3pointD.com

I missed it, unfortunately, but I’m told CBS just aired a promo spot for its Monday-night comedy Two And A Half Men during the SuperBowl pre-game show. What’s special about that? The spot was a machinima promo, shot in the virtual world of Second Life (as far as I know), and produced by the Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog), who CBS president and CEO Les Moonves gave a big shout-out to at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. I’m interested because pre-game exposure during the SuperBowl megacast (it’s the most watched sporting event of the year) is nothing to sniff at, and pushes virtual worlds that much further into mainstream America’s consciousness. SuperBowl commercials are the most expensive airtime on television, and are closely scrutinized each year for new trends in marketing and promotions. It’s basically the TV advertising agencies’ equivalent of Sweeps Week, when networks trot out the best of their new material. So having a machinima spot run even during the pre-game show is pretty hot stuff. A quick search on YouTube didn’t turn up anything about it yet, unfortunately.

Most 3pointD readers will be familiar with Terra Nova, which is probably the best blog out there for deep thinking about massively multiplayer online games, and one of the best on non-game virtual worlds. (I have to maintain my own-horn-tooting of 3pointD as the topper, of course.) So I was quite pleased recently (pretty excited, to tell you the truth) to be invited to be a guest author there for the month off February. My posts there will likely be more game-focused than the usual fare here (though I may do a VW post there as well), so there shouldn’t be a lack of news flowing through 3pointD. In fact, since I’ll link my TN posts here, you might get an extra tidbit or three this month. My first outing looks at the many game guilds that have sprung up around members of the Something Awful forums, and the interesting ways in which they bring Goon culture to the virtual worlds they inhabit. Fun!