Valve Goes Without Ad Agency For Portal 2

Valve has long been doing things thier own way, and will do so again with Portal 2. Along with outdoor ads seen on public transportation, they made up their own TV spot following a well received Valentine s Day-themed video for the game.

No one knows the product better than the folks who made it, said Valve s marketing VP Doug Lombardi. We’ve had many creative kick-off meetings with agencies over the years, and you d be shocked by the treatments that have come back. Copycat treatments. Cliché treatments. Treatments that reveal the agency wasn’t listening in the initial meeting.

With the Portal 2 ad, we playtested it and were able to make changes during production, adds Lombardi. With an agency, those types of tests are too often left to a post-mortem at which point, the value of those realizations is pretty close to worthless.

Source: MCV

Visigoth Sports Net Parodies Sportscenter

March Madness is upon us and several advertisers are looking to capitalize on the event. Capital One (the official bank and credit card of the NCAA naturally) has been launching their own ads that cross their raiders with a sportscast.

 

Game Industry Work: Reality Check

A generation raised on games has wide eyes and ambitions to really shake things up… but that’s not really how it works. The video is designed to be funny, but there’s a good amount of truth in it as well.

Prototype 2: Heller Throws Down

Prototype 2 will be all about destruction on a large scale, but sometimes its nice to slow it down and put on a little classic music. That’s just what was done for this trailer that teases Landing in 2012.

Dragon Age Comes To Facebook

Electronic Arts announced today that it has fully launched Dragon Age Legends on Facebook. The free-to-play online RPG is a collaboration between BioWare and EA s Play4Free studio EA2D that lets users earn items for use in Dragon Age II from now until March 31, 2012.

We built Dragon Age Legends with one goal in mind: to bring the AAA quality gameplay BioWare is famous for to the social space, said Mark Spenner, General Manager of EA2D. Dragon Age Legends brings true RPG combat and style to this massive social platform and delivers it at BioWare blockbuster quality, raising the bar for social games.

Play the game at facebook.com/dragonagelegends.

Sony: We Have A Duty To Push Boundaries

There’s been a lot of talk about the disappearance of the middle-class of games of late, with AAA titles becoming increasingly safe and less innovative. Ray Maguire, head of Sony Computer Entertainment U.K. acknowledged the issues facing current console games.

I think it’s probably true that most studios are now quicker to cancel stuff if it’s not living up to expectations in the green light process the costs are so big, said Maguire. But, actually, the technology inside today’s consoles means that we have the ability to tell stories in a better way, a much more graphic way, allowing us to get deeper into the narrative and become more creative in the way we put an experience in front of a consumer. In the case of Heavy Rain, that’s an entirely narrative-driven game when I used to work for Sega, I was introducing games like Golden Axe on the Mega Drive, narrative wasn’t even part of that conversation! But now we have the technology, we’re opening up new avenues of creativity.

When asked about funding Heavy Rain, he responded, There is a funding issue. We as a platform holder have a duty to push the boundaries, we will gamble on using technology and exploring different experiences, because someone has to. But if you’re a multiplatform publisher and selling to the marketplace that those platforms have created, then it’s purely a commercial decision.

The follow up asked if gambling on off-beat stuff was fundamental to Sony’s approach, he said, Absolutely it’s fundamental to us.

Source: Guardian

Blizzard: Next-Gen MMO Not WoW Sequel

It’s been known for a while that Blizzard has been working on an MMO for a while now. While little is known about Project Titan, Blizzard Entertainment CEO Mike Morhaime did reveal a few details.

Internally we think of that as a next generation MMO. We’ve learned a lot over the past 10-12 years in developing and running World of Warcraft. So we’ve called upon some of our most experienced developers here at Blizzard to seed a new project, said Morhaime. It’s definitely not going to be a sequel to World of Warcraft and we don t intend for it to replace World of Warcraft. It will be a different experience and set in a different world. It’s completely original IP. We don t have a timeline for it though.

Source: MCV

Advertising Needs Change

The advertising industry has long said that it’s going to be innovating. While there’s a lot of options out there, but many of the tools for advertising are misused and others aren’t made to serve the client.

There’s a lot of the same ol’, same ol’ still being offered as fresh thinking, writes Bart Cleveland. Perhaps because we are too afraid of losing what we have left to risk it all for something better. Regardless of whether it’s from a lack of belief — or apathy or laziness — we are squandering a great opportunity to lead. If we believe we are the agents of change, we must change ourselves as well. Like Gen. George Patton, we need to attack without worrying about our flanks. We’re moving forward too fast for the enemy to catch us. By the time they realize what we’re up to, we’re kicking them in the backside.

Integration is talked about a lot for the industry, but the key is to create a brand story. Those that do so consistently while innovating will lead the ad industry.

A little over-the-horizon looking should come as second nature to an industry that prides itself on having the pulse of ‘what’s next.’ Instead, we seem to cling to ‘remember when.’ Take a look at what you’re offering your clients, notes Cleveland. Is it advertising For your sake, I hope not.

Source: AdAge

Japan Quake Posters Call Of Support

Since the quake and tsunami impacted Japan over the weekend, there’s been a large outpouring of support for the island nation. The advertising industry and creative types have stepped up with their own support methods with variations on the Japanese flag hinomaru (sun disc).

 

Source: Ads of the World