Level Up Drops Splash Page and Autoplay Annoyance, Still No RSS

January 10, 2007 by · 8 Comments
Filed under: Design, Gaming, Marketing, Philippines, Video 

Two weeks ago, I pointed out that the homepage of top Philippine online game publisher Level Up featured an infantile splash page and annoying autoplaying video. I’m glad to see they’ve removed both.

Now, all they need are RSS feeds, and they’ll actually have a decent site. Who knows, if I see enough good stuff from them in my RSS reader, I might even plunk a few Xfire hours into RF Online (gasp!).

When they’ve put up those RSS feeds, they should try getting their own YouTube account. Their Christmas promo vid had to go through Hackenslash’s YouTube account — on New Year’s Day. Talk about being late to the party, and by proxy at that.

Level Up is a game publisher, not a Web publisher. Their Web content exists to promote their games, and promotional content works best when made viral. You don’t make content viral by portalizing it for stickiness. You make content viral by widgetizing it for syndication.

Here’s my challenge to Level Up: if you come up with at least one decent RSS feed for your site, I will post a nice little widget for it on this blog. My readers can take that widget and repost it on their blogs. That’s free viral marketing for you guys.

Mike Abundo's Xfire Profile

Grazr Seeks JavaScript Developer

January 7, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Jobs, Widgets 

I like Grazr. They’re well-positioned for what Newsweek calls The Year of the Widget. That’s why I’m reposting their job opening for a JavaScript developer. Commute not required.

A quick note on 2007, we’re interested in hiring a software ninja, especially one who knows and appreciates javascript. We’re looking for someone passionate about software, widgets, web applications, information presentation and technology, who sees javascript not just as a sum of libraries or a quick hack, but as an interesting programming language all its own. If you’re interested we’d love to talk to you! We’re Boston, MA based, and while being in the area is a plus it’s not required. E-mail (mike (-at-) grazr (-dot-) com) if you’re interested.

In case you’re wondering what these guys make, here’s a Grazr widget of my blog. Grazr widgetizes RSS and OPML for smooth display on any Web page.