In our continuing quest to make sure that gamers are well prepared for long hours with the Lich King, gamerDNA and Swag Dog have teamed up to offer gamerDNA guild leaders a chance to grab a customizable guild t-shirt from Swag Dog. Of course, the apparel is fully licensed from Blizzard. Keep reading for more details
Hey guys, I’m sure every World of Warcraft fan is waiting with bated breath for the release of the hotly anticipated World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack, which is why we here at gamerDNA are getting together with Razer™ to offer some gear that’s sure to ensure that you’re ready to take on the ruler of Northrend.
Here’s what we’re offering to you:
One Grand Prize Pack, featuring a complete Razer desktop set that includes:
In addition to the grand prize, we’re also offering five Razer DeathAdder™ mice to winners who didn’t get a chance to nab the grand prize!
Now, onto the big question - How do I enter?
Well, most likely, you already have! Here’s the deal -
First, you have to make sure you’ve got an account on gamerDNA.
Next, between now and the end of the contest -Wednesday, November 26, 2008 - you can enter by performing one of the following tasks:
You can have a maximum of three entries, so get to it!
We’ll announce the winners on Monday, December 1st - make sure you keep an eye on your private messages, we’ll be contacting you through there.
Just to clarify - you don’t need the expansion to enter, but if you’re a serious WoW player, you’re probably going to get it anyway!
Also, please note that the contest is limited to North America.
This week brings the long awaited launch of Fallout 3 and gamerDNA would like to celebrate this fantastic game with a contest for some game swag. The Grand Prize winner will win:
1- Large Fallout 3 T-Shirt
1- Fallout 3 Survival Guide (only available at PAX!)
3- Vault Boy Stickers
To participate in this contest, all you need to do is add Fallout 3 to your profile, upload Fallout 3 screenshots, enter a Fallout 3 experience entry,or play Fallout 3 via Xfire, Steam or Xbox Live.
To participate in this contest, all you need to do is:
Do all this between October 31st 12:00am PST and November 7th 11:59pm PST and you could be a winner!
Good Luck!
As you guys may know, every Monday the intrepid team here at gamerDNA puts on their coding hats and sprints to close out bugs, tweak functionality, and add new features to the site in the form of our weekly builds. Well, this week we’ll be switching things up a bit and hosting our first Build Night so that while the development team reaches the finish line and puts the site down, the gamerDNA community is invited to join Team gamerDNA in a frag festival that only long hours of coding can fuel!
We’ll be using the gamerDNA IRC channel as a staging area, and the party officially starts at 4:00 PM EDT and runs until whenever the build goes up!
While you’re at it, why not check out the gamerDNA Steam Community?
The server information is in the graphic below - we’ll see you there!
Everyone knows that the backbone of any good group, clan, or guild is the recruitment process. Without a steady flow of new applicants, your group may be missing out!
One of the most inventive ways to invite recruitment is to create a video! Like the great propoganda videos of yester-year today’s modern artists use moving pictures to motivate, inspire, and recruit.
Up first we have a video from gamerDNA clan Blackwater ArmA, a clan that plays the highly realistic military shooter, ArmA (Armed Assault):
Sometimes, people want to use a show of their skills a simple, but effective recruitment strategy - just as the Call of Duty 4 clan, TCAA, has done with this video (it really is just 9 minutes of gameplay):
Got something that you think should spotlighted? Let us know!
Did you think we would forget about you? Nope! The results are in and the winners of gamerDNA’s week of Warhammer has been chosen. Five randomly selected Warhammer Online players were selected based off of the entry criteria that we outlined in our earlier blog post. So, without further ado, here are our winners:
Congratulations, guys! The winners have already been contacted, but if you have any questions feel free to PM me! If you didn’t make the cut, you can still feel like a winner by giving yourself a Warhammer Online Signature or trying your hand at our Warhammer Character API!
Thanks again to everyone who participated and keep an eye on the gamerDNA blog for more contests coming soon!
This Saturday, October 4th at 7:00 PM EDT, gamerDNA invites to our second Team Fortress 2 community night! All are welcome, and gamerDNA admins will be on staff to make things a bit more … interesting (those who remember the last community night will know what I’m talking about!).
So come on down! We’re hosting it once again on gamerDNA’s TF2 server.
We’ll see you there!
Female gaming isn’t some kind of nebulous concept somewhere out there in the ether of Barbie Horse Adventures and The Sims, it’s everywhere, and this time we’re highlighting some of the coolest experiences on gamerDNA for this edition of the gamerDNA Experience Roundup.
We made an announcement today about passing half a million quizzes taken on GamerDNA. Here’s what we put out on the wire this morning:
GamerDNA, Inc. Quiz System Reveals Gaming Preferences of 500,000 Gamers
Quizzes to become a key element of company’s gamer identity and discovery platform
CAMBRIDGE, MA – September 18, 2008 – GamerDNA.com, the social platform for videogame identity and discovery, today announced a milestone 500,000 quizzes have been completed on the site by gamers looking to define their gaming preferences, interests and unique gaming identity. To celebrate the initial success of the quiz system, GamerDNA will further expand their gamer identity platform in the coming months with the addition of new quizzes, aggregation of more gameplay information, and new tools for discovering games.
“The quiz system is central to the identity defining capabilities of GamerDNA.com and we are thrilled with the positive response that it has received thus far from the community,” said Jon Radoff, CEO of GamerDNA, Inc. “Our goal was to have quizzes on the site that are fun to take and that also help us to define what we, as gamers, find interesting. The quizzes not only enhance our identity platform, but also help us to draw unique insights from the collective intelligence of people involved in the culture of gaming.”
The Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology, a quiz that classifies the personalities of massively multiplayer online game players has quickly become the most popular on GamerDNA.com. Additional quizzes on the site measure the play styles of other gaming genres, such as first-person shooters and real-time strategy games, as well as a quiz that measures which decade gamers feel have had the greatest impact on their game preferences. After completing each quiz, a “facet” system shows participants a set of personality traits that represent their unique “fingerprint” as a gamer. Gamers can participate in these quizzes, as well as view current result summaries, by visiting www.gamerdna.com/quizzes.
GamerDNA aggregates each member’s gameplay history from popular networks including Xbox Live, Xfire and Steam. When this-real time information is combined with feedback about game preferences and quiz results, it enables a member to define their unique “gamer identity,” a lens for discovering new games, showcasing experiences and exploring the experiences of others who love games.
About GamerDNA, Inc.
GamerDNA is building a social platform to unite the worldwide ecosystem of passionate gamers, game communities and game developers. At GamerDNA.com, PC and video game players can share information about their experiences and discover the games being played and enjoyed right now by other people with similar interests. Cambridge, MA based GamerDNA, Inc. is funded by Flybridge Capital Partners and led by a team of online media and computer games veterans. Additional company information is available at: http://www.gamerdna.com/alliance/about.php
# # #
Contact:
Elicia Basoli
360 Public Relations for GamerDNA
617-585-5777
ebasoli@360publicrelations.com
Now that it’s been a full week since we got back from PAX and we’re fully recovered, we thought it’s time to wrap up our experience at PAX and share some of the good times and good stories. If you don’t remember, gamerDNA invaded Seattle for the 2008 PAX that took place on August 29th through August 31st. Little did we know what gaming bliss awaited us.
Incase you don’t know what PAX is, Wikipedia has your back:
The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) is an annual gamer festival held in Washington state, USA. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic, because they wanted to attend a show that gave equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop gamers.
Every year PAX has grown in numbers by an order of magnitude and this year was no exception. The gamerDNA crew had the pleasure of spending the weekend with over 58,000 other gamers that arguably took over downtown Seattle. The Seattle Convention Center was filled to the brim with gamers of all types checking out the booth floor, attending the many great panels and concerts, and of course…playing games. If you’re a gamer of any sort, PAX is the place to be if you pick any gaming convention to visit.
Friday afternoon kicked off with the official start of PAX and the initial rush to get your badge and swag bag for the event. After picking up our gear and badges and taking a stroll around the show floor, we decided to hit up lunch at the Microsoft Xbox "Meet ‘n’ Eat" at Red Mill Burgers. There we had the pleasure of meeting all the folks behind the Xbox Live community team, including Trixie360 and Major Nelson. Not only that, but the food was fantastic. If you ever need a burger in the Seattle, Red Mill is definitely the way to go.
They also had the best wall of bacon we’ve ever seen. So much so, we had to take a picture of it:
The highlight for all of us was the gamerDNA PAX Party which turned out to be a smashing success. Gamers of all types showed up, ranging from industry folks, TV celebrities, journalists, podcasters and bloggers. I think it’s safe to say everyone there had a good time playing Rock Band and hanging out, talking about games. The party ended up rockin’ for several hours and by the end of it we were all very happy with how it went, but very tired.
Saturday and Sunday were our chances to finally spend more time on the show floor, demo some games, and check out some of the panels that we wanted to go to. Jon also had the opportunity to interview with various press at the event (which by the way you can check out Jon’s interview with Massively here).
On Sunday we made a point of checking out the "Giant Bomb Reunion Panel" which was a great time and very entertaining. Turns out Jeff Gerstmann is a big fan of 360Voice so it was neat to get a chance to talk to all the guys behind Giant Bomb about PAX, games, and what they are doing at their company. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out Giant Bomb for a great wiki all about games.
After Sunday it was time to make our way back home and catch the 6 hour flight to Boston. All in all PAX was an awesome time for all of us and we can’t wait to go back again next year in 2009. We would like to thank everyone who came out to our first gamerDNA PAX Party, it was great to meet you all and spend a weekend of gaming nirvana with you all. Next time around, expect a much bigger presence at PAX from the team at gamerDNA. We’ll be seeing you at the 2010 PAX in our home town of Boston too 
First there was the FPS Experience Roundup, then there was the MMO Experience Roundup, this week’s roundup ditches the acronyms and puts us in the “thinking man’s (or woman’s)” genre - Strategy games! We’re talking about the games that you take a step back from the menial rigors of the battlefield and embrace a higher sense of control. So click through, because a bevy of strategy experiences await after the jump!
Yeah, we know it’s short notice, but what better way is there to break in a brand new Call of Duty 4 server? So, here’s the skinny: This Saturday, September 13th at 7:00PM gamerDNA will be hosting a community night on our CoD4 server. Everyone knows how much fun we had on TF2 night, so let’s do it again with CoD4 night!
So just to recap, the event starts 7:00 PM and it will be located on our Call of Duty 4 server, with information below:
Don’t forget to check out our Steam Community and our Xfire Team!
I’m writing this fresh after gamerDNA.com’s really fun Team Fortress 2 community night. It was a great time, and I’d like to thank all of the people who showed up for the event. The server was packed to the brim for almost four hours.
Now, there a lot of great observations that were made during the course of the event, but here are a few that stood out:
Once again, I want to thank everyone for showing up to the event, and look out for other community events in the very near future!
It’s that time again for another gamerDNA Experience Roundup. This week we’re going to take a look at a genre that I personally know nothing about, but I’m sure a lot of gamerDNA’s members do! We’re talking about MMOGs, Massively Multiplayer Online Games. I’m diving head first into your experiences and I’ll be sure to embarrass myself when I try to comment on them. So without further ado, let’s dig in!
This Saturday, September 6th at 7PM EST gamerDNA will be hosting a community night on our Team Fortress 2 server. We’ll be playing for at least two hours, and you’ll get a chance to bonk, frag, or backstab gamerDNA members as well as some of the fine people behind gamerDNA.com!
We’ll even be offering a special badge (like 360voice does) if you come and play with us! So, what are you waiting for? Join our Steam Community Group and we’ll see you on Saturday!
This week we’re starting a regular feature on the blog where we take a look at what our members are saying about the games they play and the experiences they had. This week, I decided to go right to the well to look at the genre that I love most - the First Person Shooter.
Last week some of the folks from gamerDNA went to August meeting for the Boston IGDA Chapter. Everyone was very excited because Ralph Baer was speaking, the man who invented the home video game system and is responsible for the creation of the industry that we all love and enjoy. Not only that, but Harmonix Music,the company who has created such great games as Guitar Hero 1 and 2 as well as Rock Band, sponsored the event with free food and drinks and we were told that they would bring some “games” to play on the projector screen.
The night started off with a great speech from Mr. Baer about the his work on creating the home video game system, many of them you may know of today. Ralph is credited with creating the Magnavox Odyssey, the light gun, and the Simon.
Steve “Fatty Chubs” Sopp was able to get his original Odyssey (complete with the box!) signed by Ralph Baer (Seen below)
After Ralph finished his speech, Harmonix rolled out the yet to be released Rock band 2 and allowed everyone in the crowd to go up and play the game with the new instruments and new tracks. Fatty Chubs and myself (Sam “QforQ” Houston) took the stage and rocked out to “Kids in America”, with Fatty Chubs on guitar and QforQ on bass. Click here for a picture, taken by Jon Radoff.
The Rock Band 2 instruments felt great with a lot of small but significant improvements that make the game experience better than the original Rock Band. I’d say we’re definitely excited about Rock Band 2 which is set to release for the Xbox 360 next month.
That about wraps it up for today’s “gamerDNA Life” glimpse into the offices here at gamerDNA. In the future you can count on more posts about what games we’re playing at the office and news about what gamerDNA is up to these days. Stay tuned!