Neopets, a Viacom subsidiary, has officially graduated to the increasingly familiar free-to-play, pay-for-goods format. The world of quirky virtual pets, targeted at kids, announced they will now allow users to purchase virtual currency called Neocash, which they can spend on virtual toys, clothes and special effects for their Neopets.

The new cash won't conflict with the existing currency system, called Neopoints, which kids can earn through quests and mini-games. Players can trade Neopoints for goods, but they won't be interchangeable with Neocash. Initially, the only way to score Neocash will be to purchase it via PayPal, but the company aims eventually to explore other avenues to sell the currency, such as pre-paid cards available at retail outlets.

Additionally, the availability of Neopets goods for purchase coincides with the beta of Viacom's new NC mall, which will house virtual boutiques where kids can shop for add-ons to their pet and its world. Neopets will work with Nexon, a Korean online gaming specialist, to handle the virtual transactions, as an extension of a partnership between the two announced last November.

Up until now, Viacom's revenue from Neopets came from the sale of banner advertisements on the site, which boasts over 40 million registered users around the world, and more than 12 million unique new users monthly. Viacom purchased the Neopets world in June 2005, to the tune of $160 million. Given such a large installed base and continued global expansion, the sale of virtual goods in the Neopets world may well prove to be enormously lucrative for Viacom.

The Virtual Goods Summit is set to take place June 20-22nd at Stanford University-- and it's the first conference of its kind, focusing on emerging market opportunities for virtual goods and economies. It's produced by Susan Wu of Charles River Ventures, who's looking to foster a forum wherein entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and gearheads can meet to discuss the future of virtual economics and the surrounding issues.

Panel topics include, "Why Virtual Goods Matter: What's Driving User Adoption?" And "Making Virtual Economies Work: What Does it Take to Get it Right?" The conference will also feature an impressive slate of speakers, like GaiaOnline CEO Craig Sherman, Raph Koster of Areae, and Three Rings' Daniel James.

Susan Wu of Charles River Ventures, co-producer of the first Virtual Goods summit being held on the 22nd of June, has a great guest post up on TechCrunch dealing extensively with the concept of virtual goods as the next big thing in business-- people spend more than $1.5 billion annually on digital consumerism.

Wu lists the heavy-hitters in the virtual goods market, including Tencent, a Chinese internet portal who made $100 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2007-- 65% of that revenue from the sale of virtual goods-- just like 90% of Habbo Hotel's roughly $60 million annual revenue. Gaia Online needs a staff of three whose sole occupation is opening envelopes full of cash being sent to buy online goodies.

And, as Wu highlights, virtual goods aren't just for gamers-- sites like Dogster and HotorNot are successful in splitting income sources between advertising and goods-for-cash.

Wu's article goes on to explain in depth the four major reasons why people spend money on online goods-- first, they're more services than goods, in that they're graphical representations of "trophy" gestures we already engage in in real life. Second, as experience-enhancers, virtual goods create real value for the people who participate in a game or service. Another idea is that buying objects is easier and less-time consuming than having to "earn" them the way users do in a points system (hence gold-farming controversies in WoW). Lastly, Wu points out that users who buy into the virtual market can also sell on it, thereby earning profits on their purchases-- like "Second Life's first real estate millionaire."

A variety of speakers participated in a panel at the first 2007 Virtual Goods Summit on June 22nd to share their stories of success driven by virtual goods.

Min Kim, Director of BD at Nexon (Maple Story, Kart Riders), ought to know. Nexon is the largest privately-owned online game company in South Korea, and 85% of its 2005 revenues-- about $240 million-- were from item sales. 3PointD reports that Kim said at the summit that Maple Story has now reached about 3.5 million users in the US, and that the company would begin selling pre-paid cards at Target "soon" with which users can purchase virtual items. Nexon's most recent project, Audition, already claims 100,000 registered users, more than half of which are female.

Why are Maple Story's virtual goods so compelling? "They get at showmanship and self-expression, they enhance the gaming experience, and they’re meaningful," explained Kim. "For someone playing Maple Story more than 40 hours a month, it’s very meaningful for them to change their haircut or get a different pair of sunglasses."

Kim also said Nexon will soon announce the US version of its Kart Rider, a 3D casual racing game which has been in closed beta up until now. It boasts 50 million Korean subscribers, and has sold 20 million virtual cars at $10 apiece. Owing to the high advertising rates in the US, Kim suggested that Kart Rider might adjust its business model slightly for the US version to include more ad sales.

Kyra Reppen, SVP of Neopets, also spoke at the success stories panel, reports 3PointD. Her company, acquired by MTV in 2005, is up to 2 million registered users, and is adding virtual goods to its traditional "Neopoints" economy. According to Reppen, users complete over 750,000 daily transactions of virtual goods at 22 million user-created shops.

With MTV's marketing team providing a 20% lift in traffic since the acquisition, Reppen said Neopets is now looking to diversify its business model from pure ads and sponsorship revenue to boutique merchandising, possible licensing, toys and books.

Here's a virtual item set most people are buying in a retail box - it's in the Top 5 PC charts in both the UK and US on Amazon right now - which is interesting, to say the least!

H&M, a clothing line whose UK success has begun to translate into quick penetration of the American market, has a virtual clothing line for The Sims 2. EA Games' iconic PC life sim will now offer designer H&M fashions that users can purchase as an expansion to the game.

The Sims 2 has no online play mode, of course, but the incredibly successful franchise includes masses of expansion packs that add new options, styles, pets and other accessories. The H&M fashion line, which costs $19.99, is just the latest example of virtual clothing being a big deal to fashion-conscious game players.

Healthy virtual economies won't evade the government's watchful eye much longer. Congress is set to deliver a report on the taxation of virtual goods-- according to Dan Miller, senior economist with the Congress' Joint Economic Committee, who told CNET's News.com we can expect an update as soon as next month's Congressional recess.

It's still unclear exactly what the report will say, or what the decision will be, but, as Miller said in December:

"Given growth rates of 10 to 15 percent a month, the question is when, not if, Congress and IRS start paying attention to these issues. So it is incumbent on us to set the terms and the debate so we have a shaped tax policy toward virtual worlds and virtual economies in a favorable way."

If Congress decides to levy taxes against in-world economies, it could complicate issues for current and future publishers in the virtual world space, as they'll have to wrangle systems by which all trading can be tracked and reported-- though it'd be surprising if savants of the longer-standing virtual empires have failed to pre-emptively consider the issue. And even if Congress decides against a virtual goods tax, it's likely only to delay matters until another government intervenes.

[Via Slashdot]

Funcom (Age of Conan) announced that six years after launch, the sci-fi MMO Anarchy Online is evolving its business model to include virtual item sales. The point-based system, through which players can buy items, new content and services, will function as an adjunct to the existing system, and the new items won't affect gameplay balance.

The program will launch this summer with the introduction of jetbikes and hover boards, as well as previously released equipment, clothing and pets. The system will also let players use points to purchase new and previous expansion packs, and services like in-game name changes, or moving to another server.

Points can be purchased in packages of 10 and 20 USD/EUR-- a new jet pack comes out to about 3 dollars, while a complete bike set would be about 10. Paying AO subscribers will get a set of monthly points included in the subscription price, with more points for longer-term pricing plans. As a payment incentive, Funcom will credit the player's account with points upon receipt of subscription dues.

"Selling virtual items and smaller content upgrades is now a prevalent MMO business model in Asia. This has yet to be fully explored in the West, but we believe that the time is now right to test a limited version of such a model," said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that this announcement comes at the same time as Funcom's secured $30 million in funding from an unnamed investor?

A new article in the International Herald Tribune cites the recent availability of an H&M fashion line in TheSims 2 as just one example of how fashion designers are embracing the idea of plying their trade in the virtual space. Now, as the IHT reports, Sims gamers are able to design their own H&M stores and their own clothes, and hold virtual runway competitions. Cosmogirl editor and chief Susan Schultz provides the commentary on the catwalk, and the winner will be determined by user votes.

What's more, one of the winning six outfits featured in the Grand Finale Fashion Runway Showcase will be produced by H&M and sold in its real-world retail stores.

Virtual outposts of fashionable brands to dress avatars are nothing new -- Reebok, Adidas and American Apparel have stores in Second Life, and brands Kitson and RocaWear have storefronts in Doppelganger's upcoming vSide city. But citing the example of Canadian designer Nyla, who's created Second Life counterparts of her real-world designs, the article noted that fashion houses may be increasingly drawn to virtual worlds as a sort of proving ground to market-test new patterns and designs.

[Via International Herald Tribune]

Over at Adrian Crook's Free To Play blog, there's a great new piece up analyzing how traditional retail models are (and will continue to be) affected by the rise of a Club Penguin generation. Here's an excerpt from the article, inspired when Crook noticed on a family trip that his young cousins were playing online mixed-model games more than retail:

What does this say about where the North American PC market is headed?

Based on overwhelming anecdotal evidence, it’s clear to me that the younger set (under 20) is embracing free to play and virtual goods games because the budget and engagement model is tailored made for for them. And as the younger set is further weened on the same virtual goods business model that’s already dominating Asia, retail only pay-to-play PC games will be ignored en masse.

In some respects, North American companies have begun adjusting to the F2P/virtual goods wave. With gifting sites like Facebook and HotorNot.com, microtransaction services like Xbox Live and casual MMOGs like Puzzle Pirates, one might argue that we’re at least keeping up with the pack in this emerging space.

But what are traditional North American game publishers (EA, Activision, etc) doing to adjust to this new, non-retail, online-centric business model? Are they seeding their own internal virtual goods projects? Building virtual goods into their existing or upcoming products? Acquiring early movers in the space?

At least right now, the answer appears to be “none of the above”.

Crook notes that the traditional North American "partner and acquire" approach just can't work in this market, and that's a good point -- can you imagine how much it would cost an American company(assuming it's possible to price such a transaction at all) to buy one of the Asian giants of the virtual goods space?

Acclaim has announced that its free-to-play fantasy MMO, 2Moons (which recently entered open beta) is now opening its virtual item shop. In a press release received by Worlds in Motion, Acclaim says it's signed up roughly half a million users who will now be able to use Acclaim Coins to purchase virtual goods and gameplay enhancements.

The store adds special items like a "Traveler's Backpack" that gives a player 50 more inventory slots, as well as potions, boosters, clothing and other character customizations. Acclaim says it plans to update the shop in the future with more new items like rideable mounts, guild-wide special effects, and more special outfits.

Acclaim's also kicking off the new store launch with "2Moons Killer Events” to give players a chance to earn double experience points to quickly level up and enter random drawings to win special prizes such as gaming hardware, enhanced weapons, and Acclaim Coins packages that can be used in any Acclaim game.

“2Moons has been a fantastic project that’s already proved Acclaim’s free-to-play model is what gamers all around the world have been waiting for. The number one request we got from the gamers who have been testing the game was to offer them more customization, so the item store will immediately help there,” said David Perry, director of the game.

CRV's Susan Wu has started an interesting discussion at her blog, based on a chat she recently had with Stanford Language and Information Program Director Byron Reeves. She says he's working with Seriosity (what a serious name!) to develop a platform to allow companies to create virtual economies by assigning currency values to different types of interaction and communication.

As Wu points out, the work Reeves is doing raises some interesting questions on how virtual currencies drive behavior and group dynamics. The questions she asks are sharp and pretty spot on:

- What does it do to a [company’s] culture if all interaction can be boiled down to some quantitative representation?

- Isn’t a company’s culture really just some expression of a collective utility function?

- And, has anyone done any studies measuring what type of correlation exists between the rate of change of a [group/country’s] economic growth and the rate of change of its language? I guess I’m curious if various Chinese dialects are changing more quickly than languages in more static socioeconomic conditions. I feel this must be true to some extent, but I wonder to what degree.

PlaySpan, a publisher-sponsored in-game-commerce network, has announced that it has secured $6.5 million in Series A funding from Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures and Asian investors.

The company is looking to position itself advantageously in the virtual goods market, as real money transactions (RMTs) are seeing wider adoption among revenue models for publishers of virtual worlds and online multiplayer games. PlaySpan pegs the market for in-game commerce at $2 billion this year.

The company says it is building a network for microtransactions and in-game financial exchanges to enable more publishers to integrate commerce into their games. The company has not announced any of its partners yet, but its official website says that PlaySpan has signed up seven MMO games to date.

In addition to the funding announcement, PlaySpan also announced today three new additions to its board. John Friedman, board member of IGA Worldwide and General Partner of Easton Capital; Shawn Carolan, board member of IMVU and Managing Director of Menlo Ventures; and Steven Lee, Partner at STIC International are the newest additions.

"[This investment] will help create a new class of revenue opportunities for publishers and will allow gamers to enjoy their game experience with commerce,” said Karl Mehta, PlaySpan co-founder and CEO. “We are extremely fortunate to have a complimentary group of global investors that bring solid experience in the gaming, internet and financial service industries.”

Just launching in beta is IGS.com, a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) service provider for MMORPG users. It's a "player-driven marketplace" that lets players bypass MMO currency retailers to trade virtual goods and items for a variety of MMO titles directly amongst themselves. Currently, it looks more than a bit like eBay for game items.

IGS lets its customers compare offerings and sort sellers by prices, lead-times or feedback ratings. Buyers can set their own prices and lead-times, aiming to create a competitive environment where sellers can thrive and buyers can benefit from comparison shopping. It also provides customer support to sellers for order and payment processing, to ensure quality of service for sellers, and to allow sellers to focus on communication and delivery.

It's true that historically, these types of transactions have been somewhat of a fraud risk, as unscrupulous types can conduct unmonitored transactions at best, and in a worst-case scenario, steal information from buyers. IGS aims to institute a secure transaction system under its monitoring.

Says IGS in its press release: "IGS is developed by a team consisting of veteran MMO gamers, RMT industry professionals and C2C trading specialists. The team is aiming to create the next generation of virtual currency trading by utilizing a combination unique skills, knowledge, and expertise. IGS will continue to innovate within the RMT industry and is already developing plans for further additions and improvements to IGS.com."

Urbaniacs, a social avatar site which lets users build, play with and share virtual heroes, has announced it has partnered with new in-game commerce network PlaySpan for online transactions. Through the partnership, PlaySpan will be the network by which Urbaniac's users can trade virtual items and "Urbos," the virtual currency of the Urbaniac community.

PlaySpan announced a $6.5 million VC investment earlier this year, and is hoping to grab an advantageous spot in the virtual goods and RMT market. The company says its microtransactions and in-game exchange network is designed to team with publishers looking to integrate commerce into their games. When it made the investment announcement, PlaySpan said it had already signed up 7 MMOs; it's unclear if Urbaniacs (which isn't an MMO) is one of those seven partnerships.

"We're really excited about our partnership with PlaySpan and its technology platform. Gamers love to trade, and we’re thrilled that the Urbaniacs Community will have the PlaySpan commerce network,” said Josh Fisher, Co-founder of Urbaniacs.

“Urbaniacs is a constantly evolving virtual world with a unique blend of interactive entertainment and online gaming,” said Karl Mehta, Co-Founder & CEO, PlaySpan Inc. “Our technology will enable Urbaniacs users to experience an in-game community and commerce network integrated within their Urbanville world.”

Cellufun has announced Merry Mobile, which it describes as a "cooperative, community game where consumers celebrate the holidays in a mobile virtual world." Users who have homepages on Cellufun's mobile social network can decorate their pages with a holiday theme. More interestingly, though, the Merry Mobile kickoff marks the launch of Cellufun's new Virtual Mall.

The Cellufun Virtual Mall will let users buy and give gifts to one another and participate in gift-giving competitions. Using their mobile profiles and avatars, players can use their "Cellupoints" to shop for virtual gifts such as fruitcake from Herr Strudel’s Bakery and SpaceWars ship models from Miss Dolly’s Toy Shoppe, making purchases with Cellupoints.

Cellufun says it expects to continue the Virtual Mall beyond the holiday gift-giving season, and expects similar events to take place during Valentine's day.

Cellufun CTO Steve Dacek says, "For most of us, the mobile phone has become an extension of self. At the same time, virtual worlds and social networks have redefined our sense of community. So it made perfect sense to bring the virtual world experience to the phone, and to do it around the holidays. The gifts are virtual, but the joy of giving them is real.”

Silicon Valley-based PlaySpan has announced a closed U.S. beta for its in-game commerce platform, after it says it received a positive response from gamers in the Asia-Pacific region. K2 Network's Global Mu Online MMO and its microtransactions-based biz model will be the beta's guinea pig.

PlaySpan works via an in-game widget designed to accommodate trade and sale of virtual goods and gold from within the game itself, and PlaySpan works as a partner with the games' publishers. The company raised $6.5 million in venture capital late in 2007 from Easton Capital, and shortly thereafter PlaySpan announced it had partnered with 'tween-focused online social community Urbaniacs.

Said PlaySpan CEO Karl Mehta, “We have received great response from the gamer and publisher community to use PlaySpan as a secure marketplace and help real gamers reach others. Based on field data, we are seeing players spending more time in-game and doing more secure micro-transactions with our platform. We have over 20 titles that have licensed our platform and we expect to continue leading the in-game commerce market and provide a very compelling user experience for our game publisher partners and gamers.”

Habbo has announced a licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment to create a series of virtual items based on the movie titles The Spiderwick Chronicles, Beowulf and Mean Girls. Through the agreement, Habbo gets merchandising rights for all three properties throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The first of the goods created through the partnership will be based on The Spiderwick Chronicles, and will introduce themed outfits for avatar, virtual furniture and accessories, along with other items. The Beowulf and Mean Girls items will start popping up in the months to come, Habbo says.

Along with the announcement, Habbo also touted some Google Analytics data that tallied Habbo communities in 31 countries on five continents, and found 86 million Habbo characters created to date by more than 8 million unique site visitors monthly.

Teemu Huuhtanen, Habbo EVP of business and president, North America, said, "The Habbo audience demands that their community reflect today's real world pop culture entertainment landscape. By establishing a licensing deal with a leading studio like Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, we are able to produce themed virtual goods relevant to the movies our teen audience is watching, while simultaneously implementing impactful promotional campaigns for the studio."

Live Gamer has announced an agreement with Sony Online Entertainment to incorporate the technology from SOE's Station Exchange platform for the purchase and sale of virtual items used with EverQuest II, forming a new independent service called Live Gamer Exchange.

The company recently launched with the aim of creating a publisher supported, secure platform for real-money purchase and sale of virtual goods, joined by a slate of MMO and virtual world operators including Funcom GMBH, Sony Online Entertainment, 10Tacle Studios, Acclaim, GoPets and Ping0 Interactive, all of whom work with Live Gamer to provide the transaction platform to their users.

Now, the newly formed Live Gamer Exchange platform will replace SOE's Station Exchange on EverQuest II servers, with the two companies pledging to work together to migrate Station Exchange users to the web-based Live Gamer Exchange service.

When Worlds in Motion spoke to SOE president John Smedley, he says the concept of a publisher-sanctioned trading platform is something his company has embraced since the launch of Station Exchange in 2005 -- hit the jump to read our in-depth discussion with SOE's John Smedley about credit card fraud issues, and with Live Gamer's Andy Schneider about the more universal solution.

Redwood City-based startup Twofish has revealed an in-game economic middleware called Twofish Elements, which integrates with online games to provide them an infrastructure for banking and retail.

The Twofish Elements middleware plugs into an online game's backend to enable game developers and operators to implement, analyze and manage microtransaction driven in-game economies.

Through the tools it provides, developers can view the in-game economy in the same way as if it were a real-world economy, and access analytic tools that let them track in-game market trends and properly price and value in-game items. From the game's backend, they can then adjust the price of in-game items accordingly based on data results like supply and demand trends, for example.

The venture-funded Twofish was founded in 2006 by Yahoo! Games, Shockwave.com and Segasoft Networks vet Lee Crawford, who told Gamasutra that the rise of casual gaming alongside alternative business models has resulted in a broad audience of gamers who demand a free experience.

To back up its claims, Twofish is also working on Edgeracers, the first game to be developed using the Twofish Elements Economic Engine, and an example of its middleware in action. The title, built around "the culture of car customization and casual racing", is currently in testing and is expected to launch in Q1 2008.

But Crawford expects the transition to a microtransactions-supported business model to pose a challenge for some companies. "Game developers are not bankers," he notes.

With that in mind, Crawford says Twofish Elements offers developers the ability to control real-world economic features including inventory logic, account management policies, complex pricing models, flexible transaction types and multiple currencies.

"What people sometimes don't realize is that when you move RMTs into the game environment, even though you're dealing with virtual goods, it creates a real economy. Concerns like economic health, security and privacy become essential to ensuring the quality of experience," Crawford adds.

Currently, Crawford says the company is in discussions with a variety of major publishers and has received a lot of interest. But he also sees real opportunity and "tremendous interest" from independent developers who see the use of an economic engine as a way to compete more effectively.

"We see Twofish Elements being a way to help independent publishers and developers compete on a level footing with the technology that companies such as Nexon have developed through many years of operations in Asia," Crawford added.

"In our view, the world is moving towards the mass-market consumer and, ultimately, the hardcore player going to free-to-play with microtransactions," Crawford said.

Moreover, Crawford feels the retail price point has become insufficient to support an online experience in the long term -- after purchase, a publisher's relationship with the consumer ends.

"The operating infrastructure, after sale, continues to erode the economic value for sale, and so subscriptions ensure revenue to support the experience. If you factor in consumer expectations, the web is forcing that price point to zero. So what's needed is a model that accommodates a zero-dollar price point, but the revenue to operate very complicated infrastructures."

Many free-to-play games rely on ad support; we asked Crawford about ad-supported or blended business models. "Ads were the fantastic first business model for the internet, and it supported a content experience effectively But it's insufficient to support a content experience effectively," he said.

Concluded Crawford, "Virtual items are really the second great business model for the web."

Global online game publisher True Games Interactive has announced a partnership with secondary trading marketplace provider Live Gamer to support the incorporation of real money trading in the publisher's forthcoming products.

Established earlier this year by former K2 Network publishing and operations execs Jeff Lujan and Bob Drobish, True Games' provides a platform for free-to-play microtransactions-driven titles. The company is currently negotiating several product deals and securing Series A funding. Its first as-yet untitled game is scheduled to launch in Q3 2008. Just last month, True Games announced a partnership with real-time strategy games developer Petroglyph Games (Star Wars: Empire At War, Universe At War) to create an online microtransactions-funded game for PCs.

Live Gamer provides a complete marketplace solution for player-to-player trading of virtual items. With the sales platform, True Games hopes to have a convenient, secure, and reliable outlet to buy and sell virtual goods and objects in its published titles.

Said True Games Interactive chief publishing officer Jeff Lujan: "It is our mission as a company to provide the highest quality entertainment and we can only do that by associating with the highest quality partners and trusting our games to them. Our relationship with Live Gamer represents one of many quality partners you can expect to see aligned with True Games."

Virtual item trading platform Live Gamer has announced that it has appointed Kurtis Buckmaster as its vice president of product marketing. Buckmaster brings 18 years of professional and personal gaming and MMO expertise to Live Gamer, where he will be responsible for driving improvements and additions to the Live Gamer Exchange platform, as well as working on product implementations and managing community relations.

Previously, Buckmaster served as the vice president of marketing and product development worldwide at MMOG portal Curse Gaming. Prior to that, he worked as a senior manager in GameSpot's (CNET Networks) Community and Customer Service division. He also held marketing positions at both Ubisoft Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Live Gamer provides a turnkey solution for MMOG and virtual world operators to enable real money trading of virtual assets. The company announced an agreement with Sony Online Entertainment in February to replace SOE's Station Exchange on EverQuest II servers with its web-based Live Gamer Exchange Service. Live Gamer further extended the reach of its publisher-sanctioned transaction platform with a partnership announced today with online games publisher True Games.

Live Gamer president Andrew Schneider said: "Kurtis has an extraordinary mix of talent, passion and professional experience that adds a new dimension to our team's wealth of online gaming expertise. He has credibility as a gamer as well as respect as a marketing leader, lending him the ability to drive and innovate product features and user experience to the benefit of gamers and our publishing partners."

Fresbo World, a social network-embeddable virtual world, has added support for Cherry Credits's Unified Global Virtual Credits system. Users will now be able to purchase Fresbo credits, Fresbo World's in-game currency, with Cherry Credits payments.

Developed by a small team in Singapore, Fresbo World provides an MMO experience through popular social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Friendster. Users can personalize their avatars, decorate their virtual homes, and stay in-touch with friends through in-game mail and a friends list. Clicking another user's avatar can even load that player's Facebook profile.

Users can earn Fresbo credits by completing in-game tasks or playing arcade games. They also have the option of purchasing credits with their mobile phones via OneBip SMS or by using Cherry Credits, an alternative payment solution to credit cards, bank accounts and mobile payment accesses. Users can buy Cherry Credits with physical scratch cards at retail stores or through other services like PayPal.

Developer NTreev Soft has also announced that its users can now purchase Ntreev Cash Points with Cherry Credits for free-to-play MMOs Trickster Online and Grand Chase. Ntreev Cash Points can also be earned through completing in-game tasks, but, as with Fresbo World's credits, there are rare items available exclusively through its currency-purchasing shop.

American retailer Build-A-Bear Workshop has announced that for a limited time, it will allow its guests to create and purchase Tropical Hello Kitty stuffed animals at its store locations. Customers who've purchased a Tropical Hello Kitty will be able to bring a virtual version to life at the Build-A-Bearville online world and receive free gifts.

Users who've created a virtual version of the Tropical Hello Kitty will be rewarded in Build-A-Bearville with an extra room, Hello Kitty wallpaper for their Cub Condo house, a virtual Hello Kitty shirt, and 3,000 Bear Bills, Build-A-Bearville's in-game currency. As an added bonus, Build-A-Bear Workshop is also offering a free mini Charmmy Kitty plush and a virtual Hello Kitty purse to anyone who purchases a Tropical Hello Kitty from May 30th to June 1st, while quantities last.

Said Build-A-Bear Workshop founder Maxine Clark, "The introduction of the new Tropical Hello Kitty is beary exciting for us. Many of our Guests are big fans of Hello Kitty, and we think that this new friend will be the perfect, adorable addition to their collections."

Virtual in-game currency marketplace Sparter has announced that it will no longer accept new purchase orders only a year after the company publicly launched its Gamer2Gamer trading platform. Sparter hopes to eventually reinvent itself by shifting its focus to providing develop and publisher-sponsored marketplaces.

Sparter's platform allowed gamers to trade virtual currency, keeping payments in escrow until bot sides approved the trasnfer. The company also provided reliability ratings based on actual transactional data and price charts showing market trends. Its supported MMOs included World of Warcraft, EVE Online, IMVU, MapleStory, and several others.

Though Sparter did not publicly explain its decision to cease operations, it's assumed that its closing was brought about by pressure from developers and publishers, seeing as most virtual worlds actively discourage, if not forbid outright, the buying, selling and trading of virtual money and goods, or any out-of-world RMT (real money transactions).

Said Sparter in a posted notice: "Going forward, we believe the best course for our business is to focus solely on providing marketplaces with the full support of game developers and publishers. To all of the members of the Sparter community, we thank you for your business and support. We continue to believe that open and efficient real-money trade of virtual goods benefits everyone in the gaming ecosystem, and we look forward to creating new solutions with our partners."

Virtual worlds ad agency Millions of Us has announced the launch of a new company, Virtual Greats, to take advantage of the growing virtual goods market, according to a report by Hollywood trade magazine Variety.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Virtual Greats seeks to sell hair styles, catchphrases, dance moves, clothing lines and other merchandise associated with aspirational characters and entertainment franchises over multiple virtual world and social media platforms.

With its debut, Virtual Greats also has announced distribution rights for virtual goods associated with Justin Timberlake, Elvis Presley, Tila Tequila, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Raven Symone, and The Incredible Hulk, across multiple media platforms. The company has also entered its first major venture with virtual world Gaia Online. Virtual Greats hopes to connect Gaia’s 5+ million users with its virtual goods.

Virtual Greats' entrance follows recent estimates from Charles River Ventures analyst Susan Wu predicting a virtual goods market growing in worth to $1.5 billion, based on Gartner Inc.'s research showing that 80% of internet users will have avatars by 2012.

Said Millions of Us CEO Reuben Steiger: The inspiration for Virtual Greats came when I realized that this was a $1.5 billion market without any high-value copyrighted material. Defining the market and acquiring these rights and distribution has been enormously rewarding.”

Puma has partnered with CyberSports to incorporate its sportswear products and branding into upcoming soccer MMOG Football Superstars, according to a report from UK advertising news site Brand Republic.

Due for late 2008, Football Superstars is a virtual world for football fans seeking to live a "top footballer's lifestyle." Football SuperStars enables players to recreate themselves as persistent footballer avatars and play matches in 3, 5, 7, and 11-man teams. All players on the pitch, with the exception of goalkeepers, are controlled by humans, giving both teams freedom to develop their own strategies and play styles.

With the deal, players in the MMO will be able to explore a virtual version of Puma's Carnaby Street concept store in London to purchase branded clothes and buy Puma's v.108 Speed Boot for their avatars.

Football Superstars will also have a branded virtual training academy where players can train their characters. In addition to featuring Puma footballs, Puma pitch side advertising hoardings, a Puma pitch logo, and a video wall, both the Academy's trainer and the players will be wearing Puma uniforms.

Said Cybersports business development head Andy Law: "We are delighted to be working with a globally recognised football brand such as Puma. They are leading the way by providing footballers with everything they need to succeed on the pitch and now they will be doing the same on the virtual pitches of Football Superstars. With a brand like Puma interactively involved we further blur the divide between reality and our virtual world."

Seeking to reach the growing online Hispanic population (currently estimated at 19.5 million in the U.S.), virtual world developer and operator Makena Technologies has announced a collaboration with Mexican clothing brand NaCo USA to offer virtual clothes in There.com, as well as new opportunities for purchasing real-world merchandise.

The word "naco," in Mexican Spanish, is typically used as slang to describe tackiness or low-class manners, but the NaCo clothing brand was created in 1998 to embrace and celebrate the term. The company now boasts offices in Mexico City. Miami, and Los Angeles, selling its products in boutiques, department stores, and specialty retailers.

Now partnered with Makena, NaCo will have a specialty in-world catalog in There.com offering nine pieces of unique merchandise for players to buy and wear virtually. There.com users will also be able to purchase real-world merchandise as well.

Said NaCo founder and chief creative officer Edoardo Chavarin: "Because of There.com's demographic mix, the platform is a perfect fit for us to engage and connect with our target audience. We believe There.com's Hispanic audience will understand and appreciate our brand. Our customers spend a considerable amount of time on social networking sites and we believe that There.com's virtual world is the next evolution for interacting with our customers wherever they may be."

Makena Technologies CEO Michael Wilson added: "The Hispanic population in There.com is growing and comprises a very active segment of our community. We've seen an increase in the areas of our world that showcase this cultural influence and there are currently over 15 clubs in There.com that cater specifically to Hispanic audiences. With our members focused on self-expression and socialization, the fun, offbeat messages on NaCo's clothing offer our audience another unique way to express themselves."

Publisher Codemasters will include a "one of a kind horse card," which can be activated on Bella Sara's web site and virtual world, with each copy of its upcoming Bella Sara Nintendo DS and PC games, according to a report from video game website GameSpot.

The bundled cards will be similar to other cards available through Hidden City's Bella Sara trading card series - children purchase packs and use the redeemable codes printed on the cards to activate new horses in the Bella Sara virtual world. Card packs contains 7 different cards each and can be bought at retailers such as Blockbuster, Target, Toys ‘R’ Us and Wal-Mart.

The DS and PC titles will have players taking part in a variety of mini-games to complete quests in Bella Sara's North of the North setting. They'll also collect in-game cards to unlock new horses in the game.

There.com creator Makena Technologies has announced that Scion will expand on its marketing campaign in the virtual world, introducing its concept cars - the FUSE, t2B and Hako Coupe - as drivable, customizable vehicles for There.com members to own and drive in-world. Scion is also offering "user enhancements" to its Club Scion virtual nightclub and an expanded line of virtual Scion clothing.

The two companies originally partnered in August 2007, when the Toyota subsidiary opened a "a large-scale, interconnected 'tower'" of the Scion xA, xB and tC car models transformed into nightclubs. Scion then expanded its campaign in November 2007, allowing users to create and submit their own decorative designs for Club Scion's exterior.

According to Makena, 20,000 There.com members have spent almost 3,000 hours inside Club Scion, and 21,000 Scion-branded virtual items have been sold. Interactive Scion kiosks in the virtual world were reportedly accessed 93,000 times, with each interaction lasting an average of nine minutes.

Said Scion Interactive marketing manager Adrian Si: "The marketing potential that virtual worlds offer Scion is truly unique. Virtual worlds fit our target customer perfectly. Makena is a great partner that helps us visualize the possibilities."

Free-to-play MMO publisher OGPlanet has announced that their in-game currency is now available for publish in the form of pre-paid game cards, available exclusively at Blockbuster stores.

The virtual currency, called Astros, can be purchased online, but the new agreement with Blockbuster marks the first time OGPlanet-specific game cards will be available at a "brick-and-mortar" retail outlet.

Astros can be used in OGPlanet's four titles -- Albatross18, Rumble Fighter, Cabal Online, and the upcoming La Tale.

"The availability of OGPlanet game cards at Blockbuster stores nationwide represents an entirely new level of accessibility for OGPlanet fans," said Don Choi, COO of OGPlanet. "We're thrilled to be working with Blockbuster in this venture. Their success as an entertainment retailer makes them an ideal location for distribution of OGPlanet game cards."

PayByCash (a subsidiary of PlaySpan) has announced that it has launched an online version of its Ultimate Game Card, a stored value card that supports over 200 multiplayer games/virtual worlds (including Age of Conan, Club Penguin, Puzzle Pirates, and more) and is currently available at retail.

Resellers can now purchase game codes in bulk and choose between instant delivery of digital codes or delivery of physical Ultimate Game Cards. The digital codes are redeemable in all of PayByCash’s supported games, and are argued to be an "ideal product for Internet cafes and game centers," according to PayByCash's release.

“The acceptance of Ultimate Game Card has been swift, with sales doubling every month over the last few months,” said PayByCash president, Kevin Higgins. “Multiplayer games and virtual worlds are international and there is a strong demand for a global version of Ultimate Game Card. We are now pleased to offer Ultimate Game Card to resellers worldwide. Selling the Ultimate Game Card is an immediate way for virtually any business to generate revenues and bring new customers into a physical store location.”

Lizard Interactive has announced that they are to host an event for new registered players of their fantasy MMORPG, Sho Online, in association with MMO services provider MMOsmart.

New registered users who sign up before October 6, 2008 are to receive 200 free points for the Sho Online Item Shop points to purchase in-game items, such as accessories including masks, hats and talismans.

Korea-based Lizard Interactive created Sho Online as a "lore-driven" MMORPG – it is based on one of the four Chinese tales in a novel called the Fengshen Yanyi, written in the Ming Dynasty and based on real historical events.

"The Sho Online community is growing in leaps and bounds," said David Markowitz, producer of Sho Online at MMOsmart. "With this event we wanted to show new players our appreciation as they join this great community. They have a lot of great content to look forward to in Sho Online."

Beckett Media has announced that issue 15 of their MMO magazine Beckett Massive Online Gamer is to include four exclusive in-game items for Warhammer Online, EverQuest 2 and Mabinogi.

The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning in-game item is the "Vanquisher’s Emerald Band" which offers +2 to all stats, plus a special effect that gives players a chance to inflict additional "corporeal damage."

The EverQuest 2 in-game item is a Limited Edition Guild Hall Statue, and Mabinogi players can receive a Cat Club weapon and Special Cat Earmuffs.

The first 1,000 people to subscribe online will also be emailed an exclusive key code so that they can obtain their exclusive item immediately.

“This is one of our most exciting issues of the year and our readers benefit from this opportunity to upgrade their characters,” said Doug Kale, Editorial Director of MOG.

San Jose-based online game publisher OnNet USA are most remarkable because they hold the publishing rights to Square-Enix's Concerto Gate in North America -- which is still currently in closed beta, but they've just announced a partnership with GMG Entertainment to offer prepaid game cards for their online portal GamesCampus at Target stores across the USA.

The cards, available in $10 and $25 denominations, hold "Campus Cash", GamesCampus' virtual currency used in all the company's Free-To-Play games, which include Asda Story, Shot Online, Manga Fighter and Xiah Rebirth.

The Campus Cash can be used to purchase in-game items via micro-transactions.

"These Prepaid Cards are a welcome addition to our payment options and offer our young, under-banked segment of players a good way to enhance their gaming experience through the purchase of in-game virtual items. We know there's a huge pent-up demand for a cash-based prepaid payment option amongst these players, and we are happy to be able to finally give them what they've been asking for!" said Jay Winship, Vice President of Business Development for GamesCampus.

We've mentioned PayByCash multiple times on the site before, because they provide payment systems -- including a prepaid card sold in stores -- to a variety of virtual worlds, including everything from Age of Conan to Puzzle Pirates, and they have recently announced PaxGuard, a system to reduce payment fraud-related expenses and lost revenue.

PaxGuard uses "a suite of detection rules and fraud detection technologies," to determine the risk of fraud, and is configurable by developers/publishers based on their perceived level of risk. "Merchants can set their risk tolerance as low as they like and not turn away legitimate, paying customers," explained the release.

In addition, PaxGuard offers "on-demand reports" to allow users to examine the level of fraud they are experiencing.

"Proprietary elements of PaxGuard have long been used by PayByCash to cut fraud rates for our merchants," said Kevin Higgins, president of PayByCash. "Now we've layered in technology from strategic partners with complementary approaches to fighting fraud. What we have now is something remarkably effective and comprehensive, a phenomenally powerful product. It's the only fraud protection solution that protects merchants across a broad range of payment methods. This is critical in an environment where more merchants are accepting numerous payment methods."

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.

Digital goods/micropayment solution provider PlaySpan has announced the launch of the PlaySpan Virtual Goods Marketplace, a secure and publisher-approved marketplace.

Users can purchase game time, virtual currency and other items in titles including EVE Online, Gunz, Kal, Knight Online, Saga, Shaiya, Silk Road, Soldier Front, Trickster and War Rock.

Users can purchase items with credit cards, PlaySpan points, PayPal or PayByCash, and as an introductory offer, new customers are to receive 100 free PlaySpan points on registration.

“For the first time gamers have a quick and simple way to buy virtual goods, currency and in-game items,” said Karl Mehta, CEO of PlaySpan. “Many of our customers don’t have credit cards so we’ve made it super easy for them to use alternate payment methods to buy products in a safe and convenient manner.”

MMO community Aeria Games (Last Chaos, Dream of Mirror Online) has announced that it is to "gift more than $5 million dollars to its valued community"—which sounds insane and unlikely, but when you see what they're actually doing, which is giving every single member of its community a "surprise amount" of virtual currency it makes a little more sense.

Users will receive special codes via e-mail to redeem for Aeria Points, which can be used to purchase items in any of the company's free-to-play games. And if this still strikes you as particularly generous, it's well worth noting that according to their own data, Aeria Games' community numbers more than five million members to date, which means they could be handing out as little as a dollar worth of virtual cash per user.

Still! A piddling amount of free money is better than no money, I'm sure many users would say.

Aeria Games has over ten MMO titles currently on offer, and have promised that a "minimum of ten more" are to be launched in 2009—including the eagerly anticipated Shin Megami Tensei: Online, currently in closed beta.

Free-to-play games represent half of all digital goods transactions -- and take the largest share of digital revenue across all game genres, says a new study.

The results come from research firm VGMarket, which in conjunction with virtual transactions platform PlaySpan, surveyed 2,425 users from the PlaySpan Marketplace, Spare Change, and Ultimate Game Card to assess their digital goods purchases.

According to the study, 58 percent of gamers made purchases in free-to-play games over the last year, while 34 percent made purchases in MMOs over the same period of time. Nearly a quarter, or 23 percent, purchased digital goods in social networking games during that time.