(Editor's Note: Epicness was never this awesome!)

It's another great week again! We have quite a lot of reasons why we're celebrating, and not least of them all is the fact that QuickJump QuickPeek's finally hit its 30th edition!

Let's pop them corks and let the champaign flow. Everyone's got a reason to party this weekend!

*Originally posted Jan 19, 2008 at 02:49PM

Finally! It seems that advertisers are taking the hint after last week's Sony-Zipatoni marketing scheme went sour. An article on Advertising Age goes on to cite Sony's fake blog and other previous attempts to drum up business as a lesson on what NOT to do in the industry.

Simply put, the article tells advertisers that the best way to get their ideas across today is to be transparent in your dealings, not only because it makes people want to interact with them more (Microsoft's Major Nelson is a prime example), but because consumers today are a lot smarter and REALLY hate getting deceived.

Hopefully, whoever Sony hires next for their ads will be reading that and taking it to heart. We'd prefer to not make articles that shot, "Sony's making bad ads!" a yearly tradition.

N'gai Croal notes in his blog that Sony should address the problem of them not having an active presence in the realm of blogging. He cites Ozymandias (Andre Virgnaud) and other Microsoft bloggers like Major Nelson, Gamerscore, and Game Tycoon as a nice example Microsoft reaching out and making a connection with the citizens of the internet.

Although Ozymandias' motives are, as N'gai Croal puts it, "hilariously transparent" Ozymandias' blog does well to bash anything and everything Sony. Furthermore it provides that consumer to company link that Microsoft needs.

N'gai notes that Sony fails at giving consumers information that they really need, straight from the company they purchased or acquired the products from. For example he says that when PS3 firmware updates are released, nothing in the download process really explains what the updates to. Yes, the updates page on the official Sony site gets updated from time to time, but it's nothing as powerful, reassuring, and as effective as say, a Major Nelson blog update. Often times people will have to go to sites like like QJ, or at NeoGAF for immediate word on the matter.

Remember PS3 Firmware Update v1.3?

The gap is there. A Sony "fan-boy" would sooner trust an obscure post by 0okm or a quick how-to from Pranav, than wait for the Sony site to update. A Microsoft "xbot" will go to Major Nelson's blog. Big gap right there.

Click on Full Article to read the rest of this post.

Alex Donaldson over at RPG Site has a rather lengthy article asking if Sony needs a "Major Nelson" figure. Before I give my take on this, here's a little background for y'all.

For those not in the know, "Major Nelson" is the XBL Gamertag of Larry Hryb. Mr. Hryb is the XBL Director of Programming for Microsoft. So whenever he has things to say over at his blog, people listen. And as evinced by fan reaction, most people welcome it.

People like Major Nelson are so effective for Microsoft because fans feel like these people are fans too. Instead of "them, the console people" milking money from "us, the players", this results in "we, the console community."

So Alex Donaldson asks: Who for Sony? Who could be that "go-between" needed to bring the company closer to its fans. After all, Sony fans are some of the fiercest and most loyal of all. Who from the company could make Sony more available to the fans?

In the humble opinion of some of us, Nintendo still has to find their own Major Nelson, but they at least have the "gaming god" Miyamoto, who's quite good with the fans (that's him in the picture trying to be Link). So I say, Sony should hire Gabe from Penny Arcade. He did more for Sony with that "White knight? Well goddamn it" panel from their strip than Sony marketing did for Sony in the past few months. Then again, the Penny Arcade guys would probably like to stay independent.

Back then, Sony did well with the PS1 by targeting the older audience. They put ads for the PS1 in clubs, in sports events, and in parties for reasonably older fans. The PS1 was the big boy's console from the faceless company. All the younger kiddies wanted what their big brothers were playing.

Now that the world is online, Sony can't afford to be the faceless entity you get your entertainment drug from. Yes, as some say, Sony just has to get the product out (and out ASAP), but in a war this heated, Sony's drug needs a good pusher.