A company called PlayMesh announced their plans to bring the power of social gaming to the iPhone. Their first title is already available through Apple AppStore and it’s graphically-enabled asynchronous massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called iMafia.
From the official release:
Players do quests and compete with other real players to be the best mafia in the underworld. Games similar to iMafia are found to be especially popular with the Facebook and MySpace audiences, taking the tenth and eleventh game spots on Facebook and the first and second overall spots on MySpace applications. Additionally, iMafia has an engaging graphical interface, a full-fledged social network, free SMS text sharing, and a never before seen twist on purchasing virtual goods.
PlayMesh also said that iMafia is a test-bed for the backbone of their API of social features that they plan on releasing at a later date. Among the features in the works include: leaderboards, challenges, newsfeeds and innovative sharing mechanisms through text messages, microblogging platforms and social networks.
Furthermore, iMafia is launching alongside the first virtual goods platform for the iPhone. Players get virtual goods by downloading real premium games through the AppStore.
The company’s CEO, Charles Ju, said: “The difference between our virtual goods store and those traditionally found online is that we encourage players to download fun games with real value instead of coercing them into useless subscriptions or credit cards. We feel that this is a triple-win situation because premium game developers get more downloads, casual game developers can monetize their free games, and Apple gets a cut of each transaction. This has never been done before and we are excited to show everyone how it works.”