The first major hardware launch of the year is nearly upon us and Sony is determined to make sure Vita is a smash hit
“Are you prepared to take pre-orders on this year’s biggest blockbusters?” MCVlooks at the top games of 2012 p25
[INFO] Released:
February 22nd
Publisher: Sony
Distributor: CentreSoft
Contact: 0121 625 3388
TV/CINEMA
60-second and 30-second ads kick off today (Friday, February 17th), targeting 16 to 34-year-olds. These will air on a variety of channels around FA Cup matches, the Brit Awards, The Simpsons, Hollyoaksand films on Five. A two-minute film will screen in cinemas.
ONLINE
The two-minute film ‘My World In Play’, which stars British hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks, will be promoted across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Unruly as well as Sony-owned blogs and websites. Online ads are expected to generate 45.5m impressions.
PRINT
Ads have been running in specialist gaming and lifestyle titles all month, with promotions due to ramp up during launch week. These ads will also run in popular and mid-range newspapers around launch day.
OUTDOOR
In addition to the Vita Rooms tour, Sony has secured prominent outdoor ad space around the UK, including billboards and mega-banners. These will target commuters and shoppers between February 20th and March 4th, with further activity planned.
REVIEW SCORES MCVprovides the most important average review scores of the last few days – all sourced from Metacritic 88
UFC Undisputed 3 360 THQ
81
Catherine PS3
Deep Silver PRESS CLIPPINGS: KINGDOMS OF AMALUR: RECKONING
Don’t read hundreds of reviews of EA’s No.1 RPG – we pick the choice media quotes for you
KINGDOMS of Amalur: Reckoningis EA’s latest and the first big RPG of the year. It’s been designed by Elder
Scrollsveteran Ken Rolston, written by best-selling author R.A. Salvatore and has had input from comic book artist Todd McFarlane. The result is “an epic RPG with a user-friendly pick-up- and-play ethos.”1
“It’s accessible and easy to control, with a well designed interface, controls, and systems that make it one of the most accessible role- players ever.”2
12 February 17th 2012 However, some say the
game’s conversations and quest storylines aren’t particularly engrossing, and others criticise its style. “Reckoningis weaker in characterisation and dialogue, and questing is largely of an MMO ‘go here, kill that, collect this’ nature – mostly uninspiring with a few
exceptions. But it is never less than good fun to play.”3 Also, “that problem with immersion isn’t helped by an overly friendly art style that’s at odds with the serious tone the game wants to convey.”4 The general consensus is
that Reckoning“deserves to find a home with RPG fans as well as those who may have found the genre too deep or time consuming in the past.”5
1 Text machine 2.0, Edge 2 David Jenkins, Metro 3 Word whizz, GamesTM 4 Phil Iwaniuk, OPM 5 Mike Anderiesz, The Guardian
79
Final Fantasy XIII-2 360
Square Enix 73
Grand Slam Tennis 2 PS3 EA
LOOK WHO’S TALKING
“When there is an act of violence from a young person, the games they played are reeled out, just as film, TV and music have all been called on before, to display exactly how this erosion of morality began. No mention that everyone else of that generation was playing them and somehow managed not to become convinced that by walking over ammo they would magically ‘pick it up’.”
British playwright Lucy Prebble, who, in an interview with The Observer, said games shouldn’t be blamed for real-life disasters.