GMG Entertainment are a publisher of "digital currency cards" for online gaming/entertainment companies, and has just announced a new range of pre-paid cards to be sold exclusively at Toys "R" Us.

The cards are individually branded with titles from GMG partners, including AdvertureQuest, Cartoon Doll Emporium, Gala-Net, Stardoll, WildTangent and Zwinky, as well as a new partner, WeeWorld.

The announcement was made today by Rob Goldberg, founder and CEO of GMG Entertainment, and Worlds In Motion talked to Goldbert to discuss the company's entry in to the space, the unusual way that retail buying works, and the potential of pre-paid cards for both retailers and publishers.

How did the pre-paid business start to take off in North America?

GMG started in the marketing services working with retailers -- specifically Target -- but around the same time as that, well, it's not very well known, but it's Target who actually brought the idea of the pre-paid iTunes card to Apple and sold them on that. The first iTunes cards were co-branded and were exclusive to Target. In terms of retailers in North America who were focused on pre-paid cards for digital entertainment, Target were ahead of the curve. So a few years ago that led to their head of digital entertainment, Tim Pechmann, looking for additional cards to sell. He tried the eMusic card, the Rhapsody card, none of those sold particularly well, until Nexon met with him and offered him the same kind of pre-paid cards that they explained were selling so well for them in China and the rest of Asia. After a little research Target decided to sell those cards too.

Now, there's an interesting fact about these cards. Retailers love them over any other product they have in their store, because the cards themselves don't take up any inventory. They're not activated until they're purchased, so they don't sit on the balance sheet of the retailer. They feel like "free money" to retailers. So it's a very positive business for retailers to get into, and it really lowers the bar for any retailers who are unsure about it, they don't need to worry about losing money on it.

So, Target and Nexon. The only advertising that they did for that card was on their website, and yet in store it did exceptionally well. I can't quote the revenue but it did very, very well. So Target looked around for other companies to buy cards from.

Now, a very common part of retail is that the buyers are moved around the company constantly. So the DVD buyer from Target was promoted to diaper buying because it was a bigger category. So it's not like the gaming buyers at Target have years of experience buying games and know every new trend. They don't know free-to-play or microtransactions; they may not even have rudimentary gaming knowledge or experience.

Even with this kind of lack of knowledge Target were trying to get into the space. It's almost certainly the only time in history that a seventy billion dollar company has been cold-calling companies asking to sell their product.

Live Gamer offers a publisher-supported marketplace for player-to-player exchange of virtual goods (and real money) -- with clients as high-profile as Sony agreeing support in titles such as the upcoming The Agency and Free Realms -- and they have now announced that Singapore-based Magma Studios have also agreed to use the Live Gamer Exchange as its exclusive marketplace for its virtual worlds.

According to their website, Magma Studios' clients include "Fox International, 10tacle Studios (MTV's The Youtopia Project), Disney Channel Asia and Makena Technologies (There)" though it is not clear if the agreement with Live Gamer would include any of these clients or their services – and, indeed, 10tacle Studios declared insolvency several months ago, so their online client list is clearly outdated.

Live Gamer previously announced a new VP of Product Marketing, Kurtis Buckmaster, and a partnership with online game publisher True Games -- which has yet to announce its first title.

"Magma Studios' selection of Live Gamer is testament to the demand for legitimate, sanctioned player-to-player trading," said Andrew Schneider, president and co-founder of Live Gamer. "For virtual world operators, The Live Gamer Exchange provides a secure platform and revenue opportunity that benefits the operator/developer and users alike. Once users invest in a digital representation of themselves, the personal touches, items, and achievements that evolve from their passion and creativity in the virtual world, increasingly they are attributed real-world value."

We just mentioned some news from Linden Labs concerning Second Life (what else?) – their recent translation project -- and that announcement included some discussion of the way in which they were trying to make localization easier with a set of new tools.

Well, they're on a drive to streamline and improve a lot of processes, because they've just announced that Rivers Run Red’s Immersive Workspaces 2.0, a virtual world collaboration solution, is now available on the Second Life Grid.

The companies also announced a strategic partnership to sell and market each other’s products (either individually or jointly) and to "explore developing and deploying additional offerings for Linden Lab’s growing base of enterprise customers."

The partnership was announced due to the "demand for a solution that enables organizations to quickly implement, configure and populate a virtual world … Immersive Workspaces meets these needs by pre-configuring workspace options and wrapping the Second Life Grid solution in a web-based framework rich with familiar tools and interfaces."

"In today's financial climate, every enterprise regardless of size or industry is looking for ways to increase productivity, reduce costs, and boost overall profitability," said Mark Kingdon, Chief Executive Officer, Linden Lab. "With documented benefits and use cases and enterprise-ready applications such as Immersive Workspaces from partners such as Rivers Run Red, the Second Life Grid is the ideal platform for enterprises looking to add a virtual element to their operations."

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape. You can view Part 1 of our investigation here.]

We've mentioned KingsIsle's teen and 'tween-targeted magic-themed virtual world Wizard101 multiple times here on Worlds In Motion, and now that it's been launched officially for a few weeks, it's time for us to give it an in-depth look as part of our Online World Atlas.

Former PlayStation Europe CEO and Edinburgh Interactive Festival Chair Chris Deering has joined the advisory board of in-game commerce network PlaySpan, where he'll contribute from his ten years' experience with SCEE dealing with cross-cultural and cross-currency issues.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, PlaySpan provides virtual goods marketplaces for online games. It offers payment methods through its PayByCash subsidiary brand, which the company says supports more than 70 payment methods across 200 countries.

It also offers a pre-paid "Ultimate Game Card" at over 20,000 North American locations and plans to go global. The company recently raised $6.5 million in Series A venture capital, and its current partners include Outspark (Fiesta) and K2 Networks.

"The PlaySpan microtransaction platform delivers the next big revenue stream to game publishers based on in-game commerce and complements subscription and advertising revenue streams," Deering says.

Deering retired from Sony in 2005 after founding the London-based PlayStation division for EMEA and Australasia territories in 1995. He has also served as VP of international marketing at Atari and spent 10 years as senior VP of Sony Pictures as COO of international video.

"I am impressed with the all- star team at PlaySpan/ PayByCash and their industry leading technology which has gained rapid adoption by reputable game developers and publishers worldwide," says Deering. "I look forward to helping PlaySpan realize its objective to become global market leader."

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

APB developer Realtime Worlds has announced the appointment of Brian Ullrich as director of development and Robert Rice as vice president of online operations, as the company moves closer to the launch of its second title.

Ullrich boasts 20 years experience in the industry and has held senior positions at Nintendo, Software Creations, DMA Design, VR-1, LithTech, Microsoft and, most recently, Electronic Arts. He will report directly to CEO David Jones and will take charge of all development at the company’s Scottish development studio.

Rice was previously director of network and security operations at NCsoft, with responsibilities covering both U.S. and European data centers and development studios. He will now lead the operations team supporting Realtime Worlds’ data and game operations centers, billing and customer support.

Already known for Xbox 360 title Crackdown, Realtime Worlds was founded by original Grand Theft Auto creator David Jones in 2002, alongside fellow British industry veterans Ian Hetherington and Tony Harman. Massively multiplayer online game APB is tentatively scheduled for release in 2009.

“We’re delighted to have individuals of such high calibre come on board. Their wealth of experience will be invaluable in continuing the company’s success and of achieving the ambitious goals we have for the next few years,” said Jones.

[The preceding article by David Jenkins originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

UK-based independent developer Jagex is appointing former THQ exec Vince Farquharson to head up its flagship title, the fantasy MMO RuneScape.

Farquharson will focus on expanding RuneScape through further content development and launching the game in new territories.

At THQ, Farquharson was creative director and development director for three years, overseeing titles including Moto GP 06 and 07, Worms: Open Warfare 1 and 2, Worms: A Space Oddity, Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command and Broken Sword: The Angel of Death.

"Vince brings a wealth of industry experience, making him the ideal candidate for Head of RuneScape," says Jagex CEO Geoff Iddison. "We see him as a fantastic addition to RuneScape, at a time when the game is surging in popularity."

Says Farquharson, "I'm absolutely thrilled to be joining the RuneScape team. Since its launch in 2001, RuneScape has evolved into a phenomenal success with millions of players across the world. I'm very excited to be working with the team responsible for this, as we take the game forward into 2009 and beyond."

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Speak of the devil -- we just mentioned publisher True Games and the fact that they hadn't announced any titles yet in another news post, and here they come along and announce that they've just acquired the global publishing rights for free-to-play MMORPG Warrior Epic, developed by Beijing-based Possibility Space. The title is to launch in spring 2009.

Warrior Epic is to be an online, action role-playing game set in an "original fantasy world," featuring "multiplayer campaigns, adventure mode, solo quests, and PVP." No more details have been revealed.

Previously, True Games appointed Peter Jarvis As CTO.

"This partnership demonstrates True Games' commitment to bringing quality triple-A gameplay, traditionally only seen in retail releases, to the free-to-play game space," said Jeff Lujan, Founder and Chairman of True Games Interactive. "Not only is Warrior Epic a visually beautiful MMORPG, it also offers some incredibly innovative gameplay features that, combined with the free-to-play model, will ensure a big hit with gamers around the world".

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape. You can view Part 1 of our investigation here, and Part 2 here.]

We've mentioned KingsIsle's teen and 'tween-targeted magic-themed virtual world Wizard101 multiple times here on Worlds In Motion, and now that it's been launched officially for a few weeks, it's time for us to give it an in-depth look as part of our Online World Atlas.

Alice, Bad Day LA and Grimm designer American McGee has unveiled a new game pitch, using his official website to showcase his latest concept: an "MMO lite racing title" called BaiJiu Racer.

"Traditionally, when I’ve pitched game concepts, the process involved face-to-face meetings with potential publishers, use of our agents (CAA) back in Los Angeles, and lots of traveling," writes McGee. "Well, I’m getting old, China is FAR from the rest of the world, and the Internet can do a lot of amazing things, so here’s a game pitch for the next generation."

BaiJiu Racer, a free-to-play, microtransaction-focused online game concept his Spicy Horse studio developed in concert with Chinese publishing partner ICEE, will feature portrayals of everyday Chinese people and locations in a "distinctive art style," and gameplay focused on skill-based racing that avoids "fun-killing power-ups."

McGee also notes the idea's "strong narrative backbone and emotional drama," and promises "track locations that reveal a China few foreigners have seen." He plans to use third-party tools -- namely the Unreal Engine 3, which he used to develop Grimm, for the project. McGee also says he already has its design documents and development plan in order.

"A lot of teams dream of a [Mario Kart] or [Kart Rider] killer - and we think our concept goes a long ways towards being a viable contender," he writes.

"For one, it’s the first Chinese cart racing game developed with an authentic and original Chinese art style, set in real-world locations, and featuring some of the funkiest racing vehicle designs the world has ever seen (inspiration coming from actual Chinese vehicles)."

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Star Wars IP holder LucasArts and developer BioWare Austin unveiled Star Wars: The Old Republic, its long-rumored new PC MMO set in the Star Wars universe, at a press conference attended by Gamasutra yesterday.

The conference, held at LucasArts' Presidio headquarters, started with LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez discussing the genesis of the title.

He explained: "Ever since Knights Of The Old Republic 2, we've wanted to return to [that] world", and noting: "BioWare has great familiarity with LucasArts, as well as with the Star Wars brand."

BioWare co-founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka took the stage during the press breifing. "We thought about a Howard The Duck MMO -- that was a little too out-there," Muzyka joked, explaining that BioWare has wanted to build an MMO "probably for over a decade."

"Internally, we've joked we're making KotOR 3 through 10 -- it really is that big," he added.

CyberSports' long-awaited free-to-play football MMO Football Superstars has announced its latest brand partnership -- Reebok, via in-game advertising firm IGA Worldwide, are to become an integrated partner in the title.

Reebok is to use the platform to launch the "Ambassador Programme", a search offering amateur players across the world the chance to win a sponsorship deal with Reebok. Successful entrants can win a supply of Reebok boots and kit (both in and outside of the game), in-game currency and custom apparel for their avatars.

In addition, virtual advertising hoardings, provided by IGA, are appear around the Football Superstars pitches to support Reebok’s Ambassador Programme.

Andy Law, Head of Business Development at CyberSports, said: “This is a great deal for us and Football Superstars. Reebok are a high profile and firm favorite football brand and they will bring an even more realistic dimension to the game play, blurring the reality between the virtual and the real worlds which is what Football Superstars is all about.”

It's that time of year, so more Halloween-related promotions have been announced for MMO titles (following previous announcements of content in Wizard101 and La Tale) sigh OnNet USA announcing that Shot Online, Asda Story and Manga Fighter -- all games featured on their GamesCampus portal -- are to celebrate the holiday with in-game events and prizes.

Through October 31st players of Shot Online are invited to go to the main square in the game where they will find trick-or-treats, and can also get three different sets of autumn clothes for each character, special Halloween clubs and golf balls.

In Asda Story, players can take part in the "October Attendance Event" where 100 random winners will win a gold exchange ticket for collecting 5 tickets in game. In addition, those who collect 10 tickets will be put in a drawing to win $3,000 in CampusCash, and players who collect all of the tickets will have a chance to win $10,000 Campus Cash. Following the Attendance Event there are to be additional Halloween contests and special events.

In Manga Fighter through October 31st, players will be awarded in-game items randomly through events and contests. In addition, any player who plays Manga Fighter will be awarded double experience.

As the presidential election looms virtual worlds are getting in touch with us to explain the ways in which their inhabitants are involved in the process – you might remember our earlier post on Woogi World's "Every Kid Votes" promotion.

Teen-orientated virtual world ourWorld has let us know they're getting their audience involved by allowing them to make a "fashion statement" by letting players voice their opinions through election t-shirts. Since Oct. 6th, players have been able to buy baseball tees emblazoned with either Obama or McCain '08, and has revealed number of players who have chosen to wear each: 328 for Obama, 32 for McCain.

In addition, we've just been sent an invite to sit in on "for the first televised presidential debate in Second Life" on October 25th. It sounds almost deliriously exciting, but they don't mean a debate between the presidential candidates within Second Life, but between a pair of Second Life residents on opposing sides ("Cubsfan Pugilist" of Obama for President and "Wyatt Forster "of McCain for America). The debate will be streamed live at the Metaverse TV website, and throughout the Metaverse TV sim within Second Life.

"This in-world debate will be a way for anxious voters and onlookers to get a better feel of what is going on within each of the political parties," said a Metaverse TV representative.

We first talked to Hong Kong-based developer Linking People just over a year ago, and since then they've revealed the first pictures of their flash-based strategy MMO Coobico online.

We decided to get back in touch with co-founder and company director Lutz Winter to talk to him about the title and his company's different take on the free-to-play market.

Why did you decide to set up Linking People in Hong Kong?

LW: Hong Kong is just a vibrant and fast place for entrepreneurs, and it's still an excellent hub for doing business in mainland China and Taiwan.

The internet in China is an important playground for us, because it is not as saturated yet as most Western markets. We feel it's vital to be on the spot that is rapidly growing to surpass the United States as the nation with the most Internet users.

Lets talk about Coobico.

LW: Coobico is an immersive and persistent online-world, offering a blend of strategic city-building, socializing and lightweight role-playing.

It's a genre-mix that I've never seen before, especially the part of massively multiplayer city-building. It's like a title of the Settlers- or Anno-franchises meets Habbo Hotel.

Coobico also allows for casual MMORPG action where you can pick up a quest at your settlement to explore nearby dungeons, including combat and collecting useful gear, but sans the steep learning-curve and grinding of hardcore RPGs -- think of this part of the mix more like Bomberman than WoW.

Coobico is geared toward the "hardcore-casual", the gap between traditional MMOs and social worlds. It's for everybody who always felt that MMORPGs take too much time and effort, while puzzle-games appear as too simplistic.

Disney Online has announced the official opening of their new virtual world Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow, where players create their own Fairy to "take flight alongside Tinker Bell and tons of Fairy friends."

In Pixie Hollow, players can play "Talent Games", collect curios, perform crafting and earn badges, with new content to continue to be added to the world, according to Disney representatives, with new features to include "Fairy parties, wilderness quests and more."

In conjunction with the launch, Disney Consumer Products is introducing an assortment of Disney Fairies toys that connect to Pixie Hollow, including the Clickables Fairy Collection -- jewelry that unlocks special content in Pixie Hollow when the user “clicks" their Disney Fairies jewelry with their real-world friends offline. Girls can also play a handheld electronic LCD game to earn "Tink Points" offline that can be redeemed online for "butterfly friends" that fly with their Fairies in Pixie Hollow.

In addition to the Clickables Fairy Collection, select new Disney Fairies toys are to include a “Pixie Pass” in the package, enabling users to log on to a special web site to receive special items for their virtual Fairy.

“Pixie Hollow is an online destination where fans of all ages can become a Fairy and go to live in a magical world of Tinker Bell and her friends,” said Steve Parkis, senior vice president, Disney Online. “More than 7 and a half million Fairies have already been created and, until now, have been all dressed up with no place to go. Now, in Pixie Hollow, Fairies can join their friends, take flight and live their very own Fairy adventures.”

Areae, developer of the virtual world open platform Metaplace has announced that it has officially changed its name to the same as its platform – and that the newly-named Metaplace has raised $6.7 million in financing from existing investors Charles River Ventures and Crescendo Ventures and new investors, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

This round brings the company's total financing to $9.4 million, something which the company states positions it "for strong growth as it builds out the world's first open platform that allows anyone to create virtual worlds on the Web."

The company also unveiled an invitation-only beta program for its site and platform.

"Building virtual worlds has always been the purview of large companies with deep pockets," said Raph Koster, co-founder of Metaplace. "Our vision at Metaplace is to combine the ubiquity and ease of the Web with the immersive and addictive nature of video games to give everyday users the power to create a network of worlds based on their interests be it community, games, education or business. "In the coming years, as virtual places become a standard element of the Web, alongside text, audio, images, and video, Metaplace will be the engine that enables the transformation."

Jagex has quietly crafted in RuneScape the world's second-largest Western MMO -- with roughly 5.3 million active players per month, the free-to-play, browser-based title comes in just behind World of Warcraft. Now, the UK-based company's heading for a new frontier with a game portal called FunOrb.

The recently-launched site offers what the company calls "deep casual gaming" -- the aim's to provide deep and compelling game experiences within the same time frames usually associated with casual titles.

It's a promising idea with some unique aspects to it -- and is sure to pose a challenge for the company as it's tasked with maintaining its growth plans for thriving RuneScape at the same time. Jagex CEO Geoff Iddison talks to Gamasutra about the details of FunOrb and how it plans to balance its goals.

I (personally) first heard about RuneScape when I was working in the specialist press; We were always checking our traffic to see how our site was doing, and RuneScape was the third biggest gaming website by traffic!

Geoff Iddison: It's at least that. Probably number two. It's the second-biggest western MMO currently. If you look at the number of active players for our game over a month period, we're about 5.3 million per month. World of Warcraft is about 9.3 million, and number three is well behind us. We're number two in the western world.

We launched our new game in March of this year called FunOrb. FunOrb is a deep casual game experience -- there's nothing quite like it on the market -- and we feel that it's really going to appeal to those ex-MMOG players who no longer have the time to play an MMO but want a deep, compelling gaming experience within an easily accessible, relatively short period of time. Playtime for the FunOrb games is between 12 and 40 hours, so it's deep minigames.

The whole business model of Jagex products, and this business model will go forward with our new MMO coming out next year, is free to play, and if you want deeper content, you pay a subscription. Subscription is five dollars a month for RuneScape and three dollars a month for FunOrb. To go into that content, you pay the monthly subscription, so it's basically a free to play model.

About 60 percent of the game content is behind that subscription barrier. In RuneScape, it may be different quests, the same quests but deeper, and it may be certain skills that you have. House building, for example, is a members benefit. There's a number of skills and quests and things that you can't do as a free member.