Tag: Video Game Blogroll

Social Plays in Networked Gaming

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of presenting at the monthly Social Media Expedition Memphis breakfast meetup. It was a great chance to take a look at “social gaming” from a different perspective, as many attendees knew little about the video games industry, but they were all social media enthusiasts.

The result? An exploration of the connection between video games, technology and social media, and what it all means for marketers. For brevity, I’ll just say that the relationship between gaming and social media is, by all means, symbiotic. For a more thorough explanation, check out the full presentation on SlideShare below.

In such an emerging space, one can never have all the right answers. Let me know what you think – insight, opinions, questions… All feedback is more than welcome!

Social Plays In Networked Gaming by Kate Hancock

View more presentations from triplepoint.

GameSpot Debuts East India Company Video Developer Diary

east_india_company_logo_lowresThe first video developer diary for the upcoming PC title East India Company debuted on GameSpot today. The ongoing series be released bi-weekly on GameSpot leading up to the game’s launch. Lead designer Kim Soares of Nitro Games will give viewers a glimpse of East India Company‘s extensive features and share insights from the development process.

Check out the first video developer diary for East India Company on GameSpot at:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/eastindiacompany/video/6209550/

Kim Soares of Nitro Games introduces East India Company

East India Company is a naval war strategy game based on the 18th century East India Companies. East India Company is scheduled for release in Q3 2009 and will be published worldwide by Paradox Interactive.

TriplePoint Speaker Series #3: Dan Hsu

Last week we were joined by Dan Hsu, former Editor in Chief of EGM and Co-Founder of the recently launched, Bitmob. Dan spoke with us about his extensive experience in game magazine publishing, the challenge of incorporating casual game coverage with a hardcore voice, the role he feels community has in the editorial process, what he believes the future of video game reporting will be, and much more. Please enjoy the video, and be sure to check out the unique community features Dan is developing at his new site, Bitmob.

Is Video Game Print Media Dying or Evolving?

gameinformer11This week I came across a short article titled, “The Fallacy of the ‘Print is Dead’ Meme”, by Michael Josefowicz. Josefowicz, a veteran of the print media industry, explains that the ‘Print is Dead’ is a meme that is generally perpetuated on a basis of anecdotal generalization by a small but very vocal group of ‘info-junkies,’ who constantly scour the web for up-to-the-minute news and obscure information. Being an ‘info-junkie’ myself, I’m intrigued but skeptical of any argument favoring print media and wonder what it means for video game media.

One of Josefowicz’ most telling arguments is that the “Print is Dead” meme grew prevalent during a “disruptive change in the communication ecology.” In other words, due to the rapid change in how information is exchanged, certain individuals benefitted by garnering a larger audience while others gradually lost their audience. Assuming the shift in audience size is not a result of better or worse content, this is an effect of certain people manipulating the digital pathways of information better than others. New media evangelists benefit from this and defend their newfound digital pathways in any way they can… hence their argument that digital media is putting all other forms of communication to bed.

Continue reading Is Video Game Print Media Dying or Evolving?

GPS-based Game Seek ‘n Spell Debuts on the iPhone

Seek 'n Spell LogoThe Retronyms released their new iPhone app Seek ‘n Spell on Earth Day! Seek ‘n Spell transforms iPhone gaming from a solo, sedentary experience to an active and social outdoor contest! Combining real outdoor spaces with virtual letters, Seek ‘n Spell is a word game where you and your friends compete to gather letter tiles and create words to score the most points.

Seek ‘n Spell makes full use of the iPhone’s GPS capabilities, using your actual physical location on Earth to drive the gameplay. Gathering in a park or other large outdoor space, players then race one another around the field to capture up to 10 letter tiles at a time, which they use to create words. Coveted gold tiles will appear randomly on the field, earning players a doubled score when used in words. Points are earned based on the length of the words players spell, and the player with the most points when time runs out wins.

The Seek ‘n Spell is available for download from the iTunes App Store at a retail price of $2.99 by visiting http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307726640&mt=8

To see Seek ‘n Spell in action, view the live-action trailer here:

The game’s creators host local Seek ‘n Spell competitions in San Francisco and Cleveland. To join in, visit the Meetup.com pages:
San Francisco: http://www.meetup.com/sf-seeknspell/
Cleveland: http://www.meetup.com/cle-seeknspell/

USA Today, Reuters Reserve Spot To Talk Target

Earlier this week, Target announced a new nationwide game reservation program that will allow its guests to reserve notable games by purchasing a $1 reservation card.

Here’s what some outlets are saying …

USA Today
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“Retail chain Target is joining GameStop and Best Buy in starting a reservation program that allows consumers to reserve popular titles, according to a statement from the company. … Of course, Target isn’t the only one who incentivizes for reserving copies of games . GameStop often includes various perks for pre-ordering, such as exclusive, in-game items. Readers, what do you think of Target’s strategy?”

Reuters
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“Target already lets customer place preorders for video games on its website. But Thomas said it the in-store reservation program has an added benefit  — it will hopefully bring shoppers into its stores more frequently. They can come into its stores to make the reservation, to pick up the game when it’s released, and then again to use the gift card.”

Kotaku
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Subscription MMO Market Grew 22% in 2008, Free-to-Play Model Continues to Grow [Screen Digest]

Industry analysts Screen Digest announced today that subscription-based massively mulitplayer online games revenue grew by 22% in 2008 and reached consumer spending levels of $1.4 billion in North America and Europe. The premium subscription-based model, often used to generate revenue in “free-to-play” games, showed significant growth of 11%. According to Screen Digest:

  • Consumer spending growth on non-World of Warcraft subscription MMOs grew at a robust 27% in 2008.
  • By 2013, the subscription market will top $2 billion in consumer spending.
  • Much of 2008’s growth has come from games that employ premium subscription models, which rely on freely “distributed, downloaded and accessed games” where “players are encouraged to sign up to a subscription to access premium content”.
  • Consumer spending on premium subscriptions grew by 11% year-on-year, from 35% to 46%.