http://www.mediapost.com/publications/ Mainstream consumers are slaying monsters and playing Tetris; here?s what you should be doing about it. en-us Copyright 2010 MediaPost Communications http://www.mediapost.com/rss Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:11:35 EST Last month was the annual DICE (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit, and there was one talk in particular that captured a lot of imaginations -- Carnegie Mellon University Professor Jesse Schell's "Design Outside the Box" talk, which covered Facebook, convergence, and the future of reality-based gaming. The biggest takeaway from Schell's presentation is that games that connect to reality, either by letting you compete with your friends, or by awarding you points for real-world activities, exert a special kind of psychological hold on gamers, especially casual gamers. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=124200Shankar Gupta <shankar@mediapost.com>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:45:21 ESTRemember the original "BioShock?" The pivotal scene turned the tables on the gamer in a profound way. Typically a game sits there and waits for the player to tell it how to proceed: Run over there. Hide. Wait for the guard to pass by. Yay! But for a few minutes, "BioShock" switched the nature of the game. Instead, the game said "this is what we want you to do, and you can't keep playing unless you do it. We can control you too." I've sometimes wondered what that experience would be like as a whole game. Thanks to "Heavy Rain," I need wonder no longer. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=123774Josh Lovison <>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:30:21 ESTAdobe is at an interesting crossroads. In terms of online media, the company is on top of the world, with incredibly high adoption rates of the Flash standard. But for mobile devices and systems in the living room, the company is furiously trying to expand its market, and is doing a pretty good job. This expanded footprint begs the question: Should Adobe think about advertising potential? http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122828Josh Lovison <>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:31:28 ESTWhenever a controversy around video game censorship arises, the main argument advanced by the anti-censorship side is that video games simply aren't for kids anymore -- as the hobby has matured, M-rated games are becoming more common, and more "adult" games that deal with serious themes are coming out. But to a certain extent, this argument rings a little hollow.... http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122437Shankar Gupta <shankar@mediapost.com>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:45:27 EST"Mass Effect 2" was released last week, and it's been an amazing experience. I was a fan of the first game, and even wrote about the psychological tricks it employed to add a feeling of personalization to what was mostly generic content. The second installment has reinforced and increased my desire for more interactive and personalized content, even if without the game elements. There are two things I've noticed with the most recent title that are worth considering: the emotional impact of forced projection, and the redefinition of water-cooler conversation. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=121967Josh Lovison <>Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:15:18 ESTApple's hype-laden announcement of the iPad has come and gone, along with 2010's full complement of feminine-hygiene-product-related jokes. Very few products have been the subject of more pre-launch rumor, and have had more rarefied predecessors. Thanks to the iPad's pedigree, casual game developers are salivating at the chance to develop games for the platform, and reach the huge audience that Apple has a conduit to through the iTunes store. But usability issues could temper this initial enthusiasm. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=121595Shankar Gupta <shankar@mediapost.com>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:15:32 ESTThe title of this post is "Will Net Neutrality Kill Cloud Gaming?" -- and no, that's not the wrong way around. While a handful of game developers just advised the FCC on the importance of net neutrality for the future of online gaming, and to an extent correctly so, there are cause-and-effects in play that also pose significant threats. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=121171Josh Lovison <>Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:15:58 ESTThe big entertainment headlines this week are all about "Avatar" breaking records and earning over a billion dollars in box office takings, faster than any movie in history. But among techie-er pubs, "Avatar" is sharing headlines with Activison's latest mega-hit, "Modern Warfare 2," which has also taken in a billion dollars since its November release, securing its status as one of the best-selling games of all time, along with some time in the mainstream press spotlight. Along with that mainstream attention is certain to come some controversy. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=120737Shankar Gupta <shankar@mediapost.com>Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:00:43 ESTAlmost two years ago I wrote a post here about how an announcement that week was going to revolutionize portable gaming. I was talking about the announcement of the iPhone SDK and the pending availability of native apps. Now, it's hard to step away from the clarity of hindsight, but at the time this was a controversial point. Games were already available on mobile -- why would the iPhone be any different? Well, an announcement this week poses a new point of controversy: What will the Nexus One mean for the prospects of Android-based portable gaming? http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=120301Josh Lovison <>Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:30:18 ESTNearly anyone who's active on Xbox Live is aware of Gamerscore points, awarded for achieving certain in-game goals. They're not used for any sort of material gain -- they're pure ego, a way for gamers to compare their chops with other gamers. And people take them very seriously. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=119411Shankar Gupta <shankar@mediapost.com>Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:00:28 EST