Scotland today re-emphasised that it is clearly a pioneer in the global video games industry as Visit Scotland, the Highland Council and Activision today announced that the island of Skye has been twinned with Skylands, the home of the forthcoming game Skylander SWAP Force.
The virtual twinning is apparently the first time that a real world location and a virtual video game world have been twinned.
VisitScotland’s Alan Mackenzie, based at VisitScotland’s Information Centre in Portree, is reported enthusiastically saying: The Isle of Skye is renowned for its stunning landscapes, which possess an almost ethereal quality, and its abundance of wildlife, making it the perfect place to virtually twin with Skylands, home to Skylanders SWAP Force.
We’re thrilled to be teaming up with the Skylanders franchise for this unique partnership, which will help raise the profile of this beautiful part of the world, encouraging families to enjoy a real-life adventure on the Isle of Skye – nowhere else on Earth comes close!” (Except of course for Skyland!)
The people of Skye will be both thrilled and delighted to be part of such a charming and pioneering marketing campaign. It will of course lead to massive increases in Broadband speeds, free games consoles for all islanders and a stellar reputation globally as a forward thinking and creative hub for games marketing.
Scotland and Activision have a long and prosperous history of innovative marketing campaigns. We remember fondly the renaming of Edinburgh Zoo’s male wolverine to ‘Logan’, supporting the launch of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Look at da widdle fing! Awwww… Ferocious.
Of course, if other games companies are interested in sponsoring, twinning, or supporting other parts of Scotland as promotional activities for their games there are many opportunities. We’d suggest:
The Rhum (Fireproof Games)
Star Wars (The Forth Unleashed)
CupaR-Type (Irem)
Chuckie Eigg (A&F Software)
What #ScottishGameNames can YOU come up with readers?
