The Ghost In The Xbox Machine

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Video games have been part of our culture for more than a generation now, and there effect can reach far beyond a few minutes or even hours of fun. Video games may still be largely concerned with basic motor functions rather than evoking and dealing with emotions and grappling with issues like life and death, but even so they can sometimes touch our hearts. Finding those stories and telling them should be something every game marketer should consider, because that can have a very powerful impact.

A recent example comes from a teenage YouTube commenter (00WARTHERAPY00) in the comments section of a piece talking about whether or not games can be a spiritual experience. Here’s what he had to say:

Well, when i was 4, my dad bought a trusty Xbox. you know, the first, ruggedy, blocky one from 2001. we had tons and tons and tons of fun playing all kinds of games together – until he died, when i was just six.

I couldn’t touch that console for 10 years.

but once I did, I noticed something.

we used to play a racing game, Rally Sports Challenge. actually pretty awesome for the time it came.

and once I started meddling around… I found a GHOST.

literally.

you know, when a time race happens, that the fastest lap so far gets recorded as a ghost driver yep, you guessed it – his ghost still rolls around the track today.

and so i played and played, and played, until i was almost able to beat the ghost. until one day i got ahead of it, i surpassed it, and…

i stopped right in front of the finish line, just to ensure i wouldn’t delete it.

Bliss.

Fellow commenters were quite moved by the story, some of them confessing to tears. According to Yahoo Autos, the teenager’s comments have gone viral since being picked up by various publications, and he says he’s overwhelmed by the response, saying he “just commented on a video, which happened to be about spirituality in video games” and “never expected any of this.”

What a wonderful way to remember a lost father, and a beautiful example of the meaning that games can hold – even when that’s not the intent of the designer.

Source: Yahoo Autos

ION Introduces The Brand Channel Network

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ION, Ayzenberg Group’s proprietary platform that curates and activates online influencers, today announced the addition of the Brand Channel Network (BCN) to their offerings. BCN helps brands discover, connect and amplify influencers, allowing brand marketers to create and own their influencer networks in order to co-create engaging and meaningful branded content over long running campaigns.

At the upcoming [a]list summit – Influencer Marketing, taking place on July 31 at The Line Hotel in Los Angeles, ION Executive Director Robert Brill will be officially launching BCN to over 300 brand marketers in attendance.

Combining API connections into the largest social networks and algorithmic analysis of influencer metadata, the BCN finds the perfect influencers and advocates for brands and marketers. The product is built from ION’s institutional knowledge, technology licenses and proprietary reporting toolset.  Marketers also benefit from Ayzenberg Group’s two decades of creative and brand strategy pedigree.

The BCN provides four major benefits: (1) Brands take greater control of their influencer marketing efforts and earn economies of scale with the BCN. (2) Marketers own influencer relationships, rather than renting them from third parties.  (3) Content that gets created lives in perpetuity online. (4) Finally, marketers obtain the influencers’ audience data which they get to own and use for remarketing.

Additionally, ION boasts a growing stable of their own influencers, ION Community, who work with marketers by sharing and creating content. The BCN and ION Community are expansions of ION’s core business of creating and activating influencer campaigns. ION clients also benefit from strong partner relationships with Multi-Channel Networks (MCNs).

ION and the BCN provide aggregated reach across social networks including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram and Twitch. Unlike traditional media, ads are not confined, intrusive or in the periphery of user attention.  Clients like Sony Online Entertainment, Warner Bros. Studios and EA have seen the benefit of high quality content, trusted voices and extended reach for three years.

About ION

ION is Ayzenberg’s program that discovers, curates and activates a network of online influencers to promote products and brands through the creation and distribution of custom content. For more information, please visit joinion.net.

About Ayzenberg Group

One of the ten largest privately held creative firms on the West Coast, Ayzenberg is a full-service advertising agency with a distinctly social and agile approach. We’re all about creating and sharing brand stories–in a real-time, always-on, multi-screen way. We have advertising, social media, digital, original content, media planning and implementation, analytics and more under one roof, working as one. From videogame to beverage and consumer electronic brands, our clients value how we target, convert and generate traction with today’s connected ‘Gen Now’ consumers. Current clients include Activision, EA, Microsoft, Red Bull, Sony, Mattel, Yahoo!, Disney, and Warner Bros. For more information, please visit http://www.ayzenberg.com.

Contact:

Robert Brill

Executive Director, ION

626-584-4070 Ext. 510

Rbrill@ayzenberg.com

Yahoo Buys Flurry For $200 Million

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Yahoo’s push towards the mobile front continued this week, as the company has reportedly made a $200 million play for Flurry, a mobile app analytics and advertising startup.

This is a bit surprising, although, looking at the numbers, it seems like a necessary move. Yahoo is currently looking at 450 million monthly active users, as well as a tremendous growth in search and display mobile ad revenues, to the tune of nearly 100 percent. CEO Marissa Mayer has even stated that the company is, in fact, a “mobile first company.”

Yahoo confirmed the acquisition shortly after rumors started making the rounds in a full press statement. “Yahoo is on a mission to re-imagine users’ daily habits, and mobile is at the center of everything we do,” reads the statement. “Our agreement to acquire Flurry is a meaningful step for the company and reinforces Yahoo’s commitment to building and supporting useful, inspiring and beautiful mobile applications and monetization solutions. By joining Yahoo, Flurry will have resources to speed up the delivery of platforms that help developers build better apps, reach the right users, and explore new revenue opportunities. Together, the companies can make mobile experiences better through products that are more personalized and more inspiring.

“Analytics are critical for all mobile developers to understand and optimize their applications. Yahoo and Flurry are reinvesting in developers and continuing to build great analytics products. The combined scale of the two companies will accelerate revenue growth for thousands of developers and publishers across the mobile ecosystem.”

Flurry’s statistics have been nothing short of impressive this year, with over 170,000 developers using its analytics system and 1.4 billion devices interacting in terms of app support. Yahoo can certainly take advantage of Flurry’s mobile position.

No word on when the merger will be complete, but clearly it will be beneficial for both companies.

Source: TechCrunch

Samsung Invests In Android Gaming For The TV

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Samsung has announced they have made a $13 million investment in the cross-platform mobile software company BlueStacks. The major investment will be focussed on BlueStacks’ GamePop product, a white-label solution allowing cable providers and television manufactures to offer a wide range of Android mobile games on traditional televisions.

“This is a huge win for the mobile generation,” said BlueStacks CEO, Rosen Sharma in an online piece with Mashable. “We interview a lot of young kids in our GamePop research. None of them have heard of Mario, but they all know Subway Surfers. There is a mindshare shift to mobile IP happening, and with Samsung we will bring all of this popular content into living rooms around the world.”

BlueStacks is known for its focus on mobile to in-home game integration. Just last year they launched the GamePop console that operated as a kind of “Netflix for mobile gaming,” featuring over 500 Android gaming titles. The larger, $129 version of the console was discontinued by the company not long after, however.

BlueStacks also offers a desktop player for Mac OS X and Windows which allows users to play games like Candy Crush Saga, Telegram and Temple Run 2 on their desktops.

All three channels, the white-label offering (for third-party vendors), the AppPlayer (for desktop users), and the mini-console are designed to liberate Android gaming from mobile devices and essentially blur the lines between traditional console gaming the mobile gaming.

Source: Mashable

Chernin And AT&T Close To Buying Controlling Stake In Fullscreen

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By Sahil Patel

The Chernin Group and AT&T through their joint venture called Otter Media are nearing a deal to buy a majority stake in YouTube multi-channel giant Fullscreen.

As first reported by Recode, the deal would value Fullscreen between $200 million and $300 million. For context, Fullscreen’s biggest competitor in the YouTube space, Maker Studios, sold to Disney for $500 million, with $450 million in additional payouts depending on the company’s performance. (That said, it’s important to note that Otter Media wouldn’t buy Fullscreen outright, which is what Disney did with Maker.)

If the deal is completed, this would keep Fullscreen in the Chernin family. The Chernin Group led a $30 million Series A round in the MCN over a year ago.

More recently, The Chernin Group partnered with AT&T to launch Otter Media, a joint venture focused on investing in and acquiring over-the-top video startups. The firm has $500 million behind it and recently made its first acquisition, for Demand Media’s Creativebug, which distributes DIY arts and crafts videos.

If you’re looking for a reason for why Otter Media would want a controlling stake in Fullscreen, it’s right there: over-the-top. Fullscreen is developing an owned-and-operated video platform that would bring premium content from its network of talent as well as from other creators. This content, which the company has yet to comment on, would look to super-serve millennials.

As we said back then, a marriage between The Chernin Group and Fullscreen make a lot of sense. Fullscreen has been developing its own over-the-top video platform at the same time its investor The Chernin Group has expressed interest in owning such businesses made the two a perfect match.

According to Recode, if the deal is finalized, Fullscreen CEO George Strompolos would continue to run the company.

Other investors in Fullscreen include Comcast Ventures and WPP Digital.

More to come from this, I’m sure.

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

‘Super Smash Bros.’ Stalking SDCC Attendees

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Usually, when fans go to conventions, they have to go to special booths to play certain games from companies. However, Nintendo’s latest promotion provides an interesting twist that brings the game to them.

The company has launched a new Twitter campaign that revolves around its forthcoming fighting game Super Smash Bros., which will take center stage at the San Diego Comic-Con Convention this week. Here’s how it works:

Gamers will be able to follow Nintendo’s Twitter account (@nintendoamerica), and there will be times that the company will send out a “Bring Me Smash” notice. (It won’t be hard to miss.) From there, interested parties can take a picture of themselves wherever they are on the San Diego Comic-Con show floor, along with the hashtag #bringmesmash.

From there, Nintendo will contact interested parties with a message, indicating that a rep is on the way with a 3DS copy of the forthcoming fighting game. In other words, they’ll be bringing the demo to them, within just a few minutes’ time.

For those who don’t want to take part in the promotion – or just cn’t catch a break when it comes to finding free time on the show floor – Nintendo will host its annual Nintendo Lounge at the Marriott Marquis & Marina, where players will be able to visit and get their Smash on for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Other games will be present as well.

It’s another example of the extra work Nintendo is putting in to hands-on marketing for Super Smash Bros. Nintendo seems convinced that the best way to sell the game is to let people get their hands on it, as they did during E3 with special demo stations set up in Best Buy stores around the country.

Super Smash Bros. will make its debut on Nintendo 3DS on October 3rd, and later in the year for Wii U.

Source: Shacknews

Guardians Of The Galaxy In ‘Disney Infinity’

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It was inevitable. With a new Guardians of the Galaxy movie hitting theaters on August 1st, and a huge promotional push going behind the new property, it was only a matter of time before Star-Lord and his squad of criminals-turned-heroes showed up in Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes.

Disney confirmed its inclusion today, with an official playset that features all five Guardians in playable format: Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket Raccoon. The game will have players arriving at Knowhere, with the villainous Rohan and his Sakaaran fleet hot on their tail.

Along the way, players can consult familiar characters from the Guardians universe for missions, including Yondu, Cosmo and The Collector, while also gaining access to the Toy Box mode, where players can build levels however they see fit, using components taken from the Guardians universe. How they decide to build is completely up to them.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ncIACV_Q17A

The set will be sold separately alongside the main Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes set, which will feature an Avengers playset and three characters from that universe. A Spider-Man playset will also be available at the time of release.

A price hasn’t been given yet, but the playset will likely retail around $35, as most other Disney Infinity playsets have been priced at.

This is a perfect example of how Disney plans to exploit the Disney Infinity franchise, by using it to provide an interactive tie-in to new movies without the massive development budget or lengthy development cycle that games based on movies have taken in the past. Disney can work on improving the basic Disney Infinity engine on whatever time frame seems best, without trying to rush out an entirely new game to coincide with new movie releases. The ease of producing play sets for Disney Infinity means that they can be timed to release to take full advantage of the movie’s marketing campaign, resulting in a boost to sales without a corresponding increase in marketing costs. In short, expect to see new Disney Infinity playsets for every major movie release from Disney or the studios it owns.

Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes debuts this fall for Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.

Source: Shacknews

 

Entertainment Firm 3BlackDot Emerges with Ex-Machinima Execs, YouTube Gamers

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By Sahil Patel

Two former Machinima executives have teamed up with two top gaming personalities on YouTube to launch 3BlackDot, a new “influencer-driven” entertainment company that will focus on digital video production, game development, and social marketing.

Principals include Angelo Pullen (former head of affiliate development at Machinima), Luke Stepleton (director of entertainment network partnerships at the MCN), and YouTube gamers Adam Montoya (SeaNanners: 4.6 million subscribers) and Tom Cassell (TheSyndicateProject: 7.7 million subscribers).

Hank Stepleton, older brother of Luke and the former co-executive producer of the reality-TV hit “Duck Dynasty,” is also aboard as partner and head of Pickaxe, the company’s video production unit. He will be tasked with developing and producing content for both digital and traditional outlets, the first project of which being a new live-action short film based on 3BlackDot’s “Zombie Killer Squad” mobile game. (The trailer for the film will debut at the company’s launch party at San Diego Comic-Con.)

The “Zombie Killer Squad” short points to a major initiative for 3BlackDot, which is to build entertainment and media franchises that span multiple assets.

The focus will be to use the influence and audience reach of top online personalities to build these franchises. For instance, back in November 2013 when it was still in stealth mode, 3BlackDot released the “Zombie Killer Squad” game in partnership with Section Studios. Within nine days, the game recorded 1 million installs, the company said. Eventually, the game reached the top spot in the iTunes store in the UK, Canada, and Australia, and the second spot in the US.

“We put zero promotional dollars behind traditional user acquisition, so the immense success of ‘Zombie Killer Squad’ was due to support from fans of YouTube talent SeaNanners and TheSyndicateProject, both featured in the game,” said Luke Stepleton. “We’re building influencer-driven properties into massive franchises and ‘Zombie Killer Squad’ is just the beginning for us.”

Now at 2.6 million installs, 3BlackDot will soon release an update to “Zombie Killer Squad” that brings two more YouTube gamers into the mix: Tiffany Garcia (IHasCupQuake: 1.6 million subscribers) and Trevor Martin (TmarTn: 1.7 million subscribers).

This effort will be overseen by 3BlackDot’s studio unit, which will focus on developing animated and live-action content, games, and other licensed product.

Outside of its IP development and production units, 3BlackDot will specialize in two other areas: The company will manage a network of top YouTube talent (“each with their own distinct brands and dedicated followings”) and an agency division that would connect brands with these influential personalities. With the co-founders collective gaming background, it appears that will be the initial vertical targeted by the company.

“3BlackDot is launching with the industry’s most talented professionals in entertainment content creation, game development, and brand integrations,” said Pullen in a statement. “Our goal is simple: to deliver audience engagement, entertainment properties, and brand value that harnesses the power of Influencer communities.”

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

Tango Introduces $25 Million Gaming Fund

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Tango is on a roll. After raising more than $280 million through Alibaba as part of a Series D round of financing, the company wants to improve its messaging app with the addition of game promotion. It recently announced a $25 million fund that will help support the program, meant to draw in and possibly even invest in developers of said games.

Tango has been in the games business since last year, after it announced the creation of its own games and opening up its messaging platform to interested third-party developers, with the help of a software development kit. The move was a success for it, as games running within its app managed to rank high on app store charts in the games category.

Jim Ying, Tango’s new vice president of games publishing, explained how the success worked well for the company. With the introduction of social medium in games, user engagement has grown nearly two to three times in size. More than 40 partners have signed on, with two to four games releasing on a weekly basis. With the new fun, more games will continue to be added, around the same pace, but with direct publishing.

With 200 million users ready to take part in gaming, and a focus on devoted games (not necessarily quick play stuff like Flappy Bird), this could be a big new initiative for the company.

This move by Tango is intended to make its messaging app an important tool for game discovery. That’s certainly the case in Asia, where messaging apps like WeChat, Line and Kakao have become major game player acquisition tools for game publishers. Publishers have even created special versions of games for messaging, such as the version of Candy Crush Saga King created for Kakao in South Korea.

While messaging apps have been popular around the world (WhatsApp and Tango are popular in North America and Europe), games have not been particularly important outside of Asia. Perhap’s Tango’s new initiative can change that.

Do you think this will be a successful move for Tango

Source: TechCrunch

Exclusive Games For Amazon’s Fire Phone

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Amazon Game Studios wants to show that it’s serious about being a contender in the video game division, and this week, it took the initiative by announcing two big exclusives for its forthcoming Amazon Fire Phone, which will be launching next week.

The two games are co-developments with partners under the Amazon Game Studios umbrella, Hibernum and HotGen.

The first is called Saber’s Edge, and here’s its description: “Set in a unique universe of steampunk scoundrels and cloud cities, Saber’s Edge is a strategic match-3 puzzle game where players match tiles across four sides of a rotating cube at the bottom of the screen to help pirates battle rival crews at the top of the screen. The more matches players make, the more firepower they give their pirates in battle. Using Dynamic Perspective, players peek around the corners of the cube to see opportunities to extend their matches, or tilt the device to spin the cube left or right to the next cube face. The victorious are rewarded with treasure used to build a pirate crew powerful enough to eventually reign supreme.

Here’s what players can expect from the second offering, To-Fu Fury: Cheat death, defeat enemies, and save the Fortune Kitty in To-Fu Fury, a humorous action game where the player becomes To-Fu, a stretchy, sticky, flingy, and combative cube of bean-curd. Set in a distant land of dojos, temples, and ninjas, players must navigate To-Fu through deadly spikes, devious traps, and powerful enemies to free Fortune Kitty. Each element of the game comes to life on Fire phone’s innovative interface with this new look of the popular To-Fu series. Players can use their head to peek around levels, see their obstacles and plot their strategy.

“Amazon Game Studios is working with some of the best studios to co-develop games that leverage the amazing capabilities of our new devices,” said Mike Frazzini, Vice President of Amazon Games. “The new games we are releasing today deeply integrate Dynamic Perspective and offer players new ways to engage with games—using head movements to navigate gameplay and tilt gestures to strategize upcoming moves. Saber’s Edge and To-Fu Fury are just the beginning of what Amazon Game Studios and the entire game development community can do using the immersive new Dynamic Perspective technology built into Fire phone.”

Both games will sell for $1.99, and will launch day one alongside the Fire Phone next week. Those still interested in pre-ordering can do so here.

Source: Amazon