On a recent visit to GDC 2012 in San Francisco a few weeks back, I was impressed with several conference sessions. One that stood out for me was from the CEO of Applifier, Jussi Laakkonen. He lead a couple of sessions but one of the interesting Ah Ha moments for me in the week was a particular session [...]
Keeping up with the Kardashians… as transmedia???
When talking with some colleagues recently, we were discussing why ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians‘ is so popular. Sure it is a proven reality format and a relatively interesting family but when I started looking at it further, I considered the show, or more importantly the property, as a transmedia experience. And that perhaps this [...]
‘Gamification’ by PizzaHut
Call it a dirty word or not, but companies are embracing Gamification in neat and novel ways. Take a look at the US Pizza Hut ‘game’ for iPad that challenges you to make a Pizza. Reminiscent of Cooking Mama (but only for Pizza), you need to progress through different levels to create and cook your [...]
Envelop App for ABC Spicks and Specks, top paid app in Entertainment
It has only been a few weeks since launch but the application is going well and has been at the top of the entertainment category in the iTunes app store all week. We are working with the ABC to update and refine some of the gameplay and hope to have a new version out very soon in [...]
Envelop gets funding from NSW Digital Media Initiative
At the announcement of Digital Sydney last week, the Deputy Premier also announced 20 companies that would receive funding under the Department of Industry and Investment’s new Digital Media Initiative. This is great news for Envelop who will pick up some funds to develop a prototype for a new social diary game on the Facebook [...]
The real value of virtual goods – time.
With talk of the Virtual Goods market reaching over $2billion dollars this year, there has been much dismay about why people would invest in virtual goods. Made popular by Farmville (and others), these virtual goods are items that people can buy with real money in a game, that add to their experience. At many conferences [...]
Amazon Studios – the future or just a reimagining of the past…?
While I am excited about Amazon Studios recent launch, I am not sure I really get it. It is certainly admirable (and smart) for a company like this to tap into the budding film making community of students and wannabe dreamers around the world, however it also seems to be a little narrow minded to [...]
Why Neighbours will become a World of Warcraft
Just had an article published in the AFTRS Journal, Lumina on why I think Neighbours will become a World of Warcraft. A version of the paper was presented at Game Connect Asia Pacific 2010 (GCAP) last month. Here is the intro paragraph… When conducting some recent research into the topic of Interactive Narrative, I started [...]
Working out what the iPad is good for… (my first thoughts)…
Into my second week of the iPad now and it seems clear(er) to me now what it is good for. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy playing with it but I have also been trying to work out what role it will play alongside the rest of my devices. The obvious thing (which all [...]
