Though it is unlikely to surpass Scrabulous in membership, John McCain's new Facebook video game Pork Invaders which turns the Republican candidate's campaign against pork barrel spending into a lunch-hour escape for would-be Internet predators. This is proof that Mr. McCain, like Barack Obama, gets Web 2.0, hurrah! [Joystiq]
Yes, last night's American Idol finale chose David Cook as the winner, violating everything Simon Cowell said the night before about David Archuleta's "knockout." And yes, 12 million more people voted for Cook than Archuelta. And yes, an early Nielsen estimate pegs total viewers at 26.5 million, the shows best numbers since March, and which could beat last year's audience of 25.3 million. But hands down, the most interesting thing about last night's finale – and it certainly wasn't performances by Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood, or any of the Top 12 contestants, or even Mike Myers' The Love Guru tie-ins – was this Guitar Hero ad featuring Cook doing a riff on Tom Cruise in Risky Business. Yes, they made Archuleta do one too, but that was seriously awkward. CONTINUED »
Michael Hollick, who voiced Grand Theft Auto IV's Niko Bellic, and provided the body for the character, earned a measly $100,000 for 15 months of voice over work since late 2006. He's upset, of course, since the game has sold millions of copies and raked in over $600 million so far for Rockstar Games and parent Take-Two Interactive.
You already know whose side the New York Times Seth Schiesel is on, because he editorializes the situation in this way (emphasis ours): "Mr. Hollick was paid only about $100,000 [...] with zero royalties or residuals in sight."
To some, earning $100k for a little over a year's work – for speaking into a microphone – might not be a situation of "only" getting six-figures.
Then again, Hollick's voice and likeness have been used to reap huge profits, and had this been a film or television series, he'd be getting a much larger share of things. CONTINUED »
Even Grand Theft Auto IV isn't going to touch this campaign from TBWA for Playstation. Thumbplay, anyone? CONTINUED »
The Parents Television Council, which has nothing better to do than complain about what the letter "F" might represent, is also showing itself to not even have a clue about what it's criticizing anymore. Moving beyond TV, the PTC also has its stake on video games, namely the awesomely violent Grand Theft Auto IV.
PTC public policy director Dan Isett claimed to have played the game, which made him an expert on decrying it. CONTINUED »
Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV moved six million copies in its first week, banking over $500 million in gross receipts. [Variety]
The Parents Television Council is going to have something new to complain about. After lashing out at CBS for broadcasting a toned down version of the Showtime serial killer series Dexter, we suggest they turn their sights on Mark Ecko's entertainment company, which will produce a video game based on Michael C. Hall's sympathetic character. Just please, please let there be a scenario that involves that annoying bitch Lila to be slayed.
In exchange for creating the best time suck for pot smoking university students, Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy are set to receive a $200 million-plus payday. The duo, who created the video game Rock Band at their company Harmonix, sold their equity to Viacom in October 2006 and pocketed $175 million, in cash, during the sale. Now, with game sale revenues expected to hit $600 million, Viacom is preparing to dole out another nine-figure sum to its creators. [NYP]
VIDEO GAMES ARE STUPID When did it become socially acceptable for adults to sit around playing video games all day? We blame Guitar Hero, the game that enables office managers to think of themselves as musicians, if not heroes. And for these people, there is no greater hero than Joe Perry, a middle aged man who looks good in spandex. So in the ultimate act of wish-fulfillment synergy, "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Edition" is coming out in June. Dream on indeed. [MTV]
Heavy metal act Killswitch Engage (oh, oh, we get it: there’s a switch you engage and then someone is killed) has gained newfound popularity through a video game. The Boston band has picked up buzz since their song “My Curse” (is the curse being responsible for engaging the killswitch?) appeared as a bonus track on Guitar Hero III. The digital sales of their single “Through the Fire and Flames” went up 180 percent after the game came out.
With Universal forcing Lindsay Lohan to do a third album, we kind of want to engage the killswitch on the record industry.
Bane of our TV industry chronicling existence, Nielsen now wants to get into the business of tracking which video games our inactive, lard-ass-growing population is playing. Forget for a moment that Nielsen's ability to track TV viewing habits is archaic and skewered, and Nielsen/NetRatings' Internet traffic monitoring is operational at best — the media monitoring agency might finally have its act together.
Rather than relying on video game players – known, of course, for their extensive attention spans – to record the games they play and for how long, Nielsen is working with Sony to grab the data directly from Playstation consoles. Nielsen gets a new product to push to media buyers; Sony gets a new platform to sell ads against.
If only there were a way for Nielsen to get information directly from cable TV set top boxes and have, like, accurate viewer data.
Editorial Director
