Some inspiring examples of how TV can become interactive through the second screen…

I never heard of ‘the Boston tea party’ until last year when a friend of mine was making jokes about it. As it turned out he studied American History in the past and he explained what it was. It happens to be so, that in the game Assassin’s Creed there is a great deal of history as well. I noticed in Assassin’s Creed II and Revelations that you can learn a lot from all the buildings you climb, the different guilds and historical figures throughout the game and I am happy to see that Ubisoft is continuing to teach us more and more about history through their fantastic game Franchise: Assassin’s Creed. A violent game? Maybe. An action-packed game? For sure. A game in which we can learn what different religions and cultures have meant for our history today? Experiencing personal reflection of our  thoughts throughout the game? Definitely. Check out the video and you’ll understand what I mean…

It may sound strange to you, but it makes perfect sense to me!

Yesterday I was in a meeting with pwc (formerly known as Price Waterhouse Coopers), Activision (publisher of Call of Duty) and many other game-related companies to discuss the evolution of the games market in a broader perspective. pwc presented the sales figures of the gaming industry and we discussed the future of gaming and potential revenue streams.

Call of Duty is about to be launched in China, retail price: €0,-. What? Yep – a free-to-play version of the game! But how will they make money? By in-game transactions of course!

What surprises me is that first person shooters are still made for a broad audience varying from 13 year old kids up to guys my age, who -evidently – become less agile and desire a different type of gameplay. Speaking for myself I would really love to play a shooter like Battlfefield 2 again, where a commander and other roles can be played by the more ‘strategic / tactical’ players. I love RTS games like Command & Conquer or rather – Cossacks or Total War. Why can’t I deliver additional income to my team while playing an RTS so my ‘soldiers’ in Call of Duty, Counter Strike or Battlefield 4, can fight a war that I am funding?!
Sorry… this is beyond the point I wanted to make…

What I wanted to state here is that I, being 38 year old, would LOVE to be able to BUY a better gun instead of having to play over 300 hours to become a level 60 soldier. I would LOVE a game that required you to BUY bullets, grenades and a car, so gamers wouldn’t just ‘spray and play’ and throw numerous of grenades that kill me each time I respawn. I would LOVE to play a game where there are NO 14 YEAR OLD cheaters… but guys that are my age and play the game on a Monday evening while chatting on Skype and making silly jokes while at it… 😉 I know that Steam (the online webshop and social network for PC Gamers) could make the difference here!

In the end I think publishers can earn even more money than the ‘€60’ at once, by letting me play the game for free, but making me pay for bullets, gear, power ups, etc. Of course there should be a ‘balanced’ outcome in the sense that it can never be the case that ‘the richest’ player wins, but I think it could be an interesting test. Why not make a ‘limited edition assault rifle’ or ‘concept weapons’ that are available to just 1.000 players. Why not start with making players pay for bullets, grenades and in-game extra’s in a ‘free to play’ game? Why not letting me ‘pay per level’ instead of shoving a full game through my throat?

Let me know what you guys think!

The new PlayStation 3 has been announced. It will come to market in two appearances:

1. A 500 GB version

2. A 12 GB Flash Memory version on which you can connect an external Hard-Disk Drive.

The press release does not mention ‘cloud-gaming’ at all, but I would expect that the ‘flash-based’ version is all around that… ? It also surprises me that there is no mentioning of PlayStation+ in this release…? Not even the logo on the box….?

Completely  redesigning the internal design architecture,  the internal volume and weight of the new PS3 is reduced by more than half compared to the very first PS3 model with a 60GB HDD. By adopting a sliding disk cover, the new PS3 continues with the characteristic sleek curved simple body design, which fits various places in the home and enables users to enjoy an array of entertainment content.

Since the launch of PS3 in November 2006, the number of BD-based titles has reached more than 3,300 titles and downloadable PS3 games to 4,100 titles worldwide, with the support from a broad range of third party developers and publishers.

What is Mark Zuckerberg’s view on Facebook’s IPO, what does the future of social media hold in store?

The first interview with Mark Zuckerberg after the IPO launch of Facebook in 2012. It’s a bit blurry from time to time and the sound isn’t that well, but it’s worth watching if you LIKE Facebook… ;-P

We released our compliance game in October 2012 here in The Netherlands for 2.500 employees of Ziggo (a cable, internet and telephone company). It was a great succes as you can read here: http://www.brandnewgame.nl/bizz/projects/

The company below has a different proposition and chose to use a more ‘realistic’ cartoon style than we did, but it looks like a nice alternative and a great adventure compared to classical training, to ssay the least: it’s interactive!

Just check out these two videos…

I never spoke to my two best friends ever-since…

Voice Control – Call Lorence

Voice control – Call Marc

Wow – there must be a lot of gamers working at Nike’s office! Check out how they integrated data-driven digital design into their shoes! Together with a step-counter and your iPhone you can now keep track of your sporting progress and share it with friends whether you compete with your own records, wish to challenge them, or cooperate… Nike+ gamifies your sporting experience!