Dark Void Pre-Order Infomercial

More companies are hopping on the informercial bandwagon in recent months, with the latest entry being this cheesy informercial for Dark Void from Capcom.

The viral video promotes Dark Void and pre-order site Gold4Jetpack.com in a way that would make Billy Mays proud, with forced testimonials and grainy video like you’ve never seen. And star wipes?  You betcha!

All we want to know is who s more to blame: Ron Popeil or the Shamwow guy

Wii Sports Resort Dethroned In UK

The new Eidos game Batman: Arkham Aslyum had enough power to dethrone the number one game of the past several weeks in the UK, Wii Sports Resort.

Wii Sports Resort is Nintendo’s first blockbuster hit of 2009, but the masked hero was bolstered by a multi-console release and significant word of mouth to make it Eidos biggest all formats number one since 2000.

We expect NPD data for the US to come out any day now, and that will give us a good sense of how Batman is tracking against the almost-certain number one Wii Sports Resort in America.

[via GfK Chart Track]

Video Of The Day: The Ballad Of Gay Tony

Rockstar Games is releasing the second and last (known) expansion to the popular Grand Theft Auto IV, and this one is subtitled The Ballad of Gay Tony. The unfortunately reality is communities like Xbox Live can help foster a juvenile homophobia with (generally speaking) some young teenagers.

So it s a bit of a marketing risk subtitling the expansion to one of this generation s most important series with The Ballad of Gay Tony. Kudos to Rockstar, and you can now take a look at the beat-thumping, sparkle-rich trailer below as our video of the day.

AFK: Borderlands On One Wall

The upcoming Gearbox-developed shooter Borderlands is the subject of today’s AFK, and it gives you a look at the structure of the game’s storyline, all on one wall. Kotaku was at the studio and snapped the photo which goes to show, even the most high-tech products begin with just a paper and pen.

[via Kotaku]

 

Exclusive Feature: An Analysis Of The New PS3

At E3 2005, with Sony having conquered the video game world with the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 over the previous eleven years, the Japanese consumer electronics behemoth was faced with a surging Xbox 360, a soon-to-be-resurgent Nintendo and questions of whether or not they could pull it off a third time.


The Start Of The Fall

Attendees of Sony’s annual media event that year were given their first glimpse at an answer with a smoke and mirrors show unlike anything seen before at E3. Glorious demo after demo was shown, all presented by developers who swore up and down that these games, while not playable on the show floor this year, were examples of the power of the upcoming PlayStation 3.

Unfortunately, the stunning images shown that day wouldn’t come to pass, and that would be Sony’s first stumble in a painful transition from the market-dominant PlayStation 2 to the PlayStation 3. For an example, look at the disparity between the games first shown to the E3 crowd and the first batch of games that would eventually launch the system.

Reality would hit Sony and its fans extremely hard one year later when the actual PlayStation 3 would be shown to the world, leading to some absolutely painful viral videos that are today breaking over 1 million views each. A sample:

Cringeworthy, to say the least, and it would lead to a staggered launch, multiple revisions on the PlayStation 3, and a drop from first place in the video game market to a third, all while Sony lost hundreds of dollars on each unit sold. If anything, this is an example of how a solid brand with a passionate following can falter and drop off the radar because of some short term gains in trying to wow consumers enough in 2005 to hold off on their purchases.

Slim Arrives

That s why all eyes have been on Sony in recent months, with rumors circulating about a new slim version of the PlayStation 3 coupled with a lower price point. After spending the last three years experimenting with different pack-ins, price points and models (five have come out), Sony announced a new single SKU for the PlayStation 3.

The new PS3 would come with 120GB hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi, a free online network (users of Xbox Live pay $50 a year to play with others online) and, most compellingly, a $299 price tag.

Couple this with a games library that is finally catching up to the hype, with Uncharted 2 regularly on the Amazon.com Top Five Video Games sales list, and Sony has set up a great foundation on which to build a brand. The price was finally right, the games were starting to actualize, and the system itself had a sleek new look and feel.

Now about that brand . . .

PlayStat– err, PS3

In the past few years, Sony has done everything to turn the ubiquitous PlayStation name into a hollow shell of its former self. The PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles are still widely regarded as opening up the video game market in the 90s and early part of this decade, and helped Sony attain the number one position in this lucrative market.

Unfortunately, the mistrust and disappointment over the PlayStation 3 so permeated the business and brand perception that Sony made one of the most drastic changes in the industry s history. PlayStation would not be elevated as the brand of note anymore. It’s not even called the PlayStation 3, and we dare you to find anything but a glancing mention of the word PlayStation.

Nope, it’s just PS3.

Everything, from the name to the logo to the video bumpers would start elevating PS3. Amongst the visual changes made include

Junking that horrible Spider-Man font
Focusing on the term PS3 instead of PlayStation 3
Making the multi-colored PS logo, unchanged in 15 years, a sleek chrome
Having a cutting edge, sleek look to the start of their trailers.

This lack of PlayStation branding and emphasis on PS3 extends to Sony s home country advertising, which you can see with an innovative Playface campaign below:

Introducing Kevin Butler

While the Japanese campaign is certainly sleek, it may be a little bit too eccentric for American tastes who were put off by some of the oddest television commercials used to launch the PlayStation 3 the first time around.

The new commercials showcase Kevin Butler (played by actor Jerry Lambert) in a series of customer service discussions with everyone from a rumor-mongering blogger to a concerned girlfriend that doesn t understand why her beau hasn t hooked his PS3 into the Internet. His response to the latter What’s wrong with him! Sony tapped Deutsch LA to create ads that are both witty and informative, with entertaining messages that highlight the PS3 s new price and features very clearly. Take a look at a couple of examples below:

Speaking with Ad Age, Peter Dille, senior VP of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America, explained, Humor, and especially irreverent humor, has been part of the PlayStation brand for a long time. The price move [to $299 last week] to us is only half of the story. We believe [the new ads] will work hard to reposition the PS3 for a more mass audience.

When pressed for comment on the way features are heavily highlighted in the new campaign, Dille went on to tell the LA Times, “We have been a game company for years and we would never walk away from that, but research confirmed there is a larger proposition under our nose. We wanted to reposition as a total entertainment solution. We felt like we can really own entertainment.”

Are Dille’s words about non-gaming entertainment worrisome to the same hardcore gamers that fled Sony in the past couple of years Kaz Hirai, head of SCEA and the poor soul in those E3 2006 videos blasting Sony s media event, spoke with the Times Online and said, We can talk about all the other things that it can do in terms of the non-game video content, whether it’s the video delivery service or the catchup TV service or the movie rental service. But none of that makes much sense unless we can say first and foremost it’s a great video game console.

The groundwork has been laid, with a sleek new console, consumer-friendly price, a crisp message and brand, and what we feel is a very effective marketing campaign. Only time will tell if Sony can recoup some of that gamer credibility to get out of a tough third-place spot, but if you’re going to go with fake characters, make sure you’ve learned the lessons of Sony’s E3 2005 and stick with the Kevin Butler variety.

The Cost Of The Beatles

MTV Games/EA and Rock Band have the same dilemma Activision has with their Guitar Hero franchise. Video game sales are down year-over-year, and the story is even worse for the music genre, whose sales are down a whopping 46 percent.

Rock Band is giving it their best attempt yet at breaking Guitar Hero’s continued grip on the genre, though, with The Beatles: Rock Band next week, but the financials of the deal are finally coming out, and it s a big one.

From the LA Times:

Viacom will pay Beatles rights holders an unprecedented amount to include the band members’ songs and likenesses in the video game. It has guaranteed them a minimum of around $10 million and will shell out royalties of $40 million or more if the game sells as expected, according to three people familiar with the terms of the deal.

“The royalty rates on this are not even comparable to anything that has been done before,” said Martin Bandier, chairman of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Michael Jackson’s estate, which controls the publishing rights to most of the Beatles catalog.

That equates to a helluva lot of Beatles fans buying a helluva lot of The Beatles: Rock Band to make this a profitable venture for MTV Games and EA. How much does the Beatles name bolstering the Rock Band brand worth in the long run, though

No More Plastic Instruments

From LA Times:

Rock Band has been a consistent money loser for Viacom, largely because of its plastic instrument-like controllers. Manufacturing them in China, shipping them around the world and packing them into boxes that fit on retailers’ shelves have proved more complicated and expensive than the company expected.

“Our core competency is media,” said Paul DeGooyer, senior vice president of electronic games and music for MTV Games. “Let [Activision] take on the burden of getting those super-tight margin instruments out there.”

The problem with marketing a game like Rock Band is, not only the super-tight margins, but the fact that so much retail space is being used in those boxed instruments that are becoming ubiquitous in peoples homes (and closets).

MTV Games, deemphasizing the instruments, looks to capitalize on Rock Band instrument sales in a different way. The upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band has a premium price of $250 with special replica instruments familiar to any fan.

MTV Games is also packing in the older, generic instruments in a value pack with The Beatles: Rock Band for almost $100 less than The Beatles full edition in an effort to move inventory that has just been sitting on store shelves for awhile now.

A great move would be to just focus on premium versions of Rock Band with special instruments, created in much lower quantities but for a much higher margin, akin to what MTV Games is currently doing with The Beatles: Rock Band. They may eventually give up the instrument market to Activision (who, frankly, have better quality hardware), but it doesn’t matter since those instruments work on both games.

IPhone Scores Grand Theft Auto

Rockstar Games recently announced one of the biggest franchises in gaming will hit the iPod Touch and iPhone this fall with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

This is a huge coup for Apple s portable game market that, while extremely successful, has been plagued in recent months with questions of credibility stemming from the flood of 99-cent games in the iTunes App Store.

“Chinatown Wars is a perfect match for the iPhone and iPod touch,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We are very excited to bring this incredibly ambitious version of Liberty City, with this level of detail and immersive gameplay on Apple’s new gaming platforms.”

Rockstar ‘ move is a huge vote of confidence in the iPhone OS as a platform of note, and an upcoming music game Beaterator will also have a port on Apple’s hardware. Waning sales of Chinatown Wars on Nintendo DS also has something to do with the game moving to PSP and now iPhone.

Sony Releasing God Of War Blu-Ray This Year

In another example of how old IP can be retooled and reused for current profit, as well as a way to market upcoming releases, Sony announced God of War Collection for the PS3.

The Blu-Ray disc will feature the first two games in the series in HD, and will come out this holiday season. This gives Sony a nice little release this year after news of God of War III being delayed to March 2010.

We are excited today to announce God of War Collection, said Scott Rohde, vice president, Worldwide Studios America. Our fans spoke and we listened; thanks to our partnership with Bluepoint Games, fans and newcomers to the series can experience the epic God of War and God of War II saga in stunning 720p on PS3. This Blu-ray Disc compilation brings Kratos to PS3 even earlier than expected.

Publishers should look at sales of this collection as a wake up call to treat their IP with just a little bit more care (HD graphics are a must) to facilitate excitement for upcoming releases and to make some cash without worrying about significant development costs.

PSA: Disney Buys Marvel

Disney this week acquired Marvel in a deal worth an astounding $4 billion. Marvel shareholders will now own Disney stock as well as $30 per share of their original Marvel stock, and Disney retains ownership over Marvel’s business and over 5000 characters.

Joystiq has a look at what this means for gaming:

In a conference call following the announcement, Disney CEO Robert Iger briefly mentioned the company’s plans regarding Marvel licensed games. He noted that Marvel “has smart licensing agreements with some of the best video game manufacturers in the business” and that even though Disney has been “moving in a vertically integrated direction,” it’s possible that it will pursue a “blend of licensed games as well as self-produced and self-distributed.” He concluded that Disney has the “luxury” of deciding “what’s best for the company” as the current Marvel licensing deals begin to expire.

In other words, expect Disney to bring at least some Marvel development in-house to its Disney Interactive Studios. It’s important to understand the potential impact Disney’s hold on Marvel could have. There are many, many Marvel games out there. Just to name a few, THQ, Activision, Sega, Gazillion and Capcom all have recently-released or upcoming Marvel titles. Activision in particular fills out a hefty portion of its portfolio with Marvel games, including Spider-Man, the recent Wolverine and the upcoming Ultimate Alliance 2. These companies may soon be faced with losing these properties altogether.

Speaking to paidContent, Disney CFO Tom Staggs also had a few things to say regarding Marvel’s game business. Scaggs noted that Marvel has “a number of good strong licensing agreements,” adding that Disney will “enjoy the benefit of those deals.” He also stated that Disney will “broaden the base of properties that [its] leveraging within Marvel,” and concluded that there’s an “opportunity” to expand Disney’s gaming business as well.