Kunlun Leads $46M Fund for Online Game Development

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digitalmediawi
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Chinese company Kunlun Wanwei, a leader in online gaming, is partnering with the Korean government to create an investment fund worth about $46 million to boost game development and to expand the global reach of game-related intellectual property.

Kunlun is the second-largest online game publisher in China. It has a market share of 20 percent and reports about $187 million in annual revenue , much of which comes from overseas operations like Kunlun Korea. The leader is Tencent, with 50 percent market share.

News of the fund was first reported by ThisIsGame, which covers the Korean game industry. Among the titles that will receive support from the fund are Three Kingdoms Online, Clash of Kingdoms, and Kungfu Online (pictured), which will be released through Kunlun’s global platform Koram Game.

“The reason for having the investment fund only in Korea is that we recognize Korean developers’ capabilities and know-how,” Kunlun Korea’s general manager MinGoo Kim told ThisIsGame. “We believe that games that succeed in Korea would also experience success abroad, too, and the Korean market deserves its value. Moreover, we thought it would be the best foundation for future global markets we are aiming for.”

Kunlun Korea opened last December with the free-to-play strategy game K3 Online. That title is expected to have at least 200,000 players before September, and the company intends to release KangHo and at least one more title in 2011. Another ten games are slated for 2012, although there may be more depending on how well the games perform.

In addition to several gaming platforms, Kunlun also owns software portal brothersoft.com and mobile portal 1mobile.com. One of its major investors is Chinese telecom equipment and terminal manufacturer Huawei Technologies.

Related Links:

http://www.koramgame.com

ThisIsGame – http://tinyurl.com/3d7lf8w

GamaSutra – http://tinyurl.com/3hbyc7g

P2P Loses Status as Top Way to Share Files

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digitalmediawi
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Despite its iconic status in the eyes of the entertainment industry, BitTorrent has been surpassed as the most popular way to share files on the Internet. In fact, peer-to-peer networks no longer deserve their place in the bullseye of the anti-piracy target.

The Pirate Bay, which indexes torrents, and specialized search engine Torrentz are the only BitTorrent sites that ranked in the top ten of file-swapping sites, according to research by TorrentFreak. The majority of files are now swapped using cyberlockers, otherwise known as centralized file-hosting services. The most popular of these is 4share, the largest English language file-sharing site, which alone is serving 2.5 billion page views each month.

Most cyberlockers assert that they are protected by the safe harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which shields online sites and services from prosecution of they quickly respond to take-down notices alerting them of copyright infringement. Hotfile spells this out on its website and in the legal actions it’s currently embroiled in. Additionally, cyberlockers demonstrably have non-infringing uses.

This chart shows how quickly the technological landscape changes. As TorrentFreak pointed out,  just five years ago BitTorrent sites were the primary way to share files, led by the Pirate Bay, Torrentz, isoHunt and others.

Related Link:

TorrentFreak – http://tinyurl.com/3c47zrs

Photo by flickr user bizmac, used under Creative Commons license

 

3net Showcases 3D for Kids

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digitalmediawi
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Children’s shows are being added to 3net, the joint venture from Sony, Discovery and IMAX that delivers all 3D programming, all the time. The new shows will debut Sept. 25, followed on Oct. 1 by a 30-hour weekend of family-friendly content.

The new kids’ shows will kick off with a prime-time special presentation at 8 p.m. ET/PT of Bolts & Blip and Dream Defenders, both of which are in native 3D animation. The following weekend will launch the 3NET Three Dee Kids lineup, which initially will feature the live-action original series Feeding Time, the 3net exclusive Puppy Bowl, all-new short-form content and more. Additional series and exclusive theatrical titles will be added in the coming months.

Tom Cosgrove, 3net president & CEO, said this initiative was a world’s first. “The announcement of a dedicated programming block for kids 7-12 and their families marks another important step forward in our mission to provide compelling, diverse and original 3D television content to the broadest audience of consumers possible,” said Cosgrove. “It further underscores 3net’s on-going commitment to building upon our leadership position in the dynamic and ever-growing in-home 3D entertainment space.”

Bolts & Blip relates the adventures of two best friend robots who aspire to fight in the Lunar League of Robotic Sports, until they begin to realize it might not be what they imagined. It’s a 26 episode, half-hour series produced by ToonBox Entertainment in partnership with South Korea’s Red Rover Co. Ltd.

Dream Defenders stars twins Zane and Zoey as the real world’s only remaining protection against invasion by monsters from Dreamworld. It’s a 26 episode, half-hour series produced by Tiny Island Productions.

Related Links:

Animation Magazine – http://tinyurl.com/3z7u66t

Hollywood Reporter – http://tinyurl.com/3dzj662

Variety – http://tinyurl.com/3b82sey

 

 

Crowdsourcing Shines Light on Rare Photos

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digitalmediawi
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Faced with the massive task of putting its images into a useful catalog, the George Eastman House photography museum partnered with Clickworker to harness the power of crowdsourcing. The end result will turn the museum’s collections into a searchable library of photos that would otherwise never be fully appreciated – in either sense of the word.

The project involves photo-tagging and cataloging more than 400,000 images from George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, which was founded in 1947 on the estate of Kodak founder George Eastman. Due to the nature of the work, computers can’t really help with the task. Clickworker has more than 115,000 independent contractors who use the company’s web-based platform to input the relevant information as determined individually by human inspection according to criteria provided by the museum.

“Our partnership with Clickworker enables us to make our photographs searchable and ultimately make our collections more accessible to the world,” said Dr. Anthony Bannon, the Ron and Donna Fielding Director at George Eastman House.

Included among the photo collections now being tagged, many of which will be publicly seen for the first time, are images of the conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the construction of the Empire State Building, and portraits of well-known people like Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Frida Kahlo.

“Clickworker is excited to help the renowned George Eastman House archive world art and history in our latest corporate responsibility project,” said Wolfgang Kitza, Clickworker CEO. “It’s not just one country or one cause – but we’re actually helping archive the world. The collection offers the most intimate look at the pioneers of photography and their art.”

Related Links:

http://www.eastmanhouse.org

http://www.clickworker.com

Photo of a visitor examining a phenakistoscope courtesy of George Eastman House

 

Zynga Delays IPO It Pushed For

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digitalmediawi
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Despite its earlier push for an initial public offering “as soon as is practicable,” Zynga has now decided to pause until things settle down on Wall Street. Sources told the New York Post that Zynga is still enthusiastic about an IPO, the social game company is now considering a November public debut.

The decision makes Zynga one of at least a dozen companies to delay their anticipated IPOs in the current financial climate. It is unique, however, in that Zynga reported $90 million in profit on sales of $597 million during 2010. It is projected to exceed $1 billion sales in 2011.

Pausing also will give Zynga additional time to answer questions the Securities Exchange Commission posed after reviewing the company’s S-1 filing. Zynga’s creativity extends beyond the social gaming sphere and into financials with its use of an alternative non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) metric it calls “bookings.”

Here’s how Zynga defines bookings: “The total amount of revenue from the sale of virtual goods in our online games and advertising that would have been recognized in a period if we recognized all revenue immediately at the time of the sale. We record the sale of virtual goods as deferred revenue and then recognize revenue over the estimated average life of the purchased virtual goods or as the virtual goods are consumed.”

The SEC also sought more information on Zynga’s S-1 statement that it relied on a small percentage of paying customers for almost all its revenue, and Zynga’s amended filing now details that less than 5 percent of its users pay money for the games’ virtual goods.

An unrelated move noticed by the financial world was the Zynga board of directors’ approval of a new three-tier stock structure, a change that gave CEO Mark Pincus considerably more voting power than any other shareholder in the initial public offering, according to a Bloomberg report last week. He was given 70 votes per share, up from ten, while pre-IPO investors and other current holders will get seven votes a share, up from one. Public investors will get one vote for each share.

Pincus is Zynga’s largest shareholder with a 16 percent stake, after selling stock valued at $109.5 million, according to U.S. regulatory filings.

Related Links:

New York Post – http://tinyurl.com/3d8zwqv

Forbes – http://tinyurl.com/3j4p88w

Bloomberg – http://tinyurl.com/3e3jtvw

Video Recommender Taboola Attracts $9M

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digitalmediawi
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Video recommendation provider Taboola has secured $9 million in additional capital investment, bringing the company’s total investor funding to $15 million, according to Taboola’s CEO and founder Adam Singolda.

The new funding was led by Crescent Point with participation from existing investor Evergreen VC. Crescent Point also includes Tuduo, China’s second-largest online video site after Youku.com.

Singolda added that Taboola recently crossed the quarter-billion mark for recommendations generated per day. Its publisher partners include Bloomberg, The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, Hearst, Demand Media’s eHow and others.

“We’ve experienced enormous growth, and this new funding will allow us to support that success by expanding our data centers and hiring more engineers, sales and marketing employees,” Singolda said. “We’re getting outstanding feedback from our customers and clearly have an offering the market values.”

Taboola’s technology uses semantic and behavioral algorithms to present personalized video recommendations to site visitors, with a resulting increase in video views and revenue. Publishers can choose the appearance, with many opting for a selection list (as pictured) while others embed the recommendations in their player.

“We attract quality sites in part because we offer advanced editorial control,” Singolda explained. “Publishers can blacklist or promote certain videos to meet their editorial or monetization goals in a self-service fashion.”

Related Link:

http://www.taboola.com

 

7 Degrees Changes Name to Reachable, Hires New CEO

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digitalmediawi
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Palo Alto, Calif. – 7 Degrees, a Palo Alto-based developer of social business tools, said on Monday it has changed its name to Reachable and named Al Campa as CEO.

Campa most recently was the CMO and senior vice president at Taleo, and previously was the founder and CEO of Jaspersoft. He also has also held senior positions at Actuate, Sybase and Sun Microsystems.

Reachable’s social business application under the same name (formerly known as PeopleMaps) allows users to leverage all of their contacts to expand their professional networks. The app consolidates contacts from social networking sites, email clients and other public data sources, and adds new ones from its database of 65 million professionals.

The latest news comes 10 months after the company closed a $6.8 million round of funding co-led by Rho Ventures, vSpring Capital and Parkview Ventures.

This article was also published in Bay Area Tech Wire.

Related Link:

http://www.reachable.com

Photo by flickr user gemsling, used under Creative Commons license

 

 

Ustream Hosts the Dancey Dance

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digitalmediawi
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0

Live interactive broadcast platform Ustream has been chosen to host a Yo Gabba Gabba! virtual birthday party on Sept. 9, an event that otherwise could be considered a family-friendly marketing extravaganza celebrating 50 years of Memorex. It spans a live interactive stream, a network of bloggers, Facebook-based activities, parties in selected families’ real-life homes, and additional consumer product sponsors.

Parts of the festivities are likely to bemuse those not familiar with the award-winning children’s television show. For example, one family was chosen to join the cast during the event, a decision made from among hundreds that entered the Memorex Dancey Dance video contest on Facebook. Only fans of the Nick Jr. show would understand the finer points of the program’s regular feature Dancey Dance, which has been individually interpreted on the show by Jack Black, Mia, Andy Samberg (pictured), Elijah Wood and other guests.

“Sharing the party on Ustream means families from across the country can join in the fun,” said Scott Schultz, who co-created Yo Gabba Gabba! with Christian Jacobs. The show is produced by The Magic Store and Wildbrain Entertainment.

Throughout the event, which starts at noon CDT, Yo Gabba Gabba! characters will take turns at the computer, chatting with viewers and answering questions. The stream will last 20 minutes, and then will continue on a loop at Ustream’s site until noon CDT on Sept. 16. Additionally, bloggers are encouraged to embed the Ustream video on their own sites.

Related Links:

http://www.ustream.com/memorexbirthday

Picture of Andy Samberg on Yo Gabba Gabba! courtesy of Nick Jr.

Speculation Swirls as AOL Hires Investment Bankers, Law Firm

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digitalmediawi
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0

New York – Speculation continued to churn on Monday after AOL late last week confirmed it has hired investment banking firm Allen & Co. and law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Though AOL did not specifically say why, numerous media reports have linked the company to potential mergers or acquisitions.

CEO Tim Armstrong, however, has staunchly denied those rumors. “There is no deal on the table, no proposed deal, and both parties are on retainer with us and we work with them,” Armstrong told Adweek. “Our strategy hasn’t changed and we are moving faster than ever on it.”

AOL has struggled to generate profits since spinning off from former parent Time Warner in late 2009 and focusing on its content business. The company’s shares sunk to an all-time low earlier this month after it reported an 8 percent drop in second-quarter revenue. Shares of AOL rose by nearly 3 percent by midday Monday, and are up more than 30 percent since Aug. 10.

This article was also published in Potomac Tech Wire.

Related Link:

AdAge – http://tinyurl.com/3g6j5rn

Truste Adds Tracking Alert to Video Ads

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digitalmediawi
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0

Large numbers of flash video and rich media ads will start alerting consumers that their behavior is being tracked, following an agreement between privacy company Truste and ad platform Adap.tv. This makes the second major video ad platform to adopt the alert icons, Tremor Video having announced its plans to roll them out in September. The two companies account for 40 percent of video ads that reach U.S. consumers, according to comScore.

“Truste feels strongly about informing consumers about their privacy choices – yet doing it in a way that doesn’t thwart industry innovation,” said Chris Babel, CEO of Truste. “Integrating this capability further reflects our commitment to provide notice and choice not only on any platform but also for any medium.”

The licensed icon is the most visible part of the online advertising industry’s self-regulatory privacy program, which establishes best practices for online behavioral advertising (OBA) among other tools. It is being managed by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), an initiative led by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

“Making sure that our company keeps pace with evolving industry requirements — including OBA compliance — is a priority for Adap.tv,” said Toby Gabriner, president of Adap.tv. “Integrating TRUSTed Ads directly into our platform provides advertisers and publishers with a consistent and recognized solution for communicating their online data privacy practices.”

Related Links:

MediaPost – http://tinyurl.com/3p448tq

Self-Regulatory Program for OBA – http://www.aboutads.info/

http://www.tremorvideo.com

http://www.truste.com

Photo by flickr user kyknoord, used under Creative Commons license

 

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