Machinima Coming To Xbox One

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Machinima is jumping into the next-gen of video with its new Machinima app exclusively for the Xbox One, launching on November 22 alongside the Xbox One. According to Machinima, the app will offer “rich, custom-created, and exclusive videos that accompany and complement the next-gen gameplay of a select group of Xbox One launch titles.” Machinima also plans to offer exclusive entertainment experiences through the app, with tent-pole series, weekly shows and other fan-focused content.

“The first Xbox Live app we launched was the fastest downloaded Xbox app in the prior 12 months, and we’re excited to deliver yet another breakthrough experience for our fans,” said Machinima’s co-founder and CEO Allen DeBevoise. “This is another step toward making sure we’re wherever our fans are, and delivering them unique experiences that no other network can provide. We can’t wait to unveil all the intricacies and abilities of the new app.’

‘We’re thrilled to welcome Machinima as one of the first global partners of Xbox One bringing its highly integrated experience exclusively to the platform when we launch on Nov. 22,” said Kathy Styponias, general manager for Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Machinima is one of the first partners to take advantage of the capabilities of our platform architecture and technology that will result in a cutting-edge, innovative app experience for all users.”

The [a]list daily spoke with Sanjay Sharma, executive vice president of strategy and business development for Machinima, about the app and its features. “The thing we’ve always been focused on here at Machinima, and it’s the core of the company, is the thesis that the experience of video gaming has been transformed dramatically by the rise of online video and the social movement,” said Sharma. “This app will accompany your game experience in a seamless way. While you’re playing a game you can say ‘Xbox, Snap Machinima’ and the Snap app will open along side your game, whatever game you’re playing. We’ll know what game you’re playing and we can immediately start serving up content exclusively created to accompany that gaming experience.”

The app will eventually be even more sophisticated by using data from the game to pinpoint precisely where you are and serving up content related to that. “Launch games will be enhanced with a feature we call Machinima Wingman,” said Sharma. “Suddenly you’ll have a buddy alongside you that can give you tips, tricks, tutorials. As it evolves over time we’ll have access to robust data and real-time game telemetry. Over the course of the year we’ll be releasing more and more enhancements to the application as we get feedback. We’ll know you’ve gotten stuck on a particular level for a certain period of time, and we can offer up video experiences that help you pass that level, win a fight or complete a lap in record time, things like that.”

In the next few weeks Machinima will provide a list of the initial titles that will be part of the program, and over time Machinima will increase the number of games covered. While initially the content won’t be related to your specific place in the game, “real-time game telemetry will be rolling out over the next several months,” said Sharma. “We’ll know where you are and can serve up contextually relevant content.” It’s also useful for non-gaming situations, too, letting you bring up Machinima content of all types while watching a football game or a movie – a common desire among multi-tasking oriented Millennials.

You won’t be limited to putting up video alongside your game on the big screen, as the app will allow you to push that content to your smartphone or tablet via Xbox SmartGlass. “The integration with SmartGlass is part of this strategy,” said Sharma. “The launch will be just the tip of the spear. You’ll be able to decide how you want to experience the video content — you can have the video populating your tablet sitting next to you so it’s not interfering with your gameplay experience.”

Creating all of this content does require spending, and Machinima is ready with monetization plans to make this a profitable enterprise. “At the launch it will be ad-free,” said Sharma. “Our Xbox 360 app is advertising enabled and monetized through advertising. At only a few months old, it’s the fastest downloaded app on the Xbox 360 over the last 12 months. The Xbox One app will have all of the same elements as our Xbox 360 app. The curated libraries that accompany games are a new feature on the Xbox One, but all of the Xbox 360 content we create will be available on the Xbox One app, and all of that content will be advertising supported.”

Microsoft is planning original video content for the Xbox One, with a Halo series already announced, and Machinima is also planning for that. “The Xbox One app is part of our larger, direct-to-consumer multiplatform strategy,” said Sharma. “Those experiences are about delivering original content, and that content ranges from amazing partner content from our partner network, to the day-to-day content we make in our studios, all the way to our premium episodic series. We’re developing things right now that would be windowed first on the Xbox, or released on the Xbox as part of a larger distribution strategy. The app will be an entertainment experience, and gaming is just one element of that.”

Millennials Tune Out TV, Tune In Online

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The viewership of online programming offered through the likes of Netflix and Hulu is on the rise — even more so than conventional cable television.

According to a study by The New York Times, roughly one in three Millennials manages to watch less TV than online videos. 50 percent of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 34 report that they like watching online video at least once a day.

In general, 34 percent of those surveyed stated that they watch online video as a majority, compared to regular TV. Some turn off TV entirely in favor of online programming, including YouTube videos and other services like the ones mentioned above.

Only 20 percent of Generation Xers and 10 percent of Baby Boomers polled had the same preference as these, but it certainly speaks volumes in terms of how online video services have picked up over the years. One has to wonder how typical TV networks will try to keep up, outside of new kinds of programming, like the recent debut of such programs as The Blacklist and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Source: Mashable

How Walmart Wins At Social Media

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For Walmart, interactions with customers on social media have proven to be a pivotal of their marketing efforts. The company recently announced impressive stats when it comes to return on investment. Speaking at the ANA Masters of Marketing Conference, Walmart marketing chief Stephen Quinn put it this way, “It’s very staggering. It is so intense on Black Friday. It’s almost like a mission control center for Walmart at that point.”

A year ago, Walmart completed an audience audit, taking a deeper look at those who interact with Walmart and influencers. From this, they formulated a winning strategy to make social an effective marketing and brand reputation vehicle.

Walmart has enjoyed 60,000 daily interactions on social media across 7 dedicated social handles and claims a stunning 10x ROI. With 31 million Facebook fans, more than any other brand on the network, it is no surprise that on Black Friday last year, Walmart received comments at a rate of 42 per minute.

“We have ROI that’s really strong. And, it’s transforming our organization. This level of engagement we now have with customers is changing a whole bunch of other aspects of our marketing,” said Quinn.

So who is handling Walmart’s social and what makes them so effective? Behind every great retail brand is one equally great marketing team. Walmart’s 20 person marketing team handles the main @Walmart account, using it as a vehicle to push out promotions. By splitting the main Walmart account from sub-accounts, they have effectively created a reputation barrier, a great tactic for large brands with multiple departments. In addition to the marketing team, there are 4 other people who operate the feeds to respond to issues and general reputation management.

Whether or not the people who interact with Walmart read them or not, the company has a page on their site listing their social media guidelines. The page clearly outlines what Walmart will and won’t interact with and their goals for responding to users and creating a dialogue.

Compared to other brands, Walmart tends to see a slightly lower amount of positive sentiment, but an amount of negative sentiment that is in league with competitors like Target and Sears.

“As is true with any segment of life or brand, no matter what we do, there are those who will never like us. It can stem from our business model to anything else we do, and that’s where your size and scale works against you. You can do 99 percent of your job right, but that one experience can lead a person to not like a brand. We’re trying to look for those conversations where we can insert ourselves and set the record straight,” said Chat Mitchell, Walmart’s senior director of digital communications, in speaking to Digiday.

Walmart is very straightforward about their methods in responding to criticism on social media. As it is impossible to handle a volume of 60,000 interactions daily and respond to each, they have utilised data to benefit them, filtering through these missives to identify important ones to reach. The social team responds selectively, pinpointing the tweets where they will most likely make a difference by responding.

 

 

“Best case scenario, we’re able to engage, share some content and change hearts and minds,” said Mitchell. “Worst case, we’re able to have an open dialogue and then move on, agreeing to disagree.”

Source: Digiday

‘Perfect Day’ With PS4

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The PlayStation 4 is officially just one month away from release, and Sony is charging their marketing batteries for a full assault. Part of the main salvo is this ad which aired during Monday Night Football, with two friends happily singing Lou Reed’s Perfect Day while they happily trash each other in what appears to be Elder Scrolls Online, DriveClub and Killzone: Shadow Fall.

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Travel Space In Style

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Roberts Space Industries is still selling virtual space craft for Star Citizen, and now they’re taking the route of car ads to promote their own models. The proudly advertise that “The Aurora has graced Ship and Pilot’s prestigious top ten list for a record breaking 63 years.”

Augmenting Reality With Kinect

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To Microsoft, Kinect isn’t just about games, it’s about changing the way people interact with computers. Take these videos, which give theoretical scenarios for how Kinect can enhance the retail experience.

 

Supercell Pulls Off Super Sale

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There’s huge money to be made in games, especially if you’re the developer of a hot property like Supercell. The team behind the popular iOS (and recently beta testing for Android) Clash of Clans has sold a 51 percent controlling stake in its company to Japanese telecoms firm Softbank and developer GungHo Online Entertainment, in a mega-deal worth $1.5 billion.

This is the latest in a line of strategic relationships with GungHo, which could easily pick up the online business for Supercell. The CEO of the company, Ilkka Paananen, said in a statement yesterday:

“We have received a strategic investment of $1.5 billion from SoftBank and GungHo. This new partnership will accelerate Supercell towards our goal of being the first truly global games company, and gives us enough time to get there…

At Supercell, one of our greatest aspirations is to become the first truly global games company, one that has a strong foothold in both the West and the East, including Japan, Korea and China. We want to build a company that people all over the globe will look back in 30 years and talk about all the great games that we developed and the impact they had on people’s lives. The same way I personally feel about Nintendo, for example.

This is a lofty goal and getting there takes persistence, passion, and luck – but just as importantly, it takes time, and requires a lot of patience. Even if we have had a pretty good start on our journey, it is still very early days. Creating history takes time.”

Source: GamesIndustry International

Ubisoft Delays Next-Gen Titles

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Just when it looked like nothing could stop Ubisoft from completely dominating the holidays, along comes a delay that changes its 2014 outlook.

Sandwiched in-between Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and South Park: The Stick of Truth, the innovative third-person action game Watch Dogs was set to make big waves with a November arrival on current and next-gen game systems. Today, Ubisoft changed the release date  to somewhere past April 2014, citing that it wanted to work more on the game to make it even better.

The company stated the following regarding the delay:

“Our ambition from the start with Watch Dogs has been to deliver something that embodies what we wanted to see in the next-generation of gaming. It is with this in mind that we’ve made the tough decision to delay the release until Spring 2014.”

“We know a lot of you are probably wondering ‘why now ‘ We struggled with whether we would delay the game. But from the beginning, we have adopted the attitude that we will not compromise on quality. As we got closer to release, as all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in our last push before completion, it became clear to us that we needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune every detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience.”

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you. We thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the way you respond on the web, at events, press conferences and during other opportunities we have to interact. Your passion is what drives us. We can’t wait to see you in Chicago next Spring. We are confident you’ll love this game as much as we love working on it.”

In addition, the multiplayer-oriented racing game The Crew was also pushed into a mid-2014 release cycle, though a specific release date hasn’t been given on it just yet.

Both of these delays have forced Ubisoft to change its financial outlook for the season.

“Our long term goal is to win the next generation. The tough decisions we are taking today to fully realize the major potential of our new creations have an impact on our short-term performance. We are convinced that, longer term, they will prove to be the right decisions both in terms of satisfaction for our fans and in terms of value creation for our shareholders. We are building franchises that will become perennial pillars of Ubisoft’s financial performance. In a context of growing successes for mega-blockbusters, the additional time given to the development of our titles will allow them to fulfill their huge ambitions and thus offer players even more exceptional experiences” stated Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot.

“Fueled by strong momentum for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, calendar 2014 will see the return of growth to the console market. Combined with the quality of our line-up and our strong financial situation, this growth will allow us to achieve record operating income in fiscal 2014-15 and 2015-16.”

Source: GamesIndustry International

PSN Launches PS4 Game Pre-Orders

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The PlayStation 4 is just under a month away from arriving in the U.S. market, and Sony is already giving gamers the opportunity to purchase some select games through their current PlayStation 3 consoles.

The company launched pre-orders for two games, Warframe and Knack, on the PlayStation Store. Knack, the cartoony platformer featuring a character made up of various particle pieces, is available for $59.99, while the third-person multiplayer shooter Warframe is free of charge, with microtransactions expected to be introduced upon the game’s release.

In addition, 2K Sports has a combination deal for its basketball sim NBA 2K14. For $99.99, fans can purchase both the PlayStation 3 version of the game for immediate download, and gain access to the PlayStation 4 digital edition once it releases on November 15th. Though that’s a steeper price than the $10 upgrade fee being charged for other games, it’s still a decent offer for fans of the series.

Knack, Warframe and NBA 2K14 will arrive next month alongside the PlayStation 4.

Source: Polygon