July 17, 2008 02:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

MySpace Launches First Ever Pan-Asian Applications Competition “TheGame08” at ChinaJoy Expo in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MySpace, the world’s most popular social network, today announced the official launch of the first ever Pan-Asian game applications competition TheGame08 http://www.myspace.com/thegame08. Beginning today, MySpace is inviting developers in China, Japan, Korea, and India – the four Asian powerhouses in gaming entertainment – to showcase their talents by creating the most innovative gaming application for the newly launched MySpace Developer Platform.

“MySpace is defining the future of online casual gaming by providing a global platform to showcase the best and the brightest that this incredible developer community has to offer,” said Steve Pearman, SVP of Product and Strategy for MySpace. “I am looking forward to the unique and engaging applications that this contest will inspire.”

MySpace announced the TheGame08 competition at a press conference at ChinaJoy, one of the largest gaming expos in the world, to introduce and familiarize the international gaming community with the MySpace Developer Platform and will also be leading a Keynote discussion on the rise of casual gaming on social networks. TheGame08 competition underscores MySpace’s commitment to embracing and cultivating the burgeoning developer communities around the world and enriching the user experience through a myriad of application offerings.

“This is the first large scale cross-border contest for the MySpace Developer Platform in Asia and truly exemplifies MySpace’s commitment to building a strong and collaborative business presence in this region,” said Sung Lee, Vice President of Asian Operations for MySpace. “ChinaJoy is one of the largest gaming expos in the world and provides a great opportunity to showcase the incredibly talented gaming developers in Asia and how they are engaging in social networks.”

TheGame08 begins today, July 17, 2008, through September 14, 2008, and is open to developers who are legal residents of China, India, Japan or Korea and are at least 18 years of age. To enter, contestants can submit their gaming applications through http://developer.myspace.com (for India, Japan, and Korean entries) and http://developer.myspace.cn (for China entries). Full contest rules are available on each country’s TheGame08 MySpace custom profile.

Once all applications have been received, each region will choose a semi-finalist to be judged in the finals by a panel of today’s most influential names in the online space including Tom Anderson, Co-Founder and President of MySpace. The winning gaming application will be announced on October 9, 2008 at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, one of the world’s most respected gaming events, and will be translated into Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, making it available for download by the global MySpace community of more than 117 million users.

The winning game will also be translated into English and made available to MySpace’s casual gaming community in the U.S., http://games.myspace.com, a channel that has seen a steady increase in organic traffic and a 15% growth per month in unique users and total time spent since its launch in 2007 (comScore).

MySpace launched the MySpace Developer Platform http://developer.myspace.com to give software developers around the world the chance to deeply integrate with MySpace. The MySpace Developer Platform Site allows developers large and small to come together and easily build creative, user-enriching applications for MySpace. MySpace is committed to the developer community, and actively works to help developers monetize and promote their applications. MySpace is dedicated to leveraging the OpenSocial standard to support community-driven innovation and promote a more collaborative Web.

About MySpace

MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. MySpace has created a connected global community by integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums. MySpace's international network includes more than 20 localized community sites in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS)(NYSE:NWS.A)(ASX:NWS)(ASX:NWSLV).

Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, May 2008. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to http://www.comscore.com.

About ChinaJoy

ChinaJoy is one the most influential game expositions in China and Asia. Founded in 2003, ChinaJoy is sponsored by seven ministries of P.R. China and provides a platform to Chinese enterprise in the areas of B2B, media, marketing, and promotion. The China Digital Entertainment Summit and other forums hosted by ChinaJoy have become an exchange platform for government and various industries. The three affiliated events “ChinaJoy Cosplay,” “Miss ChinaJoy” and “E-sport Competition” are extremely popular and highly valued by ACG fans. With a total attendance of more than 184,000 people and growing, ChinaJoy attracts digital entertainment industry leaders, trade associates, and consumers. For more information about ChinaJoy, please visit http://www.chinajoy.net.