Former Pogo execs join NeoEdge through merger

NeoEdge has merged with Offspring, a casual and social games company founded and headed by former Pogo.com executives Lesley Mansford, Andrew Pedersen, Karen Schulman, and Todd Heringer. Lesley Mansford will take the helm as the company’s new CEO, with NeoEdge’s Dan Servos, along with Andrew Pedersen, Karen Schulman, and Todd Heringer all assuming Senior Vice President roles.

NeoEdge is a digital media services platform provider that helps add in-game advertising into casual game offerings through full-screen mid-roll video ads, overlay ads and sponsorships. The services platform also generates consumer communities through sponsored social rewards in existing casual download and online flash games. Casual game publishers like Yahoo! and NBC Universal currently use NeoEdge to deploy over 500 ad-supported casual games throughout the NeoEdge partner network.

In September, 2009, NeoEdge announced $4 million in new financing co-led by Vanedge Capital and Jefferson Partners of Toronto, Canada. Vanedge Capital’s principals are Paul Lee, former President of Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios, and Glenn Entis, former Chief Visual and Technical Officer of Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios and former CEO of DreamWorks Interactive.

For more details visit the company’s web site at www.neoedge.com

Wizard101 celebrates one year of service and five millionth player milestones

 Wizard101, the magic-themed Massively Multi-player Online game from KingsIsle Entertainment, celebrates its one-year anniversary this month. KingsIsle Entertainment says that since its launch a year ago the game has garnered five million registered players worldwide. That’s a pretty impressive number for a game and a company that isn’t necessarily considered brand name. It probably didn’t hurt that KingsIsle has been doing targeted marketing for the game on some of the most popular children’s television networks including Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network since its launch. It also doesn’t hurt that the game doesn’t suck and is fun to play for both kids and adults.

As part of its one year celebration, several decorations are being added to the game this month as well as a special surprise for all players to be revealed at a later date. Wizard101 combines collectible trading card game-based combat with the social interaction of an online multiplayer game and a parental control system that allows adults to restrict communications options for younger players, while allowing more freedom to older players.

You can learn more about the game by visiting www.Wizard101.com.

Double Fusion HD video ads invade WipEout HD

In-game advertising firm Double Fusion today will introduce the first dynamic video advertisements on the PS3 in a downloadable title with new ads rolling out and into the zero-gravity racer WipEout HD, currently available worldwide via the PlayStation Network.

“By introducing high-resolution dynamic video ads into WipEout HD, Double Fusion is responding to advertiser demand and offering an engaging ad format while pushing in-game ad innovation to a new level,” said Jonathan Epstein, CEO of Double Fusion. “The title is one of the most popular and visually stunning available on the PlayStation Network and a perfect vehicle to connect advertisers to a captivated audience. It comes as no surprise that advertisers have already signed up for WipEout HD even before the launch of the new video ad units in the game.”

The company expects to launch dynamic in-game ads in another handful of titles by the end of the year.

Microsoft Cuts 100 Employees

According to multiple source including VenuteBeat and Gamasutra, Microsoft has laid off 100 employees from Massive, the in-game advertising company in bought in 2006. This is a continuation of the workforce reduction it announced earlier this year. In January the company announced that it would be cutting 5,000 jobs in the next 18 months. Microsoft had already cut 1,500 of those 5, 000 jobs prior to today’s news, closing Microsoft Flight Simulator developers ACES studios in the process and finally closing Ensemble Studios

“As part of the plan we announced in January to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, today we are eliminating additional positions across several areas of the company,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Gamasutra. “Microsoft is not breaking out layoff figures by divisions.”

“While job eliminations are always difficult, we are taking these necessary actions in response to the global economic downturn,” the rep told Gamasutra in a separate statement.

UK Ad Campaign Draws Ire from Game Industry

Once again, it looks like the video game industry is in the crosshairs of the government hype machine, this time in the United Kingdom. Recently, the UK Department of Health began its Change4Life program, a government sponsored initiative designed to combat childhood obesity. Initial television ads for Change4Life showed a boy made out of modeling clay tinkering with a game controller in front of a television. The camera zooms in on the boy, then moving under his skin and showing “fat cells” increasing in his body. Later, the television screen shows the boy blasting a silhouette of himself onscreen, before a “Game Over” screen pops up. (See the full ad here.) While that ad drew some initial heat from the game industry, it’s nothing compared to the anger generated by the latest round of government sponsored ads.

Recently, the Change4Life initiative has been running a series of print ads, this time ditching the claymation work in favor of a real boy. The ads show a young boy slouched back on a sofa with a PlayStation controller. The headline reads “Risk An Early Death, Just Do Nothing” with an emphasis on the word “Death”. With the support of the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, and Cancer Research UK, the new print campaign seems to directly link video game to an unhealthy lifestyle, despite huge strides made by the game industry to fight that very misconception, and even UK government funded studies on the game industry finding no direct correlation between video games and childhood obesity.

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Study: TV Shunned For Other Media

A new research report released this week reveals that 14 to 25 year olds watch less television, instead spending more time on online activities, watching DVDs and video games. The study, “The State of the Media Democracy,” was conducted by Deloitte and polled multiple age groups including 14- to 25-year-olds (Millennials), Generation X (ages 26-42), Baby Boomers (43-61) and Matures (62-75).

Millennials watched just 10.5 hours of TV a week, compared to 15.1 hours for those indentified in the Generation-X group. Baby Boomers watched 19.2 hours, while the old folks in the Matures group watched 21.5 hours a week. So what are Millennials doing with their time? Shunning cable TV to partake in other activities. Among those activities - playing video games, listening to music and surfing the Internet.

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EA in Flap Over Wii Tiger Woods Ad

A rose by any other name may smell just as sweet, but game footage on any other console? Well, it smells a little fishy.

The Advertising Standards Authority, a UK group established to police the country’s advertising codes, has taken Electronic Arts to task over a TV ad for the company’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 game for the Wii. The ad in question shows the golf legend taking a few swings with his trusty Wii Remote, while gameplay footage is shown in the background. Just one problem … it’s not the Wii footage being shown.

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