The Spinning Beachball In My Brain

When Microsoft announced plans to bring the TV game show “1 vs. 100” to the gaming space two years ago, a lot of people rolled their eyes and groaned a little bit. Not me. I thought it was one of the company’s most interesting announcements of that particular E3.  

The game was the centerpiece of an experiment called Xbox Live Primetime - a scheduled series of interactive games that represented the video game industry’s first serious foray into the turf dominated by TV. It was a hit, even setting a Guinness World Record for the most simultaneous contestants in a game show – 114,000. Now it’s dead.

After two seasons of the show, Microsoft has decided not to bring it back for a third.

“When we started on this journey, we knew we were creating an entirely new genre of entertainment that would be a continually evolving concept,” said Dave McCarthy, general manager of Microsoft Game Studios in a statement. “We’re very proud of the 1 vs 100 team and their accomplishments, and are excited to apply what we’ve learned to future programming.”

The concept was a unique one in the gaming industry. Rather than competing solely against Sony’s PlayStation or Nintendo’s Wii for gamer attentions, “1 vs. 100” aimed right at the heart of the networks, with scheduled live programming during prime viewing hours.

The game, which was modeled after the NBC series, aired two live two-hour episodes each week – where people played for real-world prizes, ranging from credits to download other content to cars. (30-minute ‘extended play’ sessions, which were formatted differently and meant as practice rounds for players aired at other times throughout the week.)

Sprint and Honda were among the show’s sponsors. And while in-game ads have always been controversial, they actually seemed to work here.

Microsoft partnered with Nielsen during the show’s second season to learn more about players and their ad-viewing habits.

Gaming, they learned, has a ‘prime time’ just like TV. Playtime is at a peak from 7-11pm. And 18-34 year olds made up 55 percent of the player base. Among Nielsen households, the ratings service found that 20-25 percent of the trackers were using their Xbox 360 instead of watching television during prime time.

As for those ads, they were pretty darned effective: “1 vs. 100” players averaged game times of more than 70 minutes. And they weren’t abandoning the game when the ads played (after every 10 questions).

Here’s hoping Microsoft doesn’t abandon the Xbox Live Primetime format with the cancellation of “1 vs. 100”. It was a revolutionary concept that could have taken gaming to the next level – and it’s one that consumers were apparently embracing.

Technology and investment group HackFwd describes what it's like to work with them in a flowchart. In a nutshell: start with inspiration, work hard, impress people, work hard, and reap the rewards. And then start all over again.

Microsoft has always led the video game pack when it comes to online integration of its console services. But it recently turned a particularly impressive corner.  

For the year ending June 30, sales of online products, such as movies, TV shows and downloadable game levels, were higher than revenue generated by subscription fees. Together, the company estimates that revenue for the Xbox Live service topped $1 billion.

Approximately 25 million people subscribe to the “gold” (or paying) level of Xbox Live, bringing in revenues of roughly $600 million. A new Bloomberg report suggests the business generated over $1.2 billion in sales last year – and Xbox chief operating officer Dennis Durkin confirmed to the service that product sales led the way.

Assuming the numbers are right, that’s a better than 35 percent improvement over the previous year – and it solidifies Microsoft’s place in the industry. (Sony, which for years, publicly ridiculed Microsoft for asking customers to pay $50 per year for the service, recently launched its own pay service.) 

The dream is real. We're down to the last few weeks before Chris Nolan's Inception hits theaters and jump starts the summer movie season. I suggest you don't watch any more footage from the movie so that you can experience it in the best way possible. Peter of SlashFilm showed me these awesome building-sized ads for Inception found in New York City that I have to show you guys. One of them (via Tumblr) has water flowing out windows to make it look like a dream. The other one (via Twitter) also plays with reality by bending back the entire wall of the building. Absolutely brilliant marketing for a brilliant movie that certainly deserves it.

I just love seeing marketing that actually integrates the concept of the movie into the design and I also love that they're not using floating heads to sell it. Every bit of marketing we've seen for this has been top-notch!

These photos aren't the greatest quality, but that's all I can find online right now. If you also live in NY and can snap a better photo or seen any better shots of these ads, please let us know so we can update the post! If you haven't seen them, watch the first teaser trailer and second teaser trailer for Inception at those links as well as the theatrical trailer. We have a few Inception interviews that'll be hitting in the next few weeks.

Inception is both written and directed by acclaimed Oscar nominated British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, of Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight. Nolan wrote the screenplays for Memento, Batman Begins (with David Goyer), The Prestige & The Dark Knight (both with Jonathan Nolan). Warner Bros is bringing Inception to theaters starting on July 16th this summer. Only a few weeks are left!

Discover More: Cool Stuff, Hype, Photos