Add cel=shaded screenshots to the Australian rating, achievements and cover art for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants In Manhattan. The still unannounced game has leaked so much I’m beginning to suspect Activision is trying out a new viral marketing technique.
The hype for tonight’s Smash Bros. presentation, possibly the game’s final Nintendo Direct, is real. So real, people are trying to avoid spoilers for what’s basically a marketing video. It initially struck me as odd, but as someone who’s avoiding spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, maybe it shouldn’t.
Every year, when a new tech product is announced, the world divides into two kinds of people: people who line up to buy the New Shiny Thing, and people who rant about how New Shiny Thing sucks. Both of those groups of people are chumps. Loyalty to a brand—whether it’s love or hatred—is a poison that makes you stupid.
So, here’s something I wanted to write about. A two part post that talks about monetization and gaming in the video games industry. This first post will focus on the developers while the next (whenever I get around to it), will be on the consumers/gamers.
It's been almost a year since I stopped watching trailers. And I couldn't be happier. That's worth considering if you're losing your mind about an 88-second trailer for a Star Wars movie that won't be out for another 12 months.
It was a moment to bear witness to. This is how ludicrous the video game pre-order bonus had become. This is how low it had sunk.
Before we ever get to play most video games, we see ads for them. Usually they'll get us excited about the next chapter in a favorite franchise, or even a brand new one. But sometimes they take things too far. We've seen loads of ads that are meaningless or, worse, in bad taste. Ill-advised. Offensive, even.
A PR stunt for Ubisoft's new Watch Dogs game has backfired, with a Police bomb squad called to the offices of an Australian news station.
Far Cry 4's box art depicts a man wearing a lavish pink suit using what might be a religious statue as a throne. He has blonde hair and fair skin and his hand rests on the head of a man of color who kneels, passively, clutching a grenade in his hands. It's caused quite a stir.
"You won't like me when I'm angry" might make sense as a tagline for an angsty green monster like the incredible hulk. A pudgy little pink one? Not so much.
The recently released (and recently reviewed) limited edition Cookie Dough Oreos do not contain actual uncooked cookie dough. What they do contain, is a clever bit of mental marketing called 'permission'.
Sex sells. It's a cheap and simple ploy that video game marketers have used for years. The Chinese game industry is no different. In recent years, famous Japanese adult film stars have been tapped to represent and market games to consumers, but now, one of the country's biggest newspapers has come out against sex in…
Know for its scenic mountain vistas and sheep farms with an economy based on fishing, tourism and whiskey-distilling, Scotland's Isle of Skye is now the first real-world location officially twinned with a video game setting. One of the prettiest places on the planet, now a Skylanders: Swap Force marketing tool.
Mobile puzzler Dragon Academy didn't have millions to spend on cinematic trailers and E3 booths. Indeed, it ended up with a marketing budget of...$11.13. What can you get for $11.13? Some stupid Vine videos, that's what.
The "brand guidelines" for the new Xbox One have been published by Microsoft, and while they're intended for use by people like advertisers and partners, there's still some good stuff in there for people like you and me.
Mere days after the announcement of its $350 price tag and June release date, Nvidia's Shield Android handheld is already showing up in the background of popular television shows. Look what Modern Family's Luke Dunphy has traded in his Nintendo 3DS for.
Last night, an Australian TV commercial for the Wii U came on. My wife looked at it, then at me, then back at it, then at our Wii, before finally asking "wait, don't we have a Wii? What's this?"
The PS Vita has front touch and rear touch, giving the portable a new type of gaming sensation. Here, a French PS Vita promotional ad's interpretation of that dual touch sensation seems somewhat different.
Over the years countless researchers and marketeers have sought to split the ever-growing gaming population of the world into easy-to-understand categories. This latest attempt, crafted by predicative gaming analytics company Playnomics, makes more sense than many of those, narrowing us all down to eight gamer…
Every so often, I get to go behind closed doors and preview games early. Well, not before signing a non-disclosure agreement and sometimes giving proof that yes, this scrappy looking kid is in fact writing for [insert name of publication.]
