The Entrepreneurial Guide to Entertainment
with Sandy McKee
I’m a late-adapter when it comes to technology. Seriously, I didn’t get a DVD player until a couple of years ago; and, to this day I don’t know which remote to use to start a movie. I have to call one of the kids. What I do is let my friends buy the latest gadgets, and I listen to their comments and complaints. I read the online forums and pay close attention to the fixes, updates, and upgrades as they become available. Then, if it looks like the technology is going to stick around, then I may take a leap of faith and actually buy it. Maybe.
So, no, I don’t yet have an iPhone or a Wii. However, that may be about to change for one very important reason: GAMES.
I am an avid casual gamer and have been since I was old enough to hold a card in my hand and say, “Go Fish!” To me, games are more than just entertainment----they are learning opportunities, as well as a means for strengthening relationships. (Yes, there is a dark side: isolation, gaming addictions, etc.; but, someone else can write that column---not me.)
I’m primarily a PC gamer and I’ll write a future article about the life and business lessons one can learn from my favorite PC games. I have a twelve-point essay in the works on Gazillionaire (published by www.lavamind.com) alone. Not to be missed, so stay tuned over the coming months.
But, as much as I love my PC games, I am being lured towards the Wii and the iPhone by innovative, creative, and sometimes quirky game developers who know as well as I that having fun is serious business.
Let’s start with the Wii. The company that got me to rewrite my letter to Santa and ask for a Wii is MASTIFF GAMES. They had me within a nanosecond of logging onto their website: http://www.mastiff-games.com.
The must-have Mastiff game for me is the REMINGTON® GREAT AMERICAN BIRD HUNT. I love to shoot; but, I don’t actually like to kill anything. Since I won’t go bird hunting for real, this game will let me go on a virtual hunt and get the Annie Oakley urges out of my system without hurting any critters. The game features more than 60 levels and you can win 50 trophies, awards, and power-up items. There’s even Hunting Party Mode where you can form up to a four-person hunting party. You know a game is fun when it’s rated T (Teens) for “comic mischief.”
Mastiff also publishes SHIMANO® XTREME FISHING, which is amazing in the range of fishing experiences that it encompasses. You can choose from rod and reel, spear gun, bow fishing, and more in interesting and exotic locales. Catch over 50 varieties of fish, and deal with sharks, alligators, and piranha. There is also a multi-player mode and 12 tournaments and 65+ stages. Again, I can get my fishing fix without having to wake up at 3:00 a.m. and touching icky bait.
Mastiff has several other interesting titles and I encourage you to visit their website and check them out. According to Bill Swartz, the Head Woof at Mastiff (that title cracks me up every time), they have “always tried to maintain a balance between casual titles like Top Gun, Remington Great American Bird Hunt, Shimano Xtreme Fishing, and Deer Drive on the one hand and harder-core fare like Moon (an awesome game, by the way). In either case we use the same metric: produce games that will exceed the expectations of the target audience.”
I asked Bill how the name Mastiff Games came about. He said, “Two of the three people I started Mastiff with love dogs. I wanted a name that was a proper noun so it could be turned into a logo. And Mastiffs are big, strong, friendly fellows who grow up fast. And, of course, the titles (Head Woof, Numbers Woof, Production Woof, Production Pup, and so on) are an outgrowth of the name. It’s a little silly and probably wouldn’t work in a big organization (how do you translate associate treasurer into dog terms? Assistant Money Guard Woof?); but, it suits us fine.”
Please check them out at: http://www.mastiff-games.com.
As for the iPhone, four companies can claim responsibility for edging me in that direction:
a. BINARY DAWN INTERACTIVE with their mobile game THROUGH TO IOTA. The premise and mission are deceptively simple: shoot the stones into the goals. It’s a mix between pool and curling; and, with 50 levels and four types of stones, I suspect it’s not as easy as it seems. This wins my award for Most Likely to Get Me Addicted (in a good way). Check it out at http://www.binarydawn.com.
b. PRESSOK ENTERTAINMENT with their variety of game genres from old-school GIN RUMMY to new-school AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL, wherein they ask “Do you have what it takes to be on top of the modeling world?” One look in my closet will tell you I haven’t a prayer of winning that one. However, the game I have my eye on is BETTIE BARISTA. Yep, love my coffee as much as I love my games. It can’t get much better than the subgenre coffee-time management-tycoon. See what I mean at http://www.pressokentertainment.com.
c. HALF FAST GAMES with their popular word game WOXEL and with (this really is the title) BEE’Z NUTS. I can’t even explain that, but it doesn’t matter; because the one that is making me take the grocery money to buy an iPhone is….wait for it….PIN THE DONKEY. Why, you ask? Because, as the company states, “not every game needs to be as serious as Bee'z Nuts!” This one you have to see for yourself: http://www.halffastgames.com.
d. MOBILE DELUXE which has one of my favorite PC games, CHOCOLATIER (naturally); and, which is launching an exciting new game SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE GAME IS AFOOT. As a Sherlock Holmes fanatic, I am really looking forward to this one. In fact, I feel another twelve-point essay brewing in my brain. Check out Mobile Deluxe at http://www.mobiledeluxe.com. If you’re as serious about casual gaming as I am, you’ll understand why these are all must-have titles in my peculiar (though I prefer the term “eccentric”) universe. You’ll get why I must break down and buy an iPhone and a Wii----I mean, duh, how else can I play these games? And, when we add it all up, you’ll understand why I’ll also have to break down and get a real job (to pay for it all). HEY, game developers! Any of you hiring? Picture me holding a sign: Will Work for Games. Seriously.For more information, please visit Sandy's TNNW Bio.
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