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Wednesday, September 02, 2009

The Blu-ray Disc Association launches first viral video game series!


The Blu-ray Disc Association has launched a series of viral games to promote the benefits of Blu-ray viewing to the public.

Viral and digital marketing agency TAMBA was appointed to create the series, which launched in August. As a result of the games, traffic to the European Blu-ray Disc website has increased thirteen-fold (1,366%).

The collection, called ‘Bluscape’ provides Blu-ray information to players; promoting the values of High Definition (HD) viewing and highlighting upcoming product launches. The games can be played at www.experiencebluray.eu/blu-ray-games.php .

Bluscape features a robot character named Ray who appears throughout the animation and hosts the home screen. Players can select one of four games - Titan Wars, Peakskill, Ro-Bout Tournament or Fusion Duct. The viral themes include a spaceship alien ‘shoot-em-up,’ a robot boxing match and a laser shooting space game. Players can submit their scores onto a Bluscape Hall of Fame and invite friends to beat their scores.

This is the first time The Blu-ray Disc Association has appointed a viral agency.

“The success of Bluscape reflects how popular Blu-ray Disc viewing has become. We chose a viral campaign as we wanted to boost traffic to the Benelux Blu-ray website, which has proven to be very successful,” said Sonja Wagenaar, Marketing Manager of Blu-ray Disc Benelux. “Following the games release we saw a significant increase in traffic reaching the website, and in three days the site achieved more unique visits than in an average month. As a result, awareness is growing around the Blu-ray Disc product and the superior viewing quality it offers.”

Blu-ray Disc is the new generation of high-capacity optical discs. Each disc can hold five times more information than a DVD, allowing users to store High Definition digital video, sound, pictures, games and PC files. Digital data is played at 40 megabytes per second, displaying better picture quality than any HDTV transmission.

“TAMBA has an excellent reputation for creating high quality viral games that both entertain and educate players,” said Kay Hammond, CEO of TAMBA. “The Blu-ray Disc Association is a high profile brand with advantages not all entertainment viewers are aware of. The series of viral games will not only build brand awareness, but will offer valuable information. We’ve produced innovative and attractive games that complement Blu-ray’s consumer image.”

Andy Simpson, Technical Director of TAMBA commented: “We took a futuristic approach with our animation to mirror the Blu-ray Disc Association’s visual technology. Bluscape offers a selection of unusual viral games, engaging with players and encouraging them to spend time on each individual game and re-visit to climb the hall of fame. TAMBA is currently seeding Bluscape across a network of popular gaming and consumer sites.