Episode 22 – Play for Free on Free to Play

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Phaedra and Michael M discuss free to play game economics — both from the game designer and the game player perspective as well as how this changes when the game is focused on individual paying players vs larger enterprises as the target market.  With micropayments for in-game purchases being the revenue source for free to play games, Phaedra mentions that at the recent Game Developers Conference that free to play games can be more profitable than $50 boxed games.  Michael shares that he likes to avoid such in-game purchases, hence the title of the show.  🙂

 

Cross genre gameplay also gets the GamesatWork.biz treatment when Phaedra and Michael brainstorm on what may make for a good cross genre game.  An interesting idea emerges combining maps, geocashing and Habitat for Humanity Restore opportunities.

 

Some of the games mentioned on today’s episode include

Simpsons Tapped Out — http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-simpsons-tapped-out/id497595276

Tiny Tower — http://nimblebit.com

Plants vs Zombies — http://www.popcap.com/games/plants-vs-zombies/home

SimCity — http://www.simcity.com/en_US

Monopoly City Streets — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_City_Streets

Hivemind — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hivemind_(software)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:27 — 32.4MB) | Embed

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Episode 21 – Gaming the Game Genome

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The Michael’s are back at it again this time with a new website that claims to be able to figure out your gaming mood. Thinking back to the Music Genome Project, which we can’t believe is over 13 years old now, we take a look at the Game Genome Project website, which we can only hope will do the same thing for gaming. We miss our new co-host Phaedra Boinodiris again this week, but soldier on with this weeks show. We look at other ideas for Genome projects to figure out what other cool relationships we can figure out. We also talk about Legos and Fischertechnik, and the freakish contraptions you can build by mashing together building sets with a bit of 3D Printing. We also play with the idea (thank you Andy Ihnatko) of how could you game cleaning up the Apple IOS 6 map issues.

This week’s Links:
Game Genome Project
Music Genome Project
Sade
Warp 11
Pandora Media
Good Reads
3D Printing and Lego
Stack Exchange and Lego
FischerTechnik
STEM FischerTechnik
Tim Cook and Maps
Ride the Duck

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:01 — 41.4MB) | Embed

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Episode 20 – Social Live Improv

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The Michaels are without Phaedra this week, and talk about improv, monkeys, and the intersection between gaming technology and social technologies. FedEx launching new Social Collaboration. Michael M doesn’t realize that Ping is dead! But They Might Be Giants lives on with custom ring tones, just like Carl Kassell on Wait, Wait, Don’t tell Me.

We also brainstorm a bit on good examples of two way conversations in social business.  Small businesses do this well, and a few of our favorites are Waze, Bojangles, Bean Traders and local gaming development community in the RTP area.

Don’t forget about Dance where you are day!

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Episode 19 – Now Playing Seriously!

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Michael M and Phaedra welcome special guest Gwen Gordon of Seriously, the Movie for this week’s episode focusing intently on play.  From inventing a nose flute for Snuffleupagus to a basketball court for Slimy the worm, Gwen gained experience early on in applying creativity and innovation in a playful, fun and extremely rapid way.  Focused now on the fundraising for a feature length film and then following up with a series called “Now Playing:” — at work, at home, at school, for life (health and wellness), for the future (innovation & creativity) and for change (social justice), Gwen shares with Phaedra and Michael her reasons, hopes and dreams for this project.  We were impressed, and think you will be too!

 

If you want to help with the Kickstarter project, please dial on over to see Gwen and her wonderpup Garbonzo, where they are Occupying Kickstarter until they raise the necessary funds to get this important work off the ground.

 

Also don’t forget that September 18th is “Dance where you are” day, and you can win fabulous prizes from taking part in your own playspark.

 

For more social media, follow @seriouslymovie and friend on Facebook

Some examples of play that Gwen mentioned in the podcast

Burningman — http://www.burningman.com

Wanderlust — http://www.facebook.com/Wanderlust

US Play Coalition — http://www.usplaycoalition.org

Maker Faire — http://makerfaire.com/newyork/2012/index.html

Episode 19, Now Playing Seriously! — brought to you by the letters B, U and the number 34,969.

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