Guitars Dropped into Volcano - Power Gig Viral

I came across this today and thought I share it. To promote awareness of the new 'ultra realistic' guitar playing game for Xbox and PS3, Power Gig have released the below video. It shows a heap of guitar game controllers being dropped into a volcano from a plane flying overhead, which is quite entertaining to watch, and I think gets their point across (Just remember that there are easier way to solve your problems).




Enjoy!

Farmville roll out promotion with Green Giant

Over the last year social gaming on sites such as Facebook has exploded, with millions of people logging on and playing every day, and millions of pounds spend on virtual transactions to enhance their game play. Well now social gaming giant Farmville (currently with 65m users, and 20m playing daily) has teamed up with Green Giant placing Farmville Cash coupon stickers (for ‘5 free farm cash’) on selected products in 4,000 supermarkets across the US.




It was reported on Mashable that in the six week pilot for the promotion, which was launched in Target Fresh Grocery and Super Target stores, there were more than 100,000 in virtual Farm Cash redeemed using the stickers which appeared on 25 different Green Giant products. The promotion was then expanded to supermarket nationwide as a result of the success of the pilot.

It is great to see how the social gaming space has seen such a fantastic increase (despite the hundreds of daily updates in my news feed), and will be interesting to see how it evolves.

What Will You Fight For - Tekken 6 Trailer

Here's the latest trailer for the upcoming Tekken 6, which sees a flurry of women fighting over shoes, straightners, and more (when will they learn). The trailer, created by Imperial leisure, which is one of a couple released points viewers to Whatwillyoufightfor.com where users can find out more about the game.



Video - What Will You Fight For - Tekken 6 Trailer

Guitar Hero 5: Playboy Playmates' "Risky Business" Ad

It truly is battle of the bands this month with Guitar Hero 5 competing with the long awaited 'The Beatles Rock Band'. In order to stand up and really separate the men from the boys, Guitar Hero have launched their new campaign playing on their previous successes spoofing that well known scene from "Risky Business". This ad (shown below) aired on Televisions both in the US and here in the UK sees the Playboy Playmates rocking out in full force in front of a very lucky Hugh Hefner.



Video 1 - Guitar Hero 5: Playboy Playmates' "Risky Business" Ad


There is also a 'Making of' video which is always worth watching if you enjoy the ad, which shows us just exactly what went on in the mansion that day.



Video 2 - Guitar Hero 5: Behind the Scenes of Playboy Playmates' "Risky Business"

"We Are ODST" Halo 3: ODST Live Action Trailer

For anyone with an XBOX out there, you must have been hiding underneath a rock somewhere if you have managed to avoid any news of the upcoming title Halo 3: ODST, the follow up game to the smash Halo 3. This is the live action trailer released earlier this week to promote the game, which shows movie type footage of the perils of the UNSC's Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST).



Video 1 - "We Are ODST" Halo 3: ODST Live Action Trailer


It may also be of interest for any fans of the series that Neill Blomkamp (Director of District 9 and original director of the Halo movie) originally released some short films as a taster of what a Halo movie might look, definitely worth checking out.



Video 2 - Halo 3: Short Film


Enjoy!

Xbox Shockwaves Guitar Hero 100

Shockwaves together with Xbox have launched the Shockwaves Guitar Hero 100 "Summer of Music 2009" to find the Ultimate Guitar Hero here in the UK. Offering a wide range of prizes and free content to users getting involved. In order to enter download the Shockwaves gamerpics (either play and win, or tournament), then play along to your favourite World Tour tracks (Tournament tracks: Motohead - Overkill, Oasis - Some Might Say, The Enemy - Aggro).



A nice idea, plus free stuff always works in grabbing a bit of attention. This is also a good way of hitting the Summer festival scene, with XBOX always having a good presence at the key festivals. Footage of the "Shockwaves Summer Of Music" will also be made available for everyone to keep up to date, which if anything like the below YouTube example is sure to be strangely amazing.

Google Homepage Celebrates Tetris 25th Birthday

Today Google celebrates the 25th Birthday of Tetris, the 80's hit game for Nintendo, created on June 6, 1984. In the only way they know how Google have created one of their trademark logo variations (shown below) paying tribute to the computer game, voted second place in IGN's "100 Greatest Video Games of All Time" in 2007.



Pic - Google Homepage Celebrates Tetris 25th Birthday


Below is the old ad for the game, which after countless variations still remains as popular in its simplicity today as ever.


Video - Classic Tetris Advert


Happy Birthday Tetris!

Microsoft - Project Natal hands free system unveiled at E3

Yesterday was the start of this year’s E3 in Los Angeles, and as expected there was finally some further information on the leaks and speculations of the last few weeks. One such unveiling which everyone including myself is going crazy for is the new motion sensing controller created by Microsoft, codenamed Project Natal. The new system is a completely hands free controller which uses facial and motion recognition to allow gamers to play games and navigate through the Xbox 360’s menus (demonstrated in the video below).



Video - XBOX E3: Project Natal


This is particularly interesting given the ways in which Project Natal could be integrated in the future with Microsoft’s other unveiling that they are teaming up with Sky to give users the chance to watch a rumoured 20 – 30 channels streamed through their console.

There has always been predictions about the way in which media is evolving, and how the media we consume will one day converge into one central hub in the home, and I think that this along with Project Natal certainly shows that the industry in taking some positive and innovative steps forward in the way we not only consume media but interact with it.

To read more, here is a report featuring an interview with Steven Spielberg and Xbox's Don Mattrick - Microsoft unveils new controller.

EA: Sims 3 Wish Susan Boyle Good Luck for Saturday Night

You know you've made it when probably one of the largest computer game franchises wishes you all the best by creating an avatar in your honour. Well this is exactly what's happened to Susan Boyle who is competing in the Britain's Got Talent Final this Saturday (30th May 2009), and has had a short good luck video made of her by EA and their upcoming Sims 3 (Shown below).



Good Luck Susan, from The Sims 3!


The clip shows Susan Boyle on her way to the Britain's Got Talent Final (driven in a pink limousine) being bombarded by good luck wishes, including one over the phone by Queen Elizabeth and President Barack Obama.


Pic 1 - Good Luck Susan, from The Sims 3!



Pic 2 - Good Luck Susan, from The Sims 3!

COD Modern Warfare 2 Trailer Released

Just a quick update because yes as the XBOX fans among you would have seen this week, the trailer of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to COD4: Modern Warfare 'the best selling game of 2007', has been released. This can be viewed below, as a nice further teaser before any more reveals hopefully to take place at E3 in June.

Killzone 2 - World Wide War Campaign

To promote the release of the new first person shooter Killzone 2, which was released on the PS3 on February 27th 2009, a war is raging online and every one's invited. The Killzone 2 Web Game is effectively a 'World Wide War' which allows users to surf the net as normal but with the threat of being ambushed at any point by the ruthless Helghast.



To play users simply register, choose whether they want to fight as a lone wolf, or as part as a squad, install the Killzone toolbar, and your ready to roll. Then by simply signing in, users can browse the web as they normally would with the game kicking in as soon as the enemy appears on the screen.



I really like this idea, and think it is a very interesting way of cutting through it a pretty busy and noisy environment. The gaming industry seems to be a very dog-eat-dog world where word of mouth and community have become key. You only need to look at the success of the latest Video Game Baftas to see that online has become one of the key drivers to a games success, and therefore allowing the target audience to interact before hand, as in the aforementioned Killzone Webgame example is a brilliant move.

COD5 New Maps Announced

Activision makers of the hit Call of Duty: World at War have announced the first Downloadable Content (DLC) for the hit game, one of the fastest selling games of 2008. The new COD5 content is due for release in March 2009, and will feature three new multiplayer maps, as well as an additional level for the bonus Co-op mode Nazi Zombies.



The new multiplayer maps as announced are as follows:

Nightfire
In "Nightfire", players take to the streets of war-ravaged Berlin with only the flames of the burning city to expose the enemy.

Station
"Station" offers a bombed out underground train station littered with hidden passageways and destroyed subway cars.

Knee Deep
"Knee Deep" takes place on the island of Peleliu in a once tranquil village turned chaotic Japanese command center.

Verrückt (Zombie Asylum)
The fan favorite 4-player co-op Nazi Zombies Bonus Mode returns with "Verrückt," a terrifying Zombie asylum featuring more weapons, perks via the addition of Perks-a-Cola machines, electroshock defenses and the endless zombie horde.




Cheers to JMC for the tip!

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, mirrored on Vietnamese DVD

While browsing through the net, sometimes we stumble across these little gems which brighten up our day. Today’s for me is this Vietnamese war DVD, which completely mirrors the imagery from the hit game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Have a look for yourself below, I think you’ll agree that this is far from coincidental.


Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare



Vietnam War: Rain DVD Cover


Hats off to Jon Cook for the tip!!

Retro gaming in style

Russian clothes stores Provokator have recently launched a quirky site celebrating its customers love for fashion and retro games. The user is given the option to play Frogger, Arcanoid, or Space Invaders, renamed for the purpose of the site as Toadder, Jeansoid, and Cosmoflight.



It is an interesting way in allowing customers to interact with the clothes displayed on the site, with the ability to pause the games at any stage to find out more about an item of clothing and even add it to your basket. There is also the added bonus of the three leaders at the top of the scoreboards being rewarded with email discount vouchers for the stores at the end of every month.



It is a really engaging website which certainly breaks away from the norm, it is a simple site to navigate and is addictive enough to keep users coming back for more.