Pokemon Black/White Game, Movie, TV Show Success

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The Pokemon Company International has revealed that Pokemon Black/White has sold over 3 million copies worldwide in two weeks of availability in the U.S. and Europe. They also announced that the Pokemon: Black & White TV show and the feature film Pokemon Zoroark: Master of Illusions debuted to record ratings across Europe and the U.S.

“The global buzz created by Pokemon s record-breaking video games, Pokemon Black Version and Pokemon White Version, and brand new animation inspired by the new Unova region is truly remarkable,” said J.C. Smith, Director of Consumer Marketing for The Pokemon Company International. “There s more excitement to come and we look forward to working with existing and new partners to provide superior entertainment to our millions of fans around the world.”

A New Decade Of SCRE4M Is Born

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The fourth installment in the slasher series, the official website for SCRE4M delivers a widescreen trailer and footage from the film right at the outset.  Once the trailer has ended, fans can view the official trailer, teaser trailer or sign up via e-mail to receive updates.  To progress deeper into the site, users are prompted to connect via Facebook.  Once connected the user encounters a prompt from Sidney Prescott, the Woodsboro resident who has been stalked by the horrifying Ghostface in previous films.  Fans can click on the add as friend link which opens a new window featuring a Facebook profile for Sidney.  Fans that want to interact with her can “Like” the page and jump in and respond to Sidney s ongoing conversation.  Back on the Facebook-connected site, fans can click on a wall and slash a profile pictures of their friends or a random member pulled from other connected SCRE4M fans.

Show Off Your Wimpiness

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At an official URL destination attached to the official website for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules, you can Wimp Yourself!  Create a shareable and downloadable avatar of yourself drawn in a simple black and white line drawing style.  Choose your sex and then make some choices of head type, hair style, type of eyes, nose, mouth and strap on a backpack or a cape to complete your avatar.  Upon completion watch the character animate through a series of moves – jot down a note, do a dance, scratch their behind or give a thumbs up as other avatars created by the community scroll by in the background each identified by an individual timestamp.  Export your creation {link no longer active} and save to a desktop or share to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Bebo.

iPad TWC App Legal War Brewing

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Following protests from companies like News Corp., Viacom, Scripps Networks and Discovery Communications, Time Warner Cable has pulled several channels from their iPad app. Attorney John Handel indicates that one or more of these companies may be preparing a lawsuit.

The legal issues will likely focus on how the programming rights contracts were worded, said Handel. These cases occur under a cloud where contracts were signed in a preexisting world when new technologies weren t around yet. If they had anticipated the new technology and talked about it specifically, you wouldn t have the problem.

While broadcasters believe that extra compensation should be involved, TWC says that the iPad is basically just being used an a portable TV inside people’s homes, though that’s unlikely to reassure many of these broadcasters. TWC, meanwhile, has shown that they’re willing to stand up and fight for this.

The enthusiasm of our customers and the programming partners who have embraced the app, rather than those who are solely focused on finding additional ways to reach into wallets of their own viewers, has convinced us more than ever that we are on the right path, read a statement by TWC.

Source: AdWeek {link no longer active}

Zynga Talks Relationship With Facebook

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When one thinks of games on Facebook, it’s difficult not to think of Zynga and their domination of the space. While one would wonder if they would ever seek to expand beyond Facebook, Zynga Chief Games Designer Brian Reynolds isn’t worried about that for now.

“We have a deal with Facebook, so as long as they’re around, we’re a partner with them. After the early adjustment period, I think they’ve come to realize that it really is symbiotic, that people want to play games on social networks and that what we offer is really light ways to keep in touch with people,” said Reynolds. “So if I had a friend from high school and we’ve had the little e-mail exchange – ‘Oh, you’re on Facebook. I’m on Facebook. Cool. What do you do I’m a farmer in Nevada and I’m a video game guy in Baltimore.” At some point it’s kind of like well what else do you say We don’t have a lot in our lives in common anymore but it’s still a person I care about so it’s like, ‘Oh, hi, how are you doing Here’s something for your mafia.’ Just like on Facebook you click ‘like’ and it’s very low friction, low effort, but I still care about you and that was a neat thing you just said. And then maybe at a higher level we even kind of help you write your jokes. We give you funny little things you can post and then comment ”What is she doing to the sheep ‘ kind of silliness, so it’s a light way of doing social touches. So it’s our mission and I think Facebook realizes that’s one of the things that people want and need on a social network to be able to keep the thing healthy and going, and so I don’t see any of that going away.”

“There isn’t a project called Zynga Live, but there will probably be things that we do that are like some of the things that people would think that would be like if we did something called Zynga Live,” Reynolds added. “There’s Xbox Live, so everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, they’re going to do one of those.’ We will probably do something at some point that has some of that stuff, but whatever we do we’re going to be partnered with Facebook and we’re going to do it with Facebook. The rumors you hear about ‘There’s going to be some kind of end run and they’re going to try to…’ We’re not doing any of that.”

Source: IndustryGamers {link no longer active}

Final Fantasy XIV Director Admits Early Failures

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Final Fantasy XIV launched to poor reviews and a concerned fanbase, which forced Square Enix to extend their trial for the game and replace the game’s director. Naoki Yoshida, the new director for the game, has both eyes open when it comes to player issues with Square Enix’s latest MMO.

“XIV had many issues,” admitted Yoshida. “There was technology trouble, in-game trouble. The game at the time of release did not live up to expectations that players had of current generation MMOs. And Square Enix wasn’t working close enough with their user base. They weren’t working with them. It was pretty much by themselves. And so this whole change came about in order to address these issues.

Still, he thinks the game could recover in the long term, saying, “With FFXIV, operations and development are all funded 100 per cent by Square Enix, so as long as we decide to continue backing the project and we don’t give up, we can continue to provide things to the players, see what they want, then go back and retry things, redo things. Basically, it comes up to us. We’re not at the strings of the investors.”

Source: Gamasutra

Angry Birds Rio Hits 10 Million Download Target

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Rovio has confirmed that Angry Birds Rio has been downloaded over 10 million times. This comes across iOS and Android and over just 10 days.

10 in 10:-) Angry Birds Rio breaking all records, tweeted Rovio. A massive thanks to all our fans!!!!

The Angry Birds series as a whole recently reached the 100 million download mark.

Source: Mobile Entertainment {link no longer active}