Wonacott, E3 and Me (Oh, and our clients at this year’s show)

by Racheal Caswell

My first E3 was in 2006. I was working for Hollywood Previews, a digital magazine, and my job was to get on-camera interviews with the people behind all the biggest games. The first day, I wore heels: Big mistake. I’d been to the Staples Center before, but I didn’t realize how big it is until I made 16 laps to get to all of my meetings in less than eight hours per day.

At that same E3 I met Jason Wonacott, who was working for Webzen at the time. Six years later, I made the move from journalist to PR professional, Jason owns Wonacott Communications – where I’ve worked for three years today – and… we’re partnered with Webzen for their first E3 appearance since 2006. Small world.

Connected Gaming Week - May 18, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Connected Gaming Week - May 11, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Connected Gaming Week - May 4, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Greetings everyone! Let me introduce you to the next evolution of Wonacott Communications with the new Connected Gaming Week. For those of you who visited our website or offices recently, you'll notice that Wonacott underwent a complete redesign to reflect our five years of progress in interactive entertainment, social and corporate communications. With the advent of cross-platform play from browsers and mobile phones, it was time to bring the Online Entertainment Insider to the next level, so we give you: Connected Gaming Week. Please be sure to add cgw@wonacottpr.com to your safe lists - we'll be using that address starting next week.

Jason Wonacott Talking F2P Marketing at Casual Connect Asia

by Wonacott Communications

If you happen to be traversing Southeast Asia later this month, stop by Casual Connect Asia, May 22-24. Our own Jason Wonacott will be there for a session on stretching F2P game marketing dollars. Alongside his industry peeps from iQU, SEA Gaming and BBC Worldwide, Jason will moderate the panel, which will address building new user bases in today’s rapidly evolving  global games market.

Downloadable Sports Video Games: A New Generation

by Kia Gilstrap

(Source: PlayStation Network Official Site)

There is nothing quite like the feeling when you walk into your nearest electronic store to purchase the video game of your choice. This holiday season, I was particularly satisfied with my purchase of Madden 2012, where I could virtually avenge the early playoff exit of the Green Bay Packers. Luckily, in a world that includes the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, those days where you would have to save few weeks worth of pay checks to buy the video game of your choice may be long gone.

Online Entertainment Insider - April 27, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

The Show Goes On: A Look at Posthumous Popularity

by Sarah Arvizo

If you didn’t hear about the virtual resurrection of rapper 2Pac at this year’s Coachella festival, well, let’s get real – you’ve been living under a rock! Whether you’re a fan or not, 2Pac is revered across the world as one of the greatest rap/hip-hop artists of all time and his performance sent shockwaves throughout the media. Let’s just say I’m regretful I didn’t purchase tickets to this year’s event. (And who cares if Batman is over it, Jason Wonacott!)

Online Entertainment Insider - April 20, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

The rule of threes is in full-effect this weekend. For those that have been patiently waiting to once again slaughter the armies of hell, Blizzard is holding an open beta weekend right now for Diablo III prior to the game's May 15 launch. The upcoming MMO from En Masse, Tera Online, is also having a public weekend, and capping off the trifecta is WarGaming.net, which just sent out a much larger round of invites for the World of Warplanes global alpha.

Online Entertainment Insider - April 13, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

The past few editions of the OEI have touched upon the impending next-gen consoles. But as we all know, rumors are the most delicious part of the video game industry, and this rumor is a whopper. Valve, the company behind the highly successful Portal, Half-life and Team Fortress series, are looking for console hardware engineers. What that means for Valve and the 30-million plus users of its Steam digital distribution platform isn’t clear, but a new challenger for the console wars would certainly shake up the industry. 

Autumn Games’ Skullgirls Out Now

by Danny Beardsworth

In case you don’t follow videogames or you’ve been living under a rock for the last several months, Skullgirls, the award-winning 2D fighting game from (Wonacott client) Autumn Games and developer Reverge Labs, is available now on both Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Network. The reviews are in, and so far it looks likes the games enthusiast press is enjoying the game almost as much as we enjoyed working on it.

Online Entertainment Insider - April 6, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Happy Good Friday, everyone - we hope you're having an indulgent day, now that Lent is over! What else does Good Friday mean? It's the last full week you'll have to wait to check out Skullgirls, the new 2D fighting game on XBLA and PSN. Skullgirls publisher Autumn Games is a Wonacott client, and after a year-long campaign, we think the game is poised to upset the old guard of fighting games with a fresh take on the genre. 

Online Entertainment Insider - March 30, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Console wars are an inexorable part of the video game industry, and are the front lines of billions of dollars in revenue. NES, Sega and Turbografx fought the bloodiest battle back in the early '90s, but now console makers, specifically Sony (for now), seem to be taking the war to second-hand retailers with the rumor that the next PlayStation console will NOT support used games. The largest used game retailer in the world generates more than $2 billion annually from reselling, which is a very large piece of pie to fight over...

Online Entertainment Insider - March 23, 2012

by John Hardin

There's a plague going around the office, and I'm not talking about the one that's causing me to take Dayquil on regular intervals. OMGPOP's mobile Pictionary game, Draw Something, is infecting the whole office, with noticeable symptoms of quizzical looks and fits of laughter. The game also attracted some pretty notable attention - Zynga snapped up the developer for a cool $200 million this week.

The Truth, the Whole Truth? - Social Media, Kony 2012 and Trayvon Martin

by Morgan McDowell

We all witnessed the immediate backlash during the Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood fiasco, which ultimately resulted in Planned Parenthood receiving enough donations to more than make up for the pulled grant in a single day. Social media played a crucial role in rallying support around that cause, and doing so with astonishing speed.

News outlets constantly fight for the “scoops,” the chance to break news before anyone else, but these days, social media is often miles ahead of traditional media when it comes to spreading buzz. But with that speed often comes lack of accountability.

So Much Social Media…So Little Time

by Melissa Hough

Photo: Flickr

Facebook...Twitter...Linkedin...Google+...Tumblr...Pinterest…there are so many social media platforms out there, but so little time to engage in them all. To be honest, trying to stay updated on all the social media sites is somewhat overwhelming; I've realized it’s difficult to go even a couple of hours without checking Facebook to make sure I'm not missing out on anything, and putting off checking Twitter for even 10 minutes leaves me feeling left in the dust.

Lately I’ve been taking my social media endeavors to a professional level as an intern at Wonacott by participating in our company social media efforts. One big thing I’ve noticed so far is the importance of having plan in place to use social media strategically. Here are some of the tactics I’ve learned:

Online Entertainment Insider - March 16, 2012

by Chan Lim

Happy new iPad day, everyone. I am happy to report I’m not drafting this in front of a Mac store (that’s what interns are for). But it’s still incredible that the iPad and other iOS devices went from being expensive redundant gadgets to the largest handheld gaming platform in the world. You’d better believe we’re keeping an eye on the space. Oh, and if you get a new iPad, be sure to try out Sky Defenders! 

Online Entertainment Insider - March 9, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Greetings from the Game Developers Conference show floor! We’re wrapping up the last day here and hope that if you attended you had a great time. There was definitely some great news coming out of GDC, but I’m pretty sure all of it was overshadowed by Angry Birds Space.

Online Entertainment Insider - March 2, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

With our new site update and corporate identity (have you checked it out yet? I’ll wait…) we decided to breathe some new life into the Online Entertainment Insider. Jason passed the newsletter torch to me, Alex Josef, vice president of the interactive entertainment practice here at Wonacott!

The Desensitizing Effects of Publicity Gone Wrong

by Kia Gilstrap

(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Imagine you’re on a weekend trip with some friends in Las Vegas. Dinner time comes around so you decide to walk around and look for a fun, new place to eat. You stumble upon a restaurant with an ambulance parked in front, and then your eyes wander to the top of the building where you see “The Heart Attack Grill” in large, red letters. Just as you take a step inside to see if the place is real, there’s a man at the center of some sort of commotion who appears to be having a heart attack.  Is “this must be a publicity stunt” the first thing that pops into your head?