I guess when you are a billionaire who has too much money to throw around, the only thing that keeps you going is to preserve your wealth and make even more money. Sir Richard Branson is one of them, and the owner of Virgin has recently lifted the veil on a download platform for PC games, which he claims will be able to ‘replicate the functionality of iTunes’, resulting in a massive growth for the Pc gaming sector. To underline his intent, the subsidiary Virgin Games and Game Domain International (GDI) has announced a new 3D ‘virtual world’ platform known as A World Of My Own (AWOMO). Somehow, AWOMO doesn’t roll off the tongue too easily unlike WoW, but only time will tell whether this project will receive Sir Branson’s Midas touch.

This new platform is meant to revolutionize the way PC games publishers propagate their software, consisting of rapid download speeds that enables virtually anyone to get into gaming within minutes instead of waiting for hours. In addition, a more secure gaming platform will be implemented, offering peace of mind and unprecedented ease of use for the customer. I suppose the end result of this vision is getting more bang for your buck, pretty much like how the iTunes business model has been doing for the past few years.

This business model will also address some of the problems that plague the current PC games industry, including high distribution costs and piracy which has caused untold losses. Apparently, a number of the world’s major games publishers have already given their vote of confidence. The AWOMO platform will see a 2007 launch along with an ample amount of games to get the ball rolling.

Source: MCVUK

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