Former Xbox Japan Manager Joins Sparter Board

Online marketplace provider Sparter, operator of the player driven online currency trading service Gamer2Gamer, has announced that former Squaresoft COO and Microsoft Japan's Xbox general manager Yoshi Maruyama has joined the Company's advisory board. The service, first announced in June, is designed to facilitate independent player driven online trading of virtual currencies across games like World of Warcraft, EVE and EverQuest II. Sparter officials note that among the chief benefits offered by this service are saving players money by cutting out any sort of middleman from their transactions, while simultaneously protecting the rights of the game publishers. Maruyama headed a number of initiatives during his time with Microsoft, including bringing former Squaresoft creators and collaborators Hironobu Sakaguchi and Akira Toriyama for the Xbox 360's exclusive RPG Blue Dragon. Said Maruyama, "I am looking forward to becoming a member of the Sparter family. I believe that Sparter is the platform that can accommodate the needs of today's gamers as well as the rights of publishers in dealing with RMT." "Sparter also offers the best opportunity to support our consumers," he offered, "and, through cooperation with publishers, punish the truly bad behavior like in-game spamming, bot farming and use of exploits. I hope to leverage my experience and relationships to facilitate dialogue between Sparter and other participants in the industry to develop a solution that benefits everyone within the gaming ecosystem."