“Shaun has been riding for Target for nearly seven years, so this exclusive version of Shaun White Snowboarding was a natural fit for our relationship with him,” said Troy Michels, Target Lifestyle Marketing. “It’s great to see the Target brand brought to life alongside Shaun in the game and we’re confident that Target guests and gamers will be eager to see what has come from our collaboration in the Target edition of Shaun White Snowboarding.”

Lovely! I see no problem with this whatsoever. In fact, I would probably be more up to buying Splinter Cell: Conviction if they place an entire level inside a McDonald's Playland. "There were plastic balls everywhere and blood...so much blood." The very notion fills me with such glee. Glee!

Target To Offer Special Edition Of Ubisoft®’s Shaun White Snowboarding Video Game Exclusive Version of the Highly Anticipated Action Sports Game Hits Shelves This Winter

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Oct. 8, 2008

Snowboarding phenomenon and Target athlete Shaun White will be riding his way into Target stores this Winter with an exclusive edition of Ubisoft’s newest action sports title, Shaun White Snowboarding.

The special Target edition of the game, available on Xbox 360®, PLAYSTATION®3 and Wii™, will have exclusive extended content and features that consumers won’t be able to find anywhere else, including the Target Mountain – an entire mountain environment found only in the Target exclusive edition. Gamers will also be able to take advantage of exclusive jibs, additional scenes and more characters. Additionally, players will be able to cozy up in the game’s virtual version of the Target Chalet, the real-life mountainside home where Shaun and his fellow Target athletes hang out with friends and family at the annual Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado. Among other exclusive features, the Target Chalet is the only indoor environment anywhere in the game.

Target guests are now able to purchase a $5 pre-sell card to ensure they’ll be shredding the mountain as soon as the exclusive version hits shelves.

“Shaun has been riding for Target for nearly seven years, so this exclusive version of Shaun White Snowboarding was a natural fit for our relationship with him,” said Troy Michels, Target Lifestyle Marketing. “It’s great to see the Target brand brought to life alongside Shaun in the game and we’re confident that Target guests and gamers will be eager to see what has come from our collaboration in the Target edition of Shaun White Snowboarding.”

Shaun White is an Olympic Gold Medalist and has 42 professional wins, including seven Winter X Games gold medals. He was also the first athlete to win gold medals in Winter and Summer X Games in unique disciplines. White has collaborated with Ubisoft’s award-winning development team to create Shaun White Snowboarding. The game features open-world mountains across the globe, where players are free to define their own experiences, and express themselves through tricks, unique riding styles, and highly customizable avatars. Players can also hang out with their friends and have fun off the board by throwing snowballs, hiking to access secret spots, and filming their friends doing tricks.

“I’ve had a blast working with the Ubisoft developers, and we’ve created a game that’s really different from any other action sports game,” said White. “I think it really captures my style, and I can’t wait to see what Target guests think of the extra features we’ve made just for them.”

For more information about Shaun White Snowboarding, please visit www.shaunwhitegame.com.

“Our goal is to create an entertaining game that also embraces the rich history of Dairy Queen and its place within the community“ Brian Kirkvold, Executive Producer for GameMill Entertainment.

I don't know about your community, but in mine Dairy Queen's place in the community is that store you drive by on the way to Cold Stone Creamery or Bruster's, perhaps giving it a sideways glance, surprised it still exists. DQ Tycoon will be hitting stores on the 1st of December, at the height of ice cream season.

Ready, Set, Soft Serve!

Dairy Queen® Being Served on PC and Macintosh

Raleigh, NC (September 8, 2008) – GameMill Entertainment and Spark Plug Games today announced the development of a new time management casual game based on the Dairy Queen® property, titled DQ Tycoon. The product will offer players the ability to manage a series of Dairy Queen® stores in a community with daily challenges including the creation of Blizzard® flavor treats for a rush of customers.

“GameMill and Spark Plug Games have captured the essence of what makes Dairy Queen so popular in communities across the country.” Jill Anderson, Senior Marketing Manager for International Dairy Queen “We look forward to working with them in the coming months to help finish the game and bring it to DQ lovers everywhere.”

Dairy Queen Tycoon will be one of the first time management games to have a strong brand behind it on the PC. Throughout the game, players will create Blizzard® treats, dip Dilly® Bars, and decorate the popular DQ Cakes. After hours, the player will manage the operation of up to four DQ stores, upgrading machines, managing staff, and keeping business running smoothly.

“Our goal is to create an entertaining game that also embraces the rich history of Dairy Queen and its place within the community“ Brian Kirkvold, Executive Producer for GameMill Entertainment.

DQ Tycoon will be available at retail stores across the country and online through many portals beginning December 1, 2008.

“Aside from being a great excuse for ‘research’ trips to our local Dairy Queen store, it is fantastic to be working with a strong brand that is recognized for its community involvement,” said John O’Neill, President of Spark Plug Games. “We are building a product that represents our passion to create entertaining games for the mass market.”

Lego Indiana Jones Flash Game [Lego.com - Thanks Fyren!]

Last year Toyota launched virtual Scions in Whyville, opting this year to hold the event somewhere people have actually heard of.

So many questions I have. Why buy a car when your character can fly? For role-playing purposes? Speaking of role-playing, can two avatars fit in the backseat? Can you have virtual sex in a virtual car within a virtual world, and if so do you have to buy virtual upholstery shampoo to get the seats clean afterwards? Michael Fahey

Toyota's Scion parks in Second Life [CNN.com - Thanks Michael!]

Say what you want about "advergaming", but personally, I'm 100% on board with four dollar Xbox 360 games featuring the Burger King. One look at this Sneak King trailer and I think you'll agree that camping out for the third time in a month for games does not sound totally irrational. Michael McWhertor

BK 360 Games (Officially) Announced [Kotaku]

The New York TImes' Rob Walker put together a very interesting story that looks at subversive, anti-advergames. Yes, I know, that doesn't sound like that could be interesting, but Walker found a law professor who is writing a paper about people who subvert the messages of advertising to make them into negative messages. Fordham University law professor Sonia Katyal calls it semiotic disobedience.

As a term and a concept, semiotic disobedience is a riff on two earlier ideas. One, of course, is civil disobedience. The other is "semiotic democracy," a coinage of John Fiske, a media scholar whose 1987 book "Television Culture" described the ways in which audiences create their own interpretations of mass entertainment. Katyal's combination, then, refers to the reinvention or subversion of logos and other symbols of commercial persuasion as part of a battle to redefine their meaning in ways that are frankly oppositional. Her research, she told me, evolved out of her interest in the way certain artists alter billboards with antibrand or anticapitalist messages. While this practice (variously referred to as brandalism, subvertising, culture jamming, adbusting, etc.) has gone on for years, it's often dismissed as a nuisance, agitprop or, of course, a crime.

While Katyal's upcoming paper doesn't address video games, Walker does a good job of putting her ideas to work in explaining games like Ian Bogost's Disaffected. Brian Crecente

Gaming the System [NYT]

Why Hollywood feels it necessary to recreate The Hills Have Eyes is beyond me, but I suppose it is inevitable. The website to promote the movie has a flash game that delivers the sort of sub par, flat experience I fully expect the movie to bask in. Check it out if you want a taste of what the movie has in store for you: no plot and endless roaming through darkened tunnels punctuated by the occasional scare.

The Hills Have Eyes 3D Game [THHE]