Last year, the venture capital and angel funding for games and virtual worlds tallied just below $1 billion, which amounted to half of the total investments in the media and entertainment market as a whole. Yet every month, we see companies tackling the convergence of social, casual, or mobile games appear on the scene.

The latest is WonderHill, who just closed $7 million in a Series A funding round led by Charles River Ventures and Shasta Ventures. The money will be used for the company’s first round of web-based casual games. While this is less than the totals raised by bigger shops like Zynga and Playfish to date, it is enough to get multiple projects up and running.

Since many titles in the market are clones of successful ones (ala the Zynga RPG design), they are never given a second glance. WonderHill, however, is looking to stand out with its concept of “wholesome” titles. Targeting the 30-plus demographic, the company has built two games for the MySpace platform: Green Spot and Dog World (the latter is also available on Facebook). In the games, you save the rain forest and rescue pets, respectively.

With both titles, the creators haven’t used advertisements as the main source of revenue. Instead, they are building a business based on microtransactions. Each game has a cause affiliated with it, where WonderHill donates a portion of the money (the Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre and the ASPCA’s One Dog One Day program).

WonderHill’s CEO, James Currier (who is also the founder of the viral marketing firm Tickle and a board member for Linden Labs), says the company is looking to take the “Pixar approach” to their games, combining family game concepts with excellent production value. In addition to Currier, the team of 15 also includes CTO Stan Chudnovsky of Tickle, and Chief Creative Officer Nick Rush, who has executive experience at Pogo, Electronic Arts Online, and iWin.

While it remains unclear what the new titles will look like, the company says it plans to start with basic word and card games, before delving into more unique gameplay. The company will continue building on MySpace and Facebook, and eventually the iPhone as well.

Not too long ago, we discovered a social game that seemed a bit different. The title was Spot the Difference, and the core game play revolved around – you guessed it – spotting the difference between various images. However, more of these type of games are turning up around Facebook. The newest one comes from a group called Play Chap entitled Spotmania.

In Spotmania, you are presented with two strikingly similar photographs, and have to find the five differences between them. Each images grants you a period of time to find these nuances and miss clicking or random guessing results in a loss of time.

As similar as it is to Spot the Difference, the game does have a few curious additions. Players have access to select power-ups such as “clue reveal” (finds one difference automatically) and “time extend” giving Spotmania a bit more variety than the other (who only has the clues). The power-ups are limited as well, but unlike Spot the Difference are replenished in bonus stages.

This is the other unique element to this game. Bonus stages actually have you compete with NPC characters such as the “Flip Ninja” and the “Mirror Master.” The term “compete” is a loose definition though, as all it really does is flip or reflect the images so the differences are harder to spot. Nonetheless, it does make for a means of adding spice to a very simple game.

The game is clean and fun, but it doesn’t seem to be much of a difficulty curve despite the possibility for one. As players score higher, they rank up from “Newbie” to “Maniac”, so one would assume lower ranks got easier puzzles, however it feels like some of the differences were decided at random. As an example, one game had an entire car missing and at the same time had another difference of a slightly different hued color on something a tenth the size. Of course, for this type of game, something like this is merely picking nits, but a difficulty progression would add a bit more flavor to play (sort of like how Waldo got better at hiding towards the end of a book).

Beyond this, the only real (intentional) annoyance comes in with the fact that you can only play once every 24 hours (without paying premium costs or going through ads). There is something about limiting game play that creates a stigma – at least with other similar titles, there is the option of multiplayer challenges during the downtime.

No, it’s not the movie, but it’s just as interesting. The Facebook game is called Catch Me If You Can, and marks yet another global catch for the Facebook platform. The Flash game is built by Korea-based Hedgehogs, and it is certainly quite an interesting application.

As the name suggests, in Catch Me If You Can, you are either the catcher or the catchee in what feels like a global game of hide and seek. When you start the game you get to choose from one of two characters; either the fugitive or the chaser. The former’s robbed a bank and it’s up to the chaser to catch them. That is the core of the game play.

This simple concept is something that makes for excellent game design. As such Hedgehogs has added significantly to this central idea. Each fugitive can be chased by up to three chasers and games last up to 24 hours. This breaks Catch Me down into essentially two different games, so we’ll look at them one at a time.

From the fugitive’s perspective, players must defend their hard earned loot from the chasers and keep from being caught and arrested. A fugitive player is given an initial amount of money and must use it to defend their loot (with a cannon, no less, and your Facebook friends as obstacles) and escape capture. The escape is the more strategic of the two as players will have to manage resources in order flee cities containing a chaser, using various modes of transportation (train, boat, plane, etc) in order to relocate your hideout. However, the time it takes to get from city to city will depend not only on distance but method of travel (which can be limited if your current locale lacks aforementioned vehicles – i.e. no harbor means no boats).

Strategy is further deepened with the fugitive’s “scan” feature that can figure out the distance between you and any prospective chasers, and the “message” feature that allows you see any movements they have made in the past, providing for a capability to figure out enemy search patterns and make your evasion plans accordingly. Of course, all of these takes money, so Hedgehogs has incorporated a number of mini games and even some fun part-time jobs to pay those hefty criminal bills.

Now if you choose to play the chaser, the pacing is a little different. Long story short, this perspective takes the Carmen San Diego approach as you need to gather evidence (and cash) by working through various quizzes. As with the fugitive, chasers plan out transportation and where to travel based on the clues they find and earn their money through similar mini games and jobs.

Once a chaser finds the fugitive, then they have to catch them through another mini game that turns into a sort of tactical battle of wits as they place weapons to prevent the fugitive and his gangsters from escaping. Furthermore, like the fugitive, chasers can use Facebook friends as well to bar any escapee’s way.

Suffice to say, this is merely the tip of the iceberg. The level of strategic depth to Catch Me If You Can is tremendous. Essentially, it feels like Carmen San Diego has been merged with an almost turn-based strategy, online game with a dash of casual mini-games. However, the volume of monthly players is a bit low at the moment so it can be frustrating to get a game from time to time.

Nevertheless, the overall game is quite in-depth and is actually a lot of fun if you can manage to find a good group of people and like a good mind and twitch challenge. One can only hope that more people discover this little gem soon and that Hedgehogs continues to add to and improve play.

View AppData for Catch Me If You Can

hi5 has undergone a lot of transformation lately. With 63 million users around the world, the global social network has refocused its efforts on a “social entertainment” game portal model, created a universal virtual currency for app developers, and signed up payment partners.

Now, the company has announced the launch of its first developer partner to integrate hi5 Coins: RockYou Pets. RockYou Pets will be distributed through the hi5 Games channel and exclusively accept hi5 Coins for the hi5 version of the game.

“This deal advances our partnership by allowing RockYou and hi5 to directly monetize user engagement through hi5 Coins, the virtual currency hi5 users are already accustomed to spending in a variety of ways on our site, “said Anil Dharni, vice president of products at hi5. By providing partners with the ability to integrate our payments infrastructure into their applications, hi5 is creating a great new monetization option for application developers.”

A robust ecosystem of third party applications accepting hi5 Coins could help drive big revenue growth for the company. hi5 says that RockYou is “the first of several OpenSocial partners” to gain access to the new hi5 APIs that provide broader access to hi5’s user base and “better overall monetization potential.”

Just this week, Facebook confirmed to Inside Facebook that it is launching an alpha test integrating its virtual currency with Facebook Platform application developers. However, that effort has yet to launch.

For now, hi5 continues its efforts to drive more monetization programs through games. Recently, it announced a deal with Mochi Media as well to monetize through in-game ads.

While details remain sketchy, iPhone app development company Booyah is currently producing a round of “cause-oriented” apps, somewhat similar to games like Akoha.

Booyah CEO and co-founder Keith Lee says his team of 16 is building a “playful digital life companion that combines the immersive experiences that draw consumers to massively multi-player online games, the interconnectedness of social media, and the power of iPhone and iPod touch.”

Lee has a knack for keeping the details of a game secret. Previously, he worked as a lead producer on Diablo III at Blizzard Entertainment, a company that would offer just enough detail prior to a launch to entice the users without telling them exactly what they want to know. Considering his track record, Lee can afford to be a bit vague: He has led titles that have sold millions of copies worldwide.

Now, working with a team comprised of some of the industry’s most well-respected leaders, Lee appears poised for another successful run.

In addition to Lee, another big name on staff is Booyah’s chief creative officer and co-founder Brian Morrisroe, who worked as art lead for the MMO behemoth World of Warcraft and Diablo III. Booyah’s third co-founder is Sam Christiansen, the company’s chief technology officer. Christiansen was also a senior programming member of the Diablo III team. Other key members are executives Rob Pardo from Blizzard and Min Kim from Nexon America, who are serving as advisors.

The cast of big names has certainly caught the attention of investors. The company raised $4.5 million from Kleiner Perkins’ $100 million iFund last year. (Kleiner also invested in the start-up Ngmoco, another iPhone developer, last year.)

It is a busy world these days. Rare is the opportunity to just sit back and relax and the constant pacing of the work day leaves many burdened with a seemingly insurmountable amount of stress. Games tend to be a common stress reliever for a number of people. Granted some are better at it than others, but a developer by the name of “Zwigglers” aims to be on the “better” half. The app is Chain RXN, and it’s already grown to reach 1.5 million Facebook players in the last month.

Inside Chain RXN, the player is presented with a screen full of bouncing, multicolored orbs and a white sphere attached to the mouse pointer. Simply click the mouse, and that location will expand with the sphere previously attached to the mouse. Any orb that touches it will also expand in its corresponding hue, and any orb that touches that will emulate the same reaction.

Each expanded orb will dissipate after a short period of time, so the objective is to “explode” as many orbs as is required by the level and score as high a score as possible through successive explosions. Once you place the first sphere, the reaction is out of your control (hence the title “Chain RXN”), so timing is key. Each explosion is merely an expansion of the smaller orb combined with a gentle, bell-like chime. The successive reactions equate to similar chimes as the over all reaction creates a melodious sonnet of sounds; all of which are very soft and calming.

Even the end of each level is light-hearted with a jubilant jingle that plays upon success, and even failure is far from frustrating simply from the soft sounds and colors that envelop the game. Furthermore, the resulting placement of that first click creates an emergence reminiscent to Conway’s Game of Life as the expanding orbs create a unique and vibrant pattern of sound, shape, and color every time that is simply captivating to watch.

If there was any downside, it is that the game has virtually no control. In the later levels, there are around 50 or so orbs floating about so timing and planning go right out the window and you more or less have to rely on luck. Nonetheless, it is easily overlooked and is quite simple to make your way from start to finish in one sitting.

A combination of serene sounds and soft, warm colors gives Chain RXN a very Zen state of play. Despite the fact that a lot of the gameplay revolves around luck, the calming sensation that washes over the user dissolves any qualms one might have. It isn’t something that you would revisit often due to length, but it certainly makes for a brief escape from daily stresses.

Viximo, a branded virtual goods ad platform for social networks like Facebook, recently closed a new round of $5 million in funding from North Bridge Venture Partners and Sigma Partners, Founder Brian Belfour confirms to Inside Social Games after an earlier report by Virtual Goods News. The company has also hired North Bridge’s Dayne Grayson to replace former CEO Rob Fresca to help it shift strategy from selling directly to the consumer to selling through partners.

The company is also seeking out additional partnerships to sell new products like celebrity branded goods. Viximo already has around 1,500 virtual goods available for its existing partners.

Viximo provides an end to end solution designing and tracking performance from click to purchase.

“What we’re hearing from the market is that people need a payment solution,” Viximo VP of Products Ravi Mehta told VGN. “People are looking for ways to gather reports and analytics, and a really critical problem is content. Publishers don’t have enough content to fulfill demand that they’re seeing, whether it’s a social network or an online gaming site or a virtual world.”

Ideally, partners can utilize data they glean from the platform to gauge what virtual goods to sell to their end-users. Other elements of the Viximo platform include the creation of  achievement-based currencies and the ability to manage microtransactions – Viximo hopes to become a viable microtransaction platform. It already has 20 million monthly users in its publisher network.

Google’s Android smartphone OS has been growing at a rather impressive rate in recent months. According to an AdMob report that examined mobile metrics from March 2009, Android traffic in the U.S. grew at an average rate of 47 percent per month. Still, despite the solid growth, Android substantially trails the iPhone, which has grown at a staggering rate of 88 percent per month in the five months following the launch of the App Store.

The report reveals the disparity in traffic (and growth) between the two phones: the iPhone received eight times more traffic than Android, with 607 million iPhone requests to Android’s 72 million. 13.3 percent of handset requests come from the iPhone and 8.8 percent from the iPod Touch. Together, the iPhone and iPod Touch totaled 1,657 million requests worldwide. While Android isn’t out of the running, it has a lot of ground to make up in the mobile market. Thus far, the HTC Dream (G1) generates only 2 percent of U.S. requests.

In terms of overall requests, Android is the fourth most popular smartphone, behind the iPhone, Blackberry Curve, and Blackberry Pearl. The Android OS comprises 6 percent of smartphone operating systems in the United States. For mobile operating systems, it ranks fourth (along with Palm), trailing the iPhone, RIM, and Windows Mobile.

The full report can be found here.

One of Zynga’s more popular titles is virtual world YoVille, in which players can create their own avatar and apartment as they socialize with people they meet. However, recently YoVille players have been gaming for a cause (much like those in  The Bloom Initiative and Green Patch titles).

Last week, Zynga and the San Francisco SPCA announced a virtual pet shelter that allowed players to adopt cats and dogs and make donations via virtual transactions. As expected, players were able to take the virtual animal “home” to care for and play with. Thus far, the concept has raised more than $20,000 in a little over five weeks for helping homeless animals.

In addition, Zynga has also said today that altogether the company is seeing in excess of 10 million daily active users (DAU); making the California based company as one of the largest if not the largest social game developer across all social platforms.

The Social Gaming Summit 2009, the largest event dedicated to social gaming this year, is coming up in a few weeks on June 23rd in San Francisco. So far, a fantastic lineup of speakers is scheduled to present, including Playfish, Zynga, Playdom, Serious Business, Offerpal, Super Rewards, PayPal, Zong, Challenge Games, Kongregate, Xiaonei, hi5, MySpace, Facebook, and other leading companies in the social gaming space. In addition, I’ll be kicking off the day with an industry overview and update.

You can register by clicking the button below. Inside Social Games readers can save 15% on General Admission tickets if you register using the code INSIDESG at checkout. Look forward to seeing you there!

Event Info

The Social Gaming Summit 2009 is a one day event focused on the intersection of games and the social web. This year’s event will focus on helping social games developers build, monetize, and grow their social games. We’re bringing together the leaders in free-to-play games, social networking, and payments infrastructure for a full day of panels and talks.

• When: June 23rd, 2009
• Where: Hotel Nikko, San Francisco

Agenda

9:30 – 10:00 Social Gaming Industry Overview and Update

* Justin Smith, Inside Social Games

10:00 -10:50 Panel: Building Social Games at Scale

* Moderator: Jeremy Liew, Lightspeed Venture Partners
* Mark Pincus, Zynga
* Dan Yue, Playdom
* Sebastien de Halleux, Playfish

11:00 – 11:50 Panel: Social Games – A Platform Perspective

* Moderator, Michael Arrington, TechCrunch
* Jason Oberfest, MySpace
* Gareth Davis, Facebook
* Andrew Sheppard, hi5
* Joe Chen, Xiaonei

12:00 – 1:15 Lunch

1:15 – 2:00 Panel: Monetization Infrastructure for Social Games

* Erikka Arone, Zong
* Adam Caplan, Super Rewards
* Rob Goldberg, GMG Entertainment
* Renata Dionello, PayPal

2:00 – 2:45 Panel:  Customer Acquisition and Retention for Social Games

* Moderator: Sean Ryan
* Jia Shen, RockYou
* Anu Shukla, Offerpal Media
* Greg Tseng, Tagged
* James Currier, WonderHill

2:45 – 3:15 Break

3:15 – 4:00 Expert Talks

* “Viral Metrics In Action – Building a Killer Testing and Metrics Infrastructure”
o Siqi Chen, Serious Business
* “Getting the Most Out of Your IP: Extend or Be Cloned”
o David King, (Lil) Green Patch

4:00 PM – 4:45 PM Social Games in the Wild: Living Outside of Social Networks

* Matt Mihaly, Sparkplay Media
* Andrew Busey, Challenge Games
* Jim Greer, Kongregate

4:45 PM Closing