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

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! Meet Director Mark Van Lommel

by Wonacott Communications

We Wonawelcome the newest addition to the Wonacott Communications team: Mark Van Lommel, a video games PR nerd veteran with nearly 10 years of experience in the industry.

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.

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

SG Interactive Takes Nisemonogatari to the Links in Pangya United

by John Hardin

We love a good crossover and so does (Wonacott client) SG Interactive, which just launched a set of items for its golf MMO, Pangya United, from the popular anime (that's Japanese animation for the laypersons out there...) series, "Nisemonogatari." Leading anime news site Anime News Network has all the details of the partnership, and if you're looking to take the clubs out for a spin, Pangya is free to play!

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.

Games Wonacott Plays

by Alex Van Lepp

Because we service so many video games industry clients, Wonacotters are accustomed to playing video games both at home and at the office. In fact, we think of ourselves as a kind of a mini-focus group for what’s hot in the games world. That being said, we thought we’d give our Wonablog readers a taste of what’s trending in the office lately.

Feel Like Death: Hands-on Impressions of THQ’s Darksiders II

by Kia Gilstrap

The highly anticipated action adventure game Darksiders II  from (Wonacott client) THQ,  launches this summer, and THQ gave a group of enthusiastic gaming editors some hands-on time with the game in San Francisco on Monday.

Boy’s Club Backlash

by Racheal Caswell

In the face of an increasing number of social-oriented games, I find myself preferring an insular experience and – unfortunately – increasingly shying away from playing certain games altogether. Something that used to be enjoyable now looms as a potentially stressful and threatening part of the culture because, despite the fact that women over the age of 25 are now the largest group of gamers in the U.S., we’re still subjected to an alarming amount of harassment and sexism by our male counterparts.

Sexism in the videogame industry is by no means a new topic. It’s been the subject of numerous articles, blog posts and even websites devoted to posting the lewd, mean and even downright disturbing messages female gamers are subject to get when playing online. This week, the conversation has flared up again, fueled by an incident on “Cross Assault,” a Capcom-sponsored reality show in which teams of Street Fighter X Tekken players compete for prizes.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Deadly Nurse Valentine from Autumn Games’ Skullgirls

by Kia Gilstrap

How Games Publishers Can Capitalize on iPhone Versions

by John Hardin

Or 
“How Capcom Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Mobile Games”

The title of this entry is taken from Capcom’s DS and iOS game, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. It is a creative puzzle game that leads players on an “interactive mystery” to catch their murderer, allowing them to manipulate inanimate objects to find clues and change the fate of other people involved in the killing. GTPD, with its unique gameplay and storytelling techniques, was released for the DS in January 2011 to critical accolades and uninspired sales.

Wait, uninspired sales? 

Death Lives in San Francisco

by Wonacott Communications

Last week, Wonacott went up to San Francisco to staff an event for the upcoming Darksiders II. We’ve worked with THQ before – we drove the campaign for the Homefront North Korean BBQ food truck (pun intended) that caused a lot of commotion at E3 2010 and again just before the game’s launch in 2011 – and we were excited to have the chance to once again show them what we can do.

Online Entertainment Insider - Jan. 27, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Darksiders 2 held a huge preview event in San Francisco (which we helped out on!) and the game’s previews started hitting this week. The new game reveals the second Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death, and follows his story concurrently with War’s story in the original Darksiders. It’s a really interesting “Pulp Fiction”-y approach to the sequel, and is shaping up to be a franchise in its own right and not a rehash of other titles.

Virgin Gaming, Sir Richard Branson’s foray into interactive gambling, hit a huge milestone this week with 1 million registered users, and $7 million in prizes awarded to date. Virgin Gaming allows users to place wagers on matches and is partnered with publishers including EA and Take-Two, with Madden NFL ‘12 and NBA 2k12 being among the most popular titles to bet on. 

Find out more news from around the world of digital entertainment in this week’s edition of the Online Entertainment Insider, and have a great weekend!

Online Entertainment Insider - Jan. 20, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Happy Friday, everyone! I didn’t want to get too political about SOPA, but it turns out that the legislation is spilling over into the video games industry in a big way. Since the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is still supporting the bill, Firefall Studios fought back by forming the League for Gamers (LFG) – a representative group that plans on boycotting this year’s E3 until the ESA rescinds support. We won’t know what the actual impact on E3 will be until we get closer to June, but it will be interesting to see how the politics play out. 

Online Entertainment Insider - Jan. 13, 2012

by Wonacott Communications

Happy Friday the thirteenth! It’s the last day of CES, so if you’re at the show or following the news coming from it, you have an idea of all the awesome stuff we’re going in 2012. I do a lot of gaming on my PC, so I was really glad to see Razer, Samsung and Intel show off some incredible gaming computers, including the enigmatic Project Fiona. I’m looking forward to the games that will take full advantage of these beefy computers.

Dear Santa…

by Chan Lim

The holiday season is the only time of the year when you can officially nag about things you always wanted. So, without further ado, here’s my holiday gift guide, or things I want this holiday season.

The Continued Rise of Social and Mobile Gaming: A Look Back at 2011

by Alex Van Lepp

In the land of emerging tech, the video game industry is truly an open arena where developers can create anything from a handheld 3-D gaming device to a game you play by kissing your partner. While there were monumental events such as the Supreme Court’s ruling announcing video games are protected as free speech, all in all, 2011 was truly the year social and mobile gaming emerged as a force to be reckoned with. As the year comes to an end, here’s a look at what shaped the industry.