Sure doesn't take some folks long to figure out how to profit from mass hysteria. Case in point: SwineFighter.
Regardless of its playability value, this "viral" Flash game (pun intended) demonstrates just how quickly you can develop a basic 2D game using Flash to cash in on the pet cause of the day. The premise of the game is that infected porkers are invading the planet and need to be innoculated, lest they bring our very civilization to its knees. In case you were wondering, at last count over 16,000,000 infected swine had been injected with the spicy serum of justice.
HeyZap Flash Game Aggregator
More interesting than the game itself (which isn't very fun or particularly clever) is how it is distributed. I had never heard of it before, but the game is made available on HeyZap (presumably the sound one hears during a phaser-related friendly fire incident), a Flash game aggregator that allows a developer to easily promote his app across the Web. HeyZap provides a means of embedding their aggregator app into any website, allowing their member developers/distributors to propagate their products across thousands of sites. Very clever indeed.
So, the next time a new form of media-driven mass hysteria is hyped to level 5+ on the panic scale, you too can ca$h in (see: Y2K, avian flu - coming soon, vaccines causing autism, global cooling/warming/catastrophic climate change, the "population bomb", antiperspirant causing Alzheimers, hovering black helicopters listening to your dreams, etc.)
Please allow me to digress for a moment
Frankly, I think that people should forget about the deadly plague du jour and be more concerned with their levels of exercise and the quality of their diet. But then again, you won't likely see anyone making a killing off of Flash versions of "FibreFighter", "Touch Your Toes For Justice" or "The Extreme Sit-Up Throwdown".
That said, if the swine flu cases start to pile up, expect SwineFighter II Alpha Turbo Extreme Re-Mix to pop up on a Flash game aggregator near you.
Regardless of its playability value, this "viral" Flash game (pun intended) demonstrates just how quickly you can develop a basic 2D game using Flash to cash in on the pet cause of the day. The premise of the game is that infected porkers are invading the planet and need to be innoculated, lest they bring our very civilization to its knees. In case you were wondering, at last count over 16,000,000 infected swine had been injected with the spicy serum of justice.
HeyZap Flash Game Aggregator
More interesting than the game itself (which isn't very fun or particularly clever) is how it is distributed. I had never heard of it before, but the game is made available on HeyZap (presumably the sound one hears during a phaser-related friendly fire incident), a Flash game aggregator that allows a developer to easily promote his app across the Web. HeyZap provides a means of embedding their aggregator app into any website, allowing their member developers/distributors to propagate their products across thousands of sites. Very clever indeed.
So, the next time a new form of media-driven mass hysteria is hyped to level 5+ on the panic scale, you too can ca$h in (see: Y2K, avian flu - coming soon, vaccines causing autism, global cooling/warming/catastrophic climate change, the "population bomb", antiperspirant causing Alzheimers, hovering black helicopters listening to your dreams, etc.)
Please allow me to digress for a moment
Frankly, I think that people should forget about the deadly plague du jour and be more concerned with their levels of exercise and the quality of their diet. But then again, you won't likely see anyone making a killing off of Flash versions of "FibreFighter", "Touch Your Toes For Justice" or "The Extreme Sit-Up Throwdown".
That said, if the swine flu cases start to pile up, expect SwineFighter II Alpha Turbo Extreme Re-Mix to pop up on a Flash game aggregator near you.
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