Scribblenauts Launches Early In NYC

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Scribblenauts comes out this week to quite a bit of pre-launch hype thanks to an innovative gameplay mechanic that has gamers entering anything into its dictionary (say, Keyboard Cat) and then that object coming to life to try and help you through the game’s levels.

So an innovative game should get an innovative release event, and Scribblenauts did just that at the New York City-based Nintendo World Store this weekend. Developers 5th Cell were on hand to autograph the game, and consumers were allowed to purchase it a few days ahead of its official release.

Nintendo having its own retail location in NYC has helped these become somewhat regular opportunities for fans to connect with their hobby while giving Scribblenauts additional blog coverage and valuable word of mouth.

Music Genre Boom Is Over, Sales Down 46%

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The music genre of video games has seen a massive drop off in sales, with the most recent NPD data showing a decline of 46 percent from this time last year. But there are some silver linings.

First of all, the genre is still the third-largest selling game genre out there, and secondly, the release of Guitar Hero 5 and The Beatles: Rock Band should give the genre a much-needed bump.

If you have a music game in the pipeline, there are a couple of tips to extrapolate from the glut of music genre stories from the past few months:

–    Stop with the instruments; they re already in people s homes, and they take up valuable real estate at retailers
–    Lead with your innovations; with Guitar Hero 5, they went with the amount of songs on the disc; with The Beatles: Rock Band, well, it s The Beatles; there are still lots of music genres that haven t been tapped yet, from funk to hip-hop and country

And, most importantly, be genuine when connecting with fans of the music in your game. Nothing’s worse than someone who wouldn’t throw a flag when seeing Kurt Cobain rapping through a non-Nirvana song — well, there s something worse, and that’s when the remaining band members start trashing your brand.

Microsoft About To Enter Portable Market?

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Microsoft has been rumored to come out with a portable gaming system all their own to compete with the Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and Apple iPhone, especially after the latter managed to open up a huge market in just the past couple of years.

The news of the Xbox manufacturer getting into the portable scene is somewhat of a surprise, and the folks from Redmond are keeping details scarce (the only confirmation coming in just a brief mention in a Zune HD promotional video, embedded below).

Unfortunately, this begs a lot of questions:

–    Does the industry really need another portable
–    What challenges does this pose to your marketing plans as the number of platforms continues to increase
–    Sony has yet to succeed, so why would Microsoft have a better chance at it
–    And, last but not least, how many people do you know who own a Zune

While the Zune hardware is undoubtedly sexy, we are afraid of increased market segmentation, especially when Nintendo is already running away with the younger gamer demographic and iPhone is looking to take the older market, with Sony showing very few signs of life with the PSP.

 

If Hitler’s Angry, You’re Doing It Right

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From BrandWeek:

Perhaps the most unlikely star of online videos these days is Adolph Hitler, or at least an actor playing him. The joke is simple: Get a clip of from the 2004 movie Downfall, in which Bruno Ganz as Hitler throws a tantrum in German, and superimpose subtitles about the news of the day.

In the YouTube age, if Hitler is pissed at you, you know you’ve made an impact.

Amen.

For an example, here is an embedded video showing the scene of Hitler and his cohorts discussing the recent purchase of Marvel by Disney:

 

Borderlands: Before And After

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From Offworld:

When Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford explained the new art style of Borderlands to the press, he described it as a “mutiny”. His art team had apparently gone back to their concept art assets and realized that, ultimately, their drawings and paintings had more character and appeal than the art-style that had ended up in the version of the game they had at that time.

Take a look at the dramatic before and after videos and see how significantly a few filters can change the whole look and marketing plan for a game.

Before:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XwU8mUc0K-k%26amp

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gDSRdp6Ar3M%26amp

Robot Chicken Series Debuts On PlayStation Home

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Robot Chicken is a short form animated series that is one of the most popular shows on Adult Swim, and is now debuting on PlayStation Home later this year.

We’ve come a long, long way from the opening days of the PlayStation Home Theater space, where the debut trailer for Twilight played in an endless cycle of brain-melting teen melodrama. Today, if you drop by the networking service’s silver screens, you’ll be able to view some programming that’s probably more in your wheelhouse — clips from Adult Swim’s Mego-infused comedy series, Robot Chicken.  [Joystiq]

Halo Waypoint Dated

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Microsoft has set a date of November 5 for the launch of Halo Waypoint on Xbox 360. The vision of Halo Waypoint is to have videos (everything from classic ads of the first Halo to the latest Halo Legends anime shorts), mini-games and more to appeal to Xbox 360 owners regardless of how much they like (or loathe) Halo.

This will be an interesting experiment, and one Sony has been trying with the different spaces in PlayStation Home. The idea is to engage users right on their console with a variety of multimedia and games, continuing to push that series as games, movies and books come out.

Halo Waypoint will segue into the anticipated launch of Halo 3: ODST later this year, which will in and of itself be a test of whether the Halo name or the Master Chief character is what resonates with gamers. The game, a prequel to Halo 3, deals with members of the human army, fighting the alien army on Earth.

It also looks to market the hell out of the Halo brand and upcoming Halo products for the year. Look for Halo Waypoint on Xbox Live on November 5.

Price Cut, Marketing Working For PS3 Rebrand

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From Joystiq:

Sony Computer Entertainment America has some good news and some bad news to share. The good: Sales of PS3 hardware at its “top retailers” jumped 300 percent for the first week of September versus the week before the system’s price was cut to $299 for the 120GB “slim” unit. The bad: Um, well . . . okay, we lied. Everything’s pretty good for a change at SCEA HQ, considering people are actually buying its console. (Although 300 percent pales in comparison to Europe’s totally legit 999 percent increase . . . or Japan’s 7,350 percent increase).

We’ve outlined the efforts of the new PS3 in last week s exclusive feature and believe the perfect storm that Sony’s been waiting for has finally arrived.

The marketing, which now centers around a humorous (fictional) Sony employee Kevin Butler, has been instrumental in pushing the new price tag and ample features of PS3, and with an expected price cut for a month now, many consumers who were waiting on the fence decided to make the jump.

The end of the year is shaping up to be big, with the momentum clearly on Sony’s side.

NPD Data Shows Batman Surprise

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Batman: Arkham Asylum has been a critical hit ever since its launch in late August, and was one of the big surprises in yesterday s NPD sales data release for the month.

The sales chart, led by obvious leaders Madden NFL 10 and Wii Sports Resort, shows Batman’s two SKUs placing fourth and fifth, with Xbox 360 edging out the PS3 version by about 13K units.

In total, a half-million Batman units have been sold, with a strong September showing now expected. The marketing is well targeted with a hot franchise and, most importantly, a high quality product that led to significant word of mouth. We will examine Batman: Arkham Asylum in an upcoming the[a]listdaily feature.