TechCrunch reports on the release of WebFlock, a hosted, in-browser virtual world service offered by The Electric Sheep Company. Formerly Second Life-obsessed (weren't we all at one point), the company brought a number of major brands into the overhyped virtual world (such as Major League Baseball, LEGO, and Starwood Hotels). Now, the Sheep have cut out the middle-world by starting up their own.

Because WebFlock is Flash based, it's accessible by over 90% of the web browsers out there: in other words, everyone can get in easily (unlike the recently-launched Google Lively, which requires a large plugin download and only runs on Windows-based PCs running Internet Exploder). Gotta like low barriers to entry.

Sheep CEO Sibley Verbeck reportedly puts the price of basic private-world hosting at "under $100,000" for a year of service. Well out of the range of any but rich corporations. Showtime is coughing up for the service, bringing an extension of its L-Word TV property to WebFlock after a successful splash in Second Life. I suspect many major brands will follow suit, as controlled spaces are much more attractive than "anything goes" sandboxes.

• Cheaper Games better than DRM - Could bringing prices down secure PC Gaming? [PlayNoEvil]
  "Look at all the debit cards available at supermarkets - impulse purchasing is powerful. If games cost what a paperback does, how many more would be sold?" Some interesting ideas from Steven Davis about price structuring and piracy, etc.
  (tags: games business commerce security piracy itunes)
• Royal Television Society - ‘Going Round In Circles’ [Extenuating Circumstances]
  Dan Hon's rough transcript of the RTS event 'Going Round In Circles' ('Why Is 360 Commissioning The Future of Television?').
  (tags: 360 crossmedia tv business)
• Depressing Numbers Revealed for Facebook Platform [The Unofficial Facebook Blog]
  "...opportunity is found in new locations. We are seeing consolidation in the space and real build out from larger networks of applications including Zynga, Social Gaming Network, RockYou, Slide and similar companies."
  (tags: analysis facebook platform software development technology web)
• Apophysis.org
  Freeware fractal flame editor for Windows. That's all I know. Oh, and the links to user-created tutorials are 404.
  (tags: software mathematics abstract art design download tools visualization)
• 2600 Hacker Quarterly - Facebook Applications Revealed (exploits)
  Flickr pic of Facebook exploit article. Lesson: We can't trust Facebook developers to build with our security in mind.
  (tags: security technology software development facebook hacking exploit)

Clipped this from a Cartoon Network email I received minutes ago, talking about how awesome its upcoming FusionFall MMO is going to be:

"How is FusionFall different from other online games out there?

The biggest difference is that we are combining two play styles: platform gaming with RPGs. That hasn't been done before in an MMO and it's really exciting."

Hasn't MapleStory combined platform gaming with RPGs in an MMO format since at least 2005? Someone tell me if I'm wrong, this Cartoon Network assertion is making me dizzy.

• Oddworld at 10 [GamesIndustry.biz]
  "We're in early stages on a feature film...pre-production stages...but it will still be a while," says 'Oddworld' creator Lorne Lanning as he heads towards 'Oddworld 2.0' business model. Whatever that is.
  (tags: gaming, games, culture, transmedia, motionpictures, business, development)
• Missed Gaming Opportunity on CSI - Gaming and Licensing [PlayNoEvil]
  Fictional game shown on 'CSI' fails to be launched as actual game. Missed opportunity not just for gaming but for transmedial storytelling. Good opening for a "fiction-jacker" to create their own version of the game.
  (tags: game gaming tv transmedia development design culture marketing)
• Human Computer Interaction in Science Fiction Movies
  "This paper presents a survey of different kinds of interaction designs in movies during the past decades and relates the techniques of the films to existing technologies and prototypes where possible."
  (tags: analysis art article motionpictures culture technology design interactivity interface hci reference)
• TV, film and game violence seen as a threat [Reuters]
  "Violence depicted on television, in films and video games raises the risk of aggressive behavior in adults and young viewers and poses a serious threat to public health, according to a new study." Panic on the streets of London!
  (tags: tv motionpictures games culture anthropology psychology study science people groups media society health)
• Video Ads on Xbox Live?
  Uh oh. December Xbox Live update "Added support for Audio Mute/Unmute for video ads." The static ads are already obnxious enough. And yet we keep paying.
  (tags: business advertising advergaming marketing gaming xboxlive)
• The Joker's latest task is a Piece of Cake [ARGNet]
  Movie meets gaming meets baking: Cake with phone number written in icing contains mobile phone. Someone call the Boston Police.
  (tags: marketing transmedia motionpictures mobile arg game gaming game.mechanic food play)
• Cinemassively: "Lost" island lost in Second Life [Massively]
  Interesting blurb about 3D fan-fiction: an homage to LOST's island in Second Life. 277 members. Pity it wasn't an official ABC venture, given SL rents virtual islands.
  (tags: secondlife culture fandom tv transmedia)

A couple of projects I was involved with late last year are now fully operational. Although each project was for a separate broadcaster, each puts the player in the role of a secret agent. Must have been something in the air in 2007.

The Border: Interactive, which supports the new CBC TV series The Border, was produced by White Pine Pictures in association with Stitch Media, and is comprised of a series of narrative-driven mini-games. I'm pretty sure this is the first major project launch for Stitch Media, founded by Evan Jones, former Creative Director of Xenophile Media. As Game Designer on The Border: Interactive, I worked closely with Evan and his team during the pre-production phase, developing high-concept game ideas into executable design documents. Jam3Media worked with Stitch to develop the games in Flash.

M.I. High, a CBBC TV series, is now supported by an episodic web-game. I helped out as a game design consultant on the project, but I can't say more than that until I hear back from my client.

• DS TV goes on sale in Japan [GameSpot]
  Nintendo releases DS TV (TV tuner for DS and DS Lite) exclusively in Japan for the equivalent of roughly $60 USD. Apparently one of the features gives the viewer a group of imaginary friends to watch TV with.
  (tags: tv hardware handheld NDS)
• Warner Bros. Veteran Appointed to Sparkplay Media Advisory Board
  Ooh, good for Sparkplay, the Iron Realms spinoff snagged 25-year Warner Bros. veteran Rick Senat for its advisory board.
  (tags: people business games)
• FPV Video Home Page
  'Quake' plus remote-controlled vehicle plus video camera equals First-Person View Video. Or, if you prefer, wire-guided missles plus RC vehicles plus video cameras. Whichever.
  (tags: culture design technology hardware video diy)
• Roboexotica
  The world's leading festival for cocktail robotics. Apparently.
  (tags: robots hardware technology diy)

Blizzard has released a pair of comedic World of Warcraft commercials, destined for (presumably American) national TV, featuring William Shatner's alter ego as a Shaman and Mr. T's alter ego as a "Mohawk" Night Elf. The game is already no stranger to television, having been referenced in an episode of game show Jeopardy in 2005, featured in an episode of South Park last year and in a recent Toyota ad.

I see Blizzard's new ads as a confirmation of the mainstreaming of World of Warcraft specifically, and of MMOs in general: If pop culture icons are living in virtual worlds, anyone can. Granted, Shatner and Mr. T might not carry the cool-factor-style endorsement younger stars provide, but as more celebrity gamers come out of the closet (regardless of whether they're for real or paid poseurs), MMO lifestyles are going to gain increasing social acceptance.

In another few years, having an avatar alter ego is simply going to be a fact of life, facilitated in part by the future domination of the "free to play" MMO model. As a result, avatar support services will become more visible, from in-world makeovers; parents grinding for their kids; and the usual power-leveling / gold farming / gray-market virtual trading businesses.

An episode of the CBS TV show Numb3rs last week, which depicted a sort of Alternate Reality Game, has received fairly good reviews from a few key sources. Steve Peters (42 Entertainment) wrote that the episode was "great fun to watch," noting the game genre's mention in mainstream entertainment was a historic first. Raph Koster (Areae) grumbled that the game portrayed in the show looked more intriguing than real ones, but conceded that the show writers "got surprisingly more right than [...] wrong." The genre's top news source, ARGNet, reported that the show received "generally positive reactions" and pointed out that an actual (non-televised) ARG seems to have been launched in support of Numb3rs and the CBS suite of web sites.

Aside from a handful gaming insiders and TV sites, my impression (based on a cursory web search today) is that the Numb3rs ARG episode doesn't seem to have generated widespread discussion. Perhaps this will begin to change, given ARGNet's discovery that an ARG-like game in support of the show is unfolding. CBS has been creeping into cross-media territory lately, investing in metaverse developers The Electric Sheep Company last February, and producing a recent episode of CSI:NY crossing over into the virtual world Second Life. The success of that crossover seems tame at best--with the show's presence in Second Life trimmed down by a reported 93% barely a week after launch.

• Open Social: a new universe of social applications all over the web
  Ning's Marc Andreessen broadly explains the features of Google-spearheaded open web API "Open Social," compares, contrasts with the Facebook platform concept. Sounds very promising.
  (tags: technology google software platform development facebook business socialsoftware web sns networks)
• Active Worlds Embeds 3D Worlds in Facebook
  Active Worlds has reportedly announced Facebook integration of its virtual world (no link to the announcement provided by source). Works with IE only, sadly.
  (tags: facebook synthetic.worlds 3D 3pointD activeworlds technology software business)
• Turbine to Users: “We own your CC information”
  Horror story with chatlog explains how Turbine is screwing players of Lord of the Rings Online: "You either keep your [credit card] information in our system or the game that you PAID for will no longer work, ever."
  (tags: bullshit business policy administration mmog game gaming)
• Games and Storytelling: A Working Definition of Storytelling that Encompasses New Media
  Link to PDF: "PJ's Attic explores the story vs. game debate in this white paper and presents a new model for storytelling that encompasses both traditional and new media formats."
  (tags: filetype:pdf design games storytelling narrative technology interactivity whitepaper)
• Sheepish
  Prokofy Neva crunches various CSI:NY / Second Life crossover numbers. Prokofy isn't buying that this was a success. Interesting tidbit: "An RP group that says they've been playing CSI in SL on their own for a year have 175 members."
  (tags: synthetic.worlds secondlife tv transmedia statistics data criticism roleplay groups)
• Epistemic Games- "How Computer Games Help Children Learn"
  "...how video and computer games can help teach kids to build successful futures--but only if we think in new ways about education itself... [the book] revolutionizes the ongoing debate about the pros and cons of digital learning."
  (tags: book books games gaming education academic psychology technology youth)
• vSide Forums: Buying Creds without permission is a REALLY bad idea
  Maker of vSide chastises users for stealing their parents' credit cards in order to buy in-world currency, threatens to ban offenders. I can almost see the giant virtual finger wagging.
  (tags: synthetic.worlds law crime youth emergence policy vside)

Roving reporter Amber MacArthur is doing a story on Manhunt 2 today, and roped me in for some soundbites. I was able to play about 10 minutes of the ultra-violent game while we chatted. Amber and I were treated to all sorts of Halloweenish sights during the first few minutes of game-play, including needle-stabbings and poop-flinging. Frankly, I was expecting more but based on what I've seen on YouTube, the action gets more disgusting as the game progresses.

If all goes according to plan, you'll be able to catch the segment tonight (6pm and 11pm Eastern, I believe) on City News, provided you're not already needle-stabbing or flinging poop at local kids during their trick-or-treating.