Game Developers Hi5 is hot

Hi5 – the Shining Star at The Game Developers Conference

March 10, 2010 – San Francisco, CA – Moscone Center

Alex St. John presented Hi5’s business model to an overcrowded room of 200-300 game developers in a private presentation yesterday at the GDF.  I was in awe of  Alex’s depth, strategy and business model, a social gaming platform that offers developers the opportunity and backing to make a buck with the support of a team of pros.  One caveat, game developers need to be able to develop games that “don’t suck”.

Mr. St. John’s presentation offered a future for game developers, analogous to Zumba “it’s a party not exercise”; developers can have fun and make money!  Hi5 has a powerful team to back up gaming developers.

Hi5’s presentation showed Facebook as boring as going to church and Hi5 like clubbing all night long! In Hi5’s virtual reality you don’t have to worry who is watching, you are someone else in a virtual reality social game site!  Check it out!

I tested the analogy on a couple of teenage gamers when I got home. I guided them to the Hi5 site, sat back and observed.  They went wild, it WAS a party! They were laughing and even rolling on the floor.  “Hobo Prison Brawl” was easy to navigate and loaded in a few seconds.  I wasn’t especially pleased with what the prisoners were doing to each other, but this is not church, this is online social gaming! Hi5 IS more like a party! Want to go to church?  Log on to Facebook.  Wanna go clubbing and party all night long? Log on to Hi5!

Hi5 offers developers:

• Free promotion to 50 million users
• Revenue share on virtual currency and ads
• Access to over 60 payment methods worldwide
• Super-charged viral channels
• New APIs that minimize integration work

Hi5 is a gaming site that offers fun to the public and a chance for developers to grow and get rich.  The SF Business Times noted that Hi5 recently acquired Big Six for an undisclosed amount and that the Big Six founders, Kevin Gliner, Monty Kerr and Chad Hansing are moving to SF.  SF should roll out the red carpet for this type of talent. Mayor Gavin Newsom, how about a key to the city for Hi5?

Alex has assembled the dream team:

• Dave Long, CEO & Co-founder, Exponential Entertainment
• Steve Victorino, President & COO, Immortal Games
• Matt Wilson, Founder, Detonator Games
• Kevin Kanarek, Online Content & Strategy Guru
• Lou Moore, Director of Engineering

Game developers the message is this, do you understand LARPING, know how to develop games with great content that are multi-player, connectable on the social graph with Flash and Java?  Then partner with Hi5 and you have a shot at fame and fortune! Game developers, get busy, create games that “don’t suck” and start working with Hi5!

Joseph Litvin, Senior Recruiter & Strategist
Improving Talent Acquisition one candidate at a time

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JosephLitvin@gmail.com

Monster swallows and Dice rolls

Dice has come out with a revolutionary tool that may change the way job boards operate. Dice hosted NextTek to celebrate its new beta product, a new social media tool and treat their candidates to a great evening. Monster, the 500 pound Goliath may be too busy swallowing HotJobs to even take note.  Dice beta promises to connect hiring managers and recruiters with a Twitter type social media communications tool.  Only time will tell if it succeeds.  I for one will be watching.  I  predict that Dice will be the first and then Monster or Google will come in for the kill.  A textbook tactic, reminds me of 1997 when Phillip Morris, Sara Lee and Noah crushed The Bagel King and the Bay Area lost its only real bagel.

Meanwhile, 70 companies are currently testing Dice’s Beta,  check it out at Dice.com it is live as we speak.  Will social media revolutionize the job boards or will candidates tweet us into oblivion?

Being the only recruiter at NextTek I felt like a rooster in the hen house! Where were all the other recruiters? One of the big takeaways from the Nexttek luminaries was the future holds a marriage of reality and technology. The recruiters who did not turn out better think twice next time Dice hosts an event, the message is leave your technology when the opportunity for face to face is offered! Dice offered a tasty buffet, no host bar, and the opportunity to network with hundreds of candidates, face to face in a very relaxed atmosphere.  The Dice sales team and executives flew out all the way from Iowa. If this were not enough, Dice raffled off six Amazon Kindels and six Apple i-pods and I WON A KINDEL! Thanks Dice. It pays to have your resume on Dice!

Check out Dice’s new Beta version and be sure to click on the links below and  check the four speakers predictions, they are all brilliant. I’m following all four of them on Twitter.

• Harry McCracken, technology guru
• David Spark, new media consultant
• Jamie Fristrom, Technical Director Torpex Games

• John Smart, accelerating change expert

Thank you Dice for hosting a great event and good luck with your Beta version! Keep those dice a rolling, Monster is way too busy swallowing Hotjobs to even know what you are up to!