Heatwave Interactive, a Texas online game startup, is launching its Platinum Life Web Edition game today as a beta test on Facebook.
The game is a kind of music career role-playing game, where the player starts out as an aspiring hip-hop star. You start out as a nobody selling mix tapes out of your car trunk and try to become a platinum-level superstar like T.I. or P. Diddy. Anthony Castoro, chief executive of the Austin company, said Heatwave is still working on a massively multiplayer online version of the game for the PC and consoles.
But in the meantime, the company is testing new ideas and sampling the experience through the Facebook version. In a couple of weeks, a MySpace version will also debut.
“We’re getting our core ideas out into the market and working with our partners in music,” Castoro said.
The game is about moving from the mean streets to the penthouse suite. You start by creating a character and customizing it. You earn points along the way that allow you to buy clothing. The more stylish it is, the more you build your celebrity status. You 
can battle other bands in concerts. And you can explore the careers of other hip-artists such as Ludacris, DJ Holiday, Shontelle, DJ Skee and Omarion. You have to go on missions that earn you points, like getting noticed by the paparazzi at the right restaurant. You can collect swag at events and earn points through hip-hop trivia tests. You can also invite your friends to join and turn them into parts of your entourage, such as a “hype master” or bodyguard.
It will be interesting to see how this takes off as it blends music fandom with game play. Music games haven’t done that well in the past few months. But Platinum Life Web Edition is pretty unique. We’ll see if it thrives among the masses of apps on social networks.
The company has a deal to include the likenesses of artists from the Universal Motown Republic Group, and there are more artists to be announced later.
The company raised $7.5 million from Syndicated Communications Venture Partners in April, 2009. Heatwave was founded in 2007 by Castoro, a former developer at Electronic Arts and Sony Online Entertainment, and veteran entrepreneur Donn Clendenon.