Interesting times ahead - the Console space finally collides with the Social Virtual World space as Sony and Microsoft race to be first to offer non-closed beta, ’social (read: commercial) virtual world’ front ends to their ‘trojan horse’ consoles. Will they start to reap the benefits of a very large installed user base as both are likely to launch this side of Christmas in several international territories, and will they fly?

" The current percentage of MMO players to the Internet users in the region [is estimated] as less than %1, way below the world average of %23." 

and

" The estimated number of MMO gamers in the region will jump to 5 million in 3 years of actively publishing and promoting MMO Games." 

From here. Now that's a market I know next to nothing about. I do remember bookmarking some reaaaally really screwed up games at some point but that's about it. The full presentation from Game Power 7 can be found here. They also estimate that more than 80% of the kids and teens in the region don't know what an MMO is and how you play it, which does seem a tad exagerated to me (data gathered through their local offices, the presentation says). Time to dig deeper and look into Game Power 7's attempts at launching a MMO on that market by the end of the year.

Via: ExitReality Launches Public Beta

The TryWOW streaming trial client is a new offering that allows for a short up-front download of the game. While playing, the remaining game data streams in the background. This allows those with a fast enough internet connection to jump into the free trial more quickly.

Great way to sample something quickly, isn't it?

OK I had better blog this ‘press release‘ copied below which quotes me, but also as I am heavily involved in the creation of these courses and still running LAMP (the innovation unit at AFTRS). Frankly it is one of the best things to happen in Australian industry education for the last three years that I have been based in Sydney. AFTRS is renowned for its high production value filmmaking primarily with many students being nominated and going on to win Academy Awards, Oscars etc.

In a recent interview with ZDnet, Linden Lab’s VP, platforms & technology Joe Miller get to show the corporate face of Second Life. A platform for collaboration for companies such as IBM and… well… IBM. Though the interview itself is not all that remarkable, I did get excited when Dan Farber asked the tough question:

Good fun.

Warhammer Online shipped 1.5 million copies.

Five million people playing Runescape on a free acount.

10% of American Teens use virtual worlds.

Anyhow, there's more to this. Back when Penny Arcade Adventures (Episode I) launched, people complained about how the game requires online activation and the key you get is only good for 3 installs. Now EA did the same thing and, considering Spore's bigger popularity, a significantly larger number of people raised their voices in concern.

From back in 2000...

Business gets done in virtual worlds - interview with Michael Cai from the Parks Associates research firm. If you've been following this blog, the interview won't really read as a surprise :)

You'll have to go through the whole study when you have the time, but let me just list a couple of findings here, to give you a taste: