Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

1. Five tips for transmedia game development

   February 3, 2012

   The Mobile Games Forum featured three speakers from studios that carry out brand extension and advergaming projects. Their success stories all share similar points of advice about transmedia game design:

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   Posted in: Marketing, Opinion

   Tagged with: advergaming, brand extension, teen nickelodeon, transmedia, volkwagen challenge, weeworld, xmg

   1 Comment

2. GAMESbrief’s Black Swans

   February 1, 2012

   In December 2011, one of my “Black Swans” came good. Several people have asked me to explain what a Black Swan is. This post will explain what it is, and help you understand why I run GAMESbrief the way that I do.

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   Posted in: Opinion

   Tagged with: black swan

   5 Comments

3. Seven reasons why you will develop for Android (and three reasons why it will be challenging)

   January 31, 2012

   At the Mobile Games Forum this year it was clear that the landscape of platforms for games development had changed dramatically in the past year. One year ago, feature phones were still relevant in the US and EU, but now smartphones dominate. While iOS is responsible for the boom in mobile gaming, Android has grown rapidly, and looks like an increasingly promising prospect for game developers. Here’s why.

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   Posted in: Distribution, Opinion

   Tagged with: android, market share, mobile games, monetisation, platforms

   3 Comments

4. Why product managers are about to be the most important people in Gaming

   January 30, 2012

   The games industry is changing so fast that there are new roles that we need that didn’t exist five years ago. I’m a non-executive at nDreams, and one of the people we need right now is a digital product manager.

   What’s a digital product manager? Read on to find out.

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   Posted in: Opinion

   Tagged with: ndreams, product manager

   5 Comments

5. Zynga’s cloning protection racket

   January 25, 2012

   Zynga has just launched a game Dream Heights which is a direct clone of Tiny Tower from independent developers Nimblebit.

   Now it turns out that Nimblebit turned down an acquisition offer from Zynga.

   For me, that puts the cloning in a different light.

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   Posted in: Opinion

   Tagged with: nimblebit, threat, tiny tower, zynga

   18 Comments

6. Zynga’s shameless cloning of my favourite game of 2011

   January 25, 2012

   Tiny Tower was one of my favourite games of 2011. Zynga must have noticed its success because they have just launched an exact clone. Check out the open letter from Nimblebit below.

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   Posted in: Opinion

   Tagged with: infringement, ip, tiny tower, zynga

   2 Comments

7. Why Pro-Amateurs are the Future

   January 24, 2012

    Nobody wants to invest in professional art in a time when we’ve started to use the word “trillion” in everyday conversations about national debts. Add to this the chorus of devaluation that digital distribution has wrought in all creative fields, the largely hazy arguments surrounding piracy, and cultural trends toward lionizing the past (great for back catalogue sales, not so much for new artists).

   To many, it looks like Doomsday. However I think not.

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   Posted in: Guest Post, Opinion

   Tagged with: amateur, games business, games industry, indie, internet, professional

   1 Comment