Maximum PC online gaming RSS Feed

MySpace Not Really Moving Forward, Needs to Restrategize

Bart Salisbury — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:10:31 -0500

Hard times come quickly for social networking sites. One minute you’re on top, popping open bottles of vintage sparkling mineral water and picking up the tab for another round of tofu burgers. The next you are head-in-hands wonder how it all went so horribly wrong. Today’s patient on the couch is MySpace, with parent company News Corp. none to pleased with what’s going on.

Jonathan Miller, who keeps the watcher’s eye on News Corp.’s Internet services, put it pretty plainly: "The thing you see in this space more than anything else is that if you don't keep innovating and moving forward, you get in trouble. You can't stop. And MySpace stopped." MySpace’s stopped and, since being number one in 2006, has been outpaced by more popular alternatives: Facebook and Twitter.

Time, again, to reinvent the wheel, according to Miller, and return to what MySpace does best: music and gaming. MySpace recently purchased the online music provider iLike. And it has announced a new music video service which will allow labels and artists to see how well their music is doing on MySpace.

To expand gaming opportunities, Miller believes MySpace must open up its system to external developers. He also hinted that some paid premium services to be in the offing.

"Everybody in the company is upset that we didn't keep going when we had the real momentum. Regaining momentum is always much harder than keeping momentum going,” Miller stated. That, and keeping an eye on your rearview mirror to see who’s about to overtake you.

Image Credit: MySpace

Microsoft is Okay with In-game Advertising, Says it Will Continue to Thrive

Bart Salisbury — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:45:54 -0500

They’re there. You know they’re there. And they aren’t going away. Certainly not if Microsoft has a say. “They” are in-game advertisements, which have been steadily creeping into the on-line gaming experience. And right now they are generate buckets of cash for Microsoft, and show the potential of generating buckets more.

Massive, the on-line gaming advertising arm of Microsoft, uses a dynamic process to inject ads that “enhance” the online gaming experience. According to JJ Richards, at the Microsoft Advertising Blog, “Our research indicates that most gamers like advertising in the game because it adds to the realism. Imagine playing a Major League Baseball game with no ads behind home plate, next to the scoreboard or on the outfield wall - not very realistic. Now imagine the outfield with up-to-the-minute ads you just saw on television or read in a newspaper - the latest movie release, television show, or a new car model. That is much more realistic.” Massive’s objective is to place ads where you would expect to see them in everyday life, while taking care not to degrade the game-playing experience.

On-line gaming is a logical step for advertising because of the audience: 18-34 year old males, who spend a lot of time gaming (and have become harder to reach by traditional means). Richards claims that Massive is able to reach “40 million Xbox and PC gamers in 31 countries worldwide.” And apparently in-game advertising works. Microsoft reports that 72% of gamers recall seeing the ads, and 65% say that such ads standout more than traditional advertising. Whether this translates into actual sales Richards doesn’t say.

Bucking overall Internet advertising revenue trends, Microsoft reports that its revenues are up, with first quarter sales targets exceeded by 100% just a month into the fiscal year. Screen Digest expects in-gaming advertising revenues to reach $1 billion by 2014.

Year-Over-Year Gaming Sales Drop Five Months Straight

Justin Kerr — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:18:05 -0500

Last month we reported on the rather bleak fortunes of the gaming industry, and it appears as though the trend that was identified in June has carried over to July. According to the NPD Group, July marks the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year video-game sales declines. Not only is the gaming industry no longer considered recession proof, but it managed to shed a staggering 29 percent compared to the same period last year. Sales of software and hardware for July 2009 were approximately $848.9 million, down from $1.1 billion in 2008.

NPD blames the summer tailspin on lackluster new game releases, and fewer hardware purchases. The industry on a whole is expected to pick up some steam in the traditionally strong Q4 period with several high profile launches expected. "This isn't the best time of year for video-game sales. In a down economy it makes it all that tougher said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. "Of course, there's nothing that's ultimately going to be recession-proof if the recession goes on long enough."

“Video games have large amounts of entertainment value beyond short-term enjoyment," Gartenberg said. "That's typically one of the reasons video games have done well." Would you agree?

Gaming Hardware and Software Sales Take a Recession Sized Beating

Justin Kerr — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:35:32 -0500

The recession has been pummeling the living daylights out of the tech industry for almost a year now, and even industries that were once considered “immune” are starting to feel the pinch. Last month both hardware and software game sales slipped a combined 31 percent to $1.2 billion, down from $1.7 billion during the same period in 2008. This unfortunate milestone marks the fourth month in a row of year-over-year declines, and unfortunately for developers, there seems to be no end in sight. To add insult to injury, June’s numbers represent the worst decline since September 2000 when the industry shed over 41 percent. Gaming hardware is defiantly leading the decline with a 38 percent plunge, but software at 29 percent isn’t far behind.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the gaming industry however, and as we noted last week Casual gaming is on the rise. "Online gaming continues to be one of the top gaining categories over the past year growing at ten times the rate of the total U.S. Internet population and reaching nearly one out of every two Internet users," said Edward Hunter, comScore director of gaming solutions.

So have you been doing your part to bail out the gaming industry? Or is everyone just playing a two year old shared copy of Peggle?

Casual Games Flourishing in Bad Economy

Paul Lilly — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:43:51 -0500

When it comes to computer games, you don't have to pay to play, and we're not talking about software piracy. Instead, an increasing number of online gamers are discovering free or low cost casual games which, according to comScore, has seen "significant" growth in the past year.

"Online gaming continues to be one of the top gaining categories over the past year growing at ten times the rate of the total U.S. Internet population and reaching nearly one out of every two Internet users," said Edward Hunter, comScore director of gaming solutions. "And the growth in the category is occurring not only at the top gaming destination sites, but also through viral distribution platforms, including widgets and applications. In fact, some online gaming companies that distributed their games across sites are reaching as many people as the top online gaming sites."

In May of 2009, online gaming claimed 87 million U.S. visitors, an increase of 22 percent over one year ago. Yahoo Games edged out EA Online in claiming the most visitors, but no matter where the online portals ranked in terms of visitors, many of them have seen big growth. GSN Games Networks, for example, isn't in the top 10 but still managed to grow a whopping 563 percent to 6 million visitors.

Image Credit: ps3informer.com

Study: Female MMO Gamers Five Times More Likely to be Bisexual

Paul Lilly — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:00:30 -0600

If you're a male gamer who has been looking for love in all the wrong places, it might be because you're spending too much time playing MMOs. Or, depending on your fantasy woman, maybe that's exactly what you should be doing. You see, not only is nearly half of the Everquest II gaming population female, but they're apparently much more likely to be bisexual than non-EQ II players, online surveys suggest.

According to no less than 2,400 completed web-based surveys, females account for 40 percent of the EQ II gaming community. The surveys also found that female EQ II players display "an unusually high level of bisexuality," more than five times that of the "general population."

"These are not people who are following strict gender stereotypes," said lead researcher Scott Caplan. "I think what you would find in this population are going to be people who are in other ways less traditional than the majority population."

The respondents received an in-game item in exchange for completing a web-based questionnaire about their gaming habits and lifestyles, which has led some to question to the validy of the results.

Image Credit: Fanpop.com

Worm Targeted at Online Gamers Infects Laptop in Space

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:30:18 -0500

A computer worm primarily targeted at online gamers has found a very odd prey in form of the International Space Station. NASA confirmed last week that a computer worm had boarded the International Space Station and infected at least one laptop. Fortunately, though, none of the mission-critical systems were affected by the password-grabbing worm. NASA hasn’t revealed the name of the worm, but a website says that it is W32.Gammima.AG. Most of you might find the entire episode quite surprising and amusing, but the folks at NASA seem to be inured to computer worms aboard the ISS because this is not the first such instance.