Month: December 2011

A Fireside Chat with Jack Buser, Director of PlayStation Home

I recently interviewed my good friend Jack Buser on my weekly online radio show.  Jack Buser is the Director of PlayStation Home, which is a 3D virtual world and social game platform on the PS3.  Home recently underwent a major redesign, and we were eager to hear about the new benefits and features.  Jack is also responsible for driving business initiatives and activities for the 3D community-based social gaming platform, overall and was previously the Director of Worldwide Technology Evangelism at Dolby Labs, so he has a keen understanding of the impact of tech on real-world applications, like gaming and entertainment.

PlayStation Home is filled with hundreds of games – everything from pool tables and dart boards to full-on space shooters like Novus Prime: Escalation and massive online racing games like Sodium 2: Project Velocity. With Jack Buser at the helm, Home is leading the virtual world in community based user experiences, and doing an amazing job of it!

Jack started his career as the “Tech Evangelist” for Dolby, a role that launched him as a leading voice in the worlds of tech and entertainment.  I asked him about that time in his life and his contributions to Dolby, the industry giant in sound technology.

Kelli:  Jack, talk to me a little bit about your work at Dolby – what did you feel your biggest achievement was as a Tech Evangelist there, and how has that work and that role carried over into your work at Sony?

Jack Buser:  Sure, well Dolby is a fantastic company.  I spent almost ten years there.  We did a variety of different things, from deploying Dolby sound for games to the point where now it’s very hard to buy a game that’s not supporting full-on Dolby surround sound… We also worked on online delivery of movie content, making sure that even though you’re just streaming a movie over the internet that you’re still getting that full theater experience.  And all three of these experiences are implemented in the best possible way in the PlayStation3.  It’s one of the big reasons I was so excited to come work here at Sony Playstation – because we have such a powerful console with the PS3. … You can actually watch movies through Netflix and Hudu and our own movie service in full-on Dolby surround sound.   And of course, surround sound in games… I mean, games on PlayStation3 are second to none, full high definition graphics and full on 7.1 surround sound.  I mean, we’re talking about the best of the best experience…

Kelli:  So you really went from the best company, in its niche and moved on to the best company in its unique niche.  You actually became something of a human bridge, unifying those two worlds in a sense…

Kelli:  Jack, we’re seeing some amazing collaborations in tech and gaming lately. I don’t know if you know this, but the artist Thomas Dolby literally introduced new music to his fans through a game called “The Floating City” a few months ago. Jack, do you see this marriage between gaming and other content producers – like musicians, for instance, being one of the next big things in gaming?

Jack Buser:  One of the most exciting things we’ve been doing with music lately is actually releasing music in the form of virtual items inside of virtual Home.  This is a whole new way of actually deploying music content.  Specifically, PlayStation Home users tend to be the most voracious consumers of media on the PlayStation3 Platform – and trust me, PlayStation3 owners are already a very self-selected group of folks that love their media.  And we’ve actually been releasing music specifically in the form of a virtual item – specifically in the form of boom box or a sound system or a radio – and you can actually take these boom boxes or radios and put them in your own personal space and have your own parties. The first one we ever actually released was in collaboration with an artist named 8 Bip Weapon, who is a chip tunes artist. For your listeners who don’t know chip tunes, it’s basically music made with very old gaming consoles.  … He became an overnight celebrity on PlayStation Home, as people bought his boom box, in the shape of an old school arcade game with huge speakers on it, just cranking up these awesome chip tunes….

Kelli:  I wonder how that translated into the real world in terms of sales.

Jack Buser:  I’ll tell you this, when you deploy inside a platform like PlayStation Home, you’re talking about deploying to a global audience of over 20 million users.  So there are very few platforms as effective at getting your name out there and getting you exposed to a large number of folks…

Kelli:  Of course, no secret here.  You and I have talked for years now about integrating music into more of the gaming experience….

Jack Buser:  And you’re seeing it in new ways.  It’s becoming much more flexible. In the early days of game audio, it was basically licensing your tracks into game soundtracks, but now there are so many different options, due to all these social platforms and all these new delivery mechanisms.  You know PlayStation Music Network even has an actual music service built in. I mean the opportunities are numerous on game platforms.

Kelli:  The other thing about audio and music that’s changed is that it used to be an afterthought.  You know, I was like, “Uh oh, wait, we need some music in there before we ship it.”  Now with the example we just used around what Thomas Dolby is doing, building his music AROUND the game, we’re seeing tighter integration and more forethought about it – as a strategy ahead of time.

Jack Buser:  Oh absolutely.  Music is so critical to the game experience today.  So many music tracks have just broke as a part of just being part of a hit game.  One of the things we’re also seeing in Home that’s super exciting is live concerts.  Where actually artists can perform LIVE, inside of PlayStation Home. You can actually see your favorite artists inside the world, live, playing your favorite song… the possibilities are almost endless. 

You can hear the entire interview series on her website at https://AllAccessRadio.com – just go to Resources and choose Podcast.

Kelli Richards
CEO
The All Access Group, LLC

Related Reading:  12 Surprising Health Benefits of Playing Video Games

 

 

 

Fankix: The New Wave in Social Entertainment

Fankix delivers music to fans around the world with a unique social experience, deeper interaction with musicians and first-rate authentic content at no cost.

They provide artists with a new promotional platform, increased engagement with fans and a new way to be discovered through social networks. Fankix also provides an innovative and more effective way to engage with consumers than TV commercials, banner ads and Internet video pre-roll. In the ever-changing world of digital, Fankix is the biggest stage in the world.

Most recently, Fankix is bringing Lena Katina, formally form the Russian Duo “t.A.T.u” to their online stage. Fankix is inviting FANS from all around the world to dance, chat, and have the best time of their lives with their friends – all during the LIVE show.

Lena Katina will be performing exclusive, never before heard songs from her upcoming solo album.  The show will be December 13th, 2011. For more information, show times and to get free tickets, visit www.FanKix.com.

Don’t forget to “Like” Fankix on their Facebook Fan page for updates and upcoming shows. https://www.facebook.com/FanKix

 

Kelli Richards
CEO
The All Access Group, LLC

 

Cool or Not Cool? Bandzoogle and it’s Cool Connection to Direct-to-Fan

I recently interviewed Dave Cool, the “voice” of Bandzoogle. Dave Cool writes the Bandzoogles’ blog, well known for inspiring and supporting Bandzoogle’s #1 mission: To make Direct-to-Fan a very real accomplishment for artists and bands everywhere.

Dave Cool is perhaps best known for having directed and produced the documentary film “What is INDIE? A look into the World of Independent Musicians” which documented the experience of being an independent artist in the music industry. That movie actually became it’s own testament about the power of Direct-to-Fan, creating a huge movement around indie music and the process that independent musicians go through around today’s new tech and the seemingly endless opportunities.

The film featured several leading experts in the music industry, including Derek Sivers (CD Baby) and Panos Panay (Sonicbids), as well as with 20 independent artists. Without any background in film and funded entirely on his own, Dave Cool took the film from a small do-it-yourself project and turned it into an indie success story in its own right, with the film screening all over the world and being mentioned on CNN.com and in Newsweek Magazine.

A big inspiration in the world of musicians and bands, Dave inspires artists to keep control of their content on as many levels as possible and to maximize their fan outreach and merchandising.  If you are a musician breaking out in today’s world, this is a must. In the end, however, one thing Cool makes infinitely clear, is that it’s still about doing great work.

Bandzoogle is a web-based platform for artists and bands, allowing them to create a dot.com website – something bands MUST have, especially in the world of ever-changing social media.  If a band puts their energies into MySpace, for instance, well… we all know what happened there.  So a Facebook page is great, but a dot.com is still a necessity, and Bandzoogle is the leader in making this accessible and easy – ”Easy enough for even the drummer to do,” jokes Dave Cool during our interview.

He also spoke quite a bit about social media NOT being a one-size-fits-all – and perhaps not being a good fit for some artists at all.  (Sacrilege right?)
You can hear this interview in its entirety at https://bit.ly/DaveCool and you can get a complimentary digital copy of “What is INDIE?” when you sign up for Dave’s mailing list at: https://bit.ly/hs4uk6

 

Kelli Richards
CEO
The All Access Group, LLC


 

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