Influx

As the video game industry continues to capture more youth entertainment-share, other brands continue to seek ways to join what’s arguably the most innovative marketing today. First, it was gaming meets Hollywood, as in the simultaneous release of Matrix Reloaded. Now, it’s gaming meets MTV. And just last week, politics joined the mix.

MTV2 recently launched VideoMods, a show where music video and video games collapse into one output: video game characters emulating real music videos.
MTV2 site

Sometimes the translation is literal, sometimes a completely new creative concept. EA Sports’
SSX Tricky 3, for example, features the games’ characters performing to a Missy Elliot video.

They’ve extended the idea further by inviting consumers to participate. A sweepstakes, Meet the Makers, gives one winner access to the PlayStation Game Development studio where they can work with a game designer for a day and preview yet to be released games.

Is this an extended commercial for the video game, new distribution for the music track, or truly a new from of entertainment? And more importantly, will consumers be entertained, or will they think this is just another marketing ploy? Even more thought-provoking, game characters have now become intellectual properties.

And they’ve just added a political twist. Earlier this month, they released Stand and Choose, a non-partisan, animated music video created in cooperation with 12 major computer and video game publishers featuring more than 50 video game characters encouraging young people to vote in the upcoming Presidential election.
Choose or Lose site