Virtual Revolution, an open source documentary inviting users to collaborate in the making of a series about how the Internet has transformed society, won for Non-Fiction. New Zealand made history by winning its first International Emmy. It took the Digital Program: Children & Young People category with Reservoir Hill, an interactive web series that follows 16-year-old Beth Connolly as she is forced to solve a mystery when she moves to a creepy suburb. Primeval Evolved, an online project that extends the stories, world and characters of the television show Primeval, won for Fiction.

The Pioneer Prize was presented to Heroes Creator and Executive Producer Tim Kring, for his innovative contributions to the field of digital entertainment with Heroes Evolutions.

“This year’s winners have masterfully demonstrated how to enhance the viewers’ multiplatform experience,” said Bruce L. Paisner, President & CEO of The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

The awards ceremony was attended by over 200 international executives from the television, broadband and mobile industries and sponsored by Nokia and Ooyala.

Click here for more information on the Digital Emmy Awards

FanTrust President Catherine Warren, who judged the Emmy category for non-fiction, celebrates the winning 2010 cross-platform program “Virtual Revolution” with BBC executive Nick Cohen, who accepted the top award.

PARIS/NEW YORK, March 22,  2010  – Jason Priestley, best known for his role as Brandon Walsh on the hit series Beverly Hills 90210, will host The International Digital Emmy Awards on Monday,  April 12, at MIPTV in Cannes it was announced by The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

The event will recognize excellence in the areas of Digital Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s and other content categories for cross-platform programming.

The International Digital Emmy® Awards 2010 are sponsored by Nokia and Ooyala.

Read the full press release

The launch will allow Unity game developers – representing a growing base and 100,000 downloads of Unity’s engine to date – to create an account at http://www.dimerocker.com and access an ever-growing feature-set that includes the following turn-key API:

• Deployment to Social Networks (Facebook and MySpace )
• Real-time global and Social Leaderboards
• Achievements
• Scalable Hosting
• Social Engagement (Wall Posts, Challenges, etc.)
• Microtransaction System

“These initial beta developers will be invaluable in helping to shape dimeRocker’s technology moving forward, and will receive many ‘first-look’ opportunities as we roll out new tools and services,” said OverInteractive Media CEO Jason Joly. “We currently have more than 150 Unity developers signed and expect to see more exciting games tapping our platform in coming months.”

In tandem with the open-beta launch of dimeRocker, OMI is showcasing two next-gen social games inside the Unity booth at GDC.  The first, “Air Traffic Commander,” developed by Downtown East Side Games, in partnership with Complex Games, shows-off a wide range of dR functionality from social engagement to microtransactions.

The second is a browser-version of the popular iPhone/iTouch title “Battle Bears”, downloaded more than two million times via Apple’s App store.  The game took under two weeks to port over to the web and deploy via dimeRocker.  SkyVu Pictures, the company behind “Battle Bears” sees this opportunity as way to not only market the App, but also provide a secondary stream of revenue from social networks like Facebook with its 400 million users.

“DimeRocker is bringing consumers and developers together in the explosive world of 3D social games,” said FanTrust Entertainment Strategies President Catherine Warren, who also serves as a board director of OMI. “Facebook and other social network fans are now looking for immersive entertainment environments as part of their gameplay experience.” In coming months, OMI will keep expanding the dimeRocker platform by offering real-time analytics, in-game advertising and iPhone connectivity.

View the full news release

With almost as much bad press as Gitmo, our Olympic-Torch-behind-bars, has become a lightening rod for activists, tourists and even the Mayor, who all want to free the flame.

In one of the world’s freest countries, our torch sits behind a chain-link fence. Worse, it rises up from what looks like a construction site, with cement blocks and boards. This is like the proverbial bride who wears curlers at the wedding to look good for the reception. What are we waiting for, Vancouver?

The Dope on the Cauldron

“I have been to Turin and Beijing and never seen anything like this before,” said one tourist to me in passing. “To think I paid to come here and see this,” he added, referring to the Olympic Torch — or “Olympic Toke” as others refer to our spectacular haystack of reefers. As one Facebook post succinctly posted today: “The Olympics are dope, but the fence is lame.”

In an op-ed piece in today’s Vancouver Sun, Microsoft’s corporate VP notes that we’ve reached a social media tipping point for the Games: “Future Olympic Games will see us interacting with our devices simply by gesturing.”

I’d say, if left to our own devices, we’ll happily gesture to authorities right now, overturning bad decisions — such as the imprisonment of the Torch.

At last, bowing from the pressure from mass media, social media and passers-by, VANOC has just cut a peep hole along the length of the fence and opened a viewing platform for visitors and photo ops. I look forward to retaking and reposting earlier photos of my son taken at the Torch-site, which unfortunately evoked escape from Alcatraz.

The survey estimates that there are about 100 million people in the United States and United Kingdom who play social games regularly, based on the 24 percent of survey respondents who identified themselves as such. More women than men–55 percent to 45 percent–identify themselves as social gamers, and the average age of a social gamer is 43. That’s consistent with anecdotal reports that, in spite of social stigmas still attached to women and gaming, many of the most avid players of social games like Farmville, Pet Society, and Bejeweled are suburban moms.

Women who play social games are more likely than men to play with people whom they know in real life–68 percent versus 56 percent. And Facebook, unsurprisingly, has a huge lock on the market: 83 percent of social gamers say they play games on Facebook versus 24 percent on MySpace, 7 percent on Bebo, and 5 percent on Friendster. Keep in mind that this is U.S. and U.K. only: Friendster has more traction in Asia, and another social site, Hi5, is big in Latin American countries.

Companies hoping to cash in big on micropayments and virtual goods in games may be interested in this item, though: while just over half of social gamers (53 percent) say they have earned or spent virtual goods in a game, only 28 percent say they have spent real-world money on virtual goods and 32 percent have bought a virtual gift.

That means that many of the virtual goods in social games are still earned through the completion of offers and surveys rather than purchased upfront with real money. A full quarter of social gamers say they’ve been “misled” by an ad or offer in a game, a nod to the prevalence of companies that let players earn points toward virtual goods by completing offers or surveys.

Read full article by CNET News.com

Content 360 Brands Bring Development Dollars to Cannes

Coca-Cola and advertising agency Ogilvy, have just announced they will award a €10,000 development contract at MIPTV 2010 for the best branded content idea to engage teens, as part of the 5th annual Content 360 Challenge.

The idea can take the shape of a TV show, a web movie series, a mobile application, ad game or other formats.

The Content 360 Challenge at MIPTV offers producers of all stripes the chance to pitch directly to media, brand and agency decision makers in Cannes this April 13-14. FanTrust President Catherine Warren is once again serving as a judge for the global Content 360 Festival, part of MIPTV’s all-new MIPDigital event program.

Entry is free and the deadline for submitting a short description of your idea is February 15. In addition to Coca-Cola, there are five other pitching categories supported by TF1, National Film Board of Canada, Korea Communications Commission, and the European Commission.

For more on the competition, including contact information and links to compete, check out FanTrust in the News:
http://www.fantrust.com/2010/01/06/content-360-challenge-2010-call-for-entries-now-open/

You can also follow Content 360 – MIPTV Cross Media Challenge on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Content-360-MIPTVs-cross-media-competition/48712071454?ref=t
http://twitter.com/C360MIPTV
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2588823&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

But where newspapers, music, and films are struggling to find a way to make money with free content, the games industry is just doing it. Online games have gone up by 22 per cent over the last year and the market is at a point where almost every other Internet user plays games online. Revenue for online games is forecast to hit $11 billion this year, a significant wedge of the $44 billion electronic game pie.

Just a few of the millions playing around in Sulake’s massive success: Habbo Hotel. © Sulake Corporation

Together with other game industry leaders, listen to FanTrust President Catherine Warren as she probes the fun-house relationship between the real game-of-life and the casual online game at “Play for Free” in Copenhagen November 19, 2009.

“When ‘Fans’ meet ‘Free’ all kinds of crazy stuff happens,” says Warren. “We are witnessing a time when virtual economics and real-world markets are at a crossroads, where social networks are the new digital playgrounds and where underground sweatshops with child labor mirror the activities of kids with unlimited cash to play.” The global economy may be collapsing, but the online game economy is exploding, notes Warren. “For winning companies, ‘free to play’ actually translates into billions in cash. So, I want to know: Will the next notorious white collar criminal be an in-game Bernie Madoff? Or will a future Nobel Prize go to a virtual economist?”

Experts in the field of free-to-play from Canada, the US, Sweden, Germany and Denmark will reveal transformations, anomalies and trends in this exciting global market at “Play for Free,” hosted by Denmark’s Media Desk and the National Academy of Digital, Interactive Entertainment.

Check out the Play for Free link for the complete speaker line-up and sessions

Download FanTrust’s whitepaper: Socialize Me – Tap Today’s Billion Dollar Social Games Sector with FanTrust

Read more about the FanTrust session: http://www.fantrust.com/talks-events/free-the-fans/

The gamers, many of whom eschewed traditional video-game consoles, have spurred revenue for Facebook. The 5-year-old social-networking site recently announced it was operating in the black — a major feat in an industry beset by doubts about its ability to be profitable.

Meanwhile, the radical change in the way Americans play games has had a ripple effect on the $45 billion gaming industry. Developers large and small are designing easy-to-play diversions in hopes of capitalizing on the craze. For some, such as Nintendo and Electronic Arts (EA), it’s a return to simpler graphics and elementary objectives.

Read the entire article at USAToday.com

The F.T.C. said that beginning on Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently. The new rules also take aim at celebrities, who will now need to disclose any ties to companies, should they promote products on a talk show or on Twitter.

Read the full article at the New York Times

The company will allow users to register any name they like after the main Facebook address, such as: www.facebook.com/nike. This raises the prospect of individuals registering names that are trade marked to companies or organisations.

The company has put in place a pre-registration process by which companies can list their trade marks and bar others from registering them as names before registration begins.

Trade mark owners can fill in a form listing the marks that they want barred from registration. If a name has already been taken by the time the company finds out, they can fill in an IP infringement form that alerts Facebook to the problem.

To read more, and for a link to the Facebook form, visit Out-law.com