This invitation-only workshop, being held March 23-24, 2010, will bring together a diverse set of stakeholders invested in the future of story. Together, participants will explore critical questions related to storytelling and their implications for multiple industries and disciplines, such as technology, new media, production tools, marketing, advertising, and more.

Attendees will hear from thought leaders, witness cutting-edge technologies under development at the Media Lab, and participate in working group discussions.

The goal is not only to come away with a deeper understanding of the future of storytelling, but also to develop plans and partnerships for creating the content and tools that will shape the future of story culture and story business.

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

• 97% of women prefer to earn virtual currency through either winning more or accepting a branded offer – versus paying for it with “real” money
• Only one in ten women have actually used “real” money to purchase virtual currency; of that, 85% have spent under $100 in their gaming and aping activities – ever
• Of women who have signed up for branded offers to get more virtual currency, 67% found the offer useful
• 3% of those women chose the branded offers based on “content”; 17% went for offers with free products or services

Read the whole article, and press release, at Social Media at Work

Other notes from the report:

- Only 2% or 3% of users spend money on Zynga games and less than 1% consistently purchase virtual goods. Zynga makes nearly 40% of its revenue from those sales. Other revenue sources include in-game advertisements and marketing offers.

- Upcoming Facebook changes could affect Zynga’s apps. Next month, Facebook is expected to adjust its notification policy for games, something that could “affect Zynga in unintended ways.” The report notes a Facebook change in July 2008 that turned off viral components for the Super Wall application. As a result, average daily users fell from 2.4 million to 0.6 million in a month. Currently, Super Wall users number 0.3 million average daily users.

Read the full article at USA Today’s Game Hunters

“The heavy gamer really disregarded the majority of publisher advertising and marketing; their preference was to go to the purest sources they could find,” says Ivan Todorov, CEO of Blitz. “One thing that kept coming up in both the study and in the focus group was that they preferred to go to YouTube to watch game-play footage over the marketing or the destination Web sites, or even the content on Gamespot or IGN.”

YouTube was an unmediated source, where other gamers had posted game play, that respondents trusted. “They tend to think that publisher content has been touched up, or sweetened up, in post-production to make the graphics look better,” says Todorov. “They really prefer peer content.” Another outlet that gamers went to for information was Wikipedia — even before they went to the publisher site — or sometimes, elsewhere after, avoiding the publisher site.

Read the entire article at MediPost Publications

The game, Valet Hustle, is an addictive puzzler with anime-style visuals that puts you in the shoes of valets who have to park and retrieve cars at nightclubs in New York and Tokyo. But there’s a social message as well—the two main characters in Valet Hustle are gay, and developer Factory Games makes no bones about the fact that it favors gay rights in general and equal marital rights for gays and lesbians in particular.

In Valet Hustle, you assume the role of Akira or Ren, who manage a restaurant’s valet services. “The back-story shows that both are regular people. They’re not stereotypes, they’re not clichés,” said Andrew Littlefield, co-founder and CEO of Factory Games. The goal with Valet Hustle, Littlefield adds, was to create characters “who aren’t dominated by their sexuality” but whose lives will develop through the game’s planned expansion packs. “Hopefully you’ll develop some sort of empathy for the characters.”

While Littlefield downplays the significance of the characters being gay, he also recognizes that gay rights is a controversial subject. There aren’t many games that deal with social issues, but Littlefield sees that changing. “Including social commentary in games is the same as including social commentary in a situation comedy,” he said. “I see no reason why [games] can’t be used as an agent just as TV and film have.”

Read the full article at Yahoo News

Sure, none of it’s real. But the overwhelming popularity of so-called social gaming — simple games that let people play with their friends on networking sites such as Facebook — is changing the face of video games, experts say.

And as the maker of popular titles like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, San Francisco, California-based Zynga has ridden the games’ skyrocketing popularity to the top of that emerging market.

For Zynga founder Mark Pincus, the formula for gaming success on Facebook, MySpace and other sites was as simple as it might seem counterintuitive: create simple games that people like but can easily set aside.

“We built the games so they could be played in a tab on your browser while you’re on a conference call,” said Pincus, a veteran Web entrepreneur who created Zynga in 2007.

Of course, they’ve been helped by the massive growth of Facebook, where the games are so popular they’ve spawned “fan” pages devoted to complaining about having to watch friends play them.

Zynga’s top title, FarmVille, is played by an estimated 75 million people each month — roughly equal to the number who have played the classic arcade and desktop game Tetris during its entire existence.

“Video games actually appealed to a huge cross-section. They appealed to everybody,” said Steinberg, publisher of DigitalTrends.com. “What happened is, as we went through the mid-’80s to the mid-2000s, you started to see gaming become more incestuous in terms of 18- to 34-year-old males making games for people just like them.”

Read entire article at CNN.com

The sky is falling. The U.S. men have beaten Canada at their own game—for now. And after all the hype and hoopla surrounding these Olympics games, Canada may need hockey gold now more than ever.

“To beat Canada on their own soil is special,” said U.S. forward Ryan Kessler of the cross-border showdown, which ended in the biggest U.S. v. Canada upset since the epic figure skating Battle of the Brians at the 1988 Calgary games.

While NBC’s primetime coverage went to ice dancing, the U.S. v. Canada game was relegated to MSNBC. But in Canada, the national obsession is primetime. Which meant all of Canada was watching the stinging national defeat.

Much has been made of Canada’s “Own the Podium” program, which pumped $110 million into helping those winter athletes with the most medal potential. Hockey, of course, was a top priority.

But trash talking, Canadians? Really?

“We’re still going to be nice and win,” said Michael Chambers, president of the COC.

That seemed more like it—like running television ads that outlined the quest for gold and money spent, as if to apologize.

“This is so Canadian,” said Catherine Warren, president of FanTrust Entertainment Strategies, a Vancouver-based management consulting company focused on building fan relationships. “You’d never see in the states any sort of justifications or explanation for supporting the athletes. I felt that they were trying to appeal to the average Canadian by saying look we had to do this but we’re almost sorry.”

Warren said winning gold “absolutely” matters to Canadian fans.

“I think we have extremely high hopes specifically around hockey,” she said. “If we can win the biggest competition in sport, that’s going to really affect our sense of identity. We’re just known as somewhat self-effacing and modest or self deprecating and humble.”

Judging by the outpouring of Canadiana on Facebook and Twitter, the fans will let their voices be heard.

Facebook groups like “Canada for Gold,” and “Gold Canada Gold,” have popped up all over Facebook.  “First Gold For Canada,” self-described as “a group of hockey fans lending their support to the biggest achievement of any athlete in Canada’s history! First Gold On Canadian Soil!” has over 10,000 members in their regional Facebook groups.

Read the full article

“It takes tremendous ingenuity and business acumen to compete in the ever-shifting digital environment,” said Warren, whose management consultancy FanTrust provides media deal-making and strategic advice to entertainment companies on digital financing, revenues, productions and audiences. “But as competition heats up so do collaborations – so expect to see more innovative cross-platform deals and digital strange bedfellows in the year ahead.”

With a readership of 60,000 made up of key people in the international media marketplace, this glossy publication will also be circulated throughout the year at Emmy Galas and entertainment trade events.

A leading authority on “Competing in the Digital Space,” FanTrust is featured in this year’s Emmy Almanac Winners’ Edition

As an Academy member, Warren also joins the world’s leading television and media decision-makers in promoting new strategies for the future development of quality global television programming, including interactive productions and broadcasting. In recent years, she has also served as an international judge for the Interactive Emmy® Awards. Presented annually in Cannes, France, these Awards recognize outstanding achievements in interactive television, broadband, mobile and new media.

Canada’s digital entertainment leadership is world-renown. With multiple International Interactive Emmy® Awards, the Canadian digital media sector continues to thrive in large part due to significant financing from the Bell Broadcast & New Media Fund, where Warren has served on the Board for ten years.

About The International Academy

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is the largest organization of global broadcasters, with over 550 members from nearly 70 countries and over 400 companies. The Academy is a unique, independent organization comprised of the world’s leading television and media decision-makers who come together to exchange ideas, discuss common issues and promote new strategies for the future development of quality global television programming. The Academy organizes yearly, a series of events for its members and their guests which include board meetings, panels and presentations. The International Emmy® World Television Festival which traditionally takes place the weekend before the International Emmy® Awards Gala, features unique screenings, panels and presentations from around the world. The International Emmy® Awards Gala, held each November in New York City, attracts over 1,000 international figures in broadcast, entertainment and media. www.iemmys.tv.

About FanTrust Entertainment Strategies

FanTrust provides broadcasters, TV & film producers, game companies and entertainment brands with strategies and tactics for digital media growth, including raising capital, distribution deal-making, revenue generation and cross-platform production and partnerships. FanTrust also helps technology distribution companies to package and provision for the media and entertainment industries. In essence, FanTrust serves as digital matchmakers, helping bridge different media and build innovative companies and IP. With a laser focus on the Fans, FanTrust helps clients capitalize on the digital audiences and committed consumers that interact with multi-platform content. www.FanTrust.com;

FanTrust VX 2010 Showcase
http://www.vxperience.com/b2b/company/fantrust-entertainment-strategies/212

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Journalists who want insight into fan stories or to interpret fan action can arrange an interview with FanTrust’s Catherine Warren by contacting:

Katie McCloskey
Fan Research Coordinator
FanTrust Entertainment Strategies
Mobile: 778.892.5698
katie@fantrust.com
www.FanTrust.com