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The massively-multiplayer online (MMO) gaming industry has proven itself to be a powerful vector for pulling people together to play video games and for the enterprise to capably make money. Families have always been a large consumer of entertainment and MMOs may prove to be no obstacle to this factor of everyday life, as a result, this will be a topic of note at the 6th annual Digital Kids Conference in Los Angeles, California.

Running from April 25-26, 2012, they have invited online gaming industry veterans and Wizard101 creators Todd Coleman and Josef Hall of KingsIsle Entertainment to speak about their experience in bringing the MMO world successfully into the realm of the family. Their keynote presentation will be held at 9:30 a.m. PT, on April 25.

Wizard101 launched September 2, 2008 in the United States and reached the E.U. by 2011. Since then it has received much acclaim as a cartoony, interesting, and family-friendly 3D MMORPG. Players are thrust into a wizarding world facing a dire threat and are asked to help save the world of the Spiral; much like Harry Potter they choose between schools of magic and set off for adventure. It holds an ESRB rating of E for Everyone 10+ although it has notable mild fantasy violence and some crude humor (no doubt the writers of the game knew that parents would be alongand what child can resist crude jokes?) Much of the game revolves around a collectable card game element that provides spells to the players from their deck for use in combat and a simple user interface.

The game recently exceeded 25 million players in the U.S. and receives almost 13 million monthly visitors. While it targets mostly preteens, the game is actually quite appealing to all agesalthough much of the gameplay is designed to address children 8-12, the functionality and expanse of the game world is made to also interest adult family members who might come along with them without generating boredom. While the game currently operates across the U.S. and the E.U. they are looking to expand into the China market later this year with the expectation of a huge pool of potential customers.

Todd and Josef are pioneers in the MMO genre and visionary in their ability to tap both extreme and mainstream concepts and create immersive experiences with truly mass appeal, says Chris Sherman, founder and CEO of Engage Digital. Theyll open our Digital Kids Conference by sharing their winning formula for successfully transitioning from the brutal world of open combat in online gaming to an enchanting childrens title thats enjoying unprecedented growth the world over.

A press release on the subject of Wizard101 noted that it also shows a benefit for education.

According to a recent Trinity University survey of more than 30,000 Wizard101 players, 55 percent of respondents said the game aided their learning of reading, math, and time and financial management skills, the release explained. Additionally, one out of every five respondents said they play the game with their parents or grandparents.

Virtual worlds and MMOs have been sought by educators for some time now and weve seen Fantage step into that role as well with the virtual-world game Fantastic Age. While Wizard101 is not primarily educational, its focus on pre-teens certainly makes it important for its edutainment characteristics.

While its a functionally worthwhile game, and touted as partially free-to-play, Wizard101 delivers a very limited world for freesort of a trial experience in the first world only. Non-member players are trapped in a very small section of the game world and lack access to much of the content. They can unlock all of the content through a small subscription fee ($10/mo. or $7/mo. per family member) or they can permanently open sections by buying into them.

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Creators of Wizard101 to the 2012 Keynote Digital Kids Conference in April

By Jane Genova - March 15, 2012 | Tickers: BKS, CHRS, JCP, JWN | 0 Comments

Jane is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

No surprise, Barnes & Nobles (NYSE: BKS) stock pricehas beenrising since it hired a tech-savvy chief financial officer. Former cable television finance big Michael Huseby will lead the book chain into its digital future. When announced Monday, the stock, which had nose-dived 7.5% in 2012, rose 1.6% to $13.61. On Tuesday, it closed at $14.38. Not only is Huseby expected to unlock Nooks value, but he's also the guy in charge of how resources are allocated. Down the road, shareholders might well anticipatesome M&A to help push the company ahead of competitors Amazon and Apple, possibly the introduction of more and more devices, and maybe shuttering a lot of the brick and mortar that outside oflarge metro areas.

Barnes & Noble is not the only company to receive a thumbs-up by thestock marketbecause of a digital move. The other parts of retail which got smart earlyabout digital and didnt get complacent also have been darlings among analysts. At the top of the list are:

Last August, the L2 Digital IQ Index for specialty retailers ranked all three as Genius in their digital competence.Check out that term "Digital IQ" in the Index. Remember how, since the mid 1990s, Emotional IQ has been such a key factor in assessing human capital for hiring and promotions? High Digital IQ, or unusual mastery of leveraging digital,seemstobea keypart of what analysts look at indetermining the value of a retail organization.

But measuring Digital IQ entails more thansizing up theecommerce facilitated by the retailer's website. Bright colors. Two daily deals.Coupons downloaded to mobile.Free shipping. Nice, but ecommerce 1.0. In essence,high Digital IQ isabout how competent retailers have become in accommodating customer preferences continually being made possible by technology.According to L2Think Tank, 79% of those with smartphones use them for shopping. In the aisles they can scan barcodes and find out the prices at nearby competitors.So what is being done to keep shoppers from leaving the store without buying?Can brand loyalty as established by the three geniusesdo the trick?

Nordstrom pulls out all the stops on that front. For example, THE NEW YORK TIMES reports, ithas devices positioned around the brick and mortar so that sales associates can electronically check out customers wherever they are. Those who want an e-receipt instead of a paper one get it. Eventually it will probably be possible for customers to check out right in the dressing room. No more gathering up the clothes and hunting for a cash register. That will not onlyadd to convenience, butit saves time, the most valuable commodity in shoppers' lives.

Digital IQ also figures into how retail monetizes its social networks such as Facebook. Very few have made them actual platforms for transacting sales.Other aspects involve that pre-digital ingredient creativity onlyfocusing it on technology. Charming Shoppes (NASDAQ: CHRS) added a new wrinkle to the familiar website feature which allows shoppers to mix and match clothes and accessories. Now shoppers can, as with Google+, have their friendshang outonline with them and give their opinions about the selections.

But what about retailers not aggressively developing digital competence? To analysts that could be a sign, maybe even on a subconscious level,of something off or missing. That creates or adds touncertainty. No analyst likes uncertainty. Take J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP)for example.When Apple and Target veteran Ron Johnson became chief executive officer, the stock rose to 43.18. Its now at 37.63 and is bound to go lower, warn the shorts like Shmulik Karpf, an economist at the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange. Some have cut EPS estimates from those early February days of about 50-cents to 2-cents for 1Q and 2Q.

Most of Johnsons focus, at least inwhat he's telling investors and the media,has been on pricing reforms. The one digital piece which made news was his ending the high-profile ecommerce partnership CLAD with ESQUIRE.The fashions featured were cool, the antithesis of what J.C. Penney had become known as: dowdy. The current jcpenney.com website lacks excitement.Just on digital, Macy's could eatPenney's lunch and dinner.

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Retail + Digital = Higher Stock Price

Whether it's the mascots, team colors, or the cool uniforms, everyone wants an edge in filling out their NCAA tournament brackets. And it seems like every year someone comes up with a new formula to predict winning teams.

This year, one expert says he doesn't care how well the teams played during the regular season, all he cares about is how the teams are seeded by the NCAA.

Meanwhile, a Harvard student has put his study time to good use, figuring out a computer model to predict which teams will get upset in the first two rounds of the tourney based on this season's rebounds, turnovers and RPI, a measure of a teams' strength of schedule.

NEWS: Are Math Smarts Innate?

Both are using the logic of mathematics and statistics to predict what many of us think of as a magical tournament of small-conference Davids beating big-school Goliaths, and the possibility of seeing upset-minded Cinderellas dancing at the Final Four.

For University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana computer scientist Sheldon Jacobson, the 68-team NCAA basketball championship is a numbers problem begging to be solved.

"Of course I like basketball being at a Big-10 school," said Jacobson, "but this is really a cornucopia of excitement for the mathematically inclined."

Jacobson is an expert in complex systems that involve humans and technology. He figures out the best way to design aviation security systems or how cellphone use affects traffic accident rates. But for the past few springs, Jacobson has come up with his own science of bracketology, even though he doesn't really make his own picks.

He's looked at win-loss data back to 1985 and has come up with some interesting recommendations. First, don't pick all number ones to reach the Final Four. In fact, it's seven times more likely the Final Four will have zero number one seeds than all four.

Don't go too far the other way either. The odds that a 15th or 16th seeded team will reach the final four is 304-to-1. He says that by the time the "Elite Eight" teams are selected, their prior records or seedings are irrelevant.

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March Madness Bracketology: The Science

by Department of Economic Development

ONE of the smaller branches of CAMRA is staging its inaugural Real Ale Festival next month and is promising a unique experience for visitors coming to the Isle of Man from the UK. The Isle of Man Branch, with just over 200 members, is hosting the event from April 12th to 14th when over 60 real ales will be on offer as well as ciders, perries and fruit wines. The theme of the Festival is Beers from the Seven Kingdoms the Kingdoms in question being England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man which can all be seen from the top of the Islands only mountain, Snaefell, plus the kingdoms of Neptune and Heaven. Alan Cooper, one of the Isle of Man Branchs organising committee agreed it had been a challenge to find beers to be representative of the kingdoms of Neptune and Heaven. However, this had been achieved with the aid of varieties such as Stairway of Heaven, Fallen Angel and Apollo. The Titanic Brewery from the Midlands is contributing Iceberg and 1912. Alan Cooper said: We are hoping our festival will be unique as we are providing more than sixty real ales from many different countries. Most festivals concentrate on beers from their own particular area with maybe a few brought in from outside, but we are being far more ambitious. In addition, two local beers are being produced which will make their debut during the weekend. The Islands own Bushys Brewery will be launching a new ale to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Isle of Man TT Marshals Association. Lieutenant Governor Adam Wood is to pull the first pint of what is described as a 4% Golden Ale. Also premiering at the Festival is a special best bitter from Isle of Mans Okells brewery, but its exact description is being kept a secret at this stage. There are a group of ultra enthusiast members of CAMRA known as the Tickers whose mission is to drink every beer brewed in the British Isles. With news of the two new beers spreading through the CAMRA ranks, it is anticipated that these will attract members to sample them at the Islands event. Alan Cooper added: We hope to welcome between 1,000 and 1,200 people to the Festival during the three days, with around 10% from the UK. There has already been a lot of interest from CAMRA members in the North West. We have tried to cater for all tastes with six different styles of beer and with the gravities spread from 3.5% to 10%. This is not just a one-off and the intention is that the Festival will become an annual event. The project is being supported by the Isle of Man Department of Economic Development. Political member with responsibility for Tourism, Geoff Corkish MBE MHK, said the organisers had worked hard to ensure the Festivals success and he was certain it would go down well with locals and visitors alike. Mr Corkish commented: Yet another boost to our visitor economy is the CAMRA Festival to be held here this year. This follows their highly successful annual conference held on the Island in 2010, when local pubs played host to over 700 members and saw a brisk trade in real ale. We can look forward to welcoming many new friends and I hope they will enjoy experiencing our unique heritage attractions and wonderful landscape. I would also like to express my thanks to Alan Cooper and the members of the local branch of CAMRA, who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the first Festival will be a great success. Further information can be obtained from the Festival website on http://www.iombeerfestival.com -Ends-

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Small CAMRA Branch Aims To Stage a Big Beer Festival

by John Wannenburgh

People in the Isle of Man will have a chance to hear first hand from three of British rugbys biggest personalities this summer.

The black tie dinner event, Lions and Dragons: dinner with the Invincibles, has been organised by the Isle of Man Sporting and Dining Club, is sponsored by HSBC and will take place on Thursday 28th June. At the dinner, guest speakers Willie John McBride MBE, Gareth Edwards and JPR Williams will reveal in their own words the story behind the controversial and historic 1974 British Lions tour of South Africa.

Willie John McBride, from County Antrim, didnt start playing until he was 17 but went on to become captain of Ireland and the British Lions for this unbeaten tour against South Africa. Capped 63 times, 12 as captain, Willie was named in Rugby World magazine as Heineken Rugby Personality of the Century in 2004.

Cardiff, Wales and British Lions scrum half Gareth Edwards established an outstanding reputation during his playing career, and was recently voted the greatest rugby player of all time. With a warm, passionate, revealing and entertaining story to tell, his views come with the authority of one who has achieved all there is to accomplish in the game.

JPR Williams is remembered as being the most famous Welsh and British Lions full back of all-time, helping Wales to six Triple Crowns and three Grand Slams, and was known as Englands worst nightmare, scoring five tries against them in ten Tests. An orthopedic surgeon by profession, JPR was noted for his aggressive attacking style, and was an enthusiastic exponent of the tours famous 99 call.

A charity raffle will yet again be held during the dinner, with all funds raised being donated to a local charity to be selected by sponsors HSBC.

The event will take place at the Mount Murray Hotel & Country Club in Santon, with dinner tickets costing 65 for members and 80 for non-members, available by contacting the Club on 07624 495749 or at john@sportinganddiningclub.com.

Kevin Cartledge, Senior Manager at HSBC in the Isle of Man, said:

The calibre and the range of speakers at this years Sporting and Dining Clubs dinners is fantastic, with people in the Isle of Man already having the opportunity to hear from a leading business woman and a renowned author and politician. This dinner will offer something very different. It should be a hugely entertaining evening, and one at which I hope we can continue to raise a significant sum for local charities.

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IoM Set for Dinner Date With the Invincibles