Hey Kids, Sweet Robot!

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Funcom is preparing to roll out its first youth-targeted massively multiplayer online game, Pets vs. Monsters.   The publisher recently made known its plans to target younger gamers with its MMO role-playing fare under the label Sweet Robot.  As the first Sweet Robot game enters beta, the game maker talks to Gamesindustry.biz about how it reached the conclusion that there is a market for youth-oriented fantasy role-playing games.  It’s a strategy Funcom is planning to pursue even as it continues developing more hardcore-targeted MMOs such as Age of Conan.   As Funcom producer Jon Wright explains, it s about giving children a nice, gradual introduction.

Read the interview with Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas and producer Jon Wright at Gamesindustry.biz.

Social Media Failures

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Writing for iMedia Connection, Drew Hubbard outlines five common mistakes brands have made in the way they use or in some cases don’t use social media networks.  Failure to moderate, failure to respond, misidentifying failures; the word fail colors his piece, as do a few cringe-worthy examples.  Throughout it, Hubbard’s arguments and examples manage to highlight one thing: whether it s companies or celebrities, the culprits might have known better if they understood the nature of social media.

Read Drew Hubbard’s article at iMedia Connection {link no longer active}.

Another Down Month For Games In NPD Sales Report

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NPD Group s report on November games sales has likely sealed the fate for a down year for the industry in 2009.  As reported in Industry Gamers, NPD s report for the month shows a worse than expected eight percent decline in overall game sales compared to the same period last year.

Just as they did last month, and despite the year s highest-profile releases hitting in November, declines again affected software and hardware.  Sales of software fell just over three percent to $1.4 billion, with a large portion of the revenues attributable to the estimated 6.1 million units of Modern Warfare 2 sold by Activision.  The game represented the month s two best-selling SKUs, topped by its 4.2 million units sold on Xbox 360.  Rounding out the top five software were Nintendo’s The New Super Mario Brothers with about 1.4 million units, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II Xbox 360 SKU with about 795,000 units, and EA’s Xbox-only title Left 4 Dead 2 with 744,000 units.

Hardware sales fell more than thirteen percent to approximately $1 billion.  The console competition had Nintendo on top again, selling 1.26 million units of Wii along with 1.7 million DS systems.  Microsoft reclaimed second place with about 820,000 units of Xbox 360 compared to Sony’s approximately 710,000 units sold for PS3.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier told Industry Gamers that a down year for games compared to 2008 is looking imminent, as December sales would need a 36 percent spike for break even.  She predicted 2009 total revenues would still reach $20 billion.  Read more at Industry Gamers {link no longer active}.

IGN To Run MSN Game On

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IGN Entertainment has partnered with Microsoft to operate the MSN videogame network Game On, reports MediaPost.  IGN will provide syndicated game content from its own game sites and take over Game On’s ad sales efforts.

The content syndication component of the partnership helps further expand IGN Entertainment s reach in the online entertainment category.  Citing comScore Media Metrix data, MediaPost says News Corp. owned IGN reaches nearly 48 million unique users.  Among the network of IGN sites are game sites IGN.com, GameSpy and TeamXbox, digital game content download sites FilePlanet and Direct2Drive, film site Rotten Tomatoes, and lifestyle site AskMen.com.  IGN already syndicates game content to Xbox Live, Yahoo, Hulu and MySpace.

Read more at MediaPost {link no longer active}.

‘Avatar’ Runs Amok Abroad, On YouTube

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James Cameron’s big budgeted film Avatar launched a YouTube takeover campaign in fifteen international markets to promote its December 10 world premiere, reports Brand Republic.  The campaign continues today to support the film’s opening to the public.

Brand Republic says the campaign first enlisted YouTube Power Users to promote yesterday’s premiere by letting them film the red carpet from a fans’ perspective.  Starting today, the campaign expands into a site takeover of YouTube’s home page, including a masthead featuring a trailer for the film.  The takeover campaign is running across Europe as well as Australia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Hong Kong.  Brand Republic says the campaign by Avatar distributor Twentieth Century Fox is similar to the one it ran for the summer blockbuster Wolverine: X-Men Origins.

Read more at Brand Republic.

Nielsen Sells Entertainment Trade Media And Show Properties

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Nielsen has sold magazine properties in its slate of entertainment and advertising trade publications to e5 Global Media Holdings, reports Business Insider.  Magazines sold by Nielsen include The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, The Clio Awards, Backstage, and Film Journal International.  The company also sold Film Expo trade shows ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo International and CineAsia.

Business Insider says the buyer, Global Media, is a limited liability company held by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners.  Nielsen says the sale is intended to keep it focused on parts of its portfolio with the most growth potential.

Read more at Business Insider {link no longer active}.

MI6 Game Marketing Awards Accepting Entries

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The 2010 MI6 Conference has put out a call for entries for the Game Marketing Awards being handed out at the event.  The awards are open to game companies, advertising agencies and individuals who created promotional material for games.  The criteria for entering is that the promotional material to be considered must have been publicly released in 2009.  Entry fees vary based on early bird and late entries leading up to a drop dead deadline on February 5, 2010.

The MI6 Conference takes place April 1, 2010, in San Francisco.  Get more information at organizer PromaxBDA’s web page for the 2010 MI6 Conference {link no longer active}.

Auto-Tune The Sony Ad

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Sony has paired up with Auto-Tune the News to get more mileage out of its celebrity endorsed Panel of Experts TV campaign.  The company has put out a viral video that gives spots from the campaign featuring Justin Timberlake and Peyton Manning the Auto-Tune the News treatment.    Two from the group who started the YouTube phenomenon, where they use the audio software Auto-Tune to remix news segments, make an appearance in Sony’s video.

Watch it at YouTube.

Milking ‘The Office’

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Kellogg is pushing its Raisin Bran Crunch cereal with a funny, creative, and heavily derivative viral video introducing a mild-mannered, cereal-crunching alien named Miles Melman.  Melman borrows his looks from Alien designer H.R. Giger.  As for dialogue and comedic delivery, as well as the overall tone of the production, the video openly channels Ricky Gervais original The Office BBC TV series and his character from the show, David Brent.

Watch it at YouTube {link no longer active}.

Establishing Shots

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EA has released a trailer being billed as the intro cinematic from its upcoming sequel Army of Two: The 40th Day.   The spoiler of a title page aside, the opening sequence depicting a seemingly normal day in Shanghai through a tourist’s lens is deftly directed, with subtle setups and visual clues that a conflict is about to enter the everyday setting.  It’s worthy of a film.  Part of its impact comes from the reality cum fiction premise of devastation befalling a mostly unsuspecting metropolis.

Watch it at GameTrailers {link no longer active}.