whats-your-game
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IGN discovers the Aubrey Plaza WoW commercial that never aired
Does anyone remember those World of Warcraft "What's your game?" commercials? They've been around for years, featuring celebrities like Mr. T, William Shatner, Verne Troyer, Ozzy Osbourne, and even a French commercial with Jean-Claude Van Damme. There were two that were introduced last year -- the infamous Chuck Norris commercial, and one done by Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Recreation. I remember liking the Chuck Norris commercial well enough, but the Aubrey Plaza commercial fell a little flat for me. Don't get me wrong, I love Parks and Recreation, but the commercial for WoW didn't seem particularly funny. Well IGN just uncovered an entirely different Aubrey Plaza commercial, one that never aired. Frankly, I think this version is quite a bit funnier than the one originally used, and I'm not sure why they didn't go with it. Perhaps it was just a tad too racy for television? Regardless, you can view the unaired commercial above and decide for yourself. Personally, I like the second version of Aubrey's commercial a lot better -- but then, I'm a fan of silly orc puns. What do you think?
World of Warcraft offers new in-game item, new TV spot for seventh anniversary
World of Warcraft is about to celebrate its seventh anniversary on November 23 next week (which means that some of its players have been alive for less time than the game's servers have been up), and to celebrate, Blizzard is giving everyone who logs in between this Sunday and December 3 a Feat of Strength achievement (which means it's only available during this time) and a "celebration package" item. The item will fire off a virtual fireworks display, and gives players a spiffy new tabard, as well as a 7% experience point and reputation bonus when used. The company will also introduce a brand new "What's your game?" celebrity TV commercial this weekend during the Bears/Chargers game on CBS. The star of the new commercial is set to be a surprise, so you can start guessing right now in the comments below. We have no idea who it might be, but considering all of the stars so far (William Shatner, Mr. T, Ozzy Osbourne, Jean Claude Van Damme, and Verne Troyer), a girl might be nice?
MI6 marketing awards nominate Blizzard in six categories
Get ready to put a few more awards on the (ever-growing) shelf, Blizzard -- MI6, which is a conference about marketing video games, has nominated Blizzard in no less than six different categories for all of their marketing of Wrath of the Lich King. Everything from the Wrath of the Lich King launch campaign in general to the Diablo III logo specifically has been nominated for an award. The TV spots have gotten special attention, too -- the entire "What's your game?" campaign is nominated, as is the Ozzy Osbourne spot in two different categories, for best writing and oustanding TV or theatrical ad.You can download the full list of finalists over on the MI6 site -- the rest of the nominations are kind off all over the place, though the marketing for Fallout 3 is in there quite a bit, including up against Blizzard for best writing, and best overall marketing campaign. The awards are going down in San Francisco on April 8th -- good luck to Blizzard on all of their hard work.We still do have one request though: for the next ad, can we maybe get a girl who plays WoW? Sure, a Gnome in the cinematics would be nice, too, but so far, on the TV commercials, it's been all dudes.
Smudo and Thomas D star in two new German WoW ads
We're not quite sure who Smudo and Thomas D are either, but apparently they're big in Germany, as part of a hip-hop group called Die Fantastischen Vier (or "The Fantastic Four"). And now they're starring in two new German Warcraft ads, the first we've seen starring more than one celebrity. Smudo plays a Night Elf Rogue, and Thomas D plays an Orc Warrior, and in both the ad above and one the one after the break, they get the jump on each other -- Smudo lays down a mean sap, and Thomas D brings the full fury of the Horde to bear. Interesting that Blizzard is using PvP ganking to sell the game, but maybe that's a German thing.My Deutsch is rusty, but you can pull a few things out of there -- when Thomas D is sapped, he says "ich ben ein krieger," which means "I am a Warrior," Schurke means Rogue, and of course right before the tag, as with all of the other commercials they are saying, "What's your game?" Blizzard's ingame animation department just keeps getting better, too. I really, really want those glasses for my Orc. Really.Thanks, Thomas!
Blizzcon 2008 DVD production panel reveals WoW tidbits
Here's a secret gem from BlizzCon from our sister site, Big Download: The DVD Production panel. The DVD Production team, despite the name, actually oversees most of the video produced by or at Blizzard. That means that they had a hand in the South Park episode "Make Love Not Warcraft," as well as the "What's your Game" and "Lawgiver" commercials.They also work on the gameplay trailers from World of Warcraft, and walked us through the creative process for the patch 2.1 Black Temple trailer, revealing some interesting lore behind Akama's betrayal. Finally, they revealed that they were the force behind the Wrath Gate cinematic. It's no wonder they were able to make such an epic cut scene though: One of their team members was a member of Rufus Cubed Productions, the creations of the epic machinima Return.There's some other nice information from the panel, including the real identity of the villain from "Make Love Not Warcraft" and a preview of the lore of Diablo 3. Be sure to go check it out at Big Download!
Verne Troyer is a Gnome Mage; no one is surprised
Back when Blizzard released the new World of Warcraft ads featuring Mr. T and William Shatner, it also announced that a Verne Troyer ad was forthcoming. It's finally here, and it turns out that, like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mini-Me is a Mage!If you liked the first two English-language WoW TV spots, you'll like this one, though I don't think it's quite as exciting because we all knew what was coming; he's a Gnome. What a surprise! It's still awesome and you should all check it out. I don't need to tell you that, though, do I? I'm still holding out for The Hoff. What class would he be, I wonder? And if they could get Schwarzenegger, they'd have to create a Governator class. Hey, they already made a Mohawk class for Mr. T. Okay, this is getting silly and I'm getting carried away![Thanks, Chris!]
Bringing the mohawk to Azeroth
Mr. T hacked the game and put in a Night Elf mohawk of his own, but will we be able to do the same with the next expansion? Could be-- Bornakk says that he hopes every class gets a mohawk to choose from when the new hairstyles come down in Wrath of the Lich King, but the actual model from the commercial was custom-made for Mr. T.A mohawk might not be your first choice, but it will be nice to have some new customization choices out there-- I was showing off all of my alts to a friend the other day, and it occurred to me that I must have created an alt for almost every look out there. Not every combination of looks, surely (there's got to be tons of those), but at least every look that appealed to me. Just like many players, I'm definitely ready for new looks, whether they look like Mr. T or not-- if we've got the mohawk coming, does that mean we'll get a mullet for Blood Elves?
Je suis un mage
Jean-Claude Van Damme's French "What's Your Game" commercial, promised a few days ago, has gone live, and I rather like it. He is, apparently, a troll mage; he's put his physical combat days behind him. My French is a bit rusty, but I can catch most of it, and for the rest, Blizzard has kindly provided an English translation:
Jean Claude van Damme to star in "What's your game" ad
According to the European website, the next celebrity to get the "What's your game?" ad treatment will be none other than Timecop himself, Jean Claude Van Damme. The kickboxer-turned-B-movie-superstar (yes, superstar-- what else do you call Guile himself?!?) will appear in the next round of television ads for World of Warcraft. I can't wait to see it.The line for speculating about what character he'll be starts right here. My gut is telling me a troll of some kind, but it would be so much funnier if they went with, say, a female Human priest. Why would Van Damme do something that wacky? The same reason he does everything: "To honor you, shidoshi."[Via incgamers]
