“This week, we’re not only shared some special moments from inside the parks but also a few from New York City. In case you missed it, hundreds of people joined in the fun on Times Square as we launched our first ever augmented reality event. Take a look.”

They call it “Augmented Reality,” I call it MAGIC!

I thought I might share this unique use of interactive advertisement. Enjoy.

See the full story here.
http://collider.com/true-blood-viral-campaign-romania/12033/

Read the full article. http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/truly-infectious-contagion-billboard-made-bacteria-134695

Now with iCloud those who have lost revenue from pirated music will be able to recoup some of the losses. The genius part of Apple’s iCloud is that it removes the physical media. Rather than having to have a file, you rent a temporary license to play songs from your iTunes Library. The fee you pay is distributed amongst those artists you have listened to. These fees that paid the retailer, distributor, record company, artists and copyright holders  can be recouped by you just listening to them. At $2 per month, the amounts paid to IP holders will still be next to nothing to you buying the physical media files, but better than nothing.

Call the ambulance for XBox and Sony, Nintendo made some stunning announcements. Firstly, Nintendo teased a console and announced a controller. While not earth shattering, the controller which looks similar to a high end home theater remote does feature some amazing tech. While the thought of being able to suppliment my gaming with a second touch sensitive screen or continue playing by taking the game off the TV sounds great I could only think about $$$. How much will this controller cost? Furthermore, is this new WiiU able to work with multiple magic controllers?  While future tech was interesting the best news was both based in reality and also through the window of the 3ds.

The Legend of Zelda: Symphony series sounds like a wonderful idea. I can’t wait to hear a full orchestra playing some of the most memorable music in video game history. What made Video Games Live amazing can only be made better when it focuses on a single game. From the world of the real to a simulated third dimension, the announcement of Starfox and MarioKart were not surprising. Lugi’s Mansion 2 was a true surprise. This sequel to the quirky original can only be better in the third dimension.

Some of my burning questions from yesterday were answered. Prototype 2 and the new Hitman game were shown.  Still no new news about GTA 5 or HL2:E3

Yes I did! I sat through all of the first day press conferences and I’m not even a journalist. Why? I love the game industry, I love presentations, and I love set design. I’m still eagerly awaiting for Nintendo to release details of “project: cafe”. Ok… The morning started with Microsoft. While I do not own a Kinect and have only played up to Halo 2 and Gears of War 1,  I found the highlight of the show to be Double Fine’s Sesame Street game. I know, before you say what about the awesome spoken dialogue tree of ME3 or what about the fact that you can use Kinect to play gunsmith the game on GR:FS. The Sesame Street game is something I was looking forward to.

When Kinect was anounced. Peter Molineux showed a tech demo named Mylo. Mylo was able to interact with you on a one to one ratio. He spoke, listened and reacted to what you did. This is something I saw in the Sesame Street Game on a base level. The posibilities of teaching children with interactive characters and not a tiger blew me away!

The next press conference was EA. While I’m looking forward to the canceled, not canceled, just a misunderstanding sequel to Mirrors Edge, EA showed off Battlefield 3. Built with the Frostbite 2 engine, this game looks amazing. The textures and lighting actually look too crisp to be real, but that comes from a man wearing glasses. EA also showed a brand new IP named ‘OverStrike’. This game looks over the top and reminds me a bit of Team Fortress 2. Additionally, Peter neglected to mention if Kinect integration might be available for Madden. I would like to call audibles.

The stand out title for EA was Rocksmith. I might actually have found the tool to help me learn Guitar. Visit the website to learn more about this edutainment game.

Then came Ubisoft. They are celebrating their 25th anniversary and wanted to make sure everyone knew. They kept showing a rendition of what the game might have looked like in 1986. Known for Assassins Creed, and the Splinter Cell franchises, Ubisoft showed off a beautiful Rayman sidescroller. It features hand drawn animation and a cartooney style that is oh so hip. My main gripe was the absence of Sam Fisher? Instead we get an overactive MC with questionable jokes and some rabbids that you can kick.

Finally, Sony! Somber and apologetic this was not the apology I was hopping for. I really wanted them to troll out Kevin Butler to make a joke about downloading porn. I can just imagine him clicking on a naughty link that brought PSN down. The true highlights for me were two. Firstly, two players one screen. Sony showed a very creative use for active shutter 3d tech. The ability to have two individual player screens from one TV. The idea of a switching display is pure genius! Secondly, cloud saving. With always on internet, this idea makes game portability between PS3 and PSVita amazingly easy.

I will address the concerns and benefits of the “cloud” on another rant.

Still missing from E3 2011 are news on the following.

• GTA 5
• Half-Life 2: Episode 3
• Mirrors Edge 2
• Kingdom Hearts 3 (just for x-play)
• Microsoft console updates – hardware, disk capacity
• Prototype 2
• THQ – Press Conf
• Valve Software – Completely missing from E3
• and Hitman

Read the article “Watch out Groupon, here comes Google Offers” for more info.