Tag: mobile gaming

QR codes used for mobile gaming from Park Royal

| January 22, 2014

A smartphone friendly trivia game has been launched through a SparkBridge partnership.

QR codes are being used in a new way to appeal to smartphone users who enjoy mobile gaming as different locations in the vicinity of Park Royal North, South, and the Village will be encouraged to scan quick response codes with the new Snappz app.

By scanning, the mobile device users will be asked trivia questions about pop culture and fashion.

When the QR codes are scanned and the questions are answered correctly, the users will be rewarded points. As they answer more correct questions and continue their mobile gaming experience up through the various levels of the game, they will be able to earn more points. These can then be converted into Park Royal gift cards that can be redeemed at brick and mortar locations through the use of the smartphones.

This use of QR codes is the latest element of a broader Park Royal mobile marketing strategy.

QR Codes - Triva mobile gameThis mobile marketing strategy is designed to link the use of smartphones to the brick and mortar shops. According to the Park Royal communications coordinator, Amanda Eaton, “Park Royal is a leader in the beyond-the-bricksand-mortar strategy.” She went on to say that the Snappz is a perfect complement to their existing strategy. She described the mobile gaming experience as being “fun and hip” and that it is focused on the latest pop culture and fashion, which the company feels will be particularly appealing to the target market of the store, young female shoppers.

The latest statistics released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project has revealed that among people between the ages of 12 and 17 years, more than three quarters are now armed with mobile devices such as smartphones. In fact, almost half of the devices carried by individuals within this demographic are, indeed, smartphones.

The same source has shown that teen girls in the older years of that age span are most likely to say that those mobile devices are their primary method of internet access. This has encouraged Park Royal to focus on a mobile marketing strategy that will bridge the gap between their physical store locations and the digital world, by way of the devices that their primary market have with them at nearly all times. Through QR codes, this bridge is quite inexpensive and easy to build and maintain.

Augmented reality games think outside the box

| January 17, 2014

PlayStation Vita now has an AR experience called “Open Me!”

PlaysStation Vita has now joined the consoles that are offering augmented reality games to their players, allowing the device camera to make it appear as though virtual elements are functioning within the real world.

This use of AR technology has already proven to be successful in the launch of the Nintendo 3DS.

Now, Open Me! is an augmented reality game that is available on PlayStation Vita and is being seen as one of the best attempts to show that using AR tech can give consumers and gamers a “good time.” This experience involves a number of different locked box puzzles, each of which has been rendered in 3D.

This augmented reality game uses an AR marker card to establish the position of the box in front of the player.

augmented reality games puzzle boxUsing the marker card lets the player use the Vita mobile device to be able to examine the puzzle box from any angle he or she would like. The purpose is to be able to identify the switch, button, or combination of those two things, which will allow the box to open. The earliest puzzles are the simplest, to allow the user to become used to the concept.

Once the basics have been learned, the designs of the puzzle boxes become increasingly complex. Among the options are certain examples that force the player to “think outside the box”, such as a cuckoo clock that requires the user to catch onto the fact that he or she must set the time on the clock to match that in the real world in order to open it correctly.

That said, there are also some puzzles that aren’t quite taking full advantage of what an augmented reality game has to offer, in that the controls of the game are not quite up to the precision level that is required in order to be able to complete the puzzle. Beyond that, there are certain boxes that need two Vita players to work together on a shared puzzle to be able to open them up – which is great as long as the user knows someone else with the same device and skill level.