What’s Going On…On Facebook?

BY

Universal Motown has launched a Facebook campaign {link no longer active} to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the esteemed classic Marvin Gaye What’s Going On album. The campaign asks fans to post photos of “what’s going on” all over the world. Fans have responded by loading photos, videos and even editorials from pictures from the flooding in North Dakota to complaints about segregation in Santa Cruz, California. Even though there are only 20 posts, Marvin Gaye had fewer than 300,000 fans at the beginning of the week and, as of Thursday morning, had more than 900,000 an increase of more than 200 percent. Coincidentally, Gaye’s name also popped up as a trending topic in Twitter this week as a result of Big Sean & Kanye West ‘s hit Marvin Gaye & Chardonnay.

Transformers 3 iPhone App Brings The Poster To Life

BY

The Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon app brings a special interactive version {link no longer active} of the official movie poster to life. To activate, players aim their device s camera at the poster which activates Optimus Prime to defend Earth in an immersive game play experience via the poster s first-person view of Optimus. Using the device’s accelerometer and compass, players fight the evil forces of the Decepticons as they attempt to invade and destroy Earth in 2 unique games. Once downloaded, the app allows users to locate the closest theaters that have the exclusive interactive posters on display. This unique 360 degree game using their handheld devices allows the player to defend against the Decepticons aerial attack wherever they are in the world and compete on a global level for the top spot. Players are able to share their high scores and achievements on their Facebook wall.

Thomas Dolby Debuts The Floating City Transmedia Game

BY

Best known as the singer/synthesist behind the Top 5 smash hit She Blinded Me With Science and as the co-inventor of the Beatnik polyphonic ringtone engine, Thomas Dolby today announced his latest creation: The Floating City is a rich transmedia game with a living world that changes and reacts to player contributions via web browsers, social networks, smart phones and iPads. The Floating City is now open for registration {link no longer active} and gameplay commences on June 22 at 5 p.m. GMT (1 p.m. ET in the U.S.). Players from around the world will form tribes and collaborate to earn free music downloads, merchandise and concert tickets. The leading tribe will even win the right to stage a private concert at which Thomas Dolby and his band will perform his forthcoming album in its entirety. Completely free to the public, The Floating City is a casual game that hooks you into building a whole story world with your tribe as deep as you want to go. Targeted at players of all ages, diehard fans of the five-time Grammy nominated songwriter will be delighted to find that The Floating City integrates characters, places, and objects named in every one of his albums going back to the beginning of his career. The Floating City is set against a dystopian vision of the 1940s that might have existed had WWII turned out a lot differently, says Dolby. A global energy experiment went haywire, the Earth s magnetic fields have been reversed, and the planetary climate system violated. Science has betrayed us: now what must the species do to survive Survivors explore a fictional Google map, forming tribes and trading relics amidst a bizarre sea-going barter society. As they struggle to unravel the enigma that is The Floating City, players can haggle over merchandise and music downloads including brand new songs from the much anticipated CD ‘A Map of the Floating City,’ Dolby s first album in 20 years, which will be released following the climax of the game. This is a brilliant concept, said writer/economist Steven Levitt. It s a cross between Freakonomics and Burning Man, with a back-story that would have made J.G. Ballard proud.

Prepare Your Quest On The Official Site For Dungeon Siege III

BY

The official website for Dungeon Siege III opens the door to the kingdom of Ehb where players assume the role of one of four heroes and must fight for the sake of their fallen comrades to restore balance and survive. Conflict is constant in their action-RPG and each decisions has lasting consequences which allows the players to alter the epic storyline. Developed by Obsdian Enitertainment, Dungeon Siege III is the next chapter in the franchise for anyone that enjoys dungeon-crawling and loot-hoarding. An online comic available from Dark Horse reveals an essential piece of the story about the fall of the Tenth legion written by Jeremy Barlow (Star Wars: Rebellion) and artists Iban Coello (Iron Man: Iron Protocols) and Sergio Abad (The Transformers: Prime) and a village already in the group of the Azunite faction. Official website updates have been occurring in Odo s Journal which provides a first hand account from one of the last surviving legionnaires. A live action trailer tells the story of two best friends out for a playful day couch co-op of questing, killing and gathering gold.

Put On Your Mask And Get In The Ring!

BY

Slang has launched an interactive website {link no longer active} for Lucha Libre: Heroes Del Ring that plunges the user into the gritty world of masked wrestling South of the border. Fans can explore and look at el reto (the challenge), el ritual (the ritual) and learn new technicos (techniques). Fans can browse the site in an interactivo (interactive) or panorama mode for the full, backbreaking experience.

 

Details Emerge On A New DLC Case In L.A. Noire

BY

To coincide with the the first wave of DLC available for L.A. Noire, Rockstar Games has posted an article to their blog looking at the real case that inspired this new chapter. “The Nicholson Electroplating Disaster,” available today, adds intrigue, twists and turns to the real facts of the 1947 case. As you get your notebook ready, check out some historical photos from the disaster that which appear in the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society’s Flickr photostream slideshow.

True Blood Wants You To Do Bad Things

BY

On Facebook, the HBO series True Blood has launched an interactive video tab called Immortalize {page no longer active} that allows fans to connect their friends and feature them in a scene from the show. Click begin and choose friends from a series of 5 questions to see them play out within a scene from the film. Each user’s Facebook profile pic is pulled and inserted into various story points (on a newspaper, Polaroids, in an e-mail, guidebook, etc.) creating a one-of-a-kind experience. After the video has played, fans can share the video via Facebook or Twitter.

Three Concert Apps Bring Live Music To Your Smartphone

BY

Easy streaming of live music to your smartphone is accessible so that you now can carry around thousands of concerts with you at all times in your pocket. Wolfgang Vaults’ Concert Vault app and Daytrotter’s app are two of the finest apps in the field. Together with Music Archive , a third-party app for the non-profit internet library Archive.org, fans seeking deep cuts and independent artists can rejoice. For an interview with some of the creator’s of these apps and their future, click here.

Official Website For Green Lantern Serves Up A Galaxy Of Engagements

BY

Surrounding the launch of the long awaited DC Comics adaptation of the storied outer space franchise, the official website for Green Lantern is chock full of engagements to bring together fans of all ages. A link to the animated series Emerald Knights {link no longer active} lets fans view trailers, sign up for updates and buy now. On iOS devices, fans can download an read digital comics in a dedicated app. Green Lantern Combat serves up three missions via a Facebook connected 3D brawler mini-game that the user can compete against three of the baddest Lanterns in the galaxy and hone their skills in battle. Use arrow keys to move, ‘x’ to use your shield and different key combos to form different constructs to use against an enemy. A global leaderboard tracks the progress of fans that compete. Fans can explore 3600 sectors on an interactive map and learn more about the Lanterns that protect them and also log in with Facebook to claim a sector to protect. After choosing a sector, the user can browse the galaxy to see who is protecting different sectors, their friends, Facebook users or other Green Lanterns. For fans that want to Join the Corps , a specialized engagement will allow them to login with Facebook, choose one of five Lanterns and then upload an image from a webcam or Facebook and replace their face on one of the Lanterns bodies. A simple toolset allows the user to rotate and erase parts of the image to ensure accuracy. The Green Lantern Character Creator allows fans to create their own Lantern from a selection of multiple body parts and assign them to a specific sector of the universe and render out wallpapers and buddy icons to be downloaded. Finally, fans can browse videos, photos from the film, download wallpapers, buddy icons and posters, check out and listen to the soundtrack, browse promotional partners and enter to win various sweepstakes surrounding the release.

‘Alice: Madness Returns’ Opens Up The Doors To The Asylum

BY

The official website for EA’s Alice: Madness Returns plunges fans deep into the psychotic cortex of American McGee’s latest installment in the epic series based loosely on the books by Lewis Carroll. Extended onto iOS devices {link no longer active}, Alice: Madness Returns, uncover the lost years of Alice’s stay in Rutledge Asylum in an interactive storybook as she slips deeper into her madness. Discover a Wonderland composed of equal parts beauty and terror as Alice slips between the cracks of this world and the world within as visions of madness come to life through interactive elements and animations. Fans with an iPhone 4 or iPad 2 can use smile recognition to interact with the Cheshire cat. The interactive storybook can also be viewed in full screen {page no longer active} on the official Facebook page for the game. Back at the official destination, fans can Explore Wonderland (Queensland, Mysterious East, Dollhouse, etc.) through a series of flash movies and brief interactive scenes, each with its own downloadable wallpaper. On Twitter, the White Rabbit has been engaging with fans and keeping them up to date with developer chats and up to the minute breaking news.