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Thumb draws opinions from the crowd, enhances iPhone app
The opinion-based social utility Thumb, approaching its second birthday, has overhauled its free iOS app and added direct like/dislike voting to its core ask-a-question feature. The new 3.5 version of the service delivers tighter social integration, in-app messaging, leaderboards/rankings and an easy way to save likes or dislikes to your user profile. The basic experience of using Thumb is "take a picture, ask a yes/no question." Whether it's a product, a restaurant, a vacation destination or a lifestyle choice, within a few minutes you can get opinions and comments from scores of your friends or fellow Thumb users. It's like a focus group in your pocket -- an answer service like Quora, AnswerQi or Yahoo Answers but boiled down to hot-or-not simplicity and tuned for speed and fun over detail and depth. CEO Dan Kurani told me that the inspiration for Thumb came when he was among several recipients of an email from a family member. The subject line was "What do you think of this?" and the message was simply a photograph of an anniversary ring. Within hours, the replies started coming in, and Kurani began to imagine how a mobile service might deliver real-time, actionable opinions on questions like that one. Thumb launched in July of 2010, and has been evolving since then as Kurani and his team tweaked the platform to make it easier and faster to connect with other users. While they originally anticipated a tighter focus on consumer products and shopping, the audience led them to widen the category set -- "It turns out that people want opinions on everything," says Kurani. %Gallery-157477% While the 2.0 version of Thumb that arrived in November of 2010 included some social functionality and messaging, the new version "is all about embracing social discovery & [providing] more tools to communicate with fellow users," according to Kurani. Users who are particularly active and helpful in a category will get a star rating for that type of question, making them more likely to show up in future queries on those topics. The new version's ability to "pre-rate" an item with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down means that users can state (and share, to Facebook/Twitter/email or SMS) an opinion rather than just asking a question. Comments ride along with votes to provide additional context to user opinions. What's surprising is how responsive the Thumb community is, and how fast. Even a casual/gag question like "the coffee at the office: thumbs up or down?" garnered more than 40 votes and a handful of comments within minutes. For more weighty questions ("Should I buy this TV?" or "Is this assisted-living facility a good place for Grandpa?") the response rate shoots up dramatically. Granted, the depth of context and experience you might want for technical help or full product evaluation (such as you might find on gdgt or in our comments) isn't really there, but that's not where the service is aimed. It's built to help people connect around preferences -- creating affinity groups, if you will -- and it does that pretty nicely. Even if you're normally in the habit of turning to your Facebook, Twitter or other social networks for quick opinions, Thumb is fun and fast (and free); it's worth checking out. The new 3.5 version is available via the iPhone app and sister Android app, and via the soft-launched redesigned thumb.it website.
'Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2' campaign uncovered
Marketing agencies rarely want to promote their product as "an atrocity." However, a new ad campaign by EA does exactly that. "Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2" subjects focus group participants, comprised entirely of older females, to experience footage from Visceral's upcoming survival horror game.
Who wants to be in a seekret beta test? [Updated, closed]
Normally on Massively we love offering you giveaways and beta keys and all sorts of goodies for reading our site. And, normally, we tell you where all of these fantastic prizes and keys are coming from. Companies love that we, essentially, promote their games, and you guys love having the chance to check out new games. It's a win/win. Today's beta opportunity is a bit different. Very different, in fact! Today's post is regarding a super seekret beta test that we're not allowed to name in public. Shhhhh. What we can tell you, though, is that the game is from a prominent game developer, and the company is looking for 100 volunteers to provide feedback on the game during a focused testing phase this weekend. Currently, gamers from the United Kingdom, United States, and Germany are eligible to volunteer. If you're interested in playing a mysterious game this weekend, send an email to sera@massively.com with the subject "Beta Test Volunteer." If you're one of the first 100 people to mail me, I'll respond back to you with a key to the test and instructions on how to download and play the game. Remember though: This is a serious test! The devs at this company are looking for feedback on their game, and they're hoping you're willing to give it to them! So if you're up for it, mail away! [Update: Bolded the e-mail address and the subject line, because apparently many of you did not see the requested subject line. I love you all, even when you send me e-mails with crazy subjects. ~Sera] [Update 2: Holy heck guys! I hit over 500 e-mails in 20 minutes. Looks like I have my 100 participants! Thank you for your interest!]
Everything you ever wanted to know about TERA's testing but were afraid to ask
So your interest has been piqued in TERA. That's really understandable, considering the impression it left on us at the GDC and the jaw-dropping graphics it's put on display thus far. Based on that, it's quite possible that you signed up for the focus group testing when it was first offered. But simply signing up doesn't provide you with all of the answers to questions you need. Fear not, for if you were one of the many who signed up to test, an official sheet of information has now been posted. For those of us not taking part by choice or by poor luck, two of the most important pieces of meta-information are the fact that there will be an NDA in effect and there will not be enough spots for everyone who wanted in. One can also infer from the information about what's been added that the game is progressing nicely and still has a ways to go before launch -- yet it's still shaping up quite impressively. Those interested in finding out more can take a look at the full information sheet on the official TERA site, and keep your eyes open for more news here.
TERA looking for focus group participants
Bluehole Studios' upcoming TERA MMORPG is looking for a few good focus group members for their second round of closed testing. A notice appeared yesterday on the game's official site, encouraging interested parties to complete a quick application process. "Applicant selection will be based on community participation, activity, quality of feedback, and the above application information. This will occur in [the] coming weeks," the site says. TERA recently wowed us at the Game Developer's Conference, and judging by the number of replies in an 11-page (as of press time) forum thread discussing the announcement, we'd suggest getting your Focus Group Test #2 application done in a hurry.
Jeff Hickman open letter highlights Mythic's top 5 priorities for WAR
Those of you stalwart enough to bore through Jeff Hickman's most recent Executive Producer's letter, which incidentally reads like a list of 1.3 patch notes conjured by the PR department, may have picked up on the mention that Mythic is assembling focus groups to determine the current concerns and issues with Warhammer Online.I can actually confirm this for you since I'm a card-carrying focus group member. The below list of top priorities is entirely accurate based on what I've been hearing as part of this group and in conversation with many current and ex-WAR fanatics. Addressing concerns related to Crowd Control and Area of Effect abilities. Continuing to improve client and server stability and performance. Strengthening and improving the Tier 4 experience. Improving server population distribution – both in terms of overall population and realm balance. Improving itemization and the overall distribution of "carrots" (rewards) throughout the game. It's easy point out that many members of the WAR community have been vocal about these "Top 5" issues since release. We can only hope that the time and resources freed up by the launch of Land of the Dead will finally erase them from the game. Erasing them from memory may prove slightly more difficult.
Sony targets kids with Japanese focus groups
PS3 is a sexy piece of tech. Its library of games, from Killzone 2 to Metal Gear Solid 4, appeal to the hardcore gamer ... but what about kids? PS3 is still in its infancy, so it's unsurprising that it's failed to catch the attention of children and family gamers. That might change soon though, as Sony is finally conducting focus groups in Japan catered to the younger audience.Siliconera reports that Sony is looking for participants as young as elementary school students to take part in a testing session at Sony's Tokyo offices. These individuals will give their opinions on upcoming PSP and PS3 games. Half-day participants will get 2500 yen compensation (about $25), while full day participants get 5000 yen and a free lunch. Imagine that! A job that pays you for playing PlayStation games.
Pre-E3 focus group: Sex, violence, doody still sell
On the flight to Los Angeles, Joystiq blogger Chris Grant and I decided to hold a little impromptu Flight 899 pre-E3 focus group to the pass the time on enroute. After Professor Grant lectured a captive audience on the perils of sexual objectification and the senior citizen cross-appeal of genteel titles such as Brain Age for the DS, I turned to random Gamer X, age 18, for input from the gaming industry's traditional demographic. True to form, Gamer X (pictured above, slackjawed) said he prefers games with "hot girls," "big t-ts" and "killing." His favorite gaming moment of all time is "flying up really high in Battlefield: 1942 and bailing out so that the parachute guy [craps] himself...[sound effect provided]." Gamer X is entering the Marines and a few months and he thinks his FPS expertise will serve him well on the real battlefield, which he assumes is similar to a video game.Moral of the story: Reach out all you want, but the core audience wants what it wants.Update: I should have noted that when I told Gamer X the Nintendo Revolution had be re-named the Nintendo Wii, he gave me a quizzical look and said "You mean like wee-wee?" Obviously, the "focus group" in the title was a jest, but I'm willing to bet this guy represents a wide swath. His stereotypical love of sex, violence and low humor was such a humorous counterweight to Chris' high-minded hopes for the industry, I had to post it.
