AT&T/T-Mobile: A Powerful Force For Advertising?

BY

The T-Mobile acquisition by AT&T would create the largest mobile carrier in the U.S. bar none. However, since neither company has invested heavily in mobile advertising, it’s not expected to have much effect on that industry . . . unless AT&T decides to leverage customer date for targeted mobile ad campaigns.

The advent of smartphones has led to the advent of a $1.2 billion mobile ad market that includes Google’s AdMob and Millennial Media. Mobile advertising wasn’t really taken seriously until the advent of smartphones, said Sarah Baehr as svp, director of digital publishing solutions at MediaVest. Some paid media dollars are going to buy mobile ad network display, but more money is starting to flow into mobile social, in-app, branded apps, deals and shopping. That’s where the center of gravity is moving to.

The real golden ring for mobile is customer data. In the past, carriers were dead set against it, said Phuc Truong, managing director U.S., of the mobile marketing firm Mobext. Lately they’ve listened more.

With over 130 million users, the combined entity of AT&T and T-Mobile could reach out to a vast audience with targeted ads based on geography, household size and spending habits. The data could also be sold to an outside party to manage the ads. They’d have to do it in a way that avoids using [consumers actual names]. But that’s the really interesting part of this deal. The carriers definitely don’t want to become just dumb pipes like the ISPs, said Truong.

Source: Ad Week

Dead Island Not An Emotional Game Like Heavy Rain

BY

Dead Island made waves with its emotionally gripping (some said ‘exploitative’) trailer showing a family dealing with the tragic carnage of a zombie attack. It was evocative to some of the parental undertones in Heavy Rain, but developer Deep Silver has been quick to disclaim that similarity.

“That was awful for us,” said Dead Island producer Sebastian Reichert. “I mean, let’s be honest, we will be an action game – you will have a serious approach to the zombie setting but we will be an action game. We won’t be a dialogue-based game that revolves around emotion. We will have strong elements from examples like Borderlands that will keep you playing. So, when we heard the Heavy Rain comparison we were like, ‘Whoa!'”

“We’ve had problems declaring Heavy Rain as a ‘game’ – it plays like a movie. I’ve had more complex DVD menus [laughs], he added. We are more like a core game with a serious approach. Yes, of course we like it that people compare us with such great games like Heavy Rain, but we also have to face the fact that we are not Heavy Rain. That’s just a fact.”

Source: CVG

Valve Will Want You To Meet The Medic

BY

Team Fortress 2‘s Meet the Team trailers over the past few years have been some of the best game trailers ever made, and certainly some of the funniest. While a new video in the series hasn’t come out in over a year, the newest starring the Medic is reportedly nearly done and should be released soon.

Then to my great delight I was shown a nearly completed version of Meet the Medic, posted Political Gamers in the Steam Forums. All I will say is that its really epic and was worth the time it took.

Source: PC Gamer

Social Games Getting Slightly Mad With Gamagio

BY

Slightly Mad Studios founders Ian Bell and Andy Garton have announced that they have founded Gamagio to make mobile and social games. While they had previously worked on racing titles like GT Legends, GTR 2 and the Need for Speed: Shift series, now over 50 staff are working on titles for Facebook set to release this year.

Gamagio is creating new gaming experiences, new ways to play and interact, and we see social and mobile gaming as key to that, said Bell.

Our class-leading social gaming engine has been built from the ground up to support the leading edge HTML5 technology, said Garton. Which is central to the ever changing social and mobile gaming landscape, as well as plugin free 3D graphics standards such as WebGL.

Game Of Thrones — ‘Fear And Blood’

BY

Game of Thrones is one of the most anticipated upcoming shows on HBO, and it’s easy to see why. What exactly is going on (besides some medieval skullduggery) is difficult to tell if you’re not familiar to the series, but the gist is still exciting.

Sucker Punch Annihilation

BY

On the official move website for Sucker Punch, hack and slash your way in a fantasy themed brawler. Battle waves of giant Samurai warriors, reanimated WWI soldiers, orcs and robots in one of three levels. Choose any of the four female leads from the film, each with their own special move, and try and get survive each level fastest and with the most points.  Connect with Facebook, share your progress and send a challenge to one of your friends and see if they can beat your score!

Red Bull Racing Challenge

BY

A new Red Bull racing game for iOS devices incorporates augmented reality to allow the user to build and design their own race tracks. Users can align cans of Red Bull on the floor and scan the tops of each can to create a 3D model of a track. To complete a track, the user must scan at least 12 cans.  Free from the app store, The app is free from the App Store, check out a video demonstration to see how it works.

Incentivized Sharing For Charity

BY

Greenpeace thinks it can save the world, one boat at a time. And it may be right as it floats a shiny new site to float a brand new boat: The New Rainbow Warrior. Rotate, x-ray, and experience every inch of this superb audio/visual vessel like a virtual Errol Flynn, swinging from the mast. Then go over the blueprints with a fine toothed comb to pick which part of this boat you’d like to buy. Everyone buys a piece so the whole world can share the ‘peace. No word yet on the time-sharing arrangement for whaler chasing.