Designer Genitals

By Tommy Leung on 04/11/2010 in Life

I just watched America the Beautiful and have much to say. However, one scene in the film was particular interesting. This woman brought a Playboy to a plastic surgeon from Dr. 90210 and complained how her vagina didn’t look like the ones in the magazine.

Basically, she wanted a “designer vagina“. I thought it was pretty ridiculous. Let’s forget that Playboy PhotoShops the pictures in their magazine, who wants to have identical body parts as someone else?

Outside from some catastrophic and unfortunate event that would actually justify plastic surgery because the alternative would be worse, why would any woman find the need to surgically alter their vagina?

Then I thought of all the penis enlargement ads. I guess designer vagina’s are the female equivalent of penis enlargement.

Audi works too

We don’t expect everyone to be the same. The idea is the same. We get it. When we get into a car, we know how to drive it. It doesn’t matter if its a BMW, Nissan, Volkswagen, Toyota, Kia, or Ford. It doesn’t even matter if its a sedan, coupe, or SUV.

Perhaps we haven’t driven this exact car but, we’ll figure it out just fine. We don’t need every car to be exactly the same.

So, here I am thinking how ridiculous the idea of designer vagina’s are but, I realize that I don’t think penis enlargement is as ridiculous. Logically, they are both equally ridiculous unless what you’re driving isn’t a car but, a Hot Wheel. If that is the case: less ridiculous and understandable.

For any lady that reads this, don’t do it. Don’t have any cosmetic “enhancements”. You don’t need bigger–or smaller–boobs or a tuck of any kind. You are just fine. Trust me. There’s always that one asshole who, apparently, only dates models. I’m pretty sure there’s more of those guys than actual models–so, someone is full of shit.

For the dudes, I believe the male enhancement business is quite large. Stop adding to it. I get it. It’s how we are. We want bigger biceps than the next guy. We want to bench more weight than him too. I know. We can show off our bigger biceps and higher bench weight at the gym. But, no one drops their pants at the gym–it’s bad manners. There’s more to it than being a 16 wheeler.

Look, worldwide average is between 3.8 and 6.3 in. Yes, it is quite the range but, you more than likely fall in there. If nothing else, an adult gorilla measures in at 1.5 in. He’s still strong as hell and will rip us in half with his bare hands but, we win in this department. So, Mrs. Gorilla, how you doin’?…maybe not.

Propaganda Presentation

By Tommy Leung on 03/31/2010 in Games

I recently did a presentation with a coworker at the IGDA NYC Demo Night for Propaganda Lander. Propaganda Lander is an upcoming iPhone game that I’ve been working on for several months. It is about 98% done, we are just missing a few things before we submit to the App Store for review.

At the IGDA NYC Demo Night, we shared our development experience working on the iPhone and making an independently funded title. I’m not sure if it was recorded but, I have written a blog post at SMASHWORX detailing much of the same things we shared in our presentation.

So here it is:

We made our Propaganda Lander presentation at the IGDA NYC Demo Night on March 29th. Jess and I had a great time doing it and thoroughly enjoyed the conversations we had with other developers afterwards. So, for anyone who missed it or fell asleep during our presentation–I’m sure at least parts were boring–we are going to recap it here. In fact, we might offer a little more information than we were able to present in 15 minutes.

We kicked off the presentation with this trailer and then went into a little Propaganda Lander history.

Continued at SMASHWORX

Right In Front of You

By Tommy Leung on 03/26/2010 in Life

I went to the gym tonight like most Tuesday nights. I’ve been to this gym for a while and have become accustomed to their layout. Gyms don’t often rearrange equipment; it’s heavy.

The gym had recently bought some new equipment so they had to rearrange some things to make room. There is a weight rack that holds 2.5lb plates. On nights that I feel extra strong and decide to push myself more, I add two 2.5lb plates and go another set or two–slow and steady.

I turned towards where this weight rack has been situated for months at the end of the room and it wasn’t there. I quickly scanned to the left and to the right; wasn’t there. I looked behind me. Not there either.

Now, did I really look in a different place? Is looking to the left, right, and behind me really looking somewhere I wasn’t already looking? Or was I just looking at a slightly different spot in the same place?

If we were on a sinking ship and just walked to the other side of the ship where we can’t see the leak, is the ship now not sinking? No.

We always seem to be looking for something and we just can’t seem to find it. Maybe we can’t find that solution, that great idea, that special someone, that perfect someone, that great job, the great life, or whatever because we are just looking at a different deck board on the same sinking ship.

So where do we look? A Canadian pop star did say it was right in front of you all along. Well, maybe it is right in front of you.

There I was at the gym, trying to find this weight rack. I realized it made no sense that anyone would move all that weight very far. I turned back towards where it used to be situated. This time, I saw it. It was four feet in front of me.

It was right in front of me.

Most Notable Game Developers Conference Announcements

By Tommy Leung on 03/16/2010 in Games

3 Most Notable Announcements at GDC 2010

GDC is the annual Game Developers Conference that usually takes place in San Fransisco. Each year, thousands of game developers–large and small–attend the show to learn, see new things, and network. Some companies

take this time to make big announcements and show off new games. Rarely does a GDC come and go without notable announcements that will shape the rest of the year for games and this was not a rare year.

As a fan of games and a game developer, here are the announcements that were most notable at GDC 2010.

Playstation Move

Sony had originally shown off their answer to Nintendo’s Wii at E3 2009. At GDC 2010, they announced an official name, relative price point, and a release window. Sony’s motion controller has been named the Playstation Move. It will be under $100 and scheduled for release this Fall. Microsoft’s answer to motion gaming–Project Natal–is also scheduled to be released during the same window.

In all of this, Nintendo of America’s President and Chief Operating Officier, Reggie Fils-Aime, used the word “embarrassed” to describe what Sony and Microsoft are doing. Competition in the games industry is as tough as ever.

The Playstation Move uses the existing Playstation Eye camera with a wand-like controller–similar to the Wii–to detect and translate a player’s motion into a game. The Playstation Move is much more accurate than the Wii remote and should allow for interesting new game play mechanics originally dreamed up by the Wii like 1 to 1 sword control–or light sabers, whichever.

Continued at Associated Content

Pricing iPhone Games

By Tommy Leung on 03/14/2010 in Games, Marketing

The average price of an iPhone game is less than $1.50. That buys very few things these days. You can’t get a cup of Starbucks coffee for $1.50. The iTunes Store culture is one of low prices. This precedent was set by Apple’s own pricing of music at $.99 a song. This is the price most App Store customers are accustomed to.

This might make sense for music where a CD traditionally cost $15 – $20 so the average price per song is about $.99. Take away the cost of producing CD’s, cases, and the label’s cut and the artist is probably better off. Games have traditionally had double digit prices depending on it’s platform and scale. PopCap sells Plants vs Zombies as a PC downloadable for $19.95. The same game on the App Store is $2.99.

When Super Monkey Ball was released on the iPhone, it came with a $9.99 price tag. It is now $3.99 and the price range for high quality premium games have settled to around $6.

While the low expected price of games on the App Store is a problem for game developers, there is little good in complaining about it. The initial rush to iPhone game development was spearheaded by hobbyists and small game companies that had low costs and seemingly infinite upside. Almost any game could have succeeded by just being available on the App Store. Times have changed and the pricing strategies have to change with it.

The $.99 price point is not going to work for 99% of game developers. The quality bar has been raised so high that it is impossible to break even at $.99. Losing money on every game you make is the fastest way to no longer be in the business of making games. The App Store is not exempt from traditional pricing strategies.

Virtually every pricing strategy that has ever been developed in marketing apply to the App Store as they do to the sale of all products and services.

Competitive Pricing

The simplest and most logical pricing strategy is competitive pricing. This means you are going to set a price similar to or exactly the same as competitors in the market. This has been the predominant strategy applied across the board in the App Store.

Smart marketers who use this strategy don’t apply it across the industry. You will notice that not every beer is priced the same or every shampoo, detergent, orange juice, deodorant, etc. This is because each product is not the same. There are some products that are virtually identical and in those cases, you either need to differentiate or you match prices. Generally speaking, when a customer has to choose from two identical products, price is going to be the determining factor.

Cost/Economy Pricing

Cost pricing is coming up with a price based on your cost to produce plus a suitable mark up. This is a strategy that generally ignores the prices set by competitors in the market and is derived solely based on the company’s cost structure and goals. If each product costs $5 to make and you want a $2 profit on each sale, you would set a price of $7.

Loss Leader

A loss leader is a product that sells at a loss to spur customers to buy other higher priced items. This is usually done to bring customers to a store hoping they will also buy other things. Big chain stores do this often in their circulars and usually only have a limited amount of the advertised product.

Penetration Pricing

Penetration pricing is usually used to break into a new market or gain market share. Prices are set lower to attract customers and then raised later once significant market share has been gained. This happens a lot in cable TV where companies offer a low price for 6 months and then changes to the regular price thereafter.

Premium Pricing

This is the general pricing strategy for high end luxury items. This is also the most desirable pricing strategy as it has the highest profit potential. It is also the hardest to achieve because the product needs to be seen as highly unique in the eyes of the consumers. This also happens to be the traditional pricing strategy for Apple. Their products are built with a unique design and experience that can command generally higher prices.

Price Skimming

Price skimming is the act of releasing a product at a relatively high price where only a small percent of the market is willing to afford it. This is usually because it is the only product of its kind at the time and competitors have not yet entered the market. Once more competitors offer the same or similar product, prices start to come down. This is the general pricing strategy in technology and electronic products like flat screen televisions.

Determining Price

There are literally tons of other pricing strategies and hybrids of each other. These are the basics for a general understanding of pricing. The best pricing strategy for the App Store is going to depend on the company and the products. EA’s pricing strategy is not going to be the same as a five man game company.

It would be safe to say that you do not want to price at $.99 as there is no where left to go after that and as more premium titles are released, $.99 is going to come to mean low quality. When you don’t know much about two similar products, the higher priced one is assumed to be the better one.

A pricing strategy should fit within an overall marketing strategy. It is impossible to come up with a good pricing strategy without knowing what the marketing goals are. Prices that are too high or too low can derail an entire marketing plan from achieving business objectives. Poor pricing can also make or break a business.

Luckily, in the App Store, prices can be easily and quickly changed. A poor price may not be terminal but, there are still lost profits at stake.

Know your product, marketing objectives, and then determine a price.

Hanging In There

By Tommy Leung on 03/05/2010 in Life

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Often times, the difference between success and failure can be five minutes or just 5 seconds. You were right there! You just called it quits too soon.

Sometimes, victory isn’t about beating your opponent. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of outlasting them.

So hang in there. You won’t fail until you decide to. Failure is in your control.

You can give up at any time. There’s no need to rush into it. Hang in there a little longer; the results may surprise you.

3 Principles for Successful Facebook Games

By Tommy Leung on 01/31/2010 in Games

Excerpted from an exclusive article I wrote for Associated Content:

Online social networks changed the world. King of thee networks is Facebook. Facebook’s user base is greater than the population of the United States and they have overtaken MySpace in popularity. Entire companies have been built on top of Facebook’s platform. Facebook changed the world in the last decade.

The popularity of Facebook Applications has spawned a ton of games that currently flood our Live Feeds. Few days pass without a mention of a quiz result or a lost brown cow. The early days of Facebook Applications allowed for successes like Vampires and Werewolves. Those were Neanderthal apps. Apps can no longer become successful by being incredibly annoying.

The Facebook audience has evolved.

Facebook Applications are only going to get more complex as features become standard. People expect to see their friend’s high scores and how they rank. They expect to be able to interact with their friends. Zynga’s model has become the standard for what a Facebook game can do.

This makes success for new apps more difficult. A couple of guys in their spare time can’t make a game on the scale of FarmVille. Zynga and other large social network game giants can only be defeated at their own game by each other. The little guys trying to break in will need to find a road less traveled.

Continued at Associated Content