Mark van Diggelen’s Casual Games Blog

SkillPod Media has launched its Gazuma mobile games solution, with support for all the most popular mobile handsets and platforms – including Android, Apple iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Nokia Maemo/Symbian, LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Not only is the good news for gamers – it’s also an opportunity for publishers to earn excellent revenue.

To date the platform has been rolled out locally in South Africa, with the leading mobile integrator, Integrat. The site has been branded as Play4Games and forms part of their mobile entertainment brand Play4. Other deployments include, mobile sites in, Luxembourg, Vietnam and Turkey, with a further site being launched in the USA during the next few weeks.

Great choice for gamers

The Gazuma games solution includes 31 initial game titles, with a further 14 titles on the way. Following that SkillPod Media intends to release 3 to 4 new game titles a week. The games have specifically been built with smartphones in mind, and all of them cater for touch screen functionality as well as for navigation keys.

A mobile gaming platform packed with features

Players and publishers can expect a large number of features on the Gazuma mobile games platform, which is playable through the mobile browser on the handsets.

These include:

• tournaments
• challenges
• game ratings
• game information pages
• secure high score logging
• player profiles
• messaging
• friends lists

These features can be viewed on the Gazuma showcase website at www.gazuma.com.

There is also a pods system that allows players to accumulate points which they can spend on game enhancements.

Integration capabilities

The Gazuma platform offers plenty of scope for integration with social networking sites, payment gateways and mobile stores.

Users will be able to buy and download games. There are also already links to the Nokia Ovi store, with a future link to the Apple App store in the offing. This will enable users to buy game titles (although Apple games will not be playable online, due to the iPhone’s inability to play Flash). Blackberry and Android game titles will also be available.

There will be Facebook Connect integration, with the ability to register via Facebook, connect with friends and challenge them in multiplayer games.

And buying games will be an absolute cinch with its global payment gateway integration capability.

Opportunities for publishers

Publishers are presented with plenty of opportunities by the Gazuma mobile games platform. There will be white label solutions to allow publishers to brand the platform themselves.

It also offers XML feeds and plenty of revenue sharing possibilities. Games can be customised and translated according to publisher needs. The Gazuma games platform will be close to a world first, thanks to all this extensibility, customisation and integration ability, coupled with publisher functionality.

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SkillPod Media – South Africa’s leading provider of online casual and skill games that has gained a global footprint – is rolling out a slew of powerful new features for its gaming platform.

“It’s been a hugely productive period for us,” says Mark van Diggelen, CEO of SkillPod Media. “We’ve packed an incredible amount of development into not only our games platform, but also the features that surround it, which will add significant value to our users.” A glance at the recently deployed features fully bears out Van Diggelen’s words.

The SkillPod Media casual games platform now boasts registration integration with Facebook, OpenID, Google, Yahoo, AOL and all sites using the OpenID framework. This means that player accounts can be created with the click of a button on all of these sites.

Facebook Games integration has been completed, including single and multi-players game applications. Google Gadget integration is also fully available.
And of course no deployment would be complete without Twitter integration. In this case the platform can post tweets of users’ high scores and game activity.

New games and game packs

Themed clustered game packages have been created that wonderfully mirror real-world scenarios. There’s the Sports Village (where you can play outdoor games like American football, basketball, baseball and soccer) and the Games Room (where you can play pool, darts, air hockey and more). Extra features are available for subscribers, including direct links to friends on Facebook and other social networking sites, chat features, advertising, customisation, avatars and challenges.

A new premium subscription feature allows users to subscribe to premium games content and tournaments with prizes.

Tailored gaming products for international clients
New games that feature 3D imaging and intro movies have been developed and have proven to be hugely successful.

Adver-games have been developed for specific clients, catering for the FIFA 2010 World Cup, including Nedbank and Media Prima in Malaysia.

Unique features have been specially developed for the European Media Group, RTL. Included are a new tournament solution and a dynamic post-game screen platform that can feature promotional games, special edition games with prizes, dynamic score logging, integrated registration – and other features that give publishers full customisation control over content.

SkillPod Media has had a longstanding partnership with KTV in South Africa, to provide games content that integrates with the channel’s television programming. This contract has been renewed for the 4th year in a row and now includes the provision of the SkillPod Media casual games platform.

A new rapid deployment framework

To add to all of this, SkillPod Media will be rolling out a large number of new developments.

A key expansion will be online and mobile platforms into multiple new foreign territories, including non-English speaking countries. To this end, SkillPod Media has developed a Rapid Deployment Framework. This uses advanced XML framework for expedited deployment of online games portals to global partners. It also allows for rapid re-skinning and translation.

Increased revenue opportunities

SkillPod Media will soon complete the development of various new revenue earning opportunities for its clients. These will include: subscriptions and micropayments; the ability to customise games and sell them; licensing, usage and platform fees.
Also coming up is the rollout of a social gaming and MMOG platform for both online and mobile. Revenues from these will be in the form of micropayments, subscriptions, advertising and game sales.

Fantasy Tribe 3D gaming world
One of the more exciting future releases will be Fantasy Tribe, a social and MMOG gaming solution. This will provide a 3D world for players, with games embedded in various areas of the world. Easter eggs will be planted in various places, which will unlock extra games and bonus features. Users will be able to create their own avatars, with a micropayment system to allow players to “pimp” these avatars. Micropayments can also be used to obtain special features like shields, power-ups, weapons etc. There will be an integrated social networking aspect, allowing players to connect with friends, send messages, chat and issue challenges. Multiplayer games therefore form a large part of the platform. Fantasy Tribe will be heavily promoted on social networking sites like Facebook.

A multitude of new developments

In addition to all of this, SkillPod Media is also working on:

• improved multiplayer games for enhanced community building
• game lobby enhancements (including improved tables, rooms, chat and scoring)
• increased Facebook integration – play against your friends
• self-service in-game advertising solution
• development and deployment of USSD games
• avatar creation, with a micropayment system for avatar enhancement

There’s little doubt that very soon the SkillPod Media games platform will offer a quantum leap in casual gaming. One that will benefit players, publishers and advertisers alike.

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Completed projects:
- Integrat, Play4Games mobile portal. Completed integration & deployment, interfaced into their High Gate billing engine.
- Completed the clean up of the SkillPod logo, feedback has been really good.
- Completed the new registration integration, including Open ID, Facebook Connect, Google, AOL, Yahoo accounts, etc
- Completed integration into Moneybookers global payment providers platform
- Deployed 14 multi player games onto the Facebook Application framework
- Completed 10 new games for mobile and online, including 5 multi player games for mobile
- Completed the development of the Subscription solution, will start rolling out next week. Interfaces with new registration framework, Moneybookers and the new premium games
- Added additional Social Bookmarking features, including: Facebook Like, Google Buzz, Twitter, Email and Facebook status update
- Partnered with Spelpunt (Europe’s largest multi player game provider) and completed the integration
- Media 24 are finally interfacing fully into the online platform, including co-registration, high scores, etc
- RTL Post Game screen project
- RTL Tournaments project
- 6 new titles added to Nokia Ovi store
- Partnered with Prize Voucher for the provision of sponsored prizes for the tournaments, the beta test is running SkillPod and IOL
- Completed an adver mobile game for Malaysia
- Completed an adver game for Nedbank
- Roll out of an online platform for Turkey
- Roll out of an online platform for Vietnam

New developments:
- Developing a showcase 3D style driving game
- Completing the centralised distribution platform for the mobile solution
- We will begin the rapid deployment framework for online early next week
- We’re in the process of developing a sport village style cluster of games
- Finalising the agreement with SAB Media for the deployment of a mobile solution in India
- Roll-out of the mobile platform for Turkey
- Roll-out of the mobile platform for Vietnam
- User and advertiser game customisation platform
- Convert the following games to mobile multi player versions: 8 Ball, 5 in a Row, Connect 4, Battleships and Backgammon

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In the world of casual gaming it’s a norm that games are playable online with the option for the user to generally purchase them to play offline. When it comes to mobile gaming the norm is that users only have the option to buy. They then need to install the game to play it on their handsets. SkillPod Media is currently breaking this mould with the launch of their new mobile games platform gazuma!

With the high penetration of mobile handsets that have internet browsers for users to surf the web, why not allow users to play their favourite games without the need to first install them? This is the motivation behind the development of the gazuma! mobile games platform, says Mark van Diggelen, CEO of SkillPod Media. The mobile phone has bridged the gap between the PC and laptop and allows users to manage their digital lives, from their mobiles, by receiving and sending email, surfing the web, managing their Facebook profiles, posting fresh Tweets on Twitter. Why then should they need to first download games to satisfy their gaming needs, adds van Diggelen.

SkillPod Media has been developing casual games solutions and games for the past 6 years, and has a thorough understanding of the market and more importantly what the gamers are looking for. The new mobile games platform allows users to play the games directly from their handsets Internet browser, with this they are able to log game scores, enter tournaments, win Pods (SkillPod’s virtual currency platform), challenge friends, build friends lists (with Facebook integration), message friends and buy the games to download and play offline.

A number of unique solutions have emerged from the SkillPod R & D team, which include the ability to play Flash games via the handset browser, whereas handsets typically attempt to download the Flash file. Other innovations include the secure high score logging systems and the ability to deliver the content dynamically through the content management system, which was built from the ground up. SkillPod ranked playability and ease of use at the top of the priority lists and much effort has been placed on these functions – the feedback from users has been incredibly positive.

SkillPod Media has been publishing its games on the Nokia Ovi Store since mid December 2009 and we are delighted with the results thus far, adds van Diggelen. These developments have resulted in SkillPod having developed a number of unique solutions for specifically the new Symbian S60 version 5 handsets, which include the ever popular Nokia 5800 and newer N97 handsets. A few of these innovations include the controlling of the orientation of the screen, by locking the screen for the game orientation, be it landscape or portrait. Again emphasis was placed on the overall user experience with full screen game play being the default mode, with the necessary game controls being populated within the game itself. Users are able to control the volume of the game, ‘play again’ features and log scores through the native high score systems developed by SkillPod.

This is the first generation of our new mobile games platform and we’ll be adding a host of new features in the coming months, emphasises van Diggelen. The strength of the platform lies in the fact that the solution can easily be customised via white labelling or XML, this gives the publisher total control over the integration of the mobile offering. More importantly, partners have an immediate income stream as all the online games have download versions that users can download and pay for through a host of payment options, including direct billing to their mobile accounts, PayPal and credit cards – all in their local currency. SkillPod Media has partnered with the international payment provider Zong, for the various payment options which are country and currency specific.

The platform currently has mobile game 20 titles, across a number of game genres. SkillPod will be adding 12 – 18 new titles a month. All the game titles can be fully customised, re-branded, translated and have the potential to include advertisers branding in them. The platform has been setup to manage promotions in the form of advertising, sponsorship and game sales. Publishers further have the option of offering the mobile games site as a free to play, subscription based and or time based access options.

All enquiries can be sent through to SkillPod Media – info@skillpodmedia.com.

In summary the gazuma! mobile games platform offers the following features:
- Mobile Games, playable via the mobile browser;
- Tournaments;
- Challenges;
- Game Ratings;
- Game Info Pages;
- Secure High Score Logging;
- Player Profiles;
- Pods System;
- Messaging;
- Friends Lists;
- Buy & Download Games;
- Facebook Connect Integration – registrations, challenge friends, etc;
- Global Payment Gateway Integration;
- Links to Nokia Ovi Store, and in the future Blackberry and Android titles will also be available.

The platform will offer publishers the following opportunities:
- White Label Solutions;
- XML Feeds;
- Revenue Share Opportunities;
- Custom Games;
- Translated Games and Site.

Advertiser Opportunities:
- Branded Games;
- Customised Games;
- Links and Banners;
- Tournament Sponsorship;
- Game Pre-roll Ads.

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SkillPod Media started with its mobile strategy sometime ago and has taken this time to finalise the games content and more so the new mobile games platform that’ll be launched and on offer to publishers from February. More recently SkillPod started with the deployment of its Flash Lite based mobile games into the Nokia Ovi Store, the games have been available for a couple of weeks now and includes 15 of the 40 titles available. The response really hasn’t been bad, says Mark van Diggelen, CEO of SkillPod Media, with some typical superstars enjoying downloads from 55 countries.

There is definitely a purchasing trend towards the handsets that have the Ovi Store links pre-installed on the handsets, such as the new Nokia N97 and 5800. SkillPod has also recently partnered with the new BuzzCity mobile portal Djuzz, which will also be launched in the next week or two as well as the ever popular Australasian mobile portal, Cellmania.com. We’ll add 4 to 5 new titles a month to the Ovi Store and our other mobile partners, adds van Diggelen.

The new mobile games platform will be a feature rich offering and will initially be launched as an internal mobile brand, offering a showcase of the solution and the available games titles. The new SkillPod Mobile Games Platform will allow users to register online or from their mobile handsets, users will have the ability to customise the interface from a selection of skins on offer, they’ll further be able to play the games through their handsets browser, log scores, challenge friends and enter the various tournaments on offer. Users will be able to purchase their favourite games for installation on their handsets, these games will feature local high score logging, for offline gaming fun. SkillPod launched its virtual currency system, Pods, almost 2 years ago whereby users earn and spend Pods when the play certain games, enter tournaments and challenge friends, the Pods system will also be introduced into the Mobile offering.

SkillPod will be launching a number of titles for the ever popular Apple iPhone and it’s baby sister the iPod Touch, titles will also be available for the Blackberry and Android handsets towards the 2nd quarter of 2010. The mobile platform will be made available to publishers as either a white labelled version or through our robust XML solutions, various revenue models are available for publishers to share in the sales of the mobile games.

SkillPod will be offering advertisers and publishers the option to customise, rebrand and/or translate the games for their mobile offerings, thus opening up additional revenue streams for partners.

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