Unity Technologies CEO David Helgason says that one-third of his company's business comes from licensees for Unity's 3D graphics technology that are not game development firms. Helgason's comments coincide with the release of a branded Gorillaz game built on the Unity engine to the iPhone app store.

"The music, film and advertising industries are broadly adopting games and game technology to reach wildly broad game-loving audiences. These products exemplify the kind of creative uses which now make up a third of our business," said Helgason, in statements made to Develop.

Chinese online game publisher Tencent has signed a deal with Emergent Game Technologies for use of the Gamebryo and Gamebryo Lightspeed engines across multiple SKUs. Emergent's engines can be used for single-player, multiplayer, and online game development in numerous genres on platforms as diverse as PS3, 360, Wii, and PC. Studios can also integrate them with third-party and in-house technologies.  

Tencent is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, and operates a library of over 60 online games. This library includes some of the most popular freemium MMOs in the world, like Dungeon & Fighter (a.k.a. Dungeon Fighter Online) and Cross Fire. Tencent also operates the avatar-based QQ instant message system, which is extremely popular in China and a source of major virtual goods sales. 

Although RealID may be optional on Blizzard's World of Warcraft forums, in the newly-released Starcraft II the RealID system is going to power social network-like features. Using RealID, Starcraft II players can connect with their real life friends playing any Blizzard game on any server. Players will also be able to post status updates to Blizzard's Battle.net online service using a feature called Broadcasting. Any RealID friend will be able to see the status updates. 

In an unusual move for the virtual world space, Sony Online Entertainment is now offering a lifetime membership to Free Realms. This VIP lifetime subscription will only be offered for a limited time, from July 16 through August 2.  

Holders of the special lifetime VIP subscription are entitled to 5 additional jobs, ranking on the Free Realms leaderboards, 3 additional character slots, and a slew of additional virtual items and quests. A monthly subscription to Free Realms costs per month. 

Sony Online Entertainment's flagship MMO EverQuest II is hopping on the freemium bandwagon. SOE has issued a new price structure for the game called EverQuest II Extended that now includes Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum payment tiers. Users who previously paid a monthly subscription fee for EverQuest II access are now Gold-level customers. EverQuest II Extended will support an in-game shop where players can buy virtual goods including content, equipment, and enhancements. 

In an unusual move for the virtual world space, Sony Online Entertainment is now offering a lifetime membership to Free Realms. This VIP lifetime subscription will only be offered for a limited time, from July 16 through August 2.  

Holders of the special lifetime VIP subscription are entitled to 5 additional jobs, ranking on the Free Realms leaderboards, 3 additional character slots, and a slew of additional virtual items and quests. A monthly subscription to Free Realms costs per month. 

Sony Online Entertainment's flagship MMO EverQuest II is hopping on the freemium bandwagon. SOE has issued a new price structure for the game called EverQuest II Extended that now includes Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum payment tiers. Users who previously paid a monthly subscription fee for EverQuest II access are now Gold-level customers. EverQuest II Extended will support an in-game shop where players can buy virtual goods including content, equipment, and enhancements. 

Google is in talks with several top online game developers as part of a bid to develop a social network service that could compete with Facebook, according to the Wall Street Journal. Developers in talks with Google include Playdom, Playfish, and Zynga. In addition, Google has recently invested 0 million in Zynga. 

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has refused to directly confirm that Google is developing a social network, but has stated that any such service would not be a direct copy of Facebook. It is believed Google's interest in developing a social network stems from the ad-driven nature of its business, as brands increasingly pour their ad spending into Facebook and Twitter instead of Google's AdSense. 

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Google is in talks with several top online game developers as part of a bid to develop a social network service that could compete with Facebook, according to the Wall Street Journal. Developers in talks with Google include Playdom, Playfish, and Zynga. In addition, Google has recently invested 0 million in Zynga. 

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has refused to directly confirm that Google is developing a social network, but has stated that any such service would not be a direct copy of Facebook. It is believed Google's interest in developing a social network stems from the ad-driven nature of its business, as brands increasingly pour their ad spending into Facebook and Twitter instead of Google's AdSense.