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ohai, developer and publisher of the first true massively multiplayer online (MMO) games for social networks, has revealed its plans to make truly multiplayer, synchronous online games available to everyone through a Flash innovation that turns the web plug-in into a robust online game platform.

Helmed by venture capital veteran and virtual goods pioneer Susan Wu, ohai has multiple titles in development. The company’s first showcase, City of Eternals, a vampire-themed, web-based casual MMO, is in alpha today.

“We are passionate about bringing games with engaging stories and immersive environments to as broad of an audience as possible,” said Susan Wu, CEO, ohai. “ohai’s mission is to connect people through joy, serendipitous social encounters and playfulness through rich experiences available to everyone, everywhere.”

With a world class MMO development team led by game industry veteran Don Neufeld (EverQuest II, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies), ohai's patented Flash technology enables hundreds of avatars to play in the same 3D game zone, benchmarked at 30 frames per second – a performance comparable to many high-end MMOs from major publishers. Unlike most MMOs, however, City of Eternals and other ohai games will not require a costly or resource-heavy client, but instead run on Flash, the standard web plug-in installed on 99% of all Net-connected computers. Consequently, ohai MMOs can be played on websites, within social networks like Facebook, and soon, on the iPhone and other smart mobile devices.

This innovative technology helps fulfill ohai’s corporate vision: Creating lightweight, synchronous, delightful game experiences for everyone that are simple enough for casual gamers to jump right into, and with enough depth for gamers to enjoy. For the 100 million+ consumers who play social network games, this means social games taken to the next level, with 3D graphics, real-time play and persistent world environments. For the tens of millions of hardcore gamers, this means an MMO to play on office and school computers without the usual download and lengthy installation process.