NPD Says Consumer Spending Up For 2012 Holidays

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According to the NPD Group, 67 percent of Americans polled were planning to spend about the same this holiday season, while 10 percent will plan to spend more than in the prior year. While this is an increase over last year, where 64 percent said they would spend the same amount and 9 percent said they would spend more, it is uncertain if this change will benefit the gaming industry, where retail sales have been diminishing in double digits over the past few years.

“Watch for more practical purchases this year with consumers buying useful items that they need rather than spending their money on luxury treats,” said NPD chief industry analyst Marshal Cohen. “With a small amount of new products on the market, consumers will give the gift of practicality rather than splurge on special gifts…Consumers tell us they want to shop more but without the ‘it’ item and lack of pent-up demand this could be the Christmas of Contradictions.”

Email Marketing: It’s Not Dead Yet

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Social media was supposed to kill off email as an important marketing tool, but it hasn’t happened that way according to statistics gathered by web site The Social Habit. They surveyed over 3,000 U.S. social media users aged 12 and older to see if they read emails from brand products or companies. Of those who responded, 61 percent said yes, they do indeed read emails from such entities. That’s a pretty impressive number.

Furthermore, when those people who responded in the affirmative were asked why they read those emails, they gave some interesting answers. The top answer was, as you might expect, to get deals or coupons, which motivated 70 percent of the respondents. More than half (53 percent) said they read the emails to learn about new products, while 41 percent do so to get news and updates.

Source: Social Media Explorer

Microsoft Points Shifting Out With Windows 8

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Reports are the Microsoft is going to introduce an option to pay for online content using a credit card and not just Microsoft Points. The change has already come over to Windows 8 and it could be applied to Xbox 360 soon, possibly phasing out Microsoft’s currency.

January 2012 saw a report that Microsoft Points would be phased out of Xbox Live by the end of 2012, including the Windows Phone platform as well. A recent appearance of real money items on Xbox Live Marketplace was labeled an error, and they said that there were no immediate plans to phase out Microsoft Points.

Source: The Verge

Contre Jour — A First Look

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Ayzenberg was asked to create a launch trailer that tells the story of the main character, Petit. The very beginning of the game briefly sets up the story of Petit and his journey to save his best friend, Rose, but without much detail.  The trailer’s intent is to really bring Petit and Rose’s relationship to the forefront and give greater context to Petit’s journey throughout the game. Also included is a behind the scenes video – find out more at www.contrejour.ie.

 

The Ohio State University’s Marching Band Salutes Video Games

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That marching bands are filled with geeks is a given, so it no doubt wasn’t a tough sell for members of The Ohio State University’s Marching Band to perform this video game themed half-time show. Here are two versions of the same performance, one with a more stable camera and the other with a higher resolution.

 

Pro Tour Predictions Wanted

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The Fantasy Pro Tour app {link no longer active} lets you predict which cards will show up in Magic the Gathering Fantasy Pro Tour Return to Ravnica happening on Friday, October 19.

Produced by Ayzenberg Group and Wizards of the Coast, start by researching the best cards – DailyMTG.com {link no longer active} is an excellent source for card analysis, recent tournament results, and top decklists, and Gatherer.wizards.com {link no longer active} is a complete database of every Magic card ever printed!

Then, select a “team” of cards, made up of a Planeswalker, a large creature, a medium creature, a small creature, an instant, a sorcery, an enchantment, an artifact, a non-basic land. Add a Pro Tour player as your tiebreaker. You have until Friday, October 19 at 12 p.m. EST to lock your rosters.

Once the Pro Tour starts on Friday, you’ll be able to compare your team to your friends’ teams. Follow the coverage here http://www.twitch.tv/magicprotour to see what cards are showing up!

Earn points based on how often the cards in your roster are played in decks recording at least 18 points in the 10 Swiss rounds of Modern competition at Pro Tour Return to Ravnica. After the Pro Tour, see how you did and compare to your friends’ scores on the Leaderboard. You can even see how you stack up next to the Top 100 Fantasy Pro Tour players of the season.

Facebook Evolves The Power Of A ‘Like’

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When Pinterest hit the social sphere in 2010, the highly visual platform changed the way users interacted and showed how images can be one of the most engaging forms of content. Facebook responded with Timeline, introducing a more aesthetic way to interact with users while simultaneously creating a living “timeline” of their activity. Now, images on Facebook will hold more weight than ever, and possibly in dollars.

Facebook is currently working with Victoria’s Secret, Pottery Barn, Michael Kors, Wayfair, Neiman Marcus, Fab.com and Smith Optics on an effort it calls “Collections.” It’s going to evolve the value of a “Like.” With “Collections,” users will additionally be able to tag images they see with “Want,” “Collect” and “Buy.” “Buy” would take users to the third party site where they could then purchase the product. It’s a feature that could be perfect for Pinterest, except they haven’t yet integrated it.

Many of Facebook’s past e-commerce efforts have failed. Remember the introduction of Facebook gifts But this new approach seems to align with how users are already interacting with content. Like most of the social magic of Facebook, users will not be exposed to a “Collection” unless a friend has “Liked” or “Shared” with their social network. “Collections” are designed to appear right in users’ news feed.

A Facebook rep stated that Facebook will not get a cut of the transactions from “Collections” and there is no word that Facebook’s latest acquisition, Instagram, will be integrated.

Find out more at Mashable.

EA Sports Teams With Manchester City For ‘Gaming Box’

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Manchester City Football Club announced a partnership with EA Sports to offer match and non-matchday experience for visitors to the Etihad Stadium. There will be a 8ft x 11ft Gaming Box with all of EA Sports’ latest offerings, including FIFA 13, that will accommodate up to 10 people.

“From the moment you walk in, every detail has been thought of so that guests enjoy a fully customised experience — even boasting its own more informal catering — but with same usual high standard for a Platinum Box guest, including your own balcony seating and dedicated waiter or waitress.” said Dan Holman, Head of Product Marketing for EA Sports. “The FIFA 13 partnership with Manchester City is a fantastic way of enabling us to deliver memorable sporting memories for football fans. We are delighted with the EA Sports Gaming Box as it helps us further integrate the FIFA franchise into real world football.”

Social Mobile On The Rise While Demand ‘Erodes’ On PC

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According to a study by Cowen & Company, social games on mobile are diminishing demand for social and casual games on PC. In September, Japanese social giants DeNA and Gree showed how they are becoming a force to be reckoned with in the mobile social sphere, taking a third of the top 20 titles.

Other revelations from the top 20: Electronic Arts continues to fare well on the iPhone and iPad, while Zynga and Disney had difficulties hanging on at all. DeNA’s Rage of Bahamut saw its fifth consecutive month as the number one Google Play game, while Supercell’s Clash of Clans for iPad took the top spot in its second month and moved up to number two on the iPhone charts.

“We continue to believe that evidence suggests demand for PC-based casual social gaming is eroding due to the increased availability of casual gaming on mobile devices,” said analyst Doug Creutz.

For PC social games, Zynga’s FarmVille 2 pulled in 6.5 million daily active users, while Slingo, The Ville, Bubble Safari and CastleVille all saw slides. EA’s Sims Social and Sim City and Disney’s Marvel Avengers and Gardens of Time failed to make the top 20 games rated by DAUs.

Social gaming DAUs for the top ten publishers during September were only up by 0.8 percent. More concerning, monthly active users (MAUs) dropped by 9.9 million, or 1.8 percent.

Source: GamesIndustry International