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GameTreeTV offers viewers new entertainment opps

Imagine after watching Survivor in prime-time a message popped up asking if you wanted to continue your Survivor experience. Agree, and you are taken to a screen filled with games based on the series that can be played on your TV.

Toronto’s Transgaming Technologies is looking to turn that branded entertainment experience into a reality with its GameTreeTV platform accessible through set-top boxes.

It’ll begin its launch this fall in Europe, where the penetration of set-top boxes is much higher than in North America. (Transgaming president and CEO Vikas Gupta explains that European set-tops use a much more advanced technology (e.g. they are broadband enabled) than what’s used on this side of the pond, so their hardware has the necessary processing power.)

“We’re not trying to compete with consoles or hardcore games,” Gupta tells Playback Daily. “It’s the App Store for the digital living room.”

Transgaming teamed up with Intel, which makes the chip that allows GameTreeTV to run on the set-top box. It’ll license the platform through cable operators, which will then be offered in a package to consumers.

At press time, Gupta couldn’t name the cable operator for the initial launch, but did say there would be an expanded roll-out in 2011 with other operators across the globe. His hope is to eventually bring the service to North American soil.

Though the company has not yet locked down any deals with Survivor or any TV-based game content, Gupta and his team are open to these types of discussions, as the GameTreeTV user interface is ripe for branding opportunities. It allows for promotional trailers and analytics, so if consumers are playing a certain type of game, suggestions of similar titles based on that data will pop up.

Target demos include moms, kids and families, so casual games are top of mind, with a range of 30 to 50 available titles at launch. The games are played with the set-top’s remote control (think the Nintendo Wii remote).

Transgaming has already secured deals with casual biggies like PopCap Games (Bejeweled, Peggle, Plants vs. Zombies) and indie hits like 2D Boy’s World of Goo. And because the company has an internal game development studio, the idea is to feed their own original IPs into the platform.

Gupta describes it as the video game equivalent to Netflix, except that GameTreeTV will offer the flexibility of letting users rent or purchase the games.

“Everyone is a gamer,” said Gupta. “You either just don’t know it or you don’t call yourself that.”

Tags: 2D Boy, GameTreeTV, Intel, PopCap Games, Transgaming Technologies, Vikas Gupta

http://playbackonline.ca/2010/10/21/gametreetv-offers-viewers-new-entertainment-opps/#ixzz15ULtKpSy