Twilight Saga: Eclipse Owns July Fourth Weekend

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The fourth of July is traditionally a large movie weekend in the U.S. and 2010 proved no different. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was the top grossing film, taking in $69 million over the weekend and raising its total to $161 million since its open last Wednesday.

The Last Airbender was in second place, taking in a little over $40 million on the weekend and having a $57 million take since its Thursday opening. The M. Night Shyamalan film took in this total despite nearly universal negative reviews from critics.

Meanwhile, Toy Story 3 continues its strong run with $30.2 million. Rounding out the top five were Grown Ups and Knight and Day, that took in $18.5 million and $10.2 million over the weekend.

Source: MTV

Next Spider-Man Cast

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Sony recently revealed that relative unknown Andrew Garfield will play Peter Parker in the next Spider-Man film. The American born and British raised actor has seen good reviews for his appearances in mostly smaller films like The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Social Network, Never Let Me Go and Boy A.

“Though his name may be new to many, those who know this young actor’s work understand his extraordinary talents,” said director Marc Webb. “He has a rare combination of intelligence, wit, and humanity. Mark my words, you will love Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker.”

“In the Spider-Man tradition, we were looking for a smart, sensitive, and cool new Peter Parker who can inspire us and make us laugh, cry, and cheer,” said producer Avi Arad. “We believe we have found the perfect choice to take on this role and lead us into the future.”

Garfield was likely cast because of his relatively low asking price, not being a big star (at least yet). The next Spider-Man will begin filming in 3D in December and is expected to release on July 3, 2012.

Immersiveness Factors Into Virtual World Purchases

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First Planet Company and Florida State University recently released the results of a study on virtual buying habits. Conducted during the recent Miss Calypso beauty pageant on Planet Calypso, the study suggested that the more immersive a game environment is, the more likely a player is to have intent to buy a product they see.

“This study was successful in demonstrating that an individual’s perceptions of an activity lead to a mental state that creates positive brand attitudes and subsequent purchase intentions.  More specifically, virtual worlds create opportunities for participants to lose track of time in enjoyable brand related activities,” said Rob Hooker, doctoral graduate from the College of Business at Florida State University. “This creates a mental state which contributes to a participant’s attitude about a brand. Ultimately, this strongly influences the participant’s intention to purchase a product from that brand. 63 percent of participants from this study indicated that they would purchase Calypso clothing following the activity.”

Nintendo’s Miyamoto: ‘We Need New Game Characters Soon’

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Nintendo has one of the strongest software offerings in the world, though they are occasionally criticized for being too reliant upon existing franchises. Shigeru Miyamoto is aware of this tendency, and discussed it when asked at a stockholder meeting about Nintendo s next title.

We need new game characters soon, said Miyamoto. Maybe we can move forward on that next year.

Source: Sankei Shinbun

Chicago Marketing Agency Courts The King

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Attempts to woo NBA free agents have never been this elaborate, and Leo Burnett has pulled out all the stops to try and get LeBron James to Chicago. They took out an ad in the Akron Beacon Journal, showing Michael Jordan’s iconic silhouette cast over the Chicago cityscape.

“LeBron, the fans of Chicago have a question for you,” reads the two-page ad in James’ hometown paper. “Can you cast a shadow this big ”

This was followed up with a box of the classic red, white and black Air Jordan sneakers sent to James’ house, with the lid asking if he could fill the shoes. The next day, seven empty ring boxes were delivered (representing one more championship than Jordan) which was followed by a Chicago Tribune mock up in a decade saying “Sweet Throne, Chicago: With Title No. 7, It’s Officially King James’ Court.”

“It was a gutsy idea,” said Leo Burnett creative director Patrick Rynell. “But we also figured he’s a guy who’s got a sense of humor. A good challenge, a good in-your-face dare would kind of lighten the mood, show what Chicago’s personality is about.”

Source: Chicago Tribune

Sony WWS President Wants To Work With Nintendo Promoting 3D

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Nintendo has been harping on their no glasses 3D technology for the 3DS ever since the device was introduced. This seems like a purposeful affront on Sony and the 3D they’re pushing for the PS3, which requires both glasses and a compatible TV. Despite that, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida thinks that both companies should work together to promote 3D as a medium.

“I have hope that they have a broader perspective with 3D,” Yoshida said. “When you listen to what they are saying about the effect of 3D perspective to the games, they are saying the same message we are, but they don’t have to bash some small part of what the other company is doing.”

“I think as an industry we should preach this new perspective, from a very large cinema screen to a small portable, because that helps advancing the games and the game industry,” he continued. “We’d like to work together to promote 3D.”

Yoshida said that he thinks certain sorts of experiences are better suited to the glasses technology. “If you really want a big theater experience, of course you have to wear glasses,” he said. “With the latest technology, the glasses are light and you kind of forget you’re wearing them after awhile.”

Source: IGN

Home Director Says Virtual World ‘Has Been A Huge Success’

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PlayStation Home is one of the biggest enigmas in the gaming industry, being the only online virtual world on consoles. While its appeal eludes some gamers, PlayStation Home director Jack Buser thinks that unfamiliarity breeds this skeptical attitude.

“Home is new. We’re doing a lot of really new stuff that I think the industry is still wrapping its head around. We’re seeing a lot of innovation in the space, and some of us have hit success,” said Buser. “And I think it takes some time as the industry as a whole, whether that be consumers or whether that be the media, to start to shift their focus to these new types of platforms and see how people are actually spending their time with the console and with gaming in general. I think we are part of that evolution, part of that conversation.”

” . . . The proof is in the pudding,” Buser concluded. “With numbers like we have, it goes without saying that Home has been a huge success for our company, something that we have been very proud of.”

Buser says there are over 100 games on Home, that the average user session is 70 minutes, that there are over 50 virtual Home spaces, and 14 million users have downloaded the client. Still, sales and profit numbers aren’t a matter of public consumption.

“We haven’t talked too much about the platform itself, but what we have said is that every mature virtual item we have ever created has been profitable,” Buser said. “We’ve released over 5,000 virtual items on the platform, and we know that once those items reach maturity, they are profitable. So you see us creating a tremendous amount of virtual items, because it is such a high margin business for us to be in.”

“In fact, I would say that it is a very good business model for PlayStation, and quite profitable, I might add,” added Buser. “I like to say it’s one of the highest-margin businesses in the games industry. “I think today the idea of virtual items transactions is becoming par for the course for a lot of gamers,” said Buser. They’re understanding that through micropayments, they can gain social context and social capital, or they can through gameplay context, upgrade their gameplay experience through microtransactions. And that’s just becoming part of gaming.”

Going forward, what Sony is looking to do is “Total Game Integration” with playing games like SOCOM, Red Dead Redemption and BioShock unlocking items in Home. “We’ll also see games build out extensions to narrative, such as what you saw in BioShock 2,” he said. “It’s this whole idea of expanding the world of your favorite games inside home. That’s another big pillar of our strategy moving forward.”

Source: Gamasutra

 

Gears Of War 3: OG Slick

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OG Slick created some unique designs for integration with a cool shirt for Gears of War 3 at E3 2010. Check out this mini-documentary to see how the shirt went from conception to realization.

Twilight Goes 8-Bit

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The world right now is caught up in the crushing embrace of the latest Twilight movie. Whether you like the series (or not) here’s a humor-filled 8-bit recreation of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.