Subscribe » Issue #39, May-Jun 2012 Mag Cover
Idealog—in the ideas business

  • Mitch Olson on the untapped potential of gamification

    2012-05-24 12:03:22 // // The Idealog Blog | 4 comments
    FourSquare has a lot to answer for! Mitch Olson explains how to go beyond buzzwords and hype to create a business case for gamification for your brand.
  • NZ's first degrees for game developers

    2012-05-22 10:14:00 // // The Idealog Blog
    Media Design School is introducing New Zealand's first game development degrees to its lineup of courses and is now taking enrolments for August, as industry insiders say there has never been a better time to consider a career in games.
  • Sparx: Beating real-world depression virtually

    2012-05-09 10:56:46 // // The Idealog Blog
    There's ever increasing evidence of the positive impact ‘serious’ games can have on health outcomes. And a pioneer in this field is the Sparx video game, created by Kiwi researchers to tackle teenage depression using cognitive behavioural therapy, packaged in a fun and appealing way.
  • Method nabs gold for Smith&Smith Kinect game

    2012-05-01 11:22:34 // // The Idealog Blog
    A custom Xbox Kinect game collaboration for Smith&Smith has snagged local creative agency Method Studios gold at the 2012 Communicator Awards.
  • Subverting gaming norms

    2012-04-30 12:05:30 // // Idealog #39: workshop
    Pippin Barr is spanning the divide between academics and gaming and bringing back the charm of 8-bit.
  • Wellington developer's gamemaking platform promises 'nerdgasm'

    2012-04-24 09:58:48 // // The Idealog Blog
    Entrepreneur and developer Dan Milward is launching what he calls the world's first cloud-based open source game creator today – Gamefroot.
  • Game on for Kiwi developers

    2012-04-05 14:22:51 // // The Idealog Blog
    SmallWorlds, Gameloft, Grinding Gear Games, NinjaKiwi, Runaway Play, Sidhe/PikPok, Cerebral Fix. All these and more will be at this year's New Zealand Game Developers Association Conference on May 19 with leading game makers from New Zealand and Australia.
  • Rush Digital: All aboard the mobile rocketship

    2012-03-29 13:39:34 // // The Idealog Blog
    Rush Digital Interactive is doing big things. What can we expect next from them – and what advice have they got for fellow game developers?
  • Free to p(l)ay: the rise of freemium

    2012-03-28 15:22:00 // // Idealog #38: workshop
    Console games, known as AAA in the industry, are dying, consigned to nostalgic nooks alongside Donkey Kong, C64 tape games and Super Mario.
  • A bootcamp for gaming bootstrappers

    2012-02-28 12:16:32 // // Idealog #38: now
    Incubator Creative HQ has pushed the go button on its inaugural gaming bootcamp. Thumbs at the ready...
  • The economics of freemium

    2012-02-22 12:59:05 // // The Idealog Blog
    The new app economy is all about freemium – the majority of App Store revenue is derived from freemium social and mobile games, with in-game purchases driving sales.
  • SmallWorlds, big dreams

    2012-02-20 13:45:31 // // Idealog #37: features
    SmallWorlds said no to MTV's millions – and hasn't looked back.
  • Can you make a game in just 48 hours?

    2011-12-20 12:01:57 // // The Idealog Blog
    Not just the first country to see the sun, New Zealand will be the first to kick off the Global Game Jam too come January.
  • Game industry comes into its own

    2011-11-16 10:26:42 //
    The global gaming industry shows no signs of slowing down and Kiwi developers are getting their share of the pie – the local game development industry grew by a whopping 46 percent this year.
  • Virtual goods yield real returns for Christchurch

    2011-07-05 11:20:00 //
    Gaming for a good cause: New Zealand’s largest online social gaming company SmallWorlds has raised $38,000 by selling limited-edition virtual goods to thousands of players.
  • Animated tales

    2010-06-22 21:14:21 // // Idealog #28: interact
    Pixar senior animator Andrew Gordon is making his way down under for SP10 in August. We caught him in June to ask about the future of Andy, Buzz and Mr Incredible.
  • ‘The mysteries of the pixel aesthetic’

    2010-05-27 10:16:36 // // The Idealog Blog
  • Picture perfect

    2010-01-14 10:44:00 // // Idealog #25: features | 1 comment
    While the gaming industry works out how to draw yet more pixels faster, a Dunedin company is using its backyard invention to bring the real world to screen in picture-perfect quality. Amanda Cropp meets the snap-happy team behind Areograph
  • Virtual therapy

    2009-07-22 09:39:30 // // Idealog #22: now | 1 comment
    Today’s gaming scene is even therapeutic.
  • Vishal Gondal at X|Media|Lab

    2009-05-26 15:11:10 // // Idealog TV
    Vishal Gondal's business card says he is God-in-Chief at IndiaGames. A business owner since the age of 16, he’s got a lot to say about the Indian business philosophy of Jugaad. Kiwi businesses are more creative than Vishal expected, but do we need a healthy dose of Jugaad?
  • Susan Bonds at X|Media|Lab

    2009-05-22 16:19:54 // // Idealog TV
    Susan Bonds of 42 Entertainment on why interactive alternative reality games are the PR bomb.
  • Jane McGonigal on Signtific Lab

    2009-02-23 17:36:00 // // Idealog TV
    Jane McGonigal reveals what getting a lab coat at Webstock really means
  • Jane McGonigal: the future of reality

    2009-02-19 09:57:34 // // The Idealog Blog | 1 comment
    McGonigal is a game researcher at the institute for the future. Her ethos is that in game-design the human experience is perfectly optimized—we feel we have purpose, we feel we are collaborating and we feel we have a meaning. Why then are other aspects of our online (and for that mater offline) experience not fulfilling all these needs?
  • Play hard

    2008-02-20 09:12:38 // // Idealog #13: workshop
    Kiwi game developers are getting bigger—by creating smaller thrills
  • The story of the storytellers

    2007-12-07 12:08:53 // // Idealog #13: workshop
    The digital mavens at the inspiring AnimFXNZ show they’re not blinded by science