itvt

–Company Launches New Version of Playin’TV on New Zealand’s Sky TV
–Forms ITV Poker Partnership with Bluff Magazine

Paris-based interactive TV games company, Visiware, has launched an
interactive TV games offering that leverages VOD platforms to offer
video and other rich-media content. Dubbed Playin’VOD, the new
offering will initially be targeted at cable and IPTV operators, but will
later be available for mobile phones and personal media players, and
also for hospitality deployments, the company says. “Visiware is
reinventing gaming on TV,” Visiware executive chairman, Laurant
Weill, said in a prepared statement. “In partnership with producers and
authors, we are building the biggest catalog of interactive VOD
games…Playin’VOD features high-quality games and opportunities to
increase ARPU for TV over IP, cable, and all platforms which can
deliver video-on-demand.”

Titles offered on Playin’VOD at launch include:

• “My Fitness Coach,” a personalizable fitness application that allows
  viewers to input their height, weight and fitness goals, and then choose
  an exercise program that is tailored to their needs.

• “Playin’Karaoke,” a karaoke application with rich graphics.
• Various casino games, including “Texas Hold’em Poker,” which
  feature video backgrounds.

• “Football Challenge,” a game enriched with real-life sports footage.
• “Minikids VOD,” a version of the company’s “Minikids” ITV games
  offering that features rich graphics.

• “Playin’Motion,” a series of arcade games that feature video
  backgrounds.

In other Visiware news:

• The company has launched a new version of its Playin’TV ITV games
  channel on New Zealand pay-TV platform, Sky TV. According to
  Visiware, the new version–which it says will also be launched by its
  other customers, including DISH Network in the US–features a more
  attractive design, with improved images and graphics; simpler and
  more user-friendly navigation; more games (it now offers a total of 34
  titles); and improved speed. The portal, which is located on channel 50,
  is priced at NZ$5.95 per month (note: under a special launch
  promotion, it is priced at just NZ$1.00 this month). “The Playin’TV
  games portal which Sky subscribers in New Zealand can now enjoy is
  the result of many years of research and development,” Visiware SVP,
  Pascal-Hippolyte Besson, said in a prepared statement. “Its features
  make it a highly ergonomic product which meets the needs of our
  subscribers by providing a greater gaming experience. The new version
  of our Playin’TV portal will be deployed progressively throughout the
  world, starting with DISH/EchoStar in the US.”

• The company has formed a partnership with Bluff Magazine, a
  poker-themed publication with international distribution, that sees the
  partners targeting the Australian and New Zealand markets with an ITV
  game entitled “Poker: Texas No Limit.” The game, which is available
  on Visiware’s flagship ITV games channel, Playin’TV (channel 50 on
  New Zealand’s Sky TV and channel 555 on Australia’s Austar), is
  sponsored and promoted by Bluff Magazine, and features the
  magazine’s branding. It offers tutorials and mini-games, as well as a
  competition with real-time ranking in which viewers can win various
  prizes.