World of Warcraft’s more than 11.5 million paying subscribers are spread all over the world, but it’s not easy to find them. That’s why WoWPals.net was formed. It’s a location-based social network that lets you find fellow World of Warcraft fans near you. The service lets players hook up with other local players, form local communities, find recruits for teams of players known as guilds, and share WoW updates via Twitter. The site is in its alpha testing stage now and hopes to move to a beta test by the end of the year.
WoWPals is owned by GamersFlux, a Yehud, Israel-based startup founded by two 23-year-old gamers: Nadav Har Tzvi and Danny Tsechansky. They started work on the service in April, 2009, and it went live earlier this month in a public alpha test.
It’s one of many social networks for gamers that have sprung up in the past couple of years. There are big rivals such as Rupture, which was acquired by Electronic Arts, and Raptr, a well-financed gamers social network founded by serial entrepreneur Dennis Fong.
But Tsechansky says the service is unique because it incorporates location-based information. On top of that, WoWPals.net is obviously going for the hardcore fans of one game rather than players who play a lot of different games. The strategy isn’t unheard of, as others such as the makers of TweetCraft have also staked their business on appealing to WoW fans.
The company is self-funded. It is looking for a new round of investors. This enterprise is going to succeed or fail based on how well it can tailor useful services that the hardcore fans feel like they can’t get through the game itself.
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For all you WoWer's out there that want Twitter for World of Warcraft, I have now put a link to the download page.
Click Here To Download
X-fire, Comrade? Who needs that? When you can use your Twitter account with your Favorite Game.
TweetCraft is an add-on for World of Warcraft that will let you use Twitter from within the game. When you install it, it will be on stand-by alongside your game and then uses a script to read and write tweets to the outside world. As per Blizzard's rules, y'see, add-ons aren't allowed to interact with the Internet.
The app will auto-tweet when you do all kinds of stuff like changing zones or getting achievements. So make sure you check the config file If you don't want it to do that.
Peter C. Beller and Evan Hessel report that a crop of videogames that let people play online together are getting ready to launch.
LOS ANGELES -- In the 1950s, people bowled together. Now, we play videogames together. As people spend more time online on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, gaming giants and fledgling developers are rushing to shift their focus from single players to crowds. So far, the genre's undisputed champion is "World of Warcraft," devised by Activision Blizzard ( ATVI - news - people ). It boasts 11.5 million subscribers worldwide.
But hold tight, gamers--many more games that will let you do everything from wield a light saber to ran a car are on the way.
Joining the biggest games publishers are a host of new companies hoping to break into the MMO space with fresh ideas. Some of these games, like the cheeky battle game "League of Legends," will require a more casual level of involvement than the several hours a week that Warcraft members average. "Battlefield Heroes" from reigning giant Electronic Arts ( ERTS - news - people ), will be free to play but offer virtual materiel and upgraded equipment for real-world money. Disney ( DIS - news - people ) is targeting younger gamers by turning its most popular movies into safe online environments that are full of whimsical things for kids to do.
Of course, hardcore gamers still worship awesome graphics, epic storylines and the satisfaction of cutting your opponent down with a glowing lightsaber. Among the blockbusters coming out soon is a heavily anticipated Star Wars game, titles based on superheroes from DC and Marvel comics, and a secret project from private-equity-backed Zenimax. Competition is heating up, though. Investors poured $700 million into this genre in the last two years. Electronic Arts, Sony Online Entertainment and Disney are all releasing online worlds in the next two years.
