Amazon gets into free to play games with new virtual transaction service

Amazon has been quite aggressive about pushing new services for game developers this week. Just yesterday, the company revealed its "GameCircle" features for Kindle Fire, and now it has unveiled Game Connect, a new set of tools that will enable developers to link their free to play games to Amazon's marketplace. With the Game Connect platform, developers can give users the option to sync their game to Amazon's website, and use their existing Amazon account to purchase in-game content. Rather than issue content codes for each new purchase, Amazon says Game Connect will automatically add any new purchases to a user's game. For instance, if a customer buys virtual currency via Amazon, those funds will automatically go into the game account he or she has synced with the site. So far, the service primarily supports free to play games and MMOs including World of Tanks, Super Monday Night Combat, and Pandora Saga, with more titles coming as the service evolves. A few of these games are already offering Amazon-exclusive items to entice players to use the service. Like yesterday's Kindle Fire announcement, Game Connect marks yet another service Amazon plans to use to further expand its hold on the digital game market. Amazon first began offering digital games in 2010, and the service has only grown more robust since its launch. For more information on how developers can use the Game Connect service, visit Amazon's official webite.