Rahul Shirke

More digging on Cloverfield throws up new photo, half-baked forum

[Update] – Check out more of our Cloverfield Coverage!

I’m a sucker for viral marketing campaigns. I spent a whole night chasing one particular campaign several months ago (the end result of which frustrated me). Well, “Cloverfield” is one interesting campaign and it has absorbed me. Again.

Following a link from a commenter, I found a related site (which was up for quite some time, as a bit of research pointed out). The site can be found here. To summarize, it just says “The Parasite” with a couple of links below and a “sponsor” link below that (I’ll get to it real soon). There is also a countdown which will end at August 1st (which, if you remember, is the date ‘Van’ mentioned). Now, the second link leads to the “Ethan Haas was right” place.

The second site released around the same time Ethan Haas did, but I missed it, apparently. The site showed a photo of a two women looking in shock at something. Now, nightowl3090 has posted a series of analytical breakdowns about Cloverfield. He suggests that the two womens’ images, if merged can form a perfect woman – with a bit of a problem at the teeth. He also talks about a possible “organic” thing in the background.

The second image, which I’m guessing was recently posted shows a bit of the party seen in the Cloverfield trailer. Looks pretty much like an average party pic, with the words “We’ll Miss” in the background. What I find creepy about that image is that guy (gal?) at the far right.

Read on to find out how a crappy forum figures into the grand scheme.

Continue reading “More digging on Cloverfield throws up new photo, half-baked forum”

More info on Spielberg’s console video games revealed

Spielberg meets Miyamoto.

For those not in the know, Steven Spielberg has made a deal with EA to create ~~lots of alphabets~~ three video games. More details have finally come up on them, and they seem to be as interesting as they were before I found out. Right, whatever. Let’s see what Steve has in store for us now.

The first game is being developed for the Nintendo Wii and is codenamed “PQRS” which will “blend the creativity of the building-blocks game Jenga with the charm of a Saturday-morning cartoon.” With a description as wacky as that, you know the game can’t go wrong. The game will supposedly allow you manipulate blocks with your hand. Yes, how cool is that – a puzzle game with hands. Mental exhaustion meets its physical cousin.

Of the game, Spielberg said, “it just seemed like a great thing for the entire family to play together over Christmas. Although you don’t need the excuse of a holiday to enjoy it.”

The second game is for the Xbox 360 and PS3, which is thankfully more interesting. It is codenamed “LMNO” and is described as “a combination of the movies North by Northwest and E.T.” I just hope that by E.T., they meant the movie and not the video game. Of course, the good thing is that the E.T. in this case is going to be female, grown-up and really hot.

Before you pretend to dump Samus, note that you will not play as the girl in the game.

You’re an ex-secret agent, and the bond that you forge while on the run with the computer-controlled woman—good, bad, indifferent—determines the nature of her special abilities and the ways in which she’ll assist you.

And now, from Spielberg’s mouth:

“The challenge is, can the game have an emotional impact on players while they are actively manipulating the world?”

I hate it when anyone uses the term “emotional impact” in gaming these days. Ever since the adventure games stopped, gamers lost their last shred of emotion. But emotion aside, EA is going to go full on to turn on your natural instincts by making our hot E.T. as sexy as possible with “eyes that widen, lips that curl and translucent skin that lights up in different colors to express her quicksilver moods” Rawr. And no, that line wasn’t taken from a Barbie commercial.

The third game (which is most likely to have more mundane letters) has not been revealed yet. EA might be saving it for E3, who knows?

[Via Newsweek]

J.J. Abrams’ “Cloverfield” trailer, viral marketing leak out to the internet, we jump right on it.

[Update] – Check out more of our Cloverfield Coverage!

If you’ve seen Transformers, you’ll know that a secret trailer plays out in front of it. This “awesome” trailer has caught the eyes of many a moviegoer, leaving them stunned. The trailer is of J.J. Abrams’ next sci-fi project, which currently unnamed and goes by the codename “Cloverfield”.

The trailer is shot in a shaky home video camera style, which emulates a sense of reality and Youtube-ness. It is rumoured that the entire movie will be shot in this fashion. Wow. While all instances of the trailer have been forcefully deleted by Paramount, you can find one Google Video instance here at FirstShowing.net.

But what has made the internet really crazy is the unveiling of the movie’s diabolical Viral Marketing campaign. Like all others, it melds mystery with fear, intrigue and above all, internet fun. The campaign in question is in the form of a mysterious website: www.ethanhaaswasright.com. It may not make much sense to you at first. Read on to find out what I, Brandon and a whole lot of other people have uncovered.

Continue reading “J.J. Abrams’ “Cloverfield” trailer, viral marketing leak out to the internet, we jump right on it.”

A song made of Counter-Strike sounds

You’d think some people have too much time on their hands. This video, originally hosted on Newgrounds can make for a fine example of the fact. The music you hear in the background has been composed entirely from Counter-Strike sounds, most of them being gunshots. The video itself isn’t all that great, with a bunch of stick figures playing Counter-Strike, but the soundtrack is sheer genius.

To End All Wars, World War I shooter coming for Xbox 360 and PS3

I have a feeling the headline has left you befuddled. Allow me to be clearer: UK Video game publisher Ghostlight will be publishing a game developed by Chemistry, based on the First World War titled To End All Wars. As you can see, journalists, bloggers and general pun-makers are going to have a field day everytime this game makes headlines.

This is one of those few games (if not the first) to be based on World War One, which is often described as a more tragic war than World War 2 (that’s where all the Nazis and Call of Duties came up). Chemistry is committed to replicate the horror and pain of World War One, rather than dumb it down to something fun you play on a console one rainy afternoon. Aiding Chemistry in its quest will be the Unreal Engine 3 (my personal favourite) which was previously used in Gears of War and will be used in Unreal Tournament 3.

To End All Wars will be releasing in Summer 2008 for the XBOX 360 and the PS3. No rifle-shooting and trench crawling for your Wiimote, sorry. The game will reportedly feature weapons, equipment and other material as authentic as possible, which could be a tough job considering the number of WWI games out there. Right now, we know that you’ll find yourself on night patrols, trenches and running out in the open like the helpless dog you really are.

Ghostlight is not a very famous publisher, yet, since they’ve only made their start with a PS2 game, a DS game and a PSP game. But Ghostlight’s director Khaled Lababedi says:

“Alongside other products to be announced in the coming months, To End All Wars will propel Ghostlight towards its stated objective of becoming a major global publisher.”

Chemistry is owned by Kuju Entertainment and are known for their titles Buzz! (PS2) and Sensible Soccer (PS2). On a side note, I’ve never heard of either title. Let’s hope End Of All Wars turns out to be good game and show us what the horrors of the First World War were. In a very fun game that you play on a console in a rainy afternoon.

[Via Shacknews]