Battlefield Premium Could Be EA’s Answer To Call of Duty Elite

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Call of Duty Elite has managed to rack up millions of engaged users and over 2 million paid subscribers. Now, reports are that Electronic Arts is preparing something similar with the Battlefield series, with plenty of content drops planned over the next several months.

“Battlefield Premium will land you a number of content drops with unique in-game items not available anywhere else,” reads what is said to be the official description. “First out is the one-of-a-kind Premium knife and black dog tag, plus a set of soldier camos, weapon camos, dog tags and Assignments that will make sure you stand out and get more personalization options.”

Source: Battlefieldo

China Branding Coming To Hollywood

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The new James Bond film Skyfall has somewhat controversially struck a deal to make Heineken the official drink of 007, replacing the classic “shaken, not stirred” martini. Less attention has been paid to the arbitrary China scenes thrown into the movie to appeal to the world’s largest growing movie market.

In 2011, China’s cinemas sold $2.1 billion in tickets, though just under 40 percent of tickets sold were for Hollywood blockbusters. James Cameron recently announced a commitment to partially film Avatar 2 in China and to cooperate with Chinese filmmakers in the future.

Battleship, while concentrating on a fictional U.S. Navy fleet, has already opened in China and begins with a scene in Hong Kong. It’s become more common in Hollywood flicks in recent years, with The Dark Knight having a Hong Kong scene, the third The Mummy sequel focusing on China and the last two Transformers movies having Chinese product placement.

Among other recent examples, the third installment of Iron Man will be shot in China and star Hong Kong actor Andy Lau. At a press event, Disney’s general manager for Greater China, Stanley Cheung, said at a news conference, “We know Chinese audiences love Iron Man. So we are going to add Chinese elements and a Chinese story into Iron Man 3.”

Back in 2006, Tom Cruise placed a significant portion of his third entry of the Mission Impossible franchise in Shanghai and also employed Hong Kong’s Maggie Q. The remake of the cult classic Escape from New York will be Escape from Hong Kong.

Hollywood is also removing China from certain films in order to please that audience (or at least the Chinese government). The Red Dawn remake will be digitally overhauled to change the Chinese invaders to North Koreans.

Source: Brand Channel

DC Douglas Does A Wesker/Legion Alliance

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Actor DC Douglas right now has a lull between video game roles, and he composed a video to thank the fans for all their support. He plays both sides of a conversation between his two most famous roles in video games – Albert Wesker from Resident Evil and Legion from Mass Effect.

Ghost Recon: Alpha Trailer

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Ubisoft has put out a trailer for a movie Ghost Recon : Alpha, hinting at a lot of the features that will be found in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. Expect to see the full movie released soon.

Facebook CEO Says Priority Is On Mobile

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According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a major goal for the company in 2012 is better integrating their mobile apps. Additionally, he said the key priorities in 2012 are to build stronger ties incorporating its social network with other online apps and to create a “transformative” advertising experience as the company looks to raise about $10.6 billion.

“Over the next 10 years or so, every consumer category should be transformed to be built around people,” said Zuckerberg. “People will listen to music and watch TV with other people [through Facebook.] We only recently reached this tipping point.”

Source: Reuters

Republique Gets Kickstarter Funding

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Camouflaj, founded by Kojima Productions and 343 Industries veteran Ryan Payton, has confirmed that their Kickstarter for Republique has been funded. The project was very touch and go for a while, at one point bringing in only about $700 a day.

The project was boosted by the announcement that it will be brought to PC and Mac, along with Android and iOS. Also helping was the confirmation that David Hayter, voice actor for Solid Snake, and Jennifer Hale, Mass Effect‘s Commander Shepard, both announced their intention to work on the project.

Source: Kickstarter

Warface Reaches 1 Million Russian Users

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Warface, developed by Crytek and published by Mail.Ru Group, has set a Russian record with 28,000 players competing simultaneously. The MMOFPS also has over 1 million registered users in the region.

“We are extremely satisfied with the Warface results and we are happy that the hard work done by our team over the title has been so fruitful,” said Vladimir Nikolsky, vice president of Mail.Ru’s Game Division. “We intend to keep up the good work and make Warface not merely a successful game, but also a huge brand and a cybersport discipline, like we did with Cross Fire.”

“We chose Russia to be the debut market for our title, since we have always had a great reception with Russian gamers and had great confidence in Mail.Ru Group’s ability to achieve success,” said Crytek managing director Avni Yerli. “We are extremely happy with the launch, the great work from Mail.Ru Group and the massive effort from our development team and can’t wait to let people around the world play Warface.”

Gears Of War Designer Says Japan Should Consider Multiplayer More

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Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games thinks that From Software’s multiplayer efforts with Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls will influence developers for years to come. However, he thinks that Japanese developers need to do more in general with regard to online multiplayer.

“My advice to Japan is that in a disc-based market right now, you cannot [ignore multiplayer],” he says, adding, “I’m not saying tack multiplayer onto every game.”

Shadows of the Damned was a game in particular he picked out, and one that Bleszinski liked a lot. ” . . .The dialogue had me laughing out loud, just even the key-door systems in there; it was a beautifully crazy game with really fun gameplay, but no multiplayer co-op experience in there,” he said. “I’m not saying tack on versus; there’s a billion different ways you can do some sort of ‘players interacting with other players.'”

“And if you’re going to make a third-person shooter… the fact that Vanquish didn’t have a multiplayer suite was a crime,” he says. The shooter, developed by Platinum Games under director Shinji Mikami, also failed to find a significant audience,” he continued. “That IP, it was pretty good as far as being Western, but the gameplay was great, the vibe . . . and I’ve often said on record that if Gears is the kind of Wild, Wild West coal train chugging along, that Vanquish is the Japanese bullet train, with style and everything. And there is absolutely no reason I shouldn’t have been zipping around, doing the mega slides, diving up in the air in an arena with other players.”

Source: Gamasutra

GameStop Carrying Steam Wallet Cards

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GameStop has confirmed that they will be carrying gift cards for credit on Steam in values of $20 and $50. This is a significant step in demonstrating the maturity of the digital sales realm and also a tacit acknowledgment that GameStop’s Impulse digital download service is not how most consumers are spending their money.

“GameStop is the most recognized game retailer in the world and a leader in providing a state-of-the-art shopping experience for its customers,” said Jason Holtman, Valve’s director of business development. “Offering Steam Wallet codes at GameStop extends more options and convenience to gamers around to the world.”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Valve on this new initiative,” added Steve Nix, GM of digital distribution for GameStop. “This gives even more options to customers now that they can put money in their Steam Wallet using cash, gift cards or trade credits through our convenient neighborhood locations.”