Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog

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" »

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by: C. Sven Johnson

Here’s a quick note to call attention to something that might be of interest: Another avatar fabbing outfit has set up shop. Most of you are probably already aware of Fabjectory, the service that’s been “3D printing” Second Life avatars and objects for the last year or so. Well now there’s a service available for fabbing World of Warcraft game characters.

Continue reading "Figureprints, Fabjectory and Toys" »

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{Update: It’s great to see an entry like the one I came across on Kim Pallister’s blog yesterday (Link). I’d learned about Build-A-Bear Workshop sometime last Summer iirc [Note: as I thought… on Raph Koster’s blog - Link], and my thoughts then were very much the same as what he details in his post, and pretty much follow the kinds of things I’ve been discussing here in other entries.

Continue reading "Converging Toys, Part II (*Updated*)" »

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Continue reading "Converging Toys, Part II" »

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Continue reading "The Reputation Chameleon" »

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Continue reading "Anderson and “Free”" »

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Continue reading "SteelCase Talks Design Virtually" »

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Continue reading "Philips Design Talks: Electric Tattoos" »

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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" »

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Now this is interesting. From the SLNN site (Link):

The Fashion Research Institute (FRI) in conjunction with IBM is developing a product lifecycle management solution for the fashion industry that specifically addresses the industry’s unique needs, cutting time to market. Designers will be able to access 3-D tools from within SL or Open Sim to create their fashion product. The 3-D models of the design can be shown in a virtual showroom. Everyone who has a share in the product will be available to review the design: product managers, designers, design directors, merchandizers, costers, executives, sales staff and show room managers. After the creative vision has been finalized, factory specifications are created that will enable the item to be manufactured in real life.

Continue reading "A Virtual World-Based PLM for the Fashion Industry {Updated}" »

Posted by Futurelab at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | 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" »

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Continue reading "Papervision3D: Geometry in a Flash" »

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

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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" »

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Continue reading "When Retail Goes Virtual" »

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by: C. Sven Johnson

This past summer I’d mentioned a summit on virtual goods and linked to a TechCrunch article related to the panel, “Are Virtual Goods the Next Big Business Model?” (reLink). A video of that discussion, chaired by Susan Wu of Charles River Ventures, was posted shortly after the panel, and while I managed to watch the first few introductory minutes of it, I neither finished watching it nor returned to it. Until now, that is, after a reminder from a post on The Meshverse Journal (Link).

Continue reading "Virtual Goods... the Movie" »

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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" »

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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

by: C. Sven Johnson

Generally, I don’t follow the news of every company entering the virtual space. I just don’t care if Levi’s creates their own branded virtual world and, other than the advertising and marketing community, I don’t know who does (though I don’t doubt there are consumers out there who do care). Instead, I pay attention to those companies which might do something interesting on the product development side of things.

Continue reading "Manufacturers in Virtuality" »

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

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 by: C. Sven Johnson

I’ve just given Kinset, a 3D virtual shopping application, (Link) a spin. Before I offer my opinion, let’s start off with what it’s supposed to be. From the website:

Continue reading "Kinset: “Straight Retailing” 3D VR" »

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

Continue reading "Virtual Earth Building Momentum" »

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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 " »

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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" »

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by: C. Sven Johnson

After I first saw the above video on the The Weekly Squeak blog (Link), I immediately did a search on prices for interactive whiteboards.

Continue reading "Transreality Interfaces: From Whiteboards to Grey Matter" »

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Continue reading "Top 15 Coolest Worldwide" »

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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" »

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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: 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: C. Sven Johnson

There are a couple of interesting items floating around the virtual community.

First up is a report by the Yankee Group I first read about on the Virtual World News blog (Link). From the Yankee Group Press Release:

According to the recently published Yankee Group Note, Wither Second Life?, the growth rate of Second Life users has slowed since its peak in October 2006, while user engagement (as measured by average time spent per user) has leveled off at just 12 minutes per month.

Continue reading "Those Tricky Virtual Numbers: Engagement and Investment" »

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by: Eliane Alhadeff  (also see Business & Games)

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

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by: C. Sven Johnson via Business & Games

Well, there’s been so much buzz about the possibility Google is creating a multi-user virtual world it’s kind of hard to miss. What’s equally hard for me to miss is the apparent surprise being registered by so many people. Hello? Are Google and Microsoft investing time and money in creating 3D representations of the Earth so that we can simply be impressed? so that we can download their applications and wander around them in social isolation like some modern version of The Omega Man… minus vampires? C’mon, already.

Continue reading "A Collection of Virtual World News Items" »

Posted by Futurelab at 10:22 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 " »

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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" »

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