Onling Gaming Tidbits for March 22nd, 2009

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

• GameSpy Technology on Twitter – The middleware tools and services group for connected gaming where I work now has a dedicated Twitter account.
• It’s personal: many gamers prefer local multiplayer to online – According to a dozen of their ‘fellow insiders and enthusiast gamers’ Ars Technica thinks gaming with your friends in the same room together is the ideal way to enjoy multiplayer.
• Sparkle: The iPhone Gets Its First Virtual World – Tokyo-based Genkii’s Sparkle is a virtual 3D world with its own economy, customizable personal spaces and avatars, social networking functions and virtual goods.
• ngmoco discusses DLC plans for LiveFire, Touch Pets – “With In-app Commerce, it’s important to point out that although it will be possible to purchase content and/or features directly within a game, ngmoco will always give the highest priority to game balance and the integrity of the core experiences of our games.” says ngmoco’s Chris Plummer.
• Ubisoft signs deal with Quazal – The ‘enterprise license’ adds long-term services and a consulting agreement to their standard online middleware tech.
• 30 percent of online gamers reportedly buy gold – It’s an anonymous, second hand figure though. Visit the Eurogamer story linked for further analysis on gold trading.

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