Tag: games

Quirkat Launches Fantasy Football Game On Facebook

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Quirkat Fantasy FootballQuirkat, the Middle Eastern game development studio has announced the launch of a new online ‘Fantasy Football’ game just in time for the South Africa 2010 World Cup.  The game was developed exclusively for the Facebook platform and can be played in Arabic, English or French.

The game offers players the range of features they’d come to expect out of a fantasy football game. They’ve also featured all 736 players from the 32 teams participating in this summer’s World Cup in South Africa in a visual playing environment.

As users play on in the game, their teams are ranked against a number of real-world player events, such as scoring, successful defending, and bonus points for Man of the Match stature.

The game also allows users to create their own leagues in which they can compete head to head against selected friends.

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Jawaker Adds To Advertising Options With Game Table Changes

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Jawaker

Jawaker, the online multiplayer card games website that was previously reviewed here, and whose co-founder Mohamad Haj Hasan was interviewed here, has introduced some new changes to their game table, expanding the available advertising options on the platform.

The upgrades on the game table aimed to make it more user friendly for users, but also to adapt to the needs of their advertising clients.

Among the major changes on the game table is a re-organization of certain elements like the information bar and chat box, to make it easier for users to see more information in a more convenient way.

But more importantly, in addition to their original ad serving model of branding the back of cards, they’ve introduced the possibility to have a watermarked logo of the brand on the game table itself as well as a text ad on the right side of the table that pushes the message that the advertiser wants to relay to their audience. This text ad has a link to the advertisers target URL.

Jawaker Table

Jawaker currently have the popular cards games: Trix, Trix Complex, Solitaire and Tarneeb; and plan to roll out more multi-player card games in the future.

Kammelna: An Online Multi-player Baloot Card Game Service

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KammelnaTaking its first step into the online gaming world, Saudi web company Remal IT has launched a beta of its ‘Baloot’ card game site, Kammelna.

Kammelna is an online multi-player ‘Baloot‘ game, a popular card game played in Saudi Arabia (which is quite similar to the French game Belote), that is built in Flash and runs in a browser.

Being a flash game, the game does not require downloading, and is played directly from within the browser, featuring a simple Arabic interface that is geared toward getting the players started with a game as easily and quickly as possible. 

The game also supports firewall traversal, which will allow players to play the game even from within restricted networks.

Kammelna

Remal IT noted that Kammelna.com basic playing features will be free, and that the site will be supported through ads and extra paid playing features. They also hope to roll out more free online games, geared towards the Arab market, in the future.

Remal IT is a Saudi based Internet applications and services startup that was established back in 2005. It owns and operates a network of social sites and Internet applications, and relies on e-commerce and e-marketing for revenues.

3alaRasi, A Portal For Comedy Entertainment Content

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3alarasi3alaRasi is a Jordanian entertainment portal that features a mix of funny cartoons, caricatures, articles, videos, photos and audio.

The portal’s content comes both from in-house productions, as well as content generated and submitted by the site’s users.

The site integrates all the regular sharing and social networking features that allow users to create their profiles, connect with their friends, and share all supported kinds of content with them.

In addition to all the kinds of content mentioned above, users can also upload and share games in Flash and Shockwave format.

The cartoons and animations currently produced by the 3alaRasi team are currently inspired by the Jordanian (Awad Abu Shifa, Jaber Kawanes, 7awa)  and Palestinian (Falla7) society and culture, but there are plans to expand and add Egyptian and Gulf inspired characters and content soon.

The site’s interface is currently in English only, although an Arabic version should be expected soon.

3alarasi

3alaRasi also distribute their content through a number of mobile channels in Jordan and the GCC, and are looking to expand to other countries in the region.

Other distribution channels have been through Jordanian radio station Mazaj FM airing Audio clips from 3alaRasi, as well as Nourmina TV which aired 3alaRasi cartoon episodes in Ramadan. A new deal with Jordanian daily Addustour, will also see a daily cartoon from 3alaRasi cartoonist Omar Abdallat published in the newspaper.

3alaRasi was launched by ERUM Creative Productions L.L.C, which was founded by Amer M. AbuLaila, Omar Abdallat, Rajai Qawas, and Fahd Oweidat.

# 3alaRasi

Abu Dhabi Media Company Launches Goalarabia.com

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Goal ArabiaAbu Dhabi Media Company, one of the largest media companies in the region, has launched goalarabia.com, the UAE’s first international standard fantasy football game which is playable both online and on mobile devices in Arabic and English.

Based on the English Premier League, players can compete in a virtual league to win the top prize of a Chevrolet Avalanche.

‘The beautiful game just got prettier,’ says Ricky Ghai, Executive Director of Digital Media at Abu Dhabi Media Company. ‘Goalarabia will be the biggest and best fantasy league in the region. We aim to tap into the popularity of sport across the Arab world and provide people with an easy to use platform to compete for great prizes and network with thousands of football fans online. For regional football fans, this is a digital revolution that is premier league in every sense.’

Goal Arabia screenshot

Explaining how the game works, Steve Battams, Web Editor of goalarabia said: ‘Players register at our website to claim a £100m fantasy budget to build their own Premiership football team. Using a virtual team selector, fantasy managers apply their tactical skills, football know-how and gut instinct to improve their chances of creating the best performing team, which is linked to how real-life football stars perform.’

‘Players can read, Al Ittihad, The National and Super Magazine for updates on the most successful fantasy teams, as well as checking results on-the-go over their mobile phones. Social networking is a major feature of goalarabia.com, as players will be able to use message boards and create mini-leagues to add to the competitive excitement. There’s a good incentive too, as the top performing manager will receive the keys to a new Chevrolet Avalanche at the end of the season and probably become a virtual football hero at the same time.

# goalarabia.com

Jawaker, Online Multiplayer Card Games For The Arab World

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JawakerJawaker is a new online multiplayer card games website that was launched recently for the Arab world, by the same team that is behind the online career network Akhtaboot.

The service is focused on delivering an entirely browser-based version of the most popular card games in the Arab world to an Arab and international audience.

The first game that is available through the service is ‘Trix‘ (a.k.a Trex), a card game that is very popular in many Middle Eastern countries, including Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria and United Arab Emirates. More card games like ‘Tarneeb‘ and other Arab favourites are planned to be added to the website in the future.

Players can join an already existing game, or from the game lobby, set up multiplayer games with their friends or with other visitors to the site. Unfinished games can be saved for completion later. 

Jawaker screenshot

Jawaker was one of the startups at DemoCamp Dubai 3, where Mohamed Haj Hasan and Fouad Mardini presented the service, and talked about their vision for it.

 

“The model is social interaction – the web is about networking, and cards is very ingrained in Arab culture,” said Mohamed Haj Hasan. “It’s a ‘build it and they will come’ approach. Once you get the users you can monetize it however you want, advertising, sponsorships, subscriptions or selling it to another company.”

They also plan to host tournaments and ranked competitions, where users pay to enter and can win prizes. Advertisers will be able to sponsor the backs of each card, an interesting adaptation of traditional online banner advertising. 

“When we couldn’t find a single website that would let us play online together, we just thought ‘lets make it’,” said Fouad Mardini. “This was something we wanted for ourselves, so it really has been a very fun project to work on.”

# Jawaker

Online Multiplayer Games Account For Over 60% Of cashU Revenue

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cashURecent numbers from Maktoob’s cashU service, the largest internet payment system in the Middle East and Africa, show that user payments for online multiplayer games account for over 60% of their revenue.

cashU was launched some years ago to provide an easy online payment system for people without access to credit cards. At first they used to provide a credit card number that people could use on all sites, even those that weren’t affiliated with cashU, but that option was stopped after some time, and now users can only pay on cashU affiliated services.

Apparently some of the people who use the service the most are young Arab online gamers, who use it to make payments on the biggest names in online multiplayer gaming – World of Warcraft, Maplestory, and Runescape, which have a multi-million user base globally, and a loyal fan base in the Middle East.

Multiplayer games have been surging in popularity throughout the world in general, and the Arab world is no exception, which is making it a target for expansion for a number of established games, like Maplestory which has a Middle East version planned for Q4 of this year, and Travian that supports Arabic.

We also reported a couple of days ago on how MBC Group is launching a new project with Chinese CDC Games, which consists of an online Arab gaming portal, in an attempt to lure online Arab gamers and get a share of the rising market.

Massively multiplayer games have explored many different distribution models, and many of them can be freely downloaded and experienced for a trial period. Typically the user only pays for a subscription fee, but there exists a third party market for virtual gold, which can be used to buy armor, weaponry, and spells.

# More: Maktoob Business

MBC Group & CDC Games Partner On Arabic Online Gaming Portal

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MBC GroupMBC Group recently partnered with CDC Games, a global market leader in online gaming and distribution based in China, to develop and launch an Arabic online gaming web portal which will include a portfolio of massive multi-player online games (MMPOG/MMPORG), in both English and Arabic.

MBC Group aims to reproduce the success of the online multi-player game genre in the Arab world, through launching games that are customized for the region’s audience and that appeal to the numbers of Arab gamers that have been pretty limited in their choices up to now.

Online gaming has become a huge global industry with an estimated value expected to reach $13 – $15 billion by 2012. This progressive trend is clearly what incited MBC Group to develop this venture for the Arab market.

This is yet another online project by MBC Group, that is part of their strong online strategy push recently, which has produced projects such as MBC iMatter, a social networking site for Arab women, and MBC2 Movies In Motion, a video sharing and social networking service; and which Sam Barnett, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of MBC Group, describes as their “overall strategy of leading the region towards digital and media convergence.”

# More: Zawya

Getmo Arabia To Bring Digital Downloads To The Middle East

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GetmoArvato Middle East Sales and Abu Dhabi Media Company yesterday announced the launch of Getmo Arabia, a new digital media platform for the Middle East and Africa, at the MECOM 2008 conference in Abu Dhabi.

Getmo Arabia will offer services direct to consumers through www.getmo.com where customers can download over three million songs, videos, movies, games and ringtones in English, Arabic and other Asian languages to their mobile phones & home computers.

The content will be available to users at significantly reduced rates, in hopes to kickstart a new era in the market for mobile & PC entertainment in the region.

Abu Dhabi Media Company also announced a partnership with Sony BMG, in which the record label will provide local and Arabic content for the platform, which can be accessed via PC or mobile.

Getmo Arabia is set to service the 33 million internet users and 80 million mobile phone users in the Middle East region.

At the time of this article’s publication, the getmo.com website is still not accessible online.

# More: Zawya, ITP

Chkobba Popular Tunisian Card Game Online

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ChkobbaChkobba is one of the most popular card games in Tunisia, mainly played by men at coffee shops around the country, but also played at home by men and women alike.

Tunisian web agency Web Carré have successfully captured the Chkobba coffee shop experience and brought it online through Chkobba.net; the game, which is implemented in Flash, gives you a full coffee shop setting, with the small square tables, the coffee cups, cigarettes, hookah (Shisha), in addition to the ambient noises of a coffee shop, all its hustle and bustle, and the songs playing on an old radio in the corner somewhere.

You can also chat with other users while you’re playing, just as you would be doing if you were sitting with them playing in some coffee shop.

You can play solo against the computer, with the ability to choose your competitor’s level, or invite your friends and play with them in a multi-player game. In both solo and multi-player mode you can choose to play in an online championship and win prizes.

The game is in its second version, even though still in beta and might have some little quirks here and there, but it is very well implemented and really nice to play.

An interesting feature they’re adding is the possibility to find users to play with who are from your same neighborhood or near you by displaying their avatars on a map.

Chkobba screenshot

There are a number of other little flash games available on the website, but none as well designed or well implemented as the chkobba card game.

# Chkobba.net