The Asian Power Hour

Looks like it's still going strong! With the fourth expansion to come out in 9 months, it seems that there is a strong market for home based RFID CCGs, not just in the arcade. Two things that probably helped this:

1. The portable nature of the game system coupled with the rampant popularity and coverage of the NDS.
2. $1.50 for a booster pack, way cheap for a collectible card game, let alone one with new-fangled tech.

For those of you interested more in this particular system, here is a link to an detailed look at Konami's first foray into the non-arcade RFID CCG world:

RFID card battling game Juushinden roars onto the Nintendo DS

This is pretty brilliant. Geiger posted this on his Facebook and even though it has little to do with games, I feel like I need to share it. Well, I suppose I can say something like "Ever wonder why song lyrics never inform the visuals of their music videos....etc etc", but I think that would just ruin the fun. Just watch and enjoy!

p.s. Pipeeeeeee Wrreeeeennncccchhhh Fiiiiigggghhhhhhhttttt!

So this weekend is Blizzcon and I received an interesting email from DirectTV, who are broadcasting the panels and major events from the con in a 40 dollar pay-per-view package. Here's the interesting bit though, people who get the broadcast will also receive the exclusive Blizzcon attendee in-game item free. (See below)

Selling exclusive items has been a source of pain for Blizzard (and all MMO companies really) in the past, with previous year's items hitting upwards of $400. Also, many would-be convention goers complain that these items are "too exclusive", since the convention location has definitely alienated many fans due to just physical location.

I think this is a pretty ingenious move and an interesting way to cross-promote a service that might otherwise be overlooked for the most part and also to drive down the item selling online. It looks like many people aren't really getting the marketing message though since the exclusive item is still jumping around $200+ on eBay.

I took a closer look at the painting of the Last Supper this morning as I was enjoying a scrumptious breakfast of quail eggs and fine red wine and lo and behold. The mystery was clear as day now.

From www.duelinganalogs.com
Full Size Version Here

One of SEGA's flagship barcode arcade games (along with Love and Berry and Mushi [Beetle] King), Dinosaur King, after enjoying moderate success in the US kid's television market is finally getting a DS port here in the US. However, what seems a bit off is that SEGA is forgoing the card reader that it packaged with the other games in it's DS series. Two things:

1. The arcade version of Dinosaur King is actually localized in the US and available at almost every Gameworks (SEGA owned) and uses cards that are compatible with the Japanese arcade version.

2. The cards for Love and Berry and Mushi King are actually cross-platform compatible too, allowing cards from the arcade to be used in the home version (and the special edition cards that come with the console edition to be used in the arcade).

It seems that with a platform already in the US, it would be foolhardy not to use this as a stepping stone for all of SEGA's popular physical/digital card based games (Sangokushi Taisen!) to be released in the US. It's also interesting to note that Konami has, to this day, not touched their Juushinden technology for use in the US market (Yu-Gi-Oh anyone?). With something like taking the very niche audience based Arkanoid paddle out of the DS version for the US audience it makes some business sense, but how about for this?

What do you guys think, after the failure of Spectrobes and Eye of Judgement in the US, do you think that Western audiences are just not ready for a combination of two game types that are already popular here?

While perusing a DIRECTV circular, I noticed that they have a feature called Gamelounge, which is a channel on their service that serves a large variety of casual games that viewers play with their remote, effectively (and cleverly) creating a game controller that users are already familiar and comfortable with navigating.

Hello all! I'm running the workshop next Monday on design for online based games. This covers not only MMORPGS, but general considerations for platforms like XBOX Live and Facebook and also games with online components, like FPS. This will be a very casual session and attendees should feel free to discuss questions and comments at anytime.

The schedule for the workshop will include 3 main parts:
1. An introduction to the history, growth, and general information of Online Games
2. Hands-on session with the new MMORPG Warhammer Online
3. Comparative discussion of design used in Warhammer Online

The Workshop is:
Monday 1-5 Nov. 3rd in the Robert Zemeckis Center, Zemeckis Media Lab (2F)

There may not be enough computers for a larger crowd, so if you have a windows laptop, please bring it so that you will be able to run Warhammer Online on it.

A Very Special Thanks to Electronic Arts and EA Mythic for providing us with the resources for this workshop.

Also, as a shameless plug, the next series in the workshop on Nov. 24th will cover online design and business considerations in Asia versus the Western Gaming World and we will have a special guest as Jeffery Kaplan, the lead designer for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King has graciously offered to give a post-mortem on the design challenges and affordances while making the expansion to the most popular MMORPG currently in the world.