Ncursion “Comes Out Swinging” With MyGladiator.com As New Online Game Debuts At DEMOfall 07 Event

Ncursion “Comes Out Swinging” With MyGladiator.com As New Online Game Debuts At DEMOfall 07 Event

New Facebook Gaming Company Breaks New Ground, Taps Huge Growth Potential Of Social Network With Action-Packed App

The Facebook economy is growing every minute — up from 15 million a year ago to some 41 million now. Its current growth rate would take it to 200 million active users in another year. Tapping this brave new virtual world is Ncursion with its dramatic and addictive game, MyGladiator.com. This app promises to introduce gritty reality into the virtual profiles of Facebook users, while also bringing an innovative revenue model simultaneously to the exploding gaming category and to Facebook.

Beyond its entertainment value, MyGladiator.com is breaking new ground as the first in-depth gaming experience that is built to leverage the “social graph” of Facebook. The new Facebook gaming company will debut MyGladiator.com at the DEMOfall 07 conference today in San Diego.

“We believe that MyGladiator.com is taking the first strike in what will emerge as an entirely new category of social entertainment,” said Michael Witz, Ncursion founder and Internet veteran. “Building a game for Facebook is primarily about tapping into the social connections that already exist. For every person you face in MyGladiator, you will also be connected to their real world Facebook profile, including their picture and all of the established communication tools that Facebook provides.”

Growing A Gladiator

For MyGladiator.com, there’s no fee to enter or play. All players begin at the Slave level, selecting traits for their gladiators, based on strength, agility, and more. They also strategize by choosing attack and defend patterns for their warriors, who are brought to life by the program’s fight engine.

But to “level up” beyond Slave status, players must purchase a “Sword of Honor” for $20. As they elevate in the game through purchases and gladiator performance, they become more invincible and achieve a higher status – all the way to the Emperor himself.

“It’s all about the game,” said Witz. “Unlike several other online offerings, our revenue model reinforces aspects of the game itself, helping players to achieve greater heights and enjoy enhanced entertainment value the more they play and the more they purchase for individual gladiators. You sample the game for free, but then you can choose to up the ante – all for the price of a pizza and a few beers.”

Monetizing Online Fun, Making It More Social

“As a business, we’re focusing our energy on monetizing online fun,” explained Witz. “We plan to grow our game and company as Facebook itself continues to expand. By allowing real-time interactions to take place between friends and Facebook users, our application brings the Facebook network to life.”

Enhancing the social nature of the game, spectators are invited via Facebook to join and put wagers on fights as they are scheduled. Literally hundreds or thousands of virtual audience members can see a fight in real time. They receive “100 gold” each time they watch, but that gold must be wagered.

Winnings after a match can be used to purchase a Sword of Honor or other weaponry, shields and garb that can be deployed as the audience member engages in his own online battle. So as more audience members bet on matches, more of them will be encouraged to schedule their own battles, creating an ongoing cycle of MyGladiator.com gaming.

Keeping or Losing Your Head

One other aspect of MyGladiator.com that really brings it home for gamers is the option the audience carries to either behead the losing gladiator in each match or allow him to survive. This tradition began in Ancient Rome as the emperor gave a “thumbs up or thumbs down” after each fight, deciding the fate of the losing opponent.

Now that tradition is translated digitally into a dramatic, “PG-13″ finishing scene that truly adds new blood to the online gaming category, giving this game greater impact and a “life or death” reality.

Witz believes this part of the game, along with the ability to elevate a gladiator’s status by purchasing online accessories, will attract a following quickly, especially as news of the game becomes viral. As more people join Facebook and can participate in the game, he also sees the numbers – both in terms of players and revenue – increasing steadily.

To learn more details and join what could be the next gaming phenomenon, go to www.mygladiator.com to sign up to become one of the very first people to use the game, which will be offered in its beta phase within the next few weeks. If you’re a gamer looking for something that’s both challenging and entertaining, you’re sure to become addicted to MyGladiator.com after a few rounds.

DEMOfall 07 attendees can take their first turns playing MyGladiator.com at Station 50.

About DEMO

Produced by Network World Events and Executive Forums, the semi-annual DEMO conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow’s cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launch pad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. Each DEMO conference features approximately 70 new companies, products and technologies. For more information, visit www.demo.com.