Posts filed under 'Director PR'
Way back at Adobe Max 2007 in Chicago (I can’t wait for 2008 in SanFran!) I went to the Director sessions. They were giving out pens to promote the next version of Director (which will officially be announced at the GDC this week according to online sources). I’d promised to put pictures of the pen online.
I finally got around to it 🙂
The pen has the new Director logo on one side, and the slogan “Make Better Games” on the others. Inside the pen are two metallic balls that you try to get through the red plastic maze. Very cool 3D game for the real world. I wonder if Adobe will have a 3D version of this shipping as a sample with the new Director. That would be cool.
February 17th, 2008
ExploreLearning won a Codie each of the past two years. This year we are finalists for a Codie in two different categories: Best Mathematics Instructional Solution and Best Science Instructional Solution for the ExploreLearning Gizmos.
Gizmos are made with Director (and have been since 1995).
Will I get my hands on two Codies this year? The two sitting on my desk are getting a bit lonely 🙂
February 13th, 2008
The new year has arrived. I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to do much of anything lately other than watch Apple stock plummet. Hopefully I’ll have a bit more free time during this year to get posts up here, and to watch the stock go up. I even bought some Adobe stock today…I figure it will shoot up when Director gets released 🙂
So…where is that dreaded release. For those that have been paying attention to the Director FAQ it now says, “…However, our current planning assumption is that the next major release of Director will be announced in February 2008.” So it seems like we’ll hear about it next month.
This FAQ has changed quite a bit during 2007, but it continues to get narrowed down (a specified month is so much better than a ‘sometime in the 2nd half of the year’ statement). Back on January 10, 2006, Steve Jobs announced that the iMac would now be using an Intel CPU. It has been two years without a MacIntel version of the Shockwave plug-in (other than running in Rosetta…but please…that hurts). Can Director and/or Shockwave get back in the game after such a long absence? I guess we’ll find out this year.
Allen Partridge (the Adobe Director Evangelist) now has a blog up and running called Shockwaves that is all Director, all the time. Be sure to stop by to see it grow.
Looks like it will be a happy year for Director and my MacIntels.
January 23rd, 2008
The DevLearn 2007 Developers Conference started up today in conjunction with the Adobe Learning Summit. Dr. Ellen Wagner will be presenting several sessions at the conference. Two involve migrating from Authorware to other Adobe eLearning products. Dr. Wagner got a chance to speak during the BOF Director session at MAX 2007 where she talked about how Director is superb for creating serious games (immersive learning simulations).
Rick Jones (Adobe Senior Product Marketing Manager for Director and Contribute) also spoke at both of the Director sessions at MAX, and will be running a session called Creating Effective Serious Games with Director and Flash.
Adobe continues to heavily promote Director at various eLearning and game conferences across the country in the past few months. Adobe is definitely keeping busy.
October 9th, 2007
The video from the Director 11 Sneak Peek session has made it out on to the web! I’d heard that our company got mentioned in the session, and lo and behold, it was really in there. We (aka ExploreLearning) were the middle item listed under educational content publishers. A bit small in this picture, but I still feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
The video for this session is rather long (aka large file) so I’m turning it in to a FLV and we’ll see where I can put it up. Those on the Direct-L mailing list probably noticed where the video is currently sitting, and if you really need to see it soon you can go ahead and join the list to see the archives from this week.
October 9th, 2007
Seems as if Director 11 will be attending MAX 2007! Time to look in to getting reservations and such. Chicago in the fall…with Director 11. I can’t wait.
August 2nd, 2007
Adobe has recently been doing a few things in preparation for the upcoming (2nd half 2007) release of Director. A number of people received an email message that contained a link to a survey where Adobe was curious how people were using Director.
In a recent eLearning Guild email message the following was posted:
Help Shape the Future Development of Educational Applications and Serious Games: Would you like to help shape the direction of a new educational content and application development product from Adobe? StrategyOne will be conducting an online focus group for Adobe to talk about an exciting new product, and we want to hear your opinions and ideas. It will take place on Tuesday July 24th from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm Eastern time. In appreciation of your participation in the focus group, you will receive a cash incentive of $50. If you are interested in participating, please take a moment…
It turns out a good portion of this forum was dedicated to determining how the new version of Director should be marketed.
All I know is I can’t wait for a version that runs on my MacIntel that I’ve had for a year.
July 26th, 2007
A press release from MTV Networks’ Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group says they have committed $100 million to its online casual games business. From the press release:
Shockwave: Shockwave will become the games destination for families. Increased focus this fall on www.shockwave.com will be on the creation of innovative applications which are both fun for the user and an opportunity for prominent integrated advertising. The first new application to launch is Jigsaw Video. In addition, Shockwave will be more closely linked with family-targeted brands within Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group, like Nick-at- Nite television, to give advertisers the ability to promote their messaging across multiple platforms. Shockwave will also increase its publishing of downloadable games with Carrie the Caregiver Episode 2: Preschool, scheduled to come out later this year.
Jigsaw Video and Carrie the Caregiver (both the latter done with Director) were developed by Rob Gordon over at Article 19. I had the chance to work with Rob a few years ago, and I’m sure some of you have seen him on various mailing lists. I certainly hope he gets a slice of the pie since his games were featured. 🙂
July 19th, 2007
I noticed that The eLearning Guild will be running a two day long online forum on July 19 and 20. It is titled Strategies and Techniques for Building Immersive Learning Simulations (ILS). One of the sessions is titled Building Immersive Learning Simulations Using Flash and Director by Jennifer Jesse and Mike Drebenstedt of D10 Interactive.
…This session on immersive learning will discuss techniques for creating ILEs using Flash and Director. You will see examples of Flash and Director-based ILS as well as examine World of Warcraft, the most successful massively multiplayer online role playing game to date. You will examine the 8 Factors of Immersion that are used in this game and you will see examples of how you can replicate the functionality using Flash and Director. You will see development techniques and platforms used to create multiplayer-task-based gaming, Web-based chat, virtual environments, pedagogical agents, and database integration to store user data and integrate with learning management systems…
I saw this presentation in person earlier this spring and really enjoyed it.
July 8th, 2007
While on the topic of 3D (see previous post), a brand new Adobe Case Study got posted today.
It discuses Maid Marian Entertainment and how they use the 3D features of Director/Shockwave to create massive multiplayer online games (Sherwood Dungeon in particular). I know I loved Dungeons & Dragons when I was a bit younger 🙂
June 21st, 2007
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