Virtual Goods Wrap-Up For The Week Of May 29

By Chris Sherman On May 29, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Virtual Goods News Wrap-Up for the week of May 29, 2010. The Wrap-Up is where VGN spotlights stories that we didn't get to cover individually, but still make for interesting reading about the virtual goods industry.

Facebook Launches Page For Credits, Shows Off Apps That Use It: Facebook has rolled out an official Page for Facebook Credits ahead of its official launch and begun using it to promote all social games that currently support Credits.
Foursquare Nearing 1 Million Check-Ins Today: Foursquare is now processing over 10 check-ins per second, which brings it to at least 864,000 check-ins per day.
New GamePoints 1$FV Promotion – Free Farm Cash: FarmVille players who visit Offerpal's GamePoints.com site through a sponsored in-game link get 1 Farm Cash for their effort.
Pearce: Microtransactions "Don't Make Sense" For StarCraft II: Blizzard has no intention of adding support for microtransaction purchases to its upcoming RTS StarCraft II, despite the company's successful use of them in its MMO World of Warcraft. This is especially surprising in light of StarCraft's popularity in the microtransaction-loving Korean market.
Pennsylvania Partners With Foursquare To Inspire State Tourism: Pennsylvania tourism board VisitPA is working with Foursquare to create an interactive travel guide for the state on the site, complete with special badges.
The 50 Worst Inventions: Zynga's FarmVille social game and the location-based social network Foursquare have both made Time Magazine's list of The 50 Worst Inventions. FarmVille is criticized for destroying American productivity and Foursquare for promoting narcissism. The list's tone was tongue-in-cheek, but the criticisms are probably meant to hit home.
'True Blood' Hits Social Networks: The 'True Blood' Season 2 Blu-Ray sets come loaded with social media features, including the ability to give users Facebook virtual gifts as rewards for watching them. Users can also post clips to their accounts directly from the discs.
WeReward Will Pay For Your Foursquare Check-Ins: WeReward is a service that lets users rack up virtual currency for checking in at business-sponsored locations through Foursquare. Each point of virtual currency is worth roughly one cent.
Warner Expands Digital Focus With New Exec Appointment: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced this week that Jeff Junge would be promoted to Senior Vice President of Online Games and Digital Games Platforms, directly overseeing the recently-acquired Dungeons & Dragons Online developer Turbine.