Twitchdoctor
twinhits
waltersthegreat
Broadpaw
aegisfang
I spend a lot of my time trying, in print and in person, to work against a lot of the negative stereotypes that abound about videogames and gamers. Every so often, however, I’m reminded how powerfully the gaming industry is not an ally in this effort.
Archive for the ‘Games and Marketing’ Category
Managing Expectations
Posted: December 9, 2011 by Twitchdoctor in Exemplary Games, game design, Games and MarketingTags: Bioware, Electronic Arts, Guild, Massively multiplayer online game, MMORPG, star wars, Star Wars: The Old Republic, SWTOR
When it comes to playing The Game of the Year taking a “glass half empty” approach is the saner course.
Lamentations on Gamestop (or is it Gamestop Analysts?)
Posted: September 24, 2011 by aegisfang in Game Platforms, Game Research, Games and Marketing, Games and the MediaI recently read an article entitled “Game Over for Gamestop“ on a website called SeekingAlpha.com which suggested that Gamestop as a business will collapse at some vaguely defined point in the near future if their business model does not change. Now I see several flaws in the theory and logic that they are using to make [...]
Not Quite Appily Ever After
Posted: April 21, 2011 by Twitchdoctor in game design, Games and MarketingTags: Amazon App Store, Amazon.com, casual games, Droid, game development, International Game Developers Association, smart phones, video games
In addition to being an interesting discussion of Amazon’s problematic pricing and compensation policies, this advisory from the IGDA should also be of interest to writing teachers. It is a wonderful example of how to make a respectful but very assertive argument. Rhetorically, it is a very savvy piece of work. Game developers do have a lot to gain from Amazon’s app store, so the IGDA doesn’t want to alienate Amazon. Hence this piece includes some wonderful examples of how to qualify the argument in a way that is designed not to attribute evil intent to your opposition. As such, it is an example that is all too rare nowadays.
The Lies We Tell Ourselves
Posted: April 3, 2011 by Twitchdoctor in Exemplary Games, game design, Games and MarketingTags: Cliffs of Dover, computer games, flight simulation, game design, game development, IL2: Sturmovik, simulation, Ubisoft
There are many mysteries in life to which we will never, ever find a satisfactory answer: why Wall Street continues to make money hand over fist in the middle of a recession, how baseball replaced watching paint dry as the US national past-time, why anyone takes Michele Bachman seriously. One of those unsolvable mysteries is [...]
Come for the Books, Stay for the Games
Posted: January 12, 2011 by Broadpaw in Games and Marketing, UncategorizedI was delighted (and oddly, albeit slightly, “discomfited”) to see the following ad in my emailbox recently: Brodart is a company that has for decades specialized in library equipment, supplies, and furniture. (Note that I have no affiliation whatsoever with Brodart, save that I have used its mylar dustjacket covers for years, with their lovely, [...]
