Onling Gaming Tidbits for March 12th, 2009

A few of the latest online gaming related stories in the news:

• Monster Hunter Wii to get online fees – The Japanese version becomes the first title on the Wii platform to charge a subscription fee. That system is just begging for a way to monetize via micro-transactions, because MMOs with monthly fees are hard to establish.
• BigWorld Technology 2.0 To Add Web, IM Functionality – BigWorld’s “Web Content Anywhere” allows developers implement “browser-like” functionality on any 2D or 3D surface in-game and their latest release will integrate with social network and IM services. The company says licensees will also be able to integrate social networking service and instant messages into their games to complement BigWorld Technology’s existing mobile functionality.
• Patent Troll Ready to Sue World of Warcraft, Second Life – More patent insanity: ‘Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin is getting ready to sue the pants off every MMOG in existence, including World of Warcraft and Second Life, for infringing on what he claims is his company’s patented intellectual property: Scalable virtual worlds with thousands of users.’
• Microsoft Faces $90 Million Lawsuit Over Online Gaming – MPath Interactive claims Microsoft’s Halo and the Xbox console infringe its patents covering ‘controlling interactive applications over multiple computers’. Yawn!
• Buser: PS3 Home Bringing Personal Interaction Back To Online Play – For someone who’s been seeing online gaming interfaces evolve for 10 years, I’m curious how matchmaking specifically in a 3D environment will be received by seasoned and new online players and how it will scale.

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