The article is about emoticons, not EMOTICONS ^TM, but is still interesting ;-). Alex Williams wrote the article in the Sunday NYT Fashion and Style section.  It was about the history, and cultural status of emoticons.  The gist is that the use of emoticons is now mainstream, mass-market; used by young and old in both casual and business emails and IMs.  Hmm, I bet they would make a terrific theme for a game! :-P

LINK: Sunday July 29th 2007 NYT Article about Emoticons

How do you get to Benaroya Hall?   

Practice.

 Ba dum dum!  I look forward to seeing everyone going up to Seattle for Casual Connect next week (July 17-19).  iQ212 will be there lining up online distribution for our two titles launching soon.  We also have several new, fun, mass-market, original games in the works for 2008.  Please give me shout up there and let’s catch up.  -Rick.

In the few past years, several “industry experts” have declared both the TV sitcom and the Match-3 puzzle game, “dead”.  True enough, both formats have seen better times (as in #1) as far as ratings and critical acclaim.  Friends and Bejeweled are so 2003!  What else do these two different forms of mass-market entertainment have in common?

Both get cloned.  Call it “ripping-off”, or just riding the wave of public demand, both sitcoms and puzzle games spawn copy cats.  Suburban families, falling gems, urban hipsters, or nothing, results in a slew of similar shows/games.  Just as several UK shows enjoyed greater success when re-envisioned as US shows, several Japanese console games have been reinvented in the US to lead the casual game market.  Sometimes an imported premise results in something great (All in the Family), but even then that show spawned six spinoffs!  For my money (and Popcap’s!), there is nothing wrong with taking a clever premise and making something better and more marketable out of it. 

Popular culture is cyclical, and both sitcoms and games are subject to the whims of the entertainment tides.  Too often, though, entertainment industry executives tire of a format, genre, or game mechanic, and then insist on changing gears and chasing a fad.  When Idol is hot, every studio wants more talent shows; when medical dramas are the craze, dozens of hospital shows are greenlit.  What stays constant is the mass-market’s demand to be entertained by GOOD programs.  Just because the industry insider is tired of the same ol’ pitches, does not mean that the public is done consuming them. 

It’s like the tortoise and the hare.  Shows like Ozzie and Harriet, or The Simpsons settled into long runs.  Similarly, Bejeweled was not a smash hit for being number one once, but for being in the top twenty for five years.  Today, in a publishing market that is cool to Match-3 games, they still sell very well with the public (as PC downloads they ranked third behind Click Management and Hidden Object, but ahead of everything else by a wide margin.)

The Sitcom, and Match-3 games, also share similar benefits (some are benefits to the publisher, others are benefits to the player).
• Affordable to produce – sitcoms have one set, match-3 has one screen of assets
• Shallow learning curve – you can play any match-3 just as you can laugh at any pratfall.
• Lack of Complexity – both are done in a sitting, and can be picked up again anytime without missing a beat.
• Limited attention span – you can do other tasks while simultaneously enjoying them.
• Approachable – the themes and interactions of both play well to the broadest audiences.
• Localizable – they can easily be repackaged and enjoyed around the world.
• Multiple formats – this is the cincher.  Just as sitcoms translate well to additional revenue streams like web, DVD, airline viewing, iPods, syndication, etc., so do Match-3 games easily port.  In fact, a Match-3 game can more than double its revenue on mobile alone.  That leaves iPod, console, arcade, set-top-box and other revenue opportunities as gravy.  Aveyond and Dream Day Wedding don’t port as well and will miss those opportunities.

Critics and experts may get bored with things as they become popular, but the mass-market always knows what it wants.  Next time you watch The Office on your iPod or catch a new Simpsons on Sunday, consider that you can also play Bejeweled on your iPod or find a fresh Match-3 game online.  Sitcoms and Match-3 games are staples of popular entertainment and will be with us and evolving for decades to come.  Match-3 games are not “played out” to the audience, and more importantly, they are fresh and approachable to the 95% of the world who has not yet discovered “casual games”.