PlayStation 3 - to the new PlayStation 4

PlayStation 4- The next era in gaming!

The PlayStation 4 comes out for everyone to buy at midnight on 11/15/13 so only a few hours left until you can make the purchase yourself. If you are hesitant to make the purchase here is some more information about it. With some testers and people getting their hands on this system early this is some things they had to say. Sony was in the spotlight with the PlayStation 2 but really took a step back from the limelight when they released the PlayStation 3 against tough competitors like the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. With this release of the PlayStation 4 reviewers are saying that this next gen could belong to Sony.

The PS4 isn't a must-have yet, but it makes a very good first impression and is brimming with potential. Our review: http://t.co/yQZvoQpMwx
— Kotaku (@Kotaku) November 13, 2013

Here is some more reviews from another respected video game reviewer.

PlayStation 4, connected: our first impressions out of the box http://t.co/ZRhzFF2N1F
— The Verge (@verge) November 13, 2013

The release of the PlayStation 4 is going to bring gamer's a new experience when gaming. The graphics are not getting improved but mostly the play style. The characters in games as well as the details in the background will be the most improved aspects of games on the PlayStation 4. This does not sound like much but when coming to gamer's anything that can make the gamer feel more out of this world and in that one is a major plus. Another great thing about the new PlayStation is the price. When the PlayStation 3 was released with the major price tag of $600 dollars it through a lot of people for a groove and turned them away. The PlayStation 4 even being a new console is said to release with the price tag of $399 which is much more affordable for the daily gamer as well as the intense ones. Here is an overview of everything the PS4 will have to offer. Review of PS4

Riot Games- League of Legends

Riot Games

Riot Games has not been around for very long but the time they have spent in the gaming community has been significant to say the least. Riot Games was founded in 2006 in California by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill. Riot Games right now is best known for their single release and only game League of Legends. League of Legends debuted on October 27th, 2009 as a free to play game and is still free to play today. You can simply download the game from the internet and play instantly here is a link if you are interested. League of Legends League of Legends makes its money off of microtransactions through the game. Players play the game to unlock champions after a certain period of time but if the player wants a champion early they can pay some real money to get it early. Also League of Legends offers skins and bundle packs and boosts that players can buy with real money. Many people choose to do this while others reserve the right to play completely for free. With these microtransactions Riot is estimated $200 million in revenue in 2013. League of Legends is now currently on its fourth season and just finished its third and most successful season. So successful that for the World Championships final it was held in the renown Staples center in Los Angeles and was sold out. They were able to market their League of Legends product hugely at this event to the millions of people who turned in to watch. Here is some footage of that big day for Riot Games.

Blizzard Entertainment- The Background of a Groundbreaking Developer

Blizzard Entertainment Inc. 

History-

Blizzard Entertainment is a groundbreaking video game developer and publisher that was founded by three UCLA graduates Micheal Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce. These three men started Blizzard Entertainment on February 8th, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse. This starting name took on a few video game projects but soon became known as Blizzard Entertainment Inc. in 1994 when it was acquired by distributor Vivendi. This is when Blizzard Entertainment launched its first very successful game that got their name out into the public eye. This game was Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, here is a quick video of the game play.

After this success with this first release in the Warcraft series came the second release in the series Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. This game was pretty similar to the first but saw great success because of the already great following of the first game. Here is some game play of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness you can see some subtle differences in the two games.

The Warcraft series then took a break for awhile and the Diablo era came into existence on December 31st, 1996. This was the first Role Playing Game (RPG) released by Blizzard Entertainment and was a huge success with their already good fantasy game followers. This game put you in control of a customizable avatar that you can control fight with and level up. The point of the game was to fight evil off and level up to eventually fight Diablo himself and avenge your parents death. Here is the end fight of this first great RPG for Blizzard.

Taking after the Warcraft game play style Starcraft was the next game for Blizzard to tackle. Starcraft saw huge success just as all Blizzard games did with everyone talking and telling their friends about it. Starcraft took Warcraft's old bows and swords and turned it into guns and lasers. With this new look on an old game people hopped on the Starcraft train and only boosted Blizzards popularity in the gaming community. With the success of the first Starcraft it didn't take long for Blizzard to come out with an expansion pack for the game Starcraft Brood War. Everyone loved these games and wanted more but Blizzard would wait a whole fifteen years until the newly released Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm in 2013. Some game play of Starcraft II below.

Some would blame that long wait on what the gaming community would say was Blizzard's biggest success and what made their name so big was World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is a Massively multiplayer online role playing game or MMORPG. This game took what Diablo and Diablo II had and made it even better. World of Warcraft through gamer's into a whole new world that they could change and control with an avatar. Work with and fight real people online all them time, which made gamer's obsessed and live the life of their avatar. This game has had over 10 million subscriptions and made Blizzards bank account and popularity fly above competitors. Here is a quick cinematic of World of Warcraft.

 There has been four expansion packs since the release and has taken up most of Blizzards time but with the popularity dying down around World of Warcraft one more expansion is planned but Blizzard just recently announced they will be going back to their roots. With the release of a new Diablo and Starcraft Blizzard recently released they will be reworking the old Warcraft series and also undertake a new mutliplayer online battle arena game Heros of the Storm. Here is a quick video of the new game style.

With all these accomplishments its no surprise that Blizzard Entertainment has a lot to offer the gaming community and will as well in the future. Gamer's like me appreciate the hard work and dedication Blizzard has put into their products. This blog has only touched on the outside of all the things Blizzard has to offer, if you would like to learn more just follow this link. Blizzard Entertainment

Some Scary Video Games if you're still in the Halloween mood!

1. Silent Hill Homecoming 
This is a perfect game for the Halloween season, if the plain title of the game doesn't scare you the content will. Silent Hill was released in 2008 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC systems like Steam. The game puts you in the shoes of Alex Shepherd, a solider returning home from war. He finds his town in disarray and that his younger brother is missing, quite a task to come home to. Sets him on an adventure to find his brother and along the way find out some very interesting things about his former town he did not know. Here is a video of some game content.

2. Dead Space 2
Dead Space 2 is a great game if you are still in the scary Halloween mode. Dead Space 2 was released in February 2013 with great success. It was the sequel to Dead Space, and the publishers Electronic Arts said they plan on having a third Dead Space 3. This first person shooter game follows Isaac Clarke as he fights a Necromorph outbreak on the Sprawl, a space station above Saturn's largest moon Titan. This game has some great moments of intense action and fear, here is a quick video showing some game play.

3. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
If the name doesn't already say it itself, F.E.A.R. 2 is a great game if you are in the mood to be scared. F.E.A.R. 2 is a game published by Warner Bros and is a first person shooter. F.E.A.R. 2 was a sequel to F.E.A.R. and was released on February 10th, 2009. The game follows Micheal Becket the point man for a swat team. The girl ghost Alma haunts Micheal as he tries to see her way and help her. This game is very jumpy, if you are willing to get startled and scared often. Here is some game play of F.E.A.R. 2.

5 Most Sold Video Games for the XBOX 360

5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2  -    7.6 Million Copies Sold 

        Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 or COD 2 which people like to refer to it as was designed and released on November 10th, 2009. It is a first person-shooter style video game and was developed by the team at Infinity Ward and then published by Activision. This was the first game that really took the COD franchise to the next level and sparked the interest and love of many first person-shooter enthusiasts. Here is a quick video of the trailer with some game-play and also a link if you are interested in purchasing the game.
                                                        Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 

4. Minecraft -   8 Million Copies Sold

       Minecraft came out first on the PC on May 17th 2009, and had some major popularity after a few years. Then Minecraft decided to become available on the Xbox Live arcade on May 9th 2012. This saw huge success and popularity with the Xbox community and launched many creative YouTube videos which only boosted the games popularity. Here is a link to some of those great videos to view yourself and the official trailer for Minecraft.
                                                           Crazy Minecraft Creations

3. Halo 3- 8.1 Million Copies Sold 

       The Halo series of first person-shooters have been a great success for Xbox, many people going with this console for the sole reason to be able to play this game because it is not offered on others. Halo 3 was developed by Bungie and released on September 25th 2007 in the United States. The Halo series really helped launch the popularity of Xbox Live where you could get on and face your friends or complete strangers with Master Chief and save the world from alien invasion. Here is the trailer and also some great Xbox live Halo 3 kills.
                                                               Halo 3 Great Online Plays

2. Call of Duty: Black Ops   12 Million Copies Sold 
      
      Call of Duty breaks the list again at the number two spot with 12 million copies sold. This first person-shooter was not developed by the same as our number 5 COD game. This one was developed by Treyarch but again published by Activision. Call of Duty: Black Ops was released to the public on November 9th, 2010 and sold 5.6 million copies the first night. Here are some sweet kills people made during game play.
                                                                 Call of Duty: Black Ops  

1. Grand Theft Auto V-  16 Million Copies Sold

      Number one on the list is also the newest game on the list and was just released under a month ago on September 17th, 2013. Grand Theft Auto V or GTAV is a open world action adventure video game which was developed by Rockstar Games. GTAV is the newest of the GTA series of games and most popular one. This video game has topped the charts in all entertainment sales on its release. With more copies sold each day GTAV will go down as the most popular form of entertainment for a while to come. Here is the trailer and a link to buy this fresh new game.
                                                           Grand Theft Auto V Purchase

Introduction of the blog and me!

Hello visitors my name is Andrew Erenberger and this is my first blog post of my life. Pretty pumped to finally get underway with this blog and create it and shape it to my liking. This blog is going to generally focus on video game companies that have done a great job utilizing great marketing strategies to make their product popular. Again this is my blog so information could be somewhat bias but if you would like to chat you can leave a comment, send me an email at aerenberger@gmail.com, or follow me on twitter @videogamemarket! Some things you can look forward to me writing about is the almost concluded League of Legends worlds tournament, the best-selling video game of all time Grand Theft Auto V, and about companies such as Blizzard Entertainment and Williams Interactive. I thought I would take some time to introduce myself as well. I am a senior marketing management major at the University of Northern Iowa. I was born and raised in Iowa my whole life but would like to live somewhere else in the future for at least a short time. I chose to write my blog about video game marketing because I would love to work for a video game company in the future and use my marketing skills I have acquired throughout my college career to help boost sales and interest in our product. This blog will help me dive deep into companies and find out the best way to do these type of things in the video game community, and see how the best succeed and stay there. Another reason I am writing this blog about video games is because they have been a big part of my life. Not only playing video games myself but following the professional community of games I really enjoy. Professional gaming is a growing interest in the United States and I believe it will continue to see growth far into the future. If you have anymore questions about me or my interest don't be hesitant to contact me with the above information, otherwise from here on out it will be more professional talk not about myself. Thanks for reading I hope you enjoy!