Due to the flurry of activity this first quarter for EVO, we haven't had a chance to properly update our company blog.  Here's a quick peak as to what we've been upto the past few months (aside from our usual tasks with DevHub.com):

  EVO's official white label of the DevHub platform specifically targeted for the Yellow Pages and Telecom industries officially launched in mid-January.  All the great tools on DevHub.com are now available to be customized and packaged to meet the needs of these industries' small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs).

The recent decline in yellow page print and traditional telecom services, in addition to the explosion of Internet and mobile usage, has forced companies in these related industries to rapidly evolve their service offerings.  With DevHub Yellow, these companies can now offer a full-fledged website and hosting solution to their client base, built with the ...

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The guys over at Gamify, Inc. filed an application to trademark the word "Gamify" in the way we all know and use it today. We couldn't sit on the sidelines and let one individual or company own an idea that is so important to us and everyone else involved in gamifying online experiences.  

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We recently returned from a one day Gamification Retreat hosted by our game mechanics partner, BigDoor (thanks Keith, Jeff, and team!). Lead by online community and social gaming expert Amy Jo Kim, a lot of great ideas came out of the group discussion and EVO Media Group's CEO, Geoffrey Nuval, recently put his notes up on his WebHub.

Here's the link to the post: http://geoffreynuval.devhub.com/blog/530752-my-notes-from-jam-session-lead-by-gamification-guru-amy-jo-kim/

Here's a pic of the event (devatar sighting!):

Just checked email and looks like FaceBook Seattle is having a party to celebrate the recent opening of their offices up here. 

Price of Admission: solving this puzzle.

Link to the rest here. 

What did they just pull?  They created a competitive system in which people with certain skills can be rewarded for completing certain tasks. 

What? They gamified their party invitations.  

What is it really? A way for them to recruit for their Seattle office.

Note: Genius. +10,000 xp

Wait, what kind of party is it going to be like?  

;) welcome to Seattle, FaceBook.

This informative talk, given by gamification and social media expert Amy Jo Kim (CEO of ShuffleBrain), is over a year old but still very relevant to what we're doing over here at the EVO Media Group.

EVO Media Group's CEO, Geoffrey Nuval, recently wrote a couple interesting posts on gamification on his WebHub.

One is about the Gamification of DevHub and reasons why.

The Other is about the Gamification of Music with the coming of Rock Band 3.

The former shows how a real world system (website building platform) was transformed with gaming elements.  The latter talks about going the other direction, how a game is becoming more of an application for the real world.  Check it out and leave your thoughts!

Looks like the word 'gamify' and 'gamification' is starting to become a buzzword in the tech press.  Cool!  Xconomy actually recently did an interview about gamification with the EVO Media Group's CEO and DevHub.com creator, Geoffrey Nuval.

Here's the link to the whole article:  Geoff Nuval talks about the New DevHub, Adding Fun to Business, and the Future of Gamification

Here's a snippet of the article...

Xconomy: What’s the history of your involvement with the Web gamification trend?

Geoff Nuval: DevHub, the EVO Media Group’s flagship product, is one of the first products on the Internet to completely undergo the full gamification process. Remember, a few months ago it was purely a website builder. Now it is a rewarding, social, fun website-building game with characters called Devatars running the show!

In essence, DevHub is our proof point in the gamification movement that a well ...

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UPDATE 7/11/2010: JESSE SCHELL JUST WROTE ABOUT US IN HIS BLOG: GAMEPOCALYPSENOW.  THANKS JESSE! 

Jesse Schell, founder of Schell Games and former creative director of the Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, spoke about how elements of gaming are creeping into everyday life. 

EVO is building the systems to help move this forward!!!

More content to come very shortly....