Real-Time Economy Community - New ideas

The introduction of the Nintendo DSi: Is mobile gaming finally winning serious ground?

Jan Gerrits — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:16:47 GMT

Last week has seen the introduction of the updated Nintendo DS, the DSi. Approximately 100 million for the Nintendo have been sold 50 million PSPs, its nearest competitor on the portable console market. The future is less rosy: Nintendo has seen decreasing sales numbers from the DS to the DS lite. Is there a saturation of the market or are potential mobile gamers increasingly taking the mobile phone serious as a portable gaming device? It is interesting to see that through touch screen several phones can mimic Nintendo's gaming experience. The openness of these platforms beat the (semi)closed Nintendo environment. The DSi boasts 0.3 mp camera, which makes the iPhone's 2 mp camera look like a Hasselblad. Furthermore, it has different features to edit pictures and sound, which on most phones can easily be added through app stores. Although it has Wi-Fi, the DSi still misses one important feature: you cannot make phone calls with it.

Using games to create awareness: De Blob

Jan Gerrits — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:44:48 GMT

Often public organizations are accused of passive or reactionary public relations strategies. I am a great supporter for the adoption soft selling approaches by government institutions. The world of (mobile) gaming e.g. can be an effective channel for informing customers.

Utrecht is the main rail transport hub of the Netherlands. The city decided to drastically renovate the railway station and city area around it. Citizen needed to be informed about the drastical changes taking place in the cityscape in years of renovation and new build. As part of a soft selling campaign, the city of Utrecht assigned students (of the city's academy of fine arts) to make a game to help people familiarize themselves with the changing and new cityscape. The game landscape of course mimics the one of the city.

The game was freely downloadable from the city's internet portal (and still is: http://www.utrecht.nl/smartsite.dws?id=144982. The page includes screenshots of the original, featuring the renovated railway station area.) The game and the strategy proved to be a success. In a playful way people could get acquainted with changes taking place and could form a spatial image. As a consequence it has raised more acceptance for the renovation activities among the inhabitants of the city.

The game has been converted for the Wii console. And it was one of last year's best received titles for the platform. (More information about this version: http://wii.ign.com/objects/947/947046.html)

OnLive game "console"

Hendrik Hielkema — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:45:50 GMT

playing computergames online is very popular and growing. but the user still has to run the application on his own computer or console, with the onlive setup box a simple computer without any advanced graphic card can run the latest games on tv.

the idea behind this is software as a service for the game industry, the user sends all keyboard imput to the online "super" computer that will calculate the screens, this fast enough to provide gameplay that could put the xbox360, the ps3 and the wii out of business,

fantasy ?,, rollout is expected at the end of the year, more info on www.onlive.com

The effects of downloadable content on information goods

Aleksi Aalto — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:06:58 GMT

Videogames have traditionally behaved as information goods much like music and films. However, through the rising popularity of downloadable content (DLC), game and console producers, as well as consumers are witnessing a revolution in gaming.

Downloadable content has already caused restructuring in pricing through versioning, as well as in the networks themselves where the consumers also produce content themselves. Yet DLC is still a developing phenomenon with new applications being constantly introduced.

What kind of opportunities does DLC present to game producers, especially in pricing? Is DLC only a game-specific phenomenon, or can it affect also other types of information goods? Can the pricing models etc. adapted into video games be used in other types of products as well?

Mobile games: analyzing the needs and values of the consumers

Esko Penttinen — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:03:35 GMT

We studied the consumer perceptions of mobile games and found that the fundamental objective constructs can be categorized into (1) satisfaction of quality expectations, (2) gaming experience, (3) ease/quickness of setup, and (4) social aspects. The means objectives are categorized into (1) audiovisual effects, (2) customer support, (3) product information, (4) product comparison, (5) trust, and (6) independence of time and place in purchasing process. Using cluster analysis, we were able to categorize the consumers into four groups: value seekers, heavy players, casual gamers, and non-players. The study was presented at the Global Mobility Roundtable in Auckland, New Zealand in November 2008.