Move over Mario! Redmond group developing a first for video games | Business

Forget Mario Brothers, Zelda, and Final Fantasy, a Redmond start-up is the first to put Twitter into a video game.

It began innocently enough, in their childhoods.

"My first video game?" asks Tony Hynes.  "It was the Atari 2600's Space Invaders."

"Mine was Atari 2600, and mine was Asteroids," says Chris Paladino, responding to the same question.

You mean your first video game wasn't Pac Man? I asked them.

"The Atari version of Pac Man was no good," Paladino chimes in. "The guy didn't even turn when he went around the corner, and he ate (power) pellets from the bottom of his mouth."

Yep, these guys definitely know their video games.  Hynes is the marketing director, and Paladino is what they call the Director of Community for a fairly new company called Promethium Marketing. But they worked together long before this new project began.  They were part of a team working on Microsoft's Xbox. 

Remember the Microsoft layoffs last year?  Hynes, Paladino, and friend and partner Nelson Rodriguez were all shown the door. They loved what they did, and they worked well together, so the trio went into business for themselves.

"It was an odd adjustment at first," Paladino said.

But the growing pains are over, with this week's launch of a first for the video gaming industry.

"We're infusing the power of 'social media' directly into the game platform," says Hynes.

Huh?

"Let's think 'Space Invaders' where things are coming at you, and you're trying to shoot them off," begins Paladino. "And it uses Twitter and your Twitter followers."

The game is called Tweet Defense, and it uses your Twitter account to create a very unique game. 

"Everybody's game experience is based on who you follow, and who follows you," says Paladino.

Sounds cool. How does Twitter feel about Tweet Defense?

"Um," Hynes begins hesitantly, "we hope they like it."  He went on to explain that there are a lot of applications using Twitter uniquely, and that the Social Media giant may still be trying to wrap its arms around the concept. 

In other words, Twitter hasn't got back to them yet. 

It's been a long climb out of the X-Box cradle for these three gamers.

"There's a lot of vindication with the release of 'Tweet Defense,'" Paladino says. "It's a really cool feeling to say 'HA!' "

The guys at Promethium promise more games using social media. Their unofficial motto?

"Life is too short to be bored," Paladino begins. "So, we don't want anyone to be bored, ever."