Category Archives: Jens Schroeder

Fanboys: These Days’ Mods and Rockers

By Jens | Published: March 2, 2010
When I was writing about the iPad and technicity, I noticed that the notion of technicity can also be applied to the scourge of the game world: Fanboys, and their hatred of other people’s choices. To recapitulate what technicity means: it is an “aspect of identity expressed through the subject’s relationship with technology. Particular tastes [...]
Also posted in Marketing, Technology, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

BlogCampaigning: Movin’ On Up

By Parker Mason | Published: February 3, 2010
Congrats to a few members of the BlogCampaigning crew: The official notice of Heather Morrison’s new position at Sequentia Environics went out (over the newswire, no less) last week, saying that she’ll “supervise the daily operations and performances of client service teams.” A good move indeed; Sequentia is  a digital communications firm that “focuses on the [...]
Also posted in Careers, Et cetera, Marketing, News, Online, Toronto, germany | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia’s contrary Internet tendencies

By Jens | Published: January 7, 2010
Australia is a weird country. Given that the country’s broadband is amongst the worst in the developed world, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a plan to build a national broadband network. The ambitious project will take up to eight years, cost $43 billion, create tens of thousands of jobs and will see fibre-optic cable laid out [...]
Also posted in Communications, Online, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Internet Eyes’ put gamers on police patrol

By Jens | Published: October 9, 2009
A couple of months ago I wrote about a $2-million citizen surveillance system installed along the Tex-Mex border which allowed to people to catch Mexicans from the comfort of their home. I was joking about what would be next: Xbox users collecting achievements by helping to catch gang members? The answer came quicker than I thought: gamers [...]
Also posted in Video Games | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Left 4 Dead in the Aussie Censorship System

By Jens | Published: September 21, 2009
It looks like Left 4 Dead 2 has been banned in Australia. The reason: [C]lose in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore. This was not deemed suitable for 15-year-olds. Despite the [...]
Also posted in Et cetera, Video Games | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Could game play at work actually improve engagement?

By Jens | Published: September 2, 2009
“Button” is a nice example of how games can be used to mentally stimulate people in order to keep them engaged in their mundane jobs. The game is as simple as it gets: there is a button on the screen and when it lights you push it. Explains Techcrunch: Blank Software will choose random times to light [...]
Also posted in Mobile Phones, Video Games, casual games | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How I Met the Inventor of the Videogame

By Jens | Published: August 7, 2009
Ralph Baer, inventor of the videogame console, recently came to Berlin to celebrate the online launch of the “History of Video Games Timeline” by the Berlin Computer Game Museum. Quite an exciting moment for me, and probably the last chance to have a chat with the man behind the craze that touched our lives and [...]
Also posted in Technology, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Community-based video game funding – could it work?

By Jens | Published: July 30, 2009
Gabe Newell recently suggested letting gamers fund a title, and in the process cutting out the middle-man that is the publisher. “One of the areas that I am super interested in right now is how we can do financing from the community. So right now, what typically happens is you have this budget — it [...]
Also posted in Video Games | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Off the Couch, On the Couch: Consoles’ Future

By Jens | Published: July 7, 2009
There’re two trends in video-gaming I’ve noticed lately: First, a shift towards more peripherals and consoles taking over more functions of computers—a development confirmed by the latest E3. One of the first companies to successfully introduce accessory-enhanced games into the mainstream was Sony with its Singstar and Buzz franchises. Then there was the final breakthrough: Guitar Hero, [...]
Also posted in Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Alice and Kev

By Jens | Published: July 2, 2009
Alice and Kev is one of the most fascinating blogs I’ve read in a while. Robin Burkinshaw, a student of games design/development at Anglia Ruskin University, is playing the Sims 3 with two homeless characters. He moved them in to a place made to look like an abandoned park, removed all of their remaining money, [...]
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