How Industry and/or People in Industry Present & Market There Brand and Products

... And a Brief Exploration On Different Paths That May Lead Into The Games Industry

The first few slides will be notes from different blogs and a few notes will be made stating how they differentiate from each other.

THQTHQ have been busy this year. With huge upcoming titles such as: Saints Row3 and WWE12 as well as already released games i.e. Red Faction:Armageddon.

http://www.thqinsider.co.uk/ is their official blog page where fans can catch up on what they are currently up to. Here you can find game updates and information on official tournaments with links to their event page!

EA

EA have so many successful franchises from Mass Effect to FIFA. The big game where all eyes are on so far this year though is Battlefield 3. Their official blog page lists recent patches applied to the final product based on the feedback received from the beta version released not too long ago. The URL is here: http://blogs.battlefield.ea.com/

Unlike the previous blog by THQ which covers a number of games, EA has blog/news sites dedicated to separate titles. This is better suited to gamers who only want information on certain games.

Infinity WardInfinity Ward has recently launched a tumblr blog account found here: http://www.insideiw.com/. The latest blog is pretty interesting if you’re into in multiplayer. A concept that was initially used in the making of Modern Warfare 2. This is different because the developer is giving an insight to what goes on behind the scenes, rather than just hype the franchise.

The next couple of slides will be a look at two people who are in the industry and how they have used their twitter to market and communicate with audience more.

Cory Ledesma who is the lead director for THQ’s fighting franchise (the WWE titles mainly) is fairly active on Twitter (RealCoryLedesma) and interacts as much as he can with fans. To me this is a big step in development. Getting feedback and comments from

the audience is key to improving the product. Granted not all comments are supportive but even the most hateful and abusing comments may contain something constructive. He rises above this all and also shows a lot of passion for what he is doing in a casual environment,

proving that not all people on the inside are as stiff as they seem!

Social Networking

Cliff Bleszinski the design director for Epic has a Twitter too (therealcliffyb). Cliff seems a lot more informal on his Twitter account. He does mention current games such as Gears of War but he leaves most of the real information and important things to the big exhibitions and shows such as E3. He manages to switch between his professional life and personal life well. His interaction with followers isn’t on a subjective level so he doesn’t just talk about games in direct response to people which I find is quite effective to getting a closer bond with the audience and in turn a better understanding of market needs.

Not everyone follows the same path to get into the games industry.

Here is one example...

Jim LeeThis man is actually a comic artist, editor and publisher who is currently under DCU comics. The reason I’ve listed him here is because not too long ago he was involved in the character design for DCU: Online for the Playstation 3 and PC. He came from an art background and had not had game experience but was still called up for the design role.

This has opened up more opportunities for him to expand his career further. He posted concept videos on a blog site to update what he was doing found on this URL: http://gelatometti2.blogspot.com/

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