Feature: 'Online PR For Games: There Is No Going Back Now'

Following two earlier columns on the subject, video game PR professional Duane Brown takes a final look at public relations for games, discussing the use of Technorati, trends tools, and more to 'monitor, analyze, interact, and lead' in online game PR. In this excerpt, Brown begins by looking at a rather unique PR move by independent game developer The Behemoth (Castle Crashers), whereby real life rewards are sent to top players of the Xbox Live Arcade version of Alien Hominid, citing this a a great way to promote a game after its release: "The Behemoth is a cool little independent shop within the video game industry. Recently they started handing out trophies for their cult classic game Alien Hominid. The PR for simply rewarding the community that this is generating for them is priceless. Back in the 80s, Activision used to hand out badges for players who achieved goals within certain games. I’m sure the winners will blog and brag to their friends about how they won, which is going to further prolong their effort. What I like here is that, The Behemoth found a unique way to add an offline component to their online efforts as they build an online community around their game. I’m not saying go out and copy The Behemoth, but I’m saying find a cool way to combine what would traditionally be only an online PR tactic and add an offline component or vice versa." You can now read the complete feature, which includes more examples of how to best promote video game projects after they are released into the wild (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).