November 09, 2006
Coke, Pepsi, Nike, Adidas Top-In Game Advertisers
People recalling in-game ads... that can't be a good thing.
by Dan Dormer
Gamasutra is reporting that Phoenix Marketing International have released a study examining the effectiveness of in-game advertising. The report indicated that Coke, Pepsi, Nike and Adidas were the brands the most "active adult gamers" could recall. 54% of the gamers surveyed could recall at least some of the in-game advertising from sports games, such as Madden NFL 07. It also should be mentioned that the company asked gamers to recall not specific advertisements featured in-game, but products they remembered seeing. Along with the aforementioned brands, KFC, Burger King, McDonald's, Samsung, BMW, Ford, Gatorade and Mountain Dew (Extreme!!) were also some of the popular products gamers recalled seeing. And the majority of the games players could recall ads from were sports games -- four out of the top five being not only sports games, but EA titles.
Posted by richard ting at November 09, 2006, 05:51 PM
September 04, 2006
TrueGameHeadz
Everyone should go check out TrueGameHeadz, a new blog created with the help of my friend and fellow Bronx native, David Ross. The site has only been up for a few weeks and there are already over 100 postings.
To understand where these guys are coming from, here's a quote from their website, "We have been playing games since the old age of Atari 2600 and have gathered every system and worthwhile game since! This site was actually formed based on the stress of reviewers not giving the consumers the "real" on games. A lot of reporters in the industry have either become jaded or too friendly with the developers to give a real account of games. We feel that this may have helped stunt the industry as innovation and good gameplay has been tossed to the side in lieu of sequels and exciting Hollywood or Comic book crossovers."
Posted by richard ting at September 04, 2006, 10:17 PM
August 16, 2006
Microsoft to sell game making tools
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. on Monday will announce the availability of software tools aimed at encouraging independent and hobbyist video game makers to create titles for its new Xbox 360 console.
The move from Microsoft, which kicks off its two-day Gamefest video game development conference in Seattle on Monday, comes as the popularity of user-created content on the Internet grows and as the software giant builds a large audience for its Web-connected Xbox Live online service.
Microsoft said its tool kit, called XNA Game Studio Express, will make it easier for enthusiasts to create games to run on Microsoft's next-generation Xbox 360 console or personal computers running its Windows operating system.
A test version of the tool kit will be out by August 30. The final product will be available this holiday season for an annual subscription of $99 (52 1/2 pounds) per year for Xbox 360 game development. The software will be free to people making games to run on Windows
Read more.
Posted by richard ting at August 16, 2006, 02:44 PM
March 09, 2005
Video Game Ad Network Expands
[from mediapost]
by Shankar Gupta, Wednesday, Mar 9, 2005 8:15 AM EST
MASSIVE INC., A VIDEO GAME advertising network, will announce today a slate of major video game publisher deals, including established names like Ubisoft, Vivendi Universal Games, and Eidos. The Massive network will officially launch on March 28 with the release of the anticipated title "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory," and the online futuristic role-playing game "Anarchy Online." "Chaos Theory" is the third installment in the already established Splinter Cell franchise, which features a U.S. intelligence agent fighting various global terrorist threats.
Massive's ad network aims to target the elusive male 18-34 demographic, which has increasingly turned to video games for entertainment.
"We're talking about getting to that 18- to-34 demo," said Massive CEO Mitch Davis. "If you want to reach those guys in prime time, there's only one place to do it, and that's video games."
Read more.
Posted by richard ting at March 09, 2005, 10:14 AM
December 15, 2004
Electronic Arts Acquires Exclusive NFL License
[from gamasutra]
Further tightening its stronghold on all things related to video game football, Electronic Arts made the surprise announcement today that it has acquired the exclusive rights to the NFL teams, stadiums, and players for use in its video games. Through deals with both the NFL and Players Inc., EA will control the license for the next five years.
In addition to these cosmetic aspects, EA also has exclusive rights for online console features in its football games, as well as access to NFL Films and the NFL Network for the company's titles, which includes the Madden, NFL Street, and Fantasy Football franchises. However, EA is not limited to the above franchises in the use of the NFL licenses; the deal also allows EA to develop new football titles using the assets if it chooses. The one facet the deal seems not to cover is web-based or mobile games, such as titles for cell phones.
With Take-Two's recent announcement that the company was considering raising the price of its ESPN Football line again, after some successful cut-price competition with the Madden series earlier this year, it looks like EA's sales slip of 2004 is something the company is determined to never let happen again.
In fact, now this presumably massive financial deal now in place, further Visual Concepts-developed, Take-Two/Sega published football titles will not be allowed to use any 'name' players or teams, likely rendering them a much less potent competing force, despite a competitive graphics and gameplay engine. Should Sony or Microsoft decide to resume their own sports line after this year's hiatus, they may also have an uphill fight on their hands.
Posted by richard ting at December 15, 2004, 10:01 AM
December 01, 2004
Online Games Quarterly
The IGDA's Online Games SIG is proud to announce that the inaugural issue of the Online Games Quarterly has been released.
http://www.igda.org/online/quarterly/1_1/
The idea for this e-publication grew out of a discussion at the 2004 GDC among members of the SIG. The group felt that a smaller publication released at more regular intervals would compliment the annual papers and serve as a place to highlight industry peers throughout the year. In this first issue, you'll find interviews with developers and industry analysts. In the future, letters to the
editor, opinion pieces, and feature articles will be added.
Posted by richard ting at December 01, 2004, 03:12 AM
October 28, 2004
Mobile Phone Gaming to Top $1 Billion in '04
LONDON (Reuters) - Video game and mobile phone companies are set to make money this year as customers use phones to zap space invaders or sink game-winning golf putts, pushing the mobile gaming market over $1 billion, a study said.
According to London-based consultancy Screen Digest, mobile phone gaming also will grow by more than six times to $6.4 billion between 2004 and the end of decade. Currently, Japan and Korea are well ahead of North America and Europe in market size, accounting for nearly 80 percent of all revenues derived from video game play and game downloads, Screen Digest said on Thursday.
A confusing maze of tariffs for downloads and gameplay charged by mobile operators in Europe is depressing early growth in the region, Screen Digest said. "We think the mobile operators in Europe have not yet got the strategies right to exploit this market to its full potential," said Screen Digest chief analyst Ben Keen.
The firm added that North America, despite having a less sophisticated mobile phone market than Europe and Asia, is expected to grow at a faster clip than those regions. Compared to the booming video games business, the nascent market for mobile-phone gaming has only recently begun to show signs of life as a new breed of sophisticated handsets has hit the market and more gaming companies have developed top titles for the small screen.
Earlier this year, gaming giant Electronic Arts (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said it will boost production of video games for mobile phones over the next year, bringing four top-selling titles including "Fifa Football" and "The Sims" to handsets. Rivals Eidos (EID.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , Ubisoft (UBIP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and THQ Inc. (THQI.O: Quote, Profile, Research) have been investing more money into the promising market as well.
Posted by richard ting at October 28, 2004, 01:17 PM
October 14, 2004
BloodRayne 2: does sex sell videogames?
[By James Ransom-Wiley]
Majesco resorted to the oldest trick in the book when it came to publicizing its vampire-vixen sequel: sex sells. Yes, the boys (and girls too?) over at Majesco broke some serious boundaries while generating hype for BloodRayne 2. We’re talking digital boobies, Playboy: October issue. But if you’re anywhere half-way-interested in videogames, you already know that. You may have even spotted Rayne’s handiwork in the latest Evanescence video, appropriately titled, “Everybody’s Fool”. And so, as expected, BloodRayne 2 is simply the latest offering of style over substance. It’s a game plagued with bugs (of the programming sort) and mindless violence. But it sure is pretty, and the type of game that anyone can pick up and play. So, while it’s still a bit early to judge, we’re betting that BloodRayne 2 will sell. And that’s just the current state of the industry.
Read more.
Posted by richard ting at October 14, 2004, 05:46 PM
September 30, 2004
Music Videos Tap Video Games
[from wired.com]
Over the past few years, entertainment has become more incestuous than ever. Rock stars became actors, comic book characters morphed into title roles in blockbuster films and everyone involved goes to the same after-parties.
Now, the blending of popular culture has gone even further with a new MTV show of animated music videos featuring popular video game characters performing bands' songs.
Today's the Day. Known as "video mods," the videos star characters from The Sims 2, Tribes: Vengeance, BloodRayne and other games jamming on guitar, break dancing and belting out the latest tracks from Evanescence, the Von Bondies, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, Fountains of Wayne and other bands. MTV2 showcases these videos in a half-hour show called, what else, Video Mods.
"Music videos and video games (are) two roads that have been pointing to each other and about to intersect," said Alex Coletti, executive producer for MTV2, which broadcasts Video Mods. "I know that our audience, when they're not watching music videos, they're playing video games. Here's a way to do both."
Posted by richard ting at September 30, 2004, 11:28 PM
September 14, 2004
Interactive fiction for gamers
[from trendcentral]
| By now it’s no new news that the gaming industry is rapidly becoming a leader in the entertainment world. The latest evolution in the gaming category is the genre of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs). ARGs are a form of interactive fiction that use a variety of platforms, such as television, radio, newspapers, Internet, email, SMS, telephone, voicemail, and regular mail to deliver stories and puzzles to enhance products such as video games, movies, and books. ARGs are typically comprised of a secret group of Puppetmasters who create and control the stories and puzzles and a public group of players, known as the collective detective, that try to solve the puzzles and thereby further the story.
While ARGs have been around for a couple of years (there was one surrounding the release of the movie Artificial Intelligence: AI) only recently have they really been taking off. I Love Bees is an ARG created specifically for the release of Halo 2 that is attracting a global fanbase. The latest I Love Bees stunt involved web-imbedded code with payphone booth coordinates, phone calls, secret passwords, and audio files. While ARGs haven’t quite hit the mainstream at this point, marketers should be taking note of ARGs, as their diverse media format seems conducive for brand integration and promotions. For more info, check out www.ilovebees.com and www.argn.com, the definitive website for ARG news and info. |  |
Posted by richard ting at September 14, 2004, 11:13 PM
September 09, 2004
“Mama Said Knock You Out”: Def Jam Fight For NY Soundtrack revealed
It’s nothing we didn’t expect, but nonetheless Fight For NY’s soundtack features an impressive lineup of hip hop vets and up-and-comers.
The list is as follows (as posted on 1up.com):
”America’s Most” — Method Man, Redman
”Anything Goes” — C-N-N
”Are We Cuttin’” — Pastor Troy
”Bust” — Outkast
”Comp” — Comp
”Flipside” — Freeway
”Get Into It” — Comp
”Get It Now” — Bless
”Let’s Get Dirty” — Redman
”Let’s Go” — Shawnna
”Lil’ Bro” — Ric-a-Che
”Make It Hurt” — Busta Rhymes
”Mama Said Knock You Out” — LL Cool J
”Man Up” — Sticky Fingaz
”Mother Mother” — Xzibit
”Move!” — Public Enemy
”’Nuff Respect” — Big Daddy Kane
”O.G. Original Gangster” — Ice-T
”Pistol Grip Pump” — Volume 10
”Pop Off” — Joe Budden
”Poppa Large” — Ultramagnetic MCs
”See About Ya” — Beezle featuring Bonecrusher
”Seize the Day” — Bless
”Take a Look at My Life” — Fat Joe
”Walk With Me” - Joe Budden
”We Gon’ Hit ‘Em” — Deuce, Dub and the Junkyard Gang
”What’s Happenin’” — Method Man
”Yes Sir” — C-N-N
Posted by richard ting at September 09, 2004, 01:58 AM
August 29, 2004
Redefining Games - How Academia is Reshaping Games of the Future
By Lauren Gonzalez
The history of electronic games, as relatively short as it may be, can already be divided into several distinct personalities. To the game developer, this body of history represents a list of successes and failures compounded by the belief that if only he or she would have had as much polygonal power in 1987 as exists today, the failures would be fewer. To the game-consuming public, the history is a dull lesson that drops off just short of the second-to-last game system actually owned. The future, to game players, is possibly more important than the past. To the collector, the electronic games history is a bible to be revered and a reference to be digested and divulged at classic game conventions. To the academic, this history is a disorganized, infantile beast--full of discrepancies and confusion--that's waiting to be collected, sorted, observed, tamed, and pushed into the realm of true innovation.
Each group, though driven by different motives, has something to offer the others. The game developer can teach the consumer what to expect in the coming months. The consumer can teach the academic about buying patterns and attention spans. The classics enthusiast can teach developers what makes a good game, regardless of era or trends. And academia can teach everyone a thing or two about what motivates a person to play games, why they are important, how we can make them better, and what we learn from them overall. Academia is also interested in collections, which benefits the developer, consumer, and classics enthusiasts fairly equally. Classic game fans archive too, but they usually do so for personal reasons and not for permanent public availability and accessibility. Furthermore, the academic archives less selectively, collecting all ideas, verbal history, written history, and digital history, which comprises a complete history quite unlike the conceptual history of electronic games currently available.
But there's a stigma attached to academia, particularly among game designers and game players. In a word, academia is "boring." GameSpot set out to challenge this notion by seeking some of the more compelling minds that are addressing game theory, which includes those who teach game studies and new media through universities, through thought-provoking games and Web sites, through art, and through community. The goal was to develop a State of the Union: Redefining Games: How Academia Is Reshaping Games of the Future. Because like it or not, electronic games are not babies anymore. They have been around long enough to stand on their own. So it's time for us to see what they're really made of so that we know what they'll become.
Posted by richard ting at August 29, 2004, 02:34 PM
August 28, 2004
The Gaming Industry Looks to the Ladies
When it comes to gaming, boys seem to get all the attention, but women are also playing. The gaming industry has yet to reel in the female demographic completely, but naturally, they are working on doing so, as will be explored at the upcoming Women’s Game Conference in Austin, Texas. As more women join the industry, more emotional games and consoles that promote social interaction are predicted to evolve. While the industry is undeniable male dominated at present, there are several gaming projects out there right now that are getting some buzz in the female gaming community:
Alter Life: Met with acclaim at E3, this MMPORG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) social activity game is a forum for players to make friends, form relationships and families. Fashion-forward avatars set the game apart from similar games such as The Sims.
Chickstop.com: This UK-based online gaming site is targeted to women, who as studies continue to show, are big fans of online gaming.
Karaoke Revolution: This game is brining the popular nightlife past time home where it is becoming a house party favorite.
PowerBabes: This multi-user chat game with four main characters, reportedly played by 50% of Danish teen girls, has big plans to become a more widely recognized title. Plans for a novel, a mobile phone game, a console game, and even a TV show are in the works.
Posted by richard ting at August 28, 2004, 12:08 PM
August 02, 2004
A farewell to joysticks
Biofeedback, rhythm and brainwaves are the new game controls.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – I was cleaning out the closet this weekend when I ran across an old friend – my trusty Sidewinder force feedback joystick.
When I first picked it up in 1997, it was one of my most prized gaming possessions, bringing games like "Interstate 76" and the "Wing Commander" series to life. Saturday, I realized I hadn't given it a second thought in at least five years. Times change fast in the gaming world.
About the only people who still use joysticks today are flight simulator fans – an enthusiastic, but microscopic niche. Most gamers have moved on to gamepads and mouse/keyboard combinations.
Posted by richard ting at August 02, 2004, 03:55 PM
June 18, 2004
Young Men Like Online Games and Video Content More Than Sports
Young Men Like Online Games and Video Content More Than Sports
by Ross Fadner
The year 2003 marked the first time that adults ages 18-24 spent more of their time using the Internet than watching TV. Now, new findings from JupiterResearch highlight two key demographic segments: 18- to-34-year-old males, and young consumers using the Internet at work. Among the key findings--young men aren't obsessed with sports as much as marketers think they are, and guys are increasingly looking up local information online.
"Of all age demographic segments, only college students are online more than men age 18-34," said David Card, VP-research director, JupiterResearch. Card, speaking at Jupiter's Internet Planet conference this week, said that in 2003, 18- to-34-year-old men watched 8 hours of television per week, which is two hours less than the previous year and 2-3 hours less than other age groups. "Evidence suggests it's going to be harder to reach this demographic through TV than it used to be," he said.
Posted by richard ting at June 18, 2004, 02:32 PM
March 22, 2004
agoraXchange
Make the game and change the world
Tate online together with BT
agoraXchange invites visitors to Tate Online to contribute towards the creation of a new multiplayer internet game which challenges the current political system.
agoraXchange (http://www.tate.org.uk/netart/agoraxchange) is a project by net artist Natalie Bookchin and political theorist Jacqueline Stevens. The site is a forum for the exchange of ideas, where participants are encouraged to work together on the rules, design, and code which will ultimately result in the game. Participants will answer questions prompting them to make decisions about the game design and in the process explore political alternatives to the present global order by accommodating four initial decrees challenging present conventions for awarding nationality and wealth. Over the coming months, the artists will implement various incentives intended to solicit contributions. Participants may also initiate their own forums to preview related projects. Participation at agoraXchange will be facilitated through techniques successfully adopted in other large-scale online distributed collaborations, such as the open source software movement and self-regulating, peer-to-peer discussion groups.
agoraXchange will host the collaborative development of the game design in phases over the next two years. An electronic conversation conducted between David Ross and Murat Ozbank will reflect on and inspire the initial game development phase and will be posted at Tate Online. When all the phases are complete, agoraXchange will be closed for submissions, and a committee of artists, activists, and political theorists will be convened to review the submissions and conversations for the purpose of proposing three distinct game prototypes. These will be available online for further deliberation by agoraXchange participants. At the end of this process, a jury comprised of agoraXchange participants will vote on these three proposals and ultimately decide which version will then be created.
Natalie Bookchin's most recent project, Metapet (http://www.metapet.net) is an online game commissioned by Creative Time, New York in association with HAMACA, Barcelona. In 1999-2000 Bookchin organized net.net.net, a series on art, activism and the Internet at Cal Arts, MOCA in LA, and Laboratorio Cinematek in Tijuana. From 1998-2000 she was a member of the collective RTMark. She was a 2001-2002 Guggenheim Fellow. Her work is exhibited at institutions including PS1, Mass MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, KunstWerke, Berlin, the Generali Foundation, Vienna, the Walker Art Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Shedhale in Zurich. She is based in Los Angeles and is a faculty member at CalArts.
Jacqueline Stevens is the author of Reproducing the State (Princeton University Press, 1999). Her work has appeared in Political Theory, the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Political Philosohy, Social Text, and many other publications. She is currently working on two further manuscripts: States without Nations (the theoretical basis of agoraXchange), and The Human Being Project. In 1997-1999 she was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Scholar at Yale University. She developed the ideas for this project while at Istanbul Bilgi University (2002-2004) and is also on the faculty at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
agoraXchange is the latest net art commission at Tate Online and has received financial assistance from the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology. Previous commissions have included Shilpa Gupta (Blessed Bandwidth 2003), Susan Collins (Tate In Space 2002), Heath Bunting (BorderXing Guide 2002), Harwood@Mongrel (Uncomfortable Proximity 2001) and Simon Patterson (Le Match des Couleurs 2001). The architecture and design of the agoraXchange website are by FDTdesign. Tate Online is generously supported by BT.
For further information please contact Tate Press Office, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Call: 020 7887 8731 or email pressoffice@tate.org.uk
Posted by richard ting at March 22, 2004, 04:57 PM
March 19, 2004
gameLab Presents
gameLab presents
more new ways for you to play
Can you think outside the pod?
Get ready for some old-skool gaming with gameLab’s X-Pod Play Off game. Launched this spring by LEGO, X-Pods are small containers of LEGO bricks, designed to fit neatly in your pocket. X-Pod Play Off is a game that uses LEGO X-Pods as the raw materials for a 2-player strategy boardgame. Played entirely off the computer, in X-Pod Play Off, you deconstruct and reconstruct LEGO robots, creatures, flying machines, and land vehicles.
Part chess, part collectible card game, and part creative construction exercise, X-Pod Play Off brings LEGO building to a whole new level. Download everything you need to play at www.lego.com/x-pod.
What’s in your future?
Step right up and test your wits in FATE: The Carnivàle Game(TM). Based on the hit HBO(R) series Carnivàle(SM), FATE(TM) is a beautifully moody solitaire game played with Tarot cards. Choose from three bizarre carnie characters and challenge the Fortune Teller to a Tarot duel. Victory will grant you new cards that enhance your deck and reveal the dark secrets of your character's past and future. With evocative narrative
scenes, rich period graphics, and an entire deck of Tarot cards to play with, FATE: The Carnivàle Game is squarely in your future.
You can reach the game on HBO's site at www.hbo.com/carnivale, and purchase the game on Real Network's Real1Arcade, where it won 2003 Card Game of the Year.
Any more games?
Coming right up. The gameLab crew is hard at work creating new playthings for your pleasure. We are designing new games for folks like Cartoon Network, Sesame Workshop, and the nonprofit organization NetAid. Coming soon: the first gameLab-designed collectible card game, created for Genio Group, Inc and featuring characters from Mighty Beanz(TM). Plus... stay tuned for some very major plans about the future of gameLab’s original work.
Read much?
The New York Observer named gameLab co-founder Eric Zimmerman one of 50 New York “Power Punks” aged 35 and under, along with folks like Chelsea Clinton, Drew Barrymore, and Jay Z. Maybe it’s because he launched two books this fall: Rules of Play, a breakthrough game design textbook co-authored with Katie Salen and published by MIT Press, and RE:PLAY, a debate in book form on game design and game culture, co-edited with Amy Scholder and published by Eyebeam and Walter Lang.
Two essays on gameLab by Eric Zimmerman are featured in yet another new book: Design Research, a collection of writings edited by media maven Brenda Laurel. To read even more about gameLab, indie gaming, and Rules of Play, check out a feature story that appeared in the London Guardian or a piece
penned by academic all-stars Henry Jenkins and Kurt Squire about our title Arcadia in the January issue of Computer Games.
LEGO X-Pod Play Off
http://www.lego.com/x-pod
FATE: The Carnivàle Game (TM)
http://www.hbo.com/carnivale/
Cartoon Network
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com
Sesame Workshop
http://www.sesameworkshop.com
NetAid
http://www.netaid.org
Game Developers Conference
http://www.gdconf.com
IGDA
http://www.igda.org
New York Observer “50 Powerpunks” article
http://www.gmlb.com/images/observer_article.htm
London Guardian article
http://www.gmlb.com/images/guardian_article.html
Computer Games article
http://www.gmlb.com/images/arcadia_article.html
Origins Conference
http://www.originsgames.com
Reman Mythology
http://www.felaxx.com
The Kitchen
http://www.thekitchen.org
Rules of Play
http://www.rulesofplay.net
Design Research
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?sid=EE062E7E-D1ED-49F2-8CD4-88A77DDC8173&ttype=2&tid=10029
Posted by richard ting at March 19, 2004, 02:44 PM
March 18, 2004
Game Girls - Online computer gamers aren't who you think they are
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- If you envision a teenage boy when you hear the words "computer gamer," think again.
Women, particularly older women, are some of the most active game players on the Internet.
Women over 40 spend 9.1 hours a week playing online computer games, versus teen's 7.4 hours, younger women's 6.2 hours and men's 6.1 hours, according to a recent survey conducted by Digital Marketing Services for AOL Games.
Forty-one percent of women over 40 said they played every day, compared with 26 percent of men and 23 percent of younger women, according to the online survey of about 3,610 people who had played an online game in the last three months.
"It's counterintuitive to people," said Matt Bromberg, general manager of AOL Games.
"When they think of games they think of young boys. But the real truth about online gaming is mom comes home, sees the boys in the den playing on their console, tells them, 'cut that out, go upstairs,' and after she puts them to sleep, she heads to the PC and plays for 5 hours," he said.
Posted by richard ting at March 18, 2004, 02:51 PM
February 23, 2004
Era of Eidolon
:: Fight and communicate with people from around the world in the first worldwide multiplayer roleplaying game for mobile phones.
:: Enjoy great graphics and animated battle scenes.
:: Specialize your hero with a choice of more than:
- 100 Weapons
- 100 Spells
- 65 Combat skills
- 25 Armours and lots of magic items
:: Start a clan with friends and compete against others for a monthly prize.
:: Participate in events and tournaments to win special game equipment.
:: Fight the Queens elite gladiators - each with a personal speciality.
It was a real toss-up on deciding where to post this, Richard. Looks like this could be the dawn of MMPRPG (mobile multiplayer role-playing games). I'll have to dig a bit deeper to see if it's "massive" as well....
Posted by richard ting at February 23, 2004, 12:33 AM
November 06, 2003
GAMING'S NEW FRONTIER
OCTOBER 2ND 2003
Mobile phones are bringing video games to a broader audience
"BIGGER than Hollywood"--that is how people in the video-game industry like to describe their business. Worldwide sales of games software, they note, were worth $21 billion last year. Global box-office takings were a mere $19 billion (though Hollywood also gains from DVD and video sales and rentals).
Yet gaming is still not truly mainstream. Gamers are mostly young and male, and they must have sufficient disposal income to buy a console, costing around $200, and games, around $50 each. That may soon change, thanks to technology's new Trojan horse, the mobile phone.
Around 450m mobile phones are sold every year, and most people upgrade
their handsets every couple of years. The latest have colour screens, internet access and powerful processing chips. As well as logos and ringtones, it is now possible to download on to them small pieces of software--such as games.
According to the Mobinet study of 5,600 mobile users in 15 countries by A.T. Kearney, a consultancy, and the Judge Institute of Management at Cambridge University, the number of people playing games on their handsets has doubled during the past year to 6% of the world's 1.3 billion mobile subscribers, and will soon outstrip the number of people gaming on consoles. As if to underline the growing interest in mobile play, Nokia, the world's leading handset-maker, will next week launch the N-Gage, a hybrid mobile phone and gaming handset. Has the games industry finally found a way into the hearts, and pockets, of a broader
audience?
PLAYING TO WIN
That certainly seems to be the case in South Korea and Japan, the world's most developed mobile markets, where handsets that support downloadable games have been available for two or three years. The proportion of users who play games on their handsets has risen to 15% in South Korea and 35% in Japan, spreading gaming beyond its traditional user base.
New gamers want something different from existing players. They want not an immersive experience, but a time filler, akin to doing a crossword, says Ben Wood of Gartner, a consultancy. Classic arcade games, such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders, are particularly well suited to mobile play. But Asian trends suggest that while such "retro-gaming" classics appeal to early adopters, the balance shifts towards simpler games, such as card games, as women and the middle-aged start to play.
The usual model is that users pay once to download a game, costing around $3. Some games are subscription based, and multi-player games, which are starting to appear, also involve extra charges. The market, worth $587m this year, is forecast to reach $3.8 billion by 2007, according to Informa Media Group; within four years 500m people--25% of mobile subscribers--will play on their phones.
Where does Nokia's new N-Gage fit in? With more processing power than other phones, it can run 3-D games such as "Tomb Raider", first designed for Sony's PlayStation console. Indeed, the N-Gage is not so much a phone optimised for games as a gaming device that happens to have a phone in it. Yet rather than aiming at the new, broader audience of mobile gamers, it is for "hardcore" users who want to play complex games on the move; a direct challenge to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, the top handheld games console.
Moving into an entirely new market in this way is risky, even for a giant such as Nokia. Worse still, Sony, which dominates the household-console market, has announced plans to launch its own handheld console, the PlayStation Portable, in 2004. But Ilkka Raiskinen, who runs the N-Gage project, insists that Nokia has a unique advantage: its understanding of mobile communications. N-Gage users
will be able to take part in multi-player games--with people in the same room via a short-range radio connection and with other mobile users via the cellular network. "Mobile and online gaming are the key trends in the industry," says Mr Raiskinen. The N-Gage is aimed at the intersection of the two. The Nintendo and Sony consoles, in contrast, will only allow wireless gaming with players in the same room.
But Nokia is in for a fight. The N-Gage costs twice as much as the Game Boy Advance and has far fewer software titles, notes Nick Gibson of Games Investor Consulting. Consumers may not regard the phone and multi-player capabilities as worth the higher price. Nokia must subsidise game development for a year or two, as games are not profitable until there is a large installed base of users. Finally, says Mr Gibson, Nintendo will fight hard to keep its lead in the handheld-console market, since it is in third place, behind Sony and Microsoft, in household consoles.
Nokia is simply getting into new markets while it can, reckons Mr Wood. Motorola, the number two handset-maker, is flailing, and Samsung, the number three, is growing fast but is still behind. "Nokia has a window of opportunity to take some gambles, and try to open up some new segments," says Mr Wood. It is strong in high-volume electronic devices. As well as the N-Gage, it has also launched a hybrid music-player handset. Last month it even unveiled a range of jewellery, to which users can beam images from their camera-phones. Of these
various bets, says Mr Wood, Nokia only needs one to succeed.
Nokia's move into the handheld gaming market, from an adjacent market which it dominates, is strongly reminiscent of Microsoft's decision to launch the Xbox console to challenge Sony. Like Microsoft, it is about to discover that the gaming market is deadly serious.