Forbes

Arcades are dead, and with them dies the chance for most players to meet up in the real world. Sony has a solution: On Thursday it will begin offering up its PlayStation 3 as a virtual surrogate. Instead of clamoring around the newest cabinet, players can virtually congregate in spaces dedicated to the likes of PS3 games "Uncharted" and "Warhawk." It is a place to make new friends. It's a place Sony calls Home.

Will Home work? As with every virtual world and social network, ...read more

The 39-person team behind "Whirled" is best known for its online game "Puzzle Pirates." The massively multiplayer game amassed $4 million in revenue in 2007--primarily from the sale of virtual items like boots or parrots for players' pirate avatars. The entire virtual goods economy, estimates Parks Associates analyst Michael Cai, is worth about $1.5 billion globally. Injected with $3.5 million in funding last March, Three Rings hopes it can expand its virtual item business to su ...read more

Although there is no exact count of avatars, the industry expects their ranks to explode as the number of participants in 3D virtual worlds is projected to grow nearly fivefold to 33 million by 2013, according to Parks Associates analyst Michael Cai. And this doesn't even take into consideration all the kids and 'tweens playing in places like Club Penguin and Webkinz or mingling on social networking hybrids like Meez and Gaia Online.

From the article, "The Business Of Avatar ...read more

This is the future of virtual worlds and online games. Just a short one-time installation of a browser plug-in--similar to what is required to watch Flash videos on a site like YouTube--allows people to dive straight into a virtual world or game whenever they visit a site.

This means instant access and massive distribution. No need to download and install a bulky application. It'll be the next big boon for 3-D virtual worlds, which are expected to reach 33 million users by 2 ...read more

SanDisk is also building technology platforms that will leverage SlotMusic's ability to sync up with servers through encrypted connections. A streaming subscription service like Rhapsody, which SanDisk has already partnered with for its line of Sansa music players, could implement a seamless offline/online connection with the cards.

Parks Associates analyst Michael Cai is skeptical that consumers, particularly young consumers, will buy albums on memory cards or that less tec ...read more

The Dow plummeted below 9,000 points to a five-year low Thursday. Worldwide, economies are slowing and consumers are worried sick about their future.

Indeed, the number of registered and active users of Second Life, a virtual world that simulates real-world experiences, have flattened out, says Parks Associates analyst Michael Cai. But this might not be a reaction to the economy; it could be due to consumers shifting to other virtual worlds. Cai predicts that corporations wi ...read more

More than a year in the works, Google finally launched its in-game advertising platform Wednesday. Called AdSense for Games, the platform will offer advertisers access to millions of Web-based Flash games.

The in-game advertising market is small, scoring only $1 billion from advertising and subscriptions in 2007, according to research firm Parks Associates, but the entry of Google is expected to make it explode.

From the article, "Google Gets Game " by Mary Jane Irwin

IGA Worldwide Chief Executive Justin Townsend contends that his company's reach is actually greater than Massive's. After it launched its PS3 ad initiative with EA's "Madden NFL 09," IGA has seen "a big increase in the volume of sales," says Townsend. The average ad buy has gone from $300,000 to $1 million. All told, the in-game ad industry is expected to reach $800 million in the U.S. by 2012, according to Parks Associates.

From the article, "IGA's Massive Ad Play" by Mary ...read more