FCC report negates free Internet interference claims

A Federal Communications Commission engineering report released late Friday essentially backs a plan to create a free wireless Internet service by dismissing concerns about interference for existing providers.

The FCC has been considering auctioning 25 megahertz of spectrum in the 2155MHz to 2180MHz band. As part of the rules for using the spectrum, the FCC plans to require license holders to offer some free wireless broadband service.

The FCC sees the plan, which is based on a proposal submitted to the FCC by M2Z Networks in 2006, as a way to provide broadband Internet service to millions of Americans who either can’t afford or don’t want to pay for high-speed Internet access.

But existing providers like T-Mobile USA, which spent $4.2 billion in 2006 acquiring spectrum in an adjacent band, say that opening up this spectrum would cause interference and disrupt service.

Friday’s report, however, concludes that spectrum could be used as planned “without a significant risk of harmful interference.”

Click here for a PDF of the full FCC report.

It should be noted that this free Internet plan is separate from a proposal to use so called unused TV spectrum, also known as “white space” for wireless broadband services.

Source: Cnet

Verizon Wireless considers extra text fee

The blogosphere has been up in arms over the past 24 hours as news spread that Verizon Wireless is planning to increase the per-message fee it charges companies that send text alerts.

On Thursday RCR WirelessN News published a story citing a letter that OpenMarket, a direct to consumer messaging service that sends alerts for companies like Google or Orbitz, was sending to its clients explaining that it would have to tack on an additional three cents for every text message that is terminated on Verizon Wireless network.

“Effective Nov. 1, 2008, Verizon will assess a transaction fee of $0.03 for every MT message processed on its network,” the letter said. “Please note that these message fees will apply to standard rate and premium programs. Transaction fees will not apply to Free-2-End-User, Mobile Giving or Non-Profit organizational programs.”

OpenMarket went on to say in its letter that it planned to pass on the charges to its clients.

“Pursuant to your Commercial Services Agreement with OpenMarket (including former Simplewire Agreements) concerning Third-Party/Operator Fees, in the event message fees are assessed by Verizon for any of your programs, these fees will be passed on to your company at cost.”

Source: Cnet

Study: Mobile Web sites need improvement

Apple’s iPhone has revolutionized Web browsing on a mobile device, but some users of the breakthrough phone are still frustrated with their experience when surfing certain sites, like Yahoo.

Keynote Systems, which provides testing tools to help companies improve their mobile experience, found in a study released Thursday that satisfaction rates of iPhone users using certain sites were low and only a small percentage of users clicked through on advertising. The results suggest that the usability of many mobile Web sites still needs improvement. It also suggests that advertisers might have to adjust their practices on the mobile Web.

Keynote used the iPhone for its study primarily because the phone is designed for Web surfing. And on average iPhone users spend more time surfing the mobile Internet than users of other smartphones.

“The iPhone is a breakthrough mobile smartphone,” Dan Richards, senior product manager at Keynote, said in a statement.”But our Keynote WebEffective study shows that the user experience of surfing Web sites is not.”

As part of the study, more than 75 participants were asked to find an entertainment news story, read it, and search for a story on another specific top and then send that story to a friend. Keynote found that even big Internet brands, which have invested a lot in mobile development did not score exceedingly well in terms of satisfaction. In fact rates were low for both Yahoo, which only scored 51 percent satisfaction, and Fox News, which scored 64 percent satisfaction for their mobile Web sites.

That said, Fox News users were more likely to find the mobile experience to be better than a computer experience. Meanwhile, Yahoo users were more likely to find the mobile experience to be much worse than a computer experience, according to Keynote.

About 60 percent of Yahoo users reported frustration, while only 33 percent of Fox News users were frustrated. Users said they were most frustrated by site errors, cluttered pages, slow Web site speed and excessive scrolling.

The study also found that only four percent of users clicked on advertisements while surfing. And only a quarter of respondents noticed the advertising, but did not click on it. Another major hurdle for mobile Web surfers had to with search. Many users found search on these Web sites to be difficult.

Source: Cnet

Google launches AdSense for Games

If Google’s entry into a field of advertising doesn’t legitimize it, nothing can. And that’s why the in-game advertising industry just got a huge shot in the arm.

On Tuesday night, Google announced the beta launch of its new AdSense for Games program, the search giant’s first foray into the video games market, and the long-awaited answer to the question of what the company planned to do with AdScape Media, which it bought for $23 million in February 2007.

Rest of the story can be found @ Cnet

With WiMax, Sprint cuts the cord in Baltimore

Executives from Sprint Nextel and its ecosystem of partners ceremonially cut the broadband cord here on Wednesday with the launch of the first mobile WiMax network in the U.S.

Executives also showed off several new laptops that will have embedded WiMax chips, and they announced that Sprint will be offering dual-mode 3G/4G products by the end of the year. The introduction of new devices and integration with Sprint’s existing cellular network could help lay to rest worries about the company’s initial strategy. But it’s still very early days for Xohm and for WiMax in general.

Sprint started selling the new wireless broadband service called Xohm here last week. The service–based on WiMax, a standards-based technology that uses the 2.5GHz spectrum band–offers average download speeds between 2 megabits per second and 4 Mbps, a huge improvement over the 400 Kbps to 700 Kbps speeds offered using 3G cellular technology.

Baltimore is the first city to get Xohm, but it’s expected to launch soon in more cities, such as Chicago and Philadelphia. Sprint’s chief technology officer, Barry West, said that Baltimore was an ideal place to launch the service because it is representative of many cities in the U.S. both in geography and population. Surrounded by water and full of low-rise brick buildings, the environment also was a challenge for radio frequency engineers designing the network.

But building the network is only part of the challenge. Getting devices in the market that can use the WiMax technology is crucial to making Sprint’s 4G strategy a success. Sprint currently claims to have at least a two-year head start over its wireless competitors AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which both plan to use a technology called LTE (Long Term Evolution) to build their 4G network. But unless device makers can get products into the market and in the hands of consumers, the head start might not amount to much. Sprint seems to recognize this.

“The news on September 29 was about the network,” West said. “Today it’s about the devices, and the defining thing is the embedded model. And it means that everything will come with WiMax.”

Sprint was joined at the event by its many partners to celebrate the launch and to show off devices that will be able to access the network. Intel announced that it is now shipping its first-ever combined WiMax Wi-Fi module for laptops. Four notebook manufacturers–Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and Toshiba–said Wednesday that they will include the Centrino 2 chips in their notebooks. These new laptop computers are available now via Amazon.com and NewEgg.com. Dell, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony also plan to support the WiMax/Wi-Fi chips in their new laptops that will hit the market in 2009.

From Wi-Fi to WiMax
Intel executive vice president Sean Maloney said he expects the evolution of WiMax to follow the same pattern as that of Wi-Fi. He said that seven years ago when Intel first started pushing Wi-Fi into the market, many people didn’t believe Wi-Fi would ever take off. But today, Wi-Fi has clearly become a huge success, shipping as a standard feature in almost every laptop on the market. It is also finding its way into dual-mode cell phones, like Apple’s iPhone and Google’s new G1 offered through T-Mobile.

But Maloney pointed out that Wi-Fi has a “frustrating limitation,” which is that it doesn’t cover a large geographic area. This is where WiMax comes in. He said that WiMax, which can create a hot spot over an entire city rather than a much smaller area like a coffee shop or a home, provides huge amounts of bandwidth over a big enough footprint to finally make Web 2.0 applications accessible to mobile devices.

But Sprint’s WiMax network is still small. Right now, the service is only available in a handful of cities. And even in those cities, it’s not 100 percent complete. West acknowledged that Sprint and its soon-to-be partner Clearwire have a long way to go in terms of covering the country with WiMax signals. But he said the new Clearwire, which will combine spectrum assets from Sprint and Clearwire, has more than enough spectrum to build a robust 4G wireless network.

“There are holes in our service today,” West said “Over time, we will have the same network as everyone else. But you can’t do it all at once.”

Until Sprint is able to complete its 4G network, the company plans to use its 3G cellular network to augment the service. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse announced at the event here that the company will be offering devices that will be able to automatically switch between the 4G Xohm WiMax network and its EV-DO 3G cellular network. Sprint will be offering the first dual-mode 4G and 3G wireless technology in its laptop air cards by the end of the year. Pricing details for a combined service haven’t been released, but Hesse said consumers can expect to pay more for higher speeds and better coverage.

“It will take a while for the new (4G) network to be built ubiquitously,” Hesse said. “And we will have new multimode devices that will use 4G where it’s available, and when it’s not it will downshift to 3G to provide that ubiquitous data coverage.”

But the current economic crisis has led many skeptics to question whether Sprint and Clearwire will have enough money to finish building their nationwide network. The companies, which announced their proposed merger in May, expect to get final regulatory approval by the end of the year.

Hesse said the Clearwire will need a total of about $5 billion to complete its network. The company has initial funding of about $3.2 billion, which means it will need to raise another $2 billion to complete the network. He acknowledged that the current economic crisis could make accessing this capital difficult. But he said he is confident that if the company found itself unable to get the necessary funding that it could turn to its partners for the cash.

“Just look at the cash on our partners’ balance sheets,” he said “We’ve got Intel, Google, the cable companies, and even our own cash. That is the advantage of having six well-capitalized founders.”

Source: Cnet

Android phones making their way into the wild

Most of us will have to wait until October 22–or later, given that T-Mobile sold out–but if you have the right connections, you can get an Android phone now.

Google co-founder Larry Page flashed his Android phone briefly in a meeting two weeks ago with reporters, but they’re trickling farther down the ranks at the Internet giant, too.

I snapped this shot of one Google employee surfing CNN.com with his Android phone while waiting for his chief executive, Eric Schimdt, to talk about energy at a San Francisco speech last week.

Android is the Linux-based open-source operating system Google created in partnership with several other companies. T-Mobile is selling the first Android-powered phones, the G1, but other manufacturers are expected to join in 2009.

Source: Cnet

iPhone 2.2 getting Google’s Street View

Maybe iPhone users won’t have to covet one of those shiny new features in Google’s Android operating system

after all: Google Maps Street View.

The driver’s-eye view is a prominent part of the first Android phone, T-Mobile’s G1, which goes on sale October 22. But according to Mac Rumors on Monday, Apple has snuck Street View into the iPhone 2.2 firmware beta release.

Other new features described in the report include the ability to disable the typing autocorrect feature and the inclusion of 461 small icons called Japanese emoji characters.

The iPhone 2.2 firmware beta release is not expected until later this month.

What’s the big deal about WiMax?

Sprint Nextel has made headlines all week as it’s started lighting up its first 4G wireless network using a technology called WiMax. But what exactly is WiMax? And how does it fit into the future of wireless? Here’s a primer to help you sort it out.

Sprint was the first major carrier in the world to announce massive deployment of mobile WiMax in 2006. The company said it would use the technology to build a fourth-generation, or 4G, wireless network that would provide true wireless broadband.

But the hyped technology hasn’t been without controversy. Fast forward to the present, and Sprint’s former CEO Gary Forsee, who staked his reputation and ultimately his job on WiMax’s success, was forced to resign after investors protested that the company needed to focus more on keeping current 3G customers instead of building a new 4G network.

Now, Sprint is waiting to spin off its WiMax assets into a joint venture with Clearwire to help ensure that its dream of a nationwide WiMax network is realized. In the meantime, it’s moving forward with initial network deployments. And this week, it launched the first mobile WiMax network called Xohm in Baltimore. More cities will follow over the coming weeks and months.

Next week, Sprint and its ecosystem of WiMax suppliers is planning a major coming out party for Xohm. With all the buzz swirling around WiMax, I thought it would be a good time for a little refresher on what the technology is and how it compares to existing technologies as well as other 4G technologies on the horizon.

What is WiMax?
The acronym WiMax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It’s an IP-based wireless technology that can accommodate fixed, portable, and mobile usage models, according to the WiMax Forum. It’s considered a promising next-generation wireless technology, because it supports high data rates and has a long transmission reach. Before it was standardized in 2004, there were many non-standard versions of the technology being developed throughout the world, including Korea’s WiBro technology.

What can WiMax be used for?
The primary purpose of WiMax is to offer wireless broadband. Originally, it was used to provide broadband to places where there was no wired infrastructure. This is how most of the 350 deployments throughout the world use the technology today.

A mobile version of the technology was approved in 2005 by the IEEE standards body. This version, known as 802.16e, allows the technology to be embedded into laptops, tablet PCs, smartphones, and consumer electronic devices like digital cameras so they can connect to the Internet via WiMax while in motion. So for example, if you’re walking down the street, riding on a train or traveling in a car, the 802.16e version of the technology will allow you to still access the Net.

The WiMax Forum claims the technology can deliver 40 Mbps of capacity per channel, which can then be split “among hundreds of businesses, thousands of residences, and thousands of mobile Internet users.” Specifically, the group believes the technology can offer 30 Mbps of capacity within a typical cell radius of up to 3 kilometers.

People have called WiMax Wi-Fi on steroids. How does WiMax differ from Wi-Fi?
WiMax and Wi-Fi are both Internet protocol-based wireless technologies. And they both provide high-speed wireless access to the Internet. But that is pretty much where the similarities end.

Wi-Fi was designed to provide indoor wireless connectivity over relatively short distances. The technology is mostly used for home networks or to provide Internet connectivity in small public places like a coffee shop or library. Although there have been some attempts to “mesh” the technology and use it outside for citywide deployments. But because of its short range, these deployments require a lot of radios.

Another major differentiator between WiMax and Wi-Fi is that Wi-Fi uses unlicensed spectrum. WiMax uses licensed spectrum, typically in the 2.5MHz range. WiMax is also designed to be a carrier grade technology so there is more reliability and quality of service built into the technology than is typically available with Wi-Fi.

How does WiMax compare to 3G cellular phone services?
Like WiMax, 3G services transmit over long distances. And these services also require spectrum licenses. But in general, 3G cellular networks are slower than WiMax. What’s more, these networks were fundamentally built for voice traffic. WiMax has been developed for data.

How do the speeds of 3G services compare with WiMax?
Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel have built their networks using a technology called EV-DO. Today’s networks, which use a version of the technology called Revision A, offer theoretical download speeds of about 3.1 Mbps. But actual downloads are between about 400 Kbps and 800 Kbps.

AT&T uses a different technology, based on UMTS and called HSPDA or High Speed Data Packet Access. It can theoretically deliver download speeds of about 3.6 Mbps. But in the real world, speeds are closer to 400 Kbps to 700Kbps.

That said, the next generation of 3G for both technologies is on its way. And it offers faster speeds. Verizon and Sprint can upgrade to EV-DO Revision B, which offers a theoretical maximum download speed of more than 9 Mbps. Actual peak download speeds would likely fall around 4.0Mbps.

AT&T is currently upgrading its 3G UMTS network to HSUPA. And AT&T executives have said that as soon as next year its network could offer theoretical download speeds up to 20 Mbps. The actual speed is likely to be around 4 Mbps and 6.6 Mbps.

By comparison, WiMax can deliver theoretical download speeds to individual users around 10 Mbps to 20 Mbps. But most people using a mobile WiMax service will get between 2 Mbps and 4 Mbps of bandwidth.

Why do theoretical speeds differ from actual speeds?
There are several variables to consider when it comes to calculating performance of wireless networks. All wireless networks are a shared medium, meaning the more users on the network, the less total capacity is available for individual users. Also physics plays a role. And distance is always a factor when it comes to wireless technology. Typically, the further a wireless signal travels, the weaker it becomes, which translates into slower bandwidth speeds.

How does WiMax stack up against other 4G technologies, such as Long Term Evolution or LTE?
WiMax and LTE are the leading technology candidates for 4G networks of the future. And they actually have more similarities than differences. Both technologies are IP-based and as a result are designed for data rather than voice. And because they are IP-based they will both be able to offer consumers a true mobile broadband experience on portable devices like smartphones and consumer electronics.

Both technologies use the same fundamental technology, OFDM or orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing. So while GSM and CDMA were bitter rivals in the 2G and 3G cellular wars, WiMax and LTE are more like siblings, sharing a common parent. This means that companies, such as Motorola and Nokia, will have an easier time developing products and equipment for either network because they can re-use some technology built for one technology.

Who is deploying mobile WiMax in the U.S.?
The WiMax Forum lists more than 350 WiMax deployments throughout the world already. But most of these are fixed deployments in developing markets where WiMax is used to provide broadband to areas without fixed line infrastructure.

In the U.S. Clearwire and Sprint Nextel are building WiMax networks that will serve both mobile customers as well as fixed customers. Earlier this year, the two companies agreed to join forces to deploy a nationwide WiMax network. The companies have raised $3.2 billion in investment from several companies including, Intel and Google as well as cable providers Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

Sprint just launched the Xohm network in Baltimore this week. It will be lighting up other WiMax cities such as Washington, DC, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas, in the coming months.

Who is deploying LTE?
The world’s largest wireless operators have committed to LTE. AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and Vodafone, which is the largest operator in the world, said they’ll use LTE. Verizon Wireless has already said it will use its newly acquired 700 Mhz spectrum to build the network.

LTE is still in its early days of development, which means it won’t likely be deployed en mass until 2011 or 2012.

As for speeds, LTE is expected to be faster than the current generation of WiMax. But the IEEE is working on a new version of WiMAx called 802.16m, which should be ratified in 2009, that will provide faster speeds.

Are there any WiMax devices available today?
There are some, but not many. That said, several large companies such as Intel, Nokia, and Motorola have thrown their weight behind WiMax. And they promise to launch new components and devices to support the technology. But so far, devices with WiMax have been few and far between. Nokia has announced the N810 “Portable Internet Tablet.” Samsung has announced a WiMax-capable Q1 Ultra Premium Mobile PC. And Intel will soon be including WiMax in its laptop chipsets, which should help seed the market.

Source: Cnet

Nintendo: More Wiis available for holidays

Nintendo on Thursday said it expects to ship a much higher number of Wii video game consoles to retailers this holiday season than it did last year.

At its annual fall media event here, the Japanese company’s North American president, Reggie Fils-Aime, told the gathered media that the company intends to try to address the well-documented shortages of the Wii that occurred during the 2007 holiday season.

He didn’t say exactly how many Wiis had been available last year, nor how many more would be making their way into consumers’ hands this time around. And he didn’t even commit to being able to satisfy all demand this year.

“Will there be enough (Wiis) to meet demand?” Fils-Aime said. “Talk to me in January.”

Still, it’s important for the company to at least try to address the shortages that resulted in long lines at retailers that happened to have a few Wiis available.

But Fils-Aime added that the company is in uncharted territory with the Wii, and he suggested that the company doesn’t have the ability to judge exactly how many units would be required to satisfy all consumers this holiday season.

He did say, however, that Nintendo expects to increase production of the Wii by about 50 percent in the fourth quarter of this year.

Asked how much more demand there had been for the Wii during last year’s holiday season than available units, he said there was no way to quantify that.

“All we know,” Fils-Aime told me, “is that as soon as units were available at retailers, they were gone in seconds.”

Fils-Aime opened his remarks by unveiling Nintendo’s new DS-i handheld console. However, because Nintendo also had a media event in Japan last night, that news had already made its way around the world.

He said the DS-i will not be available in North America until well into 2009 because there is still strong demand here for the existing DS Lite. He explained that the DS Lite is still selling better here than any device ever has and that there is still a large amount of penetration to be had.

In fact, he said that while one in every two Japanese households already has a DS or DS Lite, that number is just one in five in North America. Nintendo said it won’t release the DS-i, which is expected to cost the equivalent of $180 in Japan, in North America until that penetration rate is higher.

Whether there are warehouses full of DS Lites that still need to be sold is not clear, and Nintendo isn’t saying what its specific game plan is regarding the North American transition from DS Lite to DS-i.

It’s pretty likely, however, that there will be substantial demand for the DS-i wherever and whenever it is available, as it features dual cameras, one that faces outward, and another that faces the user. This means that images from the two cameras can be combined. Photos taken with the DS-i can be sent to friends and family via the device’s built-in wireless capability.

The DS-i will also have built-in MP3 playback capabilities, as well as the ability to move music from a computer to the DS-i via SD cards. In an attempt to make the new device a little slimmer than the existing DS Lite, it will lose its Game Boy Advance-compatible slot, though it will still play any existing DS games.

After Fils-Aime finished his remarks, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing took the microphone to introduce a slew of new games for the Wii and DS platforms.

Most notable, perhaps, for the Wii were Punch Out, a return of a classic game that will now take advantage of the motion-sensitive Wii controller. Other titles in the works for Wii include Call of Duty: World at War, Sega’s Mad World, Capcom’s Deadrising: Chop till you Drop, and others.

Most interesting was a new demo for Wii Music, during which the audience was able to see the many ways that players will be able to layer tunes from different instruments over each other in the pursuit of complex, rich music.

Finally, Nintendo Executive Vice President Cammie Dunaway briefly introduced what will be called the Wii Speak Channel, a system that will utilize a Wii microphone to allow up to four players to communicate with each other across wireless networks. That is expected to be available November 16, 2008.

She also said Club Nintendo, a program popular in Japan and Europe that allows players to accumulate points by buying various products and taking Nintendo-related surveys, and then trade points garnered for new gear, will be coming to North America.

But none of the Nintendo executives addressed the rumors that made their way across the Internet yesterday that the company was planning on bringing out a new, HD-capable Wii by 2011.

Source: Cnet

Shufflebrain: The making of a social games company

For years, Amy Jo Kim has been a well-known and respected member of the video game design community, as well as the author of perhaps the best book ever written on building online community.

But for the most part, through years of working on other peoples’ projects–Ultima Online, The Sims, the virtual world There.com, Rock Band, and many others, as well as consulting for countless companies–Kim has played a supporting role.

That’s all set to change. Kim, along with her husband and consulting partner, Scott Kim, are in the midst of what might be their most ambitious project ever: Building their own game company from the ground up.

Their start-up, known as ShuffleBrain, plans to announce the public beta of its first effort, a Facebook game called PhotoGrab, in a matter of weeks. On the one hand, PhotoGrab is a puzzle game, tasking players with matching small snippets of photographs with the full pictures they’re taken from–and doing so against a clock that’s quickly counting down. The more accurate the placement and the more snippets you can match, the higher the score.

But PhotoGrab is also a social platform that is built around the idea of encouraging photographers to upload groups of their own pictures and make their own games from them.

So, for example, after playing for a little while with a few of the games already in the system, I uploaded five pictures I took last summer while visiting the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Ky., on my CNET Road Trip 2008 project, and then spent a few minutes selecting small circular pieces of the photos for players of my game to identify.

I may have made it too hard, though: Once the game was ready, I tried playing it, and didn’t do too well. I chose elements of the photos that were too hard to identify on a time limit, but I did learn something in the process about what would make for a fun, yet challenging new PhotoGrab game.

The idea, says Amy Jo Kim, who’ll serve as ShuffleBrain’s CEO, is to bring an interactive social element to photographs, especially as more and more people take more and more pictures and post them online, and as people’s leisure time shrinks.

For Kim and her husband, both longtime game designers, making games that “are good for you” has been a goal for years.

“We like brain games, puzzle games, and I love music games,” Kim said. “We love those kind of games, and we think that those games are good for you…a positive force.”

As games like Nintendo’s Brain Age, which theoretically trains players’ brains by presenting them with a series of daily puzzles to solve, gained in popularity over the last few years, Kim said she and her husband began to get excited as they watched the ways their family and friends played games and spent what little time they had looking at family pictures.

“Games can bring you closer, and games are social,” Kim said. “It’s a brief blip in gaming history that games are single-player. Most games are social.”

For some time, investors had been approaching the Kims about starting their own social games company. These were largely people she had consulted for, or those who were acquainted with her work through other means.

So, knowing that they wanted to do something involving photographs, something that was social and interactive and fun, they set out to see what people were interested in.

“We took some seed money, and we talked to a lot of older people,” Kim said, “friends and family, about what they wanted, and saw that looking at pictures of their family was a really core activity….(We asked ourselves), how can we make that a richer, deeper, more fun experience? So we’re launching PhotoGrab.”

Any Facebook member will be able to play PhotoGrab whenever they want, as it will be populated with plenty of public games created by others. But people will also be able to play games in small social groups, where, for example, they are challenged with games made from friends’ or family members’ private photos. Similarly, friends and family members can try to outdo each others’ scores at the games, and try to build the best overall game rating.

Challenges: Scoring and rating
Kim said that one of the biggest challenges ShuffleBrain faced while creating PhotoGrab was designing a scoring system that would be challenging, yet which would reward players who do well without overly penalizing those who need improvement.

Further, because all the games are created by players, a significant hurdle–one that nearly tripped up the project–arose in developing a rating system based on games that have a wide range of difficulties.

In the early stages, Kim said, they incorporated a system that was essentially like simplified chess ratings: Players would start with a score of 1,000 and go up or down, depending on their performance each time they played a PhotoGrab game.

“It was a chicken and egg problem,” Kim said. “It doesn’t know if the game is hard or easy, and there’s not an accurate sense of skill (level).”

So the problem was that most people’s scores would go down from the get-go, a psychological barrier to playing more that the designers knew they had to overcome.

“You don’t want to see a new player come in and see their rating go down,” she said.

The team worked on the system, fixing it, tweaking it and trying to make it work.

But one night, just a few weeks ago and not long before the game was supposed to be finished, they realized it wasn’t working.

“One night,” Kim said, “it was 11 p.m., and we had put the kids to bed. It’s like 11 at night, and we’d been wrestling with the rating system. And we said, We have to throw it out and start fresh.”

The problem, she explained, was that the system was a mathematical algorithm based on the idea that the game would be the same each time, something that was pointedly not the case with PhotoGrab.

She said that at this point, they decided to give themselves two days to figure out if they could salvage the rating system–and thus, the game itself.

“We divided forces,” she recalled. “I said, I’m going to use all my skills at doing scenarios and player experience walk-throughs, all this stuff I’ve done for years and years to design great systems….What do I want the player to experience the first 10 or 15 plays?”

At the same time, Scott Kim was looking at the mathematics–the probability and the statistics–of the problem. “He’s a quant guy,” Amy Jo Kim said.

“What do we know, when do we know it?” she said. “How do we cope with a tremendous amount of uncertainty? Other systems have those properties, so Scott went out and looked at those systems. This was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my professional life, because (we had to ask) what if we can’t solve it?”

The problem was critical because the key to not just attracting players, but keeping them, was helping them find a way to feel that they were getting better in the ratings, yet still make it feel challenging.

Further, the more you play, the “steepness of how fast (your rating) rises drops off, just like every other MMO I’ve ever played,” she said.

As their self-imposed deadline approached, Scott Kim reported that he’d uncovered some predictive models based on calculus that helped solve the problem, and quickly, everyone on the development team played 20 games or so to test the new system.

Looking like it was working better, they took another day, invited five outsiders to test the system as well, and then “played and played and played.”

Finally, Kim said, “it felt right. And then we collapsed into a little puddle on the floor.”

Now, PhotoGrab is in the final stages of development, and Kim said ShuffleBrain hopes to launch it into public beta in October. And the young company is already at work on its second game, a memory game called WordStream that uses players’ Facebook and Twitter status updates.

“It’s Concentration meets Wheel of Fortune,” Kim said.

The similarity between PhotoGrab and WordStream–that the games are “engines” for players to create their own games–is precisely what ShuffleBrain is all about, Kim said.

“They’re engines of creation for other people,” she said. “They’re really a cross between games and Web 2.0.”

Ultimately, the idea behind ShuffleBrain’s games is that not only will individuals themselves play, but they’ll also issue challenges to their friends to play the games they’ve made, and even create their own contests using ShuffleBrain’s system.

“Individual games are interrelated on the back end,” Kim said.

ShuffleBrain, of course, is a business, and Kim said she hopes it will make money through a combination of microtransactions, short advertising, and premium services.

For now, however, the Kims are still wrapped up in the vagaries of building the company, and knowing that the rewards–or the penalties–are theirs alone.

“After being a consultant for years,” she said, “I really like having my butt on the line.”

Source: Cnet