Wednesday, September 27, 2006

OMMA Panelists: Advergames Outscore In-Game Placement

Media Post: "Games built around a brand, or advergames, are often a better option for marketers than placing ads within a game, a panel of executives said Tuesday at the OMMA conference in New York.

Advergames usually are relatively cheap to produce, and simple to distribute, the executives said. What's more, advergames don't require the same degree of coordination between different parties as ads served while consumers are playing a game."

Of course, all panelists were from the advergaming companies. Blah.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Wall Street Journal on Second Life Fashion

"Now, Virtual Fashion", Wall Street Journal, By Andrew Lavallee, September 22, 2006; Page B1.

The article can be accessed online for free for a week, but then will go behind the iron curtain. The highlights, verbatim:

"It's actually, conceptually, not unlike making real clothing," says Alyssa LaRoche, 26 years old, who began designing clothes for Second Life in 2004 under her avatar's name, Aimee Weber." (first time Aimee's RL name is revealed?)

"Raz Schionning, American Apparel's director of Web services, admits to some initial ambivalence about the Second Life store, which opened June 21. Many of the clothes sold in Second Life are on the racy, "Matrix"-inspired side. "I wasn't sure if the concept of selling T-shirts to that audience was going to fly at all," he says. Since then, though, the store has sold some 4,000 items, catering to players who want their avatars to dress as they do." (That's 4,000 items at $US 1)

"Competition has also intensified as more designers have tried to establish themselves. To gain attention, many designers have started blogs or bought online advertising. Several virtual publications, including Second Style, Linden Lifestyles and Pixel Pinup, troll for new releases, and a favorable review can make a big difference for fledgling lines."

"Some designers, like DE Designs' Mr. Hester, have taken steps to copyright their work."

"My wife totally makes fun of me," says Mr. Springer, the online fashion critic. "I don't like to shop in real life."

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Data: Gamers Are Heavy Media Consumers

Universal McCann has released that part of its Media in Mind study that deals with gamers (all reports here, a direct link to the 2-page pdf here). A few interesting tidbits. "Video gamers are above average media consumers, partuclarly for the internet and DVD's." Video game players top overall adult media consumption by some 20 minutes a week. The study also found that gaming is a more social activity than previously thought.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Fashion Show Scheduled in MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach



MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach - "the whole Laguna experience in a parallel online universe" - is hosting an "exclusive" fashion show tonight (Sept.14).

Thursday, September 7, 2006

Furniture 3D Models in Games and Google Earth

I wrote before about Google Earth and SL-like games becoming increasingly alike. Here's a nice illustration.

An Ikea bed model for Sims 2.


An Ikea bed model for Sketch-up and Google Earth (gEarth?).



Here's an Ikea table for Second Life itself.


Also, a video of a project "named 3D IKEA Manual [that] aims to show the potential of augmented reality (AR) in domestic use".

Spore To Offer Printable Game Characters



Looks like Maxis and EA will let players to order their custom Spore characters as physical figurines for an extra price.
-- 4colorrebellion

Sunday, September 3, 2006

"Advertising in Games" Thesis Posted Online



So, the thesis has been defended and I upped it yesterday to its own brand new site at Games Brands Play. It's in PDF, but I am working on making it more readable and will add pictures, too.
Although this blog was started as a bookmark dump and a "companion" to the work, I'm not stopping it now that the thesis is over. I will probably move it to that new URL at some point, but if you are on RSS you should be fine.