How To Get a Wii: A Lazy Man’s Guide February 11, 2007
Posted by David Kaye in : Games , 16 comments
Like many people, I’ve been trying to buy a Wii for a couple of months now. If you’re like me, however, the idea of hanging out in Best Buy/Target/EB holds no appeal, and you’re not going pay a premium on eBay either. There are ways to get a Wii with virtually no effort, however. I got mine a few days ago - here’s how.
Ubisoft Gets Into The Movie Business February 10, 2007
Posted by David Kaye in : Games, Movies , 10 comments
Top ten games publisher Ubisoft is to start producing CGI short films based on the company’s own intellectual properties. Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft’s CEO, had this to say:
“Video game production has progressively moved closer and closer to film and television production and this convergence will only intensify in the coming years,” commented Guillemot. “This natural evolution is accompanied by revolutionary changes in online distribution channels via the explosion of free and paid-for digital content. Today’s launch of a studio specializing in digital film creation will allow Ubisoft to be a pioneer in the domain for the years to come.”
This makes a lot of sense. In the short term, these films will be serve as fantastic marketing tools for upcoming titles when distributed across channels like YouTube and Xbox Live Marketplace - it’s no accident, I’m sure, that the first of these CGI shorts is for a new Ubisoft IP (Assassin’s Creed) rather than an established one.
Long term, this allows the company to build the in-house expertise to take major properties to other media when the time is right. Ubisoft is arguably one of the best positioned publishers to make a success of this, given their strength in creating original IP and doing innovative things with established ones such as Tom Clancy.
[via Kotaku]
The worst videogame trailer ever, and what it says about the mobile games business November 1, 2006
Posted by David Kaye in : Mobile, Games , add a commentIn case you missed the news: Oblivion Mobile was released on Cingular today.
“The Elder Scrolls(R) IV: Oblivion(TM) for mobile phones faithfully adheres to what The Elder Scrolls is all about,” said Douglas Frederick, President of Vir2L Studios. “In partnering with Superscape, we have built an incredible role-playing game for wireless devices that players are now able to take with them wherever they go.”
This is the game he is talking about.
Underground Bounty Hunter: The Interactive Movie Returns July 26, 2006
Posted by David Kaye in : Product Development, Games , 10 comments
Next Generation has an interview with one of the people behind a forthcoming web-based interactive movie called Underground Bounty Hunter. For anyone who’s unfamiliar with the term, Next Gen sums it up pretty nicely:
Interactive movies, or live-action games featuring branching stories, first appeared on the back of the CD-ROM in the early 1990s. After a noisy introduction, they were generally reviled for high costs, poor production values and limited interactivity. Game industry lore has it that such things are the mad offspring of Hollywood types who want to bring their skills to our audience.
Living as I do here in Los Angeles, I meet lots of people from the mainstream entertainment business with ideas along these lines. I will be making them read this article as a handy shortcut for explaining why you may want to think twice.
I had a quick poke around the site myself. Hey guys, if you’re reading this, I have three suggestions that will increase your chances of success by an order of magnitude. I’m not kidding.
Radar: NHN launches Ijji games portal July 7, 2006
Posted by David Kaye in : Avatars, Business, Games , 14 comments
NHN USA, the US arm of Korean online games company NHN, launched their US portal Ijji today.
Funny name.
The site features a mixture of flash and downloadable games, and the whole thing is pretty slick and shiny looking. The games’ production values are decent as well.
Community features include the obligatory customizable avatar (pictured), character levels, and a currency (gems) that are earned through gameplay. Right now the only thing you can buy with the gems is clothing for your avatar, but I’m sure will likely change.
All the games on the site are currently free, but it seems likely they’ll go with the ‘pay for stuff’ model that’s already commonplace in Korea and has been gaining traction here since, well, 1997 when Matt and my company Iron Realms started doing it.
Big thumbs down for the fake ‘user’ reviews on the front page. If you’re going to post fake reviews guys, try not to make them read so transparently like a PR rep wrote them (”How does your site provide games for free when you have to pay to play games on other sites?”), or at least don’t date them as having been posted ten days before the site went live.
Runescape is the 7th stickiest brand on the web June 30, 2006
Posted by David Kaye in : Business, Games, MMO, Product Marketing , 35 commentsBrowser-based MMO Runescape is the 7th stickiest brand on the web, according to Nielsen Netratings’ Megapanel. Stats like this always make me a little wary - they often say as much about the methodology as they do about the data - but it’s pretty interesting nonetheless.
It’s curious how, despite its size and the extent of its commercial success, Runescape remains a largely under the radar phenomenon. You can learn a lot from looking at the disparities between media hype and hard data, and the great thing about the Web in 2006 is that there are a ton of tools that make doing so easy and fun.
