PlayFirst Grapevine
Firsties Guest Blog: Joel Brodie
2008
by Nemone
DEC
23
If you work in the casual game industry, you know Joel. Joel Brodie is the founder of Gamezebo.com, the editorial home of casual games on the net. Previously, Joel was head of business development for Yahoo! Games, where he was responsible for building numerous enterprising products, including Yahoo! Games Downloads, Games on Demand, and Video Games.
See Gamezebo’s latest post, featuring tips & tricks for Nightshift Legacy: The Jaguar’s Eye, at http://gamezebo.com/games/nightshift-legacy-jaguars-eye/tips-tricks/nightshift-legacy-jaguar-039-s-eye-tips
PlayFirst is proud to present Joel Brodie’s Wish List for 2009, and assures you that wish number five has been granted:
Instead of giving you my predictions (which you can read on Gamezebo in my editorial, “Recession? What Recession?”), I’ll going to give you my Wish List for what I want to see in 2009.
- A fair deal for developers. It’s not easy to be a game developer these days, with lower prices, lower margins, higher development costs, and less ways to sell their games. I wish that game developers get a new fair deal, so that they have more money to make better games for us to play.
- Better games. We played a lot of great games in 2008 (Cooking Dash, Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst, Mortimer Beckett and the Time Paradox, etc), but there have also been a lot of major disappointments. It’s kind of like a TV schedule where every show is sort of the same. I wish for better games to review and play.
- New hybrid game categories. The most interesting casual games to me are those that combine different genres. A hidden object game meets an adventure game. An adventure games meets a time management game. You get the picture. I wish for more games that break between the lines.
- Lower prices and more ways to pay to play. OK, this is less a wish and more a fact of life. Games are being offered at lower prices due to the recession and different discount clubs (like you have seen here at PlayFirst). And it’s a good thing. The lower the price per game, the more game players can buy and the larger the market will be.
- 6 PlayFirst gift cards for the Holidays. My 6 nieces love the Dash games. My last wish is for PlayFirst to give me 6 free coupons to give my nieces the gift of Dash games to my nieces so that I am officially become the coolest Uncle ever.
Finally, I would like to wish everyone reading this a Happy Holidays and New Year.
FIRSTIES WINNERS: "Cutest Critter" Game
2008
by Nemone
DEC
12
When asked about animated animals they just couldn't resist, players voted for the stylish canines and felines of Doggie Dash™, a PlayFirst® time management game set in a DinerTown™ pet spa. Easy to get into but amusingly challenging in the higher levels, Doggie Dash is perfect for time-management buffs, pet lovers, and anyone interested in being introduced to classic point and click play.
Competitors in cuteness included Farm Frenzy 2, Ranch Rush™, Fishdom, and Virtual Farm.
Thanks for voting!
FIRSTIES WINNERS: Best Leading Lady
2008
by Nemone
DEC
11
Congratulations to Flo™, Winner of the Firsties Best "Leading Lady" category!
Star of PlayFirst's award-winning Diner Dash® series as well as the new Cooking Dash™, the spunky, entrepreneurial, and DIY-devotee Flo has been a fan-favorite for years. Practical, confident, self-empowered but also an anti-glamour everyman, Flo can be befriended in almost any of PlayFirst's exclusive DASH™ games. Flo is also the best known resident of DinerTown™, both the setting and story world for many of PlayFirst’s most compelling hits.
The other entrants were Jojo in Jojo's Fashion Show 2: Las Cruces, who came in second; Jill in Cake Mania 3, who came in third; Jane from Jane's Realty and Evageline in Chocolatier 2: Secret Ingredients.
Thanks for voting!
Firsties Guest Blog: DFC
2008
by Nemone
DEC
9
In honor of the Firsties™ (where fans pick first!), we're proud to introduce David Cole and Joost van Dreunen, analysts with DFC Intelligence, a strategic market research and consulting firm focused on interactive entertainment and the emerging video game, online game, interactive entertainment and portable game markets.
Here, David and Joost share their Top 5 Trends in Casual Games. To receive free game industry research, visit DFC Intelligence.
1. Multiple Platforms: Now every game platform is embracing casual games. The Xbox 360 has Live Arcade, the PS3 has the PlayStation Network, the Wii has Virtual Console and the most successful platform of all, the Nintendo DS, is all about casual games.
2. Microtransactions: In the 1970s, consumers spent billions of dollars a year in the arcades one quarter at a time. Today, after an initial purchase, people often continue to spend in small increments on additional features such as avatar clothes or extra levels to enhance and expand the original experience of games like Diner Dash: Hometown Hero.
3. Going to Retail: You know casual games have arrived when retailers want to get involved. With the ability to see cards for consumers to download products online, stores like 7-11 and Rite Aid can carry products without having to sacrifice valuable shelf space.
4. Brands and Franchise: There are now entire companies devoted to copying the latest hit games. This means that in the casual game space it requires not only innovation but strong brands and franchises. Success comes down to marketing and distribution.
5. Everyone is a Casual Gamer: The stereotype of the casual gamer was a woman aged 35-54 that played as a quick work break. The success of products like the Xbox 360 Arcade and Nintendo DS and Wii show that casual games appeal to a much broader demographic.
Firsties Guest Blog: Susan Arendt
2008
by Nemone
DEC
8
My Firsties Top 5: Susan Arendt, The Escapist
In honor of the Firsties™ (where fans pick first!), we're delighted to introduce Susan Arendt, section editor for The Escapist. Not only is Susan Arendt an expert on casual games, having covered the industry for more than seven years as a writer for Wired News and now as an editor for The Escapist, she's also an avid casual gamer who gives new meaning to the term "hardcore casual."
Here, Susan shares her pick for the top 5 games of 2008. You can see more of her latest posts at www.escapistmagazine.com.
~Nemone
Picking my five favorite casual games of the year is rather a lot like choosing my favorite crayons in the Crayola 64 box. They're all wonderful, but here are a few of which I'm particularly fond:
Hidden Secrets : The sizeable collection of clever puzzles and minigames is more than enough reason to recommend this treasure, but it's the game's dark story, about a woman who suspects her husband of trying to kill her, that makes it particularly delicious.
The NightShift Code : The inventive code-cracking levels in this hidden object game are probably the closest I'll ever come to my childhood dreams of being a spy.
Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze: The ethereal music and gorgeous visuals create a wonderfully dream-like atmosphere that makes solving the game's collection of elegant puzzles particularly relaxing.
Peggle Nights: It's little more than a bunch of new Peggle levels, but that's all it really has to be for it to refuel your addiction. Try to stop playing after just five minutes, I dare you.
Dairy Dash/ Miss Management: I'm cheating a bit, but I simply can't decide which of these time management games I like better. They're both quite challenging and fun, so it really just comes down to which you prefer: sheep or coffee.
PlayFirst's Top 5 for '08
2008
by John
DEC
3
2008 was a huge year for PlayFirst, and as I reflect on what we've accomplished I thought I'd take a moment to share the top five things I'm most proud of with you:
#5: Our 4th Anniversary
As a young company, every anniversary is a big one. We turned four in April, having completed another year of solid growth in games, site members, employees and revenue. It was a great time to reflect on our pride in this company we've built, our accomplishments to date, and also our intimidation and excitement over the size and complexity of the to-do list still before us.
#4: PlayFirst wins a Fast 50 "Rising Star" award
In October, PlayFirst was honored as a "Rising Star" of Silicon Valley on Deloitte's prestigious “Fast 50” list. Being named a Rising Star was fantastic validation of our success in building not only great products but a great company. The award ceremony was a fun night out for ten "old timers" whose hard work over many years led to this success, and it was icing on the cake of a great year for PlayFirst.
#3: The release of Parking Dash™ and Cooking Dash™
Our beloved Flo™ makes several appearances in Fitness Dash and has her first headlining role outside of a Diner Dash® game in Cooking Dash. These were important games for the DinerTown™ franchise and we had to get them right—make them not just great to look at, but truly fun to play. Thanks to our outside development partners, our inside design staff, and our loyal FirstPeek game critics, Cooking Dash instantly became a #1 best seller on PlayFirst.com as well as on our partner sites like MSN, AOL and Yahoo! Games, and Fitness Dash, still in its PlayFirst.com exclusive window, held the #1 spot for several weeks.
#2: PlayFirst.com v5 & PlayPass™
Things started to really kick into gear in June with the beta launch of PlayFirst.com version 5.0. The massive site re-design was finally out the door—which was when we started getting a lot of feedback on a bunch of different issues. Much of the feedback was positive, but we realized we just weren't quite done. Not to fear, though—that's what a beta release is for! We put our heads back down and by the end of summer had completed the re-re-design of 5.0. We then took a five minute break, downed a few Diet Cokes, and then went straight into work on the PlayPass, which the team designed and launched soup-to-nuts in less than three months.
#1: Winning 3 Zeebys
We were completely blown away to win not one but THREE 2008 Zeebies for the top award in each of three genres: Best Time Management Game (Diner Dash®: Hometown Hero™), Best Hidden Object & Adventure Game (Dream Chronicles®), and Best Strategy Game (Chocolatier®). With talented developers releasing over 500 games each year, nothing is more fulfilling than having your fans tell you that your games are the best. Thanks go to the internal PlayFirst studio for Diner Dash: Hometown Hero, to our friends at Katana Games for Dream Chronicles, and to the boys at Big Splash for Chocolatier .
Thanks goes to all of you as well, for loving our games and site and for all of your great feedback over this past year. None of PlayFirst's greatest moments could have happened without you.
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PlayFirst is the creator of Diner Dash, Chocolatier, Dream Chronicles and other award-winning casual games.
