Games are more fun when played in a social setting, and a human player offers infinitely more competition than any computer ever could. This concept in mainstream gaming is what creators of MMOs and Xbox Live titles bank on, and the users of said applications are playing the same games for months, if not years, after release. Suffice to say, mobile platforms, specifically the iPhone, have followed a similar (though accelerated) history with their games, and are finally moving towards that direction.

As you probably know, SGN launched a suite of sports-themed iPhone titles that turned the iPhone into a Wii-like controller for games like iBowl, iBaseball, and iBasketball. With the success of these games, SGN is now experimenting with live multiplayer games, meaning that anyone who owns the application can synchronously play against their friends (or anyone else that also has it installed).

The most recent change has been to iBasketball which was just recently updated to allow for live multiplayer competition. At the moment,the game only allows you to compete in a free-throw competition and compare scores at the end. However, according to SGN, however, this is only the beginning, and in the next update you will at least be able to see your competitor take their shots in real time.

This is merely the tip of the iceberg though. SGN has more impressive changes coming for some of its other iPhone apps. So far, the biggest known change will be coming to iBowl. This new version, iBowl Live, is actually supposed to let you compete against three other players and watch their bowls each round (picture Wii-Bowling, but on different screens).

SGN has made a number of successful innovations with the iPhone over the past few months with these Wii-like titles. They have certainly seen the boundaries of what they can create, and the fickleness of the demographic to which they cater. Has a major developer finally seen the power and allure of live multiplayer on a mobile platform? Considering how successful such games are on other platforms and the uncanny void that exists on the iPhone, one can only hope.

It is a new year, and that means that everyone has a fresh start for 2009. So what do the charts look like for MySpace? Well, we’ve had our look and here are the numbers for the start of 2009!

As you can see, MySpace games continued to grow at a good pace in December, though there weren’t many changes in the overall rankings. The highest change in users out of all of the titles this month was just slightly over 300,000 (though that number can be dwarfed by the millions of users that can change in Facebook).

• No major surprise, but Mobsters and Mafia Wars continue to remain in the Top 2 positions respectively with well over 10 million users each. However, it is still Mobster’s that dominates all competition with over 2 million players more than the #2 position.
• Zynga still remains the primary developer within these charts claiming a third of the games within the Top 25. Gang Wars and Dragon Wars swapped places in popularity (at #10 and #11) with Gang Wars emerging on top.  YoVille in the meantime moved up from #17 to #16 with a gain of 206,113 users.
• Fashion Wars went up from the #20 position to the #18 spot, and Special Forces dropped a level, falling to #19.
• Also, a game that breached the Top 25 last month, My Green Garden, continues to hold on to its inclusion into the charts, by actually moving up to #24 with a gain of 117,191 players.

Overall, the Mobsters games continue to do very well on MySpace, with penetration even reaching into older demographics we hear. We’ll keep tracking the latest here on ISG.

It’s a new year, and that means new beginnings, right? We’ve sorted the numbers for the start of the year. Here’s where the top Facebook games are sitting in 2009.

During the last month, there was a lot of swapping amongst the Top 25 as four titles gained over a million (one over two million) and the long time leader was dethroned.

• That’s right, the long time leader of the Facebook gaming charts, Lil Green Patch, has finally dropped from the #1 spot with a loss of almost 200,000 players. Green Patch not only dropped from #1 but fell to #3 as Texas HoldEm and, surprisingly, Pass A Drink surpassed the titan for the first and second spots respectively. Teax HoldEm from Zynga gained a hefty number of users with 1,404,733 users, but Pass A Drink shocked all with a tremendous increase of 2,086,148.
• The Playfish suite remains on top with its popular games, keeping all of them securely within the Top 10.
• Out of left field swept in Snowball Fight for the holidays. The game from AppSynchInc moved up seven places from #17 to #10 with an impressive gain of 1,344,104 users last month.
• Meanwhile, classic apps such as Friends for Sale and Owned! continued to slip in the charts.

In general, December was a mixed month, as many apps saw declines over the holidays. We’ll see who rebounds and who continues to grow in January!

Don’t let the name fool you. This game is nothing like what you might think. Sorry, but there no flying cars, no Jetsons, and no space bass. As misleading as it may seem, Facebook game FutureGame does technically deal with the future, just not the distant future. It’s more like 30 seconds from now.

Sufficiently confused? Not surprising. FutureGame is actually a stock market type game, which at first glance seems very drab. Typically, games like this are simulations that let you build a portfolio and try to earn virtual points based on actual stock market data. But while FutureGame does utilize real data, it is nothing like that. The game, believe it or not, is basically a gambling game with a touch of educational value.

Wait… what? Gambling and education in the same sentence?

Okay, the educational aspect isn’t a built in feature, but it is something that should be utilized by players. The game is basically a guessing game in which you predict whether a particular stock, currency, or commodity will go up or down in the next 30 seconds. That’s all the game is about, but here’s the catch: Whenever you make a correct prediction you begin a “streak” and the bigger the streak, the bigger the payout. Yes, payout.

You can actually win cash and prizes. The developers at FutureGame.com offer prizes both daily and monthly for top streaks. For example, this month’s prize is a MacBook, and in order to win, you need to have the highest streak by the end of the month (thus pitting you against both the market and other players). Beyond prizes, there is a fiscal payout for streaks as well (see the image below). Of course, this is where the hard part comes in. You have to physically press the “cash out” button to claim your reward and end your streak. So here is the ever important question: Do you stay all in, or quit while you’re ahead?

Regardless of your choice, you don’t risk anything, which is something that cannot be said about the real stock market at the moment. However, this is where the aforementioned educational value comes into play. While you do have a 50/50 chance of getting something right, playing extensively or learning from real stock market trends may give you a better prediction knowledge. Just as with anything else, the more you practice the more you improve, thus you will start to see patterns, trends, and make better educated assessments, which in turn, increases your winning potential. Of course, you can always rely on luck, but this extra bit of learning certainly couldn’t hurt.

Overall, the game is nothing extravagant, but neither are slot machines (unless you count all the shiny, blinking lights). The key difference here, is you don’t have to put those coins into FutureGame to get a payout. The game is incredibly simple to pick up and play, and terribly, terribly addicting. Granted, the addiction is due in part to the allure of a $10,000 pay out, but also the competitive aspect. Remember, you’re not only competing against the market, but against other people as well for those daily and monthly prizes. It’s like combining eBay with Las Vegas except you’re not losing all your money.

A word of caution however: If you do have people that get addicted to gambling, you may want to keep them away from this app lest they never leave their room again.

Not too long ago, FooMojo, creators of the popular Facebook app Pokey, announced the closing of a $9.9 million Series A round led by SoftBank Capital. The company is focused on the virtual pet space, but not just on Facebook. Rather, the company develops such applications all over the web and for the iPhone as well.

Combined with the seed round it raised last year, the company has now raised $10.7 million in total. After the Series A round closed back in September, CEO Ron Hornbaker noted that the company was especially fortunate to be ahead of the market crash, and was no longer looking for further investment.

Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank Corp. added, “Japan was the birthplace of the virtual pets phenomenon and I witnessed first hand, the amazing success of the Tamagotchi driven from the basic fulfillment of virtual companionship.” Son went on to say, “FooMojo has taken the model to new heights of realism and technology by creating virtual pets that evoke a strong emotional bond with owners and are portable across social networks and devices. FooMojo is creating the next-generation of virtual pets and I expect the company to lead the category.”

[via Virtual World News]