Whyos

In something of a fluke, I’ve had a few conversations with different sorts of people over the past couple of weeks about the best ways to see a vision for a game or software project through to completion.  It may be self serving, but I think that superfluid could be the best option for many of these. A superfluid-based execution will allow almost anyone with their own marketable skill (whatever that skill is) to put together a team and execute from development through marketing and distribution, and to maintain full ownership of their baby.

superfluid is all about fair value for participants; it’s built to facilitate utilization of unsold or spare time, and to compensate each participant fairly within the system. This is also a great way to create a project from scratch, without the insecurities of buying into someone else’s vision, or giving a piece of your project to someone who may or may not be the ideal partner in the long term.

I believe that in general, the existing models of executing on a concept tend to be less than ideal, and don’t draw on community in the wholesome, yet self-interested way that superfluid can. One conventional path to completion of such things is for an entrepreneur to spend enough, from savings or debt, to fund the project. Another classic path (especially in open source) is for one person with the vision, personal magnetism, and technical skills to start the project, to work like mad on it until eventually it’s complete enough that he can draw others in to join him on it. In this context, a shared vision brings in others who join together to create the finished project. -The problem with the latter is that the timing, personalities, and skillsets don’t always necessarily align to enable even a brilliantly conceived concept.

It’s simple to use superfluid for such a project. You’d first want to define your needs (programming, design, project management, marketing, etc.) then assess how many Quids this is likely to cost you from vendors in superfluid. Then sell your own services into the superfluid system and claim Quids to convert into a project. If you’re a programmer, you sell programming into the system (possibly to other concepts at startup stage), if you’re a marketing expert, you sell that, and so on. You keep your own project and everyone else keeps their own projects, while the organic whole allows for execution of as many projects as possible.

…in fully functional (google-style) beta at www.superfluid.biz; when we have the chance to breathe, I’ll post further. For now, suffice it to say that we’re launched, and developing several specific community focii, including game development and marketing that may useful to readers here.

btw: If you’re a business (game developer, designer, marketing folks, etc.) that’d like to participate in superfluid, for a limited time you can submit for the beta here.

-Nathan

Superfluid has been my obsession for the past year, as we’ve been working on creating a system that can enable an elegant liquidity for business and creative initiatives. To this, my partner Branimir who was previously a physicist and remains a master of the 8-bit, brings a cold assessment of how an economy can work most legitimately and honestly. I bring a knowledge of what people find compelling in games, and how business, large and small, works.

It seems to us that in the current economy, most entities and individuals are straightjacketed by either a lack of clients, a lack of available investment dollars, or a lack of credit. And while all of these are real issues, they’re a bit pathetic in hobbling worthwhile efforts. So, we came together with an idea for a project that could bypass these problems, and help businesses to thrive and better enjoy what they do have. Read More »

Since Gamestop is having a few issues with sales at this point, it seems like perhaps an appropriate time to look at issues in the game retailing business and the timeline for some upcoming changes. For a number of years, folks have predicted the death of games on physical media, and certainly it does make sense that a button click to purchase is a better distribution model than sending folks to a store to pick up something that could simply be downloaded. There have been a few barriers to the transition: Read More »

There seems to be quite a bit of interest in the game developers cooperative, and I’ve been having a number of conversations about building such a thing. This being the case, it’s likely worthwhile to get into an overview both of what a cooperative is, and why it’s such a good solution for developer needs at this time. Read More »

I was asked the other day by an interviewer about the past and future of manifesto games, with which I have been glad to have been involved. As I was telling him, though, that a portal dedicated to indie games is redundant by definition in the current environment, where a thousand flowers are definitely blooming, it occurred to me that what is needed now isn’t a distribution channel, but cooperative representation for marketing and business development. Read More »

Bijan Sabet followed up a tweet pondering the future of libraries with a post including the feedback he had received. Some of the responses were interesting visions, while  some simply crowed the death of the printed word as the end of libraries. A fair amount of what I’ve been called upon to do since 2001 is evaluation of how physical retail can continue to have value in a world of digital distribution. -I dealt with this specifically as VP of Business at Electronics Boutique, and since then in a consulting role for various initiatives. Amusingly, the redundancy of libraries and of video game retail stores ends up being sort of the same issue at this point in history: Read More »

It’s been interesting to watch as Microsoft and Sony simply decided to copy Nintendo’s philosophy and execution of a ten-year console cycle, rather than come up with an entirely new strategy. Nintendo was slightly more sophisticated in execution, as they gave their technology an initial release as “GameCube,” then a secondary release of basically the same hardware with the addition of of a groundbreaking controller interface, as Wii, giving an effective 10-year life to the technology. In the current economic environment, it is probably best not to try to push another round of console hardware down user’s throats (especially at the price points they want to remain at), so, in this way MS and Sony are adapting the model, but it’s no great stretch. Microsoft’s Natal or Sony’s unnamed PS3 technology will probably form the Wii part of their respective cycles. Back in 2006, Sony was saying that PS3 would have a 10-year lifecycle, and at E3 this year Microsoft was saying the same thing of 360. Read More »

I’ve seen this coming for a bit; game trade-in machines in Walmart. I think this could be more significant than plays like Amazon and TRU getting into used titles, and even than Best Buy (as they’re unlikely to be too wholehearted in such initiatives); because what this does is potentially provide visibility into pricing, and availability in a high traffic location that will be competitive with GameStop’s broad footprint. Neither the NCR machines nor the e-play technology that runs on them seem to work all that well, but perhaps NCR, which owns a big chunk of e-play may put some money into getting it all together. I think that the broader concept of trade-ins at Walmart is more interesting and important than the kiosk bit, but the kiosk probably makes it worthwhile for them to indulge in an activity outside of their core interest.

The shortcoming of not being integrated into the Walmart system for credits is likely a short term concession to publisher sensitivities, until Walmart can see if the project is worth the bother; they’re likely also looking at whether they want to get involved in this and/or other sorts of pawn-broker-y activities. The name frustratingly eludes me, but I know there’s a small chain of big boxes down south that focuses on re-selling small consumer electronics and media (games and music, I believe); they also have a cafe involved in the model. I really like that sort of combination, and it seems well suited to these times.

I like the idea of Apple acquiring EA, and contrary to what 1Up says, EA has suffered enough lately to make that a bit more viable. Apple could really use some high quality content for the iPhone/touch line of devices (which is now effectively competitive with game platforms like the DS), and perhaps upcoming tablets. -I’m sure Apple think it wonderful to be so successful with the App store, but knowing how Apple values user experience, you’ve got to think that they’d be happier setting some content quality benchmarks on their platforms, as that business grows. And EA nurtures their brand in much the same way that Apple does; so bringing that marque in, and living with it would likely be a happy marriage.

EA is actually in a rough position; unlike Activision/Blizzard and others that have been successful in creating/acquiring succesful alternate distribution and models, they are sort of in the process of another re-start of such efforts. Apple would largely get them out of this bind, as they could grow and learn on Apple’s digital distribution platform from a privileged position, while also growing their IP base and sales generally.

Kotaku, which is usually a sensible and practical bunch of folks, has fallen into a germaphobe mindset in which they proclaim it a scandal that GameStop allows employees to take new games home and return them as new. InsideTech weighs in with the concern that employees may steal single-use activation codes that will hobble the customer’s enjoyment of gameplay. -Well, since many games are already cracked open in order to place cases on the floor, I hardly think the latter matters. Read More »

…Well, actually, it’s a bit difficult to discern cause from effect here, but either way, not a bad thing, in the long term. Just as the old media bulwarks of the game industry didn’t prosper with the growth of the business they nurtured (with the notable exception of Game Informer), neither are the game publishers. And I think that it was to some extent a symbiotic death spiral. The whole model of $60 games is daft, but the print magazines, and, to almost the same extent, online sites (IGN and Gamespot) always pushed publishers in that direction, as they rated games based upon core-gamer expectations of game depth and play duration that aren’t actually sustainable. -Despite all of the complaining that developers and publishers have done about GameStop’s used game model, and I can see the valid reasons for that, GameStop has done a bit to ameliorate the lameness of the frontline game pricing model on the console side, as digital distribution is doing on the PC side. Read More »

It was nice to get out to SF and meet with friends at the Game Developers Conference, but there were no really compelling tech stories, in terms of either vision or product, and that’s what I show up for. This may well come largely from the state of the economy and its near term effect on innovation. It seems to me that GDC now serves two primary purposes; training for big conventional PC and console games (for which it really does make sense to have a centralized function like this), and a massive game industry career-fest. Read More »

Since folks continue to ask questions about OnLive, I thought I’d follow up a bit on my earlier post, and include the information I gathered from discussions with OnLive at their GDC booth.

I liked the guys I spoke with, and they seemed open and forthright about the product, giving me the feeling that OpenLive isn’t bunk so much as the product of good technical people creating something moderately useful. But that product has, for strategic purposes, been positioned by their marketing and biz dev folks as something it truly is not; competitive with existing products or in any significant way market changing. Read More »

Today, Dean Takahashi wrote up a new game distribution technology, called OnLive, that’s announcing at the Game Developers Conference this evening. He feels that it has the potential to destroy retail, with a new technical model of games executed on the server side, enabling gameplay (video) instantly streamed back to the player. This may be a valid threat to retailers, and it’s a danger I’ve warned retailers about for years. Specifically, I first warned of it because PS3’s cell technology seemed focused on the fast video decompression necessary to this sort of system. But, despite the breathless adoration of Venturebeat, I would point out three things: Read More »

I’m a bit too harried to post as I prepare to depart for GDC, but will no doubt be prolific next week. -I still have a couple of meeting slots open for later this week, if anyone wants to chat.

-Nathan

I posted last week about the apparent entry of several retailers into the business of buying-in and selling used videogames, and someone very insightful in this area mentioned that it would be interesting to see whether someone trading in games at Amazon would put their credit back into new game purchases. He’s right, because this could be pivotal to next steps, if these retailers are successful. -GameStop’s argument is that buying-in pre-owned product is part of a healthy cycle driving new games sales, and generalist retailers getting involved in the model does sort of dilute that benefit.
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It seems to be getting an awful lot of press today that Toys R Us, Best Buy and Amazon are all buying-in used games for re-sale, and hence endangering GameStop’s revenue from this element, but:

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We all know that games sold quite well over the holidays and continue to do so. In addition to the conventional product (weighted toward console titles), we’re seeing good volume for casual and online titles. So everything should be great for developers and publishers…but somehow it’s not.

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GigaOM has a piece up today positing the impossibility of a massively-multiplayer game that can “kill” World of Warcraft. Instead, it suggests that smaller MMO titles, with other revenue models, will nibble away at WoW’s market share. It’s certainly true, and has been for some time, that niche competitors have been the primary ongoing competitors to the big guys, first to Everquest, then WoW. And, it’s more true now than ever that alternate payment models, like that of MapleStory, are attractive and drive a significant audience.

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I remain a big fan of EA. They have a lot of smart and forward-looking people, but it’s hard to stay as flexible as this industry demands with that large a company, and that has been an ongoing challenge for them. They recently announced Q3 results showing unfortunate results, apparently as a result of three elements: Read More »

As AdWeek points out, these days it’s hard to justify a relationship with a conventional ad agency based upon its understanding of media and how to drive a successful campaign. And some of the worst efforts these days come from agencies trying to go “creatively outside the box,” without understanding that the box itself no longer exists, while some agency folks simply miss the entire point. Read More »

Last week, there was a pretty specific analysis of GameStop’s used game business in the WSJ (with the slightly annoying flaw that the writer seems to have conflated “gross” and “net” in the sentence emphasizing high gross margin on used games vs. single digit retail expectations).

I like the Gears of War 2 model that’s mentioned, of including in new games a single-use code for a map pack download with value approximate to the discount the user would get from buying the title new. This should be quite good for the publisher and the retailer. For the publisher, it simply feels fair, as the game that’s bought, played for a week, then sold back to GameStop has a value that’s slightly diminished, in proportion to the lower re-sale price of the used title. -The newer used title is still $5-$10 cheaper, but it’s diminished by $5-$10 worth of content. The publisher/developer still doesn’t make money on the used product sale, but this has to feel better for them than having the exact same title at retail, costing less and providing no revenue to them. Read More »

I remember in the early ’90s relying on dedicated and proprietary “black box” digital technology hardware, like the Synclavier, for post-production. That was also the beginning of the transition to desktop solutions, so it was a pretty exciting time for technology, but still not so far advanced that we couldn’t justify shooting film and mutilating it with alternative processing. -The first Avid setups we used were so low-res that we had to refer back to tape to check eyeline. Coincidentally, it also was about that time that I heard Strauss Zelnick give a speech about how interactive entertainment would change the world that convinced me that it wasn’t worthwhile to use this great non-linear tech in service of linear end-product. Read More »

I have been pondering today the question of why it so bothers me that Gabo!, by Yoot Saito (of Seaman fame), was rejected by Apple for iPhone.  The obvious issue is that it’s a curious and problematic situation when corporate entities own the tools of creative expression, and can stop distribution of an individual’s work. And this case is pivotal, as I don’t believe you can argue that his work isn’t art on some level, which could make it the Lady Chatterly’s Lover of the digital/hardware-approved content era. But, for me, it’s also more subtle, as I have long argued with more indie friends that the game console model of content control is fair because a) the hardware is subsidized, and hence the manufacturer is giving you better hardware than you’d buy for yourself for this use, in support of software sales and b) it’s focused primarily on commercial games, and not really a common carrier, as the PC serves as such an appropriate and parallel vehicle for content transmission. From a functional perspective, it never seemed to me that a non-commercial developer would bother putting in the time to learn the tools to put out a product onto a platform so customized to expensive development, and having an installed base so focused on gamers. This situation has changed slightly with xna and digital distribution, but still, developing for the console remains something that is logically targeted at gamers, under firm existing expectations on the part of creator and end-user. Read More »