fatfoogoo – a year in review

2008 has been a banner year for us here at fatfoogoo.  Not only have we had some amazing talent join us, but interest in not only what we do, but what we can do for the gaming community as a whole has skyrocketed.  Below are some selected highlights from an outstanding year for the foogoos.

I myself joined the foogoos back in April and started coverage of any and all things games, but quickly narrowed that focus down to any and all things free-to-play/microtransactions.  Given the nature of what fatfoogoo does, providing world-class microtransaction based economies to game developers and publishers, this seemed like an obvious choice.  Tie that into the massive upswing in microtransactions over the coarse of 2008, et viola, you’ve got the fatfoogoo blog.

While I couldn’t get an exact number or frequent flier mileage points out of him, our fearless leader Martin Herdina is almost certainly on a first name basis with a number of Vienna Airport staff members.  Back in May, Martin went back to his old stomping grounds and represented fatfoogoo at the ION Game Conference in Seattle, standing shoulder to shoulder with serious industry players including EA, Bigpoint and Crytek.  Martin was there not only to represent fatfoogoo, but to also offer up informed and detailed opinions on free-to-play gaming and how microtransactions can help developers monetize.  A summer full of incredible developments (See below) kept Mr. Herdina out of the check in lines, but as soon as September rolled around, Martin was beating feet (and being scanned with a magnetic wand) this time in Los Angeles for the Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo.  A short time later saw fatfoogoo at the Austin Games Convention where we produced a live demo of just a few of fatfoogoo’s features (special thanks go out to the guys that work on the technical end of the foogoo system.  You DO know that Red Bull is an Austrian product, don’t you?  I think these guys may very well have been members of a beta test for super strength Red Bull).

Mid August must mean games in Germany, as who could miss the Games Convention Leipzig?  True to form, the GCDC also heard from Martin talking about in-game economies and item trading, while yours truly along with Patrick and Loki, scouted the convention floor, speaking to a number of games developers about current and upcoming projects.  No time to slow down now Martin, there’s the Virtual Worlds Forum London to get to in October.  Don’t like the fish and chips?  No problem, you’re slated to join Stevie in San Francisco at the vgSummit on October 10th.  James Brown may be the hardest working man in showbiz, but Martin Herdina might well be the hardest working man in the  microtransactionbiz.

But let’s not just make this about Martin, as there are plenty of other folks that make the heart of foogoo beat.

Back in July, our programming team reached a milestone and introduced elements of our technology to the Sun Partner Advantage Program via Project Darkstar.  The open source engine for game developers has already received a number of accolades, and via fatfoogoo, developers can now plug a monetization module into their game from day 1 or add it at a later date.  If our Project Darkstar integration wasn’t enough, a month later we received a nomination for “Best Business Idea of the Year” from German tech magazine Internet World.

2008 also saw the addition of two powerhouse figures at fatfoogoo.  In early August, we made the official announcement of adding Clive Jefferies as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Sales to the foogoo team.  Clive brings over 25 years of software product experience to fatfoogoo, and to say that he knows the ins and outs of international product development and management might be a bit of an understatement.

Likewise, in late September, we really lit things up with the appointment of industry veteran (and some might say legend) Stevana Case, aka KillCreek of Quake fame.  If you don’t know who Stevie Case is, chances are you might be filed under n00b, as Stevie is one of the first professional female gamers and the first woman in the Cyberathlete Professional League.  Stevie heads up our San Francisco office and serves as Vice President of Business Development and Sales.

All in all, 2008 has been an outstanding year for all of us here at fatfoogoo.  While there have been plenty of wins on a number of fronts, the above represents selected highlights.  Daniel Petri’s team of techs are the unsung heroes here, making all the pretty pixels play nicely together, and my hat goes off to them.

Looking forward, Martin has bound my lips with duct tape regarding some projects in the works, and while I’m bursting at the seams to tell the world about what we’re brewing up in the fatlabs, we’ve still got a few nuts and bolts to turn and tweak before it’s ready to be unveiled.  Stay tuned…  (no really, stay tuned, this is some pretty hot $*&#)!

So from all of us here at fatfoogoo, from Vienna to San Francisco, we wish you a happy, healthy and successful 2009!