Call of Duty: Black Ops had some tongue-in-cheek ads featuring the slogan: “There’s a soldier in all of us.” That tag line is being revisited for a new live action trailer featuring Sam Worthington, Jonah Hill and Dwight Howard.
It’s been a year since the Kinect launched, and in that time the device has proven to be intriguing to more than just gamers. The future of the device may be constrained only by what people can imagine.
State Farm has released a series of entertaining videos with people showing off their unusual talents, showing you that with State Farm, you’ll have more time for your hobbies. They invite you to see more amazing talents at Facebook.com/StateFarmNation.
Curious about how Facebook and Elite integration works together on Facebook Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games are joined by Beachhead Studio in this behind-the-scenes multiplayer video for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Learn how MW3 enables you to easily connect with your Facebook friends while you’re playing, without having to leave your console. Elite enhances your social experience by providing free tools that help you form, join, and organize clans. In addition to competing with your friends and leveling up your clan, Elite provides you with tools to improve your skills and opportunities to compete for real world prizing.
Hans Zimmer needs to hear your voice – now and loud! Ujam and Zimmer are partnering to create the sound of a worldwide chant to be used in The Dark Knight Rises. Mumble, growl, scream or whisper, just make it yours. Do it alone or with friends, just make sure to bring energy, excitement and commitment if you want to be part of the adventure!
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series has seen its share of minor controversies, perhaps most notably the infamous “No Russian” level for Modern Warfare 2. Before the revelation of a (non-interactive) scene where a family of tourists are caught in the blast of a chemical attack on London in Modern Warfare 3, executive producer Mark Rubin tried to play down the effects of such controversies in the press.
“Yeah, we get a lot of that and it’s tough, but for the most part what happens is a lot of media outlets play it up, and it goes on some Friday afternoon, Friday night news thing, and they talk about how horrible it is that they’re killing people in the middle of our subway, but it’s the cricket after that, and no-one cares,” said Rubin. “The media a lot of times plays on it because they hope to get something out of it, rile somebody up to start a conversation about it, but everybody kind of stares at them just going: ‘Next . . . oh, that’s an interesting story.’ And they pass right over it.”
Source: OXM
According to a study by goo Research in Japan, interest in the Wii U and PS Vita are not very high at this point in time. 1,083 members of the online monitor group came from a wide variety of age groups, though 62 percent owned a gaming system of some sort.
Only 10.2 percent said they wanted to buy a PS Vita, by contrast 35.2 percent said they didn’t want to buy the system but were still interested and 54.6 percent said they weren’t interested at all. As for the Wii U, only 9.4 percent said they wanted to buy one, 36.1 percent said they didn’t want to buy but were interested, and 54.5 percent said they weren’t interested.
According to a study of consumers age 8-24, the Wii was the top brand among gaming devices, surpassing the PS3 and Nintendo DS. This result gives the system the Video Gaming Platform Brand of the Year, according to the 2012 Harris Poll Youth EquiTrend study by Harris Interactive, despite down sales for the system as a whole.
“For video gaming to have the highest equity scores compared to all other tech categories, and Wii the highest within the category, implies that Wii has serious potential to stretch into other products,” said Jeni Lee Chapman, Executive Vice President and leader of Harris’ Brand and Communication Consulting group. “Just as Apple entered the hearts and minds of consumers through music with iTunes and the iPod, Nintendo has entered into youth’s heart with their video gaming platform. One day we may be saying, ‘move over Apple, here comes Wii.'”
While Wii is tops among gaming devices, Apple leads Computer, Mobile Phone, and Computer Tablet among consumers age 13-24. The Youth EquiTrend study evaluates measures of Equity, Emotional Connection, and Brand Advocacy.
“Within personal electronic brands, these findings clearly show that among teens and young adults, it’s Apple’s world. We’re all just along for the ride,” said Regina A. Corso, Senior Vice President for Youth and Education Research at Harris Interactive. “With each new Apple generation and gadget, competitors are playing catch-up and youth are ready to leap on board. iPad is a great example of a new Apple product dominating its industry””the tablet already has the largest equity lead over competitors than either of its sister brands.”
Call of Duty Elite is the anticipated social service that will include an increased amount of stats tracking for users to dive into. However, PC fans might be disappointed because they won’t have access to the service at the same time as their console counterparts, nor will it has as robust of options.
“We’re as committed as ever to the PC, but the need to ensure a safe PC environment is greater than ever. It’s really extensive. We need more time to get there, so Elite on PC will not launch on Day One,” said Beachhead Studio boss Chacko Sonny. “We’re working our butts off to make it happen, but we won’t release it until we know that PC gamers can enjoy Elite as it’s meant to be. The issue here is that the PC is an insecure platform. Without a central, trusted resource for stats, a lot of our competition features become unfair,” he continued. “We can’t give away prizes when people can easily cheat their stats. Leaderboards are less fun when a lot of the users are there unfairly.”
“Not being able to trust stats is a big problem for our design. Because of this, we had to re-imagine Elite for PC,” added Product Director Noah Heller. “Elite for PC will be about access to your own stats, or those of your friends. Basically establishing a circle of trust. And because it will have some reduced functionality, it will be free for everyone.”
Source: One of Swords
Recently reports are that Sony Pictures will soon sign an agreement with Ubisoft for the Assassin’s Creed movie rights. The granting of Ubisoft as rights to budget, principal cast, script, release date has left Hollywood insiders flabbergasted.
“As a director, even Steven Spielberg cannot get this kind of deal,” said an insider, and another Hollywood talent agent who represents a smaller video game publisher, “The whole Ubisoft/Sony deal is a waste of ink, paper and time. The level of control Sony gave up means, effectively, that Assassin’s Creed will never — and I mean never — get made.”
Universal and Warner Bros. both bid for the rights, but balked at the terms. “They want to be able to pull the plug on the whole movie’s development if they decide to,” said a studio chief that pulled out. “It’s ridiculous.”
“It’s [Ubisoft’s] billion-dollar brand, so I get that they’re protective,” said another head of a different studio that passed. “But they’re not moviemakers, and the only way to make sure it’s a bad movie is to undervalue what movie studios do — and this is a deal that totally undervalues what movie studios do.”
Sony Pictures is willing to go along with this because of the popularity of the Assassin’s Creed brand that they are spending “only a fraction of what a studio typically would spend to option or develop a script” because Ubisoft is anteing up for the project.
Ubisoft wants to do this to avoid a situation of what happened with the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie, where they feel they had too little input. Assassin’s Creed is also a large cash cow for Ubisoft right now, so it stands to reason that Ubisoft would be protective of their top game property. “It begs the question,” mused studio chief, “If they’re so afraid of what will happen to their franchises, why make a movie at all ”
Source: Vulture.com
