Today POP’s site for Ubisoft and Gearbox went live in anticipation of the release of Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway. The site was a pleasure to work on, in particular because we were able to create an immersive historical timeline as a part of the experience.
Microsite, and Flickr Gallery
In 2006 POP created this award-winning site for Nintendo’s release of New Super Mario Brothers. The day it launched it got Dugg over a thousand times, which is, of course, more a testament to the Mario brand than our design skills, but then again the fanboys did sing the praises of the site itself in there too!
We were able to work with Nintendo to capture very high-quality video clips from the game, and separate the game environments from the “sprites” of characters. The sprites were then reanimated onto the site stage to give the website itself the feel of a platformer game. Seemed appropriate, considering the Mario Bros. franchise essentially invented the platformer genre. (Don’t quote me on that, hardcore gamers.)
If you haven’t played the game, you’re missing out. Seriously.
Microsite, and Flickr Photoset
In 2005 we worked on this microsite for Nintendo, for “The Minish Cap”. I loved this site. In fact I ended up writing some music on it (a little orchestral riff assembled in Reason, remixing the classic Zelda tune) and low and behold, POP won a Webby Award (People’s Choice!) for Best Use of Music or Sound. (Zelda was also nominated for Best Game Site that year).
I think a great game site should be able to hint at that unique kernel from a game that sets it apart. In this case, the kernel was the character Link’s unique tools to get through his quest. The “mole mitts” were used on the site to “dig” for deeper content, while the “gust jar” was able to pull back the corners of the site to find hidden downloads. Meanwhile, the not-at-all-annoying Minish Cap pseudo-trash-talked at you from below to give you hints about how to use the site.
The site lets Link be the hero and guide you through the content, showcasing the story of the game in its own way – the site requires you to “shrink down” to get at content that’s too small to see at your normal size – just like it works in the game.
Microsite, and Flickr Photoset
Hello. This is me, Joel Eby. I’m an art director in Seattle, USA, for an award winning interactive agency called POP. From time to time I feel like posting some of my work that I’m particularly proud of. This is where you’ll find it.
I dunno. Maybe I’ll post other stuff too if I find it really interesting. Or maybe I’ll have something on my mind. Who is to say, really?
Hot diggety, WordPress 2.5 is nice.