Connemara Pony World Show 2011 from Horsebox TV on Vimeo.

Video footage put together by Horsebox.tv of the 2011 Connemara show I organised. All guns ablaze for this years show taking place on the 2nd June once again in Boswell Equestrian in Co. Wicklow.

This week I went to a great conference in London called Planet of the Apps. The most impressive speaker for me at it was the Founder of Angry Birds, Peter Vesterbacka. He emphasised the importance of marketing your brand and ensuring you stand out from all of your competitors. Prime example of this was the fact he wore a bright red hoodie with an Angry Bird on the front. No one would need to ask him what company he works for. Great talk and on the back of this I thought I’d outline some interesting facts on this hugely successful game from Mashable. Bearing in mind the company has recently received funding of USD 42 million dollars, might be worth reading on

1. Angry Birds has been downloaded 300 million times and so far there are three game series which the issuance of which is: Angry Birds, Birds Angry Angry Birds Seasons and the Rio.

2. Who would have thought that the players Angry Birds spend a total of 200 million minutes per day.

3. The most widely used tool to play, is the output of products based on Android, followed by Apple products.

4. Known to many gamers play the game ‘bird’ is via the iPhone (32%), iPod touch (33%), iPad (15%), Android (41%) and PC (25%).

5. Angry Birds play also reportedly makes a person feel very relaxed (23%) and make a better mood (58). In fact, not infrequently he makes the players become addicted (54%).

6. Another interesting fact is peeled from the Angry Birds is that there is no ‘cure’ for those who are addicted to play it.

7. As many as 12% of those who play 25 times Angry Birds prefer to remove it with the aim of preventing them play it again. Then the other 12% was minded to perform this action, but they ultimately chose not to do so and continue playing.

This is an interesting article written by Prita Uppal, the founder and CEO of YooMee Games, a social competition platform that brings tournaments and cash prizes to skill-based games across websites, social networks and mobile apps.
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More than 18,000 interactive gaming industry pros came to San Francisco for the Game Developers’ Conference this week, an annual event that draws programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and anyone else involved in the development of interactive games.

At GDC in past years, hardcore gamers have been reluctant to accept social games into the fold, but this year there’s no denying it. Social games are the fastest growing segment of the gaming market with revenues projected to exceed $1 billion in 2011, and they are here to stay. There’s more to social games than harvesting crops, and the future looks full of innovation and opportunity for developers and players alike.

Here’s a look at four of the biggest social gaming trends discussed at GDC 2011.

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1. In-Browser Experience
The time for higher-quality browser-based games is here. There were two big announcements hinting that we’ll soon be playing richer and more complex 3D social games: Adobe launched a Flash Player beta that supports accelerated 3D, and Unity introduced a Flash export capability.

Meanwhile, AAA quality MMOs like Frogster’s Runes of Magic are starting to make a shift to browsers, too, abandoning the lengthy PC download, installation and registration process that has turned potential players off in the past. Will this open the door for new demographics to join the MMO crowd?

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2. Mobile Matters

We’ve been playing games on our mobile phones for years, but for the first time in GDC’s 25-year history, this year’s agenda included a dedicated Smartphone Summit. The summit was designed to explore the future of gaming on platforms such as the iPhone and iPad, Android OS phones and tablets, and BlackBerry devices.

Classic MMO games can be so resource-intensive, it seems unlikely that they could work on a handheld device. But that’s just what’s happening with mobile MMOs like Pocket Legends for iPhone and iPad. What does the emergence of the mobile MMO mean for game design? One of the big challenges for designers in the coming year will be translating classic MMO features to mobile while balancing a whole new set of user needs, like shorter gameplay sessions.

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3. Augmented Reality

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At the GDC Smartphone Summit, Ogmento’s Terrance Cohen said the widespread adoption of touch screen smartphones has created a “perfect storm for augmented reality games.”

To demonstrate the possibilities presented by augmented reality, Ogmento added a layer to its location-based game Paranormal Activity: Sanctuary. From there, the company recruited GDC attendees to participate in a battle between good and evil, using the actual streets of San Francisco as a digital battleground.

For social games that revolve around time management and commonplace tasks such as cooking a virtual meal or serving a dinner table, the idea of allowing players to physically perform tasks in a virtual world could be a serious game-changer.

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4. Cloud Gaming

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Two years ago, OnLive introduced its pioneering cloud gaming service at GDC, giving players the ability to play console-quality games streamed from the cloud. Since then, companies such as Otoy and Gaikai have joined the fold, but all three have focused on high-end games streamed to TV, computers and micro-consoles. This week, Spoon introduced a cloud-based gaming service that brings the OnLive streaming model to casual games, allowing download-free access to popular arcade titles.

Cloud gaming renders users’ computer speeds irrelevant and makes console quality graphics possible on slow internet connections. That means we can finally start seeing something a little more impressive than the overhead view and grid-based landscapes currently popular with most social game designers.

Few industries have been impacted by the staggering innovation of the web as much as the gaming industry. And despite Wall Street’s concern over rapidly declining console sales, the industry is perhaps as healthy as it’s been in years, buoyed by its ability to adapt to a more social, mobile and on-demand world. Coupled with the industry’s leadership in the development and implementation of new monetization methods, the games industry is poised for continued success. What will this success look like? You’ll have to wait until GDC 2012. See you there!

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Connemara Pony World - 4th June 2011

My brother Nick who works in the agency Cybercom put together the attached poster for the promotion of Connemara Pony World in June. We chose our winning pony by running a Facebook competition where fans could upload photos of their pony. The one with the most likes was deemed the winner. Ceoladh Pratt the owner looks really beautiful in the picture. We had a model hired for the day and got some great pics with her but just felt this photo captured the essence of the show. Below is one of the other photos – still v nice!

— Will Rogers

I’m now 3 weeks in the door with Paddy Power and from what I can see to date it is a seriously super company to work for. My role is within the gaming team and will be to look after the development and marketing of the mobile products. The road ahead for the next few weeks is very much a learning one although aggressive plans are in place for the rollout of exciting new products very soon. In the meantime I’ve written a book for those of you like me who know relatively little about the online gaming industry. Details below

I finished up with eircom last week and have a 2 week window before starting with Paddy Power as Mobile Product and Marketing Manager. So…in my spare time I’m trying to get the 2011 Connemara Pony World Show organised. So far we have some super sponsors on board and Failte Ireland will help with this years promotion. We’re looking to double our attendance figures and attract over 400 ponies on the day. We already have not only UK judges confirmed but also ponies coming over. The big attraction this year is that we’re the only show in Ireland to have a qualifier for the Olympia Horse Show Mountain and Moorland Ridden Final. We’re also running a High Jump which is kindly being sponsored by Deloitte.

More information to follow. For those who havent a notion on what a Connemara Pony Show is, take a look at the footage from last years inaugural show below. This year we’ll be live streaming the show worldwide. If any company would be interested in sponsoring this element of the show, please do get in touch.

One final fact. The music from the below promotional video is from the movie “Into the West”. “Tayto…Tayto…”. But…did you know that three horses were used for filming and one of them (the one who did all the stunts) was a Connemara pony bred here on the East Coast. Interesting, eh?!!

Connemara Pony World 2011 from Horsebox TV on Vimeo.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 4,100 times in 2010. That’s about 10 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 18 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 47 posts. There were 10 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 30mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was August 9th with 69 views. The most popular post that day was Horsebox.tv filming at the RDS.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, lucindakelly.com, lmodules.com, ie.linkedin.com, and linkedin.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for www.lucindakelly.com, lucinda kelly.com, lucindakelly.com, horsebox tv, and www.lucinda kelly.com.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Horsebox.tv filming at the RDS July 2010

Horses and Ponies August 2009
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About August 2009
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Brian’s World August 2009
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Horsebox.tv January 2010
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