As the Harry Potter series comes to a close, an official online destination has been launched where fans can translate any phrase into Parseltongue, the language of snakes. Rarely spoken and even more rarely heard, you can now brush up on this very uncommon skill and practice to keep up with Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort as the end approaches.
Live broadcasts begin tonight through July 31 on iTunes with more than 60 artists performing on 31 consecutive nights in London’s Roundhouse. Headliners include Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Adele, Linkin Park, Paul Simon and more. Fans can watch live gigs on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Check the schedule on an official app destination on Facebook.
Live Gamer has announced their full virtual goods and economy management package called Live Gamer Elements into Sid Meier s Civilization World for Facebook. It will allow users to manage their virtual currency with an e-wallet, and allow 2K to manage their virtual catalog with analytics, integration with Facebook Credits.
“Civilization is one of the most successful and beloved game franchises in history, made by one of the most acclaimed game designers ever,” said Andrew Schneider, President of Live Gamer. It s an honor to be a part of 2K s first endeavor into the social games world with their debut Facebook application, Civilization World.
Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins have announced a contest titled “America’s Super-Soldiers.” Part of the co-branded experience with Captain America: The First Avenger, it encourages people to nominate local heroes, with the winning one receiving a prize pack including $5,000 on their Facebook page.
“Dunkin’ Brands is thrilled to partner with Marvel Studios to bring the excitement of Captain America: The First Avenger to our guests, and we are particularly proud that our America’s Super-Soldiers contest provides an opportunity to continue our tradition of recognizing both U.S. veterans and active servicemen and women who give selflessly,” said John Costello, Chief Global Marketing and Innovation Officer at Dunkin’ Brands. “We hope everyone will help us recognize these real-life heroes whose commitment to our local communities makes such a difference to so many people.
Cross promotions at Dunkin’ Donuts will include the cherry-flavored Captain America Coolatta drink, the First Avenger Tri-Cup, the star-shaped Captain America Donut and the Stars & Stripes Donut with Red icing and red, white and blue sprinkles. Baskin-Robbins will feature Super-Soldier Swirl was the July Flavor of the Month with vanilla ice cream swirled with a combo of blue chocolate chips and a cherry flavored ribbon, the Hydra Force Sundae, with chocolate, brownies, hot fudge, whipped cream with chocolate sprinkles and a cherry, the Super-Soldier Sundae, with the above mentioned ice cream topped with white cake, and a strawberry topping and the Captain America Ice Cream Cake, inspired by Captain America’s signature shield is a sheet cake customized with ice cream and cake flavors along with a collectable Captain America Cake Topper.
Electronic Arts has confirmed that Andy Gray will not do the voice over cometary for FIFA 12, instead Ex-Arsenal player Alan Smith will commentate with FIFA veteran Martin Tyler. Gray was fired from Sky Sports after some off-camera remarks about female Premier League assistant referee Sian Massey.
Alan will bring a fresh, new perspective and insight to FIFA 12, working alongside the trusted and well-known voice of Martin Tyler, said FIFA 12 s senior producer David Rutter. As one of the top-tier broadcasters on the UK football scene, he brings enormous knowledge and expert analysis to the game so that we can deliver the most authentic FIFA experience this year.
The natural chemistry that Martin and I have developed working live matches for TV has transferred very well to the virtual broadcast booth, added Smith. I m really looking forward to FIFA fans hearing our work as we bring all the match day emotion and excitement to this year s game.
Zynga and AT&T announced an agreement to bring Zynga games to AT&T-based Android devices. This deal (the first of its kind in North America), will make sure Zynga titles are tested first on AT&T devices and AT&T customers will receive special credit, prizes and events for Zynga games.
“We’re excited to be the first wireless carrier to collaborate with Zynga,” said Ted Woodbery, VP of wireless data, voice and ancillary services for AT&T. “Speed enhances playing experience on mobile. This agreement combines the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network with a clear leader in mobile social games, ultimately bringing more value to our wireless customers’ playing experience.”
“Zynga strives to provide the best mobile social game experience for our players wherever and whenever they want so our partnership with AT&T will offer an exciting and easy way to access our popular mobile games,” said David Ko, SVP of Zynga Mobile. “We are looking forward to working with AT&T with this unique partnership that will truly benefit our players.”
Online Warmongers has announced that they have secured marketing and distribution across several territories for its free-to-play online shooting game, War Inc. Battlezone. They will also work with [a]list games to launch an ad campaign for the game in North America, Europe and Australia. Warmongers will also work with Moscow-based Syncopate to publish the game in Russia and other Russian-speaking territories.
We re thrilled to secure partners who understand the online game market and match our vision, said Sergey Titov, CEO of Online Warmongers. Once people play our game, their expectations for what free-to-play games can offer will change forever. With [a]list games unique capabilities in building demand for digital games and Syncopate’s expertise with Russian-speaking gamers, War Inc. Battlezone is ready to become a standout title in the world s biggest shooting game markets.
We want to expose new and existing online gamers to what a premium free game can offer, said Steve Fowler, GM of [a]list games. Players experience a graphically stunning, deep, tactical, feature-rich and relentlessly competitive shooter in War Inc. Battlezone, and they don t pay a red penny to start playing.
“With War Inc. Battlezone, Syncopate is blasting into the emerging online shooter market,” said William Verigin, CEO of Syncopate. “We are fascinated with Online Warmongers passion, their meticulous attention to detail and the game’s rich cyber-sports capabilities. It’s truly exciting to introduce this outstanding title to the Russian gaming community.”
To find out more about War Inc. Battlezone please visit www.thewarinc.com.
Google has famously had difficultly making a dent in the social networking market, but Google executives Bradley Horowitz and Vic Gundotra says that will all change with Google+. Horowitz notes that most social networks tend to lump all users together, meaning users are reluctant to share anything private, whereas Google+ will make the important distinction between friends an acquaintances, allowing you to share items with certain people.
“We’ve built a product that’s good for a shout and good for a whisper,” said Horowitz.
Google+ allows users to easily drag and drop friends into the appropriate circle. Gundotra thinks that users who have Facebook accounts will still end up using Google+ because of its integration into other Google services, adding that field testing it will give them the right feel between sharing and privacy.
“Our mission statement for years has been to organize the world’s information,” said Gundotra. “The Web is about a lot more than information now, a lot more than pages. It’s about people.”
Source: AdWeek
ILoveBees.com produced one of the more successful viral marketing campaigns ever, in this case for Halo 2, incorporating an Alternative Reality Game. Now the site has begun another A.I. countdown and it is widely believed is is for Halo 4.
Another website called TestSubjectsNeeded is registered to the same team and has users complete some tests before signing up for an unknown project. That takes users to another website called Mission Ice Fly with a countdown timer set to expire soon, with implications that users in several cities will have to pick up a package at each particular location.
Sony has made a big push for 3D with it’s games so far, but Microsoft has not had the same priority for stereoscopic display. Xbox senior product manager David Dennis is, for one, unsure of the demand for 3D in games.
There was a big rush by some other folks in the industry to convince people they want to play in 3D, said Dennis. You can question the motivations of why they want to make everyone go buy a new TV perhaps, but I think 3D has to fit in a natural way where it fits with the gameplay. Something we’re watching and wanting to understand from consumers is whether this is something they actually want. Does it add to the gaming experience Does it distract from the gaming experience Is it something they want to play long-term Or is it something they try a few times and then go back to regular 2D modes
However, Dennis added, You watch the market penetration of 3D TVs, you look if it’s something people are buying and you adapt and innovate, just like we’ve done by deploying different system updates and features. If there are other things we want to do with 3D that consumers are asking for, we would explore it.
Source: Eurogamer
