The 2008 Game Developer Conference has been a great conference so far. Most of the major industry players are here. Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, Disney, Ubisoft, Activison and a host others. After the first few days of the conference focused on a number of sessions and events today marked the beginning of the Expo portion of the conference.
The technology that was on display was cutting edge and amazing. From motion capture demonstrations to the latest in animation technology including demonstrations by Natural Motion of their Dynamic Motion Synthesis Euphoria product which will be big role in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Grand Theft Auto IV. To a host of demonstrations from organizations that are looking to take gaming to the next level. From brain wave centric gaming to you as the controller the evolution of gaming is close at hand.
G4 and the X-Play team are here broadcasting as well as Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb. This has been a very informative event thus far and I look forward to tomorrows sessions, hitting the expo floor again and meeting with the EA team.
There will be more photos posted in the photo gallery soon.
Tonight was the invite only Madden Bowl XIV put on by the Electronic Arts Tiburon team. It was a great event. A number of NFL stars squared off to see who would be the Madden Bowl XIV champ. Kellen Winslow Jr., Willis McGahee, Marshawn Lynch, Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson, Jason Whitten and others all virtually took the field to see who would win the coveted Madden Bowl trophy.
After a few rounds the finals came down to Willis McGahee and Marshawn Lynch. McGahee took home the coveted Madden Trophy 43-7.
The event was being blogged live by Will "Raczilla" Kinsler, Madden community manager.
Also, It was great to hang out with Mike "MJ" Johnson (Below) and Reg Hamlett of EA Sports and all of their associates during the event.
Just a quick note that I will be attending CES 2008 in Las Vegas. I will be at the event through Tuesday of next week.
Being the gadget guy that I am it will be a lot of fun to get a glimpse at the latest emerging technologies across a number of categories.
If you are going to be in attendance definitely let me know. Otherwise I will follow up with a review of the sights and sounds of this years consumer electronics show.
I still remember when I saw my first $60 price tag on a game. My jaw almost hit the floor. Now $59.99 is just what you pay for the latest title. Throw in the collector's edition ($69.99) or the recent Halo 3 Legendary edition ($125) or the recent Rockbank release ($169) and you see the trend in gaming today.
Now throw in strategy guides and downloadable content and the life of a game is now extended as is the profitability of the title. Take for example the latest EA title Need for Speed Pro-Street. It is the best example of a console game that leverages in game play with actual cash based (Microsoft Points) based extras. Don't want to wait to get your dreamcar in the game? It can be yours for 200 Microsoft points. Not happy with your engine or injection system? No worries upgrade for 150 Microsoft points. It is a great move by EA to add this extra option. This also results in additional revenue for the title.
It will be interesting to see the continual evolution of gaming. I foresee a time when most of the content will be downloaded and the introduction of subscription models moving forward. We will have to wait and see.
January 2008 will be 5 years for me as an adjunct faculty member of Wayland Baptist University. Initially I taught courses such as Principles of Marketing, Market Promotion, Consumer Behavior and Global Marketing on campus. Now I am a member of the Virtual Campus focusing mainly on distance education around Principles of Marketing and Human Resources Management. Each Semester (4 semesters a year) I get two new groups of students and begin the process of introducing them to the various concepts and provide insight into the latest marketing theory.
After interacting with thousands of students from across the globe I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the impact that this profession has had on me. In many ways teaching a course really enables you to emerse yourself in the content. When you are a student your main responsibility is to comprehend the information that is presented to you. When you are on the other side of the desk not only do you need to comprehend the information, but you also need to be able to apply the concepts to real world scenarios that are relevant to your students to truly enhance the learning experience.
What I have found over the years is that students want the information presented to them to be relevant to their lives in some way. So this makes my job even easier as marketing impacts everyone on a daily basis. It would be very difficult to go through a day without some type of message either directly or indirectly trying to capture your attention. Radio, Television, Print, Online… no matter where you go you are constantly being reminded about various brands trying to maintain their position or gain market share against competitors.
I am very grateful for the experiences and the interact with all of my students. Thank you all.
Microsoft + Electronic Arts = In-game Advertising?
Coming to you live from Oklahoma City. Wi-Fi in a hospital room, who would have thought it was possible? No I am not in the hospital just blogging from one. So Microsoft and Electronic Arts have partnered together to sign the largest in-game advertising deal to date. Initially the campaign will be rolled out to the Sports titles like Madden, Nascar, Tiger Woods and Skate.
The reason this is possible now is how connected most gamers are. Think about some of the current titles in your library. You can get up to the minute ESPN feeds and updates now when the game fires up in NBA Live 07 and other EA titles. These feeds are a precursor of what's to come. In reviewing research for this post it turns out that there are 4.4 million connected gaming console households. With 46 million game consoles in homes and another 148 million people with access to gaming consoles these numbers will continue to increase. So needless to say it is very appealing to advertisers to want to reach this segment of the population as this is a key demographic for positioning products and services.
All of the major consoles now have an online presence with Xbox leading the way online and the Wii attracting scores of new gamers. The industry is definitely in for additional growth online. So this all leads to the million dollar question… er the $600 million dollar question (market projection in 3 years)… Do you want ads in your games? It is nice to see the Dodge ads on the billboards in Crackdown and it does add to the realism in games, but how would you respond to something that interupts game play?
Personally, I like the subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) product placement approach in most films. It is about characters interacting with name brand products but not about the product itself. This to me has more impact and would make me more likely to remember the reference than stopping in the middle to see a pop-up or ticker during game play.
So whether you are a fan or not, In-game advertising is coming and in a big way. There are too many dollars and distractions these days to not take this medium seriously. What do you think? Are you for, opposed or just in-different to in-game advertising? In the end it will be your dollars that do the talking.