Dominos ‘Behind The Pizza’ Page

Dominos has launched a campaign of late to show where their ingredients come from. They’ve complemented this with an interactive page where players can earn rewards on Facebook. It definitely reminds us of social games like FarmVille and seems like a smart way for Dominos to engage its audience, which likely overlaps with many in the gaming demographic.

Click through enough, get a free pizza!

Find out more at dominos.com/behindthepizza/.

Alicia Keys Puts Out Call For ‘Digital Life Sacrifice’

Celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Usher have joined together in a unique social network charity campaign. On Wednesday, they will sign off of social networks like Facebook and Twitter for Digital Life Sacrifice, where they will also appear in videos in coffins, and will only sign back on when $1 million is raised for Keys’ charity to support AIDS victims in Africa and India.

“It’s so important to shock you to the point of waking up,” Keys said. “It’s not that people don’t care or it’s not that people don’t want to do something, it’s that they never thought of it quite like that.”

Source: AP

Gran Turismo 5: The Opening

If you’re wondering what took so much time to put out Gran Turismo 5, we finally have the answer. It probably took them a least a couple years to decide on this as the opening video, the last leg of which was turned into a launch trailer.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kCNyOEOzJBI

Activision Quashes Call Of Duty Subscription Rumor

Rumors have been flying recently that Activision will start charging a subscription fee for their Call of Duty series. However, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg has gone on record completely quashing the idea.

“Are we going to be charging for multiplayer The answer is no, said Hirshberg. The experience you have out of the box, connecting with the online community to play Call of Duty is absolutely integral to the experience and we’ll never charge for that. It’s not going to be something we’ll attempt to monetize; it’s part of the package.

“Nothing we or anyone else tries is going to work if it doesn’t have tremendous value for people and add a tremendous value to the gaming experience, added Hirshberg. [Pachter]’s probably looking at meta-trends in the world and in culture about online services and new ways things should be monetized from Netflix to cloud-based computing. So there are certainly a lot of behavioral shifts towards long-standing online relationships . . . But at the end of the day, all I’m trying to get across is I can unequivocally say we will never, ever charge for the multiplayer.”

Source: IndustryGamers

Sony Veterans Talk PS3 Equaling PS2

The PS3 right now is hitting its stride, having sold somewhere in the range of 41 million consoles. There’s still a long way to go before the PS3 reaches the PS2 levels of nearly 150 million worldwide, but former Sony executive and founding president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Chris Deering thinks the mark can be reached.

“I think it can sell as many as PS2, maybe more,” revealed Deering. “In the case of both PS1 and PS2, we sold more Slim units than original models. The PS3 Slim has only been out a couple of years. If you could get a PS3 for a hundred pounds . . . Can you imagine It could go much higher and last longer.”

Phil Harrison, former head of Sony Worldwide Studios, is much more reserved about the PS3’s chances to equal the PS2. “I hope PS3 can match PS2, but I think the market dynamics are slightly different,” he said. “It’s much more competitive. For a large chunk of its lifecycle PS2 didn’t really have any competition anywhere in the world, so Sony was able to sell a huge number of units. If PS3 does reach the same level it will take longer and it will be a more difficult challenge.”

Source: Eurogamer

TV Still Commands Ad Power

According to the Mendelsohn Affluent Survey, individuals making over $100,000 a year are watching 17.6 hours of TV a week, the same as in 2009. However, Internet usage has increased by 12 percent, rising from an average of 22.6 hours a week in 2009 to 25.3 in 2010.

Age was shown to have a large difference in usage. Among the affluents in the 18-to-34 demo, there was an average of 15.4 hours a week, compared to 22.2 for ages 65-plus, while the younger demo used the Internet an average of 31.5 hours a week compared to 14.1 for the older affluents.

TV advertising still has a lot of power, as shown by the exposure and engagement ratings. Of an estimated 44.1 million affluent Americans, 38.6 million saw an ad on TV in a six-month period, followed by magazines at 35.5 million, then direct mail, newspapers, and then web sites were fifth at 33.4 million. Ads in movie theaters were seen by 26.2 million, while 17.5 million saw ads at sports venues; in-taxi ads accounted for the lowest amount at 7.6 million.

The estimates also said that 16.5 million affluents have a gaming system, 600,000 have a 3D TV, and 500,000 an Apple TV.

Source: MediaPost

Konami Launches PlayStation Space

Konami has unveiled their new space in PlayStation Home. The area will have tributes to Konami franchises and titles new and old and will let players unlock content and items from Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, Silent Hill and Pro Evolution Soccer.

Konami’s penthouse suite will introduce the highly anticipated DanceDanceRevolution mini-game where players can engage in Area Dance, Solo Dance-offs, and Group Dance-offs. Solo Dance-offs pit everyone on the dance floor against each other until there is a final dance master left on the dance floor, says Konami in the release. Group Dance-offs separate players into teams to compete as a group against other groups. Lastly, Area Dance players are tasked to execute specific moves in certain locations to earn points.

Mark Wahlberg Confirmed For Uncharted Movie

Mark Wahlberg has confirmed rumors that he will be cast as Nathan Drake in the upcoming Uncharted Movie. David O. Russell (whom Wahlberg worked with on the recent The Fighter) is hashing out the script.

“David is one of the best writer/directors I’ve ever worked with,” said Wahlberg. “The idea that he has is just insane. So hopefully we’ll be making that movie this summer.”

Rumors that Russell wants Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro on board are true as well. “That’s who he wants to write the parts for. I talked to Pesci about it and I know David’s people have talked to [Robert De Niro]. I’m obviously in whatever David wants to do but the idea of it is so off the charts: De Niro being my father, Pesci being my uncle. It’s not going to be the watered-down version, that’s for sure.”

Source: MTV Multiplayer