Denuo - denuology.com

A bi-weekly recap of the topics that have us talking at Denuo, related to our industry, our group, and our everyday.

As Halloween approaches and we finalize our Psy costumes (I mean, we all know we’re going as him, right?) we also are here to give you all a very special treat this month. We kick it off with Nintendo’s highly anticipated Wii U launch, the first of the next “next-gen” consoles. While it may look a lot like its predecessor, the new GamePad should usher in a whole new set of gameplay experiences for consumers and developers. We follow up new console news with new console games and our fall titles preview. Though most are sequels, we’re not complaining with the likes of Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Assassins Creed 3 on the docket.

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The Swahili people thought of it as a soul-stealing machine, but we just call it a camera, the magical tool that captures life as it happens. Nowadays, everyone has one in some shape or form, and in the digital age we all have a favorite way to share our photos with each other. With such great accessibility to the technology, it seems we are all photographers, by habit, and by no means are we all good at it. We even use filtering apps that make our technically-deficient pictures interesting and “cool”. Photo albums we grew up with are now kitsch and old-timey. Social streams and photo feeds are now the timeline and portals to our memories. But, when it comes to making memories, has technology taken the soul out of photographs?

Mitsubishi and Grey Poupon are at war, and Facebook users are taking sides.  No, liking cars and mustard are not mutually exclusive, but it seems that their respective Facebook apps are.  Mitsubishi recently released the Mitsubishi Unpretentiousness campaign for the 2013 Outlander Sport.  Fans of the carmaker can run the Facebook app to select their most pretentious friend and then watch as that friend’s profile picture gets smashed to smithereens.  The goal?  To promote Mitsubishi as a down-to-earth, affordable car company.

Taking a completely different approach to brand promotion, Grey Poupon has created the Society of Good Taste, playing perfectly into the mustard’s “Spread good taste” campaign.  Extra points for pretentiousness as fans of the page are audited for their worthiness via an algorithm that takes a range of content into account.  Only Facebook users with “good taste” and a “discerning palate” shall be admitted to this private society.

So which will you choose?  If you’re siding with Mitsubishi you better think twice before checking in at that Zagat-rated rooftop bar.  But, if you’re siding with Grey Poupon, remember, pinkies up!

As autumn approaches, we’re getting ready for the change in leaves and cooler weather…well, except for us in LA where we’re still at 90-degrees on a daily basis. But hey, can’t win them all. As I bear through this heat, we’re excited to bring you our first fall edition of PLAYED. This month, we take a look at how indie games are utilizing social networks in a different way to find great traction and interaction with their fan base; how can brands learn how to create this dialogue and trust in the same manner? We also explore the overlap between game development and user generated content and its impact not only on the games, but on the connections with the communities of players themselves, as well as future revenue streams.

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