If you’ve always wanted to know how you would fare in the Hunger Games universe, then there is good news.
Kabam, an interactive video game company, recently announced plans to bring the popular series to mobile devices everywhere.
Lionsgate will be throwing its full weight behind the development of a mobile app. Between this and talk of a possible theme park, it’s clear they’re hoping the series will be another cash cow akin to what the Harry Potter series is for rival studio Warner Bros.
Kent Wakeford, Kabam’s chief operating officer, said in a statement that Lionsgate “has an unparalleled track record of developing and producing blockbuster movie franchises.” Wakeford expects that the two companies will work together to produce a game “that’s as much fun to play as the movie is to watch.”
This is a huge promise to make to enthusiastic HG fans.
Millions of fans fell in love with the Hunger Games novels before Jennifer Lawrence ever put her personal stamp on the Katniss Everdeen character.
In much the same way Harry Potter fans have enjoyed opportunities to participate in the world of Rowling, fans of the dystopian novels will love any chance to interact with and participate in this fandom.
How will the game play out?
It’s expected that players will belong to one of the twelve districts.
When chosen to participate in the Games, the player will try to build alliances and work towards liberation in much the same way as what plays out in the series.
Lionsgate’s executive vice president of digital media Danielle DePalma expects that the finished product “will let fans feel as if they are in the middle of the action.”
Kabam, a San Francisco-based company, usually creates games that are free-to-play. Their income usually comes via ads. Will Lionsgate let them put out a free game for fans? There’s know way of knowing just yet.
The game is expected to be developed through Kabam’s studio in China.
Just a few hours after graduating high school, Chance Werner, 18, of Cartersville, Georgia, died after a game he and his friends were playing went terribly wrong.
Werner and several of his friends were hanging out at Lake Allatoona, which is approximately 35 northwest of Atlanta, when they decided to play a game. A grocery cart was tied to a pole and each boy got in the cart and was pushed by the other boys to the end of the dock, where they were then flung into the water.
However, when it was Chance’s turn, the cart was tied to him rather than the pole. When Werner was pushed to the end of the dock, the weight of the cart pulled him under. It wasn’t until Sunday morning that Chance’s body was found, still tied to the cart, submerged in 30 feet of water.
According to Georgia Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Melissa Cummings, the authorities are currently calling the death a tragic accident, and are continuing to investigate. They do not expect any foul play.
“We don’t want people playing games with water like this,” Cummings said. “It’s an accident waiting to happen — kids playing with ropes and heavy objects.”
Chance was the father to an 8-month-old baby boy, and was taking online classes to gain his high school diploma. Chance also worked five days a week, while going to school, to support his son. “He was a big boy, had a big heart,” Chance’s father Fred Werner said.
McDonald’s longtime popular Monopoly sweepstakes game is back!
It’s not hard to play the game. All you have to do is pick up a Monopoly board from your local McDonald’s, and then buy the menu items that contain the two-stamp pieces. Some of these items are the Premium McWrap, Big Mac, 10 and 20 piece Chicken McNugget, McCafe Drinks, oatmeal, hash browns, egg white delight McMuffin, egg McMuffin sandwich, sausage McMuffin with egg, large fries and medium drinks. The pieces will either correspond to a spot on the board, or they will be an instant prize that you can claim, such as a Mcflurry. If you collect all of one color property, you can win even bigger prizes, like one of the two one million dollar prizes.
“Our customer’s favorite promotion, Monopoly at McDonald’s, is still going strong,” the company said in a statement. “With cash, FIAT vehicles, trips to the Super Bowl, the Beats by Dre Pill, and your chance to win a $1 million prize on a Big Mac, this summer will be more fun than ever at McDonald’s!”
The Monopoly game is still as popular as ever. According to John Durante, the President and owner/operator of the Greater Philadelphia said, “The MONOPOLY Game at McDonald’s is heating up earlier than ever this year. With two chances to win $1 million** and the wide variety of prizes, we hope this summer brings even more excitement and winners to the Greater Philadelphia region.”
You can also win prizes by playing online. Each stamp contains a game code that is good for one entry in the sweepstakes for the possibility to win one of the millions of prizes available. To play online you can go to www.playatmcd.com
Even though the game is exciting to play, the odds of winning the big prizes are not in your favor. There is only a 1 in 600 million chance of collecting Boardwalk and Park Place, and a 1 in 750 million chance of winning Powerball. So, your chances of winning a million dollars on the Monopoly game is almost equal to your chances of winning the Powerball.
Chances are that if you have an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android phone, Chrome browser, or Facebook account, you’ve played Angry Birds. And if you haven’t played it, you’ve certainly heard of it. Released in December of 2009 for iPhone, Angry Birds is one of the most popular games in the history of the iOS platform. Pretty much everybody loves Angry Birds.
There’s another thing that pretty much everybody loves, too: stories told from the villain’s perspective. Whether it’s the musical Wicked or the The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs or Disney’s upcoming Maleficent, we love to see the bad guy’s side of the story (unless the bad guy in question is Darth Vader, but let’s not go down that road).
Well, if you’re someone who loves Angry Birds and loves hearing the bad guy’s side of the story, then it looks like Rovio, the the company behind Angry Birds, is getting ready to make your day. According to a recent report from Pocket Lint, Rovio is working on a new game in the Angry Birds franchise. The premise of this new game is pretty straightforward: this time around you get to play as the pigs and defend your hard-won eggs from those greedy birds who refuse to share.
According to Pocket Lint the gameplay will involve firing pigs at incoming birds via catapult. Much like Angry Birds, there are a number of pigs each with their own special abilities and characteristics. Beyond that, not a lot is known about the game. The title is still unknown, as is the release date, though they say it’s coming later this year.
If they’re right on the release date this will be the second Angry Birds sequel to hit this year. The first, Angry Birds Space came out in March and was a huge success. Some – namely me – wondered how Rovio would be able to produce a game that felt like an honest-to-goodness sequel instead of just more of the same. With Angry Birds Space they accomplished that admirably. It will be interesting to see if they can strike gold again by switching things up a bit.
The South Park crew are set to embark on a platform adventure for XBOX Live. They have just released the trailer for Scott Tenorman’s Revenge.
The game is developed by Other Ocean Interactive, in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios and XBox Live Productions, and is expected to be released some time this spring.
Scott Tenorman’s Revenge will feature multiplayer action with all of the four main South Park characters. Players will battle a mechanized Scott Tenorman and his army of Gingers, along with other notable South Park bad guys, Satan and Man-Bear-Pig.
This will be the final XBOX Live exclusive game for the franchise under it’s current agreement. It follows South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!
A full RPG release, South Park: The Game, is currently in production by Obsidian. Though it may be delayed due to recent developer lay-offs at the company.
The new game trailer is released along with a plethora of TV trailers for the upcoming new season. South Park spoofs the anticipation of the new Mad Men season, with Eric Cartman and Kenny as Don Draper.
Obsidian Entertainment is going through a round of lay-offs this week.
In an interview with Joystiq, a source close to Obsidian said the team working on the new South Park RPG was affected, and an unnamed project has been cancelled.
Few other details exist about the mystery project or exactly how the lay-offs will affect production of the South Park game.
20 to 30 people were laid-off, including someone who was just hired the day before.
Members of the Obsidian forum are confirming the lay-offs, citing changes in former team members Linked-In resumes indicating they no longer work for the company.
One Obsidian team member took to Twitter, expressing his sympathy for his former comrades.
Fans of the film “The Boondock Saints” have been waiting a long time to hear news of a video game, and yesterday they got it at the Austin, TX event South By Southwest.
Although the official announcement included more of a “Q&A” session with the actors than anything else, fans didn’t seem to mind, keeping the actors talking for over 45 minutes, as reported on TheVerge.com today. Details of the game are still a little sketchy, but it has been confirmed that main characters Connor and Murphy MacManus and Rocco will be voiced by the original actors–Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, and David Della Rocco. They will also have a hand in the development of the game, much to the appreciation of SXSW fans.
Although the film was something of a sleeper hit after it was released in 1999, it has garnered so much of a cult following since that a sequel was made a full ten years later, and a rumor of a third film–as well as a television show– is circulating around the web.
Below is a short clip from SXSW and the video announcement released to attendees.
As a fan of the films myself, I’m fairly excited about the idea of a game. Early views of it look pretty good, which makes me hopeful that the cheesy element that creeps into a lot of movie-turned-game graphics will be absent.
NASA has announced a launch of a different kind today. The space agency’s first online multiplayer game, Space Race Blast Off, is available on Facebook today. The game tests players knowledge of science, technology, space-related pop culture, NASA’s history, and more. Players compete against up to two competitors in a race to the top of the launch pad. Every question you get right moves you further up. Correct answers earn badges and points (which can be used to buy more badges, as well as other in-game goodies).
The game is available today on Facebook. NASA hopes to use the game as a too to introduce NASA to a “wide new audience of people accustomed to using social media,” according to David Weaver, NASA’s associate administrator for communications.
Players are presented with multiple choice questions. Correct answers earn 100 points, with a 20 point bonus for answering first. At the end of ten questions, the winner moves on to a bonus round where a correct answer to the final bonus question earns a badge.
The game looks like all kinds of fun for NASA fans and space buffs of all ages. Check it out here and let us know what you think in the comments.
Namco has brought their popular fighting game SoulCalibur to iOS devices today. The game is available as a universal iOS app in the Apple App Store as of this morning. It currently sells for $11.99 thanks to a 20% off release sale (making the regular price $14.99). There is no word on when the price will go back up.
SoulCalibur was originally released in 1998 as an arcade game. It was ported to the Sega Dreamcast the following year, and has since spawned six sequels, including the planned SoulCalibur V, which is due to release later this year. The iOS version is getting pretty good reviews in the App Store, though some are complaining about the lack of multiplayer. If you feel like ponying up twelve bucks for it, check it out and let us know what you think in the comments (iTunes link).
This year we will see an Avengers movie release, and with that we’ll also see tie-ins from all forms of media. Video games, action figures, comic books, television shows and so on. One such tie-in is a Facebook game, titled: Marvel Avengers Alliance.
The game will follow its own independent storyline, which involves a universe threatening event called “The Pulse”. This makes Marvel’s stable of villains even more powerful, and they are targeting New York City. The player’s role is that of a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, tasked with putting together a team of heroes to stop the threat.
Based upon what has been shown so far, all of the Marvel staples looks to be represented: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and The Hulk. On the villain side of things we have: Green Goblin, Loki, Dr. Doom, and Whiplash somehow made the cut.
Being a Facebook game, the gameplay looks to be a mix of RPG and click based action. You will level your heroes up, and unlock special abilities as you progress. It is being developed by a Facebook savvy company, Playdom, who’s released titles such as: Gardens of Time, Deep Realms, Sorority Life, and Wild Ones. Quite an eclectic portfolio.
There’s already one important birth celebrated in December, now we have two. Early this morning, at 12:01 A.M., the servers for Star Wars: The Old Republic went live. Thousands of gamers scrambled to their various PvE, PvP, and RP servers to create the characters they plan on using for months, and for many, years. I’ve been playing the game since the first day of early access (Dec. 13th), and have already poured countless hours into my first character.
So, is the MMORPG people have been branding as the “WoW-Killer“, “Next step in the MMO evolutionary ladder“, and “fanboy wet dream“, living up to the hype? Up to this point, the answer is mostly yes.
I should note that this is an “early review“. For those who have played a MMO, it takes a long time to give a complete review as there are a plethora of features, updates, and fixes which will come in the weeks and months ahead. I simply wanted to share my first impressions, and provide potential players a glimpse into the world they’ll be adventuring through.
Now, on to the review!
Your first task upon selecting a server to play on is creating your character; which is probably the most disappointing aspect of the game I’ve experienced. There’s very few options and sliders to adjust when trying to create your unique character compared to what a lot of other RPG’s, MMO’s or otherwise have provided. There’s really no detail adjustment as you have 4 or 5 body types to choose from, with no individual sliders for separate body parts. If you wanted a character with a huge shoulder line, but a small waist, you’ll be left in the cold unless BioWare enhances the character creation in the future.
When creating your character, you can decide whether to join the Republic or the Empire. Your choice will then open up your class selection, and each side has different races as well.
Each class has two specializations you unlock later, so the system gets deeper than what’s initially presented during character creation. There’s quite a few less selections when comparing this game to other MMO’s, however, once you load up the game you begin to understand why.
While character creation is a letdown, the beginner’s area and first world within the game is quite possibly one of the best first impressions I’ve seen in a MMO. Generally, you’re just trying to get through prologue and tutorial areas when you play a game of this type; not so with SWTOR. The moment your game loads, you’re provided with a story and a reason to enjoy this initial area. I should probably go ahead and mention that even during the first portion of the game, each individual class has their own personal story to play through. So, you could theoretically play through the starter area with each class and have a unique experience each time. Doing so would already provide you up to 16-20 hours of gameplay time depending on how much you explore each storyline and world.
There’s no soulless NPC handing you a “Kill 10 rats, and bring me their hides” quest, to which you go complete the task and simply move on. Each quest has its own insular story, which you communicate with the NPC and your character reacts to him/her as you see fit. The dialogue in this game is astounding, as having everything voice-acted really gives the experience a level of presentation I’ve never seen in a game of this type, or even most single-player RPG’s.
One major problem with most MMO’s is that they have very little emotional depth, and characters you use generally have no personality. This problem is fixed in SWTOR, where even in the beginning of the game you start to shape your character and make decisions which will have an impact as you continue playing. If you want to use a Han Solo like character who’s simply in it for the credits, you can do so. Coincidentally, this is the type of character I’m using. His name’s Aranas; a level 24 Smuggler Scoundrel who’s just wanting to make money and will generally take the easy way out when fixing a problem.
(Bounty Hunter dialogue, *spoilers)
The game keeps track of your moral decisions with a light/dark side meter, which will fluctuate as you decide to do the right or wrong thing. I haven’t really unlocked the full use of this meter, though later in the game you unlock exclusive equipment depending on your alignment.
Once you leave the first world, the game begins to really open up and it can be a bit intimidating at first. One of the first options presented to you is an instanced “Flashpoint“. These are self-contained areas which require you to group up with others to utilize teamwork. One of the concerns many people had, myself included is whether or not BioWare would be able to provide the ‘multi-player’ aspect which is required for MMO’s. My journey through level 24 has already had me pair up with many groups as you’ll come across standard quests which require 4-man groups to complete. There are already three flashpoints to play through as well, so there’s plenty of group content to enjoy.
While BioWare has provided a level of presentation that pushes the MMO-envelope, they really took the safe route when designing the gameplay. If you’ve played MMO’s before, you’ll be right at home with SWTOR. You have an insane amount of skills at your disposal, and I was surprised by the amount in the early levels. I don’t want to know how many skills I’ll have once I reach 50. If I had to describe the gameplay, it’s a mix between World of Warcraft and DC: Universe Online. The timing, animations, and strategies have a very WoW-like feel to them. Unlike WoW, however, combat feels much more engaging as there’s no auto-attack so battles require a bit more investment, which feels a lot like DCUO.
If I had to grade the gameplay, I’d give it a solid ‘B‘. While the system is solid, and the animations really have a great Star Wars feel to them, it just seems like BioWare didn’t really go above and beyond like they did in so many other areas of the game.
While on-the-ground combat isn’t amazing, I was pleasantly surprised with space combat. If you’ve ever played any of the Star Fox games, then you’ll instantly fall in love with space combat. It’s on-rails, the controls are tight, and the aiming is precise. The battles have an epic feel to them much like what you’ve seen in the movies. BioWare has said they plan to really expand on space combat, and has made general references to the X-Wing/Tie-Fighter space sims. If they open up the space combat, and add in more features, then they’ll really have something.
Another key area for MMO games is PvP, which I haven’t fully unlocked yet. Open-world PvP doesn’t occur until much later into the game, so if you’re someone who was looking forward to it early on, then you’ll be disappointed. However, there are PvP Warzones which are instanced scenarios pitting Republic and Empire players against each other. There’s Alderaan, Huttball, and Voidstar. All of which unlock at level 10.
All of which are PvP systems you’ve more than likely played through before. Alderaan is all about capturing nodes and protecting them from advancements, Voidstar is a offense/defense scenario based area, and Huttball is a capture-the-flag like map. Huttball has been my favorite map so far, as BioWare added elements which give a fresh lift to the traditional CTF setup. You can pass the ball, and there are obstacles in the way which require teams to really focus on layout and strategy.
I should note that my experience with PvP has been met with some technical problems. My PC rig is a behemoth, and I’ve been running Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the PvE areas of SWTOR on full settings without a hitch. The second I’m drop in a PvP Warzone, my FPS falls through the floor. If I turn everything off, and lower my resolution then it fixes it a bit. I’ve been researching the problem and many other players seem to be experiencing this as well. Hopefully, BioWare can get to the root of the problem soon.
Since I’ve mentioned all the major features so far, I should mention you obtain XP for everything I’ve listed so far. If you want to do nothing but play PvP, you can level up that way. Space Combat provides experience points, and you actually get more XP for initial space combat quests than you do for most on-the-ground quests.
Finally, if you’re someone who enjoys crafting and profession based work when they play a MMO then I think you’ll be happy with the system BioWare has implemented. Theoretically, you can always be crafting no matter where you’re at, because all of your profession work is handled by your companion character. These companion characters have a wide variety of functions; helping you in combat, crafting, and adding an occasional quip or two while adventuring. To be honest, I wish companions were a bit more involved as I found myself forgetting they were there unless they died or I was sending them off to complete a crafting task.
The crafting/professions system provides you with three different options; two gathering professions and a crafting option. I’ve never been much of a crafter, but I’ve found myself in the crafting menus and sending my companion out on jobs at a steady rate. BioWare definitely deserves an applause for their accomplishments here.
Verdict: Within the total package of SWTOR, BioWare has crafted one of the most ambitious and impressive MMO games I’ve played; judging from initial impressions. The minute you step into the universe, you get swept up in all the presentation and character building. If you’re a Star Wars fan then this game is a must, if you like RPG’s then I highly recommend the game as well.
For the more hardcore MMO crowd, I believe your tastes will be satiated as well. As I mentioned this is an early review, so many of the more important MMO elements are still off in the horizon. Such as end-game content, and open-world PvP. BioWare could have tried and changed up the traditional MMO gameplay recipe, but instead kept things a tad formulaic. When judging a game, this is the most important area and while everything is solid, nothing feels completely new either. So if you’ve been debating whether to drop the $60 and $15/month fee, this is something to consider.
Overall, I’ve been completely happy with my experience so far. This game really hit the trifecta with me, as I’m a huge Star Wars, BioWare, and RPG fan. So far, every fanboy bone has been tickled. Let’s just hope they can keep it up, and my full review sounds even more positive than this one.
Grace Windram is a five year old girl in the UK, who has been living with Spastic Dyplegic Cerebral Palsy. It has left her with the inability to walk. However, a surgery which is available in the US will provide her with the ability to walk again. However, it costs £50,000, which includes travel and surgery expenses.
Her parents have been trying to rally support, setting up a page for her on JustGiving.com. Big Ideas Digital, an iOS game developer came to the call for help given by Grace’s parents. Their game, Say What You See, is a brain teaser which is available for the iPhone and iPad.
Here’s the official description for the game: “Say What You See is a hidden object game in the style of Where’s Waldo?/Where’s Wally? and Dingbats/Whatzit? but with a cryptic twist. Once you’ve scoured each oil painting (or iCanvas) for objects, you’ll have to unravel their meaning too. Each iCanvas is themed around a different subject, from Scary Movies to Books, TV programmes and beyond.”
The game itself is free, however, they release canvases as separate downloads. Some are free while others are paid. To help raise money for Grace, they released a special canvas themed around her, called “Grace’s Toons”. All proceeds going to help Grace’s parents raise funds. Due to the recent popularity for the game, the developer was able to raise £21,000 towards the fundraiser. This, along with the donations gathered by the parents, is going to be enough to send Grace to the US for her surgery.
The announcement of the good news was made by Big Ideas. If you’d like to learn more about the game, here’s the official page.
A feel good story to get the week started off with.
Imagine playing your favorite game on the iPhone, and upon making it to the final level and defeating the stage boss you’re offered a free cheeseburger at your favorite restaurant. Would such a system bring about positive or negative feelings from your gaming experience? Free stuff in the real world, based upon your performance in a mobile game. How are we just now coming up with this idea?
Kiip, an advertising network, plans to implement such a system. Their website tagline explains how it works – “Real rewards for virtual achievements“. Here’s a video going into a bit more detail about how Kiip works:
Kiip isn’t the first to offer real world rewards for playing a video game. However, their network has the potential to bring the idea of real world rewards for gameplay achievements to the mainstream.
If you’ve played free games on your mobile devices, chances are they are plagued with in-game advertising, which allows them to remain free. More often than not this really brings down a gaming experience, especially if the ads ruin your concentration. However, Kiip works like an achievement system so a pop-up wouldn’t occur until you actually complete a stage or objective.
According to Wired.com, the system simply requires a user to submit their email address to have their reward sent to them. Players aren’t required to sign up for a Kiip account, so the emails are only used to send them their branded reward. The network is based on HTML5 coding, so any system is compatible with the service. The only requirement is that it’s connected to the internet.
Though Kiip sounds interesting in theory, will it translate to success in real life? According to limited trials, players signed up for the achievement deals over 50 percent of the time. When’s the last time an advertising campaign saw those kinds of click-through rates?
At the head of Kiip is an internet prodigy, Brian Wong. If you’ve heard of Wong, it’s because at 18 years old he was able to land a job working for Digg. Upon leaving the company, he came up with the idea for Kiip.
To help keep a balance of how often rewards can be utilized, developers are provided a set amount of opportunities to utilize Kiip. Also, the system is set on a rotating variable so users aren’t going to be presented with a reward every time the same achievement is earned.
Upon reading about Kiip, I sent them a question in regards to how detailed developers could get in terms of which advertisers would be presented in their game. I presented a scenario where Coca-Cola released a game, and wouldn’t want a Pepsi reward popping up.
Here’s Wong’s response, “Users don’t choose what rewards they’ll see. The brands are able to set criteria for their target market. With verticals, through frequency capping, we’re able to guarantee that no competing products in the same space will appear in the same session.”
I think Kiip has a an interesting idea which could not only evolve in-game advertising, but mobile advertising as a whole. Imagine if such a system were utilized for check-in services as well, where surprise rewards would pop-up for checking in certain places.
The only roadblock keeping them back would be heavy saturation of their system on the market. There’s no set list of games where Kiip is being featured; they want their network to integrate naturally into the market. Coupled with their limiting algorithms and allowing developers a set amount of rewards to provide, they look to have all their ducks in a row.
I am a pretty big NFL fan. Have been all of my life. Why? Because the product is fun for me. The product of football that is. Anything else about the drama and the thoughts of players is something I see little to no value in unless there is a personal interest in the player. Personal opinion I know but hey I think we can still have those in the US for at least today.
I read a post last week over at MediaPost where the author wondered out loud why NFL players aren’t allowed to tweet during games and how terrible that is. I let it go as just being dumb (though I did comment on the post) but with the NFL season just around the corner I needed to say something more. Just what you needed, right?
Professional sports leagues focus on the weirdest things when they start cracking down on misbehavior. For example, the NFL doesn’t seem to particularly mind players abusing steroids (the punishment for failing a steroid drug test is a four-game suspension — basically a slap on the wrist)… but NFL players who use social media during a game are liable for a $25,000 fine. This is part of a communications blackout which decrees players may not use cell phones, electronic devices, or social media including Twitter or Facebook within 90 minutes of kickoff.
While I am not going to get into the whole steroids thing (personally, though, I feel that if a guy wants to shorten his life to play football a little longer and make more money than he could even come close to in the real world then so be it) I do have something to say about people who feel the need to know everything at every moment and then want to monetize it all.
How about this. When I watch football, I watch the game. Part of the fun is NOT knowing exactly what is going on in between plays. These guys do something different than the rest of the world and I like the fact that some of it remains unknown. I think that not knowing is often better than knowing. Maybe that’s just me.
As for this next statement, this person obviously has never played a down of organized football in his life because if he did he would know just how ignorant this sounds.
Maybe someone can explain this policy to me. I can understand banning some kinds of communication during the time around games — specifically, anything which could be used to receive last-minute tips about the opposing team’s plays. But I can’t guess what the NFL hopes to accomplish by preventing players from disseminating their own content, provided of course it doesn’t fall in the category of game-sensitive information.
Huh? Look I know football is not rocket science. During a game however you need to concentrate and understand what is happening so you can make adjustments on the fly. if your offense can’t meet because the QB has to tweet then the game is compromised. It’s just a bad idea.
Then there is this one
The policy strikes me as counter-productive because allowing players to use social media during games could be a potential gold mine in terms of driving and tracking viewer engagement. Frankly, the only time athletes really have anything interesting to say is probably during the game, when they’re sitting on the sidelines talking amongst themselves — but the viewer at home usually isn’t privy to their bench chatter (unless they happen to read lips).
Listen people of the social media industry. STOP TRYING TO MONETIZE EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY! Please stop! It’s just annoying.
So there isn’t much else to say. I am a big fan of the NFL and if there was ever a business that has little trouble making money it’s this one. The last thing we need to do is hear from more guys like Chad Ochocinco who are as enamored with themselves as many in the social media industry are. Ol’ Chad is just that…..old. His routine is old and played out. He is a caricature of a celebrity because he has nothing of value to add to anything so why would we need to hear MORE of his like?
So let’s leave the tweets and the like to the in between game realm. There is plenty of opportunity for something stupid to happen then. Let’s keep the game as the game for the time it is played. It’s nice to actually step away from all the social media stuff and just have fun. Oh that’s right, I forgot, it’s not fun these days unless you “share” it in some way. Please! No one cares about you or me that much either.
Have you ever found yourself wondering if your Twitter icon could beat another in a pixel battle royale? Sure, we all have at one point or another… but now, thanks to Dot War, you can battle it out with other Twitter icons.
With whom are you going to have your Twitter icon do battle?Let us know.
If you’re unfamiliar with Dot War, it is a Flash-based strategy that “transforms the icon of your Twitter account into a maximum of 4,608 small soldiers and pit them against others”, according to the help section of the game.
The way Dot War works is the various colors within your icon represent different types of soldiers and each feature four battle parameters: Speed, Stamina, Attack and Range. In order for your icon to defeat another you must take down your opponent’s three crystals within the given time.
I’ve included some screenshots below of my Twitter icon doing battle against Puff Daddy… PDiddy… Diddy.
You probably have forgotten about Second Life (the virtual world from Linden Labs), right?
Remember, that’s that virtual world that got a TON of hype back in 2005/6. It was on the cover of magazines. On CNN and other TV shows. It looked like it was going to be THE new thing of the decade.
What happened?
Well, a few things.
1. Corporations figured out that they’d need to spend a lot of money to build an island in Second Life (Microsoft spent somewhere around $100,000 if I remember right back then) but soon they figured out that each island could only hold 100 people. Not a good ROI.
2. It had game dynamics. Games are fun for a while, but eventually people get bored of playing games. That’s what happened. People who were very excited and evangelistic about Second Life eventually moved on.
3. It lost its “new and shiny” patina. That’s most of why the press forgot about it. We only pay attention to new and cool stuff. Heck, just look at Techcrunch. Do you read about older technologies there? No.
Anyway, one thing happened that I find very interesting: it continued to grow in users, time spent on the site, and dollars spent in it.
On Friday I sat down with Mark to find out why.
First, the users remained very evangelistic. Second, corporations like IBM found other uses for its islands and kept investing (they now use these islands for training and replacements of expensive conferences). Third, the technology has been steadily improving. Fourth, the company has found new ways to bring new users in and make the experience easier to get into.
But he admitted that they had been pretty quiet and avoided doing more PR work until just recently.
Why is that changing this week? You’ll see why tomorrow morning at about 11 a.m. on building43.
But to tease a bit, I find that their new direction, the first part of which you’ll see tomorrow in the video I did with Mark, is interesting and represents a new life for Second Life and its host Linden Labs.
To wrap this up, have you used Second Life lately? Even if you haven’t, see you on building43 tomorrow morning for more.
Twitter…the final frontier. These are the voyages of game-maker Atari. Its 2-month mission: to explore strange new social networks, to seek out new geeks and new game players, to boldly go where no ad campaign has gone before!
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If you’re a Trekkie, you’re probably already well aware of the pending February 2nd launch of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "Star Trek Online." Well, according to ClickZ, its creator, Atari Inc., has decided to reach those that don’t quite go as far as greeting each other with "Live Long and Prosper," by launching a number of social media initiatives to promote the game.
YouTube, Facebook, and secret access codes on game sites, have all been part of Atari’s marketing efforts, but my favorite has to be its Twitter strategy:
For Twitter, the New York-based company has created a microsite-app combo, dubbed "Tweet in Klingon," that allows viewers to type English phrases and have them tweeted in fictional Klingon language.
And you thought Foursquare updates were annoying. Wait ’til people realize they can start tweeting in Klingon. Better yet, they start updating their Foursquare status in Klingon. Race ya to become the Mayor of Adigeon Prime!
