I haven't given 9Dragons a lot of love lately since my focus is on BOTS right now. However, check out some recent stories.
IGN's coverage includes extensive interview and fighting styles guide. With images and video.
Joystiq had a blurb today.
That is all, carry on.
This is a little bit self-serving but you're reading the 100th post on Branded Newb. Just a little milestone that I'm kinda proud of.
Here are some other stats and what I learn from them:
From Reuter's Oddly Enough:
"Keep your kisses short in Tangerang-
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Unrelated people who kiss each other on the lips for more than five minutes at public places in the Indonesian city of Tangerang will face arrest, local media said Friday."
Do I really want to read between the lines here? No, no I don't.
Get it? Get it?! Hee hee, too funny!
Lara Croft takes the Guinness title of "Most Successful Human Video Game Heroine". Next Generation article here.
Good ol'Guinness, always trying to stay relevant but ending up irreverent. Can we cross reference her success with her... oh nevermind, I won't go there. I'm sure they keep other records for the industry but this particular one doesn't do it for me. It's like saying:
For the hotel industry: Paris Hilton, more famous than any other Hilton.
For religion: Tom Cruise best evangelist of the year (by the way, it might not be his baby).
For online advertising: Lower My Bills most recognized ad units.
I apologize for the cynicism lately but I'm just not very excited about news that's not news. Like rain in World of Warcraft.
As a marketer, I understand why these things happen, you grasp for any news that'll stand out. As an industry watcher, this is a sign of increased culturalization of the industry, which part of me thinks is a good thing. As an advocate for the industry, I'm tired of it being represented this way. We're better than that.
So just a few days ago, I posted about GM's foray into consumer generated media with the Chevy Tahoe create your own ad site. In my post, I said the best thing for GM to do was to take advantage of all this excitement and start talking to consumers.
That's exactly what they did today. In an exceptionally well-written post, Ed Peper, the Chevy General Manager responds to the whole situation. Here's some interesting things he's said:
"Early on we made the decision that if we were to hold this contest, in which we invite anyone to create an ad, in an open forum, that we would be summarily destroyed in the blogosphere if we censored the ads based on their viewpoint. So, we adopted a position of openness and transparency, and decided that we would welcome the debate. (As an aside, we have been truly disappointed by the number of submissions we had to filter out because of their vulgar content.) I won't bore you with the details, but the overwhelming majority of the 22,000 submissions thus far have been earnest attempts at creating positive advertisements.
Now that the debate has begun, I'd like to remind everyone of some indisputable facts:"
He goes on to list quite a few selling points, as you'd expect. Then he wraps up with this:
"So, a few media pundits seem to think this social media program was a failure and others seem to revel in the apparent anarchy. We, on the other hand, welcome the opportunity to clarify the facts regarding fuel economy, vehicles equipped with E85 capability, and consumer choice. In our opinion, this has been one of the most creative and successful promotions we have done.
Anyway, it sure got people talking about the Tahoe. Which was the whole idea, after all."
I can't think of a better way for them to approach the situation. I'm actually very impressed with the openness and "water off a duck's back" approach to the negativity. I really think they get it. They understand what CGM is about; the openness and the invitation for both the good and the bad. They're engaging in conversation about the negativity and they're staying on target.
Have I mentioned I'm impressed? Nice job guys.
See the post on GM's FastLane blog here.
Dear Citizens of Los Angeles and Citizens of Azeroth,
It has come to my attention that it has started raining in your neck of the woods. I know this because of the inordinate amount of recent media coverage about your weather. For example:
MTV with "...A Storm on 'World of Warcraft"
KABC TV with "SoCal Braces for Three Days of Rain"
Congratulations, you got some rain. Excuse me... but "Whoop-dee-freak'n-doo!"
Look, I don't know if you've noticed, but it also rains in other parts of the world. It rains in Portland and Memphis, it rains in Norrath and Vana'diel. Get over yourself.
Rain is nothing new or unique. It will neither ruin or enhance your life in any significant way (unless you stupidly live on a hill in LA, you poor poor bastard). So let's suck it up and stop making a big fuss out of it. Then the media guys can move on to something more important. Like this incredibly important journalistic piece about what it's like to be a booth babe(via Kotaku).
Yes, that tangy smell in the air is sarcasm. I accidentally spilled a bunch all over this post and club soda is not doing a dang thing! =)
Peter: Why?
Egon: It would be bad
Peter: I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad"?
Egon: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Peter: Right. That's bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon
Remember what happened when they crossed the streams? Oh yeah, good times.
It's happened. Streams have crossed! Apple OS and Windows on the same computer! A power surge of epic proportions. You boot up your computer and choose your OS. (BTW, this is legit, not the hack some dude did few weeks ago). NY Times article here.
Ok, so why do I bring this up? Because this has relevance for gamers. Follow me here:
This Apple+Windows thing is the final omen for the end of PC hardware differentiation. We have reached true commodization of hardware (It's ok, Apple will kick ass on design and function).
Now how far away do you think it'll be before consoles are the same way? Probably not very far from now. Imagine in the near future...
All major games are released on all platforms. Almost all of them look identical. When the online boom happens, most games will be played online. There's also a move towards online play being across platforms (Think FFXI with PC and PS).
So now we're all playing the same games online, at the same time. I doubt hardware differentiation is going to survive much longer in this scenario. The first signs of the end will come with price. You'll see a price war that will be bloody. (Think Dell lowering the perception of PC prices)
Someone will step up and compete on design and function (Think Apple). Ultimately, design will only last so long, hardware differentiation will be replaced by services. Using your Samsung game console, will you be an Xbox or Playstation club member? Well, it depends on which one gives me better services; cheap packages to virtual worlds, storage for my game items, better integration with my personal data cloud and devices.
Ok, sorry to go sci-fi on you but I hope you see what I'm getting at. Consoles are lasting a little longer than PCs but that's only because of the content for consoles is still platform-based and retail. Imagine if several years ago, software had to be sold depending on if you had an IBM, Gateway or Dell. That would have been a disaster for all involved. The same forces apply to consoles. I can't imagine it would really last much longer this way.
Online, it's the place to be. Come, drink the kool-aid.
My post about SnagIt from earlier in the week... I have an update.
My great friend and mentor Andrew T. was the one that actually clued me in on this tool, about a year ago when we were working together. I forgot to credit him and he got all sad on his blog.
Here you go buddy. You have the rightful claim to firsties!
There's a lot of buzz lately about GM's new campaign for the Chevy Tahoe that lets people make their own commercials. Needless to say, people have not behaved. Visit here.
The background:
GM launched this latest ad campaign on Trump's The Apprentice (btw, not my fav season). As part of the campaign, users are invited to visit the site where they can create "the best Tahoe online commercial" for a chance to win... nope, not a Tahoe but some fancy trips. A visitor goes to the site, picks different video clips, music and text messages... then viola, their own commercial. The site is not ground-breaking by any stretch of the imagination, it's been done before with much more interesting content =).
The buzz:
Bloggers have been talking about this for a few days. Most of them have called it a mistake. They're saying: It was a sad attempt at consumer generated media. Not like the cool Converse thing at all. GM is yet another clueless corporate poser trying to be cool. What a disaster.
You can read some articles here, here and here.
My take:
If you haven't played around with it yet, go ahead. You need to experience it before any of this makes sense. Before you go, I dare you to try to play around with it and NOT make fun of the car. It's almost begging for it. Go ahead, it's here.
See what I mean? It's fun. Guess what? You've also engaged with their brand. I think the bloggers are partially right. They were asking for it. But I also think it can still be called a successful CGM campaign. That's the nature of CGM, you can't control it. You don't want to control it.
Sure, they got a bunch of people sending bad commercials around but people don't buy or not buy cars based off of graffiti-esque commercials. They buy cars on brand recognition, price and features (I used to help sell Nissans). Getting people to talk about your brand is important.
What I see from this for GM is an opportunity. They've essentially created a channel for consumers to speak out, albeit a weird channel. But hey, it's a place to listen and see what people are saying about your brand. That's incredibly valuable and worth a few bad comedic commercials.
Next Generation brings an interesting article by David Cole of DFC Intelligence: "How Online Services Will Shape the Console Wars".
It's a long article and worth reading but here's the most interesting tidbit:
"The short glib answer is that online games will probably be a more important feature for console systems over the next several years, but once again the traditional retail model is likely to be the dominant driving factor when it comes to how the new game systems build an installed base."
I think he's spot on. It will take a revolution (not the Nintendo variety) to wean the console giants away from the retail model. Everything they do depends upon it and they just can't get away from it without significantly changing how they do business.
I have no doubts they will jump full force into the online world. Unfortunately, there is only a limited set of games that are worth playing online right now and most of them are FPS. Significant online activity will definitely happen within this console generation, but it's probably 2 or 3 years out.
Hopefully, that's enough of a headstart for us to get some good content and systems in place.
Wired has a story on Asian gaming and the micropayment (or cash store) system. It's a topic that'll be familiar to readers of this blog but it's a good primer for those that don't know what's going on. Here's a good quote from a game consultant (man, those guys are good at talking):
"Microtransactions make Asian games more fun," said Nicole Lazzaro, president of XEODesign. "In games where people play together, the value of the game increases with the number of players. Everyone understands that $10 per month adds up to $120 per year. This big commitment limits the market. A free game removes the barrier to entry, connecting as many of a player's friends as possible. It is easy to spend more than $10 a month in one-dollar-and-fifty-cent impulse purchases."
Another consultant talks about finding the female audience:
"Female players, rare in Western gaming circles, are in ample supply in Asia. In fact, they're a coveted demographic. Korean developers have learned they can draw teenage users of both genders by winning over the women first. "They tell me, 'If we get the girls, the boys will follow,'" said [Michael] Steele [of Emergent Game Technologies]."
They make it sound so easy, I just want to jump right in and start using micropayments and pay female gamers to sign up! Unfortunately, it's not easy. Bringing these systems to the U.S. or State-side developers trying to get into this market has been extremely difficult. Remember the story about the Country Mouse and the Town Mouse? It's all about what you're equipped to handle and the limits of adapting to a foreign environment.
Systems like micropayments, are not independent of the culture and history that gave birth to them. Korean gaming culture was built on a foundation from a short game experience (StarCraft) rather than a long endless one (Everquest). Korean PC Cafes sprung up everywhere, catering to short, fun group experiences which appealed to casual gamers, including women. As interest grew, more games were created to serve this market. But as Lazarro points out above, there's no way one person could afford to try every game if there's a $50 purchase and $10 subscription involved. The best solution for Korea was a micropayment system.
Unfortunately, my Country Mouse cousins, micropayments may never be that successful in the U.S. market. In addition to the point I just made, some U.S. publishers are already screwing it up. Oblivion (not a free game at all) is charging players real cash for special horse armor (Joystiq covers the story, note the very negative comments). If you're not going to do it right, don't mess it up for the rest of us.... gaaah, stupid Microsoft!
Anyways, I don't pretend to know what the solution is but I think we need to tred carefully. I, for one, am going to throw everything out there and see what sticks. More than likely, it'll be a hybrid of many different methods.
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