Heavy.com Airs 5.5 Million Streams Of Sony Branded Entertainment Series "Pimp My Weapon"
First Instance of Machinima as Branded Entertainment is a Runaway Success With 45 Million Impressions
Due to Audience Demand, Heavy Will Debut Additional Episodes of "Pimp My Weapon" in July
New York, NY - July 11, 2005: Heavy.com, the world's leading broadband network with more than 5 million unique viewers monthly, today announced that "Pimp My Weapon," a branded entertainment series that Heavy created in conjunction with Sony, has streamed more than 5.5 million episodes, resulting in 45 million consumer impressions.
Conceived and produced by Heavy.com to promote Sony's hit videogame title, God of War, Pimp My Weapon (PMW) is available exclusively at Heavy.com for both streams and PSP-casts. Heavy was first to market with downloadable video entertainment-including PMW-for Sony's hit multi-media player, the Sony PlayStation Portable. Because of the breakaway success of the first three episodes, Heavy will release additional episodes of PMW beginning in July.
Pimp My Weapon is the first example of machinima as branded entertainment. Machinima (short for machine animation) is the convergence of filmmaking, animation and game development-where the game controller is used to manipulate the characters on screen and a new soundtrack is dubbed in. The success of Pimp My Weapon marks the first time that a studio-endorsed machinima has reached a broadcast-scale audience through cable or broadband.
"We couldn't be more pleased with the success of Pimp My Weapon," said Simon Assaad, Co-CEO of Heavy.com. "Sony asked us to create a vehicle that would build buzz for the launch of God of War. We responded with the first-ever branded entertainment machinima. Then we made the Pimp My Weapon episodes available not only on Heavy.com but also for download on the PSP. To satisfy extraordinary demand, we've created additional episodes that will debut in July. We're always excited to create programming that excites our core demographic of 18-34 year old men and advances the goals of our advertisers."
In Pimp My Weapon, the God of War character of Kratos-a fearsome Spartan warrior "driven by pure revenge"-becomes Ron Johnson, host of a "How-To" show. Johnson is a nebbish Bob Villa-like character who instructs on how to create the ultimate weapons and the proper way to bust skulls.
About Heavy.com
Heavy.com is the world's leading broadband network with more than 5 million unique viewers monthly (Nielsen) and a viral reach of 65 million taste-challenged pop culture junkies. Its programming staples include "Behind the Music that Sucks," "Contagious," "Blisster" and "Sith Happens." Portions of Heavy's library of animation and live-action shorts are available for free download to the Sony PlayStation Portable. Advertisers on the broadband network include Diesel, Axe, Sony and Nike.
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