"Have you played (insert game here)?" It's a question most of us have asked when considering a video game purchase, and the answers given are often more influential than marketing campaigns that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. A study released today by study released today by global integrated communications agency Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, and Harris Interactive. Industry trade groups, surveyed 507 adult gamers between June 6th to July 27th of this year, finding that 33% of those who had purchased a game within the six months prior to the study cited word of mouth from family and friends as the biggest influence on their purchase.

More powerful than friends are a subset being called "Influence Multipliers," friends who are more connected to other gamers, therefor having a much larger say in what other players play. Of the 507 surveyed, 21% were identified as "Influence Multipliers"

"Compared to all video gamers, Influence Multipliers are a hyper influential subset of friends who are also far more connected to other gamers," said Dan Gallagher, senior vice president, Insight & Analytics at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. "As a result, Influence Multipliers have an outsized network influence effect on their gaming colleagues. By targeting the media channels that Influence Multipliers rely on, marketers can optimize their marketing spending."

Gallagher's advice here is something that politicians have been using for ages. You don't have to influence everyone - just the ones who influence everyone else. Words to market by.

The remainder of the chart shows that advertising and promotions accounted for a mere 11% of influenced purchases, beaten by game reviews, demos, and retail presence.

I'd say that actual advertising is most effective for non-gamers, with gamers being so connected these days that we don't need advertisements to know a game is coming out. We don't need to be made aware of a game's existence, just its quality, and for that, we turn to each other. Group hug, everybody!

Being a big Nobuo Uematsu fan myself, MTO USA doesn't really have to market a $4.99 downloadable PSP puzzle game featuring his work in my direction. Were I not a fan, however, MTO USA marketing guy Scott Pelland would have had me at "ham sandwich." Pelland hypes up Kurulin Fusion in a post on the official PlayStation blog.

Did I mention that the game is now available for a mere $4.99? Let's put that into perspective. That's less than the cost of a ham sandwich here in Seattle. So, the question really is this; would you rather play an engaging game with world-class, imaginative music and endless replay value…or have a sandwich?

I vote GAME, and I've been a huge freaking sandwich fan for years - but I'd rather have fun than be fat.

So that's our marketing message: Have fun. Don't eat.

He makes a good point.

I'd discuss the game's mechanics, it's earlier incarnation filled with cute doggies, and the Johann Sebastian Bach connection, but Pelland does it all so much better. Read all about Kurulin Fusion at the link below.

Kurulin Fusion for PSP Available Today on PSN [PlayStation Blog]

Asked by MTV Multiplayer if Nintendo was disappointed by Chinatown Wars' showing, Dunaway said:

It's frustrating, quite frankly. Certainly there have been mature titles - Resident Evil, the first Call of Duty - that have sold over a million units and with something like GTA, there's great content there. We do think it'll have a long tail and we've seen that with a lot of titles across all genres on the DS platform that consumers continue to discover them. par. But part of what's needed is you have to continue to put marketing support behind these titles. It's one of the things we've learned over the past few years. The old dynamic of throw it on TV for a few weeks and forget it isn't going to work, because new consumers are coming in all the time.

See it for yourself in the entire video below:

Nintendo: 'GTA: Chinatown Wars' Frustrating Sales Due To Marketing (Or Lack Thereof) [MTV Multiplayer]

The prepaid card, announced Wednesday, "is a perfect marriage of encouraging responsible spending while providing a unique reward program," says EA Sports global marketing boss Todd Sitrin. Purchases accrue rewards points at more than 26,000 physical locations across the U.S., and more than 700 online retailers.

Like frequent flyer or other rewards programs, when a cardholder buys something, a percentage of that goes into a rebate fund for purchasing EA Sports titles. Although it's a debit card the balance is reloadable either from a bank account or buy purchasing other cards available at places like Walmart, CVS, Radio Shack and 7-Eleven.

If you really want this card but don't know where to find one, call 877-732-7114 and you can enroll over the phone.

Well, it was also called "the coming surprise," and, you know, ew. Alright, that was lifted out of context for a cheap laugh. Here's the verbatim post on Mass Effect 2's official fan page on Facebook:

Man, so much time tied up today in meetings and "secret stuff" I didn't get any time with ME2 at all. =( Still with the coming surprise for next week on the ME2 website, I'm sure fans will forgive me for no update. Did I, Evil Chris Priestly, just drop a hint? Yes. Yes I did.

Read literally, that could mean it wasn't Chris Priestly dropping a hint, but in fact it was Evil Chris Priestly his palette-swap nemesis from planet Zantrar 5.

Mass Effect on Facebook [via Hot Blooded Gaming]

But marketing it is, the latest in Electronic Arts' attempts to drum up interest in Visceral Games' Dante's Inferno, due early next year. We'll just have to wager a guess that the spot, the web site, the cross controller and kneeler accessory were the work of ad firm Wieden + Kennedy, responsible for some of EA's previous viral and non-traditional ads, like the Tiger Woods "Jesus Shot" video and Spore billboard campaign.

Mass: We Pray ties into the Heresy circle of Dante Alighieri's version of Hell—and the level of the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PSP game—but also lets Facebook users "damn" their friends and acquaintances. But that's not a very nice thing to do.

I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet, so I will be purposefully vague. This is exactly the srot fo trailer that makes me want to pick up a game that I normally would have no interest in whatsoever. Way to market outside of the embed window, Capcom.

Experience The Darkside [GameTrailers]

Or, so the above video, a Tony Hawk Ride "love story" would lead us to believe. Just a warning that there is some raw, uncensored skateboard riding on Xbox 360 controller action—and vice versa—in this here video plus some rather graphic birth footage. It's more instructional than overtly sexual, but you might want to shoo the lil' controllers and boards out of the room before watching.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, Tero Virtala, the RedLynx CEO, said that the pirated version his team sent out did not include leaderboard support, which Virtala called the "soul" of the game. In other words, the pirate version functioned as a kind of demo without being a demo, encouraging downloaders to grab the fully enabled version if they enjoyed the illicit one.

"Piracy is here, so how can we take advantage of that? What we did actually, on day one, we put that game immediately on all the torrent networks ourselves," Virtala said at the Develop Liverpool conference.

The 150,000 copies the game has sold since its launch matches the number of users with access to the leaderboards, Virtala said, so if the gambit didn't work, at least it didn't hurt. "At least people have not cracked our leaderboards yet," he said.

RedLynx: We put Trials PC Game on Torrent Sites [GamesIndustry.biz]

I preferred the footage in this TV spot back when it had story and context to it, but the original version was far too long for the TV audience. No, slice that puppy up, toss in some catchy music, and the TV-viewing public will be cemented to the screen for all of 32 seconds.

Look for these ads to run on your magical box sometime early next week.

Sure, it could use a little more footage from games that aren't Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Gran Turismo, Madden, The Beatles: Rock Band, Assassin's Creed II, Killzone 2 and Resistance 2—some Demon's Souls would've blended in quite naturally—but its clear Sony is starting to get epic.

Activision joined an all-star list of brands such as Bud Light, Captain Morgan's and Crunch Gym in paying for product placement, but no one got the treatment like Activision, in which a Guitar Hero showdown acts as a key plot device moving the story forward. Variety talked to Will Kassoy, the senior vice president of publishing for Guitar Hero, who said he "laughed hysterically," when he found out co-stars Vaughn and Favreau wrote "Guitar Hero 5" into the script.

"We thought it was a perfect way to showcase the new game," Kassoy said.

Of course it is. It wasn't a free one though, and one can reasonably assume Vaughn and Favreau's choice of Guitar Hero was more business than artistic tribute, and that's fine. That's how movies of this caliber get made.

It hasn't done too bad, though. "Couples Retreat" pulled in $34 million in its first weekend.

Activision, Universal Couple on 'Hero' [Variety via Joystiq]

But where was the game?

And there's something in EVERY balloon.

First chipping away at stone, now popping balloons. I'm happy Activision hasn't started doing this. I don't even want to know how they would have delivered Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2010.

Adult film actresses Krissy Lynn and Andy San Dimas also confirm the images on their blogs and make appearances as Red Riding Hood and Snow White – the two female leads in the game. Still no mention or sign of Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, but I don't think that's a huge loss.

Speaking on behalf of Playlogic, the rep (who asked to have their name withheld) said that the videos are currently "in submission" and not yet ready for public – er – consumption. "Pending any hiccups," they said, "they'll be finding their way into the wild very soon."

We'll let you know if or when we spot them, assuming the adult film stars don't beat us to the punch with their own blogs.

Ron Jeremy makes an appearance as what appears to be The Naked Emperor – one of the four playable characters in Fairytale Fights. But I have no idea who that chick is playing Red Riding Hood. Nor do I have any idea how they could take the mentally handicapped portrayal of Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk sexy – assuming he's even in the actual video.

We'll follow up with Playlogic to see if they've got the name of Red's actress — along with confirmation that these shots are actually from a real trailer. In the meantime, feel free to take a guess and thereby reveal your porn preferences.

ETA: Some of you have pointed me toward that "mystery" porn star's MySpace page where she blogged about her experience with Ron Jeremy a week or so ago. There're two extra pics there (including one of Snow White) and an amusing explanation of how this porn star was "lied to" about what the shoot was for.

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard might not have been the most competent game on the shelves, but the advertising and marketing were certainly top-notch. I'd dare say that many people bought the title on merit of its unique advertising campaign alone. It looks like D3publisher isn't letting up for the new game either, bringing Matt into the real world with this advertisement for a fake motivational seminar for old game heroes.

The question you need to ask yourself is, "Are your thighs mighty?" Well are they?

The original Left 4 Dead sold like gangbusters, thanks largely to word-of-mouth, positive reviews, and the $10 million that valve sunk into making sure everybody knew what the game was. The company now reaches even further, adding another $15 million worth of advertising for a game that is already one of its bestselling titles.

"We'll be supporting Left 4 Dead 2's launch with a $25 million campaign," said Doug Lombardi, Valve's vice-president of Marketing. "Left 4 Dead 2 has already set the record for greatest number of pre-orders in our company's history, and we're still over a month out from shipping."

In the U.S., that money translates into billboards, banner ads on gaming sites, and televised advertisements to run during UFC events and Monday Night Football. Europe will also see a ramp up in outdoor advertisements, along with print, television, and website ads.

It sounds like Left 4 Dead 2 will be everywhere you want to be over the coming month. Those of us already aware of the game will just have to wait patiently for release, practicing our "Yes, yes - we know" expressions."

We've gotten tips from a reader as well as Network 23, so far the only ones to post a picture of their delivery boy. All scenarios played out this way: Speedy Brothers showed up, asked the recipient to sign for a package, and then left behind a box wrapped in brown paper and string.

What was inside the box? A splicer mask.

The masks appear to vary. Reader Kevin L. received that one above. Network 23's (below) looks like a standard thuggish splicer mask.

The mask was accompanied by this letter:

Dear Friend:

Phil Isidore (of N.U.F.O.S.) has vouched that you are a trustworthy individual. Please - closely guard the contents of this package. I have sent it direct via courier out of concern that gov't personnel or unknown individuals may attempt to intercept it.

As you may know, I have been investigating anomalous phenomena related to the disappearence of my daughter. In the past, you've provided information that has helped my research. Now I need your input in a matter of utmost urgency.

I discovered the enclosed item in basement workshop owned by Orrin Oscar Lutwidge. I am desperately trying to uncover more regarding it's origin, manufacture, etc. Please examine it and let me know what you make of it.

Any information could help me find my daughter.

Thanks,

Mark Meltzer

I think this concludes 2K Games' masterfully executed roleplay marketing. I have no idea how many of these were delivered - for such personal service, it can't be that many, but who knows? I'd love to know if anyone puts these items up on eBay anytime soon. There's no way I'd part with one, were it mine.

Bioshock 2 Telegram: Part Two [Network 23]

That telegram above was sent to reader Andrew B., and also to three friends who comprise the Network 23 blog. If you can't read that, the text says:

ISIDORE VOUCHES THAT YOU ARE TRUSTWORTHY BE ON LOOK-OUT FOR A PACKAGE FURTHER EXPLANATION FORTHCOMING YOUR HELP URGENTLY NEEDED

=MARK G MELTZER=

Now, here's where the mystery begins. Why them, exactly? I spoke to Network 23's Colt Gauvreau, who said it may have something to do with the Rapture Record that all of them figured out how to order from the BioShock 2 hype site (and which Totilo received back in July.) Long story short, the Network 23 guys deduced that the site was strongly hinting that they should write to a P.O. Box - the same shown on this letter. That letter also wink-nudge asked people to submit pictures of the beach events. So it appears the records and/or the telegrams are premiums for accomplishing one, the other, or both.

A wife of one of Network 23's guys managed to snap a picture of the delivery boy:

After verifying the recipient's name and delivering the telegram, the messenger "jumped on his Pee Wee Herman-looking bike and rode away."

What does all this mean? What package may they expect to receive? Do we all get one if we hurriedly write a pretty-please to that P.O. Box?

Bioshock 2 Telegram [Network 23]

Sony Computer Entertainment America says the pair of Chilean promos were "totally fake." And so does the president of BBDO Chile, who said in a statement that the spots, one featuring Nazi imagery and the other a heart transplant from Joan of Arc, were "never approved" by Sony. Oh, and he has a public apology to go along with it.

This creative design did not involve and was never approved by Sony Computer Entertainment or Sony. This "mock campaign" was developed by BBDO Chile staff and was submitted to various creative competitions/festivals without prior notification or approval from SCE/Sony, and it is not representative of the views or advertising policies of SCE/Sony. BBDO Chile apologizes for using this creative concept without authorization or prior approval, and for its misrepresentation of the PlayStation brand and its values.


Cristián Lehuedé B.
Presidente Ejecutivo
BBDO Chile

Apology accepted! After the PlayStation thumb dick ad from last year, we can understand how BBDO Chile might think that all bets are off.