You can view the game on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/JasonMraz/app_287034531368270

No longer was our window into the great cloud of information pursued through the guise of a browser, but rather through our mobile devices and applications. We’d begun to experience the web, link to link, rather than browsing site to site.

This post does not seek to explore the nuances that define our web browsing experience. Rather we’re here to discuss games and the death of the console, as we know it.

Gaming, a term whose connotations once conjured the mental images of a scrawny 13 year old nerdy boy, socially sequestered to his room, surrounded by Star Wars figurines, is now a multi-billion dollar industry, whose participants average-in at 45 years of age.

Gaming has grown from an 8-bit experience on low-powered consoles to graphically rich computer experiences, only to return to low quality (near 8-bit) experiences, by way of casual gaming online.

Gaming, as it were called, has found refuge in not just our home entertainment systems and computers, but our advertisements, websites and social networks. Gaming and “game mechanics” have permeated and serve as a driving force in our (ad agencies + media dev companies) most successful efforts, whether they be advertisements, location based check-ins (Super Swam Badge you’re mine) or simple mobile applications.

Gaming has shed the stereotypes of its past and now welcomes women of all ages and people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. The advent of new devices such as iPads, iPhones and Androids have opened gaming to new generations, while reacquainting individuals pulled away by the forces of life.

To say the gaming industry has grown substantially in the past 30 years would be a bit of an understatement. It’s expected that the gaming industry will pull in revenues somewhere around $35 – $45 billion in the next few years. That’s more than twice the size of the music business at the height of CD sales.

When we consider that causal/social games are expected to account for nearly $11 billion of this growth by 2014, it’s important to take pause and consider what affect this has on the current gaming establishment.

The numbers paint a bleak story for traditional console gaming. Big publishing houses are spending movie size budgets ($50, $100 and even $150 million dollars) only to find the margins shrink and sales decline on these blockbuster games. Juxtapose that with a game like Angry Birds, where development costs were $140,000 and revenues have surpassed $70,000,000.

Nintendo, for the first time in 7 years posted a first half-year loss. Last year in the US, video game software, hardware and accessory sales were down 8%. Meanwhile, social gaming champions Zynga earned a valuation around $5.5 billion (just under Electronic Arts).

So what’s going on here? Well, it’s the medium and the message.

As technology improves the console gaming experience is being replicated on our mobile devices. Look no further than games like Dead Space and Infinity Blade; 38% of mobile gamers are established console gamers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXriafAKH3M&hd=1

Yet, as the medium shifts, so has the message. Games like Farmville, CityVille and ZyngaPoker collectively have approached 300 million active monthly users.  Gaming is no longer isolated to the guys. Women account for nearly 60% of causal and social gaming, all of which are finding homes on our computers and mobile devices.

To suggest the gaming industry isn’t aware of this shift would be an extremely naïve position. EA has spent nearly $400 million acquiring independent game publishers who are masters in this field.

However, what this signifies for brands, companies and anyone with a message, is that becoming a contributing member of the game development community is not something completely out of reach. Social, mobile and casual games are inexpensive yet effective means of distributing branded content and messaging.

Equally, individuals with a great idea and the will to execute will find soft and fertile ground to grow. When industries go through cataclysmic shifts such as this, the barrier to entry drops and the market becomes rife with opportunity. The question for brand managers and agencies is: Are you taking advantage of this growing opportunity and, perhaps more importantly, exposing it to your clients?

Why do I bring this to your attention?  I design for online games.  And I love fashion.  And recently I was watching a friend play a video game the other day and it dawned on me:  Cross-pollination of fashions appears quite prevalent between the Dead Space 2 console game and the recent clothing line designs by French clothing designer Thierry Mugler.  It’s so apparent, that you wouldn’t be able to notice which clothes are in the netherworld or on the runway.

Isaac, Dead Space 2 character, and his wonderful mutant monster enemies are compelling.  Isaac’s getup falls in a world of gothicism and unpolished tech.  He wears a coat of blood and gore just like we wear a raincoat.  Isaac is really tall, about 6.5 feet. It looks like he’s always about to start a brawl.  He glows and his body is covered head to toe with metal armor.  You see a lot of similar people on the street but they’re wearing metallic stud encrusted shoes and jackets from department stores and Soho boutiques.  It’s their own type of armor.

Mugler’s Fall 2011 collection operated around the theme of black latex, savages, and skeletons; which is similar to the spawn of Dead Space 2.  Mugler’s models were also covered head to toe in tattoos just like Isaac is covered in gore, it’s like they could be friends.  It seems they spent their life savings at the tattoo parlor to get ready for this show.  It’s so real it’s sinister and chilling.

Another designer that seems to cross-pollinate fashion with video games is Swedish designer Patrik Soderstam. Soderstam likes to color with clothing and crosses style with Nintendo Wii games like Wario Smooth Moves and Wii’s Mii characters.  Combining Wii and Soderstam is like reincarnating those inflatable beach toys from the 99-cent store into todays fashions!

What can all this lead to?  Will people start dressing like video game characters instead of movie stars?  Maybe our bodies will gradually evolve into pixels, who knows!  Our virtual world allows for a network between clothing and video games.  With this hybrid set in stone today, I do believe that the future will bring a lot more fun fashions for both video games… and ourselves.

NEW YORK, NY — 12/09/10 — Glow Interactive (www.glowinteractive.com), a leading New York-based interactive marketing, advertising and creative agency, today announced it has developed and launched a new game for USA Network’s CHARACTER ARCADE (www.characterarcade.com). Unlike so many game properties in the crowded world of casual games, “Strange Attraction” (http://www.characterarcade.com/games/strange-attraction) bridges the gap between hardcore and casual gaming. The episodic adventure does so by integrating elements from hardcore gaming — including skill, developed characters, episodic plots and action to provide a richer experience — into a game that users can play, pause and return to anytime, which is key for casual gamers with less time to invest.

“‘Strange Attraction’ was developed to mirror the approach the network has when developing hit series — original characters and strong story arcs,” said Jesse Redniss, vice president of digital, USA Network. “This game gives us the ability to introduce new audiences to USA’s style, but also provides a new gaming experience to our loyal and returning fans. ‘Strange Attraction’ is a first in that it takes the best styles from more hardcore and casual gaming structures to offer something completely new.”

To create story arc that captures a unique character-focused creative approach synergistic with USA Network and its audience, Glow Interactive worked to develop an unsuspecting, likable hero named Gus and crafted a mysterious plot that unfolds as players advance throughout 24 levels and three different worlds. The game begins with a comic book, episodic story that introduces the player to the hero of the game as well as the plot (which involves the villagers being captured by a strange machine) and goals (for Gus to save his friends). The adventure begins by “training” for the first phase of game play to become familiar with the controls and most importantly the “gravity switch,” a major component to master in order to rotate the environments within the game to solve and complete puzzles required to advance to the next levels. Collecting coins, achieving points and defeating villains will occur throughout the game, and completing the game means not only solving all levels in the game, but it also means completing the story and seeing how Gus will fare in his quest.

“While we developed and designed ‘Strange Attraction,’ the goal was to appeal to the largest percentage of users and appeal to their skill level,” explained Ted Kacandes, co-founder of Glow Interactive. “We’ve found that while many casual players enjoy old school games like Mario Brothers, they often don’t have the time investment to ‘beat’ the game. ‘Strange Attraction’ is a type of game that players can leave and return to whenever they’d like. In these types of games, if your character dies, you are basically respawned and start right where you left off. That also allows players to come and go to the game as they please and as their schedule allows, yet gives them the eventual satisfaction of completing the game in their own time.”

The game was developed under the GlowPlay brand, a subsidiary of Glow Interactive that focuses on developing casual, mobile and social games for clients, as well as independent releases.

I decided to work on a little bit more, but as it turned out really soon, I needed some open format model files that would serve as demos. As a fan of the original Quake, and everything around it, and having a feeling that the original levels could run easily on present hardware minus Flash, I started working on a Quake BSP parser. See the result for yourself. Use mouse (with left button down) for mouselook, ASDW to move horizontally, RF to move up/down.  (It’s intentionally running fullscreen, just maximize your window.)

I would like to point out that it is Flash 9, i.e. no Alchemy involved!

Conclusion: the demo is running just fine to create a true 3D environment for a Flash game!

Additionally, the game is wrapped around a sweepstakes where the grand prize is the all-new Ford Taurus Limited.  Players must complete all seven weeks to be eligible to win the grand prize.

Can you catch The White Shadow? Play now!

Have what it takes to stop the Bugs Gone Wild or Alien Invaders?  If you like old school games give them a play. Bugs Gone Wild. Attack on Mother Earth.