According to Best Week Ever: Super Mario Bros. Crossover is “a reprogrammed flash version of the entire original Super Mario Bros. NES game that you can play as Mario, Mega Man, Link from Zelda, Simon from Castlevania, or Samus from Metroid, complete with customized attributes, special moves, and music for each character.” Try it:
Adrian Peterson Stars In Madden 09 Commercial
Madden 09 will be available Monday. This year Madden should be much more fun to play than last year because of the additions of Jared Allen, Madieu Williams, Bernard Berrian, and Adrian Peterson should be rated like 98 or 99. With Gus Frerotte at QB, it should be a lot easier to hit open receivers, too. GameStop is featuring the Madden version of Adrian Peterson in their commercials:
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Shock & Awe Gameplay
The Shock & Awe level of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare may be the most exciting level of the game, or maybe just the most fun. How can you get more entertaining that manning the side gun of an attack helicopter, taking out tanks and nests of hostiles wielding RPGs? Mayhem and explosions galore!
See also:
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Death From Above Gameplay
Death From Above is one of the coolest levels from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. You control the guns from an AC-130H Spectre Gunship as you loiter over a village of hostiles in Western Russia:
e-strategyblog.com – Internet Marketing Posts 3/13 – 3/24
Here are some recent posts from my Internet Marketing blog:
- Webcam Stars – Product Placement At YouTube
posted on March 24, 2006
Logitech scores big with product placement in YouTube star’s videos. - Citizen Branding Through Fanboy Ads
posted on March 24, 2006
Online
video sharing services such as YouTube are exposing fanboy ads that are
fundamentally changing the nature of product branding - Comcast High Speed Internet Commercial – The Slowskys
posted on March 22, 2006
Comcast demonstrate’s the power of Internet distribution with their The Slowsky’s high speed Internet television commercial. - Broadband Adoption Driving Online Video
posted on March 17, 2006
Broadband adoption helps explain the growing popularity of online video. - NBC’s Botched Response To Natalie Portman Online Video
posted on March 17, 2006
NBC’s
cease and desisting of YouTube over the Saturday Night Live Natalie
Portman skit demonstrates the old school media company just doesn’t get
benefits of the sharing Web. - Microsoft Plans Virtual Spectator Sport
posted on March 14, 2006
Virtual
spectator sport will be enormously successful as a pay-per-view
service, as well as an advertising and product placement vehicle. - Google AdWords Adds Demographic Targeting
posted on March 13, 2006
Google has added a demographic targeting feature to their AdWords search engine advertising program.
Technorati tags: google adwords | demographic targeting | video games | microsoft | nbc | viral video | natalie portman | snl | saturday night live | comcast | the slowskys | online video | tv commercials | citizen branding | youtube | logitech
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
My DVR describes Aqua Teen Hunger Force as "food items solve crimes." They are food items but I can’t recall them ever solving crimes. This is one of my favorite shows and, if you’re not familiar with it, is yet another example of the genius that is [adult swim].
The Hunger Force of the series consists of Master Shake is a self-centered milkshake. Frylock is a goateed box of french fries who plays the straight-man, has a jewel embedded in his back, and can shoot lasers from his eyes. Meatwad is a gullible glob of meat who can morph into the shape of a hot dog or an igloo.
Carl is their disgusting next door neighbor. He’s human…well, sub-human. Many of the episodes open with a short scene featuring Dr. Weird, a mad scientist, and his assistant, Steve.
The intergalactic characters include the Mooninites and the Plutonians.
The Mooninite characters include Ignignokt and Err, a couple of smart-assed two-dimentional pixelated game sprites lifted right out of any 80s arcade game. The Plutonians consist of Oglethorpe and Emory, a couple of spikey and stupid extraterrestrials. Oglethorrpe has an Austrian accent.
This is a typically great episode that includes most of the characters:
Technorati tags: aqua teen hunger force | athf | video | video games | animation | comedy | humor | adult swim | cartoon network | master shake | frylock | meatwad | carl brutananadilewski | dr weird | mooninites | plutonians | ignignokt | err | oglethorpe | emory
The Gamer Vote
The Entertainment Software Association is trying to convince gamers to set aside their controllers long enough to mobilize against legislation in various states and nationally that would put restrictions on the sale of video games and/or fine retailers who contravened those laws.
They’ve created the Video Game Voters Network as the vehicle to activate gamers. It’s not a bad idea but count me as skeptical because those who are most likely to be most offended by such laws–hard-core gamers–are the hardest to reach because, you guessed it!, they’re playing games.
According to the ESA, the average gamer is 30 years old (just the age when people tend to become more politically active) and the vast majority of game buyers are over 18 years of age; six in ten gamers are men; and most expect to be playing as much or more video games than they do now. That tells me they’ve got a vested interest in easy access to their pasttime.
I don’t think games should be treated any differently than books or movies or music. I do think they are a legitmate form of artistic expression that deserves every bit as much constitutional protection of any other form of artistic or political expression. And I most emphatically do not believe that there is a causal link between video game violence and it’s real life counterpart.
Video games are an easy target for politicians looking to bolster their "family values" credentials. As a Democrat, it pains me to admit that these politicians are largely from my own party. Chief among them are Hillary Clinton, Joseph Lieberman, and Evan Bayh. All three are sponsoring the so-called "Family Entertainment Protection Act," and all three have or have had presidential ambitions.
There was a study recently that demonstrated heightened levels of agressiveness in people just after they’d played certain video games. I’ve no doubt that’s true. But the implication that that violence carries over into everyday life does not follow.
A game like Grand Theft Auto is crime and fighting game; it requires agressiveness. That doesn’t mean I am more likely to go out and put a cap someone’s ass or run someone over because I just did it in the game.
But if it’s discovered that some school shooter played Grand Theft Auto, then it must be the game that caused the violence. It’s certainly an easy explanation, however flawed.
A more realistic explanation–yet harder to fit into a news segment–is that the violence is a result of a whole host of reasons, many of which may be specific solely to that individual. I just find it an incredible stretch to believe that playing video games will cause an otherwise normal and healthy kid to commit violence in real life.
That’s not to say that kids should be able to play any type of video game they want. I don’t. My sixteen year old nephew was visiting some time ago, grabbed Grand Theft Auto from the shelf, and said let’s play this.
I do not for a second believe that playing the game would do him any harm and I think he’s mature enough to responsibly handle the game’s content. But it wasn’t my call. Until he’s 18 years old, that’s his parent’s decision. I’ve no doubt he’s played it before, but at least I was sending him the message that even his cool uncle thinks the game is not yet appropriate for him.
Had I let him play it, the "Family Entertainment Protection Act" would not have prevented him from playing the game and I guess it would have made me a criminal if not in fact, then in spirit.
The fact is that families already have the tools to "protect" themselves from entertainment (which is a rather absurdly hilarious thought, when you think about it). Their called game ratings.
The missing ingredient here seems to be the parents themselves. The parents need to read the ratings before buying the games for their kids. The parents need to be involved enough in their childrens’ lives to know when they’re consuming something that is inappropriate. My sister, for example, locks up the controllers so her kids can only play video games when she approves. She knows what games they play. That’s a fine solution.
What is intensely annoying about things like the "Family Entertainment Protection Act" is that I do not want to live in a locked-down child-safe world.
Technorati tags: video games | video game violence | video gamers | video gamer vote | video game voters network | entertainment software association | esa | video game ratings | family entertainment protection act | hillary clinton | joseph lieberman | evan bayh | grand theft auto
Are Gamers Athletes?
I know this story is a week old, but I must address it. A week ago Sunday, 60 Minutes ran a segment on professional gamer Fatal1ty and how he’s making a ton of money winning video game tournaments.
The piece details the exploits of Fatal1ty (a.k.a. Jonathan Wendell) and his growing celebrity as a gamer and his clout as a commercial endorser. His agent tries to argue that Wendell is an athlete for a new form of sport.
No. No no no no no no no no no NO. He is not.
I’ll agree that video games are sport in that they consist of people competing against one another and that they are quickly becoming a spectator sport, but gamers as athletes? Please.
One of the primary aspects of being an athlete is skill of a physical nature. Don’t tell me that a largely sedentary activity such as playing video games is a sport, the most excursion of which requires sweating over controller.
Wendell clearly has mad skills as a gamer (and actual athletic skills, as the piece points out), but to call someone an athlete merely because they excel at video games is purely absurd.
Watch the 60 Minutes Video:
This Week In Internet Marketing – 1/24/06 – 1/27/06
Here’s a roundup of this week’s posts at my Internet marketing blog:
- What Is Spam? According to surveys, it is what the recipient thinks it is.
- 70% Of Email Considered Spam – And, clearly, recipients think most of their email is spam.
- Email Marketing – Some interesting email usage statistics.
- Grand Theft Scwab? Is the staid brokerage firm intentionally targeting Grand Theft Auto gamers with their latest television spots?