There are some really creative pieces that have popped up recently and larger corporations are beginning to notice the trend as well. There is massive potential for interactive video content that can tremendously boost the immersion and cool factor of a product if implemented properly.

So here are some of this weeks best of the web – Top Interactive YouTube Videos.

Pick of the week – Intel The Escape

Now this is what I’m talking about. Short but very creative and fun interactive video that has the user playing a James Bond type spy armed with gadgets et al. Great production values and features some really neat interactive elements such as the cool boss fight at the end. See if you can find some of the bonus content as well, it’s a bit tricky.

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Deliver Me To Hell

Deliver Me To Hell is an often hilarious and creative interactive zombie apocolypse video from New Zealand. A violent but campy 20 minute romp where the user must make the right decisions to get a pizza delivery man to his destination, all while cunningly avoiding the hordes of zombies he’s surrounded by. Great fun.

Choose A Different Ending

This is a very cool and gritty interactive video from the UK that aims to teach kids about making the right decisions to avoid trouble in their lives. Violent at times but also surprisingly realistic. Well worth the experience.

The Treasure Hunt: A Chad, Matt & Rob Interactive Adventure!

This is a supremely funny and well produced interactive video. These guys clearly know what they are doing and it’s fun to follow them along on their ridiculous adventure. Great acting and some genuinely hilarious parts. Reminds me of an action packed episode of The Office.

La Linea interactive

La Linea was always an endearing memory of my childhood and this is a great fan made interactive tribute to this cranky little character. Short and sweet, just how I remember the original shorts.

YouTube Radio

Ok so this one isn’t like the other choose your own adventure features this week but this is still a very creative use of YouTube interactivity. Clicking the different buttons scrubs the video playhead forwards and backwards seamlessly. All the selections are very well done and funny but the Hip Hop and Cat stations are truly hilarious.

Crime and Action Shows

Pick of the Week – Justified

Justified is based upon a short story by one of my favourite authors, Elmore Leonard. Without question this is the best adaptation of his material period, even surpassing good films based upon his work like ‘Get Shorty’ and ‘Jacky Brown’. This cop drama centres on a recurring character from a few of Leonard’s novels named Raylan Givens (played by the always charismatic Timothy Olyphant). Raylan is a rookie U.S. Marshal who has a penchant for taking the law into his own hands as the opening scene of the first season sets up so well. Because of his ‘Old West’ ways, he gets himself relegated to a real backwater town which happens to be the same place grew up. As the season progresses, we find Raylan squaring off against escaped convicts, drug dealers, white supremacists, crooks of all kinds all while reluctantly rekindling some old unfinished relationships. Every episode is full of suspense and explodes regularly with great action, dialog and romance. It’s also very very funny. Good old ‘Dutch’ Leonard’ is credited as an executive producer on the show and his stamp is clearly felt right from the get go. Highly engrossing and easily my recommendation as the top must see show on Netflix.

Prison Break

I actually missed the whole Prison Break craze when it first premiered in 2006 and now I see what all the fuss was about. Even if you caught the entire series when it first ran or missed an episode here and there, now is the time to revisit this intense and suspenseful action drama. Like a soap opera for grown men.

The Beast

A great but short lived series starring Patrick Swayze as a maverick FBI agent with a new recruit. Fast paced, very gritty and violent at times and always very engrossing. Swayze delivers (in what would be his last performance) a very edgy and straight up performance. You don’t want to mess with him here. There are times in the series when he’s mentoring his FBI rookie pupil where it sounds as if he’s directly speaking to the audience about the consequences of ones actions and that everything can change, good or bad, in an instant. A retrospective of his own life perhaps? Well worth watching and the opening episode does a great job of setting up the characters and pace of the entire show.

Other Notables

The Black Donnellys

A gritty and realistic show that follows the exploits of a group of young working class brothers who stop at nothing to protect their family and territory from local gangsters.  However, doing so keeps them all wrapped in a viscous and unending cycle of violence. Surprisingly engrossing and created by Canadian great Mike Haggis.

Kidnapped

More like a long suspense movie or mini series, Kidnapped keeps the foot on the gas with regards to suspense. Great cast headed by Delroy Lindo, Timothy Hutton and Jeremy Sisto.

Life on Mars

Life on Mars is a neat idea about a modern day cop who is thrown back into 1973 after an accident on the job. The show constantly keeps the viewer guessing if the main protagonist has really been thrown back in time or if it’s all in his head. Great drama and action.

The Internet? We are not interested in it.

Bill Gates (1993)

Wow Bill, glad you came around.

It’s hard to believe how quickly things have changed in such a short amount of time in the immense world wide web. From the terrible neon coloured pixilated sites of the late 90′s to the crazy Flash boom in the early years of the new millennium, it’s easy to say we’re now living in somewhat of a Golden Age of interactive experiences. Amazing new sites pop up daily on the web and 20 or 30 years from now we’ll look back at this time as a truly pioneering period in the history of the web.

It’s no longer enough to just slap a website together anymore and expect users to flock to it. Agencies and advertisers now realize how important the user experience is for selling a brand. Having users interact with their products and engaging their senses in ways only previously imagined are a reality in todays web experience.

Each week I’ll focus on some of the best experiences the web has to offer. Amazing interactive portals, fun and games, ridiculously creative websites and everything in-between. Some weeks I’ll focus on a particular genre so be sure to check back regualrily and feel free to comment below.

So without further ado, let’s get to this weeks picks.

Site of the week – Magnum Pleasure Hunt

Magnum Pleasure Hunt truly raises the bar for what a site can do for brand awareness. It’s an extremely pleasing and satisfying web experience with more creativity packed in a 5 minute blast then most sites ever even come close to accomplishing. This was a hard one based upon the other amazing works featured this week but Magnum takes the cake and is my pic of the week.  Mmmm, now I need to go find me some ice cream.

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Notruf Deutschland

Notruf Deutschland is short and super fun little diversion from Germany. I was pleasantly surprised at how my uploaded photos were used. Trust me, for the best experience find 3 quality photos of yourself to upload and watch the magic happen.

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Capture 3D Sound Experience

Capture is an amazing choose your own adventure style interactive story. Very high production value and genuinely scary at times. The site authors recommend using headphones or good speakers for the best experience and I completely agree. I used my Bose QC15 headphones at about 2am in the morning when I first discovered this great little gem and I have to admit my skin was crawling. Great example of user engagement and immersion usually only found in AAA video game titles.

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Sexy Fingers

Sexy Fingers is a perfect example of how to use humour, interactivity and creativity to increase awareness about a brand or cause. The short mini games are often hilarious and fun to play all while increasing awareness about the amazing improvements in HIV screening tests.

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Neon Bible

Arcade Fire is a great Canadian indie rock band from Montreal. This short and fun little interactive promoting their second award winning album Neon Bible is a fun little diversion. Be sure to move your mouse around and click a lot to experience some of the interactions.

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I felt like a kid at an ice cream shop I could barely contain my excitement. I was moments away from filling my brain with all the visual garbage it could handle, I’m sure my eyes were popping out of my head as I was furiously typing away my sign up credentials. Imagine, all my favourite flavours like Dexter, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica or cheesy Michael Bay films and Will Smith movies were moments away.

“Yes I’ll take a double scoop of I Am Legend with Transformers please.  Sprinkled with a little Kill Bill and topped off with a dash of The Hangover…Oh your currently out of all those flavours?”

My view of this ice cream shop waning slightly. Surely they’d have my next flavour.

“Ok how bout a single scoop of 300 in a waffle cone wrapped in Batman Begins?…What? Out of those too?”

That’s like not having vanilla. How could they be out of the most popular flavours? Instead they’re trying to offer me substitutes like FarCry and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. Geese, I would even have taken the original Street Fighter movie with Van Damme but they were out of that one too.

Well I, like many Canadians I’m sure, was a bit underwhelmed at the selection that lay before my eyes. At the end of my first venture I had to settle for a small scoop of freezer burned tiger tail on a soggy cone. Basically an Uwe Boll movie.

What had gone wrong here? How come the selection was so thin I pondered. Well at least the trial is free for 30 days I thought to myself.

Well a funny thing happened over those 30 days that followed. They didn’t have all the usual flavours that I was used to but as I started to experiment with the ones they did have, I began to realize that there was a lot more then first meets the eye. So much so that I actually felt the need to start a section here to help Netflix newbies to filter out a lot of the garbage and focus on some of the true gems that Netflix has provided to us Canadians and our stringent CRTC regulators.

Every week I’ll focus on a particular genre and list my top picks for that week. Feel free to chime in with your own experiences of Netflix.ca and some gems you’ve found.

Oh and for all you Dexter, Californication and Star Trek (original series and NxtGen fans), it looks like Netflix has recently brokered a new deal with CBS and it’s backlog of shows to start streaming in September of 2011.

Looks like vanilla is back in the house!

This is part 3 of a 3 part article about stereotypes in modern video games. Original essay written in 2004.

It is clear that we have only begun to scratch the surface of what is going to become a reality within the game industry over the next few years and decades. Game developers will continue to find new ways to interact with their legion of users, and take them to places that movies and television can only dream of. The potential of what can be done is unquestionably so much greater, that it becomes impossible to compare with anything that has come before it.

As humanity struggles to overcome this difficult period in human history, video games are poised to become the principal authority of the three major media. For this to happen, however, the industry must liberate itself from the very limited notions of masculinity and femininity it portrays. It must not continue to reinforce the sexual objectivity of women and the masculinity of men, and racial stereotyping of any race. It must not teach young boys that violence is an appropriate response to any situation. This influential media must challenge these things and make us look at ourselves so that we may change the destiny of a planet headed for certain catastrophe.

It is not the technology that is holding us back, it is the values that we hold near to us that come though as we produce, design, and market and sell the technology. By acknowledging what needs to be done to liberate the technology, could possibly come the answer for liberating ourselves.

References

Jhally, S. (Producer), & Huntemann, N. (Director). (2000). Game Over: Gender, Race and Violence in Video Games [Educational Video]. Media Education Foundation.

Nicholson, D., & Artz∏, S. (2003) Youthful Offending. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, Vol.16 #14, 74-79.

Adams, S. (2001) Gods Debris: A thought Experiment. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel.

Scene & Heard. ( n.a.). Retrieved November 25, 2004, from www.chroniclejournal.com

ESRB Privacy Online. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2004 from www.esrb.org/privacy

A Brief History of Video Games. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2004 from www.videotopia.com

This is part 2 of a 3 part article about stereotypes in modern video games. Original essay written in 2004.

Although females have not always been represented within the game industry as the influential and clever opposites of males that they are, strides have been made in the last few years to empower the female protagonist within the digital realm. Lara Croft of the phenomenally successful Tomb Raider series changed the standard in the way that females are portrayed and viewed within video games. The major shift from the female character no longer needing rescuing, won over male and female gamers the globe over.

Samus, featured in the game Metroid, by famed game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, can be said to be the grandmother of all female heroin characters. The end of the first game in the series had Samus take of his helmet, revealing that he was actually a female. This surprise shook the game industry from its foundations of male dominated hero’s and paved the way for future heroines such as Lara Croft.

There is no doubt that Tomb Raider is a positive step in the right direction, however, because the games are primarily designed by men, Lara and other female characters are portrayed with grossly unnatural proportions. The bodies of the heroines are impossible to achieve in the real world. In fact, Eidos, the company responsible for creating the Tomb Raider series, has not been able to hire a model for various gaming events that match their characters dimensions of 34D – 24 – 35. Also, the real life models at gaming events allow the fantasy of being with characters become a reality. Female models are essentially used as sexual objects for young men who take pictures with their arms around them. At one such event, a 16 year old model was hired to portray Lara Croft and was expected to pose and allow males to take pictures with her for hours on end. In essence the sexuality of a young female was exploited which sends the wrong message to both male and female game fans.

Games are primarily “sexual tantalization for young boys” (Provenzo Jr., 2000) Many games also objectify women by using them in ads even though the game may not contain a female character. The add for a virtual pool game features a female model leaning over a pool table, exposing her cleavage with the words “Nice Rack” at the top. Another ad for the game Destruction Derby, a racing simulator, has numerous mud covered females wrestling. One ad for the game Gauntlet which contains a female character of unnatural proportions reads “She’s been hanging around the arcade for years. Think about how much fun she’ll be when you get her home”(Gamepro, 2002) The message is undeniable clear to young men that it is ok to take a girl home and have their way with her.

Females are not the only minority who are consistently being exploited in the land of the cyber champion. In the same way that games sometimes absurdly convey the climates of the times that they are mimicking, stereotypes are also grotesquely exaggerated. When characters of different persuasions are featured in games, it becomes very easy to identify if someone outside of their community is portraying them. This is primarily due to the fact that 8 out of 10 developers are Caucasian.(Morgan, 2000) The game world is seen through white male eyes which is also the reason that most video games contain white characters. When black players are portrayed, as in other media, they are usually gangsters, or minor characters that are strictly included to elicit fear within the gamer.

No game drives this stereotype more then the ridiculously thriving Grand Theft Auto series of games. The latest game in the series has the gamer take on the role of a hard-up black hoodlum in the fictional city of San Andreas. To progress in the game the character is expected to build his crime empire with the only option being through violent means. Drive bys, contract killings and burglarizing the homes of impoverished minorities is not only encouraged within the game, they are necessary elements to reach the final goal. The game has been heavily criticized by advocacy groups who say “at the least, they should be kept away from children” (Chronicle Journal, 2004)

Even when characters of different persuasions are portrayed in other games, they usually have some type of supernatural element associated with them. Shadowman for example has the main character of Haitian ancestry; solve various puzzles using his mysterious voodoo powers. The stereotype is clear that blackness is “foreign or bizarre” (Morgan, 2000) and whiteness is “normal”. (Morgan, 2000)

This is part 1 of a 3 part article about stereotypes in modern video games. Original essay written in 2004.

Video Games take us to places and worlds beyond our mundane lives. Places where we can have extreme experiences and there is no doubt that there is a tremendous potential to expand our consciousnesses. Many people, however, have suggested that we keep a number of questions in our minds as we journey to these new and fantastic worlds. Who will be our guides? Whose eyes will we see the world through? Whose fears and nightmares will we experience, and ultimately, whose imaginations will we be trapped inside?

Since the creation of the first computer game Spacewar in 1962, followed by the first coin operated game Computer Space in 1971, video games have consistently reflected certain periods in world history. Just as the first games were direct contrasts to the climate of the time, games in their present iteration, with the advanced technology behind them, can vividly convey the fears, stereotypes and sexuality of our times more so then any other medium in the history of our civilization. The raw potential of this particular form of media, with its often disquieting realism, has been the topic of discussion within many peer groups. With urban violence seemingly out of control and wars still a reality in our supposedly transcended culture, it is no wonder that the games of this generation choose to vividly mimic this turbulent time in world history. The constant barrage of mediated images that penetrates our minds and every facet of our daily lives seem to grow exponentially every few years. It has become so common place, embedded within us to be so bold, that it might be classified as a living entity of its own that is now growing out of our control. This startling observation brings many questions to mind with regards to the most powerful, yet least monitored medium of our time. Do video games and other forms of media contribute to the downward spiral that our culture ostensibly seems to be caught in? Or can we liberate the technology and use it for the betterment of mankind thus eliminating all of its strife?

In the increasingly fast moving digital age we find ourselves in, it can be easy to become consumed by the ocean of pixilated entertainment that surrounds us at ever corner. Parents find it incredibly more difficult to spend time monitoring their children’s actions, and with 90% (Scharrer, 2000) of American households now owning a video game system, it seems that an entire generation is being babysat by a digital childcare worker whose morals are non-existent. Because games provide extremely vivid illustrations of cultural messages within our society, the key ideologies of a culture become absolutely unmistakable. “Media images are all representations…all manufactured mediated imagery…it all goes into the constant none stop stream of experiences that we store up about the world around us”(Morgan, 2000) The dominant figure within the gaming universe still tends to be the hyper masculine character with big imposing and aggressive bodies. Professor Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. (2000) believes that, because games are such reflections of society, and males are portrayed as big and violent, this might be what society says that a male should be like or how we view a male. Male players might try and live up to their onscreen persona. The enormously popular WWE wrestling games is a perfect example of males living out their fantasies within the digital universe. Because of the high realism contained within these games, players can do many of their favorite wrestler’s signature moves and taunts while imposing physical harm to their opponents at every opportunity. This might be sending the message to male players that to be male is to be powerful and violent. There is no doubt that power can be a good thing that can spearhead positive change. Empowerment can give one the sense that they can act, do things, be understood and change the world in good ways. However, “…the vehicles of power that we give the players are one of an aggressive masculinity.”(Provenzo, Jr., 2000) Professor Provenzo Jr. (2000) also believes that wrestling games sends the message that control and violence are ways to get what you want. Game design is still primarily dominated by men which is why we see the images that we do. The female characters in games tend to be the damsel in distress or are features to show off the players [characters] masculinity for his edification. It becomes a twisted view of the age old adage that “A woman needs to be told that you would sacrifice anything for her. A man needs to be told he is being useful.” (Adams, 2001)

Games take us to worlds and universes many can barely imagine. They allow us to become something, even for a brief moment, that we’re not. They give us a sense of accomplishment that we all yearn for yet somehow escapes many of us in our daily lives.

I’ve always believed that video games are a great learning tool if implemented correctly. Sure they’re a great form of mindless entertainment, much better in my opinion then 3/4 of the movies that Hollywood churns out yearly. Their most powerful asset being their potential to capture the imagination and speak to the user in ways no other medium to date has even come close to.

I hope this Press Start section evolves into an open dialog of how games have influenced our lives, their huge potential to solve many of the worlds current problems, and to speculate what the future might hold for this great medium.

So feel free to comment about some of your experiences as I’d love to hear them and keep that gamer spirit alive in you forever!

This is part 3 of a 3 part article about the future of gesture based interface interaction and it’s impact on society.

Arguably the biggest player entering the GUI space is Microsoft, who revealed to the world at the latest Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angles this year, a new add on device to their popular XBOX 360 video game system currently named Project Natal. The demonstration that followed their announcement during the press briefing, which was introduced by Steven Spielberg himself, was to say the least, jaw dropping. The demo was the closest thing to what was seen in Minority Report then any other real world consumer technology that has come before it.

What sets it above and beyond other similar devices is the total absence of a controller of any sorts. The user themselves become the controller. A sway of a hand to the left could cause a tower of interactive blocks to tumble over. Or kicking a virtual soccer ball just as you would in real life is a reality Natal promises to deliver.

Natal’s promise of interaction without the use of a controller is actually beyond what was conveyed in Minority Report. In that movie, Tom Cruise required a glove to interact with the GUI. During further demonstrations of Natal in action, users could scan in real world objects such as skateboards for instance and Natal would recognize this and implement a digital version that could be interacted with, all in real-time.

Famed UK game designer Peter Molyneux also demonstrated an interactive avatar named Milo that could recognize users facial expressions and respond accordingly to them. This particular demo was a tad unnerving because of how well it worked. I can see at one end of the spectrum a generation of children isolating themselves with realistic virtual avatars that seem to understand them better then their real world friends or family for that matter.

At the other end the unbelievable potential for learning interactions cannot be overlooked. Imagine software that could enhance education where students could have their assignments checked by the avatar by simply holding up the written copy to the screen. Or imagine learning to dance the salsa with a virtual dance instructor. Current advances in home 3D technology coming via companies such as Next 3D, Real D and others, promise to make these experiences even more immersive. If harnessed correctly, Natal and other similar technologies have the potential to completely revolutionize and breath new life into a multitude of industries and mainstay institutions such as education.

As a culture, we should embrace these potential new ways of interacting and thinking. Many who may be afraid of computers, yours truly if I’m not computing or developing on a Mac, may find interaction with GUI’s to be more intuitive and natural then today’s experiences. New ideas from previously unattainable demographics may finally have a voice. New concepts in teaching and learning interaction will be possible. The potential is limitless and that has to be the most exciting thing since, well since Spielberg gave of a glimpse of the future we’re now living in.

This is part 2 of a 3 part article about the future of gesture based interface interaction and it’s impact on society.

Human nature drives us to bond with everything around us: we want to feel connected. Even when current user interfaces hit the nail right on the head with regards to usability, the connection to the device running the application can be immediately lost with a simple CNTL-C or a click of the ENTER button. As intuitive and natural as we make our current interfaces (see some amazing examples here), the unnatural way that we interact with them via soon to be archaic devices such as keyboards, mice or game controllers/joysticks holds us back from the much more intimate experiences that GUI’s promise to deliver.

Watching a child playing a video game is a good example that can illustrate our innate yearning for more natural digital interactions. Children find it much easier to suspend their disbelief then adults do. This allows them to feel more connected to a video game for instance, regardless of the graphical complexity. For example, when my daughter plays a driving game with a standard controller, although she has taught herself to use the thumb sticks and buttons to manipulate the digital avatar, she has a natural tendency to turn the controller in the direction that she wants the car to move. We’ve all done this while playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES when making Mario jump with the press of a button usually constituted the gamepad jerking upwards. In many instances right out of the hands of the user, strictly speaking from experience of course. Companies have been aware of these tendencies for years but due to hardware limitations have not been able to properly harness this until recently.

Nintendo dabbled with mixed results in the eighties with their Power Glove that was based off of NASA technology at the time. It promised to allow players to literally reach into the game and manipulate objects on screen with nothing more then a gesture of the users hand inside the glove. Other companies have released peripherals for gaming systems over the years that allowed players to partake in games based on fly fishing, golf, playing maracas and many other types of experiences. However, it wasn’t until Nintendo released the Wii that gesture based games, and technology for that matter, moved into the mainstream.

Gestures allow us to be more human: they facilitate natural interactions, which provide a more emotional connection between the user and the gestural application. The ability to temper the experience with the size or speed of the gesture is also key to driving a much deeper connection then what is currently possible on most of the devices we use today. A gesture-based application should react in different ways, depending how the user is interacting. This is far removed from the current click or don’t click set up we are all used to. It allows users to experiment, and as they do, they are brought closer to what it is they are interacting with. An almost transcendence experience should be possible.

Gesture applications also allow us to be much more social. Nintendo has captured this perfectly with the game Wii Sports that is bundled together with every Wii video game system. Because users don’t have to learn complicated control schematics to pick up and play the games contained in Wii Sports: they feel more inclined to interact in a social setting.

Brands will be able to capitalize on this movement by making a normally solo experience – such as browsing the latest and coolest online Flash campaign – into an experience that you can and must do with friends and family. Brands will also be able to offer much more useful solutions to the consumer over the net or special kiosks set up in sporting goods stores for instance. A great way to build brand loyalty could be to allow users to log on to Nike’s newest tennis gear site, select a racket, and then interact with it the way you would in the real world. Sound farfetched? Believe it or not, this type of technology already exists and promises to be a part of the mainstream public within the next 12 months.