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** This article appears in the November issue of PLAYED, our monthly gaming newsletter. Download the entire issue here. **

If the gamers on your holiday shopping list are anything like us, chances are they’ve already bought every “most wanted” title on their lists (including Criterion’s ). But that doesn’t mean you need to resort to the giving of traditional gifts like socks, sweaters, or fruit cake. Thankfully for you (and your gamer) we’ve put together our annual gift guide for the gaming-inclined with ideas picked straight from our own 2012 holiday wishlists.

Despite how poorly our teams may have performed, we at Denuo have always thought that fantasy sports stand out as one of the best examples of utilizing game mechanics to drive consumer behavior…also known as gamification.

When you boil it down to the most basic level, fantasy sports leverage mundane statistics from the real world games to create consistent engagement with all potential sport fans. The mechanics operate in such a way that participants remain invested in the coverage of the games throughout the entire season no matter their team allegiance. The numbers suggest it is working given over 32 million players in the US and Canada (of interesting note 20% are women).

As with all good case studies, there are lessons that can be observed and hopefully applied by those of us looking to execute an experience with gamification. The following themes bubbled up once I stopped licking my wounds of once again underperforming in my own fantasy leagues.

Hopefully we caught you before we all head out to feast on some deliciousness and spend some much-needed time with friends and family. Though the holiday cheer is coming on full-force, we haven’t forgotten the task at hand by giving you the latest and greatest in gaming.

We start the holidays off right with a gaming gift guide…though not which videogames we need to play, but instead, gadgets and gizmos that make our holiday wish list. But we didn’t just make a list to send our friends and family (ahem), we also dive into the paradigm of mobile apps and games – how long does it take for you to realize you have games that you’ve played a whole 2-3 times before you’ve moved on? We feel you.

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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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