There’s a nice “scratchpad” entry over on the Brands In Games blog culling quotes from a recent article in the International Herald Tribune concerning branding inside Atari’s “Test Drive Unlimited”. Of particular interest to me is this quote (Link):

And, unusually for a genre in which car crashes generally count for more than fashion splashes, gamers will also be able to select their on-screen drivers’ wardrobes.

The ability to customize the racers’ attire comes courtesy of Ben Sherman, a clothing brand popular among soccer fans in Britain and urban hipsters in America. Realizing that many young men spend more time with their Xboxes, Playstations or Nintendos than their televisions, Ben Sherman joined a growing number of marketers who see video games as a promising new frontier in advertising.

There’s plenty more, so either get some of the juicier bits over on Brands In Games (Link) or read the full article.

As an aside, I checked out the game’s website. Very nice. This image, however, caught my attention –

I’ve not seen tool icons like these. And at the top of the screenshot, too small for you guys to see here (it’s on the game’s website under Media>Screenshots), the application name is Twilight II. Never heard of it. I did, however, find a site for Twilight 3D the game engine.

Now I’m curious. As are others I’m sure … the game’s forum has plenty of people asking about customizing their cars. Most are interested in simple in-game customization, but this does seem like the kind of external mod/content opportunity videogame developers should be chasing by using tools commonly available to content creators everywhere: Max, Maya, SoftImage, aso.

I’ve only seen a couple videogame developers go to the community for content. If they’re having trouble with budgets (see my recent post on this issue – Link) why use a relatively unknown, proprietary tool … especially when there are sites that sell models of this quality for $100?

I don’t get it.

Back to the original article:

In-game advertising also solves a problem for game developers and publishers. Games being created for a new generation of consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are far more complex than previous titles, and can cost more than $10 million to produce. Ad revenue defrays some of these costs, as consumers balk at paying higher prices for games.

Maybe game developers are keen to discuss rising content costs while advertisers start showing them some love. If I were a developer, I’d be justifying high advertising rates by pointing to those costs while meanwhile starting to look at overseas content providers. No reason Twilight II can’t import models from other applications.

That makes more sense.

{Image Copyright © 2005 Atari Interactive, Inc.}

Chalk this one up to internet rubbernecking. And if you’re similarly inclined to slow down and watch, you might enjoy the back and forth going on in the Marketing community over “word of mouth” (WOM) marketing.

The latest hostilities (I’m assuming this has been brewing for a while since I’ve come across some occasional debate on the subject) started with a post (Link) by Jack Trout over on Forbes called “Is Word Of Mouth All It’s Cracked Up To Be?” which, to be honest, wasn’t all that bad imo.

Friendly(?) fire came from George Silverman, author of a book on WOM and considered by some – I guess – to be “the father of word-of-mouth marketing”; he didn’t think Jack’s comments were very good. And he says so (Link).

Close to the sidelines but rooting for George is the Brand Autopsy blog where I first read (Link) about this little civil war percolating in the Marketing community. He adds some good comments … until that last little swipe which sounds to me like a bad political tagline. Maybe that was an example of why consumers prefer WOM to artificially constructed messages.

Now I could justify my posting this entry on the fact that WOM is a big part of the economic system I see developing within and around the future 3D internet. But the truth is, as an industrial designer, I’m getting a kick out of the controversy for its own sake and intend to find time to visit a few trackbacks. This is the kind of drahma I like.

I know. I’m bad. Now go read those posts … because, ummm, WOM will be a big part of the future 3D internet.

Okay, it may not look like much, but what it does is really cool. From the article discussing the “mental typewriter” (typewriter?) over on New Scientist (Link):

A computer controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated at a major trade fair in Germany.

The device could provide a way for paralysed patients to operate computers, or for amputees to operate electronically controlled artificial limbs. But it also has non-medical applications, such as in the computer games and entertainment industries.

There have been some previously-reported efforts to develop this sort of interface, but this one goes beyond the devices about which I’ve read. Seems like we’re on our way to having a version of Johnny’s cyberhelmet. Hopefully. Wearing the one above is not the fashion statement I want to make.

{Image source: Fraunhofer Institute}

Next Generation shares some information from a report from researchers at Screen Digest (Link):

The report states that game companies will commission service providers in Eastern Europe and South Asia to help alleviate rising development costs associated with next generation games development.

There’s another, related opinion piece over on site. It starts off on a dire note (Link):

If you work in the game industry, and hold firm to the notion that your job is safe, you’re in for a nasty surprise. The days of empty cubicles could be upon us again…

That’s unfortunate to hear, but it’s this part that really got my attention:

It also does not help that the game industry is so far-flung. There are hotspots up the West Coast, Texas and in the North East, as well as in East Asia and Western Europe, but it’s not like so many industries which are identified by their location. This makes it difficult for people to flit from one job to another.

If there was any industry one might think could allow workers to telecommute it’s the videogame industry. I’ve never worked inside the industry, but I can’t imagine this is a hurdle that can’t be overcome. I’ll be watching for this to change. One way or another.

In Ad Age‘s most recent “Media Morph” entry, avatars get some … kind of recognition. From the entry (Link – free registration required):

An animated or photographic image, human or non-human, that Web surfers use to identify themselves online, usually in chat rooms, but also sometimes included in viral e-mails or in mobile phone messages.
…
In an age of consumer-generated media, avatars also help keep consumers engaged with a brand.
…
Like many novelties, avatars do get attention.

“Novelties”? Wow. I’m not sure they could get it more wrong. I guess the title of the piece, “Monkeys and Burgers Create Online Personas”, indicates how well-researched this piece is. If only they could more accurately explain the concept and all the things tied into it instead of attempting to reduce it to a “novelty”.

A videogame character model is also an avatar. As is the 3D representation used in IMVU or There. In Second Life avatars do more than just “chat”. They are a means of real interaction (including telepresence sex; SL’s qDot avatar is one of the real people on the cutting edge of that integration – Link NSFW).

Avatars are also a means by which people access other content – both real and virtual. Virtual representations of real products can be used as content within these virtual environments and, through embedded code, link the real people behind the avatars to real eCommerce sites selling the product. Some companies like Nike are even partnering with videogame companies to allow player customized content to link with their own real product customization websites, so potential customers can virtually try before they buy.

Avatars can also take on a “life” of their own. My own avatar, oddly enough, has gotten real world recognition that the real person hasn’t received. And avatars can allow people to explore other parts of their personality that, for what ever reason, they hesitate to explore in real life.

Additionally and importantly, avatars can also provide a means of regaining a part of real life that is lost through illness or injury (read this excellent story over on New World Notes – Link – to gain an appreciation of the nicer possibilities). After reading the NWN’s article come back and tell me that an avatar is a “novelty”.

There is much more to an avatar than the author, Kris Oser, lets on and what’s provided is, unfortunately, purely superficial. No surprise I guess. But not fully appreciating what an avatar represents before attempting to move into the arena would, imo, be a huge mistake.

Furthermore, there are already scanning devices across the U.S. and perhaps elsewhere that essentially put the real person into the virtual environment. So as virtual spaces become increasingly realistic, avatars will play an increasingly important role in our collective, connected future.

For additional information, try these links to some previous entries:

Here are some additional links to other sites:

Also, for reference: