mad

To celebrate the release of Street Fighter IV, Mad Catz has teamed up with Capcom in order to roll out a collection of branded FightPads and FightSticks emblazoned with various Street Fighter characters.

The FightPad and FightStick will be available for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms in addition to the Tournament Edition FightStick, which features the exact hardware found in arcade cabinets.

Look for these licensed items to go on sale next month and be sure to check out our slide show of the entire line of Street Fighter IV accessories.

Home console flight simulator and air combat games just got a bit easier to control. Just in time for upcoming titles like Tom Clancy's HAWX, Saitek is introducing the Aviator, a flight stick fully tested to work Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games. That said, Saitek claims the Aviator will also perform well with the Blazing Angels series of games released earlier on.

Available for both platforms, each Aviator will also have the ability to work with PC games as well, doubling the compatibility. The Xbox 360 version (pictured) not only has the familiar silver Xbox guide button, it … Read more

Mad Catz has unveiled the latest in the company's line of PC flight sticks, the Cyborg X. While the new hardware showcases many new features, we're most impressed with the amount of customization it offers.

A total of of 11 buttons can be completely programmed (22 if you're holding down the shift button) allowing for complete control. Compatible with most air-combat and flight-simulation games, the Cyborg X should pacify even the most hardcore of PC gamers. As an added space-saving bonus, the Cyborg X can fold up for easy storage--a feature we've never seen before on … Read more

Mark the Intern joins us for a hilarious show; this time around, we tackle stories breaking in mainstream media including the Mad TV cancellation, Journey greatest song of all time, the Arrested Development movie, and Stan Lee's cutting edge take on the classic superhero story.

There's a lot of music and television show news to report today, so we invite Mark the (former) Intern onto the show to help us discuss what's happening. First off, we get into the one song that can always brighten a dark day: Journey's "Don't Stop Believin." Whether it's in a crowded Karaoke Bar, in a Family Guy episode, or in a solo performance in the pajamas in privacy of my room, that song gets my juices flowing right when I hear that familiar falsetto. So a big congratulations to Journey for hitting the double platinum digital sales mark on iTunes!

Unfortunately, good news always comes with the bad kind too, and we're sad to report that Mad TV is shutting its doors after a 14 year stint on air. I personally loved Mad TV more than SNL all throughout middle school; don't you remember Ms. Swan? UBS Guy? Funky Walker, Dirty Talker? And Stewart! Look what I can do! We'll miss you Mad TV, but at least you're taking down Lipstick Jungle and My Own Worst Enemy with you. Seriously, Jeff says those shows suck.

NEW YORK--When Yahoo finally debuted its display-ad platform in a press conference here on Wednesday, CEO Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker had an unusual guest on hand: actor Jon Hamm, who plays 1960s-era advertising exec Don Draper on the critically acclaimed drama Mad Men.

"I do feel a little strange being up in front of a group of people, in front of cameras, talking about advertising, instead of smoking nine cigarettes and drinking three or four glasses of Scotch," Hamm said, referring to Draper's hard-living attitude, "although maybe if this was a little later in … Read more

It looks like wiser heads--or at least those who could be made to recognize a great PR opportunity--have prevailed at AMC.

If you're one of the many hooked fans of the cable channel's hit show, Mad Men, which chronicles the goings-on at a fictional 1960s New York ad agency, and you're also a Twitter user, you might have found yourself eagerly following tweets from folks like Don Draper, Roger Sterling, or Peggy Olson.

And getting people to follow the show's characters probably seemed like a clever way of using Twitter for marketing.

Except that AMC had … Read more

During a CNBC interview Wednesday with Mad Money's amped-up Jim Cramer, Google CEO Eric Schmidt was asked about placing ads on the home page of the leading search engine. He said Google wouldn't allow ads on the home page, even though it could bring in "some number of billions of dollars."

Let's say that some number of billions is $2 billion annually, which would be close to a 10 percent bump in revenue for violating the home page with ads.

"People wouldn't like it. We prioritize the end user over the advertiser," … Read more

MAD Magazine is getting the last laugh now that Circuit City has issued a mea culpa for telling employees to destroy issues of MAD that contain a parody of the retailer's advertising.

The Consumerist pointed us to a copy of a letter of it received from a Circuit City corporate communicator after the site wrote about the alleged search-and-destroy mission. In the letter, Circuit City apologizes for its "knee-jerk reaction," and says its has issued a retraction order and directed affected stores to put the magazines back on sale.

The magazine's August issue contains a (pretty darn amusing) four-page "Sucker City" circular with announcements like: "Believe it or not, $3,599.99 is the sale price," and "Wii Gaming System Guaranteed In Stock...if you're friends with an employee who hid it in the back for you. Otherwise, oh, sorry, all sold out." Sucker City also sells products including a self-editing Web cam that "stops embarrassing YouTube videos before they're made."

The good news is that at least one member of Circuit City's PR team appears to appreciate the value of a good ribbing--or at least appreciate the value of pretending to have a sense of humor. This is the letter: … Read more

In a post last week, I mentioned that the world's advertising agencies and their clients were all congregating (religious reference intended) in Cannes for the annual Advertising Festival.

Finally, one of the advertising executives, perhaps enjoying the fresh sea air that thankfully accompanies the hot air coming out of some people's mouths, could take it no more.

Google "clearly wants to replace the advertising industry in its totality," said Cindy Gallop, former CEO of the extremely well-respected agency BBH.

According to the International Herald Tribune, Ms. Gallop went on to declare that Google would be "… Read more