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World of Warcraftless: What would the world look like without World of Warcraft?
This year is a big one for World of Warcraft. It's the 10-year anniversary of the game's launch, meaning players have been able to enjoy themselves in Azeroth for quite a while. The franchise itself is turning 20, meaning it's almost old enough to legally drink. And whether you like the game or not, you can't deny that it's had a huge impact on games in general -- not just on MMORPGs but on the very landscape of what games are and how we think about them. So it's kind of natural that we'd start asking if we'd all be better off without it. You live with the same title dominating the industry for a decade, so it's only natural to think about what it'd be like if it weren't there. Personally, I think that's a kind of loaded question that also overlooks a far niftier option. Asking whether we'd be better off first requires one to figure out what the world would look like without World of Warcraft, and for my money that's much more interesting. So let's look at just that. What sort of scenarios might have unfolded if World of Warcraft had never come to pass at all?
Zynga shuts down 11 apps, including PetVille and Mafia Wars 2
Zynga has announced that it's closing 11 different games and apps, presumably just because they've failed to live up to the publisher's expectations. Perhaps the most popular app of the bunch is Petville, which at one point announced that it had over a million users. But there are a few other big titles in the 11 as well: Mafia Wars 2, FishVille, Treasure Isle and Vampire Wars are all getting shut down as well. The company's CEO says this is all part of a standard restructuring, and it makes sense that Zynga, which has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years, would want to emphasize its strengths and minimize its weaker titles. But this is also a sign that the Zynga brand isn't invincible, and that clearly, the company needs hits to keep itself moving. 2013 may be a rocky year for Zynga, if it can't replicate the success it's seen in the past with FarmVille and the other games it's acquired, like Draw Something and Words with Friends.
360iDev: Riptide Games' App Store wins and losses
Because there are so many apps on the App Store, we often have a tendency to hear most about what are actual outliers on Apple's platform. It's very rare indeed, in fact, for the average developer to have either a giant hit or a giant loss, though obviously those games and apps tend to get the most press and become the most talked about. But for the majority of apps and developers on the store, those stories just aren't typical. Usually, the outcome of an app release is far less obvious: An app can do well at some things and not so well at others. Developer Brian Robbins of Riptide Games (who's done some speaking on the subject before) took to the stage at 360iDev this past week to do a run through his company's history, and go over what both worked and didn't about his company's many iPhone apps. He's had what we'd normally call both successes and failures on the App Store, but even Riptide's wins weren't perfect, and the biggest failures still let the company learn how to better do things in the future. In 2010, for example, Robbins said that he and his company came up with an idea they called "iLookGood," a mirror app that used the new iPhone's front-facing camera to actually work as a mirror. Despite its simplicity, that app did well and continues to grab downloads to this day, though it hasn't been updated in quite a while. But it wasn't all a success -- while the app did bring the company to spin off a popular version called iLookFunny, it also spawned a version called iArrPirate, which Robbins said was terribly unpopular. "Nobody likes pirates," he told the crowd of developers. "Don't do pirates." Robbins also said that he regretted that the iLook apps didn't have "a coherent strategy" -- they were just a silly idea that the company spun up into a brand. BopIt has been a relatively big success for Riptide -- Robbins had connections with the popular toy's makers, so when the time came to make an app for the brand in conjunction with EA, he jumped at the chance. And indeed, the BopIt games (which are now published by EA under Chillingo, but made by Riptide) have been one of Riptide's most steady brands, providing work for the company since the very beginning. But in making the first title, says Robbins, Riptide actually lost money on the property. He says he doesn't regret making the first BopIt game, as he gladly jumped at the chance to work with EA on a larger brand. But though the decision was a good one, it wasn't very profitable for Riptide. My Pet Zombie was Riptide's first really profitable title, and most App Store onlookers would probably call that one a hit (so much so that Riptide's next game, called My Pet Dragon, will use the same model). But Robbins says that My Pet Zombie had missteps as well -- it "didn't hit metrics," and he says the company could probably have followed up better on customer interest in the game. Ultimate Battle Zombies, a freemium game that Riptide released earlier this year, was the company's "biggest financial failure yet", according to Robbins. The original idea for the game was to team up with a major media network and make a game based on celebrity zombies, but at the last second, the idea was kiboshed by lawyers and their reservations, says Robbins. Riptide decided to publish the game itself, but "we shouldn't have finished it," he says. The game's goofy premise "missed its audience," according to Robbins, and the work that went into the title (which makes use of Game Center's asynchronous gameplay features) just wasn't worth it. But something good did some out of Ultimate Battle Zombies. Robbins and his team decided that instead of working remotely as usual, they would try to bring the team together and work in one place. After some research, they decided to meet up for two weeks in Florida, and at a cost of just around $12,000, were able to pull everyone down for about two weeks, having meetings by the pool and cooking all together as a group. Robbins admitted that a retreat like that probably wouldn't work for every company, and even Riptide only had everyone together for a period of about five days. But he says the experience was completely worth it for teambuilding, and any company with remote team members should consider an experience like that. In the end, said Robbins, developers need to be scrappy and work hard on whatever chances come to them. True hits and misses are actually rare on the App Store, despite how much we hear about them in the community every day. As Riptide's story shows, the majority of developers have to always deal with the good and the bad, and figure out how to best move forward when either happens.
2.8 million downloads for Gun Bros, 7.3 million for Zombie Farm
I am anxiously awaiting some stats on this past week's releases in the App Store -- over the past two weeks, we've seen some gigantic games released for iOS, and yet familiar names like Cut the Rope, Angry Birds, and Fruit Ninja are still topping the charts (along with some big EA titles benefiting from that price drop). But even if it takes a while for all of those releases to find their place on the App Store, here's news of a few more recent titles that have done well. First up, freemium shooter Gun Bros (featured as our Daily App choice a while back) has picked up 2.8 million downloads so far, and claims 175,000 daily active users so far. That's not huge, but it's a nice sizable audience for a freemium title, especially one that tends a little more towards the hardcore gamer. Glu is also supporting the app with updates, including a new planet to play on, special Christmas-themed gear, and some extra in-game currency rewards for users who update the app. Zombie Farm is doing even better than that -- the wacky cross between zombies and Farmville has earned 7.3 million downloads since launch, and is still growing at about 25% a month. Currently, the app's reviews section is full of complaints about some bugs, but nevertheless, Playforge has claimed 2.76 billion minutes of playtime, and while it hasn't shared actual revenue numbers, there's no question that players have probably spent plenty of money on the game's in-app purchases. I would call both of those solid hits for sure. We'll have to see what other big games rise to the top after this raucous holiday season on the App Store continues.
Intel learns from Dr. Dre, wants Atom chips in NFL helmets to know when heads are ringing
We always understood that Intel looked after the rock stars of tomorrow, but who knew that included football players? Yup, according to PC World, Intel is currently investigating adding Atom chips inside NFL helmets to provide real-time impact data to medical staff on the sidelines. While there's no explicit time frame set for this project, we're thinking the sooner the better -- lest we forget it took the league until 2009 to require players who display signs of a concussion to stop playing for at least one day. This isn't the first time though that the world's largest chip maker has actually helped make the gridiron safer. In fact, it previously worked with helmet maker Riddell's fittingly named HITS (Head Impact Telemetry System) and academic researchers to run head injury simulations using linked Xeon-powered computers. Off the field, Intel is also currently partnering with the Mayo Clinic to boost medical cranial scans using MIC (Many Integrated Core) supercomputer co-processors. Codenamed Knights Corner, this hardware puts teacher's pets to shame by running trillions of calculations per second, and apparently accelerates head scans by up to 18 times. Sure, safety's all well and good, but we know Intel's really just curious about how Moore's Law holds up to the shoulder pressure of NFL d-backs.
Raid Rx: Analyzing your healers Part 4
Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. That above is the fun product of Wordle. I creatively call it "WoW WWS Healing". Click on it to give it a spin of your own. So, if you've just randomly stumbled upon this multi-part saga on WWS meets healing, here's a lovely link to get you caught up. For the rest of you operating with mere short term memory lapses, this link right here will transport you to the example WWS we've been mulling about. But more on that after the jump.
Raid Rx: Analyzing you healers Part 3
Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. A lot of times when I'm sifting through data on WWS, I feel like I need Sherlock Holmes' hat and magnifying glass. Today is no exception. If you're just joining the series for the first time, here's a link to get you caught up. The rest of you should recall that we left things on the cusp of actually going through WWS. Today we will rectify that and get into the nuts and bolts of WWS healing analysis. See you healing sleuths after the break!
Riddell starts shipping concussion-monitoring football helmets
We've seen a couple helmet systems that monitor impacts -- including prototype football helmets -- but Riddell is bringing the tech to market with the Revolution IQ HITS (Head Impact Telemetry System) helmet, which contains a system of sensors that stores data about the last 100 impacts, which can later be wirelessly transmitted to a laptop for analysis. Up to six $999 helmets can be linked to each $299 HITS receiver, and players and trainers can access data via a web app for later evaluation. The helmet is shipping now, and apparently the University of Missouri and several other NCAA schools have already placed orders.[Via Technology Review]
Virginia Tech football helmets monitor hits wirelessly
While the Virginia Tech Hokies tend to rely more on dazzling special teams teams play than sheer defensive prowess, the players take a lickin' regardless. In a presumed extension of Beamer Ball, the sparkly helmets donned by the football squad will sport internal accelerometers and wireless transmitters that beam (ahem) information about the seriousness of each blow to a Sybase database in order to tell if and when a certain player has had enough. The primary objective is to prevent any long-term injuries and detect concussions before individuals can even realize they're hurt, and an interesting byproduct of the system has shown what types of thwacks are typically sustained at different positions. The HITS (head impact telemetry system) technology could reportedly be used in places like the battlefield as well, or moreover, rigorous rounds of Wii Boxing -- but we're sure WVU's Punchstat system is already on top of that.[Photo courtesy of VT]
DVD pirates put out hits on Lucky and Flo the crime dogs
If you thought that IP piracy was all fun and games (and cheap movies and software), think again, because the war on counterfeiting just got a lot more dangerous, with Malaysian "syndicate bosses" today announcing a reward for the heads of two real-life McGruff's. You probably remember black labs Lucky and Flo as the Federation Against Copyright Theft's latest weapons in tracking down bogus discs -- they're trained to sit when they smell plastic -- and their careers were apparently going pretty well until they helped bust a $3 million bootleg ring this week only to draw the ire of whomever just lost a major source of shady income. With an undisclosed contract now threatening their very lives, the two canine Columbos have reportedly been moved to a Cheney-like undisclosed location where security has been "beefed up" to ensure their safety as well as future contributions to Team MPAA. Because, as we all know, police dogs do have a tendency to keel over just days shy of retirement, and these hits sure aren't gonna help that much.
