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  • Michele Bachmann’s Presidential Campaign Kicks Off, Her Social Media Accounts Oddly Quiet

    Although she participated in the last Republican primary debate, Michele Bachmann wasn’t an official candidate at that point. She used the stage that night to declare her intentions to run for President. And today, she officially kicked off her campaign in Waterloo, Iowa.

    The location has the dual-benefit not only being where Bachmann grew up, but also being located in the early primary battleground state. Bachmann, who is thought of by many to be the first officially backed Tea Party candidate in the race, said that “American aren’t interested in affiliation; they are interested in solutions and leadership that will tell the truth” at her speech today.

    Her campaign kick-off speech on the steps of an historic Waterloo building was attended by about 200 people, says the New York Times.

    Here’s what seems odd about her official announcement today – Where’s the social media connection?

    Bachmann has a little over 56,000 followers and Twitter and over 220,000 likes on Facebook. She uses both networks semi-frequently to post messages to her supporters. In the last couple of weeks, she has posted messages about her votes on various bills, linked to articles about job creation and even told her fans that she had won an award. But her last Facebook post was last Friday. And her last tweet was last Friday as well.

    Where’s the social media announcement of her campaign?

    Most of the candidates who have already entered the crowded GOP field this year have made it a point to thoroughly incorporate social media when officially announcing their campaigns. First, frontrunner Mitt Romney used Twitter to link to a YouTube video where he announced the formation of an exploratory committee. Newt Gingrich did the same thing, only incorporating Facebook as well.

    Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty used both Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to announce the official start to his primary campaign. Most recently, Jon Huntsman announced his candidacy in New Jersey and created two new Twitter accounts simultaneously to promote his announcement.

    Moral of the story: Social Media has already been key this election season. But Bachmann hasn’t said anything on Facebook of Twitter since Friday.

    (image)@MicheleBachmann
    MicheleBachmann    Recently, I received @club4growth’s “Defender of Economic Freedom” Award for consistently voting in support of economic freedom.(image) 3 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    There is no doubt that social media helped Barack Obama beat John McCain in 2008. And the President is still active on both Twitter and Facebook. Whatever candidate that ends up facing him in the general election is going to have to step up their social media game. I’m not sure it’s a great sign for her that Bachmann has failed to incorporate Facebook and Twitter into the most important day of her candidacy so far.

    Bachmann is one of the more polarizing figures to enter the race. Many in the Republican party branch-off Tea Party think of her as an attractive candidate. She’s already seeing strong poll numbers in Iowa. On the other side, many see her ideas and extremely misguided and radical. She has a history of saying things that put her in the negative spotlight, such as the fact that the founding fathers “worked tirelessly until slavery was no more.”

    Although Bachmann hasn’t commented on her official candidacy on Twitter as of yet, it hasn’t stopped the Twitterverse from reacting:

    (image)@OTOOLEFAN
    Don Millard    Michele Bachmann is the first woman to officially throw her tin foil hat into the ring.(image) 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@TurboGrandma
    Nikki Walter    Super pissed at Michele Bachmann for having the best Michele Bachmann joke just by merely announcing her candidacy.(image) 2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@sbellelauren
    lauren ashley bishop    on behalf of all comedians, a warm welcome to the 2012 presidential race michele bachmann(image) 3 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@DRUNKHULK
    DRUNK HULK    DRUNK HULK ALL EXCITE TO SEE HEADLINE THAT MICHELE BACHMANN RUNNING! BUT DISAPPOINT TO READ THAT SHE NO RUNNING AWAY!(image) 3 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Justin_Marks_
    Justin Marks    The press is using Michele Bachmann as the political version of an anti-smoking ad: “Kids, see what happens when you don’t vote?”(image) 3 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    To clarify that last tweet, just as she kicks of her campaign in Iowa, this YouTube video has already emerged titled “Michele Bachmann on John Wayne Gacy” where she mixes up a couple of famous American “John Waynes” –

  • Supreme Court Rules Violent Video Games Protected As Free Speech

    The Supreme Court of the United States has just ruled on a California law that would have made the renting or selling of certain “extremely violent” video games to minors against the law. Retailers would have been subject to $1,000 fine per violation if the law would have been enacted.

    But the SCOTUS has made a ruling on the case based on first amendment free speech rights, and in doing so has declared videos games on par with other forms of artistic expression like books, film and music.

    The case was originally titled Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association, but the filing party was changed to Brown. The state of California originally passed bill AB 1179 which attempted to make the sale of the violent games illegal. Here is the criteria from the original bill on whats makes a game fall into that “ultra-violent” category –

    A reasonable person, considering the game as a whole, would
    find appeals to a deviant or morbid interest of minors.
    (ii) It is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the
    community as to what is suitable for minors.
    (iii) It causes the game, as a whole, to lack serious literary,
    artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
    (B) Enables the player to virtually inflict serious injury upon
    images of human beings or characters with substantially human
    characteristics in a manner which is especially heinous, cruel, or
    depraved in that it involves torture or serious physical abuse to the
    victim.

    The California courts subsequently ruled this law to be unconstitutional. The state appealed to the SCOTUS, and they agreed to hear the case.

    And today, in a 7-2 ruling, the SCOTUS upheld that the new law is in fact unconstitutional. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia says that the act “does not comport with the First Amendment” and that “video games qualify for First Amendment protection.”

    From the opinion –

    The most basic principle—that government lacks the power to restrict expression because of its message, ideas, subject matter, or content, Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union, 535 U. S. 564, 573—is subject to a few limited exceptions for historically unprotected speech, such as obscenity, incitement, and fighting words. But a legislature cannot create new categories of unprotected speech simply by weighing the value of a particular category against its social costs and then punishing it if it fails the test. See United States v. Stevens, 559 U. S. ___, ___. Unlike the New York law upheld in Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, California’s Act does not adjust the boundaries of an existing category of unprotected speech to ensure that a definition designed for adults is not uncritically applied to children. Instead, the State wishes to create a wholly new category of content-based regulation that is permissible only for speech directed at children. That is unprecedented and mistaken. This country has no tradition of specially restricting children’s access to depictions of violence. And California’s claim that “interactive” video games present special problems, in that the player participates in the violent action on screen and determines its out- come, is unpersuasive. Pp. 2–11.

    It looks like the court thinks that the California state law unjustly and unprecedentedly opens up a can of worms when it comes to content regulation. Scalia went on to say that the gaming industry’s voluntary rating system (E, Teen, Mature, etc.) allows enough help for parents who wants to restrict their children’s access to violent content. He also added that the act is “overinclusive” because not all parents want their children restricted to violent video games.

    So, besides being a huge win for the gaming industry, does this ruling give even more legitimacy to video games as an art form? If so, that may ruffle Roger Ebert’s feathers a little bit.

    You can expect the interwebs to respond heavily when either free speech or video games are discussed. Put them together and whoa. Here are some of the top responses of Twitter –

    @cjciaramella
    CJ Ciaramella    As kid who played a lot of Mortal Kombat, I hope SCOTUS said “Finish him!” before they struck down California’s violent video game law. 39 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @ArchAzrael
    Azrael    Yay for games being protected speech! While SCOTUS gets a lot of thngs wrong…they got this one right! 35 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @clay_mitchell
    Clay Mitchell    Supreme Court says video games are protected by the First Amendment. My question is why SCOTUS even had to be troubled with that. 34 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @JoshDrescher
    Rev Dr Josh Drescher    The most shocking part about the SCotUS decision: Clarence Thomas DISSENTING from a majority opinion written by Scalia. MY MIND IS BLOWN. 7 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @wretchesnkings
    whats in a name    SCOTUS strikes down Cali law that would have banned violent games being sold to minors. God forbid we ask parents to do their fucking jobs 5 minutes ago via Echofon · powered by @socialditto

    @sera_brennan
    Seraphina Brennan    Supreme Court put video games under the first amendment. And we’re art. Can I wear black turtlenecks and make esoteric compositions now? 😀 18 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    Most of the comments rolling in on Twitter take this shape and agree with the decision. There are a few, however, that have a different opinion –

    @unwrinkledbrain
    Ginny Fite    Rejoicing in make believe murderland today. SCOTUS says ok to sell gory violent video games to minors. A decision in favor of $, as always. 38 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® · powered by @socialditto

    @smithkl42
    Ken Smith    SCOTUS says CA can’t ban sale of violent video games to minors. By the same logic, we shouldn’t restrict them from XXX movies. Insane. 39 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    I, for one, would not be the well-adjusted man that I am today without ripping out some spinal cord as a fatality in Mortal Kombat when I was nine. The argument can rage on whether young kids are harmed by violent video games, but the SCOTUS, with this ruling, is leaving that debate up to the parents. I’m sure most of us can be happy that with this decision, video games as an art form just scored another one in the win column.

  • How OpenFeint Hopes to Change the Mobile Gaming Industry

    The popularity of social gaming platforms, especially on mobile devices, has contributed largely to the gaming industry’s recent explosion. It’s clear that many consumers are obsessed with games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars, and Angry Birds, but even with this growth, one can’t help but wonder if these games will stick around for the long-term.

    According to Jason Citron, the CEO of mobile social gaming network OpenFeint, the games may not last forever, but the impact of them will influence the future of gaming.

    “Farmville and Angry Birds – they’ll probably be fads. Most things are, but I think that the type of games they are represent, for the first time ever, games really becoming a true mass market media,” he said.

    In what ways do you think games like Farmville and Angry Birds are influencing the gaming industry? Let us know.

    Citron recognizes this impact and hopes to capitalize on it through OpenFeint. His company recently sold to GREE, a Japanese mobile social gaming platform, for $104 million. He told us that the acquisition would help the platform expand into new markets around the world.

    OpenFeint is also working to allow all gamers to play against each other regardless of what platform they are using. The company partnered with SEGA recently in an effort to advance cross platform connectivity. In other words, both iPhone gamers and Android gamers can play against each other.

    “It’s really the first time on a major platform that people have had the ability to play against their friends no matter what platform they’re on,” said Citron.

    Traditionally, gaming has been very closed, but Citron is hoping to change it by integrating a Facebook approach. The company launched GameFeed recently, which is a cross platform newsfeed feature that allows users to communicate with their friends in real-time.

    Citron told us that they want to bring “simplicity to gaming on mobile devices” and that they believe their open, social model is a step in making it happen.

  • Google Accused of (But Denies) Giving Obama Special Ad Access

    Google Accused of (But Denies) Giving Obama Special Ad Access

    A bit of political controversy has erupted around Google and an Obama ad that recently ran. Long story short: The National Republican Senatorial Committee has suspicions that Google gave the Obama campaign a special deal on a new type of ad (Cost-per-lead), which the company is currently testing. Google denies this notion, and that the ad in question was even a Google ad.

    Do you believe Google? Let us know in the comments.

    Politico ran an interesting article about unconfirmed and denied suspicions that Google had given President Obama a special deal on an as-of-yet released advertising product. The publication reports that a staffer at the National Republican Senatorial Committee saw “what appeared to be an Obama ad built on this technology” at the site RealClearPolitics last month, and then emailed Google asking about running the same kind of ad for Republicans.

    The Google saleswoman reportedly replied, “This is a pre-alpha product that is being released to a select few clients. I’d be happy to get you into the beta if you’re interested.” Politico then quotes the NRSC communications director as saying that this “raises some red flags that the Obama campaign appears to have been given special access to a new online advertising product.”

    The article quotes Google spokesman Jake Parrilo as saying that the email contained inaccurate “puffery” by the sales rep, and that the ad that appeared on RealClearPolitics wasn’t even a Google ad. Google has chalked the whole thing up as a “mistake” by the rep.

    Fox News says: “Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt told FoxNews.com that the Obama campaign did not purchase any of the ‘cost-per-lead’ ads through Google. Google’s press office also denied that the president’s reelection effort got any early deal, considering the ‘cost-per-lead” program has not even been rolled out yet.’”

    Parrilo is also quoted as saying, “This is an experiment and while we generally do not comment on those experiments we can tell you that we have not sold a single CPL [cost-per-lead] ad unit to any political candidates or committees.”

    So, by Google’s account, the ad the NRSC is talking about wasn’t even their ad, and the kind of ad they’re talking about has not been sold to any political candidates. As you might imagine, there are plenty of people chiming in in the comments of Politico’s report. Here are a few:

    “Google is all about control and knowing every inch of your life and so is the Obama administration. They make a perfect fit IF that’s what you want your life to be.”

    “Notice the key words in their denials. They claim Obama hasn’t paid for the service and Obama claims he hasn’t paid them for a service. It was most likely given to him for free. So technically they’re telling the truth.”

    “If this turns out to be true…..a deal between Obama and Google, I will immediately eject Google from my computers.”

    “I Bing…I don’t use Chrome.”

    Google’s history with the Obama administration draws plenty of scrutiny from onlookers. Former CEO and current executive chairman Eric Schmidt is a well known Obama supporter, and was named to Obama’s Science and Technology advisory council. In late 2008 alone, it was reported that six Google execs had donated $25,000 a piece to fund Obama’s swearing-in party. That includes Dick Costolo, who is now CEO of Twitter, by the way.

    NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh told FoxNews.com that Google has reached out to the committee. Walsh reportedly told the site in an email, “They claim this was a misunderstanding. We are currently examining that but certainly the appearance raises a red flag when you consider that Google executives have contributed almost a million dollars to President Obama’s political campaigns.”

    In a 2008 post on Google’s Public Policy Blog addressing the company’s political advertising policies, Peter Greenberger wrote, “We permit political advertisements regardless of the political views they represent, and apply our policies equally. Just as the Net itself provides space for a thousand political opinions to bloom, Google is committed to being a neutral platform for people to advertise their political messages.”

    An interesting side story here is that Google has separate ad teams that run Republican and Democratic campaigns. These teams, Politico says it was told by Parrillo, are unaware of the other side’s projects or deals. Google spokesperson Rob Shilkin also told Search Engine Land, “As our clients know, when we experiment with new products like this, our sales teams always has, and always will, offer the exact same opportunity to both sides of politics, at the same time. Our Democratic and Republican sales teams are strictly separated from each other and are charged with offering the absolutely best online ad solution for their respective clients.”

    Is this being blown out of proportion, or do you think there are legitimate “red flags” being raised? Tell us what you think.

  • Call of Duty Elite Hits Two Million Signups in Two Weeks

    The giant upcoming social network for gamers called Call of Duty: Elite will officially kick off the same time as the upcoming COD installment Modern Warfare 3, November 8th. But the service wants feedback from players to help polish off the final product, so they issued an invite for everyone to sign up to be a beta tester on the Elite website.

    About two weeks in, more than 2 million have already signed up for the beta. This is a promising number for Elite developers Beachhead Studio and Activision, to say the least.

    This figure was announced on Activision’s Dan Amrich’s blog One of Swords. He tells us that the official COD: Elite beta will launch July 14th and users who have signed up should check their inboxes for an official invite.

    And they want more beta testers. According to Amrich, the 2 million current signups only represent about 6% of the total Call of Duty world.

    The official start of the beta is a month away, so there’s still plenty of time for you to sign up. When the studio head at Beachhead said this would be a live beta, he was not kidding — your participation really can make a difference in how Elite evolves. And don’t be discouraged by the big number, thinking you shouldn’t bother because they already have enough people — two million volunteers among 30 million Call of Duty players is a small amount. More would be even better

    It looks like COD: Elite hasn’t been hurt initially by all the talk of it being a “paid service.” A FAQ page was quickly put out on the website to clarify the difference between Elite free and Elite Premium. First and foremost (and this bears repeating) multiplayer will be free.

    And most features of Call of Duty Elite will be available through a free membership. Here’s a little chart that details what will be included in the service for free –

    It’s still unknown exactly what the premium membership will look like, and we still don’t have a price yet. Here’s their explanation on why we don’t know any of this yet –

    The premium membership of Call of Duty Elite (which is completely optional) will set a new gold standard for what the multiplayer and community experience for a console game can be. Why are we not revealing all of the features that are part of the premium service today? Simple. Because the service was designed to be deeply integrated with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and will not be demonstrable until we are closer to the launch of the game. We know seeing is believing, and over the next few months we will be revealing and demonstrating more of the premium features and by the end of the summer, we will reveal the entire service in full.

    If your little heart can’t wait to obsessively monitor your K/D ratio and accuracy with the scoped Python, Amrich can provide you with a little fix. He’s put up an updated post on everything he knows about COD: Elite.

  • Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney Win GOP Debate According to Likester

    The first Republican Presidential Debate to feature all of the candidates was held last night in New Hampshire. Two notable things happened last night – It was the debate premiere of early front-runner Mitt Romney and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann used her opening statements to declare her official candidacy.

    Apart from these two events, the seven candidates talked health care, immigration, abortion, gay marriage and the whole range of topics one would expect in a televised debate. CNN broadcast the debate and host John King ended every segment with what he called a “this or that” question. We learned that Tim Pawlenty favors Coke over Pepsi and former Godfather’s pizza chair Herman Cain prefers Chicago-style deep dish to NY-style thin crust.

    With all personal politics aside, any early presidential debate, of either party, serves as a barometer for public opinion. It gives voters an initial glimpse at the candidates and shapes the media narrative for the upcoming campaign. It’s impossible to predict the outcome of the primary right now but “global popularity engine” Likester is at it again, this time tackling the 2012 elections.

    Likester is a startup that analyzes Facebook data, specifically “likes,” to determine popularity trends across the social channel. This year they hosted “Likester Idol,” where each week they analyzed changes in the amount of Facebook likes for each contestant and made elimination predictions based on those results. They had a pretty good prediction record and ended up picking Scotty McCreery as the winner six weeks before the finale.

    This time, Likester is looking to predict something “more meaningful,” they say. Their goal is to predict the eventual 2012 Republican nominee, and they kicked off their analysis with last night’s debate results.

    The post debate analysis is in! All seven declared major Republicans were present, and the results of the data is below. We plan on updating this page bi-weekly, so please check back every few weeks for the latest.

    So who won the debate according to Likester? Mitt Romney, as he garnered 19,658 new likes on Facebook from his performance. He is the overall like leader with just under 1 million. Michele Bachmann, who ranks 3rd in overall likes, finished second by gaining 9,232 new likes. Ron Paul, who ranks 2nd in overall likes, finished 3rd in the debate by adding 8,717 new likes.

    (image)

    The remaining candidates finished 4th – 7th in the following order: Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum.

    Of course, a presidential primary may be a little tougher to predict than American Idol, but it’s possible that social media clout will play a huge role in determining the winner. Facebook played such a huge part in the 2008 election, there is no reason to think that popularity on the social media site won’t be an indicator of the outcome of this race.

    Who do you think won the debate? Who looked like a strong candidate? Romney, Pawlenty, Bachmann? Or did no candidate look good at all? Let us know what you think.

  • Sarah Palin’s Emails To Be Released

    Sarah Palin’s Emails To Be Released

    The long-delayed trove of digital correspondence between Sarah Palin and about fifty state officials will finally be released tomorrow. Many are anxious as to what might be revealed in the emails, while some believe that they probably won’t provide any new, earth-shattering information.

    The emails were requested by many journalists during the 2008 Presidential campaign, as Palin was obviously a big player as the Republican VP candidate. The release of the emails has been delayed on multiple occasions, with Alaska officials saying they didn’t have the proper technology to accommodate the requests.

    But in January, the Alaska attorney general directed that the emails should be released. And tomorrow, at 9am local time in the capital of Juneau, 24,199 emails will be made public. The emails will cover Palin’s time as Governor, spanning from the beginning of 2007 to September of 2008. Current Alaskan’s Governor Sean Parnell is keeping some 2,000 emails private.

    Many of the major news outlets will have people on the ground tomorrow to begin to go through and analyze the emails for possible stories. Two organizations are requesting the help of amateur journalists to comb through the massive cache.

    The Washington Post, on its blog The Fix, has a post today entitled “Help analyze the Palin emails.” They are limiting the participants to 100, who will be working in small teams to uncover any important information:

    That’s a lot of e-mail for us to review so we’re looking for some help from Fix readers to analyze, contextualize, and research those e-mails right alongside Post reporters over the days following the release.

    We are limiting this to just 100 spots for people who will work collaboratively in small teams to surface the most important information from the e-mails. Participants can join from anywhere with a computer and an Internet connection.

    Here’s what their request form looks like:

    (image)

    The Washington Post has also set up a Twitter account simply for this purpose. @PalinEmails went live yesterday.

    (image)@PalinEmails
    Washington Post    Sign up to help reporters and @TheFix sift through #PalinEmails tomorrow. We’ve got just 100 spots. http://t.co/fqxYyx3(image) 4 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    The New York Times is also getting in on the fun, asking readers to help investigate the Palin emails on their politics blog The Caucus.

    We’re asking readers to help us identify interesting and newsworthy e-mails, people and events that we may want to highlight. Interested users can fill out a simple form to describe the nature of the e-mail, and provide a name and e-mail address so we’ll know who should get the credit. Join us here on Friday afternoon and into the weekend to participate.

    If you requested copies of the Palin emails, they will cost you three cents a page. That adds up to $725.97. They will come in five 55 pound boxes.

    Palin herself has commented on the email release, saying that everything there is to know is probably already known. She does have some worries, as she told Fox News host Chris Wallace:

    “A lot of those e-mails obviously weren’t meant for public consumption,” she said, and people who read them will “never truly know what the context of each one of the e-mails was.”

    This story is bound to become pretty political, and fast. Judging by the comments over on Politico, there is plenty of opinions coming in from both sides regarding the release. Some say that this is an example of the liberal media continuing to hound someone they don’t like. Others say that a transparent government is essential to democracy, and if Palin has nothing to hide, she shouldn’t be worried.

    Thoughts?

  • RIM Acquires Mobile Gaming Company Scoreloop

    RIM has acquired mobile gaming company Scoreloop for an undisclosed amount. RIM says on the BlackBerry Blog:

    Today we are pleased to announce that Scoreloop has joined Research In Motion (RIM). We’re excited that the Scoreloop team is joining the BlackBerry® Developer team and bringing their expertise in creating social and collaborative gaming toolkits for mobile developers to the BlackBerry platform.

    Scoreloop is a pioneer in mobile social gaming and offers a customizable and cross-platform social mobile gaming developer tool kit. If you are not already familiar with them you can find out more about Scoreloop at http://www.scoreloop.com/.

    We have recently enabled our developers to create social app experiences through our BBM™ Social Platform and have seen some very innovative applications result from that. We look forward to working with the team at Scoreloop to provide tools that will further enable our developer community to take gaming to a new level of social integration on the BlackBerry platform.

    @Scoreloop
    Scoreloop    We’ve just been acquired by RIM! Joining forces to turn BlackBerry into the hottest mobile gaming platform! 7 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    Scoreloop CEO Dr. Marc Gumpinger says on the Scoreloop site:

    Dear Friends,

    It is with great pleasure that I share this exciting news: Scoreloop has been acquired by RIM!

    Over the past few months we’ve had the opportunity to become intimately acquainted with the RIM team and their strategy for the BlackBerry platform. We’ve seen first hand their excitement and ambition to build the best platform for mobile games. So we’ve joined forces to help make this a reality!

    As part of RIM, we’ll be in the unique position to integrate deeply into BlackBerry platforms to take mobile gaming to the next level together. We’ll continue our cross platform approach, but you’ll see that our BlackBerry solution will be unparalleled.

    We can’t wait to share that comes next!

    Scoreloop games include titles like: Squibble, Bubble Blast, Alien Overkill, Hungry Shark, Doodle Train, Jewels, iShoot, and PES 2011. Games appear in both the Android Market and the Apple App Store.

    Now that RIM is in the tablet market with the Playbook, gaming is no doubt a higher priority for the company.

  • Duke Nukem Forever Trailer Pulled From YouTube?

    Nudity is apparently the in thing over at YouTube — provided you can get the video to stay up for any length of time. After last night’s Playboy debacle, another highly-anticipated title found itself on the YouTube cutting floor, thanks to violations of YouTube’s nudity clause. No, I’m not talking about anything related to the adult entertainment business, either. The subject in question is none other than Duke Nukem, who is featured in perhaps the most anticipated video game in years.

    Mind you, the anticipation for the newest installment of the Duke Nukem franchise isn’t because it will be the most groundbreaking video game ever, or anything like that. No, the Duke Nukem anticipation level is owed solely to the following line of thinking: “Is this game EVER going to come out?” You see, in case you aren’t aware, the Duke Nukem sequel has been in development since 1997. In fact, financial issues made the game’s release even more doubtful — read the Wikipedia entry for the full history of the game.

    Fast forward to September 2010, after some legal issues were handled, the game’s development began again in earnest, with a target date of May 2011 for its release. As expected, the date was pushed back, bringing the doubt back to the surface, but if the official Duke Nukem Forever site is to be believed, the game is scheduled for release on June 14, 2011. After such a long and crazy ride, Take-Two was clearly eager to capitalize on Duke’s never-ending popularity, and of course, they wanted to market the game to the new generation of gamers who may not be aware of the Duke Nukem story.

    Like any game company worth their salt does, Take-Two released promotional content to get the hype meter moving in time for the official release date, but there’s one problem: The content was deemed too risque for YouTube’s audience. As you can see in this article’s lead image, the Duke Nukem Forever trailer had too much nudity in it, and even if it is animated nudity, that’s apparently too much for YouTube to take.

    Well, at least for this particular upload. As is normally the case, other uploads of the same content are visible in the YouTube search results, and what the hell, we’ll just go ahead and post the videos here, as well. Keep in mind that there is some video game nudity, so if that’s the type of thing your work frowns upon, don’t push play on the following embeds.

    First, the non-YouTube version, just in case the others get pulled, courtesy of IGN:


    Now, for the pulled YouTube trailer:


    And here are the ones YouTube missed. I’d start with the one Gamespot uploaded, but apparently, if they upload something, even if it’s not their content, they think disabling the embed feature somehow makes it theirs. Or something. Because of Gamespot’s apparent arrogance, they get no link to their stolen video.

    On with the non-removed launch trailers, first one is courtesy of GamerSpawn:

    And then there are the viewer uploads, followed by the page link, for differentiation purposes:


    Page link


    Page link


    Page link


    Page link


    Page link


    Page link

    That’s not all, either, making one wonder why the initial upload was caught but the ones that followed were not. Any guesses on how long the videos embedded in this article last? Will they make it until the end of the day?

  • With E3 Looming, Xbox 360 Looks Strong

    With E3 Looming, Xbox 360 Looks Strong

    The E3 2011 gaming conference kicks off next week. As we head into the show it’s undeniable that in the battle of the big two, it’s a good time for Microsoft and dark days at Sony.

    While Sony has taken hit after hit, most importantly but not limited to their PlayStation Network, Microsoft just continues to grow the popularity of the Xbox360 and Xbox Live. A post on the Microsoft blog recently hinted at the direction that the future Xbox will take, and that direction is “entertainment.” They reported that 40% of all the activity on the Xbox 360 is now non-game related. That includes streaming video, music and other personal uses.

    But E3 is about gaming, and Microsoft hasn’t lost sight of that focus.

    Xbox Live’s director of programming Larry Hryb, who blogs and games under the name “Major
    Nelson,” has released some stats on his blog about the Xbox 360 as we head into the biggest gaming conference of the year. They are truly impressive stats, and shows that Sony has a lot of ground to make up, in the States at least.

    • Microsoft has now sold 55 million Xbox 360 consoles across 38 countries and sales are accelerating.
    • Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. as the top selling console in 2011, and ten of the past eleven months.
    • In the first four months of 2011, Xbox 360 has seen a 29 percent year over year increase in sales, which is more than triple the growth of PlayStation 3 and the largest growth of any console on the market.
    • There are now nearly 35 million active Xbox LIVE members worldwide spending an average of almost 60 hours a month on the service.
    • Cumulatively Xbox LIVE members are now logging 2.1 billion entertainment hours a month.

    He also posted this graph, showing the sales of multiple consoles from years 1 to 9. Out of all the consoles, the Xbox 360 and the PS2 are the only ones to record growth in year five. As of year four, PS3 sales have flattened out. Even though it is in decline, the Wii sales are still mighty impressive.

  • Blogger’s Abortion Article Sparks Controversy

    An article published on Salon.com last Thursday has been making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook due to it’s highly polarizing nature. The article, entitled “Abortion Saved My Life,” has drawn the attention of people on each side of the spectrum.

    And let’s be fair – this is a volatile subject with both fierce proponents and fierce opposition. So any attempt to mince worlds and downplay the political and religious charge behind the issue of abortion would be a disservice. it makes sense, then, to identify the affiliations of the main two parties involved in sparking the controversy: The author of the story is Mikki Kendall, a self described “loudmouthed liberal.” The main disputer is Jill Stanek, a pro-life writer for NewsBusters, whose tagline is “exposing & combating liberal media bias.”

    In the original article, “Abortion Saved My Life,” Kendall relives the incredibly frightening story of the say when something went wrong with her pregnancy. Kendall says that she woke up bleeding profusely in what turned out to be a placental abruption.

    Kendall claims that the doctor on call at the Chicago hospital where she went refused to perform the necessary abortion to save her life. She says that she was saved, after hours of neglect, by another doctor who was called in later. Here are some excerpts from the article:

    Everyone knew the pregnancy wasn’t viable, that it couldn’t be viable given the amount of blood I was losing, but it still took hours for anyone at the hospital to do anything. The doctor on call didn’t do abortions. At all. Ever. In fact, no one on call that night did.

    A very kind nurse risked her job to call a doctor from the Reproductive Health Clinic who was not on call, and asked her to come in to save my life. Fortunately she was home, and got there relatively quickly. By the time she arrived, I was in bad shape. The blood loss had rendered me nearly incoherent, but she still moved me to a different wing and got me the painkillers no one else had during the screaming hours I’d spent in the hospital.

    The doctor who didn’t do abortions was supposed to have contacted her (or someone else who would perform the procedure) immediately. He didn’t. Neither did his students. Supposedly there was a communication breakdown and they thought she had been notified, but I doubt it. I don’t know if his objections were religious or not; all I know is that when a bleeding woman was brought to him for treatment he refused to do the only thing that could stop the bleeding. Because he didn’t do abortions. Ever.

    A story of this nature is obviously going to catch fire, and it did, spreading across social media outlets and in my experience, causing quite the debate on Facebook and Twitter.

    An article posted yesterday to the NewsBusters site questions the veracity of Kendall’s story. In the article Jill Stanek discusses the “red flag” of the doctor who would simply let a woman die:

    There were many red flags. But the biggest was Kendall’s claim that a doctor was willing to let her bleed to death after she presented with placental abruption, because he knew treatment would result in her baby’s death, a nonviable 20-weeker. This made no sense, particularly knowing nontreatment would ensure both the mother and baby died.

    Stanek’s main point of contention, the one that prompts the summary that Kendall “admitted her story was a big, fat, fabricated lie,” is based on a blog post made by Kendall on Sunday. The words by Kendall in question are:

    Some say I should name and shame the doctor that refused to do the procedure. If I knew why he refused I might have done just that, but since I know that there are many possible reasons that he did not do it? I’ve left him to deal with the internal procedures in place.

    Stanek points to this statement as an admission by Kendall of embellishing or entirely fabricating her story. The reason for the emphasis on that particular statement is a little confusing. Even a commenter on NewsBusters who ultimately agrees with Stanek points this out:

    I re-read this article and still missed where the lie(s) was proven. There are accusations, rebuttals, and very dubious statements made by Kendall but no admission or proof of lying that I can tell.

    Mikki Kendal had this to say on her blog:

    Lastly, no I wasn’t paid by Salon or anyone else to write that post. It’s not fiction…Hard concept to grasp for some, but this post wasn’t about revenge or money. It was about me coming to terms with what happened and about my disdain for a particular pro-life argument. Believe it, don’t believe it. That’s up to you. My life will go on either way.

    Kendall (@Karnythia) has been battling with Stanek (@JillStanek) and “pro-life feminist” Sarah Mindek (@SarahMindek) on Twitter:

    (image)@Karnythia
    Michelle Kendall    @_Ashbet_ I suspect that even with the records in front of her @JillStanek would still try to twist reality to suit her own agenda.(image) 18 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Karnythia
    Michelle Kendall    @SarahMindek I was in the middle of a miscarriage when I needed an abortion. You want to proselytize? Do it somewhere else. I’m #prochoice.(image) 14 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Karnythia
    Michelle Kendall    So @SarahMindek called me a bitch for blocking her spamming. I forgot bigots don’t believe people like me deserve boundaries. #prochoice(image) 4 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@JillStanek
    Jill Stanek    Don’t look now, @Karnythia, but your embellished @Salon #abortion story has made @Drudge_Report http://ow.ly/57bep #prolife #prochoice(image) 18 hours ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@SarahMindek
    Sarah Mindek    @Karnythia idk why you consider my tweets trolling. You wrote a public article. I’m responding. Don’t like it, don’t write articles????(image) 14 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@SarahMindek
    Sarah Mindek    Hmmm… @JillStanek was right but shes still a lying evil anti-choicer? That’s classy. #prolife(image) 3 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    Stanek also charges Salon.com with negligence for running the article, saying it wasn’t properly vetted and urging the site to retract it. This kind of topic can spark debate about media slant and responsibility and it’s proper to acknowledge that slant happens on both sides of the political spectrum.

    Mikki Kendall is a blogger whose personal account of an event was co-opted by Salon.com and run as a guest story. Was Salon pushing a pro-choice agenda by running the article? Or did they simply run what they felt was an interesting story?

    Does Kendall’s story sound believable to you? Are Stanek and NewsBusters creating a controversy to push a pro-life agenda? Or did Kendall admit that she embellished the original story? Let us know what you think.

  • Call of Duty Elite: Social Gaming Comes To…Gaming

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 doesn’t come out until November 8th, but the buzz surrounding the new shooter from Activision has already begun. The reveal trailer was just released last week to controversy surrounding some Brits’ fears that the gameplay may hit a little too close to home. And now we’ve been given a sneak peek at the upcoming Call of Duty Network, called “Call of Duty Elite.”

    Elite promises to build a social network around the popular games, accessible on the web and via mobile devices. The Beta testing for the network will begin this summer.

    In short, Call of Duty Elite is a large network that ties the entire Call of Duty community together, across all platforms. The first aspect of the service involves stat tracking. Kill/Death ratio, specific weapon statistics, specific map performance stats, class stats, leaderboards, career XP earnings, global rankings, I’m sure you’re getting the picture. The “Career” aspect of the network will keep all your stats, beginning with last year’s blowout hit Black Ops.

    Black Ops and even Modern Warfare 2 to a certain extent offered limited stat tracking, but nothing this centralized, extensive and easily connectable with others.

    The “Connect” aspect of Elite is the way to organize your online multiplayer experience. Users can create and join “groups” and “clans.” Groups are more public, and Clans more selective and private. This seems to be an expanded version of the Call of Duty clan tag system, where you can attach yourself to other users based on interests.

    Once you connect and form clans and groups, you can use the “Compete” function to play tournaments versus other clans and groups. The rewards will be trophies for display within the Elite Network as well as real life prizes like a Black Ops Jeep and others TBA.

    Other functions of the Elite service include map performance analysis and highlight clips, which should be familiar to Black Ops players.

    Elite looks to be a giant community for the tens of millions of Call of Duty players worldwide. A Facebook of pwning n00bs, if you will. Much of the service will be made available for free, but it looks like there will be a small fee for the premier version of Elite. It will likely include additional maps and other exclusive content.

    So will Elite take off? You bet your ass it will. Even if the service ends up costing people extra, they will pay it. First, because people are crazy of COD. Black Ops is the top selling game of all time. Second, because Elite looks like it will do something interesting: make a game into a game.

    For many gamers, beating the game or succeeding in online multiplayer isn’t enough. Hence Xbox 360 achievements and PS3 trophies. Extensive stat tracking adds a whole new layer to the experience. And real clan battles organized for prizes, either virtual or real, will make COD players giddy. People are serious about COD, and Elite looks like it is truly for the serious gamer.

  • Xbox 360 All About The Streaming

    Microsoft has a pretty interesting post on their official blog today about the Xbox 360. It’s been pretty clear in the past few years that the console is an extremely important part of the company as a whole, but until recently it had seemed that the Xbox was still about gaming first and foremost. Other features of the Xbox experience like the Netflix app were great, but definitely a secondary priority of the overall focus.

    According to Microsoft, 40% of all activity on the Xbox 360 is non-gaming activity. That means that users spend close to half the time on the console watching streaming video. The Netflix application, ESPN streaming, and newly introduced Hulu partnership make up a dominating trio when it comes to usage. Not to mention that users can stream movies and music through Zune.

    Over 30 hours per month per Xbox is spent consuming video. That’s about an hour a day. When you think about the fact that there are over 53 million Xbox owners, 30 million of which are Xbox live members, that totals out to a lot of streaming video.

    Sure, this means that 60% of use on the 360 is still gaming, but a substantial chunk has been replaced by other activities. This makes Microsoft’s console not just a video game system, but a real entertainment hub. While the PlayStation Network is doing everything but work for the last few weeks, Microsoft is reporting growth in their entertainment division that is simply astonishing.

    In April, when Microsoft reported their Q3 earnings, the Xbox 360 and Kinect emerged as the stars of the report.

    All of their divisions grew (Business 21% year-over-year, Server & Tools 11%, Online Services 14%). But their entertainment division grew 60%, fueled by Xbox console and Live subscription sales, as well as Kinect sales.

    Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s VP of Corporate Communications says that “simply, Xbox = entertainment” in the blog post. And then he hints about the future of how Xbox will be marketed:

    The vision for Xbox is straightforward: All of the entertainment you want. With the people you care about. Made easy. That is why you’ve seen us invest in partnerships with ESPN, Netflix and Hulu. That is why we’ve baked social directly into the experience with Xbox LIVE – connecting gamers, friends and families across the globe. That is why you’ll see Xbox marketed more as an entertainment brand this year.

    Will the Xbox console, both the 360 and any future versions ever be less about gaming than other entertainment? It’s possible. Microsoft seems to know that it got into everyone’s homes with gaming on the Xbox, and that it can use that established position to develop a full on entertainment brand. Their recent acquisition of Skype may be further evidence of the changing landscape of the Xbox gaming console.

  • Congress Debates Budget, Economy, Energy, Afghanistan, Education, Healthcare at YouTube Town Hall

    There is a new YouTube project called YouTube Town Hall, which has senators and representatives debating the hot issues. Google says the issues are the ones that are the most popular on Google News and Google search over the past year.

    One interesting element is that it seeks to tear down party lines, by not positioning them as Democrat vs. Republican at the beginning, but by simply displaying two videos side by side and by having the user pick which one (if any) they support.

    “How would you vote if you focused purely on the ideas needed to make our country and our world a better place, rather than on the parties putting them forward?” asks Will Houghteling of YouTube News and Politics. “That’s a question that the new YouTube Town Hall seeks to answer.”

    “After you watch the video, you’ll find out which party the representative comes from—and sometimes you might be surprised,” he says.

    The videos that attract the most support from users will be tracked on the YouTube Town Hall Leaderboard.

    “You’ll also have the opportunity to ask the questions you want members of Congress to answer,” said Houghteling.”Every month, members of Congress will add new videos to the site answering a selection of the top-voted questions.”

    He suggests asking questions about lowering gas prices, reforming the tax system or making college more affordable.

    It is really fascinating to see how far YouTube has come over the years from its days of mostly being known as a place to watch cat videos. While it’s been progressing steadily for years, they seem to really be taking things up a notch this year, particularly as more homes get connected devices in their living room.

    Now YouTube is presenting interactive debates with Congress, renting new release movies, and streaming big events live. Not to mention the fact that brands, news organizations, and citizen journalists alike all have an opportunity to get to consumers while they’re sitting on their couches.

  • Drudge Report Hires Charles Hurt

    Drudge Report Hires Charles Hurt

    Matt Drudge’s little news aggregation site that could has turned into quite the powerhouse on the web. Begun in 1997, it attained huge notoriety in 1998 when it was the first to report on the Lewinsky scandal. As big as it has gotten, the one thing that has remained constant is the small size of the staff that works on the site.

    Last year, Washington Times White House correspondent Joe Curl came aboard the Drudge ship as an editor. It is now being reported that Matt Drudge is bringing his second Washington Times member to the team.

    Charles Hurt, who also worked as D.C. bureau chief for the New York Post is now a part of the Drudge Report. He left his job at the Post about 3 months ago.

    Although the Drudge Report takes its stories from a wide range of sources, spanning liberal to conservative, it is common knowledge that the Drudge Report leans to the right. Matt Drudge himself is openly conservative, although he describes his views more as “populist.” Considering the conservative slant from the Drudge Report, Charles Hurt seems like a logical fit.

    (image)

    Some of his last few articles with the Washignton Times have been titled “Reports Continue to be Snookered by Obama,” “Obama Squanders America’s Legacy” and “Obama really not shy about spiking the ball.”

    The Drudge Report is a force, now matter if you agree with the politics or not. “Every Republican primary voter has The Drudge Report bookmarked on their internet browser,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican political consultant to The Huffington Post.

    It’s most likely not just Republican voters though, as a recent Pew study found that the Drudge Report sends more traffic to news sites than Facebook and Twitter. And in April, Internet Evolution released their list of the most influential people on the web. Drudge finished 5th in the news media section, just behind Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide.

    The addition of veteran political columnists can only benefit an already powerful entity on the web, especially as we head into election season.

    Hurt photo courtesy.

  • Gamers More Social Than Non-Gamers, According to Study

    Gamers More Social Than Non-Gamers, According to Study

    Most gamers are thought to be people that live in their parents’ basement, drink Mountain Dew and energy drinks, and play video games until the wee hours of the morning. But, a new study from Mocospace reveals information that debunks this theory. The mobile social network conducted a survey and found that gamers are actually more social than non-gamers.

    Does this finding come as a surprise to you? Let us know.

    Of the 10,000 people that Mocospace surveyed, the ones that played games socialized and interacted with their friends more than non-gamers did. Imran Malek, the chief of gaming at Mocospace, told us that gamers have an incentive to be social, since it helps them advance in games.

    For example, on the game Happy Farm, users can help their friends with tasks on their farms. In other words, the more friends you have, the more help you could have in your game.

    “I think the important thing about gaming from a social context is that you’re really incentivized to have more friends. ‘Cause the more friends you have, the more people you have working with you, and, in some cases, working for you,” said Malek.

    Another interesting trend about the study is that gamers are playing more games on mobile devices. Malek pointed out that game developers realize that no other platform reaches such a large audience with an equally large attention span. He believes that people will stop buying computers and will go straight to buying mobile and tablet devices.

  • How Donald Trump Can Save America (Without Running For President)

    (image) This is not a piece about politics, it is about marketing. Earlier this year, Google announced that they would launch a new product that was widely reviewed by those in the know about the consumer electronics industry as a brilliant money loser. The product, called the Nexus One, was anticipated to be the ultimate contradiction in the closed and monopolistic world of mobile phones and carriers in the US … sold unlocked and open for any network.

    It failed in part because the price point was more than any normal consumer was willing to pay in a country where most phone purchases are subsidized. Still, the Nexus One served an important role for Google, it showed other phone manufacturers what an Android phone could and should do. Today, there are many more phones available with the Android platform, in part because the Nexus One and its predecessor (the Google G1) inspired that innovation.

    What does any of this have to do with Donald Trump? I believe he is using the same strategy as Google to inspire innovation and action in the world of politics. Disagreement and the inability for politicians to work across parties is causing a deadlock over just about every issue in Washington. It takes a crisis for any decision to get made. Added to that, the definition of a politician seems to have become anyone who is afraid to have an opinion about anything. Into this world, Donald Trump is the ultimate opinionated non-politician. For example, here are a few choice quotes from a recent piece about his bid for President published in this weekend’s Washington Post:

    • “I would go in and take the oil. I would take the oil and stop this baby stuff.” Otherwise, he would not go into Libya at all. As for the Libyans, “I’d give them plenty so they can live very happily,” he says.
    • He longs for the times when empires acted like empires. “In the old days,” he told [Candy] Crowley, “when you have a war and you win, that nation’s yours. This country is a laughingstock throughout the world.”
    • He believes that, despite the amount of U.S. debt held by the Chinese, the United States has a stronger hand. “They have some of our debt. Big deal,” he says. “It’s a very small number relative to the world, okay?”
    • If the Chinese did not respond to his overtures, he says, he then would impose a 25 percent tariff on all Chinese products coming into the United States. “As soon as they believe it’s going to happen, they will behave so nicely because it would destroy their economy,” he says.

    You may admire his no-nonsense approach, or you might consider him a media-savvy opportunist – but he has proven himself a skilled negotiator and direct businessman unaccustomed to the usual politician double talk. The Washington Post article referenced above even notes that other politicians should “take him seriously.” Which leads to the big question … will he win President, or even run?

    I think not, because it is simply not a profitable business decision for him to run. But will his threat and voice in the media force politians to emerge from deadlock and actually work together to accomplish something? Let’s all hope so.

    Originally published on the Influential Marketing Blog

  • Commercial Privacy Bill Of Rights Praised By eBay, Microsoft

    Today, Senators John Kerry and John McCain introduced a piece of legislation known as the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011.  It’s designed to regulate how firms should handle consumers’ personal data, and while that’s a complicated issue, eBay, HP, Intel, and Microsoft wasted no time in voicing their approval.

    A few obvious thoughts: it’s interesting to see Kerry and McCain working together, and the existence of that partnership is sure to increase the odds of this bill becoming law.

    Also, it’s interesting to see eBay, HP, Intel, and Microsoft form a team.

    (image)

    Finally, while their PR reps might be writing congratulatory blog posts right now, it’s hard not to notice that Google and Facebook – two companies that have as much consumer info as anyone – didn’t contribute to the tech firms’ joint statement.

    Anyway, the four companies said together, “We have long advocated for comprehensive federal privacy legislation, which we believe will support business growth, promote innovation and ensure consumer trust in the use of technology.  The complexity of existing privacy regulations makes it difficult for many businesses to comply with the law.”

    Then the statement continued, “We support the bill’s overall framework, which is built upon the Fair Information Practices principles.  We appreciate that this legislation is technology neutral and allows for flexibility to adapt to changes in technology.  The bill also strikes the appropriate balance by providing businesses with the opportunity to enter into a robust self-regulatory program.”

    We’ll be sure to report how the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 fares.

  • Facebook Game Market to Increase

    Would you play a first person shooter on Facebook?  How about a large, real time strategy game akin to World of Warcraft?  A new study suggests that the market for such game types may increase fivefold by the year 2013.

    A report released by Social Times Pro surveyed game developers in the space of hardcore gaming, and they found that there is indeed an interest in these type of games on Facebook.  For clarification, hardcore games are defined as those games that attract traditional gamers, whether they are of the PC or console variety.  They are the opposite of casual games, such as Farmville or Cityville.

    According to AllFacebook, “The total current market, including strategy games from Kabam (Kings of Camelot, Dragons of Atlantis) and Casual Collective (such as Backyard Monsters and the upcoming Battle Pirates) represents about 20 million Facebook gamers. Two years from now, however, that total might become 100 million.”

    One of the purveyors of hardcore social games, Casual Collective, has this to say about the style on its website:

    Sick of social games filled with monotonous clicking and cutesy graphics? Forget that, it’s time to blow stuff up! Casual Collective is dedicated to making fun, action packed games that we’d play even if we didn’t work here.  By promoting a competition among our user base, we push players to develop new and creative tactics to win.  We strive to deliver exciting, groundbreaking titles that are easy to play, but hard to master.

    When speaking of the target audience, Casual Collective CEO Will Harbin said that they “need to make  games they’re not embarrassed to play.”  The company is pushing male dominated games, and expects the number of such games to rise dramatically in the next few years, possibly to 30% of the market.  They might want to think about women, as Zynga’s Manny said that 40-year-old moms “are the new hardcore gamer” at SXSW.  I believe the two companies have differing views on the definition of “hardcore gaming.”

    Some of you might say, “hey, with the amount of time I spend finding friends to water my crops on Farmville, it’s a hardcore game to me!”  And you wouldn’t be wrong.  But these types of hardcore games are more skill oriented games that appeal to Xbox 360 and PS3 users.

    How long until huge names in the gaming world like Activision and Bethesda began to dip their toes in the world of hardcore social gaming?  There sure could be a good amount of money in it, especially if you consider the fact that traditional hardcore gamers can’t be at home on their consoles at all times.

    Hardcore social games aren’t about to dethrone casual social games anytime soon, however.  Casual Collective’s Backyard Monsters has around 4 million users compared to Zynga’s Cityville with 98 million, according to the report.

  • Internet Sales Tax Bill Expected

    Every so often, the idea of an Internet sales tax circulates, stirring up controversy and sparking debates about fairness.  Now, it’s apparently that time again, as a report’s indicated Senator Dick Durbin intends to introduce a bill sometime this month.

    Declan McCullagh wrote earlier today after speaking to a Democratic aide, “The proposal–expected to be made public soon after Tax Day–would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the ability of Americans to shop at Web sites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com without paying state sales taxes.”

    That’s sure to upset a lot of people who are accustomed to saving money by shopping online, and when it comes to nonessential things like music and movies, an Internet sales tax may decrease sales for a time, given the state of the economy.  And/or increase piracy rates, for that matter.

    (image)Traditional retailers are no doubt hoping to see more customers visit their brick and mortar stores, however, which could happen if online retailers like Amazon lose a key pricing advantage.

    Also, it seems that with or without significant amounts of cost-cutting, most states’ budgets could use an influx of cash these days.

    So we’ll see what happens.  As noted earlier, this won’t exactly be the first time the idea of an Internet sales tax has been put up for debate, and powerful organizations sit on both sides of the issue.  We won’t bombard you with every single soapbox press release, but stay tuned for further significant developments.

  • How Source Code Applies Tech, Gaming, & Social to Film

    Anytime technological elements are integrated into conventional culture, it’s exciting for those of us in the tech industry. It’s even more thrilling when technology is applied to the entertainment industry, such as the case of the new film Source Code that opens in theaters today.

    Can you name any examples in which technology was applied to entertainment? Let us know.

    The sci-fi thriller is about an American soldier named Captain Colter Stevens that wakes up in the body of a stranger. Played by popular star Jake Gyllenhaal, Capt. Stevens finds himself involved with a government program called “source code” and is tasked with finding the bomber on a Chicago commuter train.

    Through his mission, he meets Christina Warren, played by the lovely Michelle Monaghan, and the two fall in love. As if casting Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead role in the film wasn’t enough to draw the ladies, this love story is also intertwined into the action.

    In terms of technology, the title alone suggests a digital element. The film also includes a social gaming aspect that is based off the “source code” computer game in the movie.

    “The idea of the source code in the movie is that it’s a computer game, and that off that computer game, different tangents are created. And, you affect the world as a result of that game… the computer game that’s actually in reality… on the Internet, is the same sort of idea,” said Gyllenhaal.

    Powered by Microsoft Tag technology, the game allows users to become part of the mission and connect to the film in a socially interactive way. As Monaghan explained to us, the users that play the game become part of the website, which, she believes, creates a real connection with the audience.

    Gyllenhaal also told us that the game gives users a valuable opportunity to create their own story on top of the one told in the movie.

    “If we can get people on the Internet involved in the story… there are so many possibilities in even telling other stories… creating even another movie based on the ideas that were created from the game,” he said.

    Another element that further linked Source Code to the tech industry was the fact that it premiered at SXSW. Director Duncan Jones said he loves the show because it attracts people that genuinely love film (not to mention a whole bunch of techies that love movies too). He also premiered his film Moon at the show in 2009.

    Would you like to see more films that integrate technology?