The purpose of voting on the simExchange is to identify the usefulness of user submitted content and comments to the simExchange community. The simExchange is launching a new experiment by applying incentives to voting. You will now receive 10 DKP for each person who votes the same way you do on an article, image, video, comment, or unlisted game.

The goal is to aggregate an indicator of what content and comments are most useful to the simExchange community as a whole, and not just how useful it was for you. However, to restrict voting to substantial opinions, voting now costs 25 DKP. Therefore, at least three other people need to vote in the same direction after you for you to start earning DKP. This concept is similar to the skills you have been using in stock trading. You must evaluate how likely someone else is still going to vote (or buy) the same direction you do.

The DKP from voting is paid or deducted daily at the end of the day. The awards and costs of voting are subject to change for balancing the game. All previous votes on record are eligible to earn DKP and will not be charged the 25 DKP fee. As with many features on the simExchange, this feature still requires testing. If you have any problems voting, please report using the Ask a Question form in the Help section.

Microsoft's Fuzion Frenzy 2 for the Xbox 360 will debut on the simExchange on Wednesday, January 10, 2007. It will be categorized under the new Minigame genre and will open for purchase at 50 DKP (forecasts 500,000 units sold worldwide over lifetime). The release date for this game is scheduled for January 30, 2007. This listing was submitted by Mynameisjon. The game's listing is found here. The summary of Fuzion Frenzy 2 is the following:

Fuzion Frenzy 2 is the sequel to the Fuzion Frenzy multiplayer party game for Xbox; however, it is not made by the original developer, Blitz Games. Instead, the series will continue with the work of Hudson Soft, the same studio developing Mario Party 8. For those new to the series, Fuzion Frenzy has the player competing against three other characters in a series of mini-games of various categories (located on 7 different planets) in a mini-game tournament. Fuzion Frenzy 2 will feature a collection of about 40 mini-games similar to the original game. A new feature has players earning tournament cards that can be used to choose the next event or planet in the tournament. This version also offers multiplayer over Xbox Live.

A new Minigames genre has been created to encompass multiplayer party games, short puzzle games, and the like. Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (Wii) and Wii Play (Wii) have been moved to this genre.

Finally, by popular demand, the simExchange is ready to introduce its first tool for bloggers. The Closing Price Tool is a simple Javascript code that bloggers can place in their HTML code to place a stock box on their blogs. You can also use this tool in any website or message board that accepts Javascript.

The Closing Price Tool embeds a box that displays the closing price for a specific day for a game stock on the simExchange. This can be useful if you want to show the effect some news story you are discussing has on the buzz for a game or console. As some bloggers have requested, this tool can be used for published analysis of games and the stocks on the simExchange. Just to clear things up, you do not need any sort of permission by the simExchange to write stock analysis or do daily/weekly reports on game stocks; however, we'd love to read your work if you wish to send it to us. Also feel free to submit such articles you write to the simExchange.

Please report any problems you may experience when trying out this tool. You can preview it and generate the code on the new Tools for Bloggers page. As always, feedback and suggestions welcome!

The purpose of the simExchange is to aggregate information relating to new video games and provide a learning experience for gamers interested in the stock market. Disrupting this goal in any way, such as artificially boosting prices to make a game look like it will sell better, manipulating voting, repeatedly buying and selling a stock to boost its trading volume, etc., is unwelcome and such perpetrators will be banned. This activity hurts the experience for the many committed players who spend time researching video games and sharing their opinion with the community. It also skews the informative nature of the site for people using it as a data source on video game performance.

It is my goal that the simExchange can be a useful learning tool for gamers who want an entertaining way to learn more about the stock market as investing is a necessary skill for everyone. However, you will not be able to improve your ability to evaluate investments if you rely on creating fictional accounts or having your friends bid up a stock. For the purpose of the game, you will also be fined or banned so cheating will neither pay off in the short-term or long-term.

If your portfolio is underperforming, rather than creating a fake account to artificially boost those stocks, rethink what is going wrong with your investments. If your stocks are not moving, it may be wise to cut down the size of those investments and reinvest the capital in stocks the community is currently trading (this does not necessarily mean buy whatever everyone else is buying). You can also post in the forum why you think the game deserves attention or submits news on the game that will draw the attention of other traders. Naturally, if there is no news regarding a game, people's opinions will likely remain unchanged.

If the stock is not moving the way you think it should, figure out why the market is trading the other way. Listen to what other traders are saying and read the recent news relating to the game. Maybe this will change your opinion. If not, you can double down by investing more in the stock and explain why you think the stock should go the other way.

Another tip is to diversify your portfolio. Do not invest all your eggs in one basket! This will also make your investing experience more interesting so that you are not completely invested in a few games that no one else is currently looking at.

You will find many similar situations in the real stock market so rather than doing something that is impossible in the real stock market (creating more accounts), try a solution that could work in the real stock market.

Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 2 for the Xbox 360 will debut on the simExchange on Monday, January 8, 2007. It will be categorized under Racing and will open for purchase at 80 DKP (forecasts 800,000 units sold worldwide over lifetime). The game is scheduled for release in Q2 2007. The listing was submitted by sonaive. The game will be listed here and the summary is:

Forza Motorsport 2 is the next-generation sequel to the Xbox exclusive racing simulator Forza Motorsport. Forza Motorsport is Microsoft's realistic driving simulation compared to Microsoft's Project Gotham Racing series, which is an arcade driving game. Forza is known for its realistic damage gameplay, where cars are not only cosmetically damaged when they bump into barriers and other cars, but the car's performance in terms of handling, speed, and acceleration is also affected.

The game features over 300 real cars and 70 tracks, both real and fictional. Like the previous game, the cars are fully customizable. Players can even add pictures to their cars. Forza Motorsport 2 features a dynamic suggested-line feature that will assist you in your driving. The game will be locked at 92 FPS. Forza Motorsport 2 will feature split-screen, system link, and Xbox live multiplayer. The game was developed alongside the new Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Steering Wheel. Forza Motorsport 2 is expected to be released in Q2 2007.

Ubisoft Entertainment's Assassin's Creed for the PS3 and Xbox 360 will debut on the simExchange on Friday, January 5, 2007. It will be categorized under Action and will open for purchase at 80 DKP (forecasts 800,000 units sold worldwide over lifetime) for the PS3 version and 120 DKP (forecasts 1.2 million units sold worldwide over lifetime) for the Xbox 360 version. The release date for this game is scheduled as either Q3 or Q4 of CY2007. This listing was submitted by zukaus. The summary of Assassin's Creed is the following:

Assassin's Creed is a new action/adventure game from Ubisoft Montreal scheduled for Q3 or Q4 of CY2007. It is developed by members of the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time team.

The game's events take place in 1191, during the Third Crusade in the cities of Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus. The player takes the role of an assassin named Altaïr from an organization called the Hashashin whose goal is to assassinate the architects of the Crusades. The game will feature very interactive environments and historically accurate cities. Non-player characters will react to how you control your character. One example is climbing a wall may result in civilians gathering to watch, which will then attract guards.

The game also features free-roaming environments where the player can climb nearly anything--exploring cities from rooftops with scale possibly rivaling The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Grand Theft Auto games. Combat in Assassin's Creed will be more realistic in that characters will weaken as they are hurt and they cannot survive repeated blows from a sword. The game will also feature a new concept called "social stealth." Rather than stealthily sneaking in the shadows, the player can blend into the crowds after assassinating someone in public.

Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii Play collection of minigames and controller bundle for the Wii will debut on the simExchange on Thursday, January 4, 2007. It will be categorized under Action and will open for purchase at 400 DKP (forecasts 4 million units sold worldwide over lifetime).

Wii Play is a game bundled with the Wii Remote. It was released in Japan on December 2, Australia on December 7, and Europe on December 8. It will be released in North America on February 12, 2007. It has already sold over 1 million units worldwide. This listing was submitted by zoom942. The summary of Wii Play is the following:

Wii Play is a collection of nine two player minigames that includes Shooting Range (a point the remote and shoot game like Duck Hunt), Billiards (a simplified variation of nine-ball where the Wii remote is used as a pool cue), Find Mii (a Where's Waldo type game where you find your Miis in crowded environments), Table Tennis (a Pong-like game played by pointing the Wii remote to direct the paddle), Laser Hockey (an air hockey game where the Wii remote is angled to deflect shots), Fishing (a game where the Wii remote is used as a fishing rod to catch paper fish), Pose Mii (a game where the player must correctly pose Miis in bubbles), Charge! (a game where the player rides a cow and topples scarecrows by holding the Wii Remote sideways and tilting it to control the cow), and Tanks (a game where the player must destroy other tanks by pointing the Wii remote to target the tank's gun).

These minigames showcase the capabilities of the new Wii remote. Only one minigame is available at start. The player unlocks additional minigames as each game is completed. The game will retail for $49.99 in North America with the Wii Remote bundled (nunchuk not included). Wii Play is also bundled with the Wii Remote in Japan (Dec 2), Australia (Dec 7), and Europe (Dec 8).

Time Trust deposits will now only be recorded in your Transaction History once per day at the end of the day, rather than recorded with each deposit. This change is made to clean up the Transactions History page. You will continue to get Time Trust deposits every 15 minutes that can be spent immediately. The only change is that each deposit will no longer appear as an individual transaction in your Transaction History but instead as one lump sum transaction recorded at the end of the day.

This past weekend, the simExchange migrated to new servers to increase capacity. A number of functions were not working following the move, such as automated confirmation emails following account creation and the Ask a Question form in the Help section. These features should all be working now.