IGA debuts ‘groundbreaking’ tech

Radial 2.0 includes a number of significant upgrades, including: Adobe Flash SDK to enable dynamic advertising in Flash-based games; ‘static advertising’ SDK enabling live measurement and metrification of hard-coded ads for the first time; and significantly enhanced data mining, inventory forecasting and reporting services.

IGA also says that implementation of the advertising SDK has fallen to under two hours. The news comes as US research company In-Stat has claimed that revenues gained from paid downloadable content and in-game advertising will jump 46 per cent every year from 2005-2010.

“Radial 2.0 represents a giant leap forwards in the sophistication of in-game advertising delivery and reporting technology, providing IGA with a robust foundation for the future as our network reach soars past the 10 million unique user mark,” said Justin Townsend, CEO of IGA Worldwide.

“Having already reached almost 6 million consumers in 2006, we have applied lessons learned to make Radial 2.0 the most technically advanced in-game advertising delivery and reporting technology on the market,” added Townsend.

Added Ahmed Boukhelifa, producer at Eden Games, developer of the Test Drive Unlimited franchise, which uses Radial: “As developers we are always trying to push the boundaries of creativity and technology for our games in the time we have available.

"We were immediately excited by IGA’s technology as it allows us to keep our persistent online environment updated with real targeted ad content over the entire lifespan of the game. The SDK integration itself was completed within a single morning, and has had no negative effect on the performance of the game or our release schedule."

Other key titles set to use the software this year include Colin McRae DIRT, developed by Codemasters, and Valve’s Counterstrike 1.6. IGA has also tried to make sure that in-game advertising doesn’t just sit in online shooter or racing games ass Acclaim and its numerous social-gaming based MMOs, including 2Moons and DANCE! are set to host IGA-delivered ads.