Let's Start The Year Off With More Video Game Politics
While I do not regularly keep track of celebrity news, a certain event has caught my attention: Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve bash a Times Square in New York City. This event was televised. Please keep in mind, I did not watch this event when it was first broadcasted. For those who do not know who Dick Clark is, he a very popular television personality who owns his own company, Dick Clark Productions. He is also known for his youthful appearance, even at his current age of 82.
There were various celebrities who appeared on these shows. Justin Bieber also performed in the New Year bash, though I am not a fan of his music. The reason why I am mentioning him is because after his performance, he had a private party with his girlfriend, Selena Gomez, friends, family and other people from the Island Def Jam record label, which was sponsored by Activision! He and his guests played Skylanders and other Activision-produced games.
Now why is this worth mentioning? First of all, this news is spreading around quickly due to Bieber’s popularity. With the popularity of New Year’s Eve countdowns, Activision easily reached out to millions of people watching. It reinforces the fact that Skylanders will become a big franchise that will have a marketing campaign as strong as Call of Duty. With the strong ratings for a children’s game, high sales and celebrity endorsement, this product easily stands out in both the video game and toy markets. Pokémon will finally face direct competition from a powerful competitor similar to the competition between Call of Duty MW3 and Battlefield 3, where both games have achieved high sales and critical acclaim.
The current layout of the Toys for Bob website, there is no longer a news section. We may not be seeing new updates from Alex Ness anymore :(, but we know they are working hard on another secret unannounced project.
Should I worry about SOPA?
I am aware of SOPA, the “Stop Online Piracy Act”. In summary, the purpose of SOPA is to block any websites accused of breaking the law from being visited by US internet users, receiving US funding, ad revenue, etc. However, the way the law is written and the nature of the internet, this will affect the entire world. Essentially, any site under SOPA can be blocked or removed without contacting the site owner. This blog is hosted on GoDaddy, a company that supports SOPA. I am prepared to migrate this site to another host if I need to; I have prior experience with migrating Wordpress blogs so this is not hard for me to do.
Conclusion
I would like to wish everyone a happy new year. I hope Skylander’s success brings TFB closer to more projects for them to have greater creative control over. I believe this shows how strong marketing campaigns and taking calculated risks by allowing TFB to experiment with “toys with brains” can lead to a successful game. I’m still keeping my eye on SOPA and preparing a plan should it be approved and I need to migrate to another host.
Links
Stop American Censorship
