| Set On Stun |

Apparently, Set on Stun and every other blog on the planet has been writing (and writhing) furiously about the Apple iPad announcement.  In the past few days, my partner Shawn and I have produced a few of those articles as well.

While I’m hesitant to add yet another article in the current cacophony of critical and complimentary yet credible connoisseurs of computing culture, I feel that I have yet to put my finger on why I simultaneously love and hate the Apple iPad.  I hate it because of what it is, yet I love it for what it could potentially be.

Why I Love the Apple iPad:

As my friend, mentor and former boss Thom Kozik noted in a past article, about my skepticism towards the Apple iPad, the revolution of the iPhone was not in the technology, the same could be said (and is being said) about the iPad.  He makes the point that

There’s an old adage in product design & marketing that the mass market will never recognize they need and thus will not demand, truly innovative products. I would challenge anyone to argue that they would have specified in some 2006 survey or focus group that what they *really* wanted was the kind of capabilities/functionality an iPhone user takes for granted (nay, is *addicted to*) on a daily basis. Design by committee doesn’t work here.

He goes on to describe the nearly imperceptible learning curve and its ability to “just work”.  In a sense, he described the brilliance of the Apple strategy.  They make products that they control to give people technology that fits the way they consume media (games, blogs, the internet, music, movies and more).  With the nit-picking of the iPad due to its lack of GPS, media outlets, Adobe Flash capabilities and many more, I realized that in my mind, I am looking at this device with the perception of a media creator.  I create things all day long, analyses, spreadsheets, articles and more.  I sit at my PC and I think, I work and I create.  With those lenses, I have judged the iPad and found it wanting.

However, after a brief IM with Thom and reading his response, I took a look at how I use my badly damaged iPhone and realized that the things I create with my iPhone is minimal.  The emails, texts, tweets and updates are minimal.  However, the media that I consume compared to what I create is staggering.

I sent 12 emails via my phone yesterday, read 12 blog posts, viewed 20 pictures, played 6 games, listened to music for 7 hours and watched over 10 videos.  The iPad would allow me to do that, and more (multitasking aside).

The iPad as a Media Consumption Product is Amazing.

As a content consumption device, it has flaws, but what I think Apple has figured out is not just what people consume on a mobile device, but how they consume media on that device.  The iPad version 1 will always be a test, it will find out what works and what doesn’t.  Patches will be added to update and upgrade the firmware, apps will be created to supplement and work around some of the idiosyncrasies.  Don’t even start talking to me about hating the iPad because of the “walled garden”  each gaming console is itself a walled garden.  I agree in principle, but the reality is that every popular manufacturer of content consumption (games, ebooks, music and movies) have some level of that baked into their process.

Why I Hate the Apple iPad

Simply put, for me, it’s superfluous.  I have consoles, both mobile and static… I have an iPhone, I have a laptop and the iPad is just one more piece of beautiful technology that doesn’t replace any of these items, doesn’t really do anything that these things do significantly better and has some drawbacks that I just don’t have to live with in the context of my current digitally mobile life.  I hate it because I’m attracted to it.  I want it… I want to play games, experience what I’m sure will be a new way to perceive and experience games.

That’s the crux.  All I see now is potential, the iPad is a platform that has a beautiful, yet flawed architecture that holds an incredible potential.  I can see that potential and I can see how Apple has designed this product to be iterative, to blend in with digitally mobile lifestyle and I can see how good it can be.

We talked about this earlier this year, the rise of DLC supplanting the high price of box titles in lean times and offering content during the summer slump with fresh innovative games that are just as fulfilling as a full-fledged big budget title. It’s only  apropos that they get some props from the mainstream gaming press.

Not that the Spike Videogame Awards are the Oscars of gaming just yet, but they do have an awards show on a popular cable channel, attended by copious amounts of celebs and sports figures and the event  gets some great promotion from Spike itself.

High stature or not these are recognizable awards that are  at least at the more general, consumer level so to have your indie game or dlc get a nod or win — well that’s pretty cool.

On the short list for potential winners are games that if you haven’t tried out you should …

Trials HD, Splosion Man, Osmos and Flower.  Also getting nods in the Best DLC category are Fat Princess, Battlefield 1943, Plants vs. Zombies and Shadow Complex (from the folks over at Epic and Chair Entertainment).  And this list is just the the tops of the pops. There was and continues to be a steady steam of worthy arcade and downloadable titles that have come out this year.

For these games and the companies that make them, this is a welcome reward that feeds the fires of creativity and hopefully will get them to deliver more games to our consoles in the years to come. Take for example Red Lynx, the folks who make Trials HD . Before this game came out did you have any idea who they were? The same goes for even folks like Chair Entertainment, who is owned by Epic but certainly not a developer that’s at the top of all the hotlists.

The more we recognize companies like this the better chance we have of creating a marketplace where a massive marketing campaign and big budget can’t outdo the efforts of a small company with big ideas. Let’s face it, a good game is a good game and so for whoever wins on Dec. 12, it’s an award well earned.

Now available on ModDB, the Din0 D-Day has just been released by Digital Ranch Interactive.  This looks absolutely amazing

I’ve sat here for the past 5 minutes, trying to think of something insightful, though-provoking and creative, but the only thing that’s running through my head is this spectacular trailer.  My mind’s blown!

Ultimately, in the new social economy, in the new ways that technology can connect people and ideas, this is the kind of creative collaboration that happens when game companies support their loyal fan base.

While there’s a part of me that wants to write a dissertation on marketing, communication and the leveraging of tools and the social web to make a larger point about marketing, all I really want to do is watch this amazing trailer again.

Marketing isn’t just about pushing products or services, there’s an absolutely critical relationship between the company, the product and the user base.

This is just amazing… I’m gonna have to fire up my computer and play the hell out of this.

What did you think only master chief had a cool helmet?

How do you reinvigorate a a franchise that  had already pushed the bar so high it crumbled under the weight of things like Mountain Dew Game Fuel and UNSC Messenger bags? Go back to the drawing board, create another storyline and remove the key figure of the franchise. For your consideration enter Halo 3:ODST and the soon to be yet amazingly cryptic Halo Reach.  So in going down the checklist here’s what the folks at Bungie were looking at:

• A 2 year gap since the last game — granted a big success but many complained it paled to Halo 2. Additionally the accompanying marketing blitz is the stuff of legend in terms of how far Microsoft went to push Halo 3 -- overkill? Perhaps
• In between Microsoft made a Halo RTS with Ensemble studios and while it proved a good step bridging that RTS for consoles gap, it was no behemoth of success.
• The folks over at Infinity Ward and Epic took  multiplayer to new levels with a reward system, deeper maps, and in terms of  Gears of War 2, you got the superb team based Horde Mode which offered up a whole new way to bring the fight with 4 of your online buddies.

So in coming back to the FPS world of Halo and already knowing they had essentially ended the main story of Master Chief how would they create a spin off that didn’t seem like a spinoff? Here’s how…

1. Tell an “in between story.” ODST takes place between Halo 2 and 3. (GTAIV is attempting that as well except in their case it all happens within the core story)
2. Create a Memento style story that flashed back and forth showing different perspectives of the same event that would eventually all come to a focal point.
3. While using a lot of the staples of this universe and gameplay introduce some different elements while borrowing from other successful shooters (not that they would admit it) that have come out since the last Halo.

For those about to frag, I salute you.

Did it work?

Completely — Presenting exhibits A through C:

A.  A creepy, cryptic, very realistic ad campaign that made these ODST folks seem like real soldiers replete with a very Full Metal Jacket-esque imagery

B. A massive pre-sell blitz that served up tons of previews and clips along with  a special DLC for pre-orders — this seems to be the norm now with a lot of these major title releases

C.  An incentive to hang on to the game because it will not only allow you to enjoy future DLC but this is going to be your ticket when they launch the beta test for Halo:Reach.

For those of you who remember Crackdown, that was the same push except that time the beta was for Halo 3. It’s an ingenious method to sell two games at once that is very effective if the second game doesn’t even exist but is one that has a guaranteed audience. Not every publisher can employ this tactic but for those who do it works 10 times over. Add to that the release of ODST came with a second disc that featured all of the Halo 3 maps offered before. All of them. So rather than go the Game of the Year route or repackage trick like some publishers have done where they include previous DLC, in this scenario you get it as a bonus with your new game and hopefully it gets you back to playing your old game that you hopefully have hung on to.

Marketing Schmarketing — How’s the game?

Halo 3: ODST is an outstanding title from the folks at Bungie. Line up some notable and talented sci-fi voices  (Adam Baldwin, Tricia Helfer, Nathan Fillan) throw in a doozy of a multiplayer mode that’s hard to stop playing, and create a storyline that’s moody, intense and has multiple storyline along the course of one game and you have something old that’s new again. Since it’s apparent that Bungie has not decided to step off the Halo train just yet to make some new titles, it’s great to see that they instead have given us an upgrade to first class.

All you need is game

We’ve known it was coming for quite some time — Beatles Rock Band. What a lot of people don’t know is that this game has been in the works for years. Through the machinations of Harmonix, Dhani Harrison (George Harrison’s son) the surviving members of the band and a whole bunch of talented developers, artists and musicians we now have a game that will undoubtedly make millions. Would we be so excited if the game was just released on a Tuesday like so many thousands of games and it was just a regular old game release? Well that’s a ridiculous question since there was no way this would ever be a regular release.

Want to see the what a behemoth marketing monster looks like? Then all you need to do is look at the icon props at the bottom of the The Beatles Rock Band website…

what no Taco Bell props?

Impressive — the force is strong with them

Rock Band itself has already developed a solid brand over the last couple of years and the Beatles … well, yeah. So put the two together and you get a variety of game bundles all with the same game but extra stuff released on 9/9/09, number 9 …. number 9 …..

Behold — 21st Century Beatlemania

Forty-five songs, dlc already prepped to go, bonus tracks, clips and minutiae that would make Seinfeld cry. For the Guitar Hero/Rock Band generation and the kids that follow they get a chance to meet the Beatles in a way that doesn’t seem like drudgery for them along the lines of “Why do we have to listen to this?” (Watching endless videos or listening to their parents now CDs (used to be albums).  With all this going for it you would think that’s really all you need to do right? Nope. You would be wrong like the people who said this band would never amount to anything. Granted you’ve got a given audience of anyone who is a fan of the game and the band. Then you’ve got the oldy oldersons who will now have a chance to be a virtual Beatle. And last you have the demographic of the kids who think Ringo is some sort of stomach virus/tapeworm but love videogames and are willing to have a go at this version since they’ve probably heard so many of these songs.

EMI’s Game Marketing Machine, Marketing Machine, Marketing Machine

Let’s put aside the fact that VH-1 Classics has gone on autopilot featuring an ad for the game every commercial break including one featuring old rockers reminiscing about how much they loved the Beatles. Let’s instead talk about the fact the game is being released simultaneously the same time that the entire remastered catalog of the band is being released and sold everywhere. Then there’s the mono (audiophile geeks) versions of their recordings the way they were supposed to heard  — that’s up for purchase too. As for Beatles Rock band getting promoted, there as commercial spots on every channel outside of HGTV (althoug they may have bought time on there too), they’re running print ads, banner ads on the web, in store promotions, contests, release parties that put Halo 3 and GTAIV to shame and well — it’s kind of hard to avoid this Yellow Submarine running you over.

Say you want a revolution and a slurpee?

Microsoft even brought out the last two surviving Beatles to E3 this year to endorse the game, Dhani Harrison went on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to promote the game and every retailer from 7-11 to Whole Foods (that’s right Whole Foods) will be selling Beatles stuff. It would seem that EMI (the band’s label) has decided to take the notion of cross-platform marketing to new heights. Sure 7-11 okay, you go in grab a slurpee and a remastered copy of Abbey Road, but Whole Foods?  “We need a price check on Rubber Soul, price check…” Strangely, Itunes is blatantly missing from this list. Fear not, it would seem foolish for this rip in the Beatles space continuum to last too long.

Baby you can cash my cow

Despite the instant distribution vending machine we call the internet at their disposal it’s clear that the folks behind this marketing maelstrom  realize that it’s a lot easier to get fans of the Fab Four to pick up that cool looking video game set (complete with fake replica instruments) or sweet new sounding discs in shiny packaging while they’re shopping for pants at Target rather than online. Ironically big business and corporations like EMI have yet to figure out the secret to turning the internet into that money making cash cow that traditional retail has always provided when it comes to stuff like this. Downloading sure, but clearing monster sales like a videogame with a price tag that maxes out at $250? It’s not an easy feat. We’re getting there with things like games on demand and Steam which allows you to buy older games digitally but nothing the likes of this. What this massive promotion for a videogame and some new CDs  of music you already own does is raise the bar that was already set Halo 3 high a few years back. It also shows us what happens when you take some rock legends, a videogame and a mega promotion budget and mix them together.