Ohai is launching a new game that promise to take social gaming to the next level. 
City of Eternals, a vampire inspired massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), is currently in an invite-only Alpha mode – but is set to be released to the public later this year. This has clearly been a year of the social game leveraging Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, hi5 – to name a few. But this new release is a bit different. Ohai is taking social games to the next level by launching a MMOG that will have synchronous play on Facebook and on its own website, meaning live games with constant movement and action – effectively bringing the undead to life.
Ohai’s timing for the City of Eternals launch is perfect – jumping on the vampire craze of Twilight as the latest movie is set to release – The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Surely, hordes of Twilight-crazed teenage girls and boys will flocking to the City of Eternals launch.
In addition to the title and genre, the real innovation here is bring MMOG’s into the social gaming world. Susan Wu, co-founder and chief executive of San Francisco-based Ohai, recently said in an interview, “There is a huge market left untapped for MMOs that can be played by everyone. It’s the next leap in social gaming. To date, MMOs have been pretty inaccessible.” Think World of Warcraft meets Mafia Wars (synchronous MMOG-play combined with viral social gaming traits).
The MMOG’s social elements start with its integration with Facebook via Facebook Connect and Twitter. In the middle of the game, you can use a mouse to hover over a character, and it will show that user’s Facebook name and picture. You can then send them a Facebook friend request and build your social network from within the game itself. In most MMOG’s, the identity of other players is hidden – unless you choose to chat directly with that person. In City of Eternals, not only can you chat directly with other characters – but you can also add them to your Facebook and Twitter networks. Below is a video clip of the City of Eternals Alpha release courtesy of TechCrunch:
Ohai’s team of 12 managed to whip out City of Eternals in just nine months. Ohai plans to begin production on its second game next month building on the MMOG meets social gaming theme. Ohai raised $6 million in January 2009 from August Capital and Rustic Canyon Ventures.
Make sure you check City of Eternals out – its a pretty compelling and unique social gaming experiment.
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The first version of the FBook app was much better. When they relaunched it a few weeks ago
That was quite excellent, thanks a lot! I’ll have to read up on some of the other posts too…