2011: A year of Games in a Review

This message was sent by Mike Gallagher, CEO and president of the Entertainment Software Association:

ESA's 2011 Year in Review

Dear Friends,

The word "historic" is overused, but as we look back on 2011, it is a perfect fit for our industry's year. The U.S. Supreme Court's vigorous affirmation of our First Amendment rights, a new array of artistically astonishing games, and educators' increasing recognition of the role games play in teaching and learning made 2011 a remarkable year and set the stage for a great 2012.

I want to thank all of you for supporting our industry as we faced a momentous challenge to the constitutional rights of our industry's artists and creators before the U.S. Supreme Court. Your support helped amplify our voice, and ensured the Court heard our collective concerns about the consequences of the Schwarzenegger-Yee law at the center of the case. The Court's landmark declaration that video games enjoy the same Constitutional protections as books, movies and fine arts was exactly what we hoped to hear. The importance of this decision, both for our industry and for all who cherish free speech, cannot be overstated.

While the legal news played out in Washington, the rest of the world continued to be amazed by the increasing sophistication of the games our industry produces. As Seth Schiesel wrote in The New York Times earlier this month:

"Game makers are producing more high-quality entertainment for a broader variety of players than they ever have in the past. No other form of fun melds advanced digital technology, personal engagement and mass-market cultural relevance as felicitously as video games. That is why video games are the ascendant form of popular entertainment."

Entertainment will always be the heart of our industry, but I would also note the growing awareness that exists about the positive impact games have on improving other top priorities for the American people, including our economy, our education and healthcare systems, the workplace and the arts. Consider just a few examples from this year:

• Art: Video games gained new appreciation as works of art, as their stunning graphics and captivating soundtracks attracted the art community's attention. The Smithsonian Institution announced that it will unveil a new exhibit dedicated to showcasing the incredible artistry within games at its American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. ESA is proud to sponsor the exhibit, titled "The Art of Video Games," which opens March 16, 2012.
• The Economy:  As many of you know, video game companies continue to post strong sales, with sales of game content, hardware and accessories generating $25.1 billion in revenue in 2010. Gamers' increasing interest in mobile, social and online play is a key component of this success, and we recognize The NPD Group's decision to begin reporting digital game sales on a monthly basis and the firm's new partnership with EEDAR that will help it do so. Their decision recognizes the significance of digital games to our business, and will provide a more complete picture of industry sales.
• Healthcare: Using an online game called Foldit, designed by Professor Zoran Popovic at the University of Washington, online gamers deciphered the protein that helps the HIV gene multiply. The protein stumped scientists for more than a decade, but the gamers unlocked it in just 10 days. While this is certainly a major breakthrough in the ongoing battle against AIDS, it also shows the unique power of our medium to solve incredibly difficult and complex problems.
• Education: In September, the White House launched Digital Promise, a public-private partnership aimed at incorporating technological tools, including games, into American classrooms. The program will support research and development efforts to identify effective teaching technologies, develop new approaches for rapid evaluation of new products and explore ways to expand the market for learning software.

Presenting some cool applied game cases

Check out this presentation bij PSFK - some really nice and creative cases even some that help to make the world a little better like my trash can run for which I am still looking for sponsors!

PSFK Future of Gaming Report [Preview]

View more presentations from PSFK

Serious Games on BBCTV

It's a documentary from 2010 I think.

Magician hacks Kinect in Microsoft

Some great tricks with Kinect technology! Thanks to my good friend Mike Schulmeister.

Ringtone special

Maybe somewhat off topic, but maybe relevant for some of you, or just nice to know...? Some facts about RINGTONES!


Created by: Music Production Schools target="_blank"

C&C Tiberium Alliances Beta test

The epic game Command & Conquer will come to the freespace on the internet! Join the beta now!

More information here

Zynga stocks available!

Zynga stocks are available since last Friday. The starting bid was $10 releasing 100.000.000 stocks (!) - so Zynga was aiming for a minimum of 1 billion dollars in public capital! 

The company was founded in July 2007 (less than five years ago!) by Mark Pincus and is named for his late American Bulldog, Zinga. Loyal and spirited, Zinga’s name is a nod to a legendary African warrior queen. 

Zynga's mission is to connect the world through games. Everyday millions of people interact with their friends and express their unique personalities through our games, which range from harvesting crops to building your business franchise, to playing poker. 

Through the company’s philanthropic arm, Zynga.org is committed to transforming the world through virtual social goods. Zynga players have raised more than $10 million for world social causes since Zynga.org launched in October 2009. 

Games that Zynga developed over the past four years are (amongst others): 

 CityVille – Build the city of your dreams. 

 FarmVille – Grow fruits and veggies and raise animals on your very own farm. 

 Words With Friends – Test your lexicon against friends in the #1 mobile word game. 

 Empires & Allies – Build your city, grow your nation and conquer the world. 

 Mafia Wars – Start a crime family. Run your mob businesses. Then take over the world. 

 Indiana Jones Adventure World – Grab life by the boulders. 

 Café World – Slice, mix, and grill your way to building the hottest restaurant on the block. 

 Mafia Wars 2 – Welcome to the dark side of social games. 

 CastleVille – Create your happy ending. 

 CityVille Hometown - Create the town of your dreams. 

Top Zynga Games (MAU): (According to AppData.com) 

CityVille 48 m 

CastleVille 35 m 

Zynga Poker 28 m 

FarmVille 31 m (this used to be 61 million in 2009 & 2010) 

Empires & Allies 16 m 

Words With Friends 13 m 

Adventure World 9 m 

Their User Numbers: (According to our latest S-1/A) 

 227 million monthly active users 

 2 billion minutes a day of play 

 4 billion neighbor connections 

 54 million daily active users 

 450 million social actions a day 

Some noble things that Zynga.org did in 2009 through 2011: 

Zynga is committed to transforming the world through virtual social goods. Zynga players have raised more than $10 million for several international nonprofits since Zynga.org launched in October 2009. Players have purchased virtual social goods within games like FarmVille, Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker that have benefitted earthquake victims in Haiti and to school lunch programs for children in Haiti. In 2010 Zynga players also helped to build the L'Ecole de Choix School in Haiti. Recently, Zynga players banded together to support victims of the deadly earthquake in Japan, and raised more than $3 million for Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund and Direct Relief International. had the opportunity to donate through more than 10 Zynga games, including FrontierVille, Café World, Mafia Wars and CityVille. In addition, following the devastating tornadoes in the Southern United States, players in CityVille, Mafia Wars, YoVille, Treasure Isle and Vampire Wars rallied together to raise more than $250,000 for Save the Children and Direct Relief International’s efforts. 

Below some more fun facts about Zynga in an infographic 

Gaming and the Millenials - a summary

I was reading this article about millenials based on research done by MTV Networks. A lot of their conclusions are stated in my book 'A Brand New Playground (www.brandnewplayground.com) and I summarized the essence of their study below: 


 Half of Millennials said "People my age see real life as a video game" and almost 6 out of 10 said "#winning is the slogan of my generation" (certainly #epic_fail seems to have become their anti-slogan!) 


Principle #1: Play fair or you are "fair game" (What I call 'Be Righteous' in my book): these days you can't bullshit your customers anymore. Be real and be fair and don't try to cheat you customer into bad (poor quality) - overpriced - products. 


Principle #2: Leverage the leaderboard  
People are always interested in 'how they're doing' compared to others. A leaderboard shows your position compared to other players and MTV links this to 'wanting to know' what price we pay for products and whether that price is fair. The internet is of course an easy way to compare prices. 


Principle #3: Smart-cuts, not short-cuts 
Gaming evokes intrinsic motivation to reach objectives. It's very interesting that in games we tend to search for 'work arounds' to achieve the same goal in many different ways where as in real-life most employees are used to do the same routine every day and actually are afraid to change their behavior because it might have a different result (or at least it creates uncertainty). 


Principle #4: Deliver dopamine/adrenaline fixes


Half of respondents in the MTV study — perhaps those more prone to Millennial micro-boredom — believe that "life can be less stimulating than gaming." The complementary game dynamic we found fascinating was "positive randomness" — if a game is too predictable, it is boring, but if there are too many random surprises, it is too complex. 


This can be explained by looking at the 'flow'-model where we continuously balance between frustration and boredom using the skills available to us to fight challenges we face... this is the same in real-life, which I will explain in my next book 'The Game of Life'. 

Principle #5: Hand over that joystick. 


Millennials are accustomed to having a voice, and having it heeded. And they're frustrated when big corporations don't give them a voice or a true "role" as a consumer in the game. In a game the player is always 'in control' (at least so it seems....). Instead of just sending advertising into the world brands should start a dialogue and start listening to their consumers and accept that THEY (consumers) are in control of our brands, not the marketing department.... 


 Read the full article here.

'Laat met je merk spelen' bijna uitverkocht!

Just to be disruptive a Dutch subject title today. It says: 'A Brand New Playground' almost sold out!

Of course I am referring to the Dutch version of my book. The first edition almost sold 1.500 copies so far in 15 months time. According to my publisher Kluwer this is good result for a book in such a niche-market that was written for Marketing Managers of which there are maybe 10.000 in The Netherlands. So I already sold my book to 10% of the market potential, which is excellent penetration! There are about 300 copies left, so if you want to get a hold of your copy of the 'eerste druk' (first release), order it here: www.bol.com or here www.managementboek.nl It - generally - is rated with 4 out of 5 stars - so don't take my word for it. If you send me a picture of yourself reading the book I will even hand sign it for you (Dutch residents only ;-)!

This is a Dutch review of the book in 2010 by Management Boek.nl
This is a Dutch review of the book in 2010 by Max Kohnstam:

The English version is still available for free through www.brandnewplayground.com

How many you say? Go figure!

During one of my presentations recently in the United Kingdom some one asked me how many game developers there are in the world. In my book I made an estimate that there would be at least 60.000 different kinds of boxed games available in the world since the beginning of the games industry in 1974. I wrote that in the beginning of 2009. Soon I learned that there were about 200.000 apps available for iPhone and that 70% of all downloaded apps are games (this was end 2010). The past year Android and Windows 7 phones have proven to become new 'handheld' gaming devices as well and with 500 million downloads for Angry Birds and a few million on WordFeud one can conclude gaming is mass-market. But still ... how many game developers are there globally woud you think? I said that I know there were about 20 big publishers in the world amongst them of course the 'console-owners' Microsoft, Nintendo and PlayStation, EA, Ubisoft, Activision and many others. But then - what is Steam? Is it a distributor, retailer or publisher? What is iTunes? Retail or publisher? What is Facebook, what is Google+ ... a gaming platform or a game publisher? It directly connects content with consumers so in that case it seems to be a publisher... ?

I just read a report on gamastura that there are over 750.000 registered game developers using Unity. 750.000 !!! Of which 200.000 are monthly active and releasing new games on a regular basis. These games are mostly web-based (or iOs / Android).

Read the article about Unity here: www.gamasutra.com

So how many game developers are out there...? I honestly don't know! And should we care? There are a lot, good ones, bad ones, mediocre ones, small and big. The only thing I hope is that game developers still start their companies with a burning desire to make great games instead of 'just' making money.
I recently held a presentation for students in Amersfoort and I really hope that they remember my first rule of entering this industry: do so because it is your passion, you love playing games and love making them! Don't enter this business to make money, because you will be disappointed and will never make it through your first three years. If you do everything you do with passion and dedication there is no doubt you will be successful, depending on how you define success of course ;-)

I guess life is not about quantity (how many) but always about quality (how well).

So be well - Be passionate!

If you would like to be game developer one-hunder-and-twentythree-thousand, check this blog first: http://www.gamedev.net/ 

Learning Faster by Playing Games?

Introducing Morten Geertsen - one of my new Bloggers to the Gaming & Branding Universe! This is his first article: a summary of a paper about the effect of serious gaming!

Here's the article:

Learning Faster by Playing!

I recently stumbled across this study on serious gaming: Transfer of Gaming – Transfer of training in serious gaming. If you are unfamiliar with the term, serious games are games used to teach something to a specific group of people. In other words: a learning tool with serious objectives.

Apparently it seems these days, companies and other institutions have increased their focus on such games. They see it as an attractive alternative to the traditional types of training. Here’s an example: A geography class might fly an airplane over a digital model of the earth to discover the location of various countries. Or a math class has to “catch” the correct answer to a math equation with the mouse. Maybe you remember one or two of such games if you look back at your school years. Also companies train employees by using such games to simulate the environment and real life practices of the work place.

The study answers the question, “Why do people play games?” Well, one major reason has to do with an evolutionary and developmental aspect. During play individuals perform new, unfamiliar activities and while doing this, they learn the “rules of the game”. They develop new skills and learn to adapt to new environments. Another important reason is related to the feeling of reward and being positively stimulated. Remember the rush of adrenaline you get when you score a goal in your favorite sport? This feeling makes us want to play the games because it feels good and is fun: Games for the sake of gaming!

With this in mind, we can see how serious games offer training possibilities for companies. A dynamic, interactive and rich learning environment is created to practice work-specific tasks to learn real life practice. These games give employees the opportunity for memorization, practice and forming elaborate cognitive structures or schema’s. They can be adapted to the individual learning needs and ability levels of learners, and that way offering relevant tasks at a level of desirable difficulty to strengthen the learning process.

The World Bank Institute is making a strong push for bringing Serious Games one step further with two leadership capacity building strategic games.

Companies can pass on knowledge about job tasks in a more stimulating and entertaining way than with traditional training programs. Research shows that games generally increase the motivational level. The games are expected to make employees more perceptive during the learning process, because the training is interesting and different from the usual types of employee training. The above implies that the use of games for training can be asolution for reaching groups of people who are not motivated by more traditional types ofeducation. But by making the employees motivated to learn, they will generally be more perceptive to the learning process. To illustrate this, I’ll quote a part of the actually study:

“In a tank gunnery training, a Space Invaders game is implemented as a bonus scenario. This requires the learners to perform their training tasks at ever increasing speed. As they like to play the Space Invaders game so much they are willing to spend their own time in the simulator and improve their skills beyond the training goals. It is also imaginable that players become so involved in a game that they start to explore other information or task elements related to the domain the game is set in.”

However, far from all such games are successful at transferring a recent amount of work knowledge to the employees. What makes some serious games successful in this regard?

Well, it is essential that the employees can see the similarity between the skills, knowledge and attitudes acquired by playing a game and challenges in real life. This mostly depends on what game industry specialist’s calls fidelity: To what extent a simulation looks and feels like tasks in real life in terms of physical measurable characteristics. Some games have almost no resemblance to reality and users playing them will only improve their ability to play that particular game. It will have no direct effect on the employees’ work skills. However, when having a strong focus on realistic, authentic practice, serious games are seen as powerful tools to strengthen the learning value and increase learners’ motivation to practice.

Companies might run into trouble when developing successful serious games. Not all tasks can be adequately converted into a game. Managers will have to identify the specific types of tasks, which have to be trained. Which skills to such tasks require? Can these skills be effectively trained in the game? Based on the knowledge about employees’ performance and learning processes, it will be possible to identify types of tasks that are better suited to train using game-based technology.

The study shows that serious gaming should be seen as a promising substitute for training. The amount of companies using serious games indicates the same. The games ensure that the employees are easily attracted to playing a game, are motivated to continue playing, and as a result: Learn! The entertaining qualities of serious games make employees more receptive to the learning process. Gamers typically emphasize the fun, engagement and flow aspects* of successful serious games. So although there might be barriers in successfully implement serious games into the workplace practice, the advantages make them a worthy alternative to traditional training programs that seem unattractive or expensive.

* The flow theory is explained in Bart Hufen’s book ‘A Brand New Playground’, which you can download HERE (link to www.brandnewplayground.com )

FRIDAY-FUN Joe Cartoon: Super Fly 2

This is an example of one of the first 'virals' ever! We used to share this stuff on floppy disks!

Fallout: Working pipboy 3000

NERD ALERT - NERD ALERT!

For all the people that play or have played Fallout 2 and 3... this guy just build his own Pipboy 3000... incredible what people sometimes do for the love of a game!

I must say I'm looking forward to Fallout 4, hopefully still singleplayer...

Facebook & Students... behavior & impact on grades

Via: OnlineEducation.net target="_blank"

Catch the MINI - Another Alternate Reality Game

Tokyo gets its own Getaway.

Jung von Matt's MINI Getaway reality game is coming to Tokyo after a successful launch in Stockholm last year.

The alternate reality game, in which smartphone users 'hunt' and then hold onto a MINI and win the real car if they are successful, is credited with doubling MINI sales in Sweden last year. You can ask yourself whether that was all thanks to this game, but still - doubling your sales sounds remarkable! Especially with a game concept that asks quite a lot from your users. In Holland Volkswagen did the same in 2009 / 2010 with Pak de Polo... (Catch the Polo), he or she that spotted the car could take it over by stopping the driver and getting into the car. The one that got to drive the car the longest of all contestants (in KM) during the month the game was played, won the car. 




Although the Japanese version works similarly as the version in Sweden (Stockholm), it is on a much larger scale; the Tokyo gaming area is almost 32 times larger, at 240 square miles. The app has also been made available for Android as well as iPhone. The campaign goes live on December 3 and runs for nine days. For more information go to: creativity online

Red Bull - Human Flight 3D Movie (trailer)

When I did my interviews with gamers in 2010 one of the far most heard answers on my question why they played games was: "Because it makes you do things you can't do in real-life, like being Bat-Man or Flying..."

This video shows you how we as people are pushing the envelope in real-life to explore what we weren't able to do in real-life that was described in the old books and movies (like flying). If Red Bull is the challenge - These guys are Red Bulls matadors in a good way...

It also shows you that the challenge of just flying seems not difficult enough, so we add extra rules to make it more interesting (a bigger 'mental' reward).

Way to fly Red Bull...

President Obama's Bilateral Meeting with Prime Minister Rutte of the Netherlands

Completely off topic - but the fact that I shook the hand of our Prime Minister Mark Rutte recently during a matchmaking session in the United Kingdom, I basically shook Barack Obama's hand through him ;-)

I am just proud I met him two weeks ago in the United Kingdom. He is very approachable and really pushing Dutch entrepreneurship in Europe and USA. I was in the UK to tighten strings between the Dutch and British game developers (and digital creative industry) and he was full of energy presenting during two high tea's we had in London and Manchester - Go Mark Rutte and Go Barack Obama! +1 I say!

I won't show these pictures anymore on my blog I promise - hahaha