Mario Kart Room with Friends

Last night, six of us from our flyball club went online with our Wii's to play Mario Kart. Six "drivers," three Wii's, one racetrack!! What a blast! 

Even though everyone was better than me, and I don't think I won any races, it was much more fun getting knocked over the cliff, or blown up, by someone I know, rather than a stranger!

Thanks, Nintendo!

CSI:NY and Second Life

The CSI:New York episode this week was about Second Life, and a lot of the tv show seemed like it took place in the "real" regular Second Life. I believe they took some liberties around how to get clothes, etc., for appearance, and I have no idea if the gladiator fighting is something that can actually take place in Second Life. 

Why did the suspect drop her shoes when she fell in the hole? What was the hole? okay, so I do have a few questions around what was actually "gameplay" and what was faked.

Also, they are running a game in SL where you get to be a virtual CSI in virtual New York:

There are video tutorials that may be useful for other SL users, although all of the crime-scene tape and dead bodies may be off-putting (or not).

You can watch the CSI: New York "Down the Rabbit Hole" episode here.

Work at Video Games

Okay, so here's a different take on video games.

Sony enters the Rat Race
By way of its PlayStation Blog, Sony has announced Rat Race, a new episodic game series coming to the PlayStation 3 this winter. The game is in development by Super-Ego Games, a relatively upstart studio whose former credits include The Barbie Diaries: High School Mystery for the PC.



So, instead of taking a break from your job and real-life responsibilities to play a game of puzzles and shoot-em-ups, you take a break from your job and real-life responsibilities to play a game of a job and real-life responsibilities. ?

I can't imagine anyone (with a job) thinking that this is fun.

Look, I Have a Theme Song!

I have a theme song, and it even has a video!!


The Future Soon, song by Jonathan Coulton, with the video by Mike Spiff Booth. If you think this is as awesome as I do, drop a little in their tip jar.

Here's another from these two; I think I have worked in this office, but not currently of course.

Code Monkey

P.S. I'm not really sorry if these songs get stuck in your head.

What I'm Playing Now...

I thought if I'm going to post on Video Games at all, I should at least say what games I'm playing! I pretty much play one game at a time, per console, so here's what I'm playing for each, in order of more to less play time:

Nintendo DS Lite:
Puzzle Quest
Thanks, ChrisM, just as addicting as you said!

Nintendo Wii:
the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Finally finished this, just wondering about replay value. I do wish it didn't have to say how many hours it took me...

Mac:
MondoSolitaire widget
For those times when you are just waiting at your desk.

and, I just found this
iPhone:
Bejewelled
This may get more playing time than the others (unless it drains my battery too quickly). I do need my cell phone, after all.

Virtual Sun Worlds

Sun has a virtual world I'd like to try for work meetings and such. It looks a lot like Second Life, but I heard the sound quality is very good. But don't a lot of these folks look like they're wearing Star Trek uniforms?

WOW: Now serving 9 million

Just saw a note that World of Warcraft (a MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) has over 9 million subscribers...

WOW: Now serving 9 million
The beast, it thrives. Blizzard today announced that its massively multiplayer online game that needs no introduction has surpassed the 9 million worldwide subscribers mark. Debuting in November 2004, World of Warcraft has consistently been in a league of its own as far as installed user base. Earlier this year, the game's first expansion, The Burning Crusade, set PC-game records by selling a staggering 2.4 million copies within 24 hours of release. The publisher anticipates it will continue to acquire waves of new subscribers, noting The Burning Crusade is currently being prepped for launch in China.

Video Games at Work

I think the computer applications that do the best job of training users on the fly are video games. I can't imagine that anyone reads the manuals that come with the games. But here's an article on using video games to train employees:

FIRST-PERSON SCOOPER GAMES

Organizations employing the Sesame Street Generation and beyond have begun to use video games to train employees on key, but perhaps not top-of-mind, profitability issues. The ice cream company Cold Stone Creamery uses a simulation video environment to help new employees learn and understand the cost of seemingly minor inaccuracies in portion size. OK, maybe this isn't as fun as some games, but it's not Mervis Beacon Teaches Typing, either.

Persuasive interactives are not only for GenY... who hasn't been slowed down by one of those roadside radar displays?

And the interactives don't need to be full fledged games, they just need to be persuasive by offering the user:
- the situation
- capture of the current decision
- a path to vary "behavior" or "decisions" so that various options can be explored
- interpretable feedback on the impact of their decision

For instance, Fogg (2003) outlines examples in which photocopiers influence behavior by alerting users how much paper they could save with 2-sided printing. (Have you seen those tree-shaped icons?)

If virtual simulation influences social decision-making, driving, ice cream scooping, and photo-copying, it should also work for financial planning, consumer goods product selection, health risk evaluation, career planning, and other serious topics? Why not?

Consider these questions as you start creating "serious games" for your reality.
- What decisions or actions does your site or application try to help people execute?
- Can/do you use or embed interactive, self-directed feedback to help users understand the impact of making various decisions?
- Are the interactive task flows appropriate, available, and obvious at key decision points?
- Are they "walk-up easy" to interact with and use?
- Do the interactives invite you to fiddle with them? Or are they just scary?
- Can users explore alternate strategies effectively?
- Can users translate the feedback to "what-next" action?
- Are the interactives engaging and persuasive... from the customer's perspective?

Something to think about on the beach...