Dishonored Coming To Face Off

The games under the umbrella of ZeniMax Media are legendary, ranging from The Elder Scrolls to Doom, but one of their more impressive achievements is cable TV integrations. Recently Breaking Bad had some very deliberate and repeated integrations of Rage that were reflective of the inner psychology of Jesse, the main character.

Now, Bethesda’s Dishonored is getting a an integration on Syfy’s Face Off, a competition series that pits sci-fi makeup artists against each other with various themes. The competitors will be required to use the game’s digital designs as a basis for their own practical effects, which will be a first for a gaming series.

“The producers really got it — they even picked a steampunk location in that was the essence of the game,” said Cara Scharf, president of Fearless Media, who worked with Bethesda and Syfy on the deal. “All the stars have to align for these things. Producers are artists who don’t like you messing with the script.”

Bethesda is Scharf’s only gaming client and she isn’t planning to add others. “I just felt as though this company was on fire and I could do a much better job for them if I solely concentrated on launching their titles,” she said.

While Dishonored is a brand new IP, Bethesda’s VP of marketing and public relations Pete Hines says that works to the games advantage in a general marketing sense. “When you say, ‘Oh, we’re doing something around Skyrim,’ people say, ‘I know what that is!’ It’s a little harder to get your foot in the door with Dishonored, but we know the game better than anyone else,” said Hines.

Other marketing for the game includes things like a free Fruit Ninja-style mobile game, a masquerade party at a gaming expo that mimics one of the game’s levels and a contest to remix one of the game’s songs. Expect to see ads on ESPN, Syfy, Comedy Central, FX and other networks with a male slant to them.

Chris Czarkowski, VP of Syfy’s advertising sales, says said that the network’s growing unscripted range of shows opens doors to deep product integrations and video games are a good market for the network generally. “The category for Syfy is one of our largest,” said Czarkowski. “When, in the fourth quarter and the first quarter, they’re pushing their games, we tend to get a large portion of that marketplace. We’ve seen it grow.”

Source: AdWeek

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Google Play Hits 25 Billion Downloads

Google announced today that the Google Play marketplace has seen over 25 billion downloads of its 675,000 apps. Google will celebrate the milestone by offering $.25 apps and discounts on movies, books, albums and magazines for the next five days.

Apple’s App Store hit the 25 billion downloads mark in March 2012; Apple has roughly 700,000 apps available on the App Store. Android has seen roughly a half billion activations, more than the 400 million iOS devices Apple reported earlier this Summer.

Source: AllThingsD

Announcing the [a]list daily mobile app!  Developed in-house by Ayzenberg Group, the [a]list daily for iPhone, iPad and Android delivers our same great daily content in an elegant app that’s perfect for viewing on the go.

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Nook HD Targeting Kindle Fire, IPad

Barnes & Noble recently announced its Nook HD tablet for $199 with 7-inch screen and with 8 gigabytes of memory along with the 9-inch Nook HD+ tablet for $299 with 32 GB of memory. This move is clearly designed to counter what Amazon is doing with the Kindle Fire and Apple is doing with the iPad.

“A key growth area is to get their existing customer base onto the digital platform,” said Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps.

Barnes & Noble has added features that will allow each a family to share a Nook tablet. Users will be able to create their own home page and customize preferences along with parental controls that can prevent kids from reading Fifty Shades of Grey or go shopping on the digital store.

The company also emphasized features such as image resolution and page-turning technology for their book and magazine readers. “We are playing in the tablet space, but reading is at our core,” said Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch.

Barnes & Noble says it will make sure that Nook devices will properly allow for reading in the dark. Despite a bruising price war with Amazon, the company expects brisk sales for the Nook this holiday.

“We’re growing the digital content portion of the business, and that’s where we envision making our economics,” said Lynch. “We believe we’ll gain significant share in the tablet category, and we’ve planned for that from a production standpoint. I believe these are going to be hot holiday gifts.”

Source: Reuters.com

Announcing the [a]list daily mobile app!  Developed in-house by Ayzenberg Group, the [a]list daily for iPhone, iPad and Android delivers our same great daily content in an elegant app that’s perfect for viewing on the go.

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Total War: Rome II – First Gameplay Footage

Scipio Aemilianus has been assigned by Rome to end the siege on Carthage and win the war for the Empire. Will an ambitious amphibious assault carry the day

Announcing the [a]list daily mobile app!  Developed in-house by Ayzenberg Group, the [a]list daily for iPhone, iPad and Android delivers our same great daily content in an elegant app that’s perfect for viewing on the go.Get it FREE for iOS!Get it FREE for Android!

Rift Launches ‘Save A Panda’ Campaign

Trion Worlds announced that they have launched a special charitable campaign. The company will donate $1 to Pandas International for every copy of of the Rift expansion Storm Legion that is pre-ordered through StormLegion.com until October 3.

The promotion is clearly timed to tweak Blizzard and the release of their latest World of Warcraft expansion Mists of Pandaria. Find out more about the donation’s cause at PandasInternational.org.

Source: RiftGame.com

Announcing the [a]list daily mobile app!  Developed in-house by Ayzenberg Group, the [a]list daily for iPhone, iPad and Android delivers our same great daily content in an elegant app that’s perfect for viewing on the go.

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Company Of Heroes 2 Gets Pre-Order Bonuses, Digital Collector’s Edition

THQ has announced pre-order incentives for Company of Heroes 2. Pre-orders from participating retailers will receive the German Rotbraun and Soviet Leningrad skins for medium-sized vehicles, while selected retailers will also offer closed beta access.

Steam pre-orders will have a “Pre-Purchase Tiered Reward Program” with unlocks for Team Fortress 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Retribution. Those pre-ordering from Origin receive all the global pre-order incentives along with an exclusive Soviet Bryansk Front vehicle skin for heavy units.

A Digital Collector’s Edition will also be available for $99.99 that includes the Command Pass, exclusive German Whitewash and Soviet Winter Cobblestone tank skins, a Veteran badge to display on the player’s in-game profile, and access to the first three single-player DLC packs as they become available. It will also have the original Company of Heroes along with both its expansions.

 

Three Campaigns Get Creative With Election Buzz

Interest in this year’s election is starting to crescendo as voting day nears, and three brands have found a way to embrace the buzz despite the usual contentious atmosphere. Maker’s Mark, Boston Market and Game of Thrones are each running social campaigns with tongue in cheek political spins.

Maker’s Mark is taking the most direct approach. It’s pairing high profile left-right political duo James Carville and Mary Matalin in a campaign themed as “The Cocktail Party.” It includes a series of YouTube videos starring the two. One of its more creative tactics is selling branded yard signs with the slogan “I Support the Cocktail Party 2012.”

Boston Market is promoting the choice between chicken and turkey dishes as “Left Wing vs. Right Wing,” with a couple of clever videos mimicking negative political ads for each side. The intro to each video is worthy of a Saturday Night Live digital short.

The second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones was one long political power struggle. It’s only fitting that the show’s marketing team recognized the opportunity to jump on the election wagon to keep buzz going for season three. The show is running a Twitter campaign asking fans to vote for who they think should run the kingdoms of Westeros using the hashtag #WesterosElections.

While brands such as Dr. Pepper and Dos Equis have found themselves caught up in controversy in a politically heated environment, these three are turning interest in the elections to their advantage.

Find out more at ClickZ.

 

Announcing the [a]list daily mobile app! Developed in-house by Ayzenberg Group, the [a]list daily for iPhone, iPad and Android delivers our same great daily content in an elegant app that’s perfect for viewing on the go.

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Splinter Cell Blacklist – Fifth Freedom

A group of 12 have initiated unprecedented terrorist attacks on U.S. interests worldwide. Sam Fisher is the leader of the newly formed 4th Echelon unit, a clandestine unit that answers solely to the President with the responsibility of the Fifth Freedom: immunity to prosecution in order to protect American lives.

Real-Time Sharing Of Presidential Ads Up To Election Day

Unruly Media has put together a nifty dynamic infographic that tracks videos from the official Obama and Romney campaigns, as well as the 12 Super-PACs that are most active in this year’s contest. It also has the 10 most-shared clips for each candidate over the past seven days; so far, the President is leading more than two to one in YouTube views, and more than three to two in total shares, though Romney leads is in YouTube comments, implying that his videos are the subject of more debate.

Dishonored – The Tales From Dunwall: Part 1

Presenting ‘The Awakening’- the first in a three-part Dishonored webisode series entitled ‘The Tales from Dunwall’. These animated prequels, scored by Daniel Licht (Dexter) and narrated by Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick Ass), give a first-hand glimpse into Dishonored‘s shadowy whaling world of Dunwall, where plague is rampant and the city is in disarray and on the verge of dystopia.