The Story Of ‘Infinity Blade’

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The Infinity Blade has built up some lore behind it over its multiple entries. This video (created by Ben Hibon, and narrated by John Noble) is the opening cinematic for Infinity Blade 3 and recaps the story so far.

Happiness Is Movement

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There’s been a lot of press lately about how the consumption of soft-drinks has lead to obesity in America but Coca-Cola is determined not to get caught on the wrong side of the argument. Thus, they put out this cheery ad with moving animatronic puppets emphasizing a healthy lifestyle using the happiest moments in a fictional man’s life.

Guardian UK On ‘Owning The Weekend’

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The Guardian and Observer Weekend edition is back, and it’s here to own all of the weekend. These cheeky spots explain how the newspaper will keep you up with local trends… and the disastrous consequences of not using it.

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‘Payday 2’ Scores Big

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505 Games and Overkill Studios managed to score major cash with Payday 2 – without needing to don a mask or carry heavy weapons.

The highly anticipated sequel, which focuses on a team of four men completing dangerous heists, racked up a promising 1.3 million units sold in its first month of release – a huge increase over the original’s sales. For good measure, about 80 percent of those sales came digitally, including a large amount of buyers on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and Steam/PC.

Payday 2’s lower retail price probably has a big part to do with that, as the game sells for $39.99 — $20 lower than the usual industry standard. Another deciding factor is its huge multiplayer appeal, as players can team up together to complete robberies and other heists, with capacity for up to four players.

 

How James Becomes King

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For years, 2K Sports has concentrated on specific players for its NBA 2K franchise, including retired Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan. For NBA 2K14, the development team is going all out, calling upon Miami Heat superstar LeBron James to be featured in a new mode called Path To Greatness.

In this new addition to the series, you’ll have the opportunity to guide LeBron down different career paths. You can either continue to build upon the “Heat Dynasty” that’s generated a couple of championships thus far, or take him on a “Fantastic Journey” to a new team of your choosing, whether you want him to go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers or try something completely new – maybe even the New York Knicks.

The Path To Greatness mode spans across several single games, with moments that define LeBron’s career as you move forward. Along the way, you’ll tackle particular challenges to help his progress, which will then determine the best way to go next.

Oddly enough, the Path To Greatness mode will be exclusive to current-gen versions of the game, on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. There’s no word yet in regards to what features are being reserved for the forthcoming Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions.

NBA 2K14 arrives on October 1st for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, and later in the year on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Source: Digital Trends

Apple Expanding In-House Marketing

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In an effort to expand its marketing muscle, Apple has decided to hire a number of creatives to join its marketing team. The move is designed to expand its in-house design group, nearly doubling it from 300 staffers to approximately 500 to 600.

An executive familiar with the situation, who remained unnamed, stated that the late Steve Jobs “was fairly strict about the headcount in that group. The group didn’t grow proportionally to the company as it went through astronomical growth, and that was partly because Steve wanted Apple to be seen as a products company, not a marketing company.”

The hiring will help the company create better ads for its iAd network, as well as to promote new products, such as the Apple 5c and 5s devices that will be launching in stores this week.

There’s no word yet how this will affect Apple’s relationship with current ad agencies like TBWA/Media Arts Lab, Mono and Eleven. They’re more than likely to continue for the time being.

Source: Creativity-online

Fantasy Sports’ Incredible Growth

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The next time you get involved with your Fantasy Football team, take a moment to sit back and realize just how awesome it’s become over the last few years. Not only has it grown in terms of features, but also popularity. You may be surprised how much money Fantasy Football is making.

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association has shared a chart (which you can see below) that emphasizes just how much they’ve grown over the last nine years. In 2004, the revenue for fantasy sports capped at just under $400 million. That number has increased a little bit with each coming year, and with 2013’s stats, it’s reached over three times that initial amount ” sitting pretty at $1.23 billion dollars. That’s roughly an average of 11.7 percent growth with each year.

Out of these numbers, the National Football League ” or NFL ” has remained at the top of the heap. While eSports is on the rise, more traditional sports still attract a lot of attention and revenue from fans.

Source: The Atlantic

Samsung, Sony Dominate Video Ad Sharing

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While Apple and Microsoft are no doubt big draws when it comes to being audience favorites, their competitors at Samsung and Sony have the bigger draw when it comes to social media sharing of video advertising.

According to a report from Unruly, Apple has fallen behind in the social media battle to Samsung and Nokia. Samsung has taken an easy lead in the video ads battle with a whopping 50 percent of social media shares, while Nokia sits in second place with 17.4 percent. Meanwhile, Apple is trailing way behind, sitting at 9.4 percent.

As for the next-generation video game console battle, both Sony and Microsoft are bringing the heat with new technology. However, when it comes to ads, Sony is leading the charge with an estimated 90 percent of shares in advertisements, with a small boost to 91 when it comes to direct competition against Microsoft.

Said Unruly COO Sarah Wood, “Consumer tech has completely transformed over the past decade, in such a fast-moving environment, where innovation is key to grabbing consumers’ attention, brands need a fast-paced medium to market their products. Because social video can be emotionally powerful and at the same time also extremely informative about new products or features, it offers a massive opportunity for brands in the run-up to the holiday season.”

Source: RealSEO.com

Analyst: Next Gen Machines Will Sell Big

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Even though the systems are just getting their launch this holiday season, an analyst believes that both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 have big futures ahead.

Futuresource Consulting has stated that PlayStation 4 will have a sales advantage over the Xbox One in the following five years, but that both units will perform well and gain a huge installed base. The PlayStation 4 will have roughly 36 million units sold, while the Xbox One will be in a cool second place with 30 million.

“We expect the Xbox One to sell well in the USA due to existing customer loyalty, repositioning as an integrated multimedia home hub will open up further market opportunities, though it is launching into a crowded marketplace, so gaining a strong foothold in this category will be challenging,” says the report.

“The PS4 is likely to maintain its strong lead in its core territories of Japan and continental Europe. Due to its lower price point and positive PR within the gaming community, the PS4 will also reduce Xbox’s lead in the key Microsoft territories of the USA and UK when compared with previous generations.”

The PlayStation 4 launches in the U.S. on November 15, while the Xbox One follows a week later on November 22.

Source: MCV