Freaks, Geeks and Games Show 31

Freaks, Geeks and Games
ConnectedLife looks at the latest computer advances as we check out William Gibson, free online games from Electronic Arts, and Sony’s new Vaio computers. Plug in, this is ConnectedLife.

Flying Robot
Harvard University's Micro-robotics Laboratory claims to have created the first tiny micro-robotic fly able to generate enough thrust to take off. It has a wingspan of 3 cm and only weighs 0.06 grams. They plan to showcase it at New York's Museum of Modern Art in late February, 2008. The project received funding from DARPA, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which hopes to gain access to micro-miniature surveillance technologies.

Free Video Games from EA
Electronic Arts, the world's largest video games company, is releasing a free ad-supported online version of its popular Battlefield Heroes title. Selling ads within computer games has become big business in recent years, but EA's move is the first time a major gaming company has experimented with using advertising to pay for the game itself.

EA saw huge profits in South Korea by distributing its FIFA soccer title online for free, then charging a small fee (or micro-transactions) for character clothing and accessories. EA resorted to online distribution in South Korea in an attempt to fight rampant piracy that drove sales down from 250,000 in 2002 to only 10,000 in 2006. The new online version of FIFA soccer is harder to pirate and has been pulling in an average of $1 million per month, which is almost twice what it earned in its best retail sales year.

Unfortunately, in addition to micro-transactions, Battlefield Heroes will also include in-game advertising. And if the free version of Battlefield Heroes is successful, you can be sure that additional titles will follow this new business model.