Interzone talks the Social Side of Football

from the When you're not playing with your balls dept.

Virtual Worlds News has an interview with Nick Lowe - Interzone VP of BigWorld powered MMO, Interzone Futebol.

"If you don't have a social space, it's harder for players to connect," said Hewitt. "It doesn't seem legitimate. If you see people going and doing stuff, it makes your world. There are people running around with things to do."

Or, as Lowe explains, you can look at traditional games as examples.

"Say you have a horror game or first-person shooter. Music isn't the focus of the game, but it's there to add atmosphere. It adds flavor," he explained. "And from a functional level, when you're doing matchmaking, it usually runs 2 minutes, up to 5 minutes, you want a place to meet people and hang out so you're not just sitting there. And then people just want to explore the space. In our focus tests, we've had people just walking around. "

More over at the link.

BigWorld引擎首款跨界研发足球网游曝光 / A Soccer MMO based on BigWorld Technologies

From http://news.17173.com/content/2008-09-25/20080925101756296,1.shtml Dept.

Quick Comment: It is the first time BigWorld Technologies be used on the development of a casual soccer MMO title.

英众娱乐（Interzone games）早前公布了旗下首款足球网游《Interzone Futebol》（IZF）的消息。日前这款游戏的更多消息被曝光，其中采用BigWorld（BW）引擎研发的细节尤为令人关注。根据BW引擎的授权研发记录，IZF将是这款世界顶级网游引擎跨界研发的首款体育网游大作！

BW引擎网游成中国市场热点
　　引擎是游戏的核心技术，拥有一款好的引擎，能为游戏研发达到事半功倍的效果。由于游戏引擎的研发难度高，开发周期长，因此成功的游戏引擎往往在授权研发市场上能够得到开发公司的青睐，其中就有视频游戏领域备受关注的引擎Unreal和网游领域的翘楚BW。
　　英众娱乐研发IZF采用的正是BW引擎。BW的全称是BigWorld MMO Technology Suite，业界通常称其为中间件平台。这个平台为网游的研发提供了完整的技术解决方案，也是目前最完善的网络游戏研发平台，相比于更专注于单机领域的Unreal引擎，BW引擎能够在网游的研发中，更好的解决网络和服务器的性能与指标。
　　经过7年时间的经营，BW引擎在网络游戏的研发上取得了卓越的成就。国内研发的网游作品中，《天下2》、《三国群侠传Online2》、《峥嵘天下》等作品都是在BW平台下开发。此外，CME公司的《星门世界(专题 截图 搜狗)》、日本Gungho的《北斗神拳(专题 截图)Online》也是在BW平台下研发完成。这款来自澳洲的网游引擎播种在了中、美、日韩等多个市场。但在BW引擎的授权研发记录中显示，除了英众娱乐最新发布的《Interzone Futebol》外，所有BW引擎研发的网游作品均为MMORPG！
　　英众娱乐于2008年6月首次发布IZF相关消息时，就凭借全新的足球游戏模式引起了行业瞩目。该作以22人足球即时网络对战，每个场上队员都将由不同玩家亲手操控的游戏方式，被认为是足球游戏在发展十余年后，进入网络领域时正在酝酿的一场剧变。同时，IZF还引入了“足球经理”模式，实现了现有足球游戏玩法的整合。有资深玩家在IZF游戏玩法被披露后评论：IZF也许将首次真正实现虚拟绿茵场上的“胜利11人”！
　　与IZF突破性的游戏玩法同样令人关注的是BigWorld引擎在体育竞技网游领域的首度尝试。这是BW引擎诞生以来的首度“跨界研发”——早前BW引擎的授权研发主要集中于大型角色扮演网游（MMORPG），涉足体育竞技网游尚属首次。
　　透过游戏公布的部分截图，可以看到IZF利用BW引擎所实现的突破不仅仅是游戏类型的“跨界研发”。在截图中，出众的室内场景效果，街区效果，改变了过去业界认为BW引擎的强大仅仅局限于开放的室外场景的看法。即使是在需要更为细腻描绘的室内场景，BW引擎的表现同样出色。
　　IZF有望09年进入中国市场
　　据英众娱乐透露，IZF的研发已经进入尾声，目前已经具备了极高的完成度，并将于2008年第四季度推出首个版本，不久将推出国际版本。
　　与此同时，IZF也极有可能出现在中国市场，成为与国内众多体育网游分庭抗礼的足球游戏。根据英众娱乐的背景资料显示，这家总部位于美国芝加哥的游戏公司在全球多个国家，如澳洲、巴西都设有工作室，这其中也包括了英众娱乐设在广州的研发公司。作为一款面向国际市场，全球化运作的足球网游，无论是中国市场上多年积淀的足球游戏爱好者，还是日渐壮大的网游玩家群体，都是英众娱乐不能忽视，需要积极把握的巨大市场。
　　由于2008年第四季度IZF首个版本才能亮相，而国际版本的推出可能会在2009年年初，因此IZF与国内游戏运营商接洽，并最终确定进入中国市场的时间将有可能是在2009年的上半年。届时，这款玩法新颖的足球网游也许将带给国内玩家一场全新的足球享受！

The PAX demo for TwinSkies

from the Better late than never dept.

The guys from Twinskies show off a closed demo for all of you who didn't make it to the booth that day in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. BigWorld licensee Meteor Games showcase Twin Skies, at least - the early version, with their basic gameplay hook Casual meets MMO :

38's Close talks up Vivox partnership and the IP in general

from the Joystiq AGDC round-up dept.

Brett Close, head honcho at 38 Studios talks up some tidbits on their project in Boston, Copernicus, as well as their recent announcement with BigWorld partner, Vivox :

So, the announcement with Vivox, what's that about?

So, that was about a couple different pieces: 38 Studios is all about very strong partnerships. Smart, strategic partnerships that allow us to deliver the absolute best for the customer, but also allow us to free our hands up to focus on building what we do best, which is building the game. Creating IP and building the game. We are licensing engine technologies like the Unreal engine and Big World, and in a similar way VoIP is nothing that you want to take lightly.

There's a big operation there. I'm an ex software engineer, I know how it works. You can go write some basic VoIP but there's so much more than just the protocol and transferring those packets. Vivox is the best of breed in the market for both the feature set, the technology, the business model and the operational model of us being able to offload the bandwidth and server demand to their servers. They offer incredible security solutions. Voice fonts allow one of the biggest and most exciting pieces to come together.

It's always been if Andrea's a giant orc and I'm playing a little human woman, and we start chatting it's going to sound really silly. So, I can start applying voice fonts that make her sound like some big orc and make me sound like a little human female. There are so many things that they are doing right to deliver that kind of solution that it's just easy, plug and play, we just want it. It delivers the best for us and it delivers the best for the customer.
Andrea: The community building aspect was obviously a major point for you.

Community is key. This isn't just a product, it's a service that you're delivering to the community and continuing to build and perpetuate and cultivate that community. This is a key piece of delivering something that continues to enrich the community.

Wuxi Yinweixiang Selects the BigWorld Game Engine / 无锡音唯响宣布选用BigWorld引擎

From http://www.bigworldtech.com/news/press_080909.php Dept.

Wuxi Yinweixiang Selects the BigWorld Game Engine
09 September 2008
For Immediate Release
Tan Laisuo, Yinwexiang’s Chairman of the Board said, “Yinweixiang offers a realistic experience of online interaction, unique music creation, entertainment and growing freedom for gamers with the most recent interactive technology. In order to make a healthy, growing virtual world, we need a professional technology company like BigWorld to provide us the best technical solution.”
“Wuxi Yinweixiang’s team has a new perspective on interactive entertainment. They have an outstanding imagination and strong capability in research and development. BigWorld’s technical team looks forward to working together with this energetic team to create a highly interactive, innovative and entertaining product.” Said Guo Lei, BigWorld’s Business Development Manager.

About Wuxi Yinweixiang
Yinweixiang is a company dedicated to the R&D, production and selling of home entertainment games software and hardware. With a deep understanding of the concept of interactive entertainment, they offer a variety of services for the continued development of human and cultural ideas.
Yinweixiang is growing in scale, with a rapid increase in profit, over 100 employees and more than 1 million registered members. It remains an agile developer, and aims to become a diversified games software exporter and operator, with independent development in both domestic and foreign markets.

Wuxi Yinweixiang Website
http://www.greenwx.com/

About the BigWorld Technology Suite
Comprised of the BigWorld Server Software, Content Creation Pipeline, 3D Client Engine Package, Live Management Tools & Instrumentation, BigWorld Technology Suite is the premier Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) solution, providing all of the complex systems required to produce engaging next-generation MMOGs and Virtual Worlds.

About BigWorld Pty Ltd
BigWorld Pty Ltd was formed in 2002 to commercialize years of intense R&D, which started in 1999 and continues to this day. BigWorld Pty Ltd is a privately held company based in Australia that licenses its BigWorld Technology Suite middleware platform to game studios and publishers around the world that are looking to produce successful next generation MMOGs and Virtual Worlds.

BigWorld Website
http://www.bigworldtech.com/
http://www.bigworldtech.cn/
BigWorld News Blog
http://www.bigworldtech.blogspot.com/

Media Contact:
Casey Gregory
Email: caseyg@bigworldtech.com
Office: +61 2 6162 5120


2008年9月9日

供即时发布

位于中国无锡的无锡音唯响游戏软件有限公司今日宣布选用 BigWorld引擎。

音唯响公司董事会主席檀来锁先生表示：“音唯响采用全新的互动技术，提供身临其境的在线互动体验，独特的音乐创作，娱乐与成长空间，让游戏成为一个健康成长的虚拟环境，需要像BigWorld公司这样的专业技术公司提供最优秀的技术解决方案”。

“无锡音唯响的团队对互动娱乐有着完全崭新的认识，他们拥有着超凡的想象力和雄厚的研发实力，BigWorld的技术团队期待着和这群充满活力的年轻人一起创造数码娱乐行业里最富有纯粹娱乐精神的互动产品。”BigWorld公司商务发展经理郭磊说。

BigWorld Technology Suite简介

BigWorld Technology Suite 由BigWorld 服务器软件、内容创建工具、三维客户端引擎、实时管理工具和数据分析工具组成，它包含了制作下一代MMOG 所需的所有复杂技术。

BigWorld Pty Ltd 公司简介

BigWorld Pty Ltd 成立于2002 年，公司宗旨在于促进多年来积极的研发活动走向商业化。其研发活动始于1999 年，持续至今。BigWorld Pty Ltd 是一家私人控股公司，总部位于澳大利亚。BigWorld 为全世界寻求成功开发下一代大型多人在线游戏及持久/ 休闲游戏的游戏工作室、发行商授权许可使用BigWorld Technology Suite 中间件平台。

BigWorld 公司网址

http://www.bigworldtech.cn

无锡音唯响简介
音唯响是一家专业致力于家庭游戏娱乐软件及硬件的研究、开发、生产与销售的公司，对于互动娱乐有着深刻的理解，为人类精神文明建设的健康性提供多元化服务。

公司目前规模正在日趋扩大，业绩增长迅猛，目前已有上百名员工，注册会员超过100万，并将继续保持高速的发展势头，最终发展成为以自主研发为基础，面向海内外，涵盖产品出口、海外合作、代理运营等多领域的多元化国际游戏软体出口商。

无锡音唯响公司网址
http://www.greenwx.com/

媒体联系人：
Casey Gregory
电子邮箱: caseyg@bigworldtech.com
办公电话： +61 2 6162 5120

Twinity launches open beta

from the Keys to the City dept.


APLINK It's Real and others are reporting on Friday's ceremony for Twinity's formal open beta phase. CEO Jochen Hummel was on hand with other dignitaries, stating :

“Our vision is clear, this is a trusted environment within a virtual world, lifelike, and based on real metropolises. People can live, work, and have fun here. They can also beam themselves straight into the world’s most attractive cities with a single click. With the launch of our public beta phase, we have laid the foundation for Twinity’s international rollout.”

Metropolises. Metropoli? Realistic havens of cyber citizens grooving and interacting with one another in a mirror world, powered by BigWorld. Dive in and get your access.

Higher-resolution version of the Interzone Futebol Trailer :

from the You asked for it now watch it dept.