Rob Alvarez is a teacher at IE Business School in Madrid, B2B product expert, and the host of the “Professor Game” podcast about gamification (for which he also interviewed our own Dan Salmanovich). He recently visited Amsterdam and stayed at our hotel. We met him at the Arcade Hotel’s lobby and had a chat with him on gamification and its application to our lives. Don’t know what gamification is? Well, keep reading! Arcade Hotel: What is it exactly that you do? Rob: It all started with a podcast called “Professor Game,” where every week I have a guest who talks about how to do things with games that are not just entertainment. Based on that, I have done talks, workshops, and teaching all over the world about gamification..
Easter is here, and we are back with some unnecessary but cool knowledge for you! A few years ago, we treated you to some nice Easter eggs, collecting some of popular culture’s most interesting secret messages. However, now we would like to share with you the grandaddy of them all: an Easter egg so old that it predates Easter itself. Yes, ladies and gents, history’s first Easter egg goes waaaay back! As we read in the Journal of Geek Studies (yes, that is a thing!), artists in Ancient Egypt would never receive credit for their work. That did not sit well with Senenmut, an architect tasked with building a temple for the pharaoh Hatshepsut. Senenmut, then, decided to hide an inscription behind a door, which featured his image..
Today I want to talk to you about Ermac. You see, they often say that video games companies (and companies in general) listen to their fans and that fans can shape the market. This statement holds some truth. Let’s see an example. So, for those of you born after the 90s, back in the day there used to be something called “video game magazines,” which featured news, previews, and tricks about video games. One fateful day in 1992, someone sent a letter (yes, a letter) to Electronic Games Monthly claiming that they had found a secret character, a red ninja named Ermac in the arcade version of the original Mortal Kombat game. Keep in mind that “Ermac” stands for “error macro,” and it was a setting that would..
Gaming constantly evolves. While elements such as graphics and sound constantly change and improve, there were a few things around the culture of video games that not everyone expected them to go away. But let’s make it clear that no item in this list has totally disappeared, and you can all find them pop-up occasionally here and there, although not at the rate they existed thirty or forty years ago.
Lara Croft. Tifa Lockhart. Cammy White. These are just some examples of female video game characters, introduced in the 90’s, and designed in a way to be sexually attractive and, thus, marketable.
Ever since the ancient times, people would narrate various stories that were, in a sense, interconnected.
There is a time machine in Amsterdam Noord. Entering Blast Galaxy is like someone secretly turned on the flux capacitor and transported you right back to the golden days of the arcade halls of the ’80s.
We wouldn’t be very good arcade fans if we didn’t share our thoughts on the best arcade halls to visit. The number of halls is incredibly big, but we managed to pick a couple that we like, located around the world…
A once in a lifetime opportunity… That’s what this is. Be sure to read all about the amazing exhibit.
Welcome to a new series! As big Marvel fans we feel it’s our duty to keep you informed on Marvel Cinematic Universe news, predictions and opinions.