GameHouse–the casual gaming arm of RealNetworks that’s been around under one name or another for a decade–is trying to respond in a big way to the rise of social games, virtual gifts, the Facebook platform, and other trends reflected in wildly popular games such as FarmVille. At the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, it’s launching a platform of its own it calls GameHouse Fusion –a set of services designed to help game developers bake social features into their products.
They include everything from simple social stuff like leaderboards to special trophies gamers can create themselves; virtual goods; hosting and ad-sales services; and more. And they’re designed for browser-based games (including ones built for both the Facebook and OpenSocial platforms), downloadable ones, and ones for the iPhone and other mobile phones.
The GameHouse network is capable of drawing in over 50 million players a month on a variety of platforms, which includes social networking sites such as MySpace and Comcast. Players on these sites have access to thousands of online titles, all of which they can send to their friends if they think it’ll be of interest.
The first big expression of Fusion is a new GameHouse on Facebook portal that’s launching today. It includes 1,000 existing games that have been given social features via Fusion–in many cases relatively basic ones such as the ability to share high scores, see what games your pals are playing, and share your own gaming profile. But Real executives told they plan to roll out new features regularly, and see Fusion as enabling a scenario in which gameplayers can take their social identity with them as they play games on social networks, on their computers, on their phones, and on gizmos such as the iPad.
Chinmoy Kanjilal is the geek behind Techarraz. This is where he rants about his adventures with technology. Get to know him better, and connect with him on social networks.
I really like what I’m reading here. Are you interested in new technology gadgets at all? I’ve found that some of my toys, like the iPad can be a bit tricky to use out of the box. Have you seen Comcast’s Xfinity Remote Control App for iPad’s and Android Phones? Check out http://www.xfinityinformation.com/2011/03/02/comcast-xfinity-tv-app-now-available-in-android-market/ and vote on some of the polls and read about the Apps and Quad Tuner DVR if you haven’t already.