Douglas L Ross: Games and Gaming

Sexiest Man In America

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 19:10:26 GMT

ABC recently launched it's "Search for the sexiest man in America" contest in conjunction with TV show All My Children [ http://amc.tcsinteractive.com/phase3/index.cfm ] . The contest is comparable to some of BSkyB's iTV programs in the UK. Consumers can use their cell phones to vote by sending a premium text message to the show. [This requires a subscription to premium text messaging plus a transaction charge $0.50 per message.]

This is something of a milestone. It is the first time in the USA that we have seen a linkage between a television program and the use of cellular telephone text messaging premium services.

Microsoft At NCTA

Tue, 10 Jun 2003 19:10:46 GMT

Yesterday at NCTA, Microsoft introduce Microsoft^® TV Foundation Edition what they descirbe as "a new digital TV software platform designed to help cable operators get more value from on-demand and other digital TV services"

They simultaneously announced support (http://www.microsoft.com/tv/mstvIndustrySupportPR.mspx) for the platform from cable industry vendors Motorola, Inc., SeaChange, Concurrent Computer Corp., MetaTV Inc., Two Way TV Ltd. and Advanced Digital Broadcast Ltd.

They also announced a customer win (http://www.microsoft.com/tv/cablevisionselectsmspr.mspx) for the software platform with Televisa's Cablevision (CVC) subsidiary, one of Mexico City's largest cable MSO with ~450k subscribers announcing that they will adopt it.

Multi-Player Game Patent

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 18:56:05 GMT

Palm faces WLAN gaming patent infringement suit. Multi-player gaming via wireless 'invented' in 1995, apparently [The Register]

OpenTV & PlayJam

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 18:56:40 GMT

PlayJam is a television gaming channel that offers a constantly changing selection of games including play-along quiz, casino and arcade style games using OpenTV (Wink) technology. It claims distribution to over 10 million homes in the U.K., France and the U.S. The PlayJam channel is scheduled to debut a new multiplayer game format on The BSkyB digital satellite television platform in May, 2003, including Multiplayer Darts, Multiplayer Football and Multiplayer Poker.

Media2Go From Microsoft

Tue, 18 Mar 2003 16:34:20 GMT

CNet reporting on Microsoft's launch of Media2Go software at CeBit.

Coalition of Broaband Users and Innovators

Tue, 18 Mar 2003 16:20:30 GMT

A fight is brewing between a Coalition of so-called broadband "users" [comprised primarily of companies interested in access to broadband for Internet e-commerce] and the Cable industry. The link is to the Coalition's recent exparte filing with the FCC

BBC's Celebdaq Celebrity Trading Game

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 14:23:43 GMT

The basic principal is that clelbrities are traded on an exchange like stocks. Their value is influenced by player trading which in turn is influenced by, among other things, what the BBC broadcasts every Friday night at 10:30pm on BBC3. A very clever idea and apparently a sensation in the UK. Here's the link to the Celebdaq website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/celebdaq/index.shtml

Gambling, The Ultimate Online Moneymaker

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 13:30:45 GMT

Cable firms look to gaming. Online gaming could offer a way out of debt for cash-strapped cable TV firms in the UK. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

Nearly 1.0 Million Online Gamers Between Sony PS2 and Microsoft X-Box

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 13:24:27 GMT

Sony responds to Xbox Live boasts. My installed base is bigger than yours [The Register]

Game Show Network Working With GoldPocket On One-Screen ITV

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 15:36:59 GMT

TV Week.com is reporting that the Game Show Network is looking to do interactive applications in the one-screen [as apposed to two-screen TV/PC approach] to take advantage of all the digital settop boxes that are already deployed. http://www.tvweek.com/technology/030303gameshow.html

Simulation Games

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 14:11:02 GMT

Molyneux goes to the movies. Legendary game designer Peter Molyneux's new project, The Movies, is snapped up by games publisher Activision. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

IBM Grid Computing Applied to Development of On-line Games

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 15:05:34 GMT

Sony Is Venturing Into Online Games for Multitudes. Sony will announce on Thursday that it will use the grid computing to accelerate its push into the market for online games with thousands of players. By Steve Lohr. [New York Times: Business]

Here's an exerpt from Butterfly.net's press release http://www.butterfly.net/buzz/releases/index.html

(MARTINSBURG, W. VA - February 27th, 2003)- IBM and Grid pioneer Butterfly.net announced today that Butterfly has signed a Play Station®2 Tools and Middleware agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. to provide technology and networking services for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. As part of the agreement, the companies activated a first-of-its-kind computing grid that allows online game developers to take advantage of the advanced capabilities of PlayStation®2 and to more efficiently provision resources to meet the increasing demands of console gamers.