Good news on a lost episode and intro to Tiny Tycoons

We have some good news for our podcast listeners — while there was not a recording this past Friday, an episode thought to be lost has been found! There needs to be some cleanup, and that will take place over the next few days. So in the meantime, let us remind you that we are interested in your feedback and are eager to hear your suggestions on topics that you would like us to cover.

In the meantime, there is one topic that we’ve been very interested here over at Games At Work, and that deals with location-based computing, coupled with games. The intersection of iBeacons (and other low energy Bluetooth) and gaming has been very promising for some time, and MacRumors posted an interesting story on the game Tiny Tycoons.

Tiny Tycoons is a cross between Foursquare, Monopoly City Streets and Ingress, where you can travel the world, both physically and virtually, to buy and trade properties. I’ve downloaded the game and will be giving it a whirl, and will look forward to sharing my insights on how this could be adapted for business purposes. I’m going to be the mayor, um, owner of a few new properties shortly!

Episode 71 – Grinding at Work

Board Games
Episode 71, Grinding at Work was recorded Friday the 3rd of January 2014 — Happy New Year!

Phaedra, Michael and Michael start the new year off with a bang, sharing the games that they’ve been playing over the holidays, discussing the Virtuix Omni 360 degree treadmill device, and exploring how grinding gaming experiences may lend themselves to improved customer and employee engagement. A very interesting gamification idea emerges for how Kinect-like devices could provide biofeedback to call center employees to help them stay “in the zone” and be as effective as possible. Have a listen!

Selected show links:
Games we’re been playing over the holidays
Clumsy Ninja — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clumsy-ninja/id561416817?mt=8
Real Racing 3 — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/real-racing-3/id556164008?mt=8

Apples to Apples — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apples_to_Apples
Cranium — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranium_(game)
Blackjack — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackjack
Texas Hold ‘Em — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_hold_%27em

Lego Hobbit — http://www.lego.com/legogames/en-us/Products/Details/3920.aspx
Tiny Thief — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-thief/id656620224?mt=8
Mega Dead Pixel — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mega-dead-pixel/id667405556?mt=8

Association of Virtual Worlds — http://www.associationofvirtualworlds.com

Omni videos, including Minecraft, Skyrim, and much more — http://www.virtuix.com/videos/

Math before mailing (from 2008!) — http://gmailblog.blogspot.hu/2008/10/new-in-labs-stop-sending-mail-you-later.html

Simpsons Tapped Out — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-simpsons-tapped-out/id497595276?mt=8

Kinect — http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect

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Games At Work

A short break

We hope all our listeners and followers are enjoying their year end. We are taking this time to play games, and relax with family and friends. We’ll be recording again on January 3rd… So keep those ideas coming.