Must Play

Marty Note On End of Cash
Yeah this post from Harper Reed, Head of Commerce at Braintree is a must read for e-commerce merchants and game creators. We are sharing the post on Contests and Games Revolution because video game developers forget they are connected to the death of cash too.

The death of cash means those who create alternative and fully owned currencies such as Audibles credits or PayPal's ability to give you your own money will thrive in the mobile payment world ahead as this must read post shares.

As businesses look to finalize their workforce management strategies for the coming year, here are the top 7 issues you'll need to consider for 2015.

Marty Note
My favorite trend is the CIO/CMO evolution. Love this paragraph:

The CIO/CMO Relationship Continues to Evolve

Through 2015 and beyond, John Reed, Executive Director for Robert Half Technology, says there will be increased collaboration between business' IT and marketing departments. While this collaboration is already happening, the extent of collaboration will only increase in 2015 as businesses work to stay relevant and competitive, says Reed. And that increased collaboration will result in an increased demand for talent, such as the role of digital information officer, that holds both soft and technical skills and can interface with both departments, he says.

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Let's hope this evolution continues along the lines outlined here as the line between Chief Marketing Officers and Chief Information Officers continues to fade.

In this week's podcast, we chat with IDG Ventures partner PHil Sanderson about the game industry, where the growth is, and why so many VCs are reluctant to invest in game companies.

Marty Note
Fascinating and new to me that VC don't like video games. Fascinating because the longer I market stuff on the web the more it feels like video games are the core ideas that make everything go in a social/mobile/connected time.

See my riff on Time Is Money Online on G+ for more thoughts on why video games should influence your web marketing:
https://plus.google.com/+MartinWSmith/posts/RdjAjWoJTHw

Virtual Reality - So which technology do we look to, which will allow us this needed increase in reactive response? Two words: virtual reality.

Via Peter Azzopardi

Some data from a recent Game Developers Conference State of the Industry survey has got me thinking about trends in self-publishing.

Mobile Taking Over World
No we are not in the middle of a zombie attack. We are in the middle of smart phones and mobile taking over the world. Proof enough is a sector SLOW to attract investment capital is now a darling.

I just received an iPhone 6 and love it. It is easier for fat fingers to type on, the screen is liquid gold and the sound is full of soul, sorrow and truth. The KEY is to NOT think of the phone as a phone.

The smart phone is a game console. The second key is to realize finding ways to make your content, website and marketing relevant to a gamified world where everyone has a game console and are just waiting to be told (eager to be told) what and how to do something with it.

The camera in our phones is a good example. At first NO ONE CARED. Now we take pictures of our food before we eat and "selfies" have their own TV show. When the tech is there a combination of startup entrepreneurs and intrepid early adopters blaze trails into the forest of our future.

Two suggestions are clear. If your digital marketing isn't "mobile first" you are nuts and if your machete isn't sharp good luck with that :). M