Sengoku Basara began as another website job, showcasing the awesome imagery and video associated with the game.

Then it was casually mentioned that the characters were all taken from history and the project took on a new light as we discussed just how in touch with history many Japanese people are. Especially the feudal stuff.

Sengoku Basara’s characters are all shoguns who added to the rich tapestry of Japanese history. Shoguns such as Ieyasu Tokugawa, Masamune Date, Mitsunari Ishida (pictured above and much cooler here than on his Wikipedia page) and Yukimura Sanada.

Fascinating stories but it’s highly doubtful that any of them could punch through buildings or fly.

©2012 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

I swore to myself when I was initiated into the Cub Scouts that I would never, ‘pon my honour, ever make a pun as bad as that one. As with most things in life, however, promises are made to be broken. Circumstances change and what seemed like a good idea at the time now looks dated and out of step.

Enter 2K Games, a company we’ve had dealings with in the past and for whom we have nothing but love and affection. OK, you can sidestep the client loving if you like and skip to the part where we say they came to us to request a new perspective on their International website. The world of HD video was passing them by and the amazing visuals they had in their games wasn’t being shown to full effect.

Head First came up with a new look which evolved the great work done previously and which would enable 2K to showcase their games in line with modern technology. Times continue to change, of course, and we’re aware that we’ll soon be beaming the demo packs straight to the cerebral cortex.

But we’ve got an App for that.

In addition to the design work, something within Head First just doesn’t stop thinking and we have also put in place several neat sub-branding opportunities for use in subsequent development.

©2012 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

Play MotoGP

A project that went live recently was www.playmotogp.com and it’s a sweet one.

Taking its cue from the key art and advertising campaign we produced, the website is a repository for information about the game. And what a game it is shaping up to be. Our trailer (featured on the site) gives you the first, early glimpse of just how radical the game will be. All the realism you’d expect from a licence that prides itself as being the fastest bike event in the world but with the kind of game development thinking that makes these sorts of products stand out from the competition. And let’s face it, there’s plenty of pretty excellent competition out there.

The developers (Monumental Games) understand that not all of us want to shave 0.0003 seconds off a lap record. Some of us, maybe the not-so-good-at-games few of us, like to just enjoy speeding around the track and showing off a bit. Because, like, we didn’t want to win the damn thing anyway. Winning is for losers. Monumental have, therefore, created a game that actually rewards you for having a bit of style about you. Sure you can be the robot genius rider who can’t be touched but the crowds love a celebrity so it’s cool to be that person too. And maybe your coolness can win you enough backing to afford the sort of bike that will WHOMP that robot nerd driver. Yup, I’m thinking Street Hawk.

Head First came up with the positioning line “…because winning isn’t everything” and the campaign sort of spins wildly out of control from there. In a carefully strategic manner of course.

The website will feature trailers, podcasts, news and up to the second leaderboard information as we rapidly approach and then overshoot the release date.

©2012 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

Over the years we have produced a lot of online campaigns for 2K Games. We understand the business of creating standout creative and the process of making it work technically. So when we began to look at their main global presence outside of the US we asked ourselves a lot of questions concerning functionality. Sure, there often had technical answers but at heart they were creative issues. They were issues of how to deliver a sales based message to the consumer. 2K want to sell games. To do so they must first, create great games (and have you SEEN Borderlands?). Then they must create a framework of exciting ways in which to show the public just how great that game is. Everything from amazing trailers and luscious, tactile packaging to entertaining and engaging advertising needs to support the launch.

And of course many people who have their interest piqued by these materials want to come direct to the horse’s mouth and look for any nuggets of information they might have missed.

Step up to the plate www.2kgamesinternational.com. Our work on this site involved redesigning it for a world who wanted everything bigger and better than it was before. Bigger screenshots, bigger trailers, bigger websites and a much, much better user experience. We made it more personal and built in more potential for web standards to take it even further in the years to come.

©2012 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.

The new Head First website

Our website, like that of many agencies, was built when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Then, about a year ago, Carl and I began to put plans into place for a meteoric event. It was to wipe out the old site completely and replace it with a site better adapted to life in the new world.That event has just taken place. You may even have felt it as you sat at your desk eating sweets and looking at photoshopped Megan Fox images. The old site has been swept away and the new one fully installed.

The idea of the new site is to convey a lot of what we do. The headlines will hopefully grab your attention a bit and then you have the choice of taking a closer look. We’ve pared the whole experience right back. We don’t want to preach about how we understand brands, how we offer unique experiences or how we can hook you up with Hollywood beauties. No. We just want to show you the sort of work we do and let you make your own call on whether we are worth throwing into the mix for your next job.

If you have a couple of minutes then why not visit us now by clicking on this hyper-thingy.

©2012 HEAD BLOG. All Rights Reserved.