Apple has indeed taken notice of the increased role of gaming in online activities and communities and is setting out to be a more established player in this area of the market. Many of Apple’s customers are casual gamers (i.e. more used to a social networking setting) and some have been highly involved in online gaming in browser-based communities for years.

Gaming on the iPad — once more developers create games for it, that is — in particular will no doubt be a new and innovating way for players to be immersed in browser-based games. Only time will tell what Apple has in store. We’ll make sure to keep you updated on any new developments.

Via GamersDailyNews.

To add a guild, you’ll first need to sign up at the Allods Online Guild Portal. When you’re all signed up, click on the “+Add a Group” button. There, you can enter all the info for your guild and include a guild logo. Interested? You can check it out here.

Via Zam.

21 Online Casinos claims that a device like the tablet PC would provide a great opportunity for online gaming sites, particularly because they provide a more comfortable and realistic experience for the player. They’re much easier to read and navigate than a mobile phone, yet not as bulky as traditional laptop technology.

According to 21 Online Casinos, “The truly exciting thing about the iPad is the potential for more interactive online casino games. For instance, players can actually push the buttons on the slot machines themselves or rub the screen to play scratchcards. The format would allow players to interact with games in the same way they would at an actual casino and would also allow for a more user friendly gaming experience.”

One potential downside is that because the iPad would still run on Apple’s operating system, download-based casino apps can’t be accessed on the device, only browser-based applications. But who knows… maybe a successful online gambling experience will influence Apple to think about modifications in the future.

Via GamingSupermarket.

Hulu hasn’t yet confirmed their stance on streaming free content on Apple’s iPad. According to Jason Kilar, their Chief Executive, the company is “certainly open to subscriptions as a complement to an ad-supported model.” Hulu has been rumored to be considering a subscription model quite a bit.

As consumers of online content yourselves, what do you have to say about this? Any comments?

Via Dvice.

The initial plan is for the game to be run in either the Google Chrome or Apple Safari web browser. The video game will use an HTML5 canvas and WebGL for graphics acceleration.

The Quake II project was revealed on April 1st, and reports have said that the project is already successfully underway. If you’re interested in learning more about the game, check out the video below.

Via Engadget and InformationWeek.

Considering the facts, Apple’s argument makes sense. The process for creating a flash video with Adobe’s Flash CS4 is a relatively straightforward process, but the code used to create such a video takes up 318 lines. Using HTML5 to complete a similar task would only take one. Unnecessary lines of code is one of the factors that contributes to the high crash rate that Apple is referring to.

HTML5 is still relatively new technology, but it will have a significant impact on the way content is viewed in web browsers in the future. Jeff Whatcott from Brightcove, a video publishing platform, says that “HTML5 is about video in the browser, and today it is primarily about video in web browsers on mobile platforms like Apple iPad, iPhone, and others.”

Via TheHuffingtonPost.

Toolbars aren’t exactly new technology, but what Conduit is bringing to the table is. The technology that the company has created essentially allows its customers to create browser-based applications that run in a toolbar near the top of the internet window. For example, the FarmVille toolbar is one of Conduit’s creations.

According to Conduit’s president, Adam Boyden, the company currently has 220,000+ publishers creating applications and 100+ million active users. Growth in those numbers is expected to continue as browser-based games grow in popularity, especially in China.

Boyden says that Conduit has “been very popular within the game space because companies have been able to build tools which have helped them make their games more easily accessible or interact with their game-related content more easily within the browser. It gives game publishers, developers, and community sites a constant engagement potential with end users.”

Via Kotaku.

More specifically, the game’s development is being handled by EA Phemomic, which has been responsible for creating the free-to-play MMORTS/MMORPG game BattleForge.

Lords of Ultima is currently in closed beta testing and running only on one server. If you’re interested in testing out the game and if there’s still room on the server, you can try it out at its official website, www.lordofultima.com.

Via ShackNews.

According to Trip Hawkins, the president of Digital Chocolate (a video game developer based in San Mateo, California), the iPad will change the portable gaming market. The market for games and gaming will expand as individuals who were not big gamers in the past start playing browser-based games through social networking sites (like Facebook) and/or downloading games from the App store.

The base price for a 16 GB Apple iPad with wi-fi capabilities is currently $499, but maybe in the future when demand is high enough, the price of a unit will decrease. For an Apple iPad with the same amount of storage in addition to 3G capabilities, the base price is $629. If you’re interested in checking out some of the features of the device, visit Apple’s website.

When you advance through the levels, your character is able to pick up little red boxes, which contain different forms of weapons and equipment. The pistol, the weapon which your character starts off with, never runs out of amo, but other weapons can run out of amo. Examples of other weapons and equipment include: uzis, shotguns, grenades, and barrels.

Arrow keys are used to control your player throughout the game, and when applicable, number keys are used to select which weapon or piece of equipment your player will use to defeat the enemies. The space bar is used to fire. The Zombies in the game are white and take much less hits to kill than the red Beasts. The beasts also have the ability to attack back.

Boxhead More Rooms is a simple game and has simple graphics, but it’s quite fun. If you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, visit Kongregate’s website. And just as a heads up, this unusually addicting game requires at least 512 mb of memory and a relatively fast processor. Have fun!