From the time a typical video game is announced until the date it is released can span anywhere from several months to a few years. An industry tool called GameSpot Trax, developed by my company, was created to capture the online buzz and demographic information from interest gamers for upcoming games.

Using the GameSpot Trax Release Calendar function, to match our energy drink creative brief, we can search for:

• Spring 2006 releases
• Traditional sports titles
• Xbox 360 games
• Strong buzz
• High composition of 25-34-year-olds

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We find that Top Spin 2 meets the above criteria, and we’ll look a little closer at this title.