Friday Fun: K-Swiss Blades by Kenny Powers ... FOR ADULTS ONLY....!

Don't watch this if you hate swearing and stuff...

Friday Fun: Build a calculator in Minecraft - the game

I heard there was a guy that build a giant living calculator in Little Big Planet from Niels Roodenburg (Publisher of the biggest gaming magazine in the Netherlands), but this is even more impressive! A guy that build a WORKING calculator in Minecraft... how many hours of work have gone into this project do you recon...? It probably contains more than 500.000 building blocks!!!

Re-mission Revisited: Fighting Cancer

By Morton Geertsen 

Reading a book can be like following a path of unique field knowledge and insights. I remember discovering the strange fields of math, or learning about the rules of creation in 3d programs. However, although a book interacts with you in terms of its ideas, which challenges you, you remain a relatively passive participant. This affects the learning process, which are at the risk of being weakened, as the participant quickly and easily can lose motivation. After all, the initial motivation that makes a person open a book, watch a TV program or listen to the radio, might change: Leaving the participant with no reasons for continuing the learning process.

A Brand New Playground gives life to the idea that the best games succeed in creating a highly beneficial learning curve by making the participant engage in the process – and thus “wake up”! A Brand New Playground proposes: “Where watching a movie is a relaxing activity where you can lean back or even slump on the couch, you are a passive participant; a game generally requires active consumer participation and generates a high level of involvement – stronger yet: the person playing the game even dictates the course and outcome of the game!”

The above quote meets further scientific backup, stating that indeed game offers a unique way of learning, which potential is hidden in its ability to involve players: "Active involvement in video game play sparks positive motivation in a way that watching and hearing information does not," says Steve Cole, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Development at HopeLab, professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and co-author of the article. He continues: "All participants in the study received the same information. It was the active participation in gameplay that made the big difference in motivation. This study helps refine our 'recipe for success' in harnessing the power of play in the service of health."

This statement is part of a study, investigating the effect of a new serious game called Re-Mission, targeted young cancer patients. In Re-Mission players pilot a nanobot named Roxxi as she travels through the bodies of fictional cancer patients destroying cancer cells, battling bacterial infections, and managing side effects associated with cancer and cancer treatment.

As the most essential finding, this study shows how reward-related activation is associated with a shift in attitudes and emotions that has helped boost players' adherence to prescribed chemotherapy and antibiotic treatments in a previous study. Check out the video below to get a first-hand impression and initial opinion on how well the concept has been carried out.

The study compared brain scans in 57 people who were randomly assigned to actively play Re-Mission or to passively watch the same recorded game play (similar to watching a movie, with the exact same information, but no direct participation in the game play events). Results of functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) showed that neural circuits implicated in reward activated strongly while players were actively playing Re-Mission, but not when they were resting, or when other players passively observed the same game play events.

The article on PRWeb.com, despite its slightly exaggerated nature, gives some relevant insights: This and other recent studies could prove a change in how both game developers and health care professionals think of games as a learning tool. As a growing body of research data shows that digital games can positively alter the players’ attitude and behavior, the interest and realized potential of "serious games" and "games for health" is gradually increasing. Although the main idea has existed for a long time – the idea that games’ ability to involve players improves motivation and thus learning – the added scientific value of such studies should not be underestimated, when health care institutions and governments consider games as a way of reaching their goals.

In A Brand New Playground there is a reference to the work of Gordon Calleja analyzing the aspects of involvement. These aspects are affective involvement, spatial involvement, narrative involvement, tactical involvement, performative involvement and shared Involvement. Looking at the game through the lenses of these various terms, can help us understand the effect of Re-Mission.

Spatial and tactical involvement is particularly important, because the rules that required you to win and the tactical understanding of the game, is inevitably related to the way the treatment of the patients/players works. Furthermore the similarity between the game story and the real-life situation of patients/players, makes narrative involvement especially strong, as participants can identify with the feelings of fighting cancer. It is not an option to interact with other players/patients in-game – however shared involvement can be expected to happen outside of the frames of the game, as patients most likely will discuss the game with other friends, who are in a similar situation as themselves.

Re-Mission was developed by non-profit organization HopeLab, specialized in the improving the health of young people through new technology. The game has distributed more than 185,000 free copies of Re-Mission in 81 countries worldwide since its release in April 2006.

Remember a game called FarmVille?

The game launched in 2009 and is still one of the most popular games on Facebook, let alone all the clones that have followed like CityVille, CastleVille and TrashVille (a non Zynga game)...

Below some useful and useless facts in a good old info graphic...

SmartGate - The Game E-Learning Award Nomination

Cool! We have been nominated for an e-learning award for the games IJsfontein developed for Air Cargo Netherlands, Dutch Customs and Schiphol airport. The games where developed to get 'smart-working and e-freight' across within the Airfreight sector around Schiphol Airport.

We already won an award in the United States in 2011, but now apparently we have been nominated for an e-learning award in our homeland - which is great as well of course!

Check the game trailer of the first game below and the presentation underneath! We can finally share some results in terms of gameplay, high score development, amount of plays (3 on average per visitor) and some other stuff. Go check it out and let me know what you think @BartHufen on Twitter!

SmartGate - the game results

View more presentations from Bart Hufen [BrandNewGame]

Rooted - a short story about love & life

Produced by students from the School of Arts Utrecht (The Netherlands).

JOURNEY - Official Trailer HD 720p

Breathtaking and evokes my curiousity!

Available in the PlayStation store now...

Friday Fun: If Games Had Super-Easy Mode

Thanks to my silly (and super intelligent) co-worker @Ziggo: Robin ;-)

Bart Hufen in the Top 20 Global Gamification Guru's!!!

It's fun to Google your name from time to time, especially when you have a rather unique name like 'Hufen'... since there's just one 'Bart Hufen' (up to now) - you tend to get a fair idea of how you mutualized your 'online privacy' in the past ten years.


I googled my name yesterday and 181.000 hits came up. Of course they're not just exclusively about me, but I estimate 90% of all hits are.

I killed some time reading through the results and found out I am in a 'Top 20 -list' of 'Global Gamification Guru's' ! Of course I was honored, because it's fuel for my ego! ;-) I'm currently holding position 12 (coming from place 50) and I will make it my goal to hold the first position any week soon in the upcoming year!



You can help me by Twittering and Sharing all my upcoming articles! ;-)

Thanks so much!!!

BRIC Games - Some Number Crunching for you

Another article by Morten Geertsen 

Cutting to the core: Numbers across emerging gaming countries

Previously, markets such as social gaming in Brazil and gambling in Mexico have been covered to give some perspective on the global gaming market – and to inspire readers from the established gaming markets, Europe and America, with stories and reports from emerging markets. Today we’re hitting some hard facts, drawing comparisons and highlighting differences between some of the world’s emerging gaming markets, when referring some of the statistics presented in last summer’s report, Monetizing Emerging Games’ Markets. These will be America, Spain, Russia, Brazil and Mexico.

Which platforms are the most popular?

Anyone wondered what the most popular platform is right now – console games, mobile devices or casual websites? We see that overall mobile is in fact the 'biggest' platform. In most countries it is among the top three in terms of number of gamers per platform. Although for many readers this might of no surprise, this means that the number of players on the move has leveled to a very impressive height. However the different between casual website gamers, mobile device gamers and console gamers rarely differs much between the five countries, America, Spain, Russia, Brazil and Mexico.

Who plays vs. who pays?

When looking at the payers vs. players ratio for massive multiplayer role playing games (MMO), it becomes clear that the US not only has the highest number of MMO payers but also by far the highest percentage of MMO payers compared to Spain and emerging markets. 43% of all MMO players in the US pay for MMO games. In emerging markets, the average percentage of MMO payers is about 35% of all MMO players.

Zooming in on social game payers vs. players ratios, it can be said that the percentage of payers amongst social players is on average (almost) equal when comparing the US with emerging markets. Social payer’s percentages vary between 25 and 27% in these countries. With only 16% of social players actually paying for social games in Spain, it becomes clear that Spanish social gamers are not keen on paying for it. However, when looking at the actual social payers, Spaniards are in fact spending the most on average per month on social games (€7,62 per month).

What is the business models used?

There’s model of subscription payments, where players as an example for a month at a time, and there is the virtual item payment method. Only in Spain, subscription based payments are used more often than buying virtual items within social games. The difference between paying via subscription or virtual item is more significant when looking at Russia, Brazil, and Mexico. For MMOs this is different, where subscriptions are in higher demand than virtual items for the US and Spain. For emerging markets, the difference between the two payment methods is less for MMO games than for Social games. These numbers do not indicate the amount of money spent but the absolute number of paying gamers via subscriptions or virtual items.

How do they pay?

When asked how social and MMO players pay for their games, it becomes clear that credit cards are the number one payment method in the US and Brazil. As much as 42% of the Brazilian MMO payers state that credit cards are one of their preferred payment methods. Overall, credit cards and online payment services are the most popular payment methods amongst social and MMO followed by text messaging. Whereas credit cards perform best in the US and Brazil, online payment methods are more popular in Russia, Mexico, and Spain.

Is there other significant payment methods?

Yes, even if cards are dominating most markets, each country shows quite specific local payment preferences (as illustrated above). Brazilian players have less access to credit cards and PayPal than American ones, which have resulted in some monetization problems for foreign companies as stated in . Consequently, they rely on cash-based payments like Boleto (21% local market share overall; up to 40% market share for fully localized online gaming merchants). Russia is all about local eWallets and terminal payments like Qiwi.

What are the transactions across the countries?

It should come as no surprise that players from emerging countries have a lower purchasing power which is reflected in their average spent per purchase (25% less than American players on average). This explains why localized offers are usually set at a lower price point for both game clients and services in these countries - sometimes with Western pricing strategies sustained via multiple monthly installments (such as 1/6 of the price per month over six months).

 

All data derived from Newzoo - thanks guys!

Pigs in Spaaaaace: NASA announcement about Angry Birds

I think I need to rethink the facts I mentioned in my book 'A Brand New Playground'...

In the book I said that about 50% of all people on earth play games.

What I didn't foresee is that people would be playing games in space...

WTF???? - Check out the video...

Back to the Start

Cool animation to make us more aware of how our pigs and other livestock are treated and what the food chain from land to plate looks like. Maybe it's better to buy more 'organic' beef, wholesome pigs and free running chicken! It's up to you!

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Not a sure bet yet: A story of the Mexican gambling industry

Because I expect gaming and gambling will merge more and more in the future and we have a lot of readers in Latin-America, we decided to write a small outline about the Mexican Gambling industry. The article was written by our friend Morten Geertsen 

Pointing towards the clouds of the night, these and other lights come from the many casinos placed around Monterrey. Six months ago, I first realized the popularity of gambling in Mexico, when a friendly family took me home, after I had rented a room in one of Monterrey’s most dangerous areas. Several days a week, in the afternoon they would leave the house to go gamble, and come home late at night. Euphoric, noisy and with the tequila still hosting after-parties in their blood.

This family was neither poor or out of balance – but it belonged to the fortunate group of Mexican families, who found joy in gambling, appreciated its social aspects and functions in Mexico, and had the necessary resources to cultivate such a hobby. 

Sometimes I’d join them. Follow them in their quest for fun and newfound gambling skills. Share the adventurous feeling of “going all in” on trying your luck! The loud sounds of living in that one moment – the present, where many Mexicans love to be – echoed days after each visit.

Then there was a recent article, backing up my experiences with facts – reading across this tiny 10” screen:

“In 2004, the Mexican Government liberalized gaming laws and issued 200 licenses to betting parlors, bingo halls and a few casinos. Most of these licenses were grabbed up by Mexican television behemoth Televisa. Online gaming was added to the roster of legalized Mexican gambling in 2007. Today, the Mexican market is second only to Brazil in Central/South American gaming revenues and is believed to be around the $3.5-$4 billion range.”

Some years ago my “new Mexican family” would not have been able to perform their now accustomed night activities. Despite its reputation as a “loose to rules” nation, in many aspects Mexico should be considered a highly conservative country. Therefore, thanks to a pressure of the Catholic Church and a fence of old traditions, gambling was kept on safe distance of the Mexican citizens for more than 50 years.

However, that ban has eroded slowly over the years and many forms of lotteries and sports betting have been tolerated for decades. In 2004 the on-ground gambling ban was removed, and in 2007 ban for online gambling suffered the same destiny.

Since then the Mexican market of gambling has followed a path of growth. It is now second only to Brazil. Casinos worth more than $500 million are believed to open Acapulco and Mazatlan. A minimum of four new services are planned along the Texas-Mexico border. Over 35 gaming sites are expected to come up within the countries boundaries. Many gambling companies of Las Vegas will be willing and keen to open up their casinos in the promising light of the future Mexican gambling market.

Online gambling should not be overlooked. American gambling enthusiasts will swear loudly and clench their fist towards the sky, if you ask them about the situation of online poker in America. That’s because it is illegal there. And this Mexican online gambling has benefited enormously from for several years.

Sometimes when looking closer at a situation, you notice some “but”s. These are apparent in this article as well.

There are still law restrictions in Mexico. Nowadays fewer licenses to run casinos are issued by the government. Also, though leading players of this industry want to set up their casinos in beautiful tourist locations like Acapulco and Cancun, the government of Mexico has to explicitly mention the exact locations where casinos would be given the required license to continue such activities.

This means that the Mexican gambling market does not actually reach its potential: “Mexico should be one of the top ranking countries in the gaming industry within Latin America and it is estimated that if it removed its ban on casinos the gambling industry could generate revenues of US$80 - US $120 billion. As a contrast the current estimated income based on the real gaming activities allowed is a comparatively meager US$4.6 billion,” a report reads.

Another restriction comes when we take a look at the American market again. A legalization of Internet poker in the United States would send earthquakes of bad economy predictions across the Mexican gambling market. As mentioned, the neighbor country provides the industry with huge earnings, and should legal American online poker become a reality, it will lose most, if not all, of their U.S. poker customers.

Finally, what should not be overlooked nor underestimated is the security situation. It’s no secret that Mexico is right now undergoing its most severe security crisis in living memory. During my time in Monterrey, my study buddies and I experienced this in many forms – robberies, threats and corruption is daily life. The reason for this can be traced back to decision of president, Filipe Calderón, who initiated a violent war on the drug cartels. As a result the fights have gotten out of control, and the country’s image, people and economy is now shaken. The many illegal casinos are believed to be vulnerable to corruption, money laundering and extortion.

In the end, in the instability of the government and the corrupted dark corners of the illegal casinos, makes believing in Mexican gambling a “not sure bet”. However, despite some serious problems, Mexico shows signs of emerging as one of the world’s major gaming market. After all, with all the changes around the world restricting gambling, Mexico presents growing opportunities for investors, operators and equipment and technology suppliers within the gambling industry.

Assassin's Creed 3 - Reveal Trailer [NL]

One of my favorite game-franchises of the past five years...

Conceptual gems in my opinion!

Friday Fun: Coke & Mentos Fountain Fest

I am preparing a presentation about the future and when I thought about an explosion of content I thought about the 2011 YouTube hit with Coke & Mentos. Great community driven viral branding! ;-)

How to Grow Free Webinar TODAY!

Feel free to watch my free webinar today at 15:00 CET or 09:00 A.M. New York time: How to Grow using free digital media like Blogger, Wordpress, Twitter, Linkedin, Slideshare, Youtube, Google Analytics and more. Go to the event page: http://bit.ly/xTbT54

Basically it's about me and how I founded BrandNewGame in 2009 and how I grew year after year with double digital grow in Turnover starting from scratch (literally)...