Marcopollo

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Blockdot

Blockdot is an interactive media studio based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 2001, Blockdot builds interactive entertainment experiences, including Advergames for both domestic and international clients; branded entertainment Web sites; widgets; social media applications; community applications; serious games for knowledge and training; cross-platform game development projects; game portal development projects and content; and strategic consulting.

Recent Projects:

Taco Fu: An arcade-style game for Taco Bell. In the game, you’re an expert in the art of "Taco Fu," forced to defend your honor – and your Taco Bell food – against a hungry horde.

Chevy Cobalt Labs: A cutting-edge Web site for Chevrolet, with fuel-injected fun and a street cred image. After signing up users can speed into four turbo-charged sections:

• Tricked or Trashed: Battle for bragging rights for the best Chevy Cobalt on the site
• Mod Street: Design computer-generated tricked-out Cobalts
• Street Showcase: Post pictures of Cobalts designed in Mod Street
• Track Challenge: Race for the checkered flag on the site’s spectacular tracks

Doritos’ Unlock the Xbox contest: Doritos asked gamers to submit their ideas for the first ever user-generated title for Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade. Thousands of entries were received, and Blockdot turned the ideas of five finalists into actual games.

Destination Insemination: A game promoting Universal Pictures’ movie Baby Mama — staring Tina Fey (30 Rock) and Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live).

Battlestar Galactica - Raptor’s Revenge: Based on the hit TV series Battlestar Galactica, the game challenges you to defend your Colonial Raptor against the attacking Cylon Raiders.

Now You Know Better! $1,000,000 Game Show: Blockdot’s launches "Now You Know Better! $1,000,000 Game Show” for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Players compete in a real-time trivia battle against celebrities like Gary Coleman (Arnold from Diff'rent Strokes), Dustin Diamond (Screech from Saved by the Bell) and Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth (The Apprentice).

History

Notable Dates:

05/1995 - Boxerjam.com, a Blockdot property, is founded by Julann Griffin, co-creator of television's Jeopardy! game show. Boxerjam.com launches as the gaming platform for AOL.com.
04/1998 – Blockdot’s founders release "Good Willie Hunting" recognized as the first political satire Advergame.
12/1999 - Blockdot's founders release "Elf Bowing," the first downloadable game to make it to the list of Top 10 PC Games installed. In just one month, it was installed 7.8 million times.
04/2001 - Blockdot launches Kewlbox.com, a web gaming portal, to serve as the platform for Advergame campaigns.
08/2005 - Media General (NYSE: MEG), a publicly owned communications company, purchases Blockdot.
05/2005 - Conan O'Brien plays Blockdot-designed Skittles game on his hit late-night comedy/talk show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
08/2006 - Blockdot releases the first game to utilize Yahoo! Map technologies with Find the Pink Spoon, an Advergame for Baskin-Robbins. This game became a Webby Awards finalist.
10/2006 - Blockdot releases game for Universal Pictures' Let's Go to Prison, featuring in-game video streaming.
10/2007 - Movie crew films the Blockdot team for a documentary covering the production of Doritos' Unlock Xbox.
02/2008 - "Now You Know Better! $1,000,000 Game Show" launches, allowing players to compete in live trivia battles against celebrities Gary Coleman (Arnold from "Diff'rent Strokes"), Dustin Diamond (Screech from "Saved by the Bell") and Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth ("The Apprentice").
03/2008 - Blockdot opens a satellite office in Austin, Texas.
05/2008 - A Blockdot gaming center is opened in Second Life, a 3-D virtual world popular with millions of users.

Awards

2008:

Adobe Systems

Adobe Site of the Day - Lord of the Rings - Unlock the Mines of Moria
Adobe Site of the Day - Chevy Cobalt Labs
Adobe Site of the Day - Now You Know Better! $1,000,000 Game Show
Adobe Site of the Day - Berry Brawl

2007:

W3 Awards

Silver Award - Search Engine Category
Silver Award - Pharmaceuticals Category
Silver Award - Employment Category

Davey Awards

Silver Award - Online Advertising & Marketing
Silver Award - Integrated Campaign
Silver Award - Interactive Multimedia

Internet Advertising Competition

Best Game Site/Interactive Application

Web Marketing Association

Best Game Site/Interactive Application

Promo Magazine

Best Small Budget Campaign

Adweek Magazine

BUZZ Award

Summit International

Summit Creative Award

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences

WEBBY Award

Texas Monthly Magazine

Bum Steer Award

2006:

Adobe Systems

Adobe Site of the Day - Find the Pink Spoon

MAA Worldwide Awards

Best Small Budget Campaign

Ad:Tech

Best Use of Rich Media

Dallas Observer - Best of Dallas Awards

Best Onscreen Unwind

2004:

Ad:Tech

Best Use of Rich Media

Dallas-Ft.Worth Interactive Marketing Association

Most Effective Use of Rich Media

SXSW Conference

Web Award

2003-2001:

Dallas Society of Visual Communications

Bronze Award – Interactive

Macromedia

Macromedia Site of the Day - HP Diego Smart Game

Entrepreneur Magazine

Best Business of the Year

Brandweek Magazine

Marketers of the Next Generation

Dallas, TX

Kidprov

A proposed deletion template has been added to the article Kidprov, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process. All contributions are appreciated, but this article may not satisfy Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and the deletion notice should explain why (see also "What Wikipedia is not" and Wikipedia's deletion policy). You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{dated prod}} notice, but please explain why you disagree with the proposed deletion in your edit summary or on its talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised because even though removing the deletion notice will prevent deletion through the proposed deletion process, the article may still be deleted if it matches any of the speedy deletion criteria or it can be sent to Articles for Deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached. Do you want to opt out of receiving this notice? Deb (talk) 12:05, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

References

1. Advergaming Developer's Guide: Using Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and Director MX By Rod Afshar

Blockdot

Hi. You can re-submit the article at the same title any time, as long as you are sure that it now meets the Wikipedia guidelines. Deb (talk) 16:34, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Speedy deletion of Blockdot

A tag has been placed on Blockdot, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G11 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article seems to be blatant advertising which only promotes a company, product, group, service or person and would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become an encyclopedia article. Please read the guidelines on spam as well as the Wikipedia:Business' FAQ for more information.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the article meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the article does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that a copy be emailed to you. Paste (talk) 18:07, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Blockdot Deletion

Please restore the deleted article for Blockdot. This article was already reviewed by one of the Wikipedia 'reviewers' and she highlighted the areas that she considered 'advertising'. We addressed those areas and believe that this deletion is not justified. Please let us know what you find 'offensive' so we can address. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Marcopollo (talk • contribs) 12:42, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your message. In future, please sign your messages by typing ~~~~ at the end.

While I'm happy to answer questions, it looks like your question could have been answered and resolved more quickly if you had used my message wizard. It's linked as "Talk" after my name and at the top of my talk page. Why not try it next time?

If you have a close connection to some of the people, places or things you have written about in the article Blockdot, you may have a conflict of interest. In keeping with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, edits where there is a conflict of interest, or where such a conflict might reasonably be inferred from the tone of the edit and the proximity of the editor to the subject, are strongly discouraged. If you have a conflict of interest, you should avoid or exercise great caution when:

1. editing or creating articles related to you, your organization, or its competitors, as well as projects and products they are involved with;
2. participating in deletion discussions about articles related to your organization or its competitors;
3. linking to the Wikipedia article or website of your organization in other articles (see Wikipedia:Spam); and,
4. avoid breaching relevant policies and guidelines, especially those pertaining to neutral point of view, verifiability of information, and autobiographies.

For information on how to contribute to Wikipedia when you have conflict of interest, please see our frequently asked questions for businesses. For more details about what, exactly, constitutes a conflict of interest, please see our conflict of interest guidelines. Thank you.

Blockdot was deleted under criterion G11 of our criteria for speedy deletion, as it was an article in the form of an advertizement. I would recommend that you take under consideration the recommendation of User:IronGargoyle at the deletion review, that is to create a user subpage to redraft the article from a neutral point of view. You should also consider whether

I do not consider any part of the article offensive, merely that it was, or appeared to have been, created solely to advertize a product. Wikipedia is not a soapbox and spam is taken negatively. Perhaps the business FAQ may answer some more of your questions for the time being. However, the deletion review has endorsed the deletion of the article as it stands, and there is no appeal possible from that decision. You are not prohibited from recreating the article, but you should seriously consider what I recommended above.

Finally, I notice you referred to "we" in your message. Please remember that role accounts (that is, accounts shared by multiple people) are not permitted on Wikipedia.

I hope you stay at Wikipedia and enjoy it here. Stifle (talk) 18:02, 31 July 2008 (UTC)