March 2010 Archives

For us, those who grew up on games, we traditionally think we know what the term gaming means. From pen and paper D&D (which I still play weekly with friends), to Zork, To Myst, to MMO's WoW and DDO. It was always about Fantasy (Tolkien LOTR style). That is how it has always been, for decades now, but the game of gaming has changed and here is the best explanation I can find of how it happened.

Wonder how Farmville became bigger than Twitter using Facebook as a distribution channel? And if you have a pre-teen around you, you know all about Club Penguin and it's ridiculous "game cash" for real world, hard earned, real cash exchange system. But did you know Club Penguin sold for 350mm dollars? 350mm for a simple, unsophisticated flash game that takes advantage, not of superior game play, but phycological and behavioral ticks to promote peer to peer competition and influence users to spend big money on community reputation building.

This video takes a deep look at how technology is starting to influence our real world behavior and is what Technolosophy is all about, it's very definition and Jesse Schell is definitely one of my favorite Technolosopher's, him and Larry Lessig.

And now, without further ado, the world of game development which is emerging from the powerful influence of the "Facebook Games" era presented to you by Carnegie Mellon University Professor, Jesse Schell. 

DICE 2010: "Design Outside the Box" Presentation

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5