Weekend Gaming: “Vanquish” and “Killzone 3″ Beta Invites [OPEN THREAD]
October 23, 2010
Fallout: New Vegas was one of my most anticipated games of the year. I bought it Tuesday and I havent even opened it yet. I will, I promise, but right now there is an unexpected love in my life.
Based on Samuel Axons recommendation, I decided to pickup a copy of Vanquish the same day, and Ive been completely hooked.
Vanquish (360, PS3)
Vanquish isnt a total reinvention of the third-person shooter genre, but it is a complete re-imagining of it. In some ways its reminiscent of HALO, but the pacing and gameplay are the real story here, not that the plot is terrible.
The game starts with the U.S. under siege by an enemy with an orbital microwave weapon capable of wiping out cities. Your character is a DARPA operative who controls an Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS) that is capable of feats far beyond those of un-augmented humans.
As you can see in the trailer, the focus is on speed and fighting:
It almost feels like playing Contra, but not as a platformer. The settings are huge, but the enemies are even bigger, often times crushing the environments in which you fight. And it all happens so fast.
The tagline for Vanquish is War Accelerated, but, the game is at its most impressive when the suit is used to slow everything down. You can then make snap decisions in the middle of the fray as bullets and lasers whiz past you. Its an absolutely essential feature, because the game moves faster than anything youve likely played.
Actually, the trailer above doesnt really do justice to just how fast this game moves, so heres a look at some actual gameplay:
All in all, this is an amazing gaming experience. Its the sort of sleeper hit that seldom comes around and I think that, with a few tweaks, we can expect big things from this franchise.
Fruit Ninja (Android, iOS)
Not much to say here: If you have not yet gotten Fruit Ninja, the get it. Its the ultimate catharsis to a long day, and its consumed all of my time to and from work for the past week.
Killzone 3 Beta Invites (PS3)
Special treat this week for you PlayStation 3 owners. Starting Monday, October 25, Killzone 3 will be entering a limited public beta. It has three fully playable levels that feature jetpacks, mechs and more.
We have 25 invite codes that will ensure you get a place in the beta. All you have to do is like this post on Facebook and well randomly select 25 winners from the group.
Note: You must own a PlayStation 3 to be able to use the code.
Weekend Gaming
With that, just one question remains: What are you playing this weekend?
Comments are open to: tips, critiques, (good-natured) smack talk and basically anything else related to gaming.
The weekend gaming open thread is intended to bring Mashable gamers together through conversation about games. This thread is for those of us who had the first NES and for those whose first gaming experience happened on an Xbox 360, so lets try to keep it fun for everyone.
Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/D3PFS2KRz_c/
5 Ways to Get a Job Through YouTube
October 23, 2010
Not only is it possible to use YouTube to get a job, but its becoming a more popular option, especially for the current crop of would-be-employees that grew up with web video.
Some argue that video is a more personal tool for job searching, acting as a digital interview, while others see it as cold and alienating, as it lacks the face-to-face element. But YouTube isnt just about video resumes there are a variety of creative ways to hop online and get hired.
Even better, YouTube isnt just for Millennials. Web video can be useful for professionals of any age looking to expand their audience or pick up new clients. With a little creativity, honesty and hard work, you can utilize YouTube to create a more effective (and more interesting) professional and digital image, rather than just falling back on the ol resume (digital or not).
Read on for five ways to use YouTube to get a job. If youve landed a position through YouTube, add your story and tips in the comments below.
1. Promote Yourself
While this may seem a little obvious, amazing opportunities can come out of promoting yourself on YouTube. Tom Ferry is a real estate training coach with a best-selling book, Life! By Design. He hopped on YouTube two and a half years ago in order to grow his audience and to own the SEO in his field. Ferry has received speaking engagements and consulting jobs across the world by showcasing his talents in one or two videos each week.
I believe in the theory of free, perfect, and now, Ferry said. Perfect, means short [and] easy. Its a free twist to marketing. Its never a concern of, Gosh, if I put all my best content up for free, will people stop hiring me? If I do put it up, people will see Im a force. For his book, he made a weekly video explaining each chapter and offering crib notes. Rather than give his book away, it became a New York Times Best Seller.
Ferry said that his audience has been steadily building, thanks to properly tagging his videos to maximize SEO and by constantly offering useful videos to his followers.
2. Post and Hope
This strategy may be the Hail Mary of getting jobs through YouTube, but it has proven successful in many cases. Perhaps the most famous YouTube discovery is Justin Bieber (yes, that Justin Bieber).
Bieber posted homemade videos of himself singing. He quickly jumped from hundreds of views to thousands. After he built up enough buzz, he was discovered by his now manager, Scooter Braun, and introduced to Usher.
While it helps to have boyish good looks and singing talent (like fellow discoveree Greyson Chance), this strategy isnt just limited to teen idols. Create a channel and post videos that highlight your expertise. If youre great at building fences, film that and offer some added value. Cultivating your fan base and reaching out to your fans can help build enough credibility or buzz to launch your career.
3. Build It
YouTube can help get you a job even if you dont like putting your face on camera. Thats what happened for Stanford student Feross Aboukhadijeh when he created YouTube Instant on a bet to his roommate. Aboukhadijeh built YouTube Instant shortly after the launch of Google Instant to bring the same insta-search features to the video platform.
The CEO of YouTube, Chad Hurley, was so impressed that he offered him a job over Twitter. Aboukhadijeh, now an employee at YouTube, continues to add features to his design while finishing his degree at Stanford.
Not all of us can build a site that will get noticed by major execs, but Aboukhadijeh proves that creativity and hirability arent limited by your on-screen personality. Try programming, coding, sketching or designing something in your desired field. For example, create a new bird design for Twitter or better user interface for Facebook and post it online you never know whos watching.
4. Be Creative
When 23-year-old Brian Freedman saw an ad to write financial articles for iGrad, a financial advice site for college students, he focused on a small side note offering to submit video instead. Freedman created a sample video on how to budget by using envelopes and was offered the job on the spot.
Freedman felt more comfortable speaking in front of a camera than writing a cover letter or traditional resume. YouTube allowed him to show his financial sense and on-screen personality to help him land the job ahead of other potential contributors. Doing a video with YouTube is much more effective than a resume, Freedman said. It basically shows what you can do, what you are capable of.
After nine videos, Freedman parted with iGrad to start his own channel taking a bluer (read: NSFW) approach to relationship advice. He was able to build his brand and draw in far more followers than with iGrad.
5. Enter Online Contests
These days, its not uncommon for a company or employer to host a video contest on YouTube to draw in potential candidates. For example, Dr. Pepper teamed up with Step Up Director Jon M. Chu to hold a YouTube Dance Contest to find a dancer to feature in an Ultra Records music video check out the winners video above.
Video contests are so popular on YouTube that it has an entire page dedicated to contests ranging from short film contests to social good efforts. Keep an eye out for contests in your area of expertise and enter when the right opportunity comes along.
Final Tips
YouTube is a simple, snappy way to get yourself seen. Aside from the social media pop and pizazz, its quickly becoming an effective way to own SEO terms, build a brand, and find jobs. While some video proficiency helps, fancy film work and high tech cameras arent key to success. Approach YouTube with creativity, authenticity and consistency, and the results might just come your way.
Social Media and Web Job Listings
Every week we put out a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we post a huge range of job listings, weve selected some of the latest ones from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!
- Product Managers at AOL in New York, NY.
- Web Developer/Designer at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ.
- Associate Software Engineer at Bazaarvoice in Austin, TX.
- Social Media Assistant at ideeli in New York, NY.
- Community Manager at Ally Marketing in Redmond, WA.
More Job Search Resources from Mashable:
– 5 Tips for Aspiring Digital Copywriters
– 10 Tips for Aspiring Digital Marketers
– HOW TO: Land a Career in Digital Public Relations
– 10 Tips For Aspiring Community Managers
– 5 Tips for Aspiring Social Media Marketers
Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/_3XTE15-86g/
Calendaring Your Social Media Marketing Content
October 23, 2010
Calendaring Your Social Media Marketing Content
From the many Website Optimization Webinars I’ve done over the past six months, I’ve signed up for many Facebook company pages, and I follow tons of people on Twitter. I realize there are those companies – or people – that overkill on the posting and those that I never hear from. The over-killers tend to post information about themselves, and to be honest, after a while I dont even read their content. Then there are those whose information is consistently valuable. I may not have time to read everything they send, but whenever I do, Im rewarded.
It always comes back to content valuable content thats either interesting on its own or that helps me. I have to believe that these organizations that consistently provide insight and useful information dont just come up with it on the spot. They plan ahead and create an editorial calendar.
Some people do it a month at a time, and others plan for the whole year. Certainly print magazines plan at least a year in advance, and thats the model I might use when plotting out your social media calendar. We do something similar here at HubSpot.
The real advantage of making an editorial or content calendar is that you can create a framework that shows how much and where youre planning to interact socially. Furthermore you can see how the content posting supports your social marketing objectives.
It also helps you in repurposing existing or evergreen content. Its hard coming up with fresh content and when you do, you want to make the most of it. Planning out your distribution will show when to write that blog post and when to promote it through your various social channels. And, if that content totally rocks, when to send it out again.
Also, if you create a white paper, you might want to break up its information into bite-size nuggets of wisdom and scatter them out throughout the following few to many months. A calendar will quickly show you how best to spread the information and line up various communication channels to support the distribution. Things like podcasts, videos, charts, and other supporting marketing materials that makes your content more valuable.
We’ve been able to develop a Social Media Posting Schedule with our friends at Demand Metric that allows you fill in all the dates, themes, topics, keywords and more. Plus after you fill it out, it automatically gives you a social media activities summary. If you want to use the 2011 version, you can download Demand Metrics Social Media 5-Pack for free, courtesy of HubSpot.
Free Download: The Social Media Tools 5-Pack
CommentsPosted by Jeanne Hopkins on Fri, Oct 22, 2010 @ 11:00 PM
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HubSpot/~3/1AxDob2_ERU/Calendaring-Your-Social-Media-Marketing-Content.aspx
“Auto-Tune the News” Curates: Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week
October 23, 2010
This week, dearest cubicle commandos, we have chosen The Gregory Brothers of Auto-Tune the News fame to head up our YouTube roundup.
Their theme of choice: As-Yet Undiscovered, Idealistic Rock-Gods. OK
Granted, this was a bit of a difficult theme for our staff to spin off , but they did quite admirably, riffing and improvising from the very bottoms of their virality-soaked hearts (viral content, not, like, actual viruses).
Check out the weird and wonderful selection of jams below, kicked off officially by the Brothers Gregory:
Complete, Hoogie-Boogie Land
The Gregory Brothers: The unheralded rock gods Complete may have only played a few Texas roadhouse shows in the mid-90s, but fortunately the InternetInternet
is forever. Thanks to the power of YouTubeYouTube
, future generations will be able to listen to their wailing vocals, scorching guitar riffs and fantastically polyrhythmic rhythm section. Best of all, rather than using their powers for evil, they sing about the power of love: the beauty of a sunrise, the wonder of a simple dream and the promise of the Utopian Hoogie-Boogie Land. Tool, Pantera, Metallica, Led Zeppelin you are not worthy.
Marvin Hawkins, Hot Drinks
Brenna Ehrlich: Not only will this jam get stuck in your head for hours at a time, causing you to embarrassingly burst into song even in your sleep; it also teaches you that if you simply put a lid on a cup, things will really start looking up. The simple joys, people, the simple joys.
Back To The Planet, Daydream
Amy-Mae Elliott: Back to the Planet was an awesome early 90s UK band formed from a group of hippie squatters who spent more time playing free festivals and protesting than they did trying to secure favorable record deals. They split in the mid-90s, and I think various band members have succeeded, but its one of those interesting hypothetical questions to ask whether they could have gone further if theyd been more commercially minded and less idealistic. Kind of glad they werent though.
Scouting For Girls, Famous
Christina Warren: I wont lie: I totally found this band, Scouting for Girls, because their song is in that Sony Google TV ad. Their second album came out a few weeks ago and is pretty good. This is a music video for one of the first singles.
Little Roger and the Goosebumps, Stairway to Gilligans Island
Lauren Rubin: Little Roger and the Goosebumps give us Stairway to Gilligans Island. Way back in the early 80s, before mashups became de rigeur, this guy was a visionary. He also got slapped with a huge cease-and-desist by the Zep themselves.
Kings Of Leon Shreds Their Worst Performance Ever
Evan Wexler: I dont know who you are, mystery Shreds rock god, but you play so perfectly badly over this Kings of Leon track that its hard to tell at first if its real or not. And then, suddenly, as the drummer blows a bubble, it becomes very real. Very, very real.
Paparazzi Cover (Acoustic)
Erica Swallow: Fernando Balino, who, like me, is an NYU Stern alum, has taken a non-businessy route post-Stern, and he has an amazing voice. His first YouTube video was posted about nine months ago and is a cover of Lady Gagas Bad Romance. But my personal favorite is his cover of Paparazzi (Yes, theres a bit of a Gaga theme here). I have a feeling hes going places.
Phish Shreds IT
Blake Robinson: Evan and I are having a Shreds-off.
1st Round US Air Guitar Championships 2009 SF Regional (Friday)
Jay Irani: This guy isnt a musical talent, but dont tell him he isnt a rock god. Hell hear none of that!
Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/l4igwYVpllQ/
Citibank First to Test Revolutionary Credit Card System, Card 2.0
October 23, 2010
Now Trending:
Biggest Military Leak in History: WikiLeaks Releases 390,000 Iraq War Documents
Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/6s1CN6oKx6w/
