Apple iPad Will Help the Future of Browser-Based Gaming

As usual, Apple’s newest piece of hardware, the iPad, is quite impressive. With a sleek 10″ touchscreen, this netbook-rival device will quite possibly be (or maybe is even already) an eyesore and a hot commodity for gamers.

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.

Bigpoint Boasts Over 100 Million Users

Online gaming portal Bigpoint.com has reached a new milestone, with the recent registration of its one hundred millionth player. Bigpoint has attracted all its players in a mere four years, and on top of that, not only is it a widely successful online gaming website, but it’s also the world’s largest online German community.

As if things couldn’t get any better, Bigpoint.com is also positioned in a space where there is still room for growth. According to the company’s CEO, Heiko Hubertz, “A few years ago, I never would have dreamed that we would one day reach this crazy goal. This is a great achievement for us.” Bigpoint has currently predicted that there are about 250,000 daily registrations by new players to the site.

Bigpoint.com’s social networking possibilities provide a big selling point for the website. Players can communicate with and learn from each other, as well as form groups with others that have similar interests. The company’s 1000+ media partners, which include Facebook, MySpace, MTV, and NBC, also benefit from the website’s online community as well, as it provides them with greater opportunities to attract more web traffic.

Via Mpogd.

Champion of the Gods Begins Beta Testing in Late January

Forlorn Games has recently announced that the beta testing session for their new browser-based RPG game Champion of the Gods will commence at the end of this January. The game can either be considered an expansion of their existing RPG Lands of Hope or as its own standalone game, as no prior knowledge is necessary to play.

Forlorn’s newest browser-based game can be played on either a Mac or a PC through a web browser as well as through the social media and networking site Facebook. It will also be able to be accessed on a smartphone using the Skyfire web browser or other compatible web browsers.

Forlorn Games is looking into tapping into the market for portable browser-based games, as this market is nowhere near saturated… yet. If you’re interested in learning a bit more about the actual browser-based game, you can check out the official website at www.championofthegods.com. If you’re interested in checking out the mobile version of Champion of the Gods, the website is www.championofthegods.com/mobile/.

Via Mpogd.

Video Game Startups Observed Decreased Profits in 2009

Just like for most all other things in the past year’s economy, video game profits have decreased from 2008 to 2009. Analysis shows that a total of 97 video game startups raised $600.5M in 2009, a decrease of 36%, compared to funds raised for 112 games equalling $936.8M in 2008.

Furthermore, the total of $600.5M was significantly inflated by funding that Zynga, creator of the oh-so-popular farming simulation browser-based game Farmville, was able to secure from Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies. DST supplied Zynga with a whopping $180M in 2009. Without it, the year’s profits would have decreased 55% from 2008 instead of only 36%.

Here are some more details about the top three video game startup companies that were able to secure the most funds in 2009:

1. Zynga mainly hosts social games on Facebook. Some of their investors for the year include Digital Sky Technologies, Institutional Venture Partners, Andreessen Horovitz, and Tiger Global. In 2009, they received $180M in funding — amazing.
2. Playdom hosts social games on Facebook and Myspace, among other platforms. Their investors include Rick Thompson, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Norwest Venture Partners. In 2009, they received a cool $43M.
3. Smith & Tinker received funding for their hybrid web-toy Nanovor game. Investors for 2009 included Alsop Louie Partners, DCM, Foundry Group, Leo Capital Holdings, and billionaire Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital and investments for 2009 totalled $29M — not bad at all.

Via GamesBeat.

More About Farmville, It’s Not As Bad As I Thought!

I played a bit more of Farmville today… and it’s actually not as bad as I had originally thought. The beginning’s just a bit boring because you only have a six plots of land and can only buy and do a handful of things.

I got to level five today by getting gold coins when I helped out on my friend’s farms — scaring away some crows, pulling some weeds, etc. — and getting experience points when I completed tasks and earned ribbons — befriending some neighbors, earning a certain number of gold coins, etc. Now I have some more freedom in managing my own farm, as I have more resources, yay!

Anyhoo, check out the expanded review if you’re interested in hearing more about my adventures in the wildly popular Facebook browser-based game Farmville.

Facebook’s Farmville, What’s So Special About It?

So I caved and finally created myself a Farmville account on the social networking site Facebook. At first glance, the game doesn’t look so dynamic or exciting, but maybe after having my account for a while, I’ll have access to currently locked/unexposed parts of the game.

Before delving any deeper into the contents of the game though, here’s a brief introduction to the Farmville browser-based game developed by Zynga. Essentially, players in the game manage their own virtual farm, complete with crops, trees, and livestock. Categorized as a real-time farm simulation game, Farmville first launched in June 2009. Since then, it’s become the most popular Facebook game application, boasting 73,015,559 users to date. Wow, that’s insane. That’s nearly 1/3 of the population of the United States!

If you’re interested in reading a bit more about my adventures in Farmville thus far, check out my review.

BioWare Labs Releases Browser-Based Game Gift of the Yeti for Facebook

There’s so much news these days about Facebook and browser-based games. Seems like this social networking site is sprouting partnerships with gamers and developers left and right. Here’s some news about one of the more recent Facebook browser-based gaming developments.

BioWare Labs, a division of Electronic Arts, Inc. has just launched the browser-based game Gift of the Yeti as a free app on Facebook. Released just in time for the holidays, Gift of the Yeti is a Santa/Christmas-based game that claims to be a fast-paced yet simple diversion that aims to appeal to gamers of all ages.

In the game, players will get a chance to help Santa spread Christmas joy by distributing presents on his behalf. The goal is to earn points (and save Christmas) by delivering gifts to households that can be accessed through an onscreen map. Players can compete with their friends for higher scores on the leaderboard. The story of the game will slowly unfold as players get farther into the game.

According to Dr. Ray Muzyka, the co-founder of BioWare and the Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group at Electronic Arts, the company uses “social networking as a powerful tool to connect meaningfully with our tremendous fan community. Gift of the Yeti is a fun, yet engaging holiday present from BioWare to our fans, the first in a series of compelling social experiences from BioWare Labs.” Looks like there’s indeed more to come — we’ll look forward to it.

If you’re interested in this browser-based game, you can log onto Facebook to check it out, and hey if nothing else, at least you’ll be virtually spreading Christmas cheer.

Via TheMoneyTimes.

Look Out for Social Browser-Based Gaming in 2010

As social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace become ever more popular, an integration of cross-platform browser-based games may become much more likely and on a relatively much wider scale as we head into 2010.

With companies like Unity releasing free (though not necessarily cross-platform) software for developing browser-based games, even you yourself can jump on the bandwagon and start creating what could be the next greatest video game. Sounds like a lofty goal, but hey, go big or go home right?

Sibblingz Brings Browser-Based Gaming to iPhone, Facebook, and More

Cross-platform gaming is becoming quite popular, especially as iPhones, Facebook, and the web grow more ubiquitous. But it’s quite the hassle for developers to build multiple versions of a game for different applications. Sibblingz is a new company that’s trying to address this problem. It’s attempting to build a single game that can run across various platforms while still offering a single social context to its users.

Just think about it. You’d be able to play the same game across multiple platforms and the system would keep track of a leaderboard that is consistent across whatever platform you decide to play on. Sibblingz will use Facebook Connect to facilitate all the social networking aspects of the gaming experience.

The system has already gone into private beta testing as of December 8th. Here’s a screenshot of the Facebook/web version of a new game called Little Monsters. No public version of it is yet available for the iPhone, but we’ll keep you posted on any developments we hear about.

Via InsideSocialGames.