Some crazy stuff has been going on with Activision lately. News of staff cuts at Neversoft and the drama surrounding Infinity Ward have been the talk of the intertubes. Sounds like something has Bobby Kotick’s knickers in a twist.

Well, we still have oodles of love for Neversoft and Infinity Ward, and to show our support we have one copy of Modern Warfare 2 and another of Guitar Hero 5 (both PS3 versions) we want to give away.

How can you enter? Be a registered fan of our Facebook group & leave a comment on the Contest Note telling us what you would do if you could replace Mr. Kotick and be the Queen (or King) of Activision.

The giveaway will be open until Sunday March 7. We’ll be picking the winners at random on March 8th and will contact them via Facebook. It’s one entry per person and due to the games being Region 1, you’ll have to live in the US or Canada in order to win. Good luck!

9:00 PM 02.01.10 Day 4

Hello again, journal. Pretty sure I’m still not qualified to be a detective. Before I present you with your daily dose of psychobabble, I should probably mention I was right. It was “Aaah For Love.” PicXaminer.com sent me the results of my picture a few days ago. I can’t even look at it. It sends shivers down my spine and up again.

Mr. or Ms. “@PerfectFolds” has been unusually quiet as of late. These past four days have been nothing but head games. All of his incomprehensible ramblings bring me another miniscule step closer to him/her. To “think like a killer” isn’t all that hard, is it? I mean, all humanity has are puny limitations. Oh no, “don’t do this, don’t do that,” but what if we just didn’t care? What if dire consequence was the furthest thing from our mind? We would be doomed if all we cared about was filling our void because, hell, we’ve evolved thanks to ‘em haven’t we? Just turn on the Television. I bet, for “@PerfectFolds,” his/her conscience is either nonexistent or a minor setback. It’s… frightening, I’d imagine.

I’ve been thinking… all these laborious internet shenanigans that he’s so skillfully designed…

I think it’s even more frightening for “@PerfectFolds,” though. Everything he’s been saying comes from someone who’s suffered. He’s clearly been hurt and perhaps neglected; He wants to hurt someone back. I’d say revenge is a common human experience, wouldn’t you? What separates “@PerfectFolds” from all of us, then? Only a different kind of fear, I suppose…and limitation. Maybe he’d like to “teach” us something valuable about a little thing we call “love.” Or maybe, I just haven’t gotten a decent night’s sleep in a long time.

Either way, we’ll call “Day 4″ interesting to say the least. I viewed this very article on PicXaminer.com and came across a link on the last word: “LOVE.” Oddly enough, it lead me to Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/heavy-rain-how-far/ and a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. Whoever this person is, they’re having way too much fun pestering the nads outta my head. Whoever this person is, they’re having… fun. Imagine that? Fun. Yes, because creating freaky Facebook “Friend Quizzes” are in this season for being “fun.” Being me, I clicked on the link. It started out as a few, harmless questions. Then, “@PerfectFolds” was probably having one of his disturbing outbursts at around question five. I’m starting to wonder if he’s done something terrible. “Everything is much clearer now,” he said. What does this mean? I only have but one theory on this person’s incurable hysteria. I think… I think it could be someone who has suffered. He’s been ignored by his family or perhaps… feels worthless to them. He probably thought no one ever cared. My fear is this… I think he’s abducting children from parents he finds as guilty as his own. The worst part in all this…? I think he feels he’s doing the parents of these children  a favor. I’m not sure, yet. I don’t know who this person is… nothing is certain but, I have one question for you: ”What would you do for love?”

10:28 PM 01.28.10 Day 3

Hello, you. Yeah, yeah… I know this is …Well, let’s properly label this “Day 3,” but yesterday only left me in a pile of my own drool. I remember lifting my head upright at the sound of some five different Twitter applications. “@PerfectFolds” seemed as restless as I’ve been feeling because he’d been pouring his innermost thoughts all day. I couldn’t sleep last night, either. I suppose this means “@PerfectFolds” and I are becoming close companions on our descent into madness…I mean, sleep deprivation. The guy can’t even spell properly anymore, as you’ve probably noticed.

“someombody ened sto do something!,” he says. I’m trying. I’m trying really hard to do something but I’m only lead further into anxiety and confusion. I’ve never envied detectives. I didn’t sign-up for this. Who am I kidding? We’ve all willingly signed ourselves up for misery at some point in our lives…haven’t we? All I know is…I’m scared.

There is something so indescribably disturbing about this …person. His tweets have been almost manic-depressive. He even posted newspaper cutouts tonight and I can’t help but fear these clippings tell stories of his own childhood tragedies. In my mind, I’ve never really questioned to blame my parents for things I wish I hadn’t done. I guess…I mean, I know they’ve, thankfully, played an important role in stupidity versus common sense but I’ve always felt that I was in-control. This person isn’t. This person probably doesn’t even feel compelled to take control. I feel like he’ll do…has done…or worse…is doing something ….something bad. I say these things more out of fear than being sure of myself. I don’t know what drives murderers, rapists, and abusers to act on violent impulse or where this impulse comes from. Did I mention I dropped Psychology as my major? All I know is I found “@Dakker75” today. I suppose my question would have to be why a Triptocane-addicted FBI profiler would be so hell-bent on aggravating this “@PerfectFolds” person on a well-known social networking site.

I sat at my desk for hours trying to decipher how any of these articles could possibly correlate with one another. I still feel like I’m missing something:

“For Being Different.”
I noticed Mr. Jayden, “@Dakker75″ responded to this article saying: “see the last paragraph ? Does it remind you of your childhood ?”

“For Money.”
I don’t understand… is that… a hand? Pointing to something?

“Ahh For Love.”
“The Country’s Worst Dad,” it says; why was it ripped?

Last but not least, “For Fun” was definitely the most odd clipping of the bunch. How could I miss that large “PicXaminer” advertisement on the side? I immediately recalled the e-mail I recieved prior from an unknown party:

“Four Days: The Heavy Rain Online Experience… You’re about to embark on a unique series of three live four-day challenges that will draw you inexorably into the universe of Heavy Rain – and the first challenge has begun…

The rain is already falling – look there for answers…
http://www.heavyrainps3.com/rainisfalling

Follow – and you’ll find yourself witnessing a disintegrating mind.  Listen and observe, even if your skin is crawling. Look for clues. Peel back the layers. Just because you don’t see it straight away, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Keep your eyes open. With careful X-amination, new secrets could be revealed.

You’ll have seen a sick mind at work. Then, as you see just how far their influence may have spread, it’ll be time to turn the search inwards. Ask yourself the question, what would you do for love?”

I sent in the “Aah For Love” picture to http://www.picxaminer.com/. I used their one-time free trial deal. I don’t know what I’m expecting them to find, I just wish it didn’t take 24-hours for my mind’s sake. I don’t even know if I picked-out the right clipping. Love, or lackthereof, is all he/she ever goes on about…

I’m about to sign-off of “Day 3″ for the night and once again, I’ll probably be waiting into the early AM. “@PerfectFolds” sounds like he’s about to break and I’ll probably be wide awake to witness it. I’ll be under my sheets, rustling nervously. As confused as I remain, I feel like I’m on some kind-of path. I see a very lonely, self-pitied man at work, yes,  but… “sick?” I’m not so sure. I’m not so sure I want to be proven wrong, either. I see something coming. Until next time, brain.

————————————————————————————————————

(For more information, sign-up at http://www.heavyrainps3.com. You’ll need an e-mail to begin your search. Goodluck!)

“* Four Days: The Heavy Rain Online Experience is a live event which plays out in real time across three weeks. Between Tuesday and Friday every week there will be daily tasks for you to complete. Each task will lead you onto the next part of the journey. At key stages you will be prompted, whilst on other occasions you will need to deduce the right thing to do. You will receive an instructional email at the beginning of each of the three weekly events, and you can always turn to the Facebook Fan Page Community for help and discussion http://www.facebook.com/heavyrainofficialfanpage.”

Remember – make your choices, and live with the consequences. Because your smallest decisions can change everything…”

This is honestly pretty amazing, and a good thing for Zynga and other companies looking to social media to build game applications. At the same time I’m left wondering more about the details as not much is mentioned in the New York Times article about the deal. It’s interesting to see how a small app on a social networking site can blow up and become such a huge entity that they can get big investors.

So what’s next for Zynga? Their competitors, Playfish, were recently bought by EA for $300 million, so the future could be bright. I think my magic 8 ball would say “Ask again later.”

As the National Geographic Channel gears up for expedition week, the National Geographic website has launched companion interactive experiences to go along with the themes of the week’s featured specials, such as virtual head shrinking where users can upload pictures and shrink anyone’s head they choose – and share them on Facebook! The Expedition 2.0 game developed by Arkadium.com, in which players can explore their adventurist side and set out on exciting journeys surrounding three different scenarios.

Though Expedition Week on the National Geographic channel doesn’t start until November 16th, head shrinking, Expedition 2.0, as well as other puzzles and social interactive experiences are available now at natgeotv.com. Tap into your inner explorer

Cellufun users can now create groups to discuss or enjoy together any topic with real time chat and private forums, offering a new way to connect with new people or old friends right from your mobile device.

“So many of our users are part of groups on Facebook and MySpace, so we knew letting them have access to groups on their mobile phones would be hugely popular. Within a couple days of launching the program, we had 800 groups sprout up,” said Neil Edwards, CEO of Cellufun. “We charge to form a group, and groups have formed for expectant mothers, sports enthusiasts, gamers, and social activists. Because Cellufun groups can be created instantly on a platform with tremendous global penetration, we will become a real authority on what people across the world are talking about,” he added.

23 year old stay at home mom, Tiffany (Tiffany513), who has recently started a mommy group to share experiences, had this to say, “I have always liked talking to other mothers about their experiences, so when I saw that we could form groups on Cellufun, the first thing I thought of was a group for mothers. We have already had over 200 mothers join, and a few fathers. This is a great forum for us to share parenting tips and advice, and the best part is that it can all be done on our phones.”

Every group creator, or “officer” has the ability to control who has access to the group’s content, accept applications, etc. to make this a fun, yet safe, environment.

Omerta

Omerta is celebrating the re-launch of it’s online mafia game, Omerta by giving away a special in-game bonus via Twitter.

“We are proud to have re-launched Omerta with such a bang. The game forums have been a hive of activity. New family rivalries have been played out with over 5,000 deaths, largely as a results of the new weapons like grenades and C4 explosives adding extra impact to an attack. The introduction of new bodyguards has changed the gameplay totally. Wars are fought totally different, as no one can pre-empt the amount of bullets it will take to perform a kill” contributed Otto Adang, Lead Designer on the new version of Omerta.

To celebrate the re-launch Omerta will be giving away lots of riches through Twitter. The riches range from a bonus of $500,000, 10,000 bullets, and a Mercedez Benz W25 Avus Streamliner.

“We used Twitter successfully during the build up to, and following the re-launch of the new version to communicate important updates and bug fixes to our player community. We now have a healthy community of supporters spreading the word about Omerta. So it was only natural to reward them with a contest fit for a Don “said Craig Albeck, Communications Director at Omerta Game Ltd.

The contest will start Monday, August 31 and continue for five days. Entrants will need to be registered on Twitter and follow Omerta3.

More and more companies are starting to use Twitter to release information. Game companies use it to announce everything from new websites to new game releases. Journalists then pounce and use the 140 character tweet as a source in an article. We’ve been guilty of it too. But does that make it right? Should we be putting so much weight to something on twitter?

Recently David Jaffe said something about an upcoming announcement in a recent tweet (only part of it).. “..but please buy our new game, to be announced soon! ”

That day gaming blogs ran with that and posted that Jaffe was going to be announcing a new game. We didn’t run it because there was no other information. No date, no title, no to be announced at blank con.

*warning explicit text- it’s Jaffe what do you expect?*

Even Jaffe thought it was insane that his tweet became news.
” Yeah I expected them to do it. Fucking fuckers. By the way, what a stupid news story. An announce of an announce?!?”

Earlier today, EA posted a link to a website which we did post about. Ten minutes after posting, I received a press release about the title of the game and what company is behind it. Sure would have been nice to have that information to begin with.

What I wonder from you is what do you think about Game company tweets? Do you enjoy the code giveaways? Do you think Twitter teases should not be news? How do you wish Game companies would use Twitter more effectively?

This is a pretty cool storytelling method, are there any other social media stories you’re following?

I also really enjoy Shadow Unit, another group story being told in seasons and released online for free – with an interactive community and lots of easter eggs and various social media tools being utilized to expand character bios and story plots.