Wonderland

Hide & Seek's 10-11-12: "Ten games from 2011 that tell you all about 2012"

It's free, it's a briefing, and it's ten games from last year that show what's unfolding for this year (and beyond).

The general message is: fragmentation. Opportunity everywhere, and always up against big people with big money (though that doesn't have to spell disaster). How do you get noticed in that world, especially if you're not a giant brand with deep pockets? Even LEGO felt it had to spend $40m to market its new line of girl-oriented Friends products... Getting attention is hard.

These themes point the way where there's still a chance to be first, or superniche, or surprising. Good stuff.

The Replicator's playset characters music video

Have a look at this: Playmobil/LEGO-esque playset characters, 3D printed on a MakerBot Industries Replicator, acting out a little story set to music:

This all new stop-animation music video was made with Michael Curry’s playset characters and a number of other MakerBot-made pieces! The princesses story was written by MakerBot CEO and co-founder Bre Pettis and the song was written and performed by local Brooklyn musicians Scary Car (Bryan Scary and Giulio Carmassi).

<3

(via Makerbot)

Skyward Sword-ready sword & shield

Aw. So dinky. May have to have.

Currently out of stock (must be popular!), but I'm sure they'll get more.

Codecademy

I couldn't love this more. I've done the first module, and it's brilliant - a cheery, easy way to learn something, and coding, no less. Specifically, javascript. Useful, and fun.

The start of many learn-tos, I hope. Looks like a great place to work, too!

Space Invader weaves

Look at these beauties, found by @martinhollis.

Geeky Weaves, she calls them. I call them GORGEOUS!

MineToys

This was somewhat predictable ;-)

Unofficial, it seems: printed via Shapeways, using their "sandstone" (a.k.a. zCorp prints) material. Super fragile is zCorp usually, but you can soak it in superglue solution for toughness, if you felt so inclined.

Lego, for girls

Well, some girls, anyway. Introducing LEGO Friends.

Note the Zynga eyes!

Commentary later, I have to get my lego-obsessed 4yo girl into the shower.

Update 1: BrickBlogger has done a comparison between LEGO Friends and the normal minifigs. (As is often the case too, only skin shades lighter than a cafe latte are promoted. According to the logo, anyway. Grot.)

Hard to examine, because FRIENDS isn't on LEGO's site Product list (holy crap, have you looked at that list recently? Tons and tons of product brands). But Friends seems to be 5-friends who like to be, you know, beauticians, actresses and vets. BUT WAIT: there's an Inventor set. Thank fuck for that.

Are broadcasters the new publishers?

I was on a panel yesterday at Osbourne & Clarke's annual Interactive Entertainment event, a very cosy thing stuffed with CEO types, so lots of strategic talk. Chatham House rules too, so lots of honesty, which made it superb.

At one point in the discussion I threw up the stat that TV is ageing - average age 57 or so - and that this is a bad thing for TV. Nicholas Lovell shot back that the average age of a gamer is - something like? - 43, and on we went. I didn't have the speedy-brain moment to dig into why this is important, however: while the average age of a tv-watcher is 57, the mode is probably only about 55. Most telly is watched by over-55s, and by an extraordinary amount: 35+h plus a week, compared to sub-15 for under 16s. Plus the 55+ group is numerous, and the under-16s less so. Skew.

For games, the opposite in consumption pattern is probably true. I say probably, because I'd love to see data here, but we do know that committed gaming tends to be done by the young, and/or by folks at lunchtime/ weekends, and the retired. Employed people and parents have less time to play, and their profile is thusly a bit different. At a guess, I would say while the average age of a gamer is 43, the time-spent will be the flip of TV: most gameplay by hours per week is done by younger audiences.

It's for this reason that broadcasters should always be interested in games: if they lose out reaching their younger audiences, will those people care about them as they get older? If they have a public service remit to reach target audiences with relevant material, in younger folks games are as relevant - if not often more so - than TV.

Maqet 's gorgeous custom-printed designer toys

MAQET is an indie, SF-based designer toys outfit, using 3D printing to create gorgeous figures like Heathrow the Holiday Hedgehog:

The finish on these things looks incredible. I've asked them how they do it, but it's some "special sauce" situation: they won't say. It's "Plastin(R)", but googling that turns up nothing useful. Whatever it is, it's paintable to a very nice finish!

MAQET's business is make-your-own (hand-mods are slurped onto the figure somehow, I suspect as a texture) and paint-your-own digitally, two new versions of the self-mod tradition in vinyl toys which usually involves markers, paint, and lots of screw-ups on a very expensive toy. This way, you get to get it perfect.

No news yet (I've asked) on the makeup of the "eco-friendly, porcelain-like material" though or whether it's suitable for children, but I suspect not at this stage, if only for fragility reasons.

Team Pie is the one for me.

(Thanks Jeremy!)

Game of Thrones Exec loves Kingdom of Loathing...?

This is D.B.Weiss, one of the ridiculously youthful showrunners behind HBO's excellent Game of Thrones.

He's wearing a Kingdom of Loathing teeshirt!

Westeros - the land of Game of Thrones - is classic (brilliantly executed) Knights & Kings fantasy, reminiscent of many an MMO. And here's one of the showrunners - at least (it seems) a cartoon MMO player.

I wonder if HBO might eventually venture into gameworld with something fun for Game of Thrones? GoT Season One cost as much to make as World of Warcraft is rumoured to have - about $60m.

(Game of Thrones Season 2 in Production (spoilers!) which is where I got this screenie.)