A new movement in guerrilla marketing is taking hold, and video game heavyweights Rockstar Games are on top of the trend.  The modern advertorial recipe for success: offer hipsters and industry insiders a second home stocked with all the free booze, food and entertainment any borderline video game junkie could appreciate.

For the past three months, Rockstar has hosted underground tournaments in a rented loft on the Bowery for a range of tastemakers—SNL, Kanye West’s crew, and Jane Magazine included. Their plan?  To initiate a virtual Ping-Pong revolution.  Last Wednesday, it was the likes of Mark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter, Dimmak, Kid Robot, Work In Progress, and all their cohorts indulging in an open bar, Beard Papas pastry puffs, a handful of Xbox 360s, and hours of Table Tennis. 

“It’s just to get girls, really,” joked Hunter -- seated low on a couch, wireless controller in hand -- of his interest in the video game in front of him.

“It’s a simple, straightforward, pure game experience,” beamed Will Rompf, a head analyst for the game who’s clocked in over 4000 hours of playing time.  Gamers can choose from 19 different ping-pong venues (we like the glass-topped roof one), 11 ethnically-diverse players, and either an Adidas or Joola jersey.  Whether one prefers “just hitting one button like Aoki, or the analog controls (as Rompf does), the game is childproof: Your controller will actually vibrate to let you know if your swing is about to send the ball off the table.

And, despite complaints we’ve heard (one industry insider asked: “Why can’t I throw the paddle, or stick it in somebody’s head?”), Rockstar kept their Table Tennis clean enough for the kiddies. Unlike the notoriously-violent Grand Theft Auto, this one is rated E for Everyone.

“It’s pretty intense,” says Sean Risley, the 23-year-old owner of body-alteration website, mybodystory.com.  “After playing for about 20 minutes I actually started yelling.”

Even DJ Clarissa Steed, who at first refused to play on account of finding “video games and table tennis really dorky,” ended up taking part, and winning second place in the tournament.

-Alisa Gould-Simon

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Check out video of the Table Tennis Tournament on psychopedia.com’s Dusk 2 Dawn