Denuology: The Observation and Observations of Denuo.

PLAYED – January 2012

Rafferty — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:45:52 +0000

Hello Denuo friends and Happy 2012!

This month’s issue will get your new year off on the right foot with a look at gaming’s influence on health platforms and their subsequent influence on your waistline. We’ll also get a glimpse at what’s to come in 2012 with a few gaming trends and prognostications.

Xbox Live’s ‘Metro’ dashboard update debuted last month to great fanfare, but not all of the platform’s 44MM users were thrilled with the change. Speaking of thrilling, though The Last of Us currently isn’t more than a trailer, press release, and screen grabs, the amount of buzz around this new title has gamers on edge. What can marketers learn about bringing new IP to market from Naughty Dog’s latest? Lastly, while Humble Indie Bundle 4 may be over, we’re already looking forward to their next release; not only to play awesome indie games, but also to do our part for charities. Download PLAYED now!

As always, every PLAYED article contains links to videos, supplemental info, and other digital goodies – so be sure to click throughout the enhance your PLAYED experience.

Enjoy PLAYED and Happy New Year from all of us on the team.

Top Five iOS Apps You’ll Never Need

MMahowald — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:18:01 +0000

Apple is boasting 500,000 apps, which should really make you wonder — who’s buying all these apps and how helpful are they really? Of course, there are a bunch of great ones that make our lives all the more effortless and fun. My favorite is Flipboard, which clips together all of your social media updates plus relevant news and trends into an automatically personalized magazine for you to flip through. It’s great! But, there must be a fine line between handy and inane, or maybe that line isn’t so fine:

1. Hair Clinic for Man and Woman

What is that guy doing? Oh nothing unusual, just rubbing his iPhone on his bald head. Why, you might ask—well because, YES there’s an app that tells you to. The totally unscientific, untested app called Hair Clinic for Man and Woman supposedly generates undetectable pulses to your scalp which generate blood flow, and get this, grow hair! For $8.99 you can have long lush hair, or more realistically, submit yourself to the harsh judgment of others as they watch you draw circles all over your head with your new phone.

2. Marriage Proposal App

This app gives you the option to propose to that special someone via smartphone (for $0.99). Romantic? Just enter your loved one’s name, add some personalized text, and upload a picture to go with it. Just in case proposing on your iPhone didn’t ruin the moment, the lucky lady or man then responds by clicking the “yes” button at the bottom of the screen (hopefully). Mobile enhancement of the human experience is something for which techies everywhere are striving; mobile ruining of the human experience, not so much.

3. Man Poke

The Man Poke app is the epitome of a pointless game: no fun, and no goal. Via this ridiculous app, the man pictured here is the victim of continuous poking and prodding (with no visual effect) thanks to your touch screen. The app store blurb for Man Poke reads: “Ever wanted to just poke the daylights out of someone?” If you’re like most adults, you answered “NO.” And even if you answered yes, wouldn’t Facebook be a better and more cost-effective poking outlet? Poke your Facebook friends and leave this poor stranger in a suit alone.

4. The Enigma Clock

Clocks, pshhh, so mainstream right? Enter the hipster clock. This clock doesn’t even tell you the time; instead it forces you to decript a mathematical riddle—because we all love math so much! Spending ten to fifteen mintues decoding the clock completely obviates the desire to know the time, and if you finally do, well it’s no longer that time. Though you’ll probably never ever want to use this app because smartphones are equipped with time displays, you could have a revolving door of excuses for why you were late to that meeting or to pick up your kid. “Damn that engima, I’m late again!”

5. iPhone’s weather app

The wild inaccuracy of Apple’s built-in weather app is why it makes the list of the five worst apps. I understand that the weather is unpredictable, especially in Chicago, but how can this app always be wrong? It’s definitely unnerving when you check multiple weather sources and they don’t match up, but it seems that Apple’s app is the one that’s always off-base. More often than not, you’ll find yourself cursing its condescendingly inaccurate reports. (“I know it’s not sunny out, you spiteful little fraud!”) Go with Weatherbug, a free top-rate weather app, and never again be caught in flip-flops on that cold rainy day in May.

Smartphone users are consistently seeking ways to make their day-to-day activities more fun — a worthy goal. Apps save time and help those afflicted with chronic lack of patience. The problem arises when apps simply aren’t accurate or useful, or when the so-called “game” becomes destructive. (There’s actually an app, Hang Time, in which you throw your iPhone into the air, and it then reveals how high it went.)

A smartphone clogged with apps only complicates your search for the best way to seamlessly handle a situation. It’s time for consumers to take their iPhone off their heads and to start using some judgment. Just because the app has 5,600 reviews doesn’t mean it’s worthy of your money. Trust me, you probably won’t regret the missed chance to put your finger on the screen and have it display your mood.

CES 2012: The Return of Practical Tech

jdurbin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:33:56 +0000

Last year was my first trip to CES and frankly, I was disappointed. Everything had to do with 3D. 3D TV’s, 3D video games, 3D without glasses, 3D energy conservation appliances. I found this development disappointing and surprising for three reasons.

This year was a different story. I was amazed at the amount of practical technology that was being presented. Sure, there were still massive 3D displays (LG) but it felt more like a showroom floor where the theme is “we’ll make life better” as opposed to “isn’t this neat?”

"Cut the Rope" as arcade game. File under "Neat!"

Of course there was some opportunity to fall into each category. For example, TCL developed Dual Screen Television Technology. From one TV screen people can watch two different shows by wearing different glasses. Anyone who is married or shares a studio apartment (ew, seriously, find your own place) knows how useful this is. Now my wife can watch “Bridget Jones’s Diary” while I watch “Bridget Jones’s Diary 2: The Edge of Reason” from the same TV! (high five)

Casio demonstrated a watch that can sync with your smartphone. Someone calls you in a meeting and you can look at your watch to see who it is. Then awkwardly answer your phone. This is just one of many examples of device syncing that occurred all over the showroom floor but was definitely the most unique. Tapping into the cloud to sync was one of the bigger themes of CES 2012 whether that be syncing computing devices to save information or appliances to save energy. Tablets got a boost as they can now wirelessly connect to your TV. This is a big win for anyone who rents a movie through iTunes or just wants to experience a bigger display whilst playing Plants vs Zombies.

Despite the downplay on 3D, TV was still king of the show. This year just about every TV booth had a motion control TV. Which is great because now I don’t have to burn precious calories wandering my apartment looking for my remote. Technicolor displayed a panoramic TV technology that allows you to control the camera as you watch live sporting events. This was far more interesting than ESPN’s massive display pimping ESPN3D. Don’t get me wrong, ESPN staged a live boxing match and broadcast SportsNation from the show floor, which was super cool. But all of it was there to promote ESPN3D. Being able to point the camera wherever I want is far more appealing than feeling like Trent Richardson is coming right at me. The push of ESPN3D was interesting considering that a few months ago AT&T dropped it from it’s Uverse package. ESPN might be feeling the heat to recoup some of it’s high investment in the channel. My advice to ESPN? Ditch 3D as a separate channel and figure out a way to broadcast individual events in 3D on ESPN. Kinda like the way SAP or closed captioning works. Admission: I don’t know how SAP or closed captioning works.

Dish TV’s “Hopper” is a new set top box that has 2 terabytes of storage. This means you can record six HD shows while simultaneously recording four more HD shows. That sounds incredible. But as I walked by paper thin HD TV’s with unbelievable pictures, developing a box seems like a strange effort. I didn’t see any of the other major cable companies there, but they needed to be. They hold the keys to TV development now. Super thin TV’s are always going to look worse with a lot of wires sticking out or a box on a shelf nearby. AT&T has a new box that is wireless, which is a step in the right direction. But the first cable company who figures out how to stream their programming and push it onto the cloud is going to have the inside track in the cable race.

If you squint you can see a TV

This goes for video game console developers too. An XBox adds cables and wires and “stuff” next to a TV which hurts the overall aesthetics of the room. I don’t know the stats on it, but I am guessing a lot of gamers (15%?) are also renters and not in a position to drill a massive hole in their wall to install a wall mount. Of course of that 15% probably .03% are concerned with room aesthetics.

That’s not the only issue for game developers. I took some time to play EA’s Dead Space on the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. The Tablet was great. The game looked absolutely beautiful and was very responsive as I navigated through a spaceship with people impatiently looking over my shoulder. I did have some major issues, however, in trying to work the controls. It required swipes and taps and holding thumbs down in position. Overall, it was a very klunky gameplay experience. We’re very conditioned to use controllers and for deeper mobile gaming experiences, this is going to be critical. Companies are working on it, but it’s not here yet. In fact, given how prominent mobile and mobile accessories were this year, don’t be surprised to see some major tech players have some solutions to this at CES 2013 (assuming the Mayans were wrong). But until then, casual games or games designed specifically for tabs will dominate the marketplace.

There was no bigger sign (literally) as to the importance of mobile than Samsung’s promotion of it’s Galaxy Note.

The aforementioned sign. And yes, I will interrupt paragraph flow for a bad pun.

The Galaxy Note is a pocket sized tablet (bigger than a phone). It comes with a pen and is being positioned as taking on the role of a notebook you always take with you. To promote it, Samsung hired artists to draw caricatures of CES attendees on the Galaxy Note. Sounds kinda dorky, and I judged it pretty hard when I first saw, but it was pretty awesome. You could even get your caricature on a t-shirt. Which you should give to someone as a gift. There were several TV’s and mobile devices like the Galaxy note that came with pens for writing. Not unlike the Newton from the 90’s. Here’s the problem. If you have horrible handwriting (as I apparently do) it is a frustrating and pointless endeavor to try to take advantage of the writing capability on these devices. The thing that makes it all the more frustrating, especially the TV’s that could be “written” on, is that they make a lot of sense. They are very neat from a tech standpoint but also fill a void in our daily lives. Which is exactly what the tech industry needs to be doing and why this CES left me so optimistic for the future.

Caricatures on the Samsung Galaxy Note

A tip for anyone planning to go to CES next year: Go later in the day and later in the week. I was there Tuesday around lunchtime and it was a nightmare. It was so crowded that I not only gave up on trying to avoid running into people, I intentionally began running into people. But Thursday afternoon from about 3-6pm (the floor closes at 6) it was about as empty as you could expect it to be. I was able to move quickly around the floor and play with a lot of the devices that previously had lines 10 people deep. It was fantastic.

And with that practical advice, let’s open the floor. Anything not listed here you thought was especially nifty? Do you like 3D and I am just a curmudgeon? What do you predict will be the next big things based on what you saw? Did I run into you (sorry if I did)? Leave thoughts in the comments.

*Top Banner includes: Sony laptop that folds into a tablet, Art using headphones and paint by Jody Chestnut, Ford car that had doors that opened neat

The Top 100 Tracks of 2011

Dan Buczaczer — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:30:09 +0000

No, we didn’t forget. Just some techincal difficulties adding it to Denuology over the holiday.

It’s our fifth year doing this and we’ve noticed a few things different this year: more dancing tunes, more hip hop, more saxophone solos (!), fewer female singers and waaay more profanity and sexually explicit lyrics. Not sure why but that’s how 2011 turned out. Before the list, here come the rules:

+ All songs are listed in reverse order because that is the only real way to do a list. Any of you with any sense of drama will listen to the whole thing from 100 slowly building up to number 1, at which point you will practically be bursting with excitement.

+ These are tracks, not necessarily singles. Covers qualify as well though I usually only include ones that are markedly different than the originals (and are good).

+ I only have one song per artist because the list is way cooler that way. Having 12 My Morning Jacket tracks in the Top 100 feels pretty anticlimactic. Everybody gets a shot this way.

+ They were all released in 2011on either an album or as a single. Sometimes the album came out last year but it was released as a single this year (or vice versa). That is a loophole I happily exploit.

+ If I’m wrong about the release date of something, blame Wikipedia, Amazon, and various music blogs.

Rather than put in links for every song this year, I’ve built out the list as playlists on both Rhapsody and Spotify. You can only find 85 of the songs on Rhapsody and 87 on Spotify. I’ve noted in the comments for each song which aren’t available on playlists and those have links. Or just jump around and pull them all up on YouTube. Whatever you do, the list takes about six hours all the way through so call in sick and enjoy!

THE LIST

100. Man or Muppet by Jason Segel (feat. Walter). The perfect intersection of The Muppets and “Flight of the Conchords”

99. Truth by Alexander. Don’t worry. That creepy guy whistling in the corner is just a hippie.

98. Still Sound by Toro Y Moi. A bass riff that slips into your bloodstream.

97. Sleeping By Myself by Eddie Vedder. Eddie makes even the ukelele sound badass.

96. Mountain Top by Bedouin Soundclash. Had to double check this band featured no members of The Clash.

95. Be Your Bro by Those Darlins. Even girl groups aspire to a good old-fashioned bromance.

94. Easy (Infinity Waits) by K-X-P. What the Haunted Mansion listens to after hours. [not on Rhapsody]

93. Bess St. by White Denim. If only Guitar Hero were still around….

92. Safari Disco Club by Yelle. The most fun you can have in French.

91. Car Crash by Telekinesis. Sadness never sounded so bouncy.

90. Gucci Gucci by Kreayshwan. More bling obsessed than Jay-Z and Kanye put together.

89. Your Wildest Dreams by Warren Haynes. What the last song of the night sounds like. [not on Spotify]

88. Blue Tip by The Cars. As if the past twenty years didn’t happen.

87. The Afterlife by Paul Simon. Apparently Heaven is run a lot like the US government.

86. Tennessee by Gillian Welch. “Beefsteak and whiskey”: seems about as good as a state motto can get. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

85. Warm in the Winter by Glass Candy. Dancing has a new queen. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

84. Miss K by Deer Tick. Makes “let’s get going” sound like a charming come-on.

83. Civilization by Justice. The dance club equivalent of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

82. Yonkers by Tyler, The Creator. We share similar feelings about Bruno Mars. [not on Rhapsody]

81. What Can I Do? by The Black Belles. If witches formed girl groups. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

80. Fuck My Brains Out by The-Game. Makes Prince sound like a prude. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

79. Is It Done by J Mascis. An acoustic ballad that still finds time for a slow-burning Dinosaur Jr guitar solo in the middle.

78. Dedication to My Ex (Miss That) by Lloyd (feat Andre 3000). Can’t imagine why she dumped him…

77. Damn These Vampires by The Mountain Goats. Even John Darnielle is getting in on the vampire thing.

76. Killer Crane by TV on the Radio. R.I.P. Gerard Smith.

75. You Don’t Like It by Jean Grae. “I’m like Judy Blume with uzis”. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

74. Love What Happened Here by James Blake. What a one-dude jam session sounds like in 2011. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

73. Novacane by Frank Ocean. Extra points for the Coachella call out.

72. Roll Up Wiz Khalifa. Sometimes all it takes is a very thinly veiled allusion to getting high…

71. Still Life by The Horrors. Britpop head-bobbers unite.

70. Last Night by The Morning Benders. Using Auto Tune on a Strokes classic = success! [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

69. Take Care by Drake (feat. Rihanna). Like the two most popular kids in school commiserating about their tough lives.

68. Leave the Engine Room by Everything Everything. A song that changes its mind every 20 seconds.

67. Rope (deadmau5 mix) by Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters songs have started all sounding alike to me…until one got a deadmau5 remix.

66. Mad Dog by Black Lips. Great for dancing the frug.

65. Chicago by Tom Waits. Would sound at home on Pinnochio’s Pleasure Island. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

64. How Come You Never Go There by Feist. Like your head hitting the pillow after a long day.

63. Calgary by Bon Iver. Easy listening for hipsters.

62. Ice Cream by Battles (feat. Matias Aguayo). This is literally what eating ice cream sounds like.

61. Lofticries by Purity Ring. What falling off a building in slow motion sounds like. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

60. Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire) by YACHT. Most danceable song about dystopia ever.

59. Dna by Darwin Deez. A geeky tribute to genetics.

58. Bein’ Green by Andrew Bird. This now feels like an Andrew Bird original that Kermit covers.

57. The Coming Days by Hello Echo. A song Built to Spill. [not on Rhapsody]

56. Some Boys by Death Cab for Cutie. Ben Gibbard + heavy breathing.

55. Till the World Ends by Britney Spears. Can’t. Help. It.

54. It’s Hard To Get Around the Wind by Alex Turner. A song that sounds destined to be on a movie soundtrack (which it was).

53. Show Me The Place by Leonard Cohen. Like God singing you a lullaby. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

52. Whirring by The Joy Formidable. File under alternative rock anthems.

51. County Line by Cass McCombs. Like the mellowest of Eagles songs.

50. You and I by Lady Gaga. Nebraska claims its rightful place in the rock n roll spotlight.

49. So American by Portugal. The Man. Wins ‘Best Synchronized Clapping’ of 2011 hands down.

48. Calamity Song by The Decemberists. Because someone needs to fill the R.E.M. void.

47. Come to the Bar by Pete and the Pirates. Morale of the song: if nothing else, you’ll always have drinking.

46. Daydreaming by Middle Brother. An ode to not wanting to get out of bed.

45. Library Pictures by Arctic Monkeys. Someone’s been spending some time with Josh Homme….

44. Bury Me Standing by Handsome Furs. Like an indie bullet train. Does that make sense?

43. Down in the Valley by The Head and the Heart. For a Sunday morning.

42. Glass Tambourine by Wild Flag. Riot grrrl meets Deep Purple.

41. Wildfire by SBTRKT (feat. Little Dragon). A synthesizer with a mind of its own.

40. On the Rocks by Grieves. Hip hop that sounds like nothing else.

39. Oh My God by Cults. Shimmery.

38. Codex by Radiohead. Yorke + piano = haunting.

37. Senator by Stephen Malkmus. This just might be the anthem the 99% have been looking for.

36. Ritual Union by Little Dragon. Prince in the form of a Japanese-Swedish woman.

35. Art of Almost by Wilco. Further proof that Wilco can do whatever it wants.

34. Ashes & Fire by Ryan Adams. Adams wants us to compare him to Dylan. I’m tempted to do it.

33. Boeing 737 by The Low Anthem. Epic from the first note.

32. Little Black Submarines by The Black Keys. The Black Keys are never not great. [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

31. Wicked Games by The Weeknd. The language! . [not on Rhapsody or Spotify]

30. Pressure and Time by Rival Sons. Carrying the Led Zeppelin torch for 2011

29. Aberdeen by Cage the Elephant. it’s supposed to be a tribute to Kurt Cobain but it feels way more like a love letter to The Pixies.

28. Doorstep by tUne-yArDs. What vocal somersaults sound like.

27. Need You Now by Cut Copy. If The National played discos.

26. Milshake by Yuck. Teenage Fanclub has a fanclub.

25. Dig a Little Deeper by Peter Bjorn & John. PB&J are bringing back the conga line.

24. Sadness is a Blessing by Lykke Li. It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.

23. Heartbeat by Childish Gambino. Troubles of a twentysomething.

22. As Bright as Your Night Light by Nerves Junior. Kid B.

21. Young Blood by The Naked and Famous. In an alternate universe, this would be a huge hit.

20. I Don’t Want Love by The Antlers. That sounds like the ghost of Jeff Buckley howling at the end.

19. Shell Games by Bright Eyes. This just in: Conor Oberst wrote a pop song!

18. Victory Dance by My Morning Jacket. MMJ goes full tribal.

17. Video Games by Lana Del Rey. True love is sharing an Xbox. [not on Rhapsody]

16. Ni**as in Paris by Jay-Z & Kanye West. “No one knows what it means…but it’s provacative!”

15. Thunder on the Mountain by Wanda Jackson. Jack White lights a match and burns the place down.

14. Cardiac Arrest by Teddybears (feat. Robyn). Shake your bone maker.

13. Radio by Raphael Saadiq. Otis rising.

12. The Words That Maketh Murder by PJ Harvey. Easily the best song of the year to combine olde Enlgish, “Summertime Blues” and an autoharp.

11. Time Spent in Los Angeles by Dawes. Jackson Browne-alikes give L.A. one big backhanded complement.

10. Wetsuit by The Vaccines. If nothing else, there is always the ocean.

9. Mine is Yours by Cold War Kids. Ladies and gentlemen your newest arena rock band: Cold War Kids.

8. Stuck in My Id by Reptar. David Byrne would break out his oversized white suit again for this one.

7. Midnight City by M83. One amazing riff goes a long way.

6. How Deep Is Your Love? by The Rapture. Like the Bee-Gees classic on amphetamines.

5. Losers by The Belle Brigade. Joins Tom Petty and Beck in the pantheon of loser classics.

4. Lover to Lover by Florence + The Machine. Motown meets Middle Earth.

3. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes. For tripping out at the intricacies of the universe.

2. Rolling in the Deep by Adele. A song that took everyone hostage all year. And we loved it.

1. Lippy Kids by Elbow. A ray of hope in a dark year: build a rocket boys!

PLAYED – December 2011

Rafferty — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:13:51 +0000

We know it’s been a while since we last posted with Denuo’s usual gaming goodness, but never fear because we’re back with a new look and all the same smarts, insights, and trends you expect from our group of misfits.

The December issue includes our annual Holiday Gift Guide/Wishlist, with great gift ideas for all the gamers on your nice list. We’re also celebrating Xbox’s 10th Anniversary with an infographical look back at some of Microsoft’s best in the world of gaming advertising. Speaking of gaming ads, Activision made entertainment history once again this year and delivered another campaign that caught more than just core gamers’ attention – how are their tactics influencing their competitors? Download it here!

Also inside are quick looks at Ubisoft’s latest push into the world of social gaming via some high profile television licenses, news on Nintendo’s first annual loss in decades, and a new collaboratively developed title that could change the way we think about social networks’ role in videogames.

As always, every PLAYED article contains links to videos, supplemental info, and other digital goodies, so be sure to click throughout to enhance your PLAYED experience.