Xbox game tied to Classic

• By TED GRIGGS
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Nov 29, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Today’s Bayou Classic marks the 35th game between the Southern University and Grambling University football teams, but the event also marks a first for Baton Rouge-based Nerjyzed Game Studios: A national ad campaign coinciding with the Bayou Classic will introduce the Microsoft Xbox 360 version of the Nerjyzed video game, BCFx.

BCFx, or the Black College Football Experience, debuted in 2007 as a computer game before making the jump to Microsoft’s video-game platform.

“We’re going to be doing a complete national rollout, and it’s going to start right here in Louisiana first,” Nerjyzed Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Beauchamp said. “We actually have six commercial spots on NBC (during the game).”

The network will also be doing a number of spots and vignettes pertaining to this edition of BCFx, which will be called the Doug Williams edition, Beauchamp said. The spots will focus on how Southern and Grambling graduates came together to create the video game.

The Bayou Classic telecast out of New Orleans will feature another first, the BCFx Sideline Video Game Zone, Beauchamp said.

NBC will cut back and forth between the actual football game and the action in the Video Game Zone.

“The announcers will say, ‘Southern may be winning 24-10 on the football field. Let’s take a look at who’s winning in the video game,’ ” Beauchamp said.

The network has agreed to cut to the Video Game Zone twice during the broadcast but Nerjyzed is hoping for more, Beauchamp said.

NBC also plans segments on the video game’s features, Beauchamp said. In addition to the football game, the network will do spots on BCFx’s interactive halftime show, which includes a Battle of the Bands, and a new element: head-to-head drumline play.

The drumline feature is compatible with the Xbox Rock Band drum pad, Beauchamp said. BCFx includes 35 music tracks and 65 drum cadences.

Beauchamp said Nerjyzed has budgeted $1.5 million for its national ad campaign, which will include print and radio spots.

“We’re going to make sure that we get the awareness out there, drive sales and promote it as best as we can,” Beauchamp said.
“We typically don’t like to discuss projection numbers, but at minimum unit sales we’re hoping to sell at least half-a-million units.
But our projections are going to be much, much higher.”

Beauchamp’s confidence is predicated on distinct differences in the computer game and video game markets. Xbox and other video-game platforms represent a much-larger market share.