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The computer game industry is clearly growing in the direction of multiplayer, online games. Understanding the demands of games on IP (Internet Protocol) networks is essential for ISP (Internet Service Provider) engineers to develop appropriate IP services. Correspondingly, knowledge of the underlying network's capabilities is vital for game developers. Networking and Online Games concisely draws together and illustrates the overlapping and interacting technical concerns of these sectors. The text explains the principles behind modern multiplayer communication systems and the techniques underlying contemporary networked games. The traffic patterns that modern games impose on networks, and how network performance and service level limitations impact on game designers and player experiences, are covered in-depth, giving the reader the knowledge necessary to develop better gaming products and network services. Examples of real-world multiplayer online games illustrate the theory throughout. Networking and Online Games: Provides a comprehensive, cutting-edge guide to the development and service provision needs of online, networked games. Contrasts the considerations of ISPs (e.g. predicting traffic loads) with those of game developers (e.g. sources of lag/jitter), clarifying coinciding requirements. Explains how different technologies such as cable, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and wireless, etc., affect online game-play experience, and how different game styles impose varying traffic dynamics and requirements on the network. Discusses future directions brought by emerging technologies such as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone Service), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), Wireless LANs, IP service Quality, and NAPT/NAT (Network Address Port Translation/Network Address Translation) Illustrates the concepts using high-level examples of existing multiplayer online games (such as Quake III Arena, Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, and Half-Life 2). Networking

Perfect World Co., Ltd. PWRD +1.20% is a leading online game developer and operator based in China. Perfect World primarily develops online games based on proprietary game engines and game development platforms. Perfect World's strong technology and creative game design capabilities, combined with extensive knowledge and experiences in the online game market, enable it to frequently and promptly introduce popular games designed to cater changing customer preferences and market trends. Perfect World's current portfolio of self-developed online games includes massively multiplayer online role playing games ("MMORPGs"): "Perfect World," "Legend of Martial Arts," "Perfect World II," "Zhu Xian," "Chi Bi," "Pocketpet Journey West," "Battle of the Immortals," "Fantasy Zhu Xian," "Forsaken World," "Dragon Excalibur," "Empire of the Immortals" and "Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber;" an online casual game: "Hot Dance Party;" and a number of web games and social networking games. While a substantial portion of the revenues are generated in China, Perfect World operates its games in North America, Europe and Japan through its own subsidiaries. Perfect World's games have also been licensed to leading game operators in a number of countries and regions in Asia, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and the Russian Federation and other Russian speaking territories. Perfect World plans to continue to explore new and innovative business models and remains deeply committed to maximizing shareholder value over time.

China Online Gaming Market to Reach RMB57.7B in 2012: China's online gaming market size will reach RMB 57.7 billion in this year, according to a report out last month by Beijing-based market researcher AnalysysInternational, up 20.7% from last year, while webpage games will account for RMB 7.882 billion. Another report conducted by 17173.com, the gaming portal of Sohu, has found that more than 96% of gamers are willing to pay for online games. China Mobile Gaming Market Size: According to a report by AnalysysInternational, China mobile gaming market size stood at RMB 370 million in the fourth quarter of last year with 30.28 million mobile gamers. The market is picking up as the result of proliferation of smartphones and emergence of attractive mobile games.

Noumena is the developer of Handymo, a cross-platform smartphone mobile game engine. The Handymo game engine, using its proprietary JavaScript-based development environment, supports all major smartphone mobile game platforms, including iOS, Android and HTML5, allowing for more rapid and cost-effective development of smartphone games, including 3D mobile massively multiplayer online ("MMO") games. By leveraging the Handymo game engine, Noumena has developed a number of successful "freemium" games for the iOS and Android platforms, including 3D Pool Master and Tank Fury HD 3D.

The popular Postmortem column in Game Developer magazine features firsthand accounts of how some of the most important and successful games of recent years have been made. This book offers the opportunity to harvest this expertise with one volume. The editor has organized the articles by theme and added previously unpublished analysis to reveal successful management techniques. Readers learn how superstars of the game industry like Peter Molyneux and Warren Spector have dealt with the development challenges such as managing complexity, software and game design issues, schedule challenges, and changing staff needs. Postmortems from Game Developer enhances your project management skills by showcasing projects from start to finish with candid, thorough, and specific accounts of the good and bad decisions made along the way.

Changyou-the name means "uninhibited play"-operates 10 online games, but the most popular by far is Tian Long Ba Bu, a martial-arts juggernaut derived from a popular serial novel about the eight races of nonhuman demigods. Naturally, shareholders worry about customers tiring of the game one day, and whether the company has another blockbuster in its pipeline. Another concern: Competition among Chinese online games is rife, and concerns have increased that Changyou's stellar margins may wilt as it invests in the growing social or mobile platforms. Late last year, Changyou paid $162.5 million in cash to buy from its parent a Chinese game-information portal called 17173.com.

Yesterday, we took a look at the growing comfort consumers, specifically gamers, have with purchasing virtual goods and currency on the Web and mobile devices. Virtual goods are becoming a booming market thanks to the growing maturity of gaming platforms, free-to-play models and the profusion of mobile devices. Today, international investment firm Digi-Capital published its in-depth review of the global gaming space, giving us a sense of the size, breadth, and activity of the very international gaming market last year that is contributing to the changing behavior around virtual commerce - as well as a glimpse into what we can expect from the industry over the course of 2012.

The China expansion is an attempt to put more pressure on Blizzard, but it is a pretty big undertaking. Buttler said that Shanda was his first choice for launching the game in China, where government rules require foreign online game publishers to partner with a domestic Chinese game company.

Mobile games enable senior citizens to play games which effectively alleviates their perception of loneliness and isolation. This reinvigorates their vitality by helping them reconnect with the world that they, in many cases, have reluctantly retired from. What was once strictly a youthful domain is now becoming theirs as well. Playing such games also gives the elderly the confidence to better exploit the new possibilities and life experiences facilitated by the prevalence of new information and communication technology.

Tencent's Weibo service boasts more than 250 million members.  To give some comparison, Facebook just announced it is seeing 60 million users interacting with its apps each month, leaving Tencent's figures to show just how developed China's Web space is. Tencent Weibo and Sina Weibo both have integrated games services and, with mobile a key Internet access point for many in China and Asia, a mobile games platform has the potential to succeed there.

Analysts at Core Pacific Yamaichi praise Tencent's "strong momentum" in online games, noting that its homegrown titles are achieving steady growth. However, they highlighted League of Legends as "another masterpiece of Tencent to successfully replicate and fine-tune a popular foreign game into domestic Chinese market."

League of Legends continued its World Tour series this week with a look at its massive Chinese community. The Chinese beta was launched in July 2011, and by the end of the year, LoL had become "one of the fastest growing games released by a foreign game studio in the past three years." In addition to strong cosplay and craft communities, China boasts many of the game's best competitive players. In the IntelEM Global Challenge in Guangzhou, Chinese team World Elite dominated the North American favourite Counter Logic Gaming, and all three Chinese teams went on to participate in the IntelEM World Championship.

The game has already obtained the copyright number issued by The General Administration of Press and Publication of the People's Republic of China authorizing the game for public distribution.

Another mobile game developer to shift its games from screens and into stores is Angry Birds maker Rovio. It sells a line of plush toys, branded baby merchandise and even a cookbook. The company even plans to open stores in China, a country where the bird-based game has a huge following.

China's online games market is worth 55.7 billion yuan ($8.8 billion) in 2012 and will reach 82.6 billion ($13.1 billion) yuan in 2015 on annual growth of 25 percent, according to a forecast out this week from Analysys International, which noted: "The impetus for the market comes from the economic development in 2nd and 3rd tier cities, the updating of bandwidth and operators' changes in game operation."

Sohu is expected to benefit from its strength in online games. We believe that Sohu's promising games portfolio and the growing popularity of Changyou's games will drive profitability over the long term. However, higher operating costs due to continued investments in video may hurt profitability in the near term. Moreover, cut-throat competition from the likes of Baidu Inc. ( BIDU ) and increasing government scrutiny into Chinese Internet usage may also hurt Sohu's growth over the long term. We, therefore, maintain our Neutral recommendation on the stock over the long term. Currently, Sohu has a Zacks #1 Rank, which implies a short-term Strong Buy rating.

Shanda Games, China's third largest online developer, has revealed that it plans to roll out titles to Chinese content portals and social networks over the next year, expanding its presence in social gaming. This is an excerpt from the full story. Log in or register for free to read the whole article.

The worldwide market for PC games grew some 20 per cent last year, according to a report by platform advocacy group the PC Gaming Alliance.

Welcome to Shanda Games Limited's fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results conference call. The conference call will be recorded and available for replay in its entirety. A copy of Shanda Games' fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results announcement can be found and downloaded from the Investor Relations website at ir.shandagames.com.