SA’s largest news site News24.com has launched their Games Channel featuring a wide selection of free online gaming titles from casino, puzzle and card games to sport and arcade games. Developed in partnership with leading entertainment portal publisher, Trafficonomy, the 40+ games portal includes favourites like Pacman, Mah Jong Tiles, Collapse Crash, Bubble Blaster, Cricket, Texas Hold Em Poker, Sudoku and Kakuro.The next generation games channel will further offer several innovative features like Game Challenges, In Game Chat, SkillCon Emoticons, Public and Personal High Score Boards.News24 is strongly focused on breaking news before anything else and this is where our energy is invested, says Elan Lohmann, Publisher of News24.com. We do however realize that News24.com readers have other interests too. Our Sudoku game launched a few months ago proved to be popular. I think that crosswords and other word-games have always been a traditional compliment to newspapers and we have launched this section to test its effect on retention. I’ve always believed that the more and diverse interactions you have with a brand -- the stronger the relationship, adds Lohmann.“We are extremely proud to have been part of the development of the online games channel for South Africa’s largest website,” says Mark van Diggelen, CEO of Trafficonomy. “Online gaming is an exciting space and the News24.com Games Channel is no exception. We will continue to add new games and features to ensure the best possible online gaming experience for their loyal player base.”According to the just released DFC Intelligence Online Game Market Forecasts, subscription revenue from online games was $2 billion in 2005 and is expected to grow to $6.8 billion by 2011.