Steam Uses Trading Cards, Psychology To Sell Games

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A few weeks ago, Valve began a new program in its digital distribution powerhouse Steam that included badges, levels, and digital trading cards. Players can earn free cards for playing compatible games, but can only earn about half of a full set. The only way to get the rest of the set is by buying or trading the cards through the service.

After getting a full set, players are able to craft badges from the cards that act as achievements and grant cosmetic features to the player. These badges also give players experience points which add to their Steam level and their bragging rights. When this is added to one of Steam’s famous sales (like the one currently under way), Valve hopes to tap into the player’s desire to collect and level up. Steam aims to tap into creating a sense of accomplishment for its users, similar to the affirmation enjoyed when MMORPG users gain levels.

Valve is also adding a collection element to the leveling process through the cards in order to give their users further reward.  They expect that players will want to see their collections completed, and what better way to do that than by giving them a head-start on acquiring a full set of cards Valve is essentially turning a storefront that sells games into a game itself.

Source: GamesIndustry International

‘Game Of Thrones’ Dragon Washes Up On UK Shores

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Beachgoers at Charmouth Beach in Dorset, Great Britain found a surprise Monday morning when a 40-foot-long dragon skull washed ashore. Charmouth Beach is part of the Jurassic Coast, which is famous for turning up dinosaur fossils, but a dragon skull was something never seen before.

It turns out that, sadly, it wasn’t a real dragon’s skull. It was a publicity stunt advertising TV streaming service BlinkBox, and celebrating the arrival of Game of Thrones‘ third season on the service. It took a team of three sculptors two months to make the skull, which was inspired by a scene in the show where Arya Stark finds a similar skull in King’s Landing. The stunt is reminiscent of what HBO did to promote the show when season three debuted in the US, with print and outdoor ads that featured the shadow of a dragon as if it was flying overhead.

The skull is shaped out of foam and is the creation of sculptor Dave Croswell and BlinkBox’s art department.

Source: AdWeek

What Powers ‘R.I.P.D.’

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One of the blockbuster movies being released this summer is R.I.P.D, starring Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges. As is customary for blockbuster films, it has a tie-in game being produced by Atlus. The launch trailer shows off some of the powers and third person shooting gameplay players will have in th service of the R.I.P.D. The game is available in stores now.

KakaoTalk Seeing Big Success

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South Korean mobile messaging service KakaoTalk launched its game service last year to great success. The service generated more than $300 million from games in the first half of 2013. The service has converted nearly a third of its 100 million users into gamers with its catalog of more than 180 titles.

Kakao’s catalog of games features 99 developers, each of them receiving a share of their game’s revenue after Kakao takes a 30 percent cut. “Just until a year ago, mobile game applications struggled to attract one million downloads,” the company said in a statement. “Kakao game platform completely reversed this trend, and gave birth to eight games that recorded more than 10 million downloads.” Despite solid sales in South Korea, the company has yet to have much success in other countries.

Source: GamesIndustry International

Sony’s ‘Bid For Greatness’

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PlayStation Network users are now able to vote on some real pieces of video game history. Sony has rolled out the Bid for Greatness campaign, which lets users bid their own hard earned PlayStation gold trophies on 35 different items and clothes used in the “Greatness Awaits” commercial. Some of the items up for grabs include concept art from the trailer, a “clicker” costume from The Last of Us, and Captain Kenway’s outfit from Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Users can go to the promotion’s website, sign in, and start putting their digital achievements up against others for the memorabilia. Each item on the site goes up for auction at a specific time, when users can place their trophies up much like they would do with money on eBay. The promotion doesn’t remove trophies from user’s accounts, but it does make them unavailable for use on other items in the campaign. Sony is doing its best to prove that its PlayStation 4 will be the best console for gamers this fall. This campaign is not only rewarding PlayStation players for the hard work they’ve put into their games on the PS3, but it also shows that when the PS4 comes out this fall it will give players the greatness that awaits them.

Source: Creativity Online

 

EA And NCAA End 19-Year Relationship

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The NCAA has announced today that it will not be renewing its contract with Electronic Arts, and that NCAA Football 14 will be the last entry in the franchise. The contract will officially expire in June 2014, however, there are no more games planned during the remainder of the partnership. A statement from the NCAA said “given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA.” EA can still make college football games without NCAA support, but they will have to talk to universities individually in order to gain permission to use their school logos.

The NCAA’s partnership with EA has been rocky over the last year. The litigation referenced in the NCAA’s statement comes from multiple suits from former players, who claimed the companies profited from use of their likenesses in-game without compensation. EA had also agreed to give up exclusive rights to using the NCAA’s name after a lawsuit claimed EA had a monopoly on football video games.

Source: GamesIndustry International

NeverWet Ad Impresses, Goes Viral

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NeverWet is a product that is simply stunning. Apply two coats to any surface, and it instantly becomes stain and waterproof.  With some effort, it can even waterproof an iPhone. The YouTube ad for the product has gone viral since it came out in June, picking up more than 4 million views from people who are interested in making things resistant to water and stains until the end of time.

WeChat Boosting App Success In China

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It’s the largest smartphone market in the world, but China’s app sales data can be very opaque. China has more than 200 competing app stores in lieu of Google Play, making data difficult to capture. Wandoujia is one of China’s largest app stores, with 170 million users, and through its China App Index, the company is shedding some light onto what is capturing China’s attention in the app market.

One big player is TenCent’s popular messaging app WeChat, which uses its 450 million users to spur viral growth for a number of apps. One game, Crazy Pic Puzzle, gained a lot of popularity in June because of its ability to share scores to WeChat Moments, a service similar to Path. Crazy Pic Puzzle experienced an 80,000 percent growth rate with two million downloads in June because of its ability to interact with WeChat, according to Wandoujia’s data.

Other growth trends in the Chinese app market include the rise of money saving apps and RPG games. Group-buying app Discount 800 grew 2000 percent and saw another 163,000 downloads in June. Korean-made mobile MMORPG Sefirah also grew, becoming number two on Wandoujia’s list of top new games for June, raking in 69,000 downloads.

Source: TechCrunch

Tweet Your Taglines For ‘Sharknado 2’

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Less than a week after Sharknado debuted on the SyFy network and created a sea of buzz on Twitter, the company officially announced a sequel is in the works for 2014. And this time, the cable channel is looking to the quick wit users on Twitter to fish out a campy tagline for the movie.

“Enough said” was the punchy tagline for the original Sharknado, the cable disaster flick about a freak tornado which triggers scores of man-eating fish to rain down on the residents of Los Angeles. Flying sharks invade New York City will be the follow-up.

To participate, fans can tweet their suggestions to @SyfyMovies using #Sharknado, and Syfy will select the best submission. The sequel will also be produced by Los Angeles-based studio The Asylum. According to the New York Post, it will be set in New York City.

Syfy’s executive vice president of programming and original movies, Thomas Vitale seems to be taking initiative to further bridge the gap between online engagement and TV viewership with this new social initiative. It remains to be seen whether social media buzz translates into actual ratings, but if SyFy can get its online audience to actively participate in something as sexy as naming the next thriller, the chances of users tuning in can only increase.

“Every once in a while, there is a perfect storm — on television. The fans are clamoring for a sequel. Or perhaps it will be a prequel,” said Syfy’s executive vice president of programming and original movies, Thomas Vitale, in a statement. “What we can guarantee is that Sharknado 2 will be lots of fun.”

Here are some promising propositions from the Twittersphere:

 

The Syfy announcement is accompanied by the network’s trailer release for Ghost Shark, a plot where a dead shark seeks revenge on the entire human race.

The backstory: “When Ava’s father is brutally murdered, no one believes that the ghost shark got him — except the crazy lighthouse keeper Finch.”

If you doubted it could get any better than that, know that the leading role of Ava is played by an all-grown-up, bikini-wearing Mackenzie Rosman, who starred as Ruthie Camden in 7th Heaven.

Ghost Shark premieres August 22. Watch the awful trailer below:

Source: Business Insider 

Fiat Ad Bares It All

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Fiat didn’t pioneer using sex to sell cars, but they’re redefining it. Since acquiring troubled carmaker Chrysler and re-entering the US market in 2009, the Italy-based company hasn’t been afraid to push boundaries with how it portrays women in ads. A pair of Super Bowl spots took the concept of equating men coveting cars with sexual desire and made it literal, flat out objectifying women as cars. In 2012, Fiat depicted devilishly sexy model Cartinel Menghia as a Fiat 500 Abarth scorning a passerby for ogling at it. For this year’s Super Bowl spot, it introduced a convertible in the 500 line as a “topless model.”

Fiat is taking that approach to the next level. For an upcoming ad in ESPN Magazine’s “Body Issue,” the carmaker enlisted nearly 50 people, including more than a dozen models, to create an image of a Fiat 500 made up entirely of mostly nude women.

This ad may have inspired Fiat (click to zoom)

In a promotional video for the spot, creators insisted that it’s not just the models in the image who are au naturel. The final image needed little post-production, with much of it achieved through expert body painting and precise positioning of the models.

As Adweek found, Fiat’s ad concept isn’t entirely original. A road safety print ad in Australia used the same idea. Not only did it have more of a noble aim but messaging that underlined why human bodies would be used to depict a car.

Fiat kind of scores in that area. It’s using the slogan “Made of pure muscle” for the ad, which helps nudge it away from seeing those bodies as just objects of desire. Plus the ad is intended for an ESPN Magazine issue that usually stands out for celebrating female athletes.

Source: Adweek