by John Carle, Jan 24 2011 // 3:00 PM
Take a bunch of women in their late forties to mid-fifties and show them graphic images of violence and mutilation from the upcoming Dead Space 2 (which comes out tomorrow, January 25th) and record their reactions ranging from utter terror to complete revulsion. Then make sure to tell people just how violent your game is over some not so violent in game videos. Slap a “M for Mature” tag on it and there you have your ad campaign with the tag line, “Your Mom Hates This.”
Give me a break. There are so many problems with this campaign that is insulting to the gaming community as well as general consumers. Let’s break this down in a logical manner, even though obviously the advertising agency didn’t.
Dead Space 2 is a rated M game, meaning it should only be targeting players over the age of 18. But, the message of “Your mom hates this” is something that marketers would gear towards a younger self righteous and rebellious person in their early teens. By the age of 18, most people have evolved in to at least somewhat freethinking individuals who make decisions based more on personal preference than just trying to do something to tick their mom off.
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Posted in: Editorial · Editorial and Opinion · Electronic Arts · Games · Horror · Kids · Marketing · PC Games · Playstation 3 · Sci-Fi · Trailers · Video Games · Xbox 360
Tagged: Dead Space, Dead Space 2, EA, Editorial, Electronic Arts, PC Games, Playstation 3, Video Games, Visceral Games, Xbox 360
by John Carle, Aug 17 2010 // 11:00 AM
Back at Comic-Con, we got the chance to play some hands on with the 2010 reboot of Medal of Honor multiplayer Beta which went live for those who had signed up for it on July 20th. The Beta is exclusive to the PC and PlayStation 3. The multiplayer for Medal of Honor is being developed by EA Digital Illusions CE while the single player campaign is coming to us from Danger Close. The single player campaign will follow a group of Tier One Operators (the top .01% most elite in the US Armed Forces) in the early parts of the war with Afghanistan.
The first thing that stood out to us during the demo was the use of the AMD technology Ifinity which allows players to use a three monitor setup to play the game in super wide screen. The game looks so great that this is definitely the way the game was meant to be experienced. To its credit because this will be the game it is most likely compared to, Medal of Honor is a more visually impressive experience than the latest iteration of the Call of Duty franchise. The levels look more realistic with an insane level of detail in them. The lighting also makes everything pop out to you just a little more as well.
The control of Medal of Honor is top notch. In the first person genre, control is everything and Medal of Honor hits it perfectly. As expected from a veteran franchise that has had time to refine its control and move with the trends without being forced to put out a yearly iteration, Medal of Honor feels like a fresh game when playing it even though most of what is seen in the multiplayer has been done before. After our hands on time with it, it is a game we know we want to spend some more time with in the near future.
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Posted in: Comic-Con · Electronic Arts · Games · Hands-On · News · PC Games · Playstation 3 · Trailers · Video Games · Xbox 360
Tagged: EA, Electronic Arts, First Person Shooter, Hands On, Medal of Honor, PC Games, Playstation 3, San Diego Comic Con 2010, SDCC, SDCC 10, SDCC 2010, SDCC10, Xbox 360
by John Carle, Feb 2 2010 // 9:00 AM
Geeks don’t watch football. It’s a fact of life. But this may change for at least one night in the near future as fans of the upcoming title Dante’s Inferno will be tuning in Sunday for the big game when EA puts out its most expensive television ad ever.
Expected to be viewed by roughly 100 million fans, the Super Bowl has developed a reputation for some of the best, and worst, commercial debuts of the year. With the ever climbing price tag for commercial time during the Super Bowl, it is estimated that EA will be paying close to three million dollars for Dante’s Inferno to be shown amongst the center of the marketing universe for a mere thirty seconds.
Dante’s Inferno’s Super Bowl commercial, entitled “Hell Awaits…” will appear during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIV as a final push in the game’s already extensive marketing campaign. In preparation for the game’s February 9th release date, just two days after the Super Bowl, “Hell Awaits…” concludes a campaign that included Facebook apps, action figures, comic books and an animated DVD feature.
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Posted in: Electronic Arts · Games · Marketing · Playstation 3 · TV · Video Games · Xbox 360
Tagged: Commercials, Dante's Inferno, Divine Comedy, EA, Electronic Arts, Super Bowl Commercials, Super Bowl XLIV
by Matt Raub, Oct 23 2009 // 1:30 PM
Anybody who’s been to a theater in the past year or so knows that zombies are all the rave today. From Sony’s Zombieland bringing in nearly $65 million in a matter of weeks, to the sudden resurgence in the work of George A. Romero, zombies are neck-and-neck with vampires these days.
With that said, of course the craze is bound to hit the video game world, as it did in spades with last year’s Left 4 Dead. The game managed to cram every zombie movie scenario into a first-person shooter to make you feel like you were really fighting for your life against an army of the undead, as scary as that sounds. While there were some pretty haunting moments in the game, there really isn’t anything as cathartic as blowing up zombie heads.
Like clockwork, game developer Valve (along with EA Games) is releasing the sequel to the highly-praised game this year around the same time. The characters are all new, as are the settings, but the most important is the new storyline. Many games these days are more compelling than some films, and the newest trailer for the game only proves that further.
Check out the Zombie Survival Guide trailer after the jump, and be sure to race to the game stores on November 17th when the game gets a nationwide release.
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Posted in: Action · Electronic Arts · Games · Horror · News · Video Games · Xbox 360
Tagged: Electronic Arts, George A. Romero, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Valve, Xbox 360, Zombieland, Zombies
by Chris Ullrich, Jul 30 2009 // 8:00 AM

We cover a lot of video games from publisher Activision here at The Flickcast. Of course, there’s also many other companies producing or distributing cool video games that we’re fans of. One such company is the powerhouse Electronic Arts. They make a lot of games and we try to play them all. They also produce games based on movies and one such game is the upcoming G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra, based on the movie of the same name.
I got a chance to take a look at the game and its trailer during the recent E3 event in Los Angeles. And now, thanks to the the magic of the Internets, I can bring that trailer to you right here. In the trailer you can see that the game tries to capture all the action, explosions, gunplay and spirit of the movie and, if this trailer is any indication, seems to do a pretty good job at it. Games based on movies have gotten a lot better lately and this one looks like its no exception.
The game hits store shelves on August 8 and the movie on August 7. Check out the trailer after the Jump.
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Posted in: Action · Electronic Arts · G.I. Joe · Games · Geek · News · Trailers · Video Games
Tagged: Electronic Arts, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra