Razor maker Schick has signed on to sponsor the first episode of the “advergame” DinoHunters, described as a “retail-quality” comical first-person shooter.
The free game (downloadable for Windows PCs) features a script written by Maxim Magazine editor Keith Blanchard, and focuses on Shaw, a Brooklynite who finds a time machine in the form of an RV, and gets the idea to make a television show wherein he travels back in time and blows away ancient creatures like dinosaurs and mastadons. Unable to land a deal with a real network, he eventually winds up on the (fictional) Total Hunting Channel and saddled with washed-up celebrities and an infamous producer. Players engage is first-person action against dinosaurs and other prehistoric hazards while the story unfolds in scripted comedic sequences.
DinoHunters was built by Kuma Reality Games using Source, the same engine used to develop Half-Life 2. The game is available for free with advertising bearing the cost of development and distribution.
“DinoHunters is an innovative online gaming series that combines intense first-person shooter action with the comedic storytelling sense of a first-rate television show,” says Keith Halper, CEO of Kuma Reality Games.
“Kuma’s episodic model also allows the brand to continue its relationship with gamers for an indefinite amount of time, which cannot be achieved with other advergames because they are not created with a serial approach,” said Navigame’s Alex Kakoyiannis, who worked with Carat Fusion to develop Schick’s overall integrated game strategy.
New episodes of DinoHunters will be available for download each month; currently, the show’s “schedule” runs through August 2006.
