Risk

Maybe it's because I just woke up in the middle of the day and watched this while the fog was still clearing up. Or maybe this 13-minute clip has some worthwhile thoughts regarding risk. — read on

NYU Summer Course on Video Games

Looking to do something this summer? Then sign up for the class I'll be teaching. It runs from June 30th to August 6th and covers video games from both an academic and industry perspective. For an abbreviated draft version of the syllabus, go here. For questions, contact me at jv2108 [at] columbia [dot] edu — read on

Anything But Business As Casual

[Disclosure: A slightly modified version of this article appeared in the April edition of DFC Dossier.]

What in the early Internet days started as an afterthought today has grown into a market of its own. In 2008 the total revenue for casual PC gaming totaled a respectable $1.58 billion* in Western Europe, North America and most of Asia. DFC expects this number to increase to $1.69 billion in 2009.

Life’s been pretty good thus far: an average annual growth rate more than 60% has allowed everyone to do well. As more competitors entered the party, casual gaming also underwent a lot of consolidation as big-ticket publishers aggregated eyeballs for advertising’s sake. RealNetworks spent a lot of money to capture an audience large enough to sustain its ambitions for world domination. And as the current biggest casual company with 11.7% of total market share (based on revenue), it’s fair to say this strategy has paid off. The company is currently working to spin off its games division, RealArcade, as a separate entity.

Trading Card Freebie

  After spending a lot of time on free-to-play, I'm shifting to a game industry that is getting no love. Together with the wizkids over at To Be Continued, LLC I'm been working on a white paper that we plan to launch into the world in a few weeks. Trading Card Games (TCG), roughly the same size as casual gaming, are a natural extension of currently emerging free MMOs. For one, trading card games attract the same demographic. The immensely popular Yu-Gi-Oh!, which dominates with about 50% of the entire market, is hot sh*t with 12 year olds.

FlightControl by Firemint

Not entirely unrelated to my previous post, I DL-ed an $0.99 game for my iPhone which may well be one of the first ones to earn the label of worthwhile. While I maintain the theory that iPhone games suck (which they do), i'm observing contrary data points. FlightControl gets an honorable mention because it is clever and sans BS. — read on

Flying

Today I flew again for the first time in a year. It's not a cheap hobby but it puts even the snazziest flight sim to shame. We performed four landings and I held my own despite gusty winds. I'd go again tomorrow if I could. Here are some pictures. First thing on my to-do list is to get a pair of those ridiculous glasses. — read on

Stizzate of Plizzay 6

After nearly two hundred days of radio silence, I return to jot down a few words. Last week Dan Hunter asked me to run a grad student workshop at State of Play 6, which will be held this June at the New York Law School. A lot of familiar faces will no doubt make an acte de presence, not in the least the members of the meme that is Terra Nova. — read on

Casual Hamburger

Last month I visited the 2009 edition of Casual Connect in Hamburg, Germany. With our casual games report almost finished, I flew to Hamburg to meet the movers and shakers in Europe. The industry’s state of affairs amidst an economic downturn persuaded a wide selection of companies to make an act-de-presence and network with existing and new clients. So here's what's up.