Conan O’Brien will do just about anything for a laugh, including and perhaps especially making fun of himself. So wash his desk in a sexy fashion while Pour Some Sugar On Me plays? Sure, why not. It’s all to promote his new show on TBS.
FIFA 11 is doing phenomenally well, selling greater than 20 percent better than FIFA 10 did in its first week. EA is looking to keep up that momentum by spending more on advertising the title after its release than it did in the weeks before.
“FIFA 11 is the most critically and commercially successful football release ever and that s something the whole studio team in Vancouver, the EA publishing organisation and our retail partners can be immensely proud of,” said UK and Ireland marketing director Stuart Lang. “But this is just the beginning. We want to bring all football fans into the FIFA franchise. So we re really focused on long-term engagement and that means understanding how we can continually improve and stay ahead of the game. This ensures we deliver the essential interactive football product and service that every football fan wants to participate in. To deliver against this, we re investing an unprecedented amount of time and money in customer service, online infrastructure and content offerings.”
“We’re also making significant investment in our marketing communications the majority of which is focused post-release, to support us through Christmas and throughout next year,” said EA Sports UK sales director Rob Davey. “We couldn’t be more delighted with the first week s sell-through on FIFA 11. This has been a superb team effort from our studio, PR, marketing and sales teams. They ve produced the best football game ever and one of the biggest releases this country has ever seen. That s no mean feat in what has been a really challenging market but 21 per cent growth in week one sales year-on-year for FIFA is nothing short of spectacular. I would particularly like to thank all our retail partners across the UK who are very much a part of this successful new release.”
Source: MCV
Activision has announced that early adoptors of DJ Hero 2 can take advantage of special pre-order deals. GameStop will give those who pre-order the DJ Hero 2 Turntable Bundle or Party Bundle a Puma controller bag, valued at $45.
Amazon.com will give MP3 remixes of Deadmau5’s I Remember and Kaskade’s Move for Me to those that pre-order any version of the game. Wal-mart will give copies of DJ Hero away free to those that play DJ Hero 2 Party Bundle on Wii or Xbox 360 at launch.
Best Buy will offer a premium hard-shell turntable carrying case that converts to a performance-ready DJ stand as a gift with the purchase of a DJ Hero 2 Turntable Bundle or Party Bundle and will give a code to unlock the Deadmau5 in-game playable character straight out of the box with any version of the game. Finally, DeadMau5 and the folks at EMI will offer DeadMau5-themed merchandise like a t-shirt, bag, silicone wristband , and a chance to win a trip to play DJ Hero 2 with the famous DJ himself.
Square Enix announced today that they have launched their Facebook Page for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The site can be found appropriately at http://www.facebook.com/DeusEx.
Square Enix indicates that they will make the site the ground zero for screenshots, videos and interviews as well as exclusive breaking news, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, and ‘only-on-Facebook’ special events. Fans will also have an opportunity to interact with the development team using the wall, messages and special interview sessions.
It’s yet another indication of the growing importance of Facebook to game marketing.
Sony has announced that it has opened up the beta of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood to all PlayStation Plus subscribers. Now all users have to do to is check out the game’s multiplayer via the PlayStation Plus category on the PlayStation Store.
Additionally, Sony also announced that 5,000 U.S. Plus subscribers will have access to the Killzone 3 Public Beta Trial. Plus users should download the Killzone 3 XMB Theme when it becomes available on October 19, then check their email on October 25 for a Public Beta Trial promotion code.
Source: PlayStation.Blog
According to Lord of the Rings Online executive producer Kate Paiz, the game has doubled its revenue since going free-to-play (we detailed the ad campaign here). Over a million new accounts have been created since the switch to F2P.
Paiz, who also helped transition Dungeons & Dragons Online to F2P said that while Lord of the Rings Online wasn’t losing money using subscription, they thought that F2P was the way to go. “We knew there was more out there for us,” she said
Paiz noted that 20 percent of lapsed Lord of the Rings Online players have returned to the game since it has gone free to play. The game has seen a 300 percent increase in peak concurrency since going F2P, with three times the number of players online simultaneously, and a 400 percent increase in active players total.
Moreover, over half of the players have made a microtransaction purchase for anything from consumable items, customized gear, mounts and character slots. Ironically, paid subscriptions have actually increased since going F2P.
Paiz says that the lesson Turbine has learned is “when you tell people you no longer have to pay for it, they come in droves.”
Source: Joystiq
Rumors of a Verizon iPhone have been swirling for what seems like forever, and they’re not going away. The most recent reports state that Pegatron Technology is making Verizon iPhones similar to the iPhone 4 that are expected in the first quarter of 2011.
Sindre Lia, however, is not buying this new report. “Back in February, Pegatron Technology had reportedly landed handset orders from various telecom carriers, and the company would also join Foxconn in manufacturing the iPhone 4. Pegatron, primarily a PC manufacturer, doesn’t have much experience in manufacturing smartphones,” said Lia. “Does it sound like a viable path to let an inexperienced manufacturer produce an iPhone for Verizon Wireless? No, of course it doesn’t.”
Source: Infosync {link no longer active}
GameStop has announced that it is launching the “Surprise Attack” Call of Duty: Black Ops sweepstakes. Those who pre-order the game will receive a receipt code or online order confirmation number to enter the sweepstakes at www.gamestop.com/surprizeattack for prizes like a Jeep Wrangler, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a flip HD camera, Call of Duty: Black Ops Downloadable Content and branded wearables.
“GameStop is tracking to all-time, record reservations on Call of Duty: Black Ops,” noted Bob McKenzie, SVP of merchandising, GameStop Corp. “We are ahead of where we were with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 last year, which previously set the industry standard.”
Facebook has developed a rather infamous reputation for not offering opt-ins for its new features and such is the case with the revamped Groups feature. Blogger Jason Calacanis and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington were added to a NAMBLA group, drawing public criticism.
For its part, Facebook is standing by the feature. “Many social dynamics on Facebook are determined by the people who use it,” said Facebook spokeswoman Jaime Schopflin. “If you don’t trust someone to look out for you when making these types of decisions on the site, we’d suggest that you shouldn’t be friends on Facebook.”
Kurt Opsahl at Electronic Frontier Foundation was more upbeat, saying, “Facebook should enhance the Groups feature by allowing for the creation of groups where the membership list is secret from members (i.e. just available to the group’s administrators, if anyone), and where group members can interact using pseudonyms rather than their real names.”
As with many issues on a social network, there’s no easy solution: let people use pseudonyms and it might become harder to police bad behavior. Without more options Facebook could face a ban in certain countries even as the debate over private groups and forced membership heats up.
Source: Techtree {link no longer active}
When Sam Raimi dropped out of directing the next Spider-Man film, it seemed like a sure bet that the World of Warcraft movie would be his next project. That has turned out not to be, as the Evil Dead director has committed himself to Oz: The Great And Powerful.
Production on the Disney picture is not expected to begin until 2011, meaning that a World of Warcraft film could be a few years away, assuming Raimi is still involved after Oz. David Lindsay-Abaire will rewrite Oz: The Great And Powerful, having recently adapted Rabbit Hole for Lionsgate.
Source: Deadline
