PLAYSPAN Inc. and Gala-Net Inc. announced the launch of beta service today for Upshift StrikeRacer, an online racing game.

"Having the PlaySpan service added to Upshift StrikeRacer provides our players with the ability to trade their in-game items in a safe and sanctioned manner," states Jikhan Jung, CEO of Gala-Net. "We are very excited about providing peer to peer item sales in our games. And PlaySpan provides a proven, scalable and secured system that has been proven with multiple games."

PlaySpan's system integrates into the game inside a widget. As an official, publisher-sponsored service, the application is a secure and reliable way to buy and sell goods without leaving the game.

"We are extremely excited about launching with Upshift StrikeRacer. This shows the power of virtual commerce in the different environments; our system and services benefit hardcore MMOGs as well as more casual titles like Upshift," says Karl Mehta, CEO of PlaySpan Inc. "Players of Upshift can now trade lower-ranked cars and items once they advance to more advanced parts of the game, and enjoy the game more with real-world microtransactions."