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Report: Market for Online Games to Double Over Next Four Years

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 26, 2004 - 3:40am.
Dublin -- The total market for online games, including both massively multiplayer titles and casual games like online poker, will double over the next four years from $1 billion in 2004 to over $2 billion by 2007, according to a report from Dublin-based Research and Markets. Massively multiplayer online games will foster the market, with Europe becoming the biggest growth market for such titles as the U.S. reaches saturation point, the firm noted. Also contributing to growth will pay-per-play browser gaming, which generated $137 million in 2003 but is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 40% through 2007 and become the second-largest online gaming sector. Resumed growth of advertising within online games, casual games service subscriptions and broadband games-on-demand services are also expected to spur the online games market.
tags: Games | Internet | Reports | Double |

Polish Police Bust Pirate Group That Hacked Academic Servers to Store Files

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 26, 2004 - 3:27am.
Warsaw -- A group of over 100 hackers who used academic computer networks to store games, movies and music they sold on the pirate market has been busted by Polish police, Reuters reported. In addition to storing their pirated wares on the university servers, the group of mainly twenty-something hackers may have also lifted and sold academic theses they found stored there. "They broke into the biggest systems they could find and set up 'warehouses' to store pirated games, films and music," police spokeswoman Agata Salatka told Reuters. "They distributed the goods through the Internet, and also supplied bazaars with the latest hits -- even before their official premieres."
tags: Store | Polish Police | Files | Pirate Group | Academic Servers |

Software Allows Automatic Recording of Satellite Radio Broadcasts

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 26, 2004 - 3:24am.
New York -- A Canadian programmer has begun selling a program called TimeTrax that automatically records broadcasts from satellite radio services like XM and Sirius, adds artist information and converts them to MP3 files for storage on a PC, Reuters reported. TimeTrax allows users to create a library of songs played over satellite radio, with more than 2,400 users already having downloaded a free version or a $29.95 full version of the software. Both the satellite services and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said they don't approve of the software, and are seeking a means of preventing its distribution. Lawyers for XM Satellite Radio have sent a letter to programmer Scott MacLean asking him to discontinue sales and provide the company with a list of purchasers. "It's our expectation they will be shut down," XM vice president of corporate affairs Chance Patterson told Reuters. "We're also researching any potential legal violations." RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy told Reuters his group "remain(s) concerned about any devices or software that permit listeners to transform a broadcast into a music library."
tags: Satellite Radio | Software | Broadcasts | Automatic |

Webcast Metrics Launches to Measure Internet Radio Audiences

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 26, 2004 - 3:15am.
Denver -- Two online radio advertising sales firms have announced the launch of Webcast Metrics, a new independent platform that will measure Internet radio audiences. Net Radio Sales and Ando Media launched the new measurement firm this week to fill the gap left by broadcast radio ratings firm Arbitron and now-defunct providers like MeasureCast. "We intend to use this tool to quantify the size of Internet Radio audiences and offer highly reliable, accountable data to the advertiser.: said Jennifer Lane, president of Net Radio Sales. "The technology also enables delivery of real time reports to advertisers that provide the kind of accountability that advertisers want today. Reporting capabilities can include daily gross impressions by station or advertisement."
tags: Internet | Radio | Audiences | Webcast Metrics |

Microsoft "Plays for Sure" Campaign to Tout Support for Devices, Services

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 26, 2004 - 1:45am.
San Francisco -- Microsoft plans to launch a branding campaign that touts the ability of portable devices running its software to operate with a range of different online services and other devices, CNET News.com reported. A line of portable devices that play audio and video and run Microsoft's Portable Media Center software, from manufacturers including Creative Labs and iRiver, are due for release in the fall. The company will stick a "Plays for sure" logo on such devices and promote the slogan on services that offer downloads of media in its proprietary Windows Media format. The campaign is intended to differentiate the company's products from those of rivals Apple and Sony, which have largely closed off their respective portable devices and online services from rivals.
tags: Microsoft | Devices | Plays for Sure | Services |

Mobile Game Publisher Mforma Acquires U.K. Developer Blue Beck

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 26, 2004 - 1:43am.
Bellevue, Wash. -- Mobile entertainment publisher Mforma, which last week raised $40 million in venture capital and acquired developer Fingertwitch, announced on Thursday the purchase of another mobile game developer, U.K.-based Blue Beck. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 2001, Blue Beck has created console and mobile titles for Electronic Arts, THQ, Jamdat and Mforma. Bellevue, Wash.-based Mforma said the acquisition of Blue Beck will allow it to tighten its production schedule and increase output.
tags: Mforma | U.K | Mobile Game | Blue Beck |