With over 73 percent of Taiwanese men thinking that grooming is just about cleanness, preferring a clean-shaven look, Philips had an uphill battle to sell their grooming kits. In order to change perceptions, Philips created some “Low-tech Augmented Reality Mugs” and gave out some coupons that piqued the interest of a lot of guys.
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As science fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke once wrote, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Brought to you through various media and technologies, Daybreak is an interactive story about the magic of technology and its power to transform our lives and aid us in reaching our highest potential. Find out more at daybreak2012.com.
Kixeye has announced it has a new studio in Brisbane, Australia led by George Fidler as GM. The new studio will work with Ngmoco to bring the Facebook game Backyard Monsters to the mobile platform Mobage.
“The talent pool in Australia is exploding, and the 3 Blokes team is evidence of that,” said Kixeye CEO Will Harbin. “George and his team are highly driven and passionate game developers who aren’t afraid to push the limits of creativity and innovation. Those are the types of individuals we’re looking for to join our mission at Kixeye.”
“It is not like a major diversification because we are 99 percent focused on Facebook,” added senior vice president of marketing Brandon Barber. “Mobile is not a core focus for us. But in conversations with Ngmoco, we found they had ideas on how to make Backyard Monsters fun on mobile while remaining true to the Facebook version. We think our games can monetize anywhere.”
Source: Gamesbeat
Microsoft and Polytron Corporation have confirmed that Fez has sold over 100,000 units on Xbox Live Arcade. The downloadable game has been available for a month.
In development for five years, Phil Fish said the extended development time hurt sales. “The fact that the game took so long to come out I think ultimately hurt it,” he said. “I think it would have done better if it had come out two or three years ago rather than now, because things are kind of slowing down on Xbox Live Arcade – it’s the end of that life-cycle.”
Source: polytroncorporation.com
Trip Hawkins, who resigned on Sunday as CEO of Digital Chocolate, was trying to form an alliance dubbed FreeGameLeaders to generate free traffic for browser-based games. This alliance was a cross-promotion network aimed at helping smaller independent developers in an age where Zynga and Electronic Arts dominate on mobile and Facebook.
“Indie developers today need a durable and predictable place to plant their flag, and the open browser is such a place. Indie developers are surrounded by platform titans and enormous corporate rivals, but if we all collaborate and cooperate in methods like this, we can share some of the market power of the big guys,” wrote Hawkins. “The purpose of the site is to provide traffic to open browser virtual goods games that can be played instantly and conveniently in the browser without requiring payment, downloads, plug-ins, non-standard technology or memberships in something other than the game itself. The site’s goal is to become a brand that stands for this level of instant convenience for high-quality, high-value virtual goods games that can cross-promote with each other with high effectiveness.”
“Apps and social games have other ways of acquiring free traffic but our industry needs more methods for open browser games, where the marketing CPA today is high. By sharing traffic, partners with this type of open browser game can reduce their effective cost of acquisition with new sources of free traffic. The site will include partners that specialize in providing traffic, games or game review editorial,” he continued. “The entire commercial model is based on transparent click trades, with no money changing hands among members. While the site will offer an optional Facebook Login, the site is not intended to become a destination, social network, storefront or payment system. The concept is that traffic partners would bring traffic in and then it would link off to qualifying games that are hosted on their own websites, which would also run a cross-promotion bar inside the games that further cross-links the games in the network. There will be modest dues and fees to support the site’s overhead and governance.”
This offer speaks to the problem mobile and social developers have with trying to stand out compared to dominant publishers such as Zynga. However, this movement is suspended for the moment.
Source: VentureBeat
General Motors dropped some pretty significant bombs when it announced that it was departing Facebook and Super Bowl advertising a couple of weeks ago. Instead, the brand will significantly focus on Chevrolet’s China global sponsorship deal with the premier league team Manchester United.
“As Chevrolet continues to grow as a global brand, this is the right time to make a commitment and establish a presence in international football,” said General Motors CMO Joel Ewanick. “Our ambition is to connect with football in a fashion that transcends traditional sponsorship. To be a truly respected global brand, you must inspire consumers. Few brands, if any, can match the ability to inspire people everywhere as Manchester United.”
The deal will see Chevy become the official automotive partner of Manchester United and to create the Chevrolet China Cup as part of the team’s 2012 tour, the first global soccer sponsorship by Chevrolet in the brand’s 101-year history.
Chevrolet has also launched a partnership with the One World Futbol Project, an organization focused on sustaining play for youth in impoverished regions. Chevy plans to donate 1.5 million soccer balls over the next three years to organizations working with youth living in war-stricken zones, refugee camps, disaster areas and other disadvantaged communities.
“As Chevrolet continues to grow as a global brand, this is the right time to make a commitment and establish a presence in international football,” noted Ewanick. “Our ambition is to connect with football in a fashion that transcends traditional sponsorship.”
GM already sold more than 2.5 million vehicles in China in 2011, including nearly 600,000 Chevrolets, up 9 percent from a year earlier. The new focus could end up being a seminal move for the company, as it concentrates more on the burgeoning Chinese market.
Source: Brand Channel
Pixwoo has launched its social gaming platform in the U.S. after successfully launching in the U.K. and France. The platform is designed towards a more core gaming audience, seeking to attract companies with professional pages to communicate with fans and currently has over 8,000 members, 2,500 game pages and 300 groups.
“Pixwoo was created to provide a platform for all types of gamers and industry members to connect and communicate with one another,” said Pascal Vielhescaze, CEO and founder of Pixwoo. “The world of video games is such a rich and content-filled one. The video game world has expanded beyond people who play video games and has infiltrated pop culture and lifestyles in general. We wanted to create a dedicated social networking space for everyone interested in video games to come together and share their passion. We want everyone in the industry asking each other: ‘Do you Pixwoo?'”
“In addition to being the destination online for gamers, we welcome all types of industry professionals and provide specific benefits they can leverage,” he added. “After creating a general professional page for their company on the site, for example, they can take it a step further and become a Pixwoo partner. This allows them to connect all of the pages of the games that their company publishes to their company page, and directly communicate with all of their fans in one place. They also have the ability to create and manage pages for characters from their video games, in order to interact with fans as the video game character itself.”
Source: Pixwoo
Details have leaked out about Battlefield Premium, pricing it at $50, including five Battlefield 3 DLC packs (including early access), exclusive in game items, and new features like the ability to reset stats and receive priority when accessing servers. The full announcement will come alongside the “Close Quarters” DLC on June 4 across Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
“Looks like the excitement for Battlefield Premium cannot be contained,” said a statement by EA. “For details, please visit Battlefield.com on June 4.”
Source: Joystiq.com
Big Head Bash is the first free-to-play title from American McGee’s Spicy Horse studio and is available exclusively on GameStop’s Kongregate. There will be two collectable packs of “toys” (which are the in-game avatars) available called Dr. X and Mr. Destructoid with another set based on Alice: Madness Return available on the title’s in-game store on June 19.
“The Kongregate team has so much experience in identifying what gamers are looking for,” said Spicy Horse CEO McGee. “Their feedback has been invaluable in helping to bring this game to market.”
“We are thrilled to be the exclusive launch partner for Big Head Bash,” said Kongregate CEO Jim Greer. “American McGee is a veteran and a visionary and has put together a great team at Spicy Horse. Spicy Horse’s take on side-scrolling death-match adventure-shooter will be perfect for our hard core players. We look forward to showcasing Big Head Bash to Kongregate’s audience of more than 16 million monthly gamers.”
Sony are offering digital pre-orders and downloads for Sorcery in Europe and Tokyo Jungle in Japan. SCE president Shuhei Yoshida tweeted out that pre-orders are now available in advance of Tokyo Jungle ‘s June 7 release in Japan.
Tokyo Jungle and Sorcery will also be available in a Blu-ray purchase, but the digital sale is cheaper. Also, the digital pre-order of Tokyo Jungle will come with 10 avatar bonuses and a XMB theme.
Source: Twitter
