Disney Creating DGamer, New Virtual World Network for Nintendo DS

Disney announced last week at E3 that it would begin including a free service called DGamer in its Nintendo DS games, beginning with The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in May 2008. Users will be able to  "chat, create personal avatars and trade game-themed items, across the room or anywhere in the world with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection." The service will be included on the game cartridge with game-specific items, skins, and goals, but each game will connect users across a virtual world network over the DS and Web with a unified system. Other upcoming games to include the service are Spectrobes II and Hannah Montana 3.

Beyond the in-game access through the DS, another release says that users will be able to log on to a special channel on Disney.com. Whatever the user does on the DS or Web will be mirrored on the other platform. Michelle Golding, a senior producer at Disney Interactive Studios, told VirtualWorldsNews that users will have to register at Disney.com, but then can interact with other Disney.com users through either the Web or DS.

Golding said that each user will have  one character that is modified by playing different games. "The avatar will be persistent, but each game will provide new items so the player can opt to update the avatar," she said. "For example the Caspian game will have a helmet for the avatar and Hannah Montana 3 will maybe have a microphone accessory so the player would be enticed to modify."   

In addition to chatting and exchanging virtual items, "DGamer "Honors" can be earned by completing challenges in-game or online to unlock exclusive content in their game or DGamer online profile."   

It sounds like this is Disney's answer to Sony Home, Xbox Live, and Club Penguin, all rolled up into a Nintendo DS package. However Home, which will also have mobile components, is run by PlayStation platform owner Sony Computer Entertainment on Sony's hardware.  Disney of course is not the hardware manufacturer. Other MMOs and virtual worlds are obviously run on third-party platforms, but this is a new instance of running a virtual world network (virtual world elements tied across multiple games from one publisher) on a closed platform.

In a move similar to other children's online worlds, it sounds like DGamer will have some chat controls imposed: "Speed chatting with other Disney gamers is a way to interact using preset phrases and answers." With parental permission, "true friend codes" can be exchanged to enable open chat.

The service is in addition to Disney's Toontown, which recently switched to a free-to-play model. The Narnia launch will be for North America only, but there are plans to extend the release internationally in the future.