MTV Promotes Rock Band With T-Mobile

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According to an announcement on IndustryGamers {link no longer active}, MTV Games has teamed up with T-Mobile, which has been named the official mobile partner of the Rock Band Network, to announce a new contest to spotlight emerging artists, and the Rock Band brand of course. The contest gives emerging artists the opportunity to submit their music for the chance to become one of the featured bands in Rock Band Network’s T-Mobile Artist-of-the-Month.

“Artists will be put in front of MTV Games music executives for the chance to get their song professionally authored into Rock Band gameplay, sold in the Rock Band Network Store, and be named one of Rock Band Network’s ‘T-Mobile Artists-of-the-Month.’ The selected artist will be featured for one month in promotions throughout the store and on the official game website,” MTV explained.

Check out the release on IndustryGamers {link no longer active} for more details.

Netflix Coming To iPad

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Netflix’s streaming movies service continues to gain steam. From a marketing and business standpoint, it makes perfect sense for the rental company to get its streaming service onto as many devices as possible. Netflix has already made its presence felt on the home consoles (starting with Xbox 360, extending to PS3, and now Wii), and soon it should be available on the newly launched Apple iPad, Mashable reports.

A blurb that leaked simply says, “Get Netflix on your iPad. Just download this free app and you can instantly watch TV shows & movies streaming from Netflix.” As with the streaming service on other devices, consumers will of course need to be Netflix members first, and then they can watch as often as they want. They’ll also be able to browse and manage movies in their queue right from the iPad.

In semi-related news, Mashable also noted that a Hulu app for iPad is also likely. Between Netflix and Hulu, video junkies who decided to buy an iPad should be pretty pleased.

EA Marketing Veteran To Spearhead Efforts At Social Gold

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The booming social games space has not only been a boon for developers, but thanks to the free-to-play, micro-transactions business model, virtual payment firms are on the rise as well. One such company is Social Gold, which has just this week recruited marketing veteran Mike Quigley. He’ll serve as Chief Marketing Officer, and will oversee the game developer and consumer marketing strategy and manage all marketing operations.

Quigley has a ton of games experience. He spent 10 years at Electronic Arts serving in various roles, including global product marketing leadership for key franchises such as The Sims, Need for Speed, Battlefield, Warhammer Online and Dragon Age. Prior to EA, Quigley worked as VP of Marketing for Go2net/Infospace.  He got his start in global brand management at The Walt Disney Company’s home entertainment division, working on major franchises including Aladdin, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, and The Lion King.

“Social Gold offers an innovative platform for monetization in the fast-growing online virtual goods market,” said Quigley. “I look forward to working closely with our partners to help build their virtual goods strategy and continuously improve their conversion and monetization rates from free-to-paid content. We have deep category expertise that we want to share with our partners based on the thousands of casual games and virtual worlds that are powered by Social Gold.”

Univision And GameSpot Producing Game Content En Espanol

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Univision Interactive Media today announced that they have partnered up with GameSpot. The gaming offsprings of the Univision and CBS network will help create a Spanish-language video gaming site on Univision.com, focusing on reviews, videos and news about popular games.

“Today s partnership enables GameSpot to extend its reach to one of the fastest-growing segments of the video gaming community,” said Simon Whitcombe, vp games at CBS Interactive to The Hollywood Reporter.

Univision Interactive Media will also translate some GameSpot content into Spanish and GameSpot will produce weekly Spanish-language content that will appear on Univision.com, with GameSpot EIC Ricardo Torres overseeing the production process.

“[This is] part of Univision’s company-wide commitment to providing U.S. Hispanics with best-in-class, Spanish-language video gaming content not currently available to them anywhere else,” added Kevin Conroy, president of Univision Interactive Media.

Fox Holds 24 Finale Ransom For $650,000

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24 is ending its successful eight-season run this year, and the ad prices are going up accordingly. Ad Age is reporting that a :30 second slot during the final episode will cost $650,000, much more than the $200,000 – $250,000 being sought up front and greater than the $500,000 that was being asked for before the series would be canceled.

This reflects a similar situation of how ABC has been seeking nearly a million dollars per :30 second slot for the finale of Lost. This is a new attempt to position the end of these popular shows as events much like popular sporting matches. Whether this tactic remains viable in the long term for dramatic shows that usually see their ratings erode over time remains to be seen.

NBA Playoff Ads Shooting Off Soon

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TNT announced that it is launching a major advertising push for the upcoming NBA playoffs. Singers Justin Timberlake and Jamie Foxx will lend the star power to their “Win or go home” campaign, which will be shown at 1,200 Regal Cinemas theaters nationwide.

“We’re going to start off strong in the run-up to the first round and really push hard to let everyone know that we’re the destination for the NBA playoffs,” said Christina Miller, svp of Turner Sports strategy, marketing and promotions to Ad Week. “It’s all about sustaining momentum and reaching fans across multiple platforms.”

TNT will also be emphasizing basketball on their Facebook page with polls, contests and branded “Win or go home” playoff picks. Other elements include videos of NBA YouTube channel, a take-over on Yahoo Sports’ home page on Wednesday, May 19, and ads posted on sites like NBA.com and SI.com.

“Once we can identify which teams will advance, the unfolding narrative will inform where we focus our messaging,” Miller said. “We’ll have people rewriting and re-feeding copy as events unfold.”

The NBA Playoffs will begin April 17.

iPad: Targeting The Wrong Consumer?

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The iPad is a device with all of the anticipation deserved by the creators of the iPod and the iPhone. However, PaidContent {link no longer active} thinks that the iPad is being marketed for the wrong consumer, based upon its capabilities and who would benefit from it.

They noted that the iPad’s capabilities are oriented towards casual PC users, where it could do simple tasks like surfing the internet, email, and watching videos. But they noted that simultanously, the lack of output ports on the device assumes the user is comfortable with moving data wirelessly not something all users, and especially not casual users, are accustomed to.

They note that one of the keys for the device in marketing may be in pushing it as a magical device, something that taps into consumers’ sense of wonder… a specialty of Apple’s. In the end, they believe the device will change personal computing and Apple will teach consumers to regard PCs in a whole new way.

Sony Talks PlayStation Digital

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SVP of marketing and PlayStation Network Peter Dille talked at MI6 about Redefining the Digital Living Room. He emphasized the demands of a modern digital consumer and noted that they want high levels of convergence among their devices.

“We started as a gaming company and we’re very proud of a gaming heritage, but we don’t see ourselves as just a game company, gaming will always be at the core of everything we’re doing,” said Dille [thanks IndustryGamers]. “With our roots firmly in the gaming arena, we actually regard ourselves more as a networked entertainment company today. We’re managing a network which allows for new business models and fosters a new relationship with consumers.”

Dille noted that PSN also now has an ad sales department, adding, “Online gaming isn’t just about competition, it’s also about socializing with your friends. The game console has become a powerful communication device. [Online gaming is] a brand statement, it’s a shared experience, it’s a form of communication all rolled into one.”

“Digital, to us, is going to augment retail, not replace retail, at least in the foreseeable future, and some of that is back to what consumers like doing. We are not willing to undercut retail because we don’t want the business to suffer,” said Dille, noting difficult conversations with Walmart. “It’s not always an easy seesaw to maneuver.”

Nintendo Reveals Metroid: Other M In-Game Footage

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Mario and Zelda are probably the two most important properties within Nintendo’s rich assortment of IP, but Metroid’s certainly no slouch, and the franchise has great appeal in the West. Nintendo’s taking an interesting approach with the upcoming Metroid: Other M (slated to launch in late June) by partnering up with Team Ninja. The game features classic, old-school 2D Metroid gameplay while still incorporating 3D elements. We’ve seen a number of promo trailers, but this newly released video finally dives headfirst into in-game footage. Wii owners will definitely be keeping an eye on this one. Check out the new trailer courtesy of GameVideos.com.

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Activision Shows Another Dimension Of Spider-Man

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The quality of Activision’s Spider-Man video games has been up and down, but the license from Marvel Comics remains quite valuable. Activision is starting to shed more light on its next Spider-Man game called Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, and today a new trailer has been revealed, showcasing the game’s attractive and unique art style. Dimensions, slated for release this September, features a story penned by acclaimed Marvel comic book writer Dan Slott. The game enables players to “travel through four different worlds as distinctly different versions of Spider-Man from four universes across Marvel lore, two of which are announced today: The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man Noir.” Check out the new video below.