[B]Went to check out the new Gorillaz game on the band's 'site' this morning and..pee ewww. While I could forgive the site design, which was clearly designed with all the skill of a link pit (well, no I can't forgive the design; I've seen better WordPress templates), the game itself was a disaster.[/B] First of all, Jamie Hewlett needs to visit the site and have the appropriate aneurism — his too-cool art has been reduced to too-lame shadows of their former glory, trapped inside a sticky stew of clunky mechanics and sloppy game play. The two free chapters feel tossed off and the third, which promises "full 3D" isn't free and thus won't be discussed here. The whole thing feels like an ill-conceived bid for microtransactions. 'Nuff said.
Ever the postivist, I went back to an old-school standby for a psychic cleanse, probably the best band site ever built, otherwise known as beastieboys.com. This collection of microsites, one for each of the beasties' four best records — [URL=http://illcommunication.beastieboys.com/buy_ic/]Ill Communication[/URL], [URL=http://checkyourhead.beastieboys.com/buy/]Check Your Head[/URL], [URL=http://hellonasty.beastieboys.com/buy_hn/]Hello Nasty[/URL] and their magnum opus, [URL=http://paulsboutique.beastieboys.com/purchase/index.html]Paul's Boutique[/URL] — is not only a work of art, the entire ring of sites is chocked full of music, videos, cool interactive gags and, of course, games. From mercifully brief Atari 2600-style trips and a Google Earth mashup that lets you cruise the streets view of San Francisco in an old K-car while the track of your choice drops in the background, to a mic placement 'game' where you drag the mic around a studio to remix "Intergalactic," this site has it all. None of it tries to hit a homer; it's just a string of singles that put a smile on your face and encourage you to move on and explore the rest. The site is about the sense of discovery you get from crate digging, rather than some marketer's cynically shrewd business model.
The best part is the free trading cards, which have a dope as smoke image on the front and a full beastie track on the flipside. Talk about panache. And the only thing they try to sell you is t-shirts and music; I chose the 180g vinyl reissue of said Boutique. Do yourself a favor and give 'em a spin. This is how that interactive promotion thing gets done right, and this one's got more hits than Sadaharu Oh.
[URL=http://www.gameculture.com/2010/03/30/nevermind-gorillaz-visit-beastie-boys]read more[/URL]
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