At that same E3 I met Jason Wonacott, who was working for Webzen at the time. Six years later, I made the move from journalist to PR professional, Jason owns Wonacott Communications – where I’ve worked for three years today – and… we’re partnered with Webzen for their first E3 appearance since 2006. Small world.

Webzen will be showing off its newest online games, fantasy-based action RPG Continent of the Ninth Seal (C9) and modern military FPS Arctic Combat, at a VIP media lunch on Wednesday, May 6 at Icon L.A. (directly across the street from the Convention Center, conveniently located next door to Hooters). They’re hosting a community tournament in the same space, flying in competitors from all over the world.

We’re also working with THQ, booking appointments for hands-off previews of Metro: Last Light and Company of Heroes 2, and hands-on previews of the highly-anticipated Darksiders II. Majesco will be at E3 too, talking about their new and upcoming mobile and social games.

Last, but certainly not least, some of our corporate clients will be at the show; we should have more details on that next week.

If you’re interested in meeting with any of our clients at E3, you’re in luck because they all have one great thing in common – me! Feel free to ping me at rcaswell@wonacottpr.com for more details or to book an appointment. Hope to see you at E3! (I’ll be the one wearing cute but comfortable ballet flats.)

We're kicking off this week's CGW with some awesome Wonacott news - the addition of Mark Van Lommel to the video games and technology team as account director. He joins us from Nexon America, where he managed product PR for several renowned free-to-play PC, social and mobile games. Before that, he led several campaigns for the Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE Arcade, including some of my favorite titles: Mass Effect, Gears of War 2 and Halo Reach. Welcome aboard, Mark!

Slightly less important news than Mark joining the Wonacott team is a little company called Facebook, who woke up early today to open trading for its public stock on the NASDAQ. As one of the most profitable gaming platforms, Facebook's IPO raised the brow of many investors in the gaming and tech sectors, but the stock is currently underperforming, and bringing down the rest of the tech sector with it. Zynga, the gaming company inextricably tied to Facebook, saw trading of its shares halted twice this morning and currently is down 13 percent amid Facebook's volatility.

But whether or not that market performance indicates a social gaming bubble, cloud gaming, the next frontier for the industry, made big strides this week. Graphics processor mainstay NVidia is ready to revolutionize cloud gaming with a brand new processing platform called GRID. One GRID unit could power the graphics to simultaneously stream eight video games over the internet to any connected device. The kicker? The new technology is a hair faster than the HDMI cable between your TV to your console.

The Industry
Conversion Rates Up, Spending Habits Down Among Social Gamers
A Revolution in Sound: Break Down the Walls!
Could Digital Sales Also be Contracting?
Report: Japanese Government Restricts Controversial Virtual Goods Practice
Mobile Gaming USA: Big Business, Brands and Bad Games

Mark joins us today as an account director on our video games and technology PR team. We stole him from He most recently hails from Nexon America, where he managed product PR for several renowned free-to-play PC, social and mobile games. Previously with Edelman, he led several campaigns for the Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE Arcade, including top AAA titles such as Mass Effect, Gears of War 2 and Halo Reach. He has also done PR for THQ, Nintendo of America, Paramount Home Entertainment and RadioShack.

Like many of us Wonacottians, Mark’s not afraid to admit his love of pop culture – and like most of us (we’re not all gaming nerds!), he’s been a PC and console game enthusiast for as long as he can remember.

Mark’s most recent claim to fame? Finishing at the final table of the AIAS DICE Poker Tournament for the past two years – and now that we’ve seen his poker face, we can understand why! Mark also enjoys riding motorcycles, is a novice freerunner, and – much to our delight – is a certified bartender in the state of Hawaii (we’ll focus on the “certified” and conveniently forget the “Hawaii”).

You can contact Mark at his email address, or follow him on the Twitter.

Welcome to Wonacott, Mark!

To boil it down, Planet Cyrene will pay you every time you get a kill, but you lose money every time you die. Sound nerve-wracking? You bet it is. 

When we were working with CKI in 2009 for first previews of the game, we took a PC Gamer intern with us to Thailand for a studio preview, which resulted in a great article about the game's promise. Fast forward three years. Planet Cyrene has all of its content in place, and is currently in soft-launch with players so eager to get in, they're crashing the servers. The game got a full graphical overhaul thanks to the powerful CryENGINE®2 technology, and that PC Gamer intern, who goes by the name Josh Augustine, is now one of the most respected MMO journalists out there. 

So what did we do? We (virtually) sat him down with the game again to show off the nuances of the graphics, the contents of a complete planet-full of quests and enemies to kill, and how frenetic PvP can be when cold, hard cash is on the line.

We're really stoked for CKI, and you can read Josh's impressions of the game on the PC Gamer website. Or if you think you've got the skills to pay the bills, register for Planet Cyrene on the official website and hop in one of the arenas. Just don't yell at us when your next credit card statement rolls around...

Statistically speaking, Angry Birds, the reigning king of all mobile games, has been downloaded by one out of every seven people on the planet as the highly entertaining slingshot game eclipsed its billionth download this week. Not that Angry Birdsdeveloper Rovio would need to do anything else after it's Facebook- and Zynga-scale success, but the company just revealed its next mobile title: Amazing Alex. The new physics game is the first departure from the furious franchise for Rovio. Only time will tell if Angry Birds was just "lightning in a bottle" or if Rovio found the secret for mobile success. 

Research firm Frank N. Magid Associates has some troubling news for social game publishers, as detailed in the Magid Media Futures 2012 study. According to the news, social gaming is in a slump, with plateauing user numbers (just 2 percent increase), declines in time spent gaming (7 percent decrease) and depressed user spending (34 percent decrease).

One could speculate that "RecessionVille" (gave myself a pat on the back for that one) is due to the problems that plagued Facebook gaming from day one - lack of proper discovery channels. With the amount of saturation of games on Facebook, it will take new innovations to really set social gaming apart from mobile ports. If you'll recall last week's CGW, Spil Games found tweens were spending more time on mobile devices, so the secret to turning around the negative trend could be making Facebook stand as a unique gaming platform again.    

Check out the links below for more news from the world of online gaming in this edition of Connected Gaming Week, and have a great weekend.

As a leader in global youth engagement, Fuel continues to reach kids, tweens, teens and young adults with compelling digital experiences just like this one. Check out today’s write-up on Adrants (and play the video for a virtual tour), or check out Happy Studio for yourself!

This week, Blizzard gave a rundown of how the real cash auction house will work in its impending blockbuster, Diablo III. Basically, the Americas (including Oceania), Europe and Asia will have individual auction houses to sell any in-game item. Blizzard will take a $1 cut for weapons and a 15 percent vig for any other items. Users who pay an extra 15 percent can get the proceeds sent to a Paypal account, or else the funds go to Battle.net, creating a cycle where users can play Diablo III to finance their World of Warcraftsubscriptions. Dare we say this move is...diabolical?

There were a couple of mobile gaming bombshells that floored me this week. First was about the power of tween girls. According to a Spil Games report, tween girls doubled their playing game playing time to 78 minutes a month, with Android devices leading the way for mobile gaming sessions. The second was a Newzoo report that finds 91 percent of mobile game revenue in the US comes from in-app purchases. We knew the free-to-play model was catching on in the US, but 91 percent of all revenue? Incredible!

We mentioned this last week, but now it's official. The call for speakers at the 2012 LOGIN Conference is open, with submissions due on June 7. 

Check out the links below for more news from the world of online gaming in this edition of Connected Gaming Week, and have a great weekend.

The Industry
90% of U.S. Mobile Game Revs Come from within Games - Study
Game Retail Weakens as Consumers Turn to Alternative Entertainment - Analyst
The DeanBeat: Don't Ya Wish these Fantasy Game Consoles were Coming?
GamesAid Releases 2012 Video
London Games Festival Set for September
Games Industry Perspectives: The World of Biz Dev
Could Next-Gen Consoles Cost $99?
E3 2012: The Big Games List

The Players
Designer Jane McGonigal Launches Gratitude Network Game for Oprah Winfrey
Major Publishers Integrating National Fitness Challenge into Games
Funzio Scores Big with Third Million-plus Hit on the iPhone
Uncharted Designer Richard Lemarchand Leaves Naughty Dog after Eight Year Run
Sega's Mike Hayes Steps Down
Report: Microsoft to Undercut Competition with Surprise $99 Xbox 360 Bundle
Zynga.com Grows to 2.8M Monthly Active Users in 2 Months
Ubisoft Investing $505M to Build up Toronto Studio
Activision Blizzard's Quarterly Earnings Report Predicted to Shine come Wednesday
Gameloft's Smartphone and Tablet Sales Grow 59 Percent Year-over-year

The Entertainment
Online Action Game Elsword Celebrates First Anniversary
Activision Confirms Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for November
Release This: Awesomenauts, Sniper Elite V2 Debut Worldwide
Angry Birds Space Hits 50M Downloads in 35 Days
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - A Bold New Future
Skullgirls to Rush Down on PC - in 2012
Brands Ready to Invade Draw Something
Black Ops 2 Pre-Orders Top Modern Warfare 3's
Building Puzzles in Portal 2

The Technologies
Alienware Debuts Three Ivy Bridge Gamer Laptops
BlackBerry 10 revealed: RIM finally brings the PlayBook's Magic to Phones
Microsoft Cleans Up Windows Phone Marketplace
Nintendo to Launch Digital Downloads for Third-parties

Upcoming Events
E3, Los Angeles, June 5 - 7
MobileBeat / GamesBeat, San Francisco, July 10-12
San Diego Comic-Con, San Diego, July 12-15,
Gamescom, Cologne, Aug. 15-19
PAX Prime, Seattle, Aug. 31-Sept. 2
LOGIN, San Francisco, Sept. 26-27
GDC Online, Austin, Oct. 10-13

Here’s a synopsis:

When it comes to games, particularly free-to-play online and mobile games, synchronizing supply and demand is a challenge that remains inevitable, especially as we move toward an increasingly saturated global games market. Meeting the demands of a constantly growing consumer/user pool means rising development costs and often a decline in profit margins. This uphill trend leads the marketers who are tasked with gaining the highest levels of visibility for these products with one important question: Where do you allocate your marketing dollars to most effectively acquire new players, while keeping current users engaged at the most reasonable cost? 

Maximizing marketing dollars in this ever-evolving industry is a top-of-mind concern for game developers on all platforms across the globe. In this session, games industry experts will discuss the biggest challenges facing building a new user base for your games, while exploring the most efficient ways to resourcefully leverage user data and other resources to implement effective marketing strategies online and across other mediums.

The session is set for 3:00 PM, Thursday May, 24. Stop by and say hello to Jason and he might even buy you a Tiger beer.

(Source: PlayStation Network Official Site)

There is nothing quite like the feeling when you walk into your nearest electronic store to purchase the video game of your choice. This holiday season, I was particularly satisfied with my purchase of Madden 2012, where I could virtually avenge the early playoff exit of the Green Bay Packers. Luckily, in a world that includes the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, those days where you would have to save few weeks worth of pay checks to buy the video game of your choice may be long gone.

I have to admit, the above statement is hard for me to believe. Don’t get me wrong – I am all about saving money just as much as the next starving intern, but I thoroughly enjoy the experience of going to the nearest GameStop, taking a quick look at the year’s most anticipated games, making my purchase, and proudly displaying that beautiful bag as I walk through the mall. After working on Autumn Games’ latest title, Skullgirls, however, I had no choice but to dive into the world of downloadable games. To my surprise, I found this 2D fighter game was incredible! At its price, it had a lot to offer.

I have been a fan of fighting games since the year ’96 when my young, six year old eyes first set on Mortal Kombat III. Skullgirls could be placed in the Mortal Kombat level, as it takes you back to the better days with its old school, arcade feel. The artwork is absolutely astonishing with its anime twist and the level of strategy the game delivers with its ability to string combo moves together makes the game an absolute steal. 

It was time to give the world of this new generation of games a try. As an avid sports gamer on the PlayStation 3 console, I decided to see what the sports games on PlayStation Network had to offer.

(Source: PlanetXbox360)

Madden NFL Arcade is a downloadable addition to the Madden NFL game franchise. Even though the title came out some time ago, the game still had a lot to offer. The downside is that the game only features five-on-five football play. While the rosters are outdated, the graphics as well as the game mechanics are on point.

Truthfully, playing this version on Madden only gave me the urge to anticipate the full version of Madden NFL 13.  EA Sports, the creator and developer of many sports video games, including Madden NFL, may have found a new marketing tactic. You see, the way I would describe Madden NFL Arcade would be as an appetizer to a full course meal; in this case, Madden NFL 13. While the DLC version serves as a great way to tide you over, you always want the meat and potatoes more, right?

(Source: Madden NFL 13 Official Site)

This tactic, combined with others such as EA Sports and ESPN’S Sportsnation Kick-off Madden NFL 13 Cover Athlete Fan Vote, allows the developer to gain profit off of their downloadable games as well as maintain hype for upcoming products.

I hope that someday, the world of video game download and disc will come together. If it were up to me, I would like to see a reward system where devoted sports gamers can simply load the disc onto the console of their choice, and then be allowed to update the newest version of the game at a lower cost, giving the gamers a sense of appreciation for their loyalty throughout the years.

But until technology catches up with my hopes and dreams, I will continue to explore this new generation of gaming, while continuing to buy the latest versions of my favorite sports games in-store.