TriplePoint PR

By now, you’ve most likely heard the news, but it is never too late to send congratulations over to our client, Jambool, whose virtual economy platform Social Gold has received plenty of attention over the past year – most recently after Jambool’s acquisition by Google.  As the social gaming and virtual goods industries continue to grow,  we look forward to seeing what our talented friends at Jambool can come up with next at Google.

Last week, the TriplePoint New York office hosted the First Annual Holiday Showcase – the two day event had a wide variety of clients on display, with everything from video games to comics to wearable tech.  Journalists were invited to stop by, have a snack and check out the latest offerings from many of our clients, including SEGA, Nyko, Gunnar, PlayOn, NextSport, Livio and more.

The showcase was a big success with great turnout. People came through the office from a variety of outlets including Good Housekeeping, PC Magazine, CBS News, Joystiq, Men’s Health, Worth Magazine, The Street, CNET, MTV Networks, and more. Many of the journalists came by with specific items in mind to see, but stuck around and checked other things outside of their beat.

Most of us non-Miley Cyrus fans are tired of hearing the song “Party in the USA.”   From the clichéd opening rift to the seemingly simple lyrics, I hope that it is a fad that will soon die out.  But still, people young and old scream at the sound of those opening notes and belt the lyrics at a crowd of confused faces.  I wonder, “How can a song with such an uninspiring melody and lyrics be so catchy?”  Maybe I am too old, but no, I have friends my age and older who simply adore that song.  Perhaps it is only my disillusionment with mainstream pop.

Instead, I fill my iTunes playlist with songs that few would recognize, songs that only players of certain video games could appreciate.  Songs, though many wordless or in a language I do not understand, still mean so much to me after being on my playlist for many years.  I can dream to the sound of my inexperienced fingers playing “To Zanarkand” on the piano.  I know every word to “Suteki Da Ne” even though my abilities in Japanese are limited at best.

“How many pop-ups is too many pop-ups?” asks the Frisky Mongoose. Shouldn’t there be a more reasonable cap on pop-up notifications, so players can get busy playing (and spending money, for that matter)? Log-in interruptions are particularly bothersome in my opinion, but some games are offering smoother entry these days, so I’ll just assume that’s been noted and move along…

Beyond logging in, when you finally do get to tend to your social game goings-on, it seems like there’s a pop-up every 3-4 clicks. I have hundreds of trees on my farm, and if I want to harvest them all one-by-one, I should be able to without having an annoying pop-up in my face after every 4 trees!

No – I don’t want to send free gifts to my neighbors right now. If I did, I’d click on that enormous Gifts tab staring me in the upper eye. No – I don’t want to check out the new virtual items. If I do, I’ll go to the store.

Back to school already? Here are 25 games that will get your brain in shape before you know it. Even if you’re not headed back to the classroom, we can all use a good mental push up (and a fun distraction) from time to time.

Frisky Mongoose has compiled a list of 25 top titles for “brainstream” gamers both young and old. Did your favorites make the list? poweRBrands and Empire Avenue are 2 of our favorites, simple because they offer something totally unique and relevant for PR and marketing folks like us. Several – if not most – of these social, mobile and casual games are free, so put on your smarty pants and play learn your hearts out!

Facebook games:

poweRBrands by Reckitt Benckiser – “The first Facebook game of its kind, designed to test players’ marketing and business abilities, teach strategy and decision-making skills, and introduce users to the culture and challenges that face the company’s marketers every day.

It’s soapbox time again over at the ‘Goose – enjoy (and add your 2 cents in the comments below)!

Know why I prefer writing on the weekends? Because all the noise dies down around me – our unrelenting 24/7 news cycle doesn’t stop, but it slows down long enough for a person to clear their head…. During the week, we’re lucky to have time to think about how all the news “pieces” of the day fit into the bigger puzzle – not just in the tech & gaming industry, but anywhere.

Everyday we’re bombarded with new games, new features, new partnerships, milestones and announcements of all shapes and sizes. I’m speaking from experience in 3 crucial game industry roles: PR (public relations), journalist (news editor), and most important for the advice that follows, gaming/tech consumer.

A recent keynote at the Develop conference by Hello Games’ Sean Murray cast a harsh light on the realities of publishing downloadable games on home consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade, Sony’s PlayStation Network and Nintendo’s WiiWare Channel. He purports that self-published games like his recently-released critical darling Joe Danger (which sold 50,000 units week one on PSN) are both more successful and more profitable than those of major studios.

Joe Danger, breaking all the rules.

It’s no secret that, when it comes to home entertainment, we’re in the midst of a distribution revolution. Content once tied to broadcast airwaves is now being ravenously consumed on the internet via computers, video game consoles and set top devices.

TriplePoint has the privilege of working with some of these new media startups. PlayOn (which recently made the jump to iPhone; CNET link) streams Hulu and other web video onto PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, without the need for a costly Hulu+ account. For those without a video game console, Softkinetic is providing a Microsoft Kinect-like experience to a massive install base via their set top box gesture recognition system.

With two cameras and a powerful microphone, Kinect knows who’s in front of the TV. For games like Dance Central, the technology will track all the poppin’ and lockin’ you can throw at it. But as an entertainment hub, a Kinect-enabled Xbox 360 will change the way that marketers convey their messages. Advertising is the backbone of media, providing the funding for programming and keeping content free for the viewer.

Happy 5th birthday, TechCrunch! This Friday, TriplePoint is sponsoring the San Francisco TechCrunch 5th birthday meetup along with TriplePoint client Social Gold and their neighbors at Twilio. They’ll have food drinks, games like TechCrunch Jeopardy, Powerpoint Karaoke & Halfbaked, and a conference call with other TechCrunch meetups from around the US.

This event is one of over 300 meetups taking place around the world in celebration of TechCrunch’s 5th anniversary, and we anticipate the San Francisco event will be one of the largest. We hope to see you there!

RSVP for the event here at Meetup.com

Last Thursday, we stopped by the Automattic Lounge at Pier 38 in San Francisco to hear a panel of venture capitalists and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs answer the question—are we blowing another bubble? Moderated by VentureBeat’s Owen Thomas, discussion began by asking how to spot signs of a bubble. Panelists included Paul Martino, chairman of Aggregate Knowledge; Christine Herron of First Round Capital; Corey Reese, CEO of Trumpet Technologies; and Tim Chang of Norwest Venture Partners.

Sign of a bubble:
• Big rush of capital into any particular market, whether or not market can absorb that capital
• More jobs or resumes floating around
• Look at valuation of jobs market: people getting lots of job offers versus a more challenging market
• Software developer who’s never done programming taking programming jobs
• Look for broadness of activities rather than deepness
• Grandma asking about tech stocks
• Cheese sommelier serving personally sliced fine cheese at corporate events (note: there was no cheese sommelier at the Automattic Lounge)

As part of the TriplePoint speaker series, we hosted a private luncheon with Mick Bobroff, Audit Partner at Ernst & Young LLP, in which he presented general observations and principals on the accounting policies applied by companies using free-to-play/virtual goods-based business models. Additionally, Bobroff provided an overview on the different models that have recently emerged for recognizing revenue on the sale of virtual goods.

Bobroff brings to the table over 13 years of experience specifically focused in software and internet media industries, including social networking. Over the past several years, as the social gaming industry has rapidly expanded, Bobroff formed Ernst & Young’s positioning on how revenue should be recognized on the sale of virtual goods. Additionally, they recently released a white paper that gives an in-depth overview of the firm’s views on revenue recognition, and the presentation that Bobroff gave during our luncheon provides a summary of this white paper.

This weekend over at Frisky Mongoose, I rambled off a lengthy list of reasons why people play social games, and I think its fair to say that Facebook game developers are doing a lot of things right.

Now can they change their click-only interfaces to feed players who are hungry for more?

People will click as many times as they need to make what they want out of a social game. But after all the shopping and buying of virtual items, sending gifts and helping neighbors, harvesting crops, feeding animals, cleaning and decorating…

Some Fun Facts:

• Los Angeles is comprised of 5 counties and 20 million residents – Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties.
• When founded in 1781, Los Angeles was originally known to its 44 residents as “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de la Porciuncula” (Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angeles of the Small Portion).
• Los Angeles receives an annual rainfall of only 15 inches (38 cm). This year, thanks to El Nino, LA has already received over 9 inches to date. Who says it never rains in Southern California!
• Its residents are often referred to as “Angelenos” (rhymes with casinos).
• Some common nicknames include L.A., City of Angels, Southland and Lalaland.
• The Los Angeles area is home to many well known digital lifestyle companies, including Activision, EA, THQ, Naughty Dog, Image Metrics, Hands-On, and many others.

TriplePoint has the unique opportunity to work with some of the best iPhone (and now iPad!) game developers out there. We’ve helped achieve success for a growing list of games – everything from classics like geoDefense and Real Racing to today’s number one paid app in the US App Store, ZombieSmash!

As a result, we receive a steady stream of inquiries from aspiring developers hoping to get our help launching their next great game. The companies coming to us for assistance are in all sorts of different market positions – one-man teams and expansive ones, microscopic budgets and gigantic ones. We’re ecstatic whenever we have the chance to serve a company with a great product and a great vision – but we do everything we can to help direct fledgling companies that may not have the budget to engage with a PR firm.

New Speakers and Panels Announced for the Digital Media Law Conference in San Francisco on April 29

The conference will commence with keynote speaker Mick Bobroff, partner in Ernst & Young’s Northern California Technology practice, examining revenue recognition models for the sale of virtual goods. Additionally, speakers will address a range of vital topics at the Digital Media Law Conference, such as protecting intellectual property, contract negotiation, digital music licensing and consumer privacy.

Featured panels throughout the afternoon will prepare business leaders for new challenges and developing legal concerns in the digital media space. The Digital Media Law Conference will be held on April 29, 2010 from 12:00pm until 6:30pm PDT at the Commonwealth Club.

In addition to virtual goods revenue recognition, speakers will address a range of vital topics at the Digital Media Law Conference, such as intellectual property, digital music licensing and consumer privacy. New speakers will join the following panel discussions: