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Maverick Hits SanFran with Square Enix’s Order of War

OOW Multiplayer Mode Gets a Hands-On Showcase in San Francisco to Online Outlets

We love going to San Francisco.  Really we do.  We’re there quite a bit.  In fact, besides cities that I’ve lived in, I would say I have spent most of my time in San Francisco.  To be fair, the entirety of my knowledge of SanFran revolves around a small, 5-block cluster centered on the W Hotel, The Palomar, The Argent (now Westin), 1UP and GameSpot… and then a tiny peninsula in South San Francisco.  So… I’m no tour guide.

This, the view from the Westin, is all I ever see of SF. If you look hard, you can see Alcatraz back there. I've never been there.

View from the Westin: all I ever see of SF. If you squint, you can see Alcatraz . I've never been there.

However, I do know where everyone works.  So when Maverick was tasked with whisking Order of War up to San Francisco for a showcase of the game’s cool multiplayer mode, we had a pretty good idea of what we needed to do.  So off we went!  And, we had a great time talking about the game and facing off head-to-head with some of the industry’s top PC journalists in the two maps we were showing.  I can’t say I was victorious often, but it was a blast either way.

Take a minute to check out some of the coverage that has hit online since our tour.  You can find it here on IGN, GameSpot, Kotaku, GamesRadar, 1UP and Worthplaying.

I utilized my rocket artillery with much ballyhoo, but alas, most editors shamed me anyway.

I utilized my rocket artillery with much ballyhoo, but alas, most editors shamed me anyway.

And keep an eye out for the multiplayer demo – 2 levels of WWII strategy action are going to drop on your head this coming Tuesday – 9/15!!

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Maverick Partner Matt Frary Shares Thoughts on Review Copies with CrispyGamer

Today on CrispyGamer, writer Kyle Orland explores the somewhat complicated processes that video game PR people use in determining who and what outlets receive free review copies of games.  It’s never an easy decision to cut someone off the list, that’s for sure, but there are time when you really don’t have a choice.

Maverick PR Partner Matt (me!) is quoted throughout the article, sharing his thoughts based on a decade of deciding where to send these “free goodies.”

Disclaimer: these “free goodies” may not be as fun as you think, as they may require you to spend 10-20 hours completing a game and another 5 or so hours crafting a “review” full of useful facts, features and moments of note, all supported with insightful opinions and references; at the end of which you will be strong-armed into choosing a – let’s face it – somewhat arbitrary number or letter to designate the “fun” you experienced while slogging through the aforementioned 10-20 hours of gameplay…

Anyway… read on at this link and enjoy the article.  A quickie quote from the article featuring Matt:

“Some publishers … still refuse to expand their list and stick only to the ‘big’ players in the space,” Frary said. “This is really too bad, and they end up missing a massive, and growing, segment of the market. … [It’s] particularly frustrating because when you look at the smaller videogame sites out there as a whole, they have a huge voice that reaches a critical audience that the larger outlets sometimes miss.”

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Eat Lead Claims Mi6 Award for Viral Campaign

D3Publisher of America and Maverick PR’s Campaign for Eat Lead Claims 2009 Mi6 Award for Most Effective Viral Community Oriented Campaign

Let’s take a moment here to pat ourselves and our awesome client on the back.  I mean, pat our “award-winning” client and selves on our collective “award-winning” back.

We’re incredibly proud and excited to see that the Mi6 video game marketing awards has recognized the viral community campaign for D3Publisher’s Eat Lead with a Bronze Award for the “Most Effective Viral Community Oriented Campaign” of the past year.

  • You can read more about thecampaign in GameSpot’s interview with D3 and Maverick HERE

Read more

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Hello, Hello Kitty!

Maverick PR Hops On Board with InfoNet Digital to Promote Hello Kitty Parachute Paradise

That’s right – this PR company is NOT a one-trick pony!  I mean, sure you’re talking to the guys that worked on the Unreal and D&D titles for years, but let’s not forget – we’ve also worked on games like Pajama Sam, Backyard Sports, Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot.

In keeping with that diversified spirit, we’re happy to announce that we’re working with InfoNet Digital to promote their new iPhone/iPod Touch game, Hello Kitty Parachute Paradise.

This new app provides not only a fun and addicting game that challenges players to jump higher and higher while collecting special and rare items, but also an interactive and customizable application in which Hello Kitty fans can pose their own personalized scene featuring Hello Kitty and many of the other great Sanrio characters.  These scenes can filled with items collected from the game to create unique looks, and then can be used as wallpaper and shared online with other Hello Kitty fans.

Make and Share Your Own Hello Kitty Scene in the "My Room" Area

Make, Share Your Hello Kitty Scene in "My Room"

If you love HK, Hello Kitty Parachute Paradise is now available at the Apple App Store.  You can visit the Web site or the Facebook Page for more information.  If you want to do a story and need some assets… well, buzz us!

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PC Gamer Goes Hands-On With iRacing

Some more great coverage for iRacing‘s amazing online sim racing league — this time from PC Gamer magazine.  After visiting with the guys at Gamer earlier this summer, writer Max McGee went hands-on with the title for his story, which you can see below.

It’s an excellent piece and great hit for iRacing – congrats to the entire team over there.

Meanwhile, if you think that a more realistic racing experience is what you want – yes, more real and with better online than GT5, even! – then check out iRacing‘s persistent online racing simulation and league at www.iracing.com. You won’t be sorry you did.

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Maverick PR Working With Square Enix on Order of War

Big news for MavPR – we’re really excited to say that we are officially working with Square Enix on their upcoming strategy game, Order of War, due this Fall from developer Wargaming.net.  On this project, MavPR is developing and supporting the community as well as conducting outreach in support of the core PR team.

We’re doubly excited on this one because this project brings us onboard with a former client who previously hired us at Vivendi/Sierra.  We’re always really proud and excited to join up with someone we’ve worked with in the past.

So keep an eye out for Order of War.  You can already jump in at the Facebook Page or on the Steam Official Group and Steam Forums.  Official game forums coming soon…

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The Big Huge Title List!

(Almost) All The Games We’ve Ever Worked On, In Reverse Chronological Order… Oh My.

So, we here at Maverick PR have been reflecting a bit on the many, many games that we have promoted, supported, shipped and what not over the course of almost 30 years combined in the business.

All this reviewing of our old work, well… it got us thinking.  Thinking that it just might be kinda hilarious and/or totally awesome to have each and every one of those old game boxes piled up in one spot to gawk at in wonder and sheer terror.

Ya, that’s right.  We’d be talking about a bunch of those gigantic old-school PC boxes – big enough to shove a DVD player in today – that kind of big, man, sharing space with Genesis games and pushing aside the meek little GB carts.  PS1 jewelcases would battle it out with Dreamcast discs until PS2 smacks ’em both down.  All of these little buggers in one place.  Coolness.

Hey Look! It's "Feedin' Chloe!"

However, since there’s no way I’m searching bargain bins and basements for copies of G-Nome and Powerslave, I went ahead and did the next best thing — made a fancy list on a web page with box art from all (almost all – some are still incoming) of the games that Brandon and I have worked on.  Not only is this hilarious to us – and maybe you – but it also gives a good look at the depth of experience we have here at MavPR.

So from Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail to Wanted: Weapons of Fate, enjoy your trip down MavPR memory lane…

[The MavPR Big Huge Title List]

-PR_Flak

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Just back from Manhattan…

In the midst of a crazy couple of weeks, the MavPR team hit the Big Apple alongside the crew from iRacing to show off the online persistent racing simulation game and service to some key outlets we couldn’t reach when we traveled out to San Francisco.

We had a great location at the BMW of Manhattan dealership, where we were surrounded by awesome cars and a great setup provided by the iRacing team with a full racing chassis, widescreen HDTV and a sweet set of pedals.

Read more

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UPDATE: iRacing Hits GameSpot with Video Interview, Hands-On

Gamespot has posted a video interview with iRacing founder, CEO and CTO Dave Kaemmer, from our recent jaunt to the West Coast visiting the video game press.

Dave does great job explaining the core of the iRacing game and service — it’s a great piece – if the embedded video doesnt work for you, head over here to go check it out!

UPDATE: GameSpot has posted their hands-on with iRacing as the Top Story on their PC page tonight.

You can head over to the main PC page on Gamespot or just go to the story directly by clicking here.

Congrats to our partners at iRacing!

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iRacing on GameInformer.com, IGN, 1UP

GameInformer.com has posted their first look at iRacing based on our meeting from Wednesday.  Always good to see the fellas in Minnesota and thank them for Big Papi and Garnett.

So… thanks, guys.

Meanwhile, you can read the entire story HERE.  Enjoy!

UPDATED:  I should have mentioned, coverage is also appearing on other major gaming sites, including HERE ON IGN as well as within 1UP’s, 1UP Yours.

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