BandwidthCamp

Brenda Brathwaite at Applied Game Design has a great article on why H&R Block failed at creating an advergame on Facebook.

Developing games for Facebook isn’t as easy as it looks. The myth: people are so into Facebook and its games that they’ll play any game. The reality: bad games are still bad games, particularly when those games are bad single player games that either a) don’t take advantage of the network or b) take advantage of the network, but in uncomfortable ways.

I found the article touches on some points I mentioned in a post I wrote last year; Why Launching a Brand on Facebook is like Gardening part 1 & 2. If you or someone you know plans to launch anything on Facebook.. this should be required reading.

[Via Applied Game Design]

Here’s a table showing marketing activity across multiple virtual worlds. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s pretty close (and will be updated as and when).

Kzero put together this great chart. You would think with all the attention Coke gets in Second Life (here, here and here) that they would be the biggest markets in virtual worlds. However, that is simple not the case as Toyota is leading the pack with 5 different marketing initiatives across varies virtual worlds. You can also check out Kzero’s chart on registered users within each virtual world. They even have a few listed that aren’t launched yet.

[Via Kzero]

Here is the latest news and stories having an affect on our industry over the last week. Our readers share bookmarks with the BandwidthCamp community by tagging them BandwidthCamp on del.icio.us (a social bookmarking tool). If you’d like to participate, sign-up for delicious and share articles you think the community might find interesting. This week seemed to have a higher amount of news. Enjoy some light reading over the weekend.

Jamdat Founders Team Up for Another Startup

Marketing in virtual worlds: which company gets around the most?

nDreams Announces Expansion, SCEE Deal

As the World Turns in a Convergence Culture: A Summary, Part VI: Product Placement and Transmedia Storytelling (This piece is from last week, but I just saw it in my reader this week)

EA Leaps into Free Video Games

Last month brought word that Kohnke Communications was going to sue Perpetual Entertainment over a canceled game. Now just over a month later, it seems the case is being dropped following a mutual resolution.

“The parties have reached an agreement, but we can’t detail any further than that. Part of the agreement was that we would not detail.”

I’m glad to see things come to an amicable end. However, next time I hope to see more of an online presence by the team at Kohnke. Hopefully they’ll also bring their company blog back.

[Via Next-Gen.biz]

Worlds In Motion is reporting that Mochi Media has launched the “Flash Rock Star Games Contest” with Gaia Online.

Mochi Media’s online games ad network MochiAds has launched the “Flash Rock Star Games Contest” with Gaia Online, hoping to recognize talent among new Flash game developers.The three-month contest will accept game submissions to be judged by a professional panel with input from the Gaia community. The contest winner receives over $25,000 in cash and prizes, and possible game development contracts with Gaia.

[Via Worlds In Motion]