Author Archive
Casual Gaming appeals to a different demographic
I have a confession to make. I am a casual gamer, and, if I am being brutally honest, prefer solo action to anything social.
Trying to fit gaming time into my fast-paced 21st Century existence can be a struggle. The constant demands of being available 24/7 either through my smartphone or the joys of constant Internet access means that the majority of my console access is taken up by short bursts of activity. Thirty minutes here and there — occasionally I treat myself to an hour of Batman: Arkham Asylum and if there is nothing pressing in my life I can lock myself away in Grand Theft Auto for an undetermined time.
Even when I get the chance to travel with my PSP, the limited battery life means that extended play is not always possible.
But are Casual and Social Gaming taking over Nation’s collective idea of what videogaming is all about?
(more…)
Tags: Blue Fang Games, casual gaming, facebook, Farmville, Jon Radoff, mobile gaming, Op-Ed, social gaming, Turbine
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Some of us have experienced the joys of waiting for a bus. The longer you wait, the less likely it seems that one will actually show up. Then two will appear at the same time, both seemingly running to a schedule of their own choosing.
Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios are, at the moment, doing exactly the same thing.
For months, the silence from Schilling’s team has been deafening. One week after their forthcoming appearance at Comic-Con in San Diego, Calif., “Project Mercury” — the code name of 38 Studios’ first release — has trickled into the public consciousness. But the news that the studio is mulling over a proposed $75 million relocation to Providence, R.I. has brought the Company firmly into the spotlight. (more…)
Tags: 38studios, away from the hub, Boston Globe, Boston Government, Company News, Curt Schilling, loan guarantees, Mass High Tech, Op-Ed, Rhode Island
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Schilling's Project Mercury...or Anna Chapman's new view?
For those of us who still fondly remember the Cold War, this week has brought back happy memories.
Average people with normal names, living unremarkable lives that had a constructed sheen of respectability disguising their true intentions. Spies, in the pay of other organizations, hiding behind created identities to ensure that they could complete the missions they had been ordered to perform.
At the same time as “Anna Chapman,” “Tracy Lee Ann Foley,” and “Donald Howard Heathfield,” were being told that their time in the USA was over, World of Warcraft creators Blizzard, were informing their 11 million subscribers that they would have to post any comments on their onsite forums under their real names to stop the forums becoming “a place where flame wars, trolling and other unpleasantness run wild.” Also last week, locally-owned 38 Studios, operated by former Red Sox slinger Curt Schilling, came clean about what they’re working on… kind of. (more…)
Tags: 38studios, Cold War, Comic Con, Company News, Curt Schilling, Dejobaan Games, Disrupter Beam, Op-Ed, secrecy, World of Warcraft
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Go Ahead, Make My Independence Day
On July 4th, 1776, this nation became independent of the financial constraints that had been imposed by an overseas power and became self-reliant. Every year since then, this momentous event in American history has been celebrated with fireworks and community gatherings to raise a glass to the visionaries that established the country as an independent state which was no longer subordinate to the whims of a parent entity.
Independent, Autonomous, Self-Governing, Self-Reliant and Self-Sufficient.
The United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. In many ways that could be the perfect background for a video-game, one in which the player has to battle against overwhelming odds to make his way through the numerous obstacles that the Land of the Free represents and which can be the difference between success and failure.
This week, following the E3 Conference, the nominees for the Game Critics Awards 2010 were announced (as reported by Bostinno’s Jennie White). Bearing in mind the exciting new game platforms that will be hitting our shelves later this year – including the introduction of 3D gaming – there were few surprises, with the domination of major corporations continuing to set the pace for game development. (more…)
Tags: Boston Indies, Dance Central, Dejobaan Games, Edu, Fire Hose games, harmonix, independence day, macguffin games, Op-Ed, Playstation Move, Turbine
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Question: How many lawyers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Answer: How many can you afford?
I wanted to start with a joke because the law is no laughing matter. Law is a serious business conducted by serious professionals who have endured many years at college to ensure that they are fully qualified to explain the problems that you will inevitably face in whatever part of your life has brought you into their presence.
For me, the topic of the law meant a chance to sit down with Steven Shapiro of New Leaf Legal to discuss how having access to a lawyer can be a benefit to anyone in the startup community — even the single-person team.
On our television screens and in the movie theaters, lawyers have been portrayed as bloodthirsty ambulance chasers with little (if any) moral judgment who charge a fortune for inexplicable advice that confuses rather than clarifies. Lawyers are luxury and necessity wrapped in a sharp suit with expensive sunglasses.
But is this really fair?
It couldn’t possibly be: There are nearly 2 million lawyers in the United States. Seriously.
I had no idea what I was in for. (more…)
Tags: Company Profiles, Donald Trump, Edu, lawyers, New Leaf Legal, Prosperity Candle, Steve Shapiro, trademark law, Workbar
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Muzzy Lane explores different courses of history
As any student of American history knows, December 7, 1941 was a pivotal moment. That was the day when the policy of isolationism adopted by the USA in WWII was blown out of the water by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Full participation in the fighting in Europe became a formality – especially after Adolf Hitler decided that Germany would declare war on the United States as well.
But what if the Japanese hadn’t bombed Pearl Harbor? What if Germany had actually continued to comply with the 1919 Treaty of Versailles signed after the end of WWI and not violated the military restrictions placed upon them by the Allies? If the piece of paper that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain claimed in 1938 was an agreement from Hitler “symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again” was actually more than a waste of ink, then would Europe have been at war in 1939?
Muzzy Lane, a game-development company based in Newburyport, Mass., develop products that deal in just these kinds of ‘What ifs?’ and were one of the exhibitors at the recent Games Beyond Entertainment conference held here in Boston. Known within the industry as purveyors of Serious Games, they developed Making History: The Calm & The Storm, a strategy game that sold 45,000 units over both the educational and consumer sphere and are releasing Making History 2: The War of the World — a game that will concentrate on WWII — on June 22. (more…)
Tags: Adolf Hitler, Company Profiles, Edu, Education, Muzzy Lane, Participatory Chinatown, Pearl Harbor, Sandstone, Serious Games
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As the previews came to an end, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. With the exception of Tron: Legacy (being released in December 2010), the cinematic future looked bleak for those of us in love with immersive worlds. As the darkened cinema patrons rustled their snacks in anticipation, the latest video-game adaptation began to play.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a multi-million dollar movie directed by Mike Newell, the same director who scored with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), and backed by Jerry Bruckheimer, the man who adapted a cheesy ride at Disney World called Pirates of the Caribbean into a cinematic franchise that has grossed $2.7B worldwide. Prince of Persia has a good cast, quality stunts, and a requisite amount of CGI. It’s also expected to be the first in a series of action adventures starring the bloke from Brokeback Mountain.
Spoiler Alert: The best thing about this movie is the dodgy Persian entrepreneur operating illegal ostrich races.
As a movie, it is an adequate way to spend two hours if you have nothing more pressing in your life. As an adaptation of a successful video-game, Prince of Persia is another wasted opportunity to successfully merge the genres. It is not overly bad; it’s just not very good.
As a gamer and a film fan, it seems that Hollywood is determined to ensure that my trips to the cinema are destined to be bitter disappointments. It is no coincidence that, as we’ve told you before, many of the worst movies of all time are video-game adaptations. (more…)
Tags: Edu, Gaming, Jon Radoff, mario brothers, movies, Op-Ed, prince of persia
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As you know, last week BostInnovation posted a series of reports from the Games Beyond Entertainment Conference being held at the Harborside Hyatt in Boston’s Innovation District. (more…)
Tags: Games Beyond Entertainment, photos
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The running of a successful tech conference in Boston doesn’t just happen. It needs to be considered, thought through, organized and nurtured through to its conclusion. It must contain a mix of intellectual stimulation, measured opinion and dynamic presentations that leave the attendee wanting more. It also helps if the serious business of the day can include as much fun as possible.
The folks at Games Beyond Entertainment Week figured it out.
The Games Beyond Entertainment Logo
Having spent the previous three days in a world of health, education and the promotion of healthy behavior through immersive experience, Day 4 of Games Beyond started with a keynote speech that used the theory of ‘play’ to explain the dynamics of human interaction with gaming and how we seem to have forgotten why we play games in the first place.
Chaim Gingold, an Israeli-born developer living in California, was involved in the creation of Spore and his presentation mixed popular culture with an engrossing slide-show to fully demonstrate the theory behind “the human play machine.” He believes that play is hard to define but easy to understand and whilst it feels good to play, he thinks that game designers have forgotten this most basic of principles in that play should be a physically pleasurable activity.
For an hour, as images featuring Luke Skywalker, Cary Grant, Super Mario and Pacman flashed in front of our eyes, he threw out sound-bites such as “not game design, but play design.”
“Pacman is a constantly reversing power dynamic” and (bearing in mind the Games Beyond Entertainment Week goal to complete 1,000,000 dance-steps) “you don’t have to be a trained mover to enjoy moving through space.” All of these backed up his constant mantra of play being the important principle behind the desire for virtual immersion. (more…)
Tags: Chaim Gingold, Digitalmill, Games Beyond Entertainment, games matter, MIT Media Lab, Muzzy Lane, Serious Games
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Albert Einstein once famously remarked that “imagination is more important than knowledge.” If he had been in attendance at Day 3 of Games Beyond Entertainment — a week-long series of events focused on the future of “serious gaming” — a day dedicated to exploring the intertwined worlds of games and health, then it is possible he would have been hugely impressed by what was presented. Accessibility for disabled gamers, “exergaming,” the promotion of healthy behavior for kids with obesity, and a rock drummer attached to a heart monitor were just some of the exciting conversation topics yesterday.
Collectively, the day’s talks and panels gave attendees some insight into the future of Healthy Gaming.
Assuming Al would appreciate the joy of being immersed in a virtual world, even he would have acknowledged the stellar cast assembled yesterday by the organizers as A-List. Kicking off with a presentation by Dr. John Lumpkin of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who admitted that his teenage son’s interest in Dance Dance Revolution was his inspiration for wanting to utilize video games in healthcare development, the pace of inspiring talk on the future of gaming never flagged.
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Tags: Albert Einstein, Dance Revolution, Games Beyond Entertainment, Games For Health, harmonix, healthcare, Op-Ed, physical therapy, Playstation Move
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Games Beyond Entertainment does exactly what it says on the box. This is a conference where the serious aspect of gaming and development is taken to the extreme. Although most of the presentations so far in this week-long event have been by individuals who admit to being gamers, for them the business of gaming is not about pointless activities. For the minds being exposed during Games Beyond Entertainment Week, the game has to appeal to human motivation and the desire to provide solutions.
Yesterday, Day 2 of the event focused on emerging markets and communities. Three distinct threads were woven throughout the sessions: game accessibility for those with chronic or lifelong disabilities, the use of mobile games for purposes beyond entertainment and the opportunities that virtual worlds can provide in the field of healthcare.
Three tracks featuring 42 speakers and starting at 9:00am and finishing at 6:30pm?
If that’s not a serious gaming conference, I don’t know what is.
The presentations were a mixed bag of styles that used phrases such as “extrinsic motivation,” “self-determination theory,” “behavioral coping,” “breath therapy” and “human-computer interaction to demonstrate the adaptation of gameplay dynamics.” This was a day when the slightest lapse in concentration was not permitted, never has the term “serious games” been more apt. (more…)
Tags: human computer interaction, MeYouHealth, Rock Band, scvngr, Serious Games, visually impaired, well-being
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We all know that the video game industry is a serious business and that it’s not all fun and games. Gaming is an undeniable landscape for the creation of collaborative or competitive spaces through the visualization of the immersive worlds that we want to play in, but video games can provide edu-tainment as well as regular old entertainment.
With this in mind, this week Boston plays host to Games Beyond Entertainment Week, a gaming conference dedicated to providing a forum for exchange focused on serious game development. Organized by Ben Sawyer and Beth Bryant of Digitalmill Inc., and running from May 24th-28th at the Hyatt Harborside, the conference will feature a series of focused events that will showcase the use of games and gaming technologies beyond the normal associations that people have with video games.
Over the week, developers and researchers will participate in talks, demos and discussions to highlight such diverse subjects as accessibility, advergaming, tutorials and the impact that videogames can have on education. (more…)
Tags: Digitalmill, Games Beyond Entertainment, healthcare, Muzzy Lane, PAX East, Serious Games, Sony
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The Professional Wingman is running late.
Thomas Edwards claims to be a man who can seamlessly organize your lifestyle development and ensure that you can get “the best bang for your buck,” but it seems that the traffic is something that he can’t control. To be fair, Mr. Edwards does communicate his anticipated arrival time through a series of short text messages that ensure that I am not just sitting in the Back Bay Hotel waiting aimlessly for two hours. It also means that I know I have not been stood up.
Since meeting him at a DartBoston Pokin’ Holes event, I have been consumed with curiosity as to what exactly he does, and I must confess the whole idea of a lifestyle and dating consultant is something I’m uncertain about. It strikes me as the kind of venture that would only work theoretically in a moderately successful Hollywood Rom-Com, Possibly starring Will Smith.
When Thomas does appear, he apologizes for keeping me waiting and, after removing his mirrored shades, suggests that we grab a quick beverage to “take the edge off.” Never one to turn down the chance to chat with a pint in my hand, the offer is accepted and we settle down in the comfy chairs so that he can explain why his brand of startup is exactly what the tech-savvy (but perhaps socially-uncomfortable) BostInnovation readership needs to be aware of.
Limiting the conversation to a healthy fifteen minutes, I will learn that Thomas, 24, has known heartache and pain, believes that we need to shift our focus from dating to social fulfillment, and provides his Wingman services not just to the guys but for the gals as well. (more…)
Tags: Company Profiles, dating strategy, Edu, hitch, lifestyle consultant, professional wingman, thomas edwards, wingman university
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This movie swaps the trend of film to game, by trying to make movie magic out of a blockbuster game series
In the summer of 1975, a film set on Amity Island in New England and starring a great white shark was released in cinemas across the country. For audiences, it meant 120 minutes of adrenaline, and it was so effective as a cinematic experience that many who had been swimming in the ocean their whole lives re-considered. Moviegoers rushed to see it; word of mouth spread, and the summer blockbuster was born.
The film, of course, was Jaws — Steven Spielberg’s aquatic horror movie filmed in and around Martha’s Vineyard. It became a cultural phenomenon and set the tone for what consumers could expect from entertainment. In the summer of 1977, Star Wars entered the arena and enjoyed a spectacular period of success as well.
Fast forward to May 2010 and we have entered blockbuster season once again — a time of year when the big budget movie fills the multiplexes and works hard to persuade us to immerse ourselves in the world of the corporate filmmaker. Already, Iron Man 2 is making it’s mark on the box office. Later, Robin Hood will attempt to banish the memory of Kevin Costner and before the end of the month we will see the return of Shrek and Carrie Bradshaw in the new Sex and the City 2 (although they have never been seen in the same room together.)
For gamers, May 27th will be the latest attempt to turn a best-selling video game into a watchable movie when Prince of Persia hits the screens. That day, the film’s financeers will be hoping not to have another Tomb Raider on their hands. Within the realm of pop culture, a great many films have been turned into video games. Prince of Persia will attempt to take a fantastic gaming experience and turn it into a blockbuster. (more…)
Tags: blockbusters, Green Day, harmonix, Martha's Vineyard, Op-Ed, PaxEast 2010, Red Dead Redemption, Rock Band, Rockstar
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