Mario’s Inferno Sticks It To EA’s Marketing Team [Clips]

Few trailers in recent memory have polarised gamers as much as EA’s Dante’s Inferno clip for the Super Bowl . Would you have liked it more if, say, Dante was not Dante, but Mario? More

Sam Fisher Tweets His Quest For Vengeance [Twitter]

With the NSA’s Third Echelon taking the hunt for Sam Fisher to Facebook, the protagonist of Splinter Cell: Conviction turns to the only people he can trust – millions of Twitter users. More

Deal Brings MLG Tournaments to EA Sports Titles in 2010 [Mlg]

Tournaments sanctioned by Major League Gaming will be a multiplayer feature of certain upcoming EA Sports titles, under a deal announced today by the two parties that proposes to establish “the definitive ranking system for sports gamers in North America.” The pact deepens the ties between MLG and EA established last year with a live tournament series called the EA Sports Challenge Series. Under thsi new development, EA Sports titles will include new multiplayer lobbies specifically for MLG-sanctioned and refereed tournaments. Players victories, defeats and other stats will then be tracked and compiled in a profile, “enabling the definitive ranking system for sports gamers in North America,” according to a joint announcement. No specific titles were mentioned, just that the online tournaments would begin in 2010. The remainder of the announcement touted the marketing potential of the partnership.

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Deal Brings MLG Tournaments to EA Sports Titles in 2010 [Mlg]

Natal Marketing Effort Targeting Women’s Magazines [Project Natal]

You know those women’s magazines like Glamour and Cosmopolitan that promise BIG SEX NEWS every single month? Well, if a report’s to be believed, they’re going to be delivering BIG NATAL NEWS as the product nears release. MCV reports that Microsoft’s ramping up marketing plans for Natal that go after Nintendo’s top-of-mind awareness in nontraditional games niches. Celebrity endorsements will be a factor of a campaign that targets “the parenting press, toy retailers and publications which primarily cater for non-gamers.” That would include Vogue and all those magazines with hot unattainable women you pretend not to notice when you’re buying Hot Pockets at the Safeway. MCV said Microsoft invited “an elite selection of media” and other non-games firms to a VIP showcase to talk about Natal. Presumably, these were the types of magazines invited. I can’t wait until Glamour starts telling us about that secret thing Milo wishes we would do, but is too afraid to ask. Microsoft Turns to Celebs for Natal [MCVUK]

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Natal Marketing Effort Targeting Women’s Magazines [Project Natal]

Box of Cereal Old Enough to Drink Legally and Vote Sold for $200 [Breakfast]

We’ve dealt with factory sealed Nintendo rarities two decades old this past week, but at least their contents wouldn’t throw you into gastric distress. A 22-year-old unopened “Nintendo Cereal System” box just sold for $207.50, or $103.75 per cereal. The Cereal System attracted 22 bids, with the winner going $2.50 over the top in the final 17 seconds of the auction to claim the tasty prize. He gets two, two, two cereals in one. The Super Mario Bros. Action Breakfast delivers “fruity-flavoured Marios, Super Mushrooms, Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Bowsers.” The Zelda Adventure Bowl o’ Sugar and Plastic offers “berry-flavored Links, hearts, boomerangs, keys, and shields.” The seller naturally typed up his marketing in all caps because this is an important message, like HAL at the end of 2010: The Year We Make Contact. “IT IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION FOR BEING A 22 YEAR OLD THIN CARDBOARD BOX. ONLY ONE DISCLAIMER IT WOULD NOT BE WISE TO EAT THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOX EVEN THOUGH I NO YOU WILL WANT TO. I THOUGHT ABOUT IT MENY TIMES MY SELF.” RARE NINTENDO CEREAL SYSTEM NEW UNOPENED [eBay, thanks Brennan B.]

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Box of Cereal Old Enough to Drink Legally and Vote Sold for $200 [Breakfast]

In Turn Two It’s Yoshi, Waluigi and Logano … [Racin]

After a week in which potholes played havoc with the Daytona 500 field, now it looks like Joey Logano and the No. 20 GameStop Toyota team are gonna rain shells and bananas on Fontana in the next Nationwide Series race. That right there is the Mario Kart Wii paint scheme Logano will be sporting in tomorrow’s Stater Brothers 300 at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif. Last week you might recall Logano’s ride sported a BioShock 2 paint job . With it, he spliced and diced his way to seventh at the Nationwide series’ opening race. GameStop’s signed up to sponsor 21 of Logano’s races this season. Two down, 19 to go! If you want to watch, it’s at 5 p.m. tomorrow on ESPN2.

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In Turn Two It’s Yoshi, Waluigi and Logano … [Racin]

EA’s Five Tips For The Next Three Years, If You Want To Make Games And Money [Dice 2010]

Times are tough in gaming these days, for the people making what we play. That’s a common theme at the DICE Summit, as studio shutdowns and declining sales have darkened the mood here. But EA today offered some survival tips. Recognize the stakes, before you read on. The EA man talking this morning at DICE, chief operating officer John Schappert, certainly make it sound tough to be a video game publisher. Talking about game sales rankings, he said: “If you’re not in the top 30, arguably the top 20 you could even say the top 10, you’re probably not making money.” OK. So, how to survive, according to EA? Five suggestions from Schappert: 1) A commitment to quality: People read blogs, Schappert said (properly displaying several logos including that of Kotaku), so consumers know what’s good and follow that. EA believes that its FIFA series fell behind Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer because EA lost sight of quality — and believes FIFA achieved its recent comeback for regaining the quality lead. 2) Get more from your marketing: Schappert’s slide entitled “Marketing can’t sell questionable games” showed EA’s Catwoman and Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, two bad games from a few years back. He said that, a decade ago, you could get away with convincing gamers a bad game was good through effective marketing. Not anymore, because of point number one. Marketing, however, is still important, maybe more so. “Some games deserve more” was the next slide, which showed Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space. Schappert said EA “could have done better” marketing those games. He pointed to Dante’s Inferno’s Super Bowl commercial last month as a sign of EA’s improved marketing commitment. 3) Invest in the future – get online: Schappert called online gaming the new platform of this gaming cycle.”People are buying fewer games now but want to play those games longer,” he said, arguing that publishers need to take advantage of online-connected consoles to extend the life of a game. EA’s aggressive plans with downloadable content, promising DLC for all of its games , is surely a part of that. 4) Don’t abandon your consumer base: He argued that disc-based games are not going extinct any time soon. “Don’t forget the shiny disc.” In other words, Facebook gaming, online gaming, and other non-physical gaming is not the whole future. 5) Illegitimi Non Carborundum: Translated from Latin, according to Schappert is “Don’t let the cynics get you down.” Schappert’s speech was supposed to be the pick-me-up. Of course, it also essentially articulated EA’s current strategy. Will it work? Well, it’s hard to imagine that whoever does survive this rough patch not saying that most or all of those five tips — the disc idea is the most debatable — are the ideas that helped them get through it.

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EA’s Five Tips For The Next Three Years, If You Want To Make Games And Money [Dice 2010]

Dante’s Inferno Producer Ponders Macbeth: The Game [Ea]

Marc Ecko isn’t the only one taken with the idea of making a video game based on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Dante’s Inferno executive producer Jonathan Knight also sees gaming possibilities in the Scottish tragedy. Knight tells IndustryGamers that, if he were to focus on another classical piece of literature turned game, the Bard’s play would be a good fit. “Macbeth the game is something I’ve been thinking about for years, but now, I think the emotional quality that games are achieving and the value level of the acting and the sound work makes it possible,” Knight tells IndustryGamers. “The thing is, the unique quality of games is being interactive; it’s about action and killing things and pursuing those mechanics is tricky when bringing in classic media; Dante’s is more of a violent interpretation of the poem for example.” “Macbeth would be great, though; there are witches and a supernatural experience along with plenty of intrigue and murder,” he adds. Sure, I suppose that… could… work? Thankfully, it appears that developer Visceral Games has its hands full with Dead Space 2. Shakespeare will have to wait. Dante’s Inferno Studio Thrilled with EA’s Marketing Support [IndustryGamers]

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Dante’s Inferno Producer Ponders Macbeth: The Game [Ea]

BioShock 2’s Launch Trailer Goes Under The Sea [Clips]

With the game out in a matter of days, 2K has been ramping up the marketing for BioShock 2 , culminating in this, the game’s launch trailer. If you saw it already on Jimmy Fallon , great. He’s a funny kid, deserves the viewers, doesn’t deserve the flak he gets. If you haven’t already seen it though, click on! I’ll warn you ahead of time, though: continuing a tradition begun during the first game’s marketing, there’s fake gameplay footage in there. Why they couldn’t just include real gameplay footage, I don’t know.

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BioShock 2’s Launch Trailer Goes Under The Sea [Clips]

Perhaps We’re Sending The Wrong Message [Screengrab]

An ad for Auto Show 2010 at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. “Drive it like you stole it” is the slogan of the show, as well as the show’s marketing department. Thanks Kyle!

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Perhaps We’re Sending The Wrong Message [Screengrab]

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