pr

Culture

Why Is Klei’s CEO Playing With Dolls?

10:00AM Mike Fahey | This is what greeted me when I arrived at the Sheraton down the street from PAX to meet with Klei Entertainment CEO Jamie Cheng regarding the company’s latest game, Shank. More »
News

Sega: Fixing Sonic Is Going To Take Time

2:30PM Luke Plunkett | Once was a time Sonic games were just as good as Mario games. Some may even say better. That time, however, was back in the 1990s. And it’s been a while since the 1990s. More »
News

UK Mag’s Exclusive Review Fits Alleged Eidos Conditions

5:00AM Owen Good | Earlier, The RAM Raider accused Eidos of trying to fix review scores for Batman: Arkham Asylum, a claim Eidos categorically denied. Now one magazine’s exclusive review fits all the conditions said to have been made. More »
Rumours

Eidos Once Again Attempting To Mess With Review Scores

10:30PM Luke Plunkett | Longtime silent champion/nitpicker of the British gaming press, The RAM Raider, has a post on their blog highlighting Eidos’ latest alleged public relations faux pas, this time involving review scores and cover placement for the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum. More »
News

European PlayStation Blog Open For Business

10:30PM Luke Plunkett | Poor Europe. Americans have long been spoiled with up-to-the-minute PlayStation info straight from the horse’s mouth, in the form of the PlayStation.Blog, while Europeans got… Three Speech. Yuck. Today, that changes! More »
News

Activision PR Completely Cocks Up Tony Hawk: Ride Exclusivity

11:00AM Luke Plunkett | This morning, Frank PR – the company handling PR for Activision in the UK – announced boldly that Tony Hawk: Ride would be a 360 exclusive in the UK. Which, uh, is not true. More »

The PRQOTY (Press Release Quotes Of The Year) Awards

9:00PM Luke Plunkett | Don’t think you guys realise just how many press releases get crammed in our cramholes on a daily basis. And just how many of those press releases are batshit crazy. So let’s take a look! More »
Media

The Problem With Games PR

3:00PM Luke Plunkett | You know, we get asked the following quite a lot: “hey, you guys should find out about [some game]“. It’s asked like finding a lot of stuff out in this indsutry is easy. Well, it’s not. And you know why it’s not easy? Because of games PR. The slick-haired filter between what we want to know and what game companies get to tell us. While some (some) are proud gamers and are also super-helpful, others are clueless, and some – the worst kind – are lying shitbags. Want to know more? Brandon Sheffield’s written a nice piece over on GameSetWatch, giving you guys a helpful breakdown on how games PR works, what’s wrong with it and what he thinks can be done to fix it. Opinion: The Game Industry’s PR Problem [GameSetWatch] More »

A Labelled, Bulletproof Saints Row 2 Promo

1:00PM Logan Booker | If there’s one thing I’ll miss about being a games journo, it’s the promos. They can range from truly excellent to downright WTF, but today THQ has firmly landed in the former category with this branded Saints Row 2 bulletproof vest, which arrived on my doorstep this morning. It’s not a real vest, just a decent approximation, though if I walked into a bank with this baby and a spray-painted cap gun, I’m sure I’d end up on the ground with a real weapon stuck in my back. That’s what I like to think, in the fantasy land in my head, anyway. It’s a shame – of sorts – that it has my name on it. It’d make an excellent giveaway otherwise. A less exciting photo of the other side, after the jump. Update: Okay, not only has THQ confirmed it’s for Saints Row 2, but it’s written on the back of the vest. Where did the confusion come from? Ultor is present in both games. More »
News

Nintendo’s Anti-Piracy PR Crusade Continues

9:30PM Luke Plunkett | Fresh off declaring war against the humble R4 cart, Nintendo have issued yet another statement to the press outlining the progress they’re making against software piracy, which has to be the 3rd or 4th they’ve sent out this year. It reads: Nintendo takes a global approach to piracy and has pursued the illegal game copying devices in 11 countries this past year. Nintendo has worked with enforcement officials in Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and the US, seizing close to 30,000 infringing game copying products, as well as taking actions against those distributors and manufacturers. Good for them! Problem is, this kind of approach is about as effective as those “police announce record drug bust” stories on TV. 30,000 “products”? That’s not even a drop in the ocean. Issuing bold PR statements like that isn’t showing us you’re making progress. It’s only drawing attention to the fact you’re not. Nintendo: 30,000 illegal pirate devices seized so far in ‘08 [GI.biz] More »