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Gwabs Desktop Battler

Posted in Games, Startups and Business, Technology by engtech on September 09, 2006

gwabs desktop battlerIt looks like Cambrian House is doing pretty well with their concept of Crowded-source Software. They already have several products developed.

One of the products is an online computer to computer fighting game called Gwabs. I’m impressed with how rapidly they go from idea to development. I decided to spend the $9.95 and support them (hey, they gave me an X-Box and a t-shirt). The pre-order deal looks pretty good, as it gives you an unlimited free play account, plus a pimp cane. Talk about knowing your demographic.

After the break, a trailer of the game in action.

Here’s a trailer of the game in action. I expect it to have issues for the first three months, but then rapidly improve. The $9.95 for unlimited free lifetime plays is worth it.

Here’s my completely unsolicited marketing advice. Develop a “cracked” version of the game and release it on torrent in the month of November. When Dec 1st rolls around, “update” so the crack no longer works. Now you’ll have a bunch of people who were playing it wanting to buy it all around Christmas time.

When it comes out you’ll be able to battle me for blog supremacy in real time. Yes, I threw down. That was a challenge.

Ctrl-Alt-Philippe runs a decent blog on the subject of Crowd Sourcing, and he covers Cambrian House quite frequently.

UPDATE: IT’S BEEN A FUCKING YEAR. WHERE IS IT?

7 comments

7 Responses

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  1. Dr. Entropic said, on September 12, 2006 at 1:13 am

    I have got to try that.

  2. crowdsource said, on September 12, 2006 at 9:25 pm

    What did you think of the pre-ordering process for Gwabs. I wasn’t convinced that it would inspire confidence to a Cambrian House ‘outsider’, as I wrote at:
    http://crowdsource.wordpress.com/2006/09/11/cambrian-house-pre-orders/

  3. engtech said, on September 13, 2006 at 12:04 am

    I don’t mind so much that the checkout site is Paypal branded, but I do agree that they needed the Gwabs logo on the list.

    I think the co-branding is intentional to bring attention to their other products.

    Looking forward to meeting you on the battlefield :)

  4. Matt said, on September 25, 2006 at 5:46 pm

    Hey

    I agree that they need a hook to catch people – limited trials etc. I’ve posted and seen posts to that effect all over the community board on CH. I’ll see what Aidan says about the idea. Hopefully as one of the originators of the whole idea they might listen to me :)

    Very green with envy you got an xbox off them :( I want one too :B

    m

  5. Matt said, on September 25, 2006 at 7:28 pm

    Just spoken to Aidan at CH.. apparently they got 61 pre-orders, and they’re working on a business model that is as cheap as poss with payment for add-ons.

    Cannot WAIT for this now!!

  6. Mark said, on February 28, 2007 at 10:25 pm

    Do you have to pay per game if you don’t pre-order?

  7. engtech said, on February 28, 2007 at 11:17 pm

    @Mark: http://www.gwabs.com/faqs.html

    What’s interesting is that it was supposed to be out last October. Looks like it’s going to be vaporware.


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