Denuo - denuology.com

The new year rings in a whole new set of trends and topics covered in this month’s prediction-themed issue of PLAYED. This month, we make some predictions and offer insight into what to watch for as the year moves on. 2010 is already prime for some big releases, all hoping to dethrone Modern Warfare 2 as the biggest game of all time. With past success stories in mind, we look into what titles could capture mainstream attention and how they plan on doing it. Also, we explore why this year could, indeed, be the Year of Mobile (again), as well as how gaming consoles will change from just another box under the television to full-service, multimedia devices that control your living room. Finally, we cover the shifting of game design towards mass collaboration, with teams uniting online to bring new and interesting experiences to gamers everywhere.

The state of modern technology can be summed up by the TV in my hotel room. It was a 50″ flatscreen LCD, mounted beautifully into a wooden console, but displaying a blocky, stretched standard definition signal. Despite the investment made into purchasing these top-tier TVs, the hotel wasn’t using them to their full, high-definition potential. At CES, one could walk through miles of glistening technology, showcasing 3D images, immersive soundscapes, and internet-enabled everything, but to what purpose? Are consumers so over HDTV that they need a third-dimension? Is the world ready for an internet-enabled alarm clock? If the SD broadcast of ESPN greeting me every morning was any indication, the answer might be no.

Not to say that consumers are outright rejecting technological advancement, they’re just not seeing the benefits of such things in their everyday lives. That said, the marketing implications below are less about the gear and more about how marketers could utilize this tech to engage consumers in whole new ways. Through devices like eReaders, services like online storefronts, and the convergence of digital services into the living room, marketers are going to have a lot of opportunity to do groundbreaking work and, perhaps, change consumer perception about these technological breakthroughs. Then, maybe, I can get an HD signal in my hotel room for CES 2011.

I have a box full of mail at home. I don’t mean a shoe box or anything in the “small” vicinity – this box could hold a microwave. It’s full because I hate mail. Only a tiny fraction of what I get is actually necessary. Seinfeld’s Kramer shares my sentiments in Episode 161, where he returns Pottery Barn catalogs to the store, fills his mailbox with bricks, and tries to eliminate his mailing address all together.

This week, Denuo will brave the desert climes of Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, taking in all the new technology, trends, and Avatar-based 3D innovation our eyes can handle. We’ll be on the showfloor, of course, going glassy-eyed at all the cool new tech, but we’ll also be representing at the various panels taking place tomorrow and Thursday.

There aren’t a ton of things I agree with Craig Newmark about (which may be why I was once hustled on Craigslist), but one of them is that people are inherently good. So, I’ll have to disclaim that point of potential naiveté before I pitch you all the following idea. Especially because it involves people staying “good” as they make decisions about personal profit.