Episode 102 – I’ve got Plastisity

Phaedra, Michael and Michael get together for a detailed review of the economics of digital games for 2014. We continue to see the transition from Pay to Play to Free to Play games, and discuss how this is changing the game play of many MMOs. We also take issue with a recent report on how Gamificiation is failing health care. The issue is not gamification, but bad design. As more and more people jump into the hype of gamificaiton we are seeing the same patterns as other technologies, where people are trying to just use the term, without understanding the … Continue reading

Episode 100 – Malaria-Ebola and Freemium Games

Our 100th episode is extremely special with us all in one room and with two special guests Jonathan Estes and Porter Stowell. Jonathan is the CEO of Smart Games Systems, Inc. SGSYS has been working in subsaharan Africa on games for infant mortality and malaria vectors. The transfer of habits from games to real life can truly be a question of survival around health and safety concerns. Exploring these themes we enjoy an amazing conversation about playing games at work! We discuss how games are being used to extend beyond simulation to real engagement of individuals with replayability and increased … Continue reading

Episode 52 – Swapping your Battery in 90 Seconds

While many people are taking the day off in the U.S. to recover from all the sounds of the fireworks, the Michael’s take the time to check out some new glasses which you can wear via your iPad. We then look at how a blog post by Ramin Shokrizade over at Gamasutra, where he discusses the tips and tricks that Free to Play game designers use to get money from players. We decide it would be put to much better use if we can take these techniques and use them to help business and employees improve their skills and efficiencies. … Continue reading