Boston has a new face of online gaming and virtual worlds and I should have included in my recent article about Second Life. Hiawatha Bray’s article posted on Boston.com today provided more information about the much anticipated game by Curt Schilling’s online game company 38studios, formerly known as Green Monster Games (Maynard, MA). Apparently, it will be a MMORPG ala World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings.

The company is comprised of 3 main principles from multiple industries including Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, New York Times best-selling fantasy author (and Leominster native!) R. A. Salvatore, and video game industry leader Brett Close.

The main issue that I see from the article is the expected release date of the game - 2010! That’s an eternity in the online world. The company is planning on releasing additional products outside of the game but to think that far in advance the creators may need to be more than just visionary’s, they’ll have to be fortune tellers.

The company plans on releasing some early concept art at the show. I’ll keep an eye on 38pitches blog and the Gamebunny blog who is promising and update from the Comic-Con in San Diego show soon.

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Technorati tags: online games, virtual worlds, wow, world of warcraft, 38studios, curt schilling, boston web 2.0, boston, maynard, web 2.0, gamers, spawn

I just can’t resist…cause this is a post that you just can’t touch.  The folks at TechCrunch have announced a new panel of experts to speak at the upcoming TechCrunch20.  Guess who is on the panel?….MC Hammer.

Can’t Blog This

My, my, my, my,
Ajax Hits me oh so Hard,
Makes me say <a href=”"oh My God” >,
Thank you, for blessing me,
With time to write and a Wordpress type,
It feels good…when I know you know Co.,
As a super-dope start-up from the valley and the s-fro,
and I blog as such,
cause this is a blog that you just can’t touch…

…Cant’ Blog this.

I’ve heard a rumor that next week they will announce Arsenio Hall as the show MC.   Raise the roof…woof, woof, woof.

Feel free to finish the lyrics for the “Can’t Blog This” song or enjoy the original I’ve embedded below.

All kidding aside…the panel experts are starting to look interesting including Caterina Fake who is best known as the co-founder of Flickr, a photo-sharing service that was acquired by Yahoo (according to the TechCrunch post). 

I am so pissed - now I have another show to watch on television.  I am already overloaded with the amount of pop-culture that I can consume in a given moment but now I have to watch the Adult Swim show Aqua Teen Hunger Force.  That’s right, I am falling for the either insanely stupid or insanely genius PR stunt that just nearly shut down the city of Boston.  

If you have not heard yet.  There has been a potential “bomb scare” around the city of Boston where up-to 10 suspicious packages were found in various places around the city.  The bomb-squad was called into to investigate and the packages were found to have the image of a crude cartoon character from the Aqua Teen show - The Mooninites.  Except for the negative consequences for those involved, the show could not write a better script that some of the local news coverage that I am watching right now.

I have several key questions that I would like answered…

1. How come I have not watched this silly show before

2. Who is feeling more stupid now

a.  The Marketing Department at Turner Broadcasting Network

b.  The person who reported the first “suspicious package”

c. both?

3. Why did I not think of this stunt?…I guess I could say, “its good that I did not” because there may be some potential jail time for this tom foolery.

According to Turner Broadcasting:

The ‘packages’ in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim’s animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.

I just love and hate it all at the same time…but now I will have to watch a few episodes to see if the Moon Does Rule. 

A Bit of Common Sense - And Reality People

I will say, in this groups defense,  that this is not the first stunt of it’s kind nor will it be the last.  The marketing team probably did not intend to have this happen.  How many of us have seen the Andre the Giant stickers (or any of 100 other stickers like it) around everywhere?  There was probably an effort out there to get a n underground movement of “what is that” and/or to get bloggers to take pictures and post them on Flickr and on their blogs.  After all - the billboard for this has been up at Logan for weeks and I’ve heard on the news that theses packages were there as well. 

That is why I ask the question again - who feels more stupid now, the marketing group at the show or the people that reported it…and then the other people that kept reporting it?  

Can I propose that Jeremy Shoemaker or one of these other Web 2.0 start-ups just go ahead and make the infomercial about how to strike it rich with Google Adsense?  It seems that every day someone is coming out with another picture of their ”don’t you wish you could make this much money“ Adsense check?  Today the founder of Plentyoffish.com is circulating his latest marketing ploy / big adsense / me too check. 

I thought I would help them write the infomercial with your help.  This would be the first “open source” infomercial project in a way. Can you help?

You know the infomercial…The fake talk show with host that has the thick British accent and the ugly supermarket sweeps sweater on.  I think the dialog would go something like this…this is just a start, please help me right

HOW TO STRIKE IT RICH WITH ADSENSE INFOMERCIAL (DRAFT)

Nigel (our host):  So tell me Chris, how did you make all of this money?

Chris:  You know I came to this Web 2.0 space in a one-bedroom apartment with no money and no hope.  I found Google Adsense and it just makes money - WITH NO MONEY DOWN!

Nigel:  You’re tellin’ me that if I put one of these little wiggley googley things on my webpage…I can make lot’s of money?

Chris: That’s right Nigel - IT JUST THAT SIMPLE!

Nigel:  You’re tellin’ me - where do I sign up?

Chris:  Well if you take my course for just 4 easy installment of just $19.99, I’ll show you my step-by-step proven process to Strike it Rich with Google Adsense!

Nigel:  Wow - it sound so simple

Chris:  It is - and if you are one of the first 50 callers, I’ll throw the FLowbee hair styling system at NO ADDITIONAL Charge.

….  Add your lines below!

 ;

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