September 30, 2004
Music Videos Tap Video Games
[from wired.com]
Over the past few years, entertainment has become more incestuous than ever. Rock stars became actors, comic book characters morphed into title roles in blockbuster films and everyone involved goes to the same after-parties.
Now, the blending of popular culture has gone even further with a new MTV show of animated music videos featuring popular video game characters performing bands' songs.
Today's the Day. Known as "video mods," the videos star characters from The Sims 2, Tribes: Vengeance, BloodRayne and other games jamming on guitar, break dancing and belting out the latest tracks from Evanescence, the Von Bondies, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, Fountains of Wayne and other bands. MTV2 showcases these videos in a half-hour show called, what else, Video Mods.
"Music videos and video games (are) two roads that have been pointing to each other and about to intersect," said Alex Coletti, executive producer for MTV2, which broadcasts Video Mods. "I know that our audience, when they're not watching music videos, they're playing video games. Here's a way to do both."
Posted by richard ting at September 30, 2004, 11:28 AM
September 29, 2004
"Tokyo Game Show 2004" (Sept 24-26, 2004)
[from eurotechnology.com]
The "Tokyo Game Show" is probably one of the most important - maybe THE most important - game show globally to set the trends.
Over 100 game software companies preview their lates releases. This years highlights was SONY with a stunning display of the new "PlayStation Portable" - PSP - .
In a stunning arena around a huge upscaled PSP model, visitors could play with the software SONY partners have prepared for PSP. SONY also arranged an amazing preview display of the new "Gran Turismo 4" racing game to come out later in 2004. "Gran Turismo 4" is typical for the hyper popular car racing game sector. DoCoMo also had a stunning display area, highlighting 15 of DoCoMos most important partner companies. DoCoMo has over 4000 i-mode content partners aligned, and games are one of the most important area on the i-mode menu - many customers are driven to buy the next handset upgrade for the new game content they can play. Therefore DoCoMos display was centered on the 900i FOMA/3G handset series.
Posted by richard ting at September 29, 2004, 10:15 AM
September 24, 2004
Lee Jeans - 90 Foot Babe
Lee Jeans launched its teaser campaign online, in the form of a blog. The blog, written by "90-Foot Babe," has garnered a fair amount of traffic since launching, due to the fact that there is a phone number, complete with message, on the ads and flyers that are being distributed around major metro areas. Fallon Worldwide created the TV campaign for Lee Jeans, and lookandfeel New Media developed the online pieces.
Posted by richard ting at September 24, 2004, 10:46 AM
September 23, 2004
Advertisers Beware: Blog-Fortified "Copy Cops" at Your Doorstep
by Pete Blackshaw
Blog and bloggers have made a huge mark in 2004, and this should give every major marketer and advertiser pause for deep reflection.
Bloggers gave Howard Dean's campaign early, unexpected momentum. They fanned the flames of the Iraqi prison crisis with rapid distribution of photos, especially the most controversial ones. They catapulted into the mainstream Burger King's "Viral Chicken" campaign, as well as the controversial "Swift Boat Veteran for Truth" anti-Kerry video. More recently, blogs have showcased new and promising ways for brands like Microsoft, Nike, Nokia, Sun, and HP to reach out to consumers and other stakeholders.
But let the word go forth - to marketers and agencies alike -that the blog revolution brings with it unmistakable tradeoffs and potent new "rules of engagement." Ignore them at your peril.
New Rules of Accountability
Like it or not, bloggers promise to hold marketers to new levels of accountability, impacting just about everything advertisers do, say, and claim.
Posted by richard ting at September 23, 2004, 10:54 AM
September 18, 2004
I Want My MP3: Former VJ Offers Web Users Syndicated Shows On MP3
by Ross Fadner
As it turns out, you can do more with mp3s than just play music. Adam Curry, weblogger and former MTV VJ, has started offering visitors what he calls a "daily audio log" of syndicated radio shows through an iPod or other mp3 player. The project is called iPodder, and it uses RSS (really simple syndication) feeds with mp3 enclosures to allow users to download audio files from the Web to their mp3.
On an "iPodder" Web site, which Curry created, he writes that those who syndicate their material via iPodder have found the tool helpful in distributing their work. He notes that iPodder is still in development--it's only a month old--but adds that hundreds of people are using it every day.
iPodder makes audio mp3 or Windows Media Player files available via RSS--an electronic content feed with a piece of XML attached to it, enabling the content to be delivered over real-time networks to recipients. Users choose the feed they want, and aggregators then cull the files from Curry's iPodder site and deliver them through an application to an mp3. Audio blogs currently being syndicated via iPodder include: Adam Curry's The Daily Source Code, RSS founding father Dave Winer's Morning Coffee Notes, IT Conversations, Evil Genius Chronicles, RasterWeb, Blogdigger Audio, and FreeFlow.
Posted by richard ting at September 18, 2004, 11:48 PM
Newest Video Ads from EyeWonder:
Sky Captain
Video Banner Ad Tabs and Downloads
Check it out.
Sega NHL 2K5
Video Banner Ad with Polling
Check it out.
Posted by richard ting at September 18, 2004, 12:19 PM
September 16, 2004
BMW1derland
BMW uses Macromedia Director MX, Flash MX, and Fireworks MX to deliver BMW1derland, a game/entertainment experience for its new BMW 1 Series, which targets a younger, funkier audience. (Sep. 16, 2004)
Posted by richard ting at September 16, 2004, 02:52 AM
September 15, 2004
Beat Society
Beat Society is a free platform for hip hop producers to showcase their talent. The website boasts over 300 producers and 3,500 beats from across the globe.
Posted by richard ting at September 15, 2004, 08:56 PM
September 14, 2004
Interactive fiction for gamers
[from trendcentral]
| By now it’s no new news that the gaming industry is rapidly becoming a leader in the entertainment world. The latest evolution in the gaming category is the genre of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs). ARGs are a form of interactive fiction that use a variety of platforms, such as television, radio, newspapers, Internet, email, SMS, telephone, voicemail, and regular mail to deliver stories and puzzles to enhance products such as video games, movies, and books. ARGs are typically comprised of a secret group of Puppetmasters who create and control the stories and puzzles and a public group of players, known as the collective detective, that try to solve the puzzles and thereby further the story.
While ARGs have been around for a couple of years (there was one surrounding the release of the movie Artificial Intelligence: AI) only recently have they really been taking off. I Love Bees is an ARG created specifically for the release of Halo 2 that is attracting a global fanbase. The latest I Love Bees stunt involved web-imbedded code with payphone booth coordinates, phone calls, secret passwords, and audio files. While ARGs haven’t quite hit the mainstream at this point, marketers should be taking note of ARGs, as their diverse media format seems conducive for brand integration and promotions. For more info, check out www.ilovebees.com and www.argn.com, the definitive website for ARG news and info. |  |
Posted by richard ting at September 14, 2004, 11:13 AM
September 09, 2004
Your Own Hit Parade on a Hard Drive, With MP3 Files
by Yingdan Gu
In the same way that people used to record their favorite songs from the radio on cassettes or their favorite TV shows with VCR's, they can now capture streaming audio from the Internet on a computer hard drive.
A new piece of software called Audio Xtract is the key. After the software is installed on your computer, it connects you to a database of Internet radio stations that can be sorted by genre or bandwidth. Once you've found one that appeals to you, just click on Record. The software enables the computer to record the material in the form of individual MP3 files and stores them in a folder. The files are named according to their content, making it easy to delete those - like commercials - you don't want.
Because the contents are recorded as MP3 files, they can be played on computers and portable media players and burned onto CD's. Audio Xtract is $50 at www.audioxtract.com and at other Web sites, and has begun to reach stores. A professional version, which includes the ability to edit recorded material, is $70.
Audio Xtract can record as many as eight stations simultaneously, although a broadband Internet connection is recommended when multiple streams are being recorded. And you can even schedule recording sessions in advance.
Posted by richard ting at September 09, 2004, 06:14 PM
“Mama Said Knock You Out”: Def Jam Fight For NY Soundtrack revealed
It’s nothing we didn’t expect, but nonetheless Fight For NY’s soundtack features an impressive lineup of hip hop vets and up-and-comers.
The list is as follows (as posted on 1up.com):
”America’s Most” — Method Man, Redman
”Anything Goes” — C-N-N
”Are We Cuttin’” — Pastor Troy
”Bust” — Outkast
”Comp” — Comp
”Flipside” — Freeway
”Get Into It” — Comp
”Get It Now” — Bless
”Let’s Get Dirty” — Redman
”Let’s Go” — Shawnna
”Lil’ Bro” — Ric-a-Che
”Make It Hurt” — Busta Rhymes
”Mama Said Knock You Out” — LL Cool J
”Man Up” — Sticky Fingaz
”Mother Mother” — Xzibit
”Move!” — Public Enemy
”’Nuff Respect” — Big Daddy Kane
”O.G. Original Gangster” — Ice-T
”Pistol Grip Pump” — Volume 10
”Pop Off” — Joe Budden
”Poppa Large” — Ultramagnetic MCs
”See About Ya” — Beezle featuring Bonecrusher
”Seize the Day” — Bless
”Take a Look at My Life” — Fat Joe
”Walk With Me” - Joe Budden
”We Gon’ Hit ‘Em” — Deuce, Dub and the Junkyard Gang
”What’s Happenin’” — Method Man
”Yes Sir” — C-N-N
Posted by richard ting at September 09, 2004, 01:58 AM
September 03, 2004
Diesel Dreams
Posted by richard ting at September 03, 2004, 02:54 AM
September 02, 2004
Hex Marks the Spot
[from earplug]
Since starting out as VJs for Ninjatune's famous Blue Note Stealth night, Hexstatic's Stuart Warren Hill and Robin Brunson have spent nearly a decade at the forefront of audio/visual collage art. The pioneering duo were the first AV team to perform live at the Guggenheim Bilbao, they've produced work for the BBC and Channel 4, and have been instrumental in developing the newly released Pioneer DVJ-X1 DVD mixer. Timber, their award-winning collaboration with Coldcut and Greenpeace, was an early indication of what would become the duo's trademark — culling their sound sources from video and then synching the video back to the sounds. Yet what has always separated Hexstatic from other AV artists is their ability to write songs every bit as accomplished as their Ninjatune labelmates. Their 2002 installment in the Solid Steel Mix CD series, Listen and Learn, is generally considered a classic, and their first full-length on N-Tone, Rewind, is every bit the equal of their cut-and-paste video work, splicing classic electro with left field funk, global groove, and jokey samples. Last month, Hexstatic won the Best Film Music award at London's Portobello Road Film Festival, and they are set to perform live in New York as part of this year's RESFEST. With their upcoming CD/DVD Master View, Hexstatic take it one groundbreaking step further, including six 3-D anaglyph videos that can be watched with accompanying '60s sci-fi glasses. Beam us up. (SM)
