow access. But the reviews are slowly trickling in, and what they lack in timeliness, they more than make up for in glowing praise.

"It's a return to form for [developer] Blizzard, with a sweeping story told through gorgeous cutscenes and varied missions that fall along a pitch-perfect difficulty curve," insists gaming blog Joystiq, who call the multiplayer "hopelessly addictive" in a glowing 5/5 review.

Just don’t expect it to be entirely new, which, the blog believes, was the intention all along. "Blizzard didn't change StarCraft, because StarCraft didn't need changing," they claim.

That's how Kotaku feels, too. The popular blog has also yet to post an official score, but they sound off in an impressions piece that paints a picture of a great game rooted very much in the past. Playing the campaign is like "stepping back in time," but rather than a problem, they believe that's exactly what Blizzard needed to do to please their massive fan base.

The Guardian digs it as well, saying out that the game "looks amazing, and every level is crammed with detail" and that it captures the "perfect balance between the capabilities" of the game's three distinct races.

But they also point out a foible or two. The game's single-player campaign only covers the Terran race, a bummer since fans will have to "wait another year or so for proper AI storylines/campaigns for the other two races."

"It's also a shame that LAN games are no longer supported in favour of allowing you to team up with your mates through Battle Net," the 4/5 review continues.

That last bit is a fair point, and one that hasn’t slipped past hawkeyed gamers. With well over 300 user reviews, StarCraft II is receiving a surprisingly lukewarm 3/5 rating at Amazon. That might seem harsh, but it's indicative of the split between those thrilled by the upgrades and those miffed at what Blizzard left out -- or flat-out removed.

"No chat channels, no private lobbies, no cross region play, no offline mode, no LAN and poor custom game options," complains user 562 in a 2/5 review, adding that's it's "an incomplete masterpiece."
Top-rated Amazon user Neosplicer -- who gives it a 3/5 -- also gripes about the limited scope of the single-player.

"Although priced even more than a full premium game, this is not a complete STARCRAFT sequel," he writes. "You would not know this by its price-tag(!) but this is only A...THIRD of the game."

It's not the first time gamers have voiced their concerns through low scores at the online retailer. Back in 2008, they went ballistic over anti-piracy measures included in another heavily-hyped intergalactic strategy game, hammering EA's Spore with hundreds of one-star reviews and prompting EA to eventually back down and change their policy. StarCraft II is faring far, far better, but it's clear that not all users are pleased with the current package.

How about you? Are you playing StarCraft II? If so, tear yourself away and sound off in the comments.

* Related: The real science of StarCraft II

by Mike Smith
July 23 10:00 A.M.
A new release from one of the industry’s largest publishers is shooting up the video game charts, but it’s not the space marines of Halo or the jocular star-collecting Mario brothers who are sucking in gamers. Instead, it’s a title based on an old board game: one those same console fanatics probably have gathering dust at the back of the closet.

Risk: Factions is the latest in a string of these chiefly downloadable, low-priced board game spin-offs. Rather than Risk’s usual world-domination schtick -- which could make for an over-long, unwieldy experience on a game console -- Factions gives players shorter, bite-sized missions to complete, setting them loose on smaller, fictional continents. It packs a graphical facelift that introduces animated zombies, barfing cats, and tongue-in-cheek cut-scenes. Games can easily run their course in under 30 minutes. In short, it’s Risk: ADD Edition.

Flippant though its presentation might be, Factions is going down well even with Risk purists: it’s scoring healthily at review aggregation site Metacritic.com, with much of the criticism stemming from the comparative lack of single-player content. Somehow, we doubt that’ll bother board game fans too much.
Monopoly’s next up for a similar treatment, also at the hands of EA. Releasing this October, Monopoly Streets promises to give gamers a unique view of the Monopoly board -- from ground level, by creating a living, breathing world that’ll evolve as you play. Make a good purchase, and you’ll see your headquarters swell and become more ornate; get soaked, and it’ll crumble aloing with your bank balance. It’ll also feature a no-frills mode for those looking for the classic Monopoly experience.

If that all sounds a little too...modern, more traditional takes on parlor classics are finding healthy consumer interest, too. Take Carcassonne, renowned winner of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres award in 2001: a deceptively simple game where players take turns to lay tiles that connect to form roads, cities, and fields. Just like Scrabble or Monopoly, its touchscreen-friendly tiles and turn-based gameplay make it a natural fit for the iPhone and iPad. Throw your device in your pocket, and it’ll update you whenever your opponent makes a move. Nothing more convenient than that.

Do you have a favorite board game-to-video game conversion? Let us know in the comments.

By Trey Kerby
Back in May, we all thought it would be very awesome that Michael Jordan would be gracing the cover of the video game "NBA 2K11." The inner 9-year-old in all of us rejoiced then went outside to build a tree fort and listen to Nirvana. It was a time for celebration — finally, Michael Jordan would be in our video games! Huzzah!

So if you were happy about that, you'll be ecstatic about the latest developments in the gaming world. CNBC's Darren Rovell got word of what 2kSports is planning, and it's beyond cool.

[NBA 2K11] will have a mode called the "Jordan Challenge." The mode allows fans to play with 10 different versions of Jordan that are authentic to that moment. [...]

The games that fans can play with different versions of Jordan include all of the following:

— April 20, 1986 (Game 2 of the 1st round of the playoffs against the Celtics when Jordan scored 63)

— March 28, 1990 (regular season game against the Cavs when Jordan scored 69)

— June 3, 1992 (Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs versus the Trail Blazers when Jordan scored 35 in the first half)

— March 28, 1995 (Jordan returns to the game and scores 55 against the Knicks)

— June 11, 1997 (the famous Jordan "flu game")

— June 14, 1998 (the day of his last game in a Bulls uniform as his last second shot gives the Bulls its sixth title under his reign).

Ummm, that's the best video-game news ever, right? Probably not, but for basketball fans, it might be. I'm thrilled enough to want to buy a different system than the Nintendo Wii I use exclusively for Netflix streaming. This will be amazing.

In addition to those games, you'll be able to play as 1991 Finals Jordan and the 1990 version from his shoot-out with Dominique Wilkins. Furthermore, these "challenges" will be interactive. For instance, as Rovell reports, "If you hit six three pointers in a row like Jordan did against the Trail Blazers in 1992, the virtual Jordan will shrug just like he did in real life on that night." Additionally, if that happens, your head will immediately explode from all the awesomeness happening in it.

The only question now is filling in the last two Jordan versions that will be playable. Rovell's article mentions that there will be 10 versions, but only eight are mentioned. There are certainly enough classic Jordan games to choose from, but I'd like to see them take another direction for the final slots. I'd suggest Jordan in the No. 12 jersey against the Magic and Jordan wearing terrible jeans for a charity softball game. I'm not quite sure how the challenges would work, but either of those would really open the game up.

by Mike Smith
Ending a month of speculation, Microsoft announced pricing Tuesday for Kinect, its innovative gamepad-less motion control system for the Xbox 360, and it’ll go on sale this fall for -- are you ready? -- $149.99.

The news might have come as more of a surprise if the price hadn’t been widely advertised on a number of retail websites over the last few months. Including Microsoft’s. Oops.

Nevertheless, there were still some (small) surprises in Microsoft’s announcement. Kinect games will retail at $49.99, instead of the $59.99 more typical of Xbox 360 releases -- and the basic Kinect unit will come bundled with multiplayer outdoor game Kinect Adventures.
Microsoft also took the wraps off a new Xbox 360 model, which’ll fill a gap in its range left after the retirement of the old-style Xbox Arcade. The new unit will match the design of the new “slim” Xbox 360 announced in June, but will come with 4 GB of internal storage instead of a hard drive, and a matt black finish. It’ll set you back $200 -- $100 cheaper than the hard drive-equipped model. Expect to be showing up in stores next month.

But if you’re in the market for a new Xbox, and you’re curious about this Kinect business, we’d suggest not taking the plunge just yet. Instead, hold out for fall, when Microsoft will release a bundle that includes the just-announced 4 GB Xbox 360, together with the Kinect hardware and Kinect Adventures, for $299, a $50 saving on buying the kit individually. And while $150 seems rather steep for an unproven control system, we can see that bundle turning up under plenty of trees this holiday season.

by YVG Staff
With its July 27 launch date fast approaching, Blizzard's behemoth StarCraft II is about to give gamers a perfectly good reason to avoid that evil summer sun in favor of the warming glow of a computer monitor. The heavily-anticipated game is the biggest of the summer -- and we don't just mean in terms of expected sales.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Blizzard's parent company Activision has spent over $100 million developing the strategy sequel. And that doesn't include whatever extra they'll spend marketing it over the next few months.

The good news for Blizzard? Other games to feature that kind of insane budget -- specifically, Rockstar's twin hits Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption -- went on to massive success. Perhaps the more you spend, you more you make, after all.

So on the off-chance that terms like "build order" and "Zerg rush" mean nothing to you, do yourself a favor and check out the handy video below to find out why everyone is in a tizzy over this epic real-time strategy game.

By Erika Morphy
E-Commerce Times
07/16/10 12:02 PM PT

Gaming software sales were down in June, although hardware saw a boost, according to the NPD Group's latest report on the industry. That picture is incomplete, though, said researcher Jon Peddie. NPD only covers the U.S., and its figures don't fully take into account online sales. "The point is, they are only looking at a tiny piece of the market," he stressed.
U.S. sales of gaming hardware, software and accessories experienced a slump in the month of June with such transactions down by 6 percent compared to a year earlier, to US$1.1 billion, according to NPD Group.

Within that category, hardware -- in particular, Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 -- showed signs of growth, posting a 5 percent increase, for $401.7 million in sales. Software, though, contracted by 15 percent to $531.3 million.

NPD did not return a call from the E-Commerce Times.

Diverging Directions

It is unusual for software sales to drop while hardware sales increase, said Pietro Macchiarella, an analyst with Parks Associates.

"That discrepancy tells us this is not because of the recession," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Otherwise, they both would be moving in the same direction -- down."

Rather, the drop in software sales is due in large part to other trends in the gaming sector, said Macchiarella.

These include a trend toward games that have become more complex and involved, and that take longer to play -- which means consumers are inclined to buy fewer of them. That, coupled with fewer releases, accounts for much of the drop in sales, he said.

Also, the hardware figures might have been goosed by new consoles coming to market. Last month, for example, Microsoft released an updated Xbox with a larger hard drive, Macchiarella noted.
Second Half

Total industry sales for the year through the end of June reached $6.66 billion -- a 9 percent drop compared with the same six-month period last year, according to NPD.

However, the year could close out having posted some $20 billion in sales, the research firm projects -- an assessment with which Macchiarella agrees.

"This is a seasonal industry, so I think the second half of the year will definitely see some improvement," he said, adding that new product releases such as PlayStation Move and Microsoft Kinect will attract more sales.
Bullish Outlook

It would be a mistake to judge the entire universe of gaming based on NPD's figures, Jon Peddie of Jon Peddie Research told the E-Commerce Times.

For starters, NPD only covers the U.S., he noted.

Its main focus is on retail sales, Peddie added, noting that NPD has a difficult time capturing the online sales piece of the market.

"The point is, they are only looking at a tiny piece of the market," he stressed.

The gaming market is very robust now because of the multiple platforms and the sharp rise in casual and social gamers, argued Peddie.

"There has been a huge increase in casual gamers," he observed. "Also, other platforms have created incredible opportunities for dozens of boutique independent developers who are getting some traction."

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Mon Jul 19, 12:15 pm ET

NEW YORK – The long-planned breakup of Motorola Inc., one of the founders of the U.S. electronics industry, came a step closer Monday with a deal to sell most of its wireless networks division.

The deal to sell the division for $1.2 billion to Nokia Siemens Networks, a Finnish-German joint venture, sets Motorola up to separate its cell phone manufacturing operations from the police radio business early next year, essentially dividing the 82-year-old company into three parts.

The parts are aimed at different types of customers. The division that is being sold supplies wireless carriers such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. with the equipment they need to connect to cell phones. It's not a big player in an industry dominated by LM Ericsson AB and Alcatel-Lucent SA, but it does have valuable relationships with U.S. and Japanese carriers that Nokia Siemens hopes to exploit.

Motorola co-CEO Greg Brown said the deal frees the police-radio and bar-code scanner division, which is leader in its field, from being associated with the networks division, which supplies mainly older-generation equipment and has seen declining sales.

The networks division, which covers most of the business being sold to Nokia Siemens, had revenue of $896 million in the first quarter, with 43 percent of it coming from Asia. Operating earnings were $112 million.

Rajeeve Suri, CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks, said no layoffs were planned. Motorola said about 7,500 employees will be transferred to Nokia Siemens. Of those, about 1,600 are based in Illinois (Motorola's headquarters in Schaumburg). The division also has large development centers in India and China.

Nokia Siemens is a joint venture between Finland's Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG of Germany. It's seen dwindling profits in recent years, worsened by the global economic downturn. The deal, expected to be completed by the end of the year, would improve profitability and "have significant upside potential," Nokia Siemens said.

Motorola has planned for years to spin off the division that makes cell phones, but steep losses in the unit have forced it to postpone the move. The spin-off is now scheduled for the first quarter of next year.

The handset division, to be called Motorola Mobility, would take with it the division that makes cable set-top boxes.

That would leave Motorola Solutions, the remainder, focused on government and commercial clients, with products such as police radios and bar-code scanners. It's also keeping one part of its wireless network portfolio: the division that makes iDEN equipment, used in the Nextel part of Sprint Nextel Corp.'s network. Motorola invented that technology and is the dominant supplier of equipment.

Its push-to-talk feature is appreciated by dispatchers and work crews, but has been overshadowed in the mainstream by other technologies that provide broadband data speeds.

The wireless division has had some success in the business of making equipment for broadband networks that use WiMax, but that technology looks set to be a niche at best. The major wireless carriers are planning to use a technology known as LTE, for Long-Term Evolution. Motorola hasn't secured any LTE contracts in the U.S., but has signed one with KDDI in Japan.

Motorola shares rose 23 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $7.73 in midday trading Monday. The shares have gained more than 50 cents since The Wall Street Journal reported last week that a deal with Nokia Siemens was in the offing.

U.S.-listed Nokia shares were up 3 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $8.77.

___

Associated Press Writer Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki, Finland, contributed to this story.

by Amar Toor — Jul 16th 2010 at 9:11AM
As far as agriculture goes, FarmVille's pretty environmentally friendly. After all, everything "grown" on a computer screen is about as local as it gets. And the only thing a user could possibly waste, besides money, is an entire social life. Soon, however, the game's agrarian community will have a whole new way to raise pretend plants... and hemorrhage even more cash.

As the New York Times reports, Zynga, the company behind the still-inexplicably popular game, has now inked a deal with Cascadian Farm, an organic food company owned by General Mills. Beginning next week, users will be able to grow their own organic blueberry patches from Cascadian Farm, marking the first time that Zynga has promoted a branded food product within FarmVille. Both partners say that the initiative is geared toward raising awareness about organic farming and green living, while exposing Cascadian Farm's brand to a wider audience.

Unlike real life organic farming, Farmville's digital crops will reportedly grow faster, bring bigger cash returns and, presumably, allow organic FarmVillers to look down upon their less green counterparts in smug condescension. Users will also be able to grab a $1 coupon for Cascadian Farms products, redeemable at any real-life stores. The promotion, though, will only run from July 19-26, since, as Cascadian Farm marketing manager Tim Goldsmid says, "We don't want to overextend our stay."

Zynga, of course, is no stranger to brand-based partnerships. In the past, the game company has launched brick-and-mortar based promotions with Green Giant Fresh, and, most recently, with 7-Eleven. This in-game partnership with Cascadian Farms, however, marks new corporate territory for Zynga, and we're willing to bet that it won't be the last brand FarmVille's farmers see pop up on their screens. From a business perspective, the union makes total sense. We already live in a world where people pay real money for fake things. Why wouldn't a company target such a large demographic of pre-determined suckers? If Farmville's gamers are willing to buy a two-dimensional tractor, they'll certainly buy a sack of non-organic, "organic" blueberries, right? Whether or not they'll have enough money left over to afford the overpriced organic food of the real variety, on the other hand, is less certain. [From: New York Times]

by Marc Saltzman
If you’ve ever swapped a gem in one of the popular Bejeweled puzzlers, then you’re well aware of its addictive "match 3"-style gameplay. From computers to consoles, handhelds to smartphones, social networking sites and even airplane seatbacks and scratch-off lottery tickets, the franchise has appeared pretty much everywhere. But there is a lot more to learn about Bejeweled -- which is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary -- than just matching gems.
1. It's a money machine.

Developer PopCap Games originally tried to sell the rights to Bejeweled for just $40,000 -- but found no takers. Instead, they decided to self-publish. When Bejeweled debuted in 2000, it was initially a browser-based game titled Diamond Mine, and the beta testers were the moms of the three co-founders. That turned out to be a smart move: according to PopCap, the game has generated well over $350 million dollars, establishing itself as one of the most lucrative game franchises ever. Despite it being a decade old, the game continues to sell somewhere in the world every 4.3 seconds.
2. It can be beaten.

Barely. In fact, only one person has ever officially completed Bejeweled 2: Mike Leyde, a 57-year old steel contractor from Riverside, California. In 2009, Leyde achieved the highest score possible -- 2,147,483,647 points -- after playing for more than 2,200 hours. Mike first discovered Bejeweled in 2005 when his son Brian bought him the game. Bejeweled 2 wasn’t designed to show a higher number than this, so his game simply showed a blank where the score would go.
3. It's voiced by its maker.

The deep-talking narrator in Bejeweled 2 – you know the one – is none other than Jason Kapalka, Bejeweled’s designer and chief creative officer of PopCap, who founded the company in 2000 along with Brian Fiete and John Vechey. Kapalka’s voice was modulated to make it sound deeper in the game. Prior to PopCap, Kapalka spent five years at casual game site pogo.com, and before that, the Canadian was a columnist for Computer Gaming World magazine.
4. It spawned hundreds of imitators.

Bejeweled is considered the original "match 3" game, though more than 200 knock-offs have surfaced over the years. While there are a few official sequels – namely, Bejeweled 2 (2004), Bejeweled Twist (2008) and Bejeweled Blitz (2009) – PopCap has rarely “reskinned” the game for promotional purposes. One was for the animated feature film The Ant Bully, and another time for -- believe it or not -- the Pork Advisory Board, featuring pork products on the board instead of colored gems.
5. It's sociable.

Bejeweled Blitz, the 1-minute Facebook adaptation of the game playable on both computers and iPhone/iPod Touch, attracts more than 3 million players per day. Collectively, that fan base spends half a billion hours per year playing at the rate of about 100 million games per day. That means plenty of tips, too: more than 2,000 videos of Bejeweled Blitz strategies, tricks and cheats have been uploaded to YouTube.

by Emily Maltby
Sunday, July 11, 2010
BCP Imports LLC, maker of the Silly Bandz bracelets that have become an accessory de rigueur on elementary school playgrounds, is the latest small company looking for a way to extend its appeal with pint-sized customers.
Retailers selling the packs of 24 bracelets for $5 to $7 a pop cannot keep them in stock, and the company has had to hire more than 350 employees since October, according to founder Robert Croak. Silly Bandz have generated more than $100 million in annual sales, he says.

[Click here to check savings products and rates in your area.]

But keeping Silly Bandz on kids' wrists—and radar screens—won't be easy, some say.

Gene Murtha, the former head of Main Street Toy Co. in Simsbury, Conn., sees similarities between Silly Bandz and Slap Wraps, the fad his old company developed.

Slap Wraps were long pieces of fabric-covered metal that coiled into a bracelet when slapped on the wrist. Like Silly Bandz, they were both a fashion accessory and a bartering chip on the playground. The craze ballooned in 1990 but burst the next year.
Mr. Murtha, who blames the bust in part on a falling out between the company's partners, says he should have capitalized on the fad by branching out.

"A smart business plan is to take a product and develop it into a brand," says Mr. Murtha, now chief executive of the teddy bear company Gund, a division of Enesco LLC in Itasca, Ill. He recommends that Silly Bandz make more "silly" things to avoid being a one-hit wonder.

Mr. Croak is already moving in that direction, by selling Silly Necklaces and Silly Buttons.

Still, through the decades plenty of toys developed by small companies—think Pet Rocks and Pogs—became all the rage but failed to maintain long-term appeal. Kids, who determine the fate of such products, can be fickle consumers.

"In six months, a child's view of life has changed dramatically," says Wendy Liebmann, chief executive of WSL Marketing Inc. in New York, which conducts research on retail strategy. "For a child to be absorbed in something, that means that you need to constantly reinvent it."

Some companies have managed to parlay a passing trend into a sustainable hit through licensing opportunities. After creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book in the late '80s, Mirage Studios Inc. managed to ink enough deals to turn its half-shelled heroes into action figures, television stars, and characters on towels and bedspreads. The Turtles even experienced a relatively recent comeback following the "TMNT" movie three years ago.

Others have tried marketing ploys. Ty Inc., a once-small firm that experienced explosive growth with its flagship product, Beanie Babies, kept the consumer frenzy going by promoting its creatures as must-have limited editions.

"Part of the appeal is if it's hard to find," says Tim Walsh, a toy historian in Sarasota, Fla.

Some companies try follow-up toys. In the late '90s, Tiger Electronics, a midsize company in Vernon Hills, Ill., enjoyed mercurial success with Giga Pets—animated, electronic characters in a hand-held device that kids could control. But as the toy's popularity died out, the company introduced a new kind of pet: Wide-eyed creatures called Furbies that could communicate with each other. Hasbro Inc. launched Furby in 1998, shortly after acquiring Tiger Electronics.

Silly Bandz's Mr. Croak says his small company is adapting to consumers' transient tastes by taking suggestions from Twitter and the Silly Bandz's online fan page—options entrepreneurs of the past didn't have. Most of the colors and designs being developed today, he says, are generated from the hundreds of suggestions he receives each week.

He is also trying to secure licensing deals to spread the craze into other markets, such as school supplies, board games and smartphone applications. And taking a page from Beanie Babies, Silly Bandz's Spring pack of butterflies, bees and tulips, has been retired, and won't return with the same shapes.

Still, there are skeptics who think the Silly Bandz brand isn't strong enough to last. In order to draw a new wave of children, a product needs to change the way they play, says Gary Cross, professor of modern history at Penn State who specializes in consumption, childhood and leisure issues.

"It's not clear in what way [Silly Bandz] are transformative," he says. "Fads that are built around schools and peer association have been around a long, long time and those things have come and gone."

—Write to Emily Maltby at emily.maltby@wsj.com

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Jul 7, 3:07 pm ET

NEW YORK – Activision Blizzard Inc.'s move to require people to use their real names if they want to post messages in online forums for games is the latest sign that online anonymity is falling out of favor with many companies.

The upcoming change has upset many gamers who prize anonymity and don't necessarily want their gamer personas associated with their real identities.

Blizzard, the maker of "World of Warcraft," said Tuesday that the new rule will go into effect later this month. It will apply first to forums about the highly anticipated "StarCraft II," out July 27; other games are to follow.

Blizzard hopes that making people use their real names will cut down on nasty behavior in the forums and create a more positive environment. Players will have the option — but not a requirement — to display the name of their main game character alongside their real name.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said Blizzard is the latest company to require real identities. But he added businesses have "a lot of freedom" in doing so.

Facebook, the world's most popular online social network, asks users to sign up with their real names. The company tries to delete fake profiles it comes across. A growing number of blogs and news sites are also abandoning anonymity. The Buffalo News said last month it will start requiring commenters on its website to give their real names and the towns they live in, just as they would do in a printed letter to the editor.

Online games are among the last truly anonymous frontiers. As such, Rotenberg called Blizzard's decision a "bit of a sad day" in the world of gaming.

"Part of the fun of the online gaming would was the sense that you could construct a character different form who you were in the real world," he said.

"World of Warcraft" has more than 11.5 million subscribers who pay monthly fees to play the game worldwide.

by Mike Smith
The games industry mighit be feeling the effects of the global recession, but 2010's output of video games hasn't declined in quality, according to a report from review aggregation site Metacritic.com.
In fact, the reverse is true: games across every platform Metacritic tracks have posted higher average scores over the first half of 2010 than they did in the same period in 2009. Seven games so far this year have earned mean review scores of over 90%, including hits like Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, and Super Mario Galaxy 2, which ranks among the best-reviewed games of all time.

Games on the Nintendo DS, the PlayStation 3, and the PC turned in the best review performances, with this year's aggregate score averaging 75.0% in each case. The Xbox 360, Wii, and PSP trailed slightly, all three having delivered significantly higher rates of "mixed" and "bad" games over the course of the year so far.

And although the games industry as a whole is down substantially on its 2009 performance, the decline is largely attributable to disappointing hardware sales; consumers are still buying games. Software sales in May, buoyed by the strong showing of critical smash Red Dead Redemption, outperformed last year's numbers by 4%.

It's not about to slow down, either. Although July holds few heavyweight releases, there's a good reason for that: nobody wants to share shelf space with this month's behemoth, real-time strategy sequel Starcraft 2, widely expected to be one of the year's top sellers.

We’ve highlighted many times the opportunities presented to brands within the virtual world and MMO category, primarily from engagement and monetisation perspectives. Linked to this is another trend we identified of leveraging different platforms to synergise brands. This is a post about how these trends are rapidly transforming and driving the sector.

Real world brands having virtual worlds is not a new concept. Barbie Girls and Webkinz were early pioneers of this strategy, amassing multi-million user bases in short periods – and importantly, in most cases much faster than ‘pureplay’ virtual worlds which at present make up the bulk of the sector.

We’ll shortly be updating our Radar charts showing existing and new worlds and MMOs by genre. But in the meantime, we thought you’d be interested in seeing how brands are moving across different platforms. This is shown in the diagram below (which we’ll be updating on an ongoing basis).
We’ve placed five different channels (TV, Movies, Toys/Games, Consoles and Books) around the virtual world platform. From here we’ve shown how a brand has moved from one of these channels into virtual worlds. For example, BuildaBear started life as a toy retail operation and then augmented their virtual world proposition, BuildaBearVille. Kung Fu Panda similarly created a MMO off the back of the movie – so on and so forth.

So, this is interesting from that perspective and certainly an area seeing major traction. It’s also an area and speciality we know a lot about, having worked with companies like Ubisoft to assist with their console to VW strategy for Imagine Town, and Electronic Arts with the Littlest Pet Shop Online.

Our strategic expertise is also driving the digital strategy for the upcoming Dorothy of Oz movie with casual gaming, virtual world and other (soon to be announced) elements all created in-sync to maximise monetisation, awareness and build-branding.

However, what’s arguably even more interesting and definitely a sign of things to come is how brands that started out as virtual worlds are now moving out into other channels. Moshi Monsters for example has recently announced a merchandising strategy and a book deal, as has Poptropica for the former. Popular MMO World of Warcraft has an upcoming movie and Club Penguin is moving onto the Wii.

So what does this mean for brand owners and companies in (or entering) the virtual world and MMO sectors? Basically the idea of ‘the brand’ has to be placed front and centre and it’s not enough just to have a virtual world – just as it’s no longer enough just to have a real-world toy range.

Times are a changing and moving rapidly. Virtual world owners need to develop ‘out of their world’ brand strategies, before their competitors do.

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