World Bank report finds selling virtual goods in games more profitable than ‘real’ economy

A report commissioned by the World Bank's infoDev unit has cast fresh light on one of the more fascinating aspects of our brave new interconnected world: the virtual economy. The "third-party gaming services industry" -- where wealthy but impatient players have someone else grind away at online games for them in exchange for monetary reward -- is one of the focal points of the study, chiefly owing to it having generated revenues in the region of $3 billion in 2009 and now serving as the primary source of income for an estimated 100,000 young folks, primarily in countries like China and Vietnam. What's encouraging about these findings is that most of the revenue from such transactions ends up in the country where the virtual value is produced, which contrasts starkly with some of the more traditional international markets, such as that for coffee beans, where the study estimates only $5.5 billion of the $70 billion annual market value ever makes it back to the producing country. The research also takes an intriguing look at the emerging phenomenon of microwork, which consists of having unskilled workers doing the web's version of menial work -- checking images, transcribing bits of text, bumping up Facebook Likes (naughty!), etc. -- and could also lead to more employment opportunities for people in poorer nations. To get better acquainted with the details, check the links below or click past the break.

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World Bank report finds selling virtual goods in games more profitable than 'real' economy originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink VIA BBC  |  SOURCE infoDev (PDF), Virtual Economy Research Network  | Email this | Comments

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2011 Belongs To Sony & PlayStation after game consoles of this century .

Everyone knows that Sony Electronics is a world leader in home appliances and entertainment products. With its headquarters in Japan they have branches all over the world, and gamers across the planet know that Sony PlayStations are one of the most sought after game consoles of this century.



The Sony PlayStation has been one of the most popular game consoles since its first version release. The PlayStation 3 has numerous outstanding features, for example high definition video and audio quality, built-in wireless networking support and therefore many games can be played online. HD movies are released in the Sony Blu-Ray format, and the big plus is that the PlayStation network is a free service with no hidden costs for playing online games.



PS3 is one of the highest selling video game consoles in the world and once in possession of a PlayStation ardent gamers begin to focus on the upcoming games for PlayStation 3. Owners of PS3 will be overwhelmed at the prospect that 2011 will bring over 100 games which are scheduled to debut in this year and rock not only you but your gaming consoles with excitement.



2011 belongs to PlayStation 3 as Sony have already released brilliant games in February and March, but even more are scheduled to be released through the year. Titles such as Kill Zone 3, Resistance 3, Uncharted 3, are but a few of the games listed and are sequels to some of the best PS3 games that have been seen in the past. With all these games lined up for release in 2011 PS3 fans are certainly in for a treat for the next few months to come.



With all this excitement on the horizon take very good care of your console. If you are the lucky owner of a PS3 game console you will be well aware that the PlayStation has hit one or two problems, such as the YLOD (yellow light of death), freezing, not reading games or movies, and hard drive errors. If you should get a problem with your console do not tamper with it yourself, despite what friends may advise you to do.



There are plenty of PlayStation 3 repair facilities at your service, who can repair and have your console back to you in a flash of lightening and when I say a flash of lightening I mean a same day PlayStation 3 repair service.



A spokesman for PS Pros based in London said "we are the only company that can offer PS3 repairs out of our own location for no extra cost, all repairs are completed in less than 45 minutes, and systems that we pickup and deliver for free are also repaired same day, we are proud to offer the fastest turnaround in the business, and a 90 day warranty with all repairs".



Your games console has been produced by an innovative world leader, you have a year ahead of the most thrilling games entering the market, so if you have a problem, it would seem the first port of call would be a PlayStation 3 repair service such as PS Pros, trust the professionals to get you back to gaming so you will not miss one single minute of the thrill and excitement coming your way.



For further information visit: www.ps-pros.co.uk

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Real Racing 2 HD for iPad 2 Can Support Full 1080p Video Output

Say hello to Firemint’s Real Racing 2 HD, the one of the first iPad 2 games to support full 1080p HD video output without upscaling. When Apple unveiled the iPad 2 earlier this month, it also announced a new iPad HDMI adapter that lets you mirror your iPad 2′s screen to a larger HDTV or monitor. Because the iPad 2 tops out at a 1024×768 resolution screen, the mirrored video would be the same resolution, meaning you’d have unused black bars on the left and right side of the screen. Well, Real Racing HD can run full screen at 1920×1080 when attached to an external display without those annoying black bars. Firemint credits the feature as possible thanks to the iPad 2′s powerful PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU that can provide nine times the graphics performance over the first iPad. Apple’s already proven that its iOS devices are worthy game platforms, but this just takes the cake. With 1080p high definition games that don’t require upscaling, Apple doesn’t need to release a game console, that $39 HDMI dongle will do just fine in making any iOS device a living gaming hub. Video of the action after the jump. Watch The Video From Here

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Nintendo Not Keen on Game Demos, Scrapping Them on 3DS?

Out of all three big players in the video game scene, Nintendo is the one with the biggest peeve when it comes to offering free game demos. Nintendo just doesn’t like giving away anything for free – not even if the trial is just a bunch of digital zeros and ones. Sadly, gamers love game demos. They love being able to try before they buy. Just take a look at Apple’s App Store. Nearly every game has a “lite” version to gauge interest – and it works. Often times, trying out the lite version will lead to customers buying the full game. The DS offers temporary downloadable game demos that delete when the system is turned off and the Wii has a few demos for WiiWare games, but no real demos for full retail games. Will the Nintendo 3DS also offer game demos? Once again, 3DS producer, Hideki Konno speaks his mind to let everyone know that he’s unsure on how effective game demos are. With all demos, there is a possibility that players will try a game and then not buy it, but at least they had a chance to judge it from actual gameplay and not from the game’s boxart or a bunch of screenshots. Not including game demos for 3DS games would be a mistake, especially since no one knows for sure how well the 3D effects will be in any particular game. In our opinion, because the 3D effects in 3DS games can’t be shown in regular video, offering demos is the only real way to grab show off a title.

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Xperia Play Games Could Cost as Much as $15

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is coming next month in the U.S., but what about the games? How much are you willing to pony up to play old PlayStation 1 games and new downloadable games on the Android-powered smartphone/gaming handheld device? No more than $5? Maybe sling some birds at those poor pigs in  Angry Birds and call it gaming session? In an interview with Sony Ericsson UK’s head of marketing, David Hilton says that games on the Xperia Play will range from $1.50-$16. Downloadable games on Sony’s PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable are currently priced roughly the same with most games coming in at $10-$15, so Hilton’s estimate doesn’t sound completely unheard of. Keep in mind that Hilton is from the UK, so pricing could be a slightly different when the Xperia play reaches your neck of the woods.

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3DS Can Handle Unreal Engine 2 Says Ubisoft

The Nintendo 3DS is quite the powerful little machine. If you’ve seen it running Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D or Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, you’ll know that it’s a very capable machine when it comes to pushing polygons. To prove just how powerful the 3DS is, Ubisoft Montreal, developers of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3DS says that they were “able to run the Unreal engine on this console console, which is pretty impressive for a handheld machine, and the 3D doesn’t affect the performance.” Does that mean the 3DS can produce games on par with the iPhone and iPad’s Infinity Blade that uses Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 technology? Uh, no. Epic’s Mark Rein quickly went around to do a little crowd control, revealing that Ubisoft Montreal was actually using the old Unreal Engine 2 on the 3DS. Earlier this month at GDC 2011, Rein told the press that if Epic felt the 3DS could run the Unreal Engine 3, his company would be all over it. So as impressive as 3DS titles will look, they’ll still be a hair behind in the graphic wars, but then again, Nintendo’s video game systems have always been underpowered in that department and they’ve all done just fine, with the exception of the N64 and GameCube. Graphics matter, but so does gameplay. What good is a pretty game if it doesn’t control well?

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Finally Gameloft Release Asphalt 6 for Android

After weeks of waiting, finally reached an Android of the most beautiful in recent months Gameloft: Asphalt 6. A car racing game, using the experience of the previous version, improved gameplay and graphics quality, so that all races, vivid detail and real and landscape.

 

According to Officials: 

Feel the chills in the back while running in this fast-paced game of the series Asphalt. Discover 42 vehicles (cars and motorcycles) to: Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Ducati and other famous manufacturers. Start a collection in your garage 3D. Make the development of vehicles and customize them, then thrown on the streets of Los Angeles, Tokyo, the Bahamas and other places, each played in HD. Will face tough opponents in 11 championships and 55 events, as well as a multiplayer online / local to 6 players.

Asphalt 6 Features:

• 42 models of the most prestigious manufacturers (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and many others)

• Multi-player online / local for a maximum of 6 players

• 12 runs, from Los Angeles to Tokyo and other places too, with HD graphics

• Intense Career mode with 11 championships and 55 events

• An incredible number of customization options

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BioShock 2-Test Protector for PC Released

Finally comes the official launch date for the expansion Protector Testing Bioshock 2 in the PC version, long awaited and delayed by 2K.

The DLC will be available for Windows platforms March 14, or tomorrow, with a series of challenges that we are playing a Big Daddy Alpha series deal with various threats in defense of a Little Sister.

The package is free and comes with a patch that fixes several bugs in the game. There is no information regarding the expansion in place (more substantial in terms of history) "Den Minerva ", for there are still things that come in the coming days.

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Angry Birds on Symbian S60 Now !!

At first we thought it was a fake or forcing some not legal, but after the game we realized that Zed has been able to achieve a remake of The Birds angry for Symbian S60 5th edition. The demo of a game is developed in Java and is made ​​from the same soundtrack of the original title, but in terms of gameplay are not (yet) for comparison.

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