The lovely illustration definitely makes the difference in the website launched by Nintendo to promote the videogame for DS "Professor Layton and the Curious Village". Developed by Pop the offers an immersive experience for kids who want to discover the game and adults that still enjoy cartoon animations.
The Tv series Bionic Woman has debuted a few weeks ago on NBC. To promote it, the network has launched an online Bionic Assessment Test (Bat) that consists of five mini-games to check your audio visual abilities.
It's an amusing experience, and you feel like you're playing Braintraining on Nintendo DS. It's sticky, and it really keeps you on the site for quite a few minutes to prove yourself you are not as numb as the BAT results seem to indicate...
I'm only 60% bionic... but I took the test on a Sunday morning and today there was the one-hour time shift ;-)
EA Sports has launched a mini-site to promote the 2008 edition of the videogame Fifa. Can you Fifa 08? features a series of videos in which popular players like Ronaldinho, Ramos and Rooney are challenged to imitate themselves and replicate on improvised pitches the tricks they perform in the videogame.
The site has a good interface and an interesting map that allows visitors to navigate through key moments of the video. Unfortunately the overall Fifa experience is not as smooth as it might have been. Can you Fifa 08? only features the campaign videos, to find out more about the game you have to migrate to another site, much more traditional and, I'm sorry, "boring". It would have been great to see the campaign concept exploited to a deeper and more integrated level.
Sony Pictures movie 30 Days of Night will be soon released in theatres but the site is, of course, already live to start frightening viewers wannabe. Created by Big Spaceship, one of the best agencies in creating movies' related online experiences, the site is scary enough to build curiosity around the film.
Gaming plays a pivotal role on the site, with a "simple" single player shoot em up and a more complicated (but engaging) multiplayer "kill em all" advergame in which players' tasks change every day.
Big Spaceship's work on the multiplayer game looks impressive. Unfortunately I haven't been able to test it... in a multiplayer game "by definition" you need someone to play with (or against) and visiting the site from Europe at 10 am in the morning I couldn't find anybody to challenge.
In the US, they're getting ready for Superman's return on DVD, as you can tell from the Daily Planet website and from Lex Luthor's page on Myspace.
Apparently, Lex Luthor is set to come back with a massive take-over... he has declared that on November 28th, he will assume total control of the Web. The menace is real and definitely scary, but you can do something to stop his evil plan: find 12 tags around the Web, you will save the world and win $1,000,000. I'm not sure of the exact mechanism of the contests, but it looks like websites around the world are currently featuring some Lex Luthor content. Find them, and get the chance to win the big prize!
In France, Warner Bros has launched an advergame to promote the launch of the V for Vendetta DVD. As Guillaume wrote, the game play reminds of Streetfighter, but unfortunately is not as engaging.
If you want to give it a try, this is the link to follow, and you can even win a Collector's edition version of the DVD. Bear in mind your winning chances increase if you refer some friends.
If instead, you prefer to enjoy the original cominc-book by Alan Moore, you can find it on Amazon, it's half price at the moment :-)
James Bond is taking the Web very seriously as you can tell from a series of online initiatives I've recently discovered. Unfortunately the outputs are not always as good as they could have been... Let's see in detail...
To celebrate the release of The James Bond Ultimate Edition DVD collection and the Buy Bond Get Bond Free promotional period, MGM Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment have launched an interactive insight into the James Bond world using Google Earth technology.
Users can click on individual film titles to open up a chronological walk through each of the classic 20 Bond films. Each location is presents info and trivia on Bond’s adventures. Users will also be able to visit the virtual lot at Pinewood Studios, and see some exclusive images from the real home of Mr Bond. The Google Earth James Bond plug-in can be downloaded here.
The new episodes of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean is promoted online in partnership with Google Earth. Basically they have created a map of a fictional island in the Caribbean, on which users can navigate and discover the movie related content.
I must say I didn't spend much time browsing the island... maybe because I didn't find it very interesting... maybe because it appears to simply be a sort of external (unusual) menu to navigate the movie's content (trailer, downloads etc...).
From France, a TV spot for Canal + to promote the movies channel and the movie The March of the Penguins (which in France was originally called The March of the Emperor). Amusing.
I think BETC Euro RSCG, Paris did it, but I'm not sure.
Google Maps to power an X-Men community site. From Australia, the latest idea of Soap Creative to promote the movie "X Men: The Last Stand".
On the mini-site Xplanet.net the movie fans can post their picture and description and be precisely localized using Google Maps. Users are able to develop mutant profiles and "pin" themselves to any location, which can be found by other site visitors. They’re also able to include a link to their personal website or blog within their profile, and add other users to a planet-wide "buddy list".
An interesting escamotage to create a community, even if the idea of telling the entire world where I precisely live doesn't drive me crazy.
, it's half price at the moment :-)
