Warcraft Jabbing Tagline ‘Well-Intended Humor’ Says Trion

Trion’s Rift launched with an ad campaign tagline of “We’re not in Azeroth anymore.” While this might sound standoffish, Trion’s Scott Hartsman claims it mostly designed for a good laugh.

“For starters, I loved the campaign. When I first saw the campaign pitch I laughed my ass off. Very bluntly. We saw it and went, ‘Wow there’s no way we can do that. That means we have to do that’,” said Hartsman. “If people take it too literally and don’t take it as the well-intended humor it really is, it does invite people to go, ‘Oh well, if they re going to say that, then I’m going to make a checklist, and I’m going to go ding ding ding ding.”

For any company that’s starting out, trying to get attention in a very crowded marketplace, you have to do something to get attention and I think that campaign really helped us stand out,” he added. “And that’s really what we needed. So in that regard, I think it did its job phenomenally.”

Read more about the Rift campaign in the feature here.

Source: IndustryGamers {link no longer active}

Top Spin 4 Gets 2K Open Contest

2K Sports has announced a their 2K Open Contest for Top Spin 4. This contest will allow users to compete for a chance to win a fully paid trip to the 2011 U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows, New York.

To participate, players must compete in online matches in Top Spin 4‘s ranked 2K Open mode. At the end of the day on April 30, the two users with the highest ranking on the 2K Open Leaderboard {link no longer active} will be deemed the 2K Open Contest’s semi-finalists and awarded a fully paid trip to the 2011 U.S. Open; the two will then play a Final Match and the winner will be crowned the 2K Open Champion.

Microsoft Planning Free-To-Play Xbox Live Titles: Report

According to internal sources, Microsoft will release free-to-play games over Xbox Live. These games will be released for free and generate income via the purchase of content like items and other perks.

Originally, Microsoft title Kinect Joy Ride was going to be a F2P title, supported by customization purchases. F2P titles run the gamut on PC right now, from MMOs of all sorts to shooters and racing games.

Source: IGN

Browse Gameplay Videos Of The Michael Jackson Experience

With the launch of Michael Jackson The Experience, Ubisoft has launched an official Facebook brand destination {link no longer active} to being the community together and unite conversation. The Gameplay destination on Facebook gives the user a choice of several gameplay videos to browse and watch before even liking the page. Each gameplay video shows how the user s dance moves sync with a 3D animated version of the King of Pop. 400,000 likes and growing, the page is bringing together gaming fans and MJ fans from around the world.

New Battlefield 3 Media To Be Unlocked After One Million Likes On Facebook

The launch of the latest Battlefield 3 full trailer and exclusive producer s commentary is happening on Facebook {link no longer active} only after the page receives 1 million likes . A first in gaming, Facebook is being used as the embargo wall between content and consumer. Fans are asked to share the page and recruit friends to unlock content. At the time of publication, the page had received 566,447 likes after being live for just over 24 hours.

Angry Birds Best Selling Game On PSN

According to a report by Lazard Capital Markets’ Colin Sebastian, Angry Birds is the most downloaded game since becoming available on PSN in January. The Sony online service has 75 million accounts, half in North America, with over 1.4 billion pieces of content downloaded since launch.

“PSN appears to be gaining traction tapping into the casual and social gaming market with titles such as Angry Birds, which is the most downloaded game through the PSN,” he wrote. “PSN is also seeing good success with ‘freemium’ and micro-transaction models.”

Cisco Turns Off The Flip

Cisco Systems has announced that they are shutting down their Flip video camera line, only two years after purchasing Flip creator Pure Digital for a half billion in 2009.  FlipShare users are promised a transition plan.

In an age where mobile phones have their own video recording, their convenience, storage capacity, location features and Internet connectivity trump the video quality of dedicated recorders like the Flip. 550 employes will apparently be laid off as a result of this decision.

Source: PC World