Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog

Continue reading "Make Games with MS Excel" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Scientists who want to see how a crowd behaves in an emergency can now shout "Fire!" on a city street and watch everyone panic and run thanks to a newly developed computer simulation.

Continue reading "Serious Games Predict Crowd Behavior in Dense Urban Settings" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Scott Goodson

The majority of gamers own American-made cars (24% Ford, 18% Chevrolet). However, 79% are planning to buy an import for their next car (41% Toyota, 41% Honda, 25% Nissan and others).

Continue reading "Online Gamers Leave American Cars for Imports" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

Gamespot's Dubious Honors Awards for despicable use of in-game advertising:

2004 (Need for Speed Underground)
2005 (SWAT 4, where the dynamic in-game ads made one of the first appearances)
2006 (Fight Night Round 3, a boxing game with the Burger King's King in it)
2007 (Need for Speed ProStreet):

Continue reading "Despicable Use of In-Game Advertising " »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Dr. Ernie Medina and his partners launched their first XRtainment Zone in California last year. The mission of XRtainment Zone is to provide families and kids of all ages a fitness club of their own "where working out is all play."

Continue reading "G4H 2008: XRtainment Zone - Beyond Serious Games For Workouts " »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

In malls, theaters and other spaces, Reactrix creates highly entertaining branding displays that respond to the physical movements of the audience.

The resulting "brand play" makes Reactrix the highest engagement advertising available today and reaches top-market venues with monthly traffic exceeding 100 million.

Continue reading "Serious Games Creating Entertaining Branding Experiences" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Passively Multiplayer Online Games! We're already playing them; especially as we increasingly hang out with other people on the internets. And as the internets move into our pockets, our cities, our cars and our social lives!

Continue reading "GDC08: Serious Games As Passively Multiplayer Online Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

IBM is launching a free multiplayer online game, PowerUp, challenging teenagers to help save the planet "Helios" from ecological disaster.

The game is part of IBM's TryScience initiative and will be launched at Engineer's Week 2008 opening on February 16 in Washington, D.C. The game, which can be played alone or together, features a planet in near ecological ruin where three exciting missions for solar, wind and water power must be solved before sandstorms, floods or SmogGobs thwart the rescue.

Continue reading "Serious Games Challenging Teenagers To Save The Planet" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Continue reading "How to Homebrew Wii Games: 73 Tips, Tutorials and Resources" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Hilton Garden Inn, the award-winning mid-priced hotel brand with locations throughout North America and Europe, this week unveiled Ultimate Team Play - the first interactive training game to be used in the hospitality industry that utilizes game-based technology.

Continue reading "Serious Games For Hospitality Training" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

Not too many of those. Actually, just one.

Continue reading "Advergames for iPhone " »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Following my recent posts Serious Games Market Enroll Major Players, $9 Bi: Microsoft's Conservative Estimate For The Serious Games Market and Microsoft Shaping The Serious Games Movement Into A Multi-Billion Dollar Market , I thought it was time to go deeper into the Microsoft ESP Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) platform under a marketability perspective.

Continue reading "Microsoft ESP Leveling The Serious Games Market Playing Field " »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

The revelation that games could be serious has now become conventional wisdom: "we've gone from games representing life to becoming life".

Continue reading "MellaniuM: When Reality Feels Like a Serious Game " »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Continue reading "MySpace Builds Game Portal?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Blended Learning involves the use of multiple learning environments - usually some combination of physical/face-to-face and online/virtual approaches.

In the strictest sense, blended learning is when an instructor combines two methods of delivery of instruction. However, this term most often applies to the use of technology on instruction.

Continue reading "Serious Games And Blended Learning" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

On 30th November Visualise was at the Wales Rally for the first public trial of the enhanced Visualise system.

Continue reading "Serious Games Radically Enhancing Spectator Experience At Public Media Events" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Games that provide players with opportunities to learn and understand complex situations or different points of view have emerged as a distinct subset of videogames.

Increasingly, creators are taking the definitions of “play” and “learn” in new directions, often blending the two creatively.

Continue reading "The Future Of Serious Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Continue reading "Converging Toys, Part II" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Following my prior post Microsoft Shaping The Serious Games Movement Into A Multi-Billion Dollar Market, where I state that "by no means would Microsoft join either a current $ 150 million dollar market or a to-be $ 1 billion market only in 2011" (as projected by a few sources), BusinessWeek has published an article this week where David Boker, senior director of the Business Development Group at Microsoft's Aces Studio, one of Microsoft's game studios where ESP was developed, says Microsoft conservatively estimates this market at $9 billion.

Continue reading "$9 Bi: Microsoft's Conservative Estimate for the Serious Games Market" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff  (also see Business&Games)

The West Midlands (UK) region is fast becoming recognized as one of the key EU regions with regard to the development of Serious Games.

Continue reading "Mapping The Serious Games Industry Within The UK " »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (also see Business & Games)



By 2010, says Gartner, 20% of global Tier 1 retailers will have some kind of marketing presence in online games and virtual worlds.

Continue reading "Serious Games As Customer Touchpoints" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Continue reading "NPD Report 63% of Americans Playing Video Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (via Business & Games)

Via: Richard Carey - Digital Media Solutions, Serious Games & Learning Smiluations
 

As anticipated on my prior posts focused on Serious Games Market Size, funding has started to become available from foundations, governmental agencies, non-profits and venture capitalists.

Continue reading "Venture Capitalist Sees Growing Investment Opportunities in Serious Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (via Business & Games)

A new Canadian online digital magazine, Second Slice, focuses on issues of marketing in virtual worlds (click here to download)

According to its publisher and VP at One Up Marketing, Mario Parisé. Second Slice is “an attempt to give marketers who are active in virtual worlds a stronger and more unified voice. It all got started when the more mainstream business press decided to go on a Second Life bashing spree, ridiculing marketers and businesses going in-world.”

Continue reading "Second Slice: Serious Games Embed Ambitious Marketing" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Via: NanoMission - 3 Games Modules Available For Download!

Following my prior post Serious Games To Understand Nanotech, PlayGen has made 3 game modules available for download:NanoMedicine, NanoScaling and Nano Imaging.

Continue reading "Serious Games To Understand Nanothech Available For Download" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff  (via Business & Games)

For most people, video games mean entertainment, like TV or the movies. But their true meaning may be much bigger, impacting every aspect of our world, from education to business, society and culture.

IBM explores how video games may impact every aspect of our world, from education to business, society and culture.

Continue reading "Serious Games Pioneering How We Will Learn & Work In The Future" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alex Eperjessy (via Business & Games)

They call themselves a hot new advergaming company. Blogger opinions are already split on this, with some calling it a great idea and others arguing that it’s nothing but a fishy scheme. Last week, Moola’s CEO, Arlen Ritchie, gave me a presentation that stretched slightly over one hour. He gave the demo, I asked the questions. The result is below, God help us all.

Continue reading "Interview with Arlen Ritchie, Moola's CEO" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

A web based virtual shopping mall launched in New Zealand, allows users to navigate a three dimensional space to browse and buy products, bringing what the company says is the same shopping experience as in the real world. http://www.themallplus.com/ is not a portal that redirects consumers to third party websites, instead creating an online virtual shopping mall.

Continue reading "Serious Games Bring the Mall to Web Browsers" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

It took us a while, yet we finally found an angle from which Business & Games: The Blog could add some value to your daily RSS-fix. From now on, Alex Eperjessy (aka. our guy in Romania)  will provide daily updates on the ways businesses like your own include games and virtual worlds in their marketing, HR and operations. This while our contributing bloggers Ilya, Eliane and C.Sven will continue to give deeper insights on what's really going on in advergaming, serious games and the various virtual realities.

Continue reading "Business & Games Blog Out of Beta" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

In America, brands experiment in Second Life and There, hang out on Laguna Beach or even set up their own not-so-little universe. Korea has Cyworld  and China is building one of the most ambitious virtual worlds on the planet (or should I call it an e-commerce enabled mass-customisation system with virtual world storefront ?) 

And meanwhile, Europe sleeps.

Continue reading "Call for Interest: It's Time European Brands Got Serious about Virtual Worlds" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Continue reading " Screenshots: Kinset 3D Shopping Browser" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys (via Business & Games)

Now marketers have finally caught on to this interactive thing and seem to be ever more shy of places to put their new found digital 2008 budgets, gaming finally seems to be hitting the radar as well. An excellent time to seize the day, the guys at IAB must have thought as they just released the first of a series of papers to establish some standards in the chaotic world of advergaming (or was it gamevertising?).

Continue reading "IAB Defines Types of Game Advertising" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

Guinness has added a little twist to its latest advertising campaign and have hidden it online somewhere for someone to find. In good old ARG (alternate reality game) tradition they have started this game off with a couple of clues, in this case a fictional Mayor called Juan Ramon has put a video on youtube and created a pdf letter to share.

Continue reading "Guinness Has Hidden an Ad Online" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko (via Business & Games)

A couple of announcements indicating that Sony's upcoming PlayStationHome (site, wiki) virtual world will have plenty of ad inventory:

Continue reading "Sony's Virtual World Brand-Friendly " »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Wigder

Electronic Arts (EA)'s SimCity, the popular simulation game that challenges users to build and run a metropolis, is set to release its latest version in mid-November - SimCity Societies - and is generating a lot of buzz in the process. 

Continue reading "Greener SimCity Virtual World as Channel to Influence Real World Behaviors" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (via Business & Games)

Architectural Wonders Allowing Anyone to Create a Working Virtual World. Virtual-worlds platform developer Multiverse Network is set to announce a partnership Tuesday that will allow anyone to create a new online interactive 3D environment with just about any model from Google's online repository of 3D models, its 3D Warehouse, as well as terrain from Google Earth. 

Continue reading "Serious Games Set In Your Favorite Google Earth Locations" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (see: Business & Games)

On the October 24 episode of CBS' hit drama CSI: NY, the crime procedural will feature a murder investigation that meanders into the virtual world of Second Life. Gary Sinise's detective will track a real-life killer all the way into the popular world of Second Life.

Continue reading "OnRez Second Life Viewer: Serious Games Embrace New Way To Watch Entertainment " »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko (via Business & Games)

This ad for Toyota Tacoma set in the World of Warcraft has been airing for a few days and has hit the front page of Digg and just about any WoW forum. The spot is a riff off one of the most famous WoW player moments, Leeroy Jenkins (wiki). The ad is not unlike the famous Coke spot made to look like it was set in the world of Grand Theft Auto.

Continue reading "Video: Toyota in World of Warcraft" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff 

No slowing down in market adoption of Serious Games and Virtual Worlds, on both sides of the equation.

The Numerator – Gross Revenues

In my prior posts Serious Games, Serious Money: A Sizeable Market and Serious Games: A Sizeable Market - Update, I addressed how the video game industry was finding more business outside the entertainment sector.

Continue reading "Serious Games Sizeable Market, Virtual Worlds Sizeable Investment " »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko (via Business & Games)

Porsche 911 Turbo S wireless force-feedback wheel for PC and PlayStation3 is "the original reproduction of a 911 leather steering wheel [that] gives you the genuine Porsche feeling," is licensed by the car make

Continue reading "Brand Experience Through Game Peripheral" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff  (also see Business & Games)

Continue reading "Google Powered Serious Games: A New Virtual World? " »

Posted by Futurelab at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Roger Dooley

A few weeks ago, WIRED published an interesting story on the massive amount of testing that has gone into producing Halo 3. The biggest part of this has been usability testing to ensure that the game is continuously playable.

Continue reading "Halo 3: Brain Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff via Business and Games

Mechdyne Corporation is the world’s largest company dedicated to consulting and development of immersive, networked and collaborative visualization systems.

Mechdyne’s subsidiary Fakespace Systems Inc. applies the skills acquired over 18 years of innovation and market-building experience to offer the industry’s broadest range of large-scale and immersive displays and interaction technologies.

Continue reading "FakeSpace: Serious Games As Doors Into Virtual Worlds" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

This is too meta. Koinup, a social networking site for avatars from across all virtual worlds, just sent a press release about its launch: "In Koinup you can create your profile and publish pics, videos (machinima) and stories you created in virtual worlds as Second Life, World of Warcraft, IMVU and also games as The Sims 2 and many others.

Continue reading "Social Networking Site for Avatars Launches " »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (via Business & Games)

Santa Clara University's new library building won't be completed until the autumn of 2008. But people on the campus can experience what it might be like inside the building, and offer advice to its designers, by exploring a three-dimensional model of the library in Second Life.

Continue reading "Serious Games Exploring A Virtual Library Before It Is Built" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alex Eperjessy (via Business & Games)

"According to a new report from casual games developer/publisher PopCap Games, 'white collar' workers often play casual games while at work. PopCap's survey looked at 7,102 consumers, 40 percent of whom were identified as 'white collar' workers – these 2,842 respondents were employed in management, executive management, sales, accounting, medical, technical, consulting or administrative capacities." (via GameDaily).

Continue reading "Casual Games Survey" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

The newest batch of MIT Comparative Media Studies grad theses is up. Lots of good stuff on transmedia storytelling, engagement, convergence, and mobile MMORPGs. Great job, guys, and good luck.

Original post: http://adverlab.blogspot.com/2007/08/mit-media-studies-grad-theses.html

Posted by Futurelab at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (via: Business & Games)

Skillsmart Retail is a genuinely enjoyable game. Although its target audience ranges between 14 to 19 year olds, I've seen some senior retailers and marketers having a great playful time as they go through the various quizzes and game levels.

Continue reading "Serious Games Delivering Retail Career Key Messages" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: C. Sven Johnson

Having already done the virtual reality and Industrial Design round-ups, I’m finishing off with this collection of links which - in some way or another - have something to do with cross-reality ideas/concepts and rapid manufacturing. Well, at least they come kinda close (in my mind).

Continue reading "Transreality/Rapid Manufacturing Round" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (via: Business & Games)

The recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report estimates that the video game market will increase from $31.6 billion in 2006 to $48.9 billion in 2011 (please find my prior posting Serious Games: A Sizeable Market - Update) . Business Week exclusive series looks at just some of the innovations that are sparking this growth rate.

Continue reading "BW Special Report: The Power Of (Serious) Gaming" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: C. Sven Johnson (via Business & Games)

A few days back additional details were revealed about Sony’s new “Home” virtual world. Since then I’ve been trading comments over on Raph Koster’s blog (Link); some of which might be of interest.

Continue reading "Welcome to Home, Sharehopper" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Roger Dooley

These days, people are spending a lot of time online, much of it in Web communities and social networks. Second Life is a virtual world in which users create avatars to represent themselves and interact with others.

Continue reading "The Neuroscience of Second Life" »

Posted by Futurelab at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (via Business & Games)

After publishing my recent post "Serious Games: A Sizeable Market - Update" late June, I've received quite a few inquiries about the availability of any market report/number crunching for the segment.

Continue reading "Serious Games: A Sizeable Market Via SlideShare" »

Posted by Futurelab at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: C. Sven Johnson (via Business & Games)

There’s plenty of stuff to discuss on the general topic of virtual worlds, but under the circumstances - that being I’ve not posted many entries over the past couple of weeks - I’m just going to post some links in no particular order and add a short comment to each.

Continue reading "Virtual Worlds Stuff Round-up" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff 

Late June, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, located near Elton, announced a partneriship with Red Knight Learning Systems of Dallas to develop innovative digital learning media for their new high tech Coushatta Heritage Center.

Continue reading "Serious Games For Cultural Preservation " »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko (via Business & Games)

Sci-Fi Tech writes about Megaphone, a company that turns mobile phones into controllers for games that run in public spaces on large screens. Call in a number to join the game, then control your piece of action by punching buttons on the dialpad or by simply barking out orders.

Continue reading "Mobile Phones as Game Controllers" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

Here's one last slide on games for the day. Actually this is an old quote that I’d already included in part on an earlier chart, but I decided to expand - helped by stumbling across yet another brilliant photo by Thomas Hawk that perfectly suited it. :-)

Of course, not all games are “vehicles for self expression”. There is a very important distinction between so-called ‘casual’ games and their role-playing brethren - they’re like chalk and cheese in terms of the way it feels to play. Even for RPGs it varies by where you are in the experience curve…

Continue reading "games are vehicles for self expression" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

Continuing with the topic of games, here’s another interesting anecdote about why someone likes to play world of warcraft. It’s pretty much self-explanatory. :-)

The quote comes from a Newsweek article www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/. I’ve had it saved up for ages but only recently stumbled across this perfect picture to illustrate it. Thanks to Mrs Reed for letting me use it. www.flickr.com/photos/thereeds/708220272/ 

Original post: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynetter/858255397/

Posted by Futurelab at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

There was a really interesting article in the New York Times recently that looked at the gold-farming phenomenon. For those who don’t know, ‘gold farming’ is the term given to people who play online games like world of warcraft in a manner so as to earn the maximum ‘gold’ which is then sold on to other players who don’t have the time/skills to earn it themselves.

Continue reading "It is hard to think of anything more surreal than a chinese goldfarmer" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)  • Email this article to a friend

by: C. Sven Johnson

While reading something yesterday concerning marketing in virtual worlds I resisted the urge to comment. Last night and again early this morning, I further resisted the temptation to post something here regarding what I’d read. And I’m now resisting the urge to slip something in. I won’t.

Continue reading "Personal Entry: Pre-Alpha" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

I used this quote in one of the earliest Flickr slides, paired with a screenshot but I was never happy with it. A while back I resurrected it with this much nicer photo and just realised I hadn't posted it to the set - so here it is.

Continue reading "Some Players Call WoW the New Golf (v2)" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

I’ve been thinking about the “web as platform” trend recently. A lot of the focus so far has been about online storage or web based applications/desktops (eg: google docs, nivio, etc etc). But there’s another aspect which is the web as a storytelling platform. I think this quote is fascinating and gut feel I agree - The Beast (and other alternate reality games of its ilk) are prototypes for the future of web-based storytelling.

Continue reading "Beast was first prototype of web-based storytelling" »

Posted by Futurelab at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff 

Via: Mass High tech News

The ideas for Serious Games technology -- from military simulation to personal health care -- are coming quickly for entrepreneurs, but establishing a business model is a different story.

Continue reading "Game Developers chase Serious Games Business Models" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff

In my previous post Serious Games, Serious Money: A Sizeable Market, dated March 12, 2007, I've tried to extrapolate a few "back of the envelope" figures for the actual size of the Serious Games market, departing from PricewaterhouseCoopers' media outlook report 2006 for the video game sector worldwide.   

Continue reading "Serious Games: A Sizeable Market - Update" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Stefan Kolle (via Business & Games)

20th Century Fox has acquired the movie rights to The Sims, the most succesful computer game franchise of all times. I'm not quite sure what to make of this. We know of the desperate (and often misguided) hunger of Hollywood to turn existing properties into movies. We've seen some great comic book adaptations recently (Sin City, anyone?), but in the gaming field I'm going to be generous by calling the results 'mixed at best'.
And the best of it? It's going to be live action....

Continue reading "The Sims in live action?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Eliane Alhadeff (via Business & Games)

Continue reading "New Business Models For Serious Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko (via Business&Games)

Mattel launched Barbie Girls, a "virtual world" that "will allow children to create their own virtual characters, design their own room and try on clothes at a cyber mall." (Forbes.)

Continue reading "Mattel Launches Barbie Girls" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko (via Business&Games)

TV Station Manager is an indie game of the simulation / tycoon genre that puts you in the shoes of, surprise, a TV station manager. Wonder if it can be used for training; will run it by the agency's media guys to see how accurate it is.

Continue reading "Sim Game Teaches TV Ad Planning" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

In what appears to be the greatest lack of imagination since someone put a radio show on television marketers continue to build shops in secondlife. Just stop it, secondlife is an environment where you can build anything, ANYTHING, replicas of buildings are about the most mundane thing you can possibly build there.

Continue reading "Dear Marketers, Stop Creating Replicas Of Your Shops In SecondLife" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: C. Sven Johnson

Earlier this week I read that NASA was getting into the MMOG scene (Link - PDF for internal call for proposals). Far from coming as a surprise, I find it odd that they’ve not already developed a space-based property. How many people have ever played simple “Lander” videogames where you have limited fuel and have to settle your little 2D vectorized, spindly-legged spaceship on harsh “moon” terrain? Many, I’m sure. It’s an old game. And it always seemed to me that NASA was a natural for this stuff.

Continue reading "The Biased Frontier" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

When looking at part 1 and part 2 of the unveiling of Sony Home for the PS3, I was dazzled by what I can only describe as a cool combo of an über-interface to the Sony media-world and a hi-res version of Second Life for my living room TV. Even my wife started saying she wanted a PS3.

Continue reading "Sony Home ... Why Can't I Make My Own Stuff?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

Over the last couple of months i’ve started to become convinced that the concept of games is going to evolve over the next decade blending more and more the real world and virtual.

Continue reading "Three Trends Driving Big Games - Social Un-tethered Games With Computers In Them" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: C. Sven Johnson

Joi Ito has an excellent post specifically regarding the game industry but generally about business (and design) titled “Talking to the game execs” (Link). Here’s a couple of excerpts:

Continue reading "Ito: It’s Context, Not Content" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

I like this quote, although I would take it even further - in my mind, it’s not only video games, it’s social networking, blogs…etc. For many people today, the lines between real life and ‘virtual’ life are already blurred and becoming more so.

Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "The generation that grew up on videogames is blurring lines between real life and games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

I’m currently at GDC (Game Developer Conference) and have just listened to Trip Hawkins, CEO of Digital Chocolate a mobile game development company, and considering he founded EA (Electronic Arts) he’s probably worth listening to. His keynote speech was titled “Making Mobile Phones the Ultimate Game Platform”.

Continue reading "GDC Mobile - The Future of Mobile Games Will be Social" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

Exactly a year ago this blog went "live" and we just wanted to thank everyone who's been part of making it something much more successful than we ever thought it would be. Today, we've got about 25,000 regular readers, over 1,400 posts, and more importantly, our base of daily feedburner subscribers keeps growing by the week (currently at 2,500).

Continue reading "Happy Birthday Futurelab Blog" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

By: Ilya Vedrashko

Bright GIS rents out billboard space all around the (virtual but real) world: "Promote your business through our world-wide network of hundreds of Google Earth Virtual Billboards.

Continue reading "Billboards in Google Earth" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

 Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "xbox and yahoo games have very different interaction" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb 

Hindsight is an amazing thing. :-)
I like this quote a lot, it’s a nice companion to the classic William Gibson quote “The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed” (which is still on my ToDo list to turn into a slide).

Continue reading "fan sites are like dungeons and dragons 30 years ago" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

The decision Nintendo made to innovate around the control of video games and bow out of the 3d arms race continues to pay dividend, generating interest, and encouraging creativity.

Continue reading "Wiibot - Controlling a Robot Arm With A Wiimote" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Continue reading "What's The Emerging Global Soul Anyway?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

By: Ilya Vedrashko

"Behavioural research consultancy, Bunnyfoot, has conducted an independent study that reveals a lack of engagement between video game players and in-game advertising in sports titles. Overall, SFI [Sponsor Fixation Index] scores were comparatively low, especially when contrasted with the prevalence of brand placements.

Continue reading "Study: In-Game Ads Fail to Engage" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

By: Ilya Vedrashko

Burger King "announced that its trio of games for the Xbox and Xbox 360 had broken the 2 million mark in just four weeks" (GameSpot).

Continue reading "Burger King Sells 2 Million Game Copies in 4 Weeks" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

By now you should be close to having all of your top-line budgets approved and be heavily into the detail of spending the marketing funds you've just been entrusted with. Yet before you rush off to fill the pockets of agency wizards and media-moguls, I'd like to stir things up a bit. For this post, I have come up with 7 budget recommendations against which to benchmark your decisions.

Continue reading "The 7 Secrets of a Good Marketing Budget" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

As I compiled the most read posts on this blog, I couldn't shake the feeling that "there was a lot of great stuff missing". That's why I decided to do the "old media" thing and make a selfish editorial selection of what I thought were the twenty strongest thoughts expressed on this blog since its inception (one per contributor). 

Continue reading "The 21 Strongest Thoughts for 2006" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

It's the season to make lists and hitparades, so to end the year we'll do our bit as well.  According to Google Analytics, here's a list of the ten most read articles since the launch of this blog on March 5th, 2006. It's an interesting mix, which for me, is also a testimony to the way the Long Tail seems to be working.

Continue reading "The Ten Most Read Futurelab Articles in 2006" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

Alex Eperjessy on our own (slowly decloaking and still finding it's feet) business & games blog has conducted an online mini-focus group/survey on where a few of his friends/gamers think advertising could and definitely couldn't work in their favourite virtual environments.

Continue reading "Mini-Survey on Advertising in Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

This is a great presentation from Shufflebrain that talks about game mechanics in the context of social software. This is a wonderful expression of something that I have felt intuitively about social media for some time, but have never been able to articulate.

Continue reading "Putting the Fun In Functional - Game Mechanics and Social Media" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: danah boyd

Lately, i've become very irritated by the immersive virtual questions i've been getting. In particular, "will Web3.0 be all about immersive virtual worlds?"

Continue reading "on being virtual" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

By: Ilya Vedrashko

"Although object-interactivity will likely improve memory of associations compared to static pictures and text, it may lead to the creation of vivid internally-generated recollections that pose as real memories. Consequently, compared to information conveyed via static pictures and text, object-interactivity may cause people to falsely recognize more non-presented features."

Continue reading "Interactivity May Cause False Memories" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

By: Ilya Vedrashko

Take-Two Interactive and Double Fusion are partnering to bring in ads in Take-Two's games, the next installment of GTA apparently among them. GameSpy quotes Paul Eibeler from TTI:

Continue reading "Grand Theft Auto IV Will Have In-Game Ads" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

We've been a bit quiet over the past few days because of a busy week at the Marketing 3 conference in the Netherlands, yet to make up, we wanted to bring you a few early Christmas presents in the form of key videos from the conference.

Continue reading "Must Watch Video: Shopping 2016" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

Ilya, Stefan and myself will be at the Marketing 3 conference in the Netherlands for the coming few days so if you happen to be there too, drop us a line. If diaries match, perhaps beers are an option :-) 

For those who need extra budgetary encouragement, note that on 30th November and 1st of November participation is "free" .  

Continue reading "See You @ Marketing 3?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

By: Karl Long

After wandering around the eerily quiet “Dell Island” on SecondLife it struck me that most of the buildings in SecondLife are built to mirror buildings in the real world, with stairs, and impenetrable walls, windows etc.

Continue reading "If People Could Fly What Would Buildings Look Like?" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

The reality show Big Brother is coming to Second Life, writes Reuters. More details on the dedicated website. The show will select 15 contestants to spend at least eight hours in a transparent house for one month. It begins on December 1.

Continue reading "Second Life Lures Big Brother, Older Traffic" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

"Nielsen Media Research on Wednesday announced an electronic rating service to track who is playing what game.

Continue reading "Nielsen To Track Video Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

"Nivea Does Video Game Tie-In with 'Splinter Cell'" October 16, Enid Burns, ClickZ. The game is brand new, so no good screenshots yet. Quotes from the article:

Continue reading "Nivea Gets Products Into Splinter Cell: Double Agent" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Dick Stroud 

The US finance industry is targeting the 50-plus with a series of dedicated web sites to help in the retirement planning process. New York Life, Allstate and MassMutual are just three examples.

Continue reading "Web Sites and Computer Games For the 50-plus" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

So, MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach is finally official although still in beta. See a press release from There and a news report from here (couldn't resist).

Continue reading "MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach: First Impressions" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

Universal McCann has released that part of its Media in Mind study that deals with gamers (all reports here, a direct link to the 2-page pdf here).

Continue reading "Data: Gamers Are Heavy Media Consumers" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

At lunch today I had a lively debate with a friend who argued that, because virtual worlds will always be second best to ‘real life’ socialising (in his opinion), it’s all just a fad and will never go mainstream. I, of course, disagree. As one of the counter-arguments, I like this quote because it’s a reminder that it isn’t so black and white.   Click image to enlarge

Continue reading "In Wow I've Made Friends - You Don't Get That Watching TV" »

Posted by Futurelab at 6:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

I wrote before about Google Earth and SL-like games becoming increasingly alike. Here's a nice illustration.

Continue reading "Furniture 3D Models in Games and Google Earth" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

 Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "Gamers Generation Have Different Approach to Learning and Mindset" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

This makes an interesting point. Crimes can happen in virtual worlds, just as in 'real life'. But there are fewer laws and established codes of behaviour; and even fewer places you can turn for help. Once upon a time Ebay fraudsters weren't taken that seriously by offline law enforcement;  (Click image to enlarge)

Continue reading "Police Don't Understand Someone Stole My Magic Sword" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Why do traditional marketers & media always think that it's the "young" who make up the digital space and the "old" ones who watch TV?  That's why I decided to check for a moment whether the surf, game and PVR behaviour of my parents and in-laws are anomalies or whether they are part of a broader movement. 

Continue reading "The Consumer Isn't a Moron, She's Your Mum" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Jennifer Rice

Microsoft is the latest company to capitalize on the “customer-made” trend. According to the Mercury News, any game enthusiast can now create video games for the Xbox 360 video console. 

Continue reading "Grassroots Innovation" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

Wow, some amazing news coming from these big companies here related to social media:

Continue reading "Social Media News From Apple & Microsoft" »

Posted by Futurelab at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

image: IGN.com

Ford is preparing a big-budget full-length racing advergame featuring a model line-up ranging from "1968 Mustang GT to the 1973 Escort RS2000 to the hot-off-the-assembly line 2007 Shelby GT500". "Bold Moves" is Ford's current campaign slogan.

Continue reading "Ford Cars in "Ford Bold Moves Street Racing"" »

Posted by Futurelab at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

Casual games taking place of daily activities, CNet/Reuters, August 14, 2006

According to a new study by Harris Interactive, "nearly half (49 percent) would play casual games rather than go to the movie theater, 32 percent opted for them over movies at home, and 37 percent chose them over watching TV."

Original Post: http://www.vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/08/data-casual-game-audience-preferences.html

Posted by Futurelab at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

 Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "In a Decade Virtual Worlds Will Be Normal" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

"Acclaim Games announces a free, totally brutal massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) designed specifically for adult gamers."

Continue reading "Acclaim's Nextr MMO to Be Mostly Ad-Supported" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

You've probably heard about Massive launching interactive ads for Toyota in Anarchy Online (if not, here's a report by Business Week). This paper on Fully Interactive Surfaces in Doom 3 explores a more advanced kind of interactivity -- the authors have embedded the original Doom into the game released a decade later. I wonder if we will soon start seeing advergames inside larger titles.

Original Post: http://www.vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/07/porting-doom-into-doom-3.html

Posted by Futurelab at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Polinchock

Once again, smart companies are using new technology to deliver the same old stuff!

Continue reading "RED HERRING | Massive Drives Interactive Ads" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

Here's a McDonald's map for Counter-Strike: Source. I also have a McD WAD for Doom but the game isn't stable enough for me to take a snapshot. I suspect none of this was sanctioned by Ronald, but that's the beauty of it.

Original Post: http://www.vedrashko.com/advertising/2006/07/mcdonalds-counter-srike-map.html

Posted by Futurelab at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko 

Continue reading "Machinima Advertising Contest in World of Warcraft" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Jennings

Learning Light is a not-for-profit organisation set up in Sheffield to "overcome the everyday obstacles our members face within the field of e-learning". It is supported from Yorkshire's regional funds but is open to more or less anyone.

Continue reading "Learning Light web site launches, research published" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

 Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "Secondlife is Like a 3d Version of Myspace" »

Posted by Futurelab at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

Continue reading "BenettonPlay: You don’t always have to shoot’m up." »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

 Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "Ordinary Gamer is More Likely to Have Had a Child Than Be One" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

Gamespot says there is an indication that Apple might be working on making its next iPod play games (in addition to music and videos, that is). Of course, you don't want have to wait and can fill your iPod with GTA: San Andreas right now; the game is text-based and comes in the choose-your-adventure style.

Continue reading "Rumor: Future iPods Could Play Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

 Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "Working In Game Can Generate 3-50 Per Hour" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Lynette Webb

 Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "Some Players Call WoW the New Golf" »

Posted by Futurelab at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

If you plan to do an advergame for your next client, consider alternatives to the ubiquitous Flash.

Continue reading "Games for MS Excel" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: David Armano

Let me get this straight.  You start with a pile of goo.  You give it a spine and evolve it.  You design your creature from head to toe (if it has toes) so that it has the best chance of survival.  Then you put it up against creatures that other players across the globe have created.  Let the games begin.

Original Post: http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/05/playing_god.html

Posted by Futurelab at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

I'm not sure how exactly this works, but there's a new player on the in-game advertising field - Exent Technologies - that claims its technology can put ads in the games that are already on the market through either legitimate or pirate channels. Some bits from the press release:

Continue reading "Exent's Tech Puts Ads in Old, Pirated Games" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Sebastian Campion

Warcraft is one of the most successful multiplayer games in the world and when a popular player died in real life, other people in the game thought it would be a nice gesture to have a virtual memorial service in the Warcraft world.

Continue reading "Online Funeral Gets Ambushed" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

“Brain Age” is here, and yes it’s a video game, but it’s not aiming for what would normally be considered the mass market of boys 18-30 or “gamers”, it’s going for the “massive market” of people who want to “train their brain”.

Continue reading "Video Games Aiming for the “Massive Market”" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Karl Long

As game companies continue to focus on the mass market demographic of “boys 18-35″, yes boys, they like to blow stuff up, they like guns, they like tits and ass. So all the game companies are spending small fortunes on the next “FPS” (first person shooter), or driving game, or mixing driving and shooting. Anyway, as someone who thoroughly enjoys shooting, driving, and fantasy girls in video games I’m not saying they should stop, but they need to pull their head out of their 18-35 demographic, if you get my drift.

Continue reading "American Game Companies Miss The Boat Focusing on Mass Market" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Ilya Vedrashko

Alpha Mediaworks uses game-like virtual environments to model and demonstrate effectiveness of outdoor advertising campaigns.

Continue reading "Game-like 3D Environment for Modeling Outdoor Campaigns" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: danah boyd

Earlier this week, i was talking with Joi about his "research" on World of Warcraft. He was telling me about how some of the social norms get maintained by members in the community (and particularly within guilds) and how newcomers learn the social structure.

Continue reading "The Power of Social Structure in World of Warcraft" »

Posted by Futurelab at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

Everyone by now has heard about corporations going out and commissioning their own computer games, yet typically this has remained limited to small games or online time-wasters.  Not anymore.

Continue reading "Advergaming is Growing Up" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Alain Thys

If you thought computer gaming was not really something you should include in your mediamix as you don't have a brand that appeals to teenage boys, think again. A recent report by the Entertainment Software Association comes with a few interesting facts:

Continue reading "Put Computer Games in Your Media Mix" »

Posted by Futurelab at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Sebastian Campion

As a way of engaging a younger audience in its activities, Greenpeace is devoting a section of its site to educational and politically loaded games.

Continue reading "Activist Games for Kids" »

Posted by Futurelab at 7:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Sebastian Campion

In collaboration with a local school, The Waag Society in Amsterdam has developed a concept for a 'mobile learning game'.

Continue reading "Frequency 1550: mobile educational game" »

Posted by Futurelab at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend

by: Sebastian Campion

September 12 by the collective newsgaming.com reflects an emerging trend of shaping games as political statements.

The game-like piece is self explanatory and doesn't really need any introduction - so try it out for yourself.

• September 12

Original Post: http://www.guerrilla-innovation.com/archives/2005/01/000272.php

Posted by Futurelab at 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)  • Email this article to a friend