I'm going to assume you've all seen at least one skateboarding dog video in your lifetimes. If not, welcome to the internet. This rather obvious viral ad for Tony Hawk: Ride plays off the skateboarding dog phenomenon, starting off slightly plausible before building up to completely ridiculous.

This viral vid across the pond for Left 4 Dead 2 furthers the European co-opting of the zombie genre - as American as the Fourth of July, apple pie and loud mufflers - by applying all sorts of Euro words to zombie-fightin' weaponry. You don't have a chainsaw but you do have a what? "A ... 'strimmer'"?

The hell is a "strimmer"?

Looky here, beefeater. My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaddy kicked your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaddy's ass back in 1812, and then my granddaddy, forgiving all of that, bailed y'all out in the big Dubya-Dubya-Eye-Eye, so that I would grow up in a world where I had the inalienable right to call that goddamn yard tool by its proper generic name - "weedwhacker."

Video: Left 4 Dead 2 UK Survival 101 Viral Teaser [Gay Gamer]

Women in their underwear fighting over shoes...there is absolutely no way I could comment on the contents of this video without being accused of being a sexist pervert, and I am slightly tired of such accusations, so instead I will pose a question. What the hell is that red thing the second set of combatants is swinging around? It's driving me insane. Please send help.

UPDATE: Readers are telling me the red thing is a hair straightener, or flat iron. Not having hair myself, I never would have guessed. I love you guys.

Half-Life 2 sound effects, references to Black Mesa, and music from the television show Lost lead many Half-Life fans to believe that this first-person "demo film" is something more than a fan-made homage to the game, and the movie's website certainly lends itself to that idea. Whatsinthebox.nl features a pulsing cube with a question mark, along with credits naming Tim Smit as the primary creator of the video. Tim Smit is a young Dutch man who once won appeared on the Discovery Channel program Mythbusters, debunking a myth about phone books. The website's title promises that "Soon the world will find out", while poking about in the CSS files we find the phrases "Every medium, as its ancestors" and "Every pro, has his anti's, now you think about that."

Further poking about reveals an image, found here, which highlights some numbers in red and offers several lines of text, which YouTube commentors have discovered come from a variety of scientific papers.

So what the hell is going on? Honestly we've got no clue. It certainly could be a viral video of some sort, especially with the Game Developers Conference just around the corner, or it could just be a special effects demo for an up and coming effects studio, referencing the Half-Life series out of sheer love.

We've contacted Valve for comment on the video, but for now we'll just have to struggle over the initial question: What's in the box?

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

A word to the wise: be careful using your television remote around live-action Chris Redfield. You might want to quietly warn him first, lest the sudden powering up of the entertainment device cause him to pull his gun and shoot it dead. Live-action Sheva won't always be around to pull his head out from between his legs in your bathtub, so just use caution when operating electronic devices near an obviously traumatized veteran of the zombie wars.

The setting, a zombie-filled casino, certainly jibes with info we heard last Summer about the Las Vegas setting of Dead Rising 2, rumored to be in development at The Bigs developer Blue Castle Games. The trailer is too rife with viral marketing spin-off opportunities (Zombrex, eh?) to easily discount.

The not-so-subtly hidden "2" references throughout border on dead giveaway.

Regardless, zombies in Vegas with human hamsterballs? Sign me up.

"On the seventh day, we ran out of candy..."

Rare continue their series of Halo 3 'tribute' virals with this nod towards the 'Museum' ad.

For my money, it doesn't work quite as well as 'Believe' - mainly because the sombre woman in a Piñata mask they have got to play Leafos seems to be on the verge of turning the proceedings into a Bat For Lashes video.

Show of hands: Who's picking this game up? And which platform? Discuss!

Thanks for the photo, Chris!

Unfortunately for him, his phone message was pieced together from snippits of one of his favorite web programs, Red VS. Blue.

Starting last Wednesday he began receiving calls to his cell he didn't recognize. First a couple...then dozens...and now hundreds of phone calls from fans trying to decipher a secret message that doesn't exist. Messages posted to official and non-official forums alike stating that he is not part of the game have gone largely unheeded.

Luckily VanderZand is a big Halo fan with a healthy sense of humor, so he is taking the whole thing in stride, even going as far as to voice his disappointment over folks that don't talk to him when he actually answers the phone.

I even replied in a monotone voice "Are you calling about the Halo ARG?" and still some just hung up! How do you expect to get anywhere if you don't even have the balls to respond?

Who knew one game could be marketed so much in so many ways? Sony has posted a God of War II promotional/viral website that allows players to choose two different characters from the God of War universe and them watch them battle it out. So what makes this different than just playing the game? The characters are all portrayed by real actors. It's charming in it's way and some the character lines are delivered hilariously in that over enthusiastic high school theater style. A fun way to waste a few minutes and have a good laugh at people in silly costumes. I'm just glad Sony actually fessed up to this little piece instead of trying to make it look like it was fan made. My fighter of choice? Chubby Kratos! "I am chubby Kratos and I am all out of bubblebum!" Flynn De Marco

God of War II: Battle of the Gods [Sony - Thanks, Nick]

We've seen little of EA's entry into the next-gen skateboarding field, outside of some similar promo videos, but this latest episode popped up from the company today, featuring skater Jerry Hsu. While no gameplay footage is shown, it shows how EA is marketing the title. The choice of "viral" in the title was based on the filename, not my intention to cause some "buzz" about the title. Still I look forward to an alternative to the Tony Hawk series for my skateboarding fix. The only other update is a Hsu render after the jump.

Hmm. Not the facial expression I'd have hoped for with my public digital debut, but still looking pretty good! Michael McWhertor

The above clip appeared on a blog called "All I Want for X-mas Is A PSP." From that site:

here's the deal::: i (charlie) have a psp. my friend jeremy does not. but he wants one this year for xmas.

so we started clowning with sum not-so-subtle hints to j's parents that a psp would be teh perfect gift. we created this site to spread the luv to those like j who want a psp!

consider us your own personal psp hype machine, here to help you wage a holiday assault on ur parents, girl, granny, boss — whoever — so they know what you really want.

we'll let you know how it works for us. pls return the favor.

more to come,
c&j.

Marketing 101: If you going to do viral marketing, please avoid clusterfucks like pretending to be consumers order to appeal to appeal to other consumers. A bigger faux paux is doing things like creating a hardcore fanboy website and registering it under a marketing company. Real smart there, fellas. Brian Ashcraft

PSP Fake Viral Site [Something Awful, Thanks Babylonian!]

Those brilliant NeoGaffers managed to figure out the codes over on the Playstation 3's viral marketing site. Once you figure out what the symbols mean you can use them to spell out a list of words and unlock a bunch of freebies like soundtracks, wallpapers and tons o videos. British Gaming Blog was kind enough to upload and host videos for Lair, Genji, Motorstorm, Resistance: Fall of Man and Warhawk over on their site.

It looks like there's some new stuff there. Man, I can't wait to get my hands on Lair. Brian Crecente

PS3 Website Hacked {British Gaming]

Gears of War just got all viral on us. People who subscribed to the game's official site received an email this morning with a cryptic message and even more cryptic link.

The message seems to be a bit of coalition propaganda, but a dozen of the words in the paragraph are hyperlinks to the same page. The links all point to a sub-page of the Gears of War site called 48HrsExclusiveAccess. The page first shows a little black and white security video of Marcus Fenix in a prison cell and then goes black. You're give three matches to light and explore a wall on the page. If you click on any of the four messages you find there you get to see four different videos showing backstory and some gameplay.

More interesting is the fact that the dozen words that are hyperlinks in the email form the sentence: Marcus Fenix has been located. You have 48 hours to mobilize.

The question is what does that mean. It could mean that the linked page is only around for 48 hours or, let's hold our breath, that we will be perhaps getting a demo of Gears of War in two days.

Go, rend the site, let us know what you come up with. The full email is on the jump. Brian Crecente

48HrsExclusiveAccess [Gears of Wa, thanks to all the readers who sent in tips]

Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will Marcus triumph because Fenix of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera has will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition been of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to located the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition You of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared have to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will 48 triumph because hours of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the to Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered mobilize Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition. Trust in the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Sera will triumph because of the Coalition. The Locust are weak compared to the Coalition.

These come from deep in the bowels of Sony itself, via blindfolded carrier pigeon that's signed an NDA.

What the hell is it?! There are hints.

So I've attached some png's of the playbeyond site, it's currently just a graphic featuring the clock stopped at 3 but it will become something much more when it goes live. Yes this will be an ARG of sorts. That's all I can say for now... drop me a line in future and I might be able to tell you more.

Stay tuned, Kotaku Scouts. I'll be bringing you updates when I can. Hit the jump to see them all full size. Eliza Gauger

Anything that features exploding bunnies is A-OK in my book. a cool little viral site for Splinter Cell: Double Agent just popped up. The Fifth Freedom looks like an infomercial for a spy start kit, complete with weapons, disguises and Bleed Out, a blood stain remover. Toupee-wearing John Badsky talks to callers and pitches the Girls of the NSA calendar with equal alacrity. And then there's the Morality Test with the cutest big-eyed bunnies you've ever seen. Man they make a mess when they explode. Brian Crecente

My Fifth Freedom

How Wii Play, Nintendo's MySpace site for the Wii, has been holding a cool little video contest that asked people to create something that shows how people will play with the Wii. Here's two of my favorites. What do you think?

How Wii Play Brian Crecente

Valve, you don't need to go viral to interest me in Portal. You had me at reaching down, fiddling with my junk, then saying "Hello." But now, you've given us Aperture Science.

Login with any name, then use the password PORTAL. You can also type HELP at the beginning.

And from there, you can really see what Erik from Old Man Murray has been doing with his time since he was hired at Valve. Florian Eckhardt

Another wee flash game to fill the long minutes between popsicles, Toon Crisis is a marketing effort by Walkman, but makes up for it by featuring the fantastic music of Gogol Bordello.

From Killer Viral comes this excellent rail shooter, an advergame for the Sony mp3 Walkman Flash—but don't let that turn you off. Each shooting stage is wonderfully integrated with video footage of London streets, with the above mentioned Gogol Bordello providing suitably manic background music. The enemy cartoons in question are also well integrated with the background scenery, moving behind and over background objects and in and out of doors and windows as they try to take you out.

The game equips your with a walkman and a shootin' finger, and nasty little cartoons attack from various hiding places and jump at your terrified face. Pew pew pew! Eliza Gauger

More Here [Jay Is Games]

I'm not sure when this went up or how it got under our radar, but SwarmWatch.com seems to be Dead Rising's viral marketing effort, and it deserves a lot more attention than it's gotten.

SwarmWatch takes the form of a post-infection online newsletter for both the living and dead, much in the style of the Onion.

Willamette, USA - The President's next stop on the campaign trail mixes things up. Willamette is on full alert to contain the infection in time for the President's arrival. The high school gymnasium is full, and a chain-link corral has been engineered on the southern meadows. Willamette Police have lured the dead with a trail of raw beef, chicken gizzards, and pig parts. The police estimate that they have contained 30% of the zombie population. "The game plan for when the President arrives is to obfuscate and distract," says Police Chief Dan Badge. "We'll have 300 officers on-call to intercept wayward dead and to pretend to interact with zombies in the President's line of sight."

Also on the site are zombie dating guides, opinion articles, life stories, and lots and lots of photographs like the one at right, as well as zombie footage. I love it. Eliza Gauger

Swarm Watch! [thanks JKTrix!]