Bravo to Offer Social Media-Enabled Games around "Top Chef," "Real Housewives"

NBC Universal-owned cable channel, Bravo, has unveiled yet another social media initiative around its programming (note: last month, for example--see the article published on itvt.com, March 24th--the broadcaster launched a live, social TV experience, dubbed "Talk Bubble," around its reality series, "The Real Housewives of New York City"; and earlier this year--see the article published on itvt.com, January 31st--it announced a partnership with location-based social networking service, Foursquare, to integrate its shows with the latter's game elements). Last week, the broadcaster announced plans to offer three ad-supported games centered on its reality series, "Top Chef," and its reality franchise, "The Real Housewives": the games, which it says will be available on its Web site and (in the case of the "Real Housewives" game) on the Apple iPhone in the coming months, will be Facebook Connect-enabled, so that players can share their scores and challenge their friends to play. "We know from our other social media initiatives how much our fans love to engage and connect with each other, so this is a perfect fit for our fans to experience Bravo on a whole new level," Lisa Hsia, Bravo's SVP of digital media, said in a prepared statement. "They can live the life of a 'Real Housewife' or test their kitchen prowess with the cast of 'Top Chef,' allowing them to be part of Bravo in a whole new way."

The new games are:

• "Top Chef Food Fight," which is scheduled to launch this month. According to Bravo, this "food fight game allows players to have a messy good time in the kitchen with various 'Top Chef' contestants, all while earning points and winning badges." The game also allows players to "'Chef-ify' themselves by imposing their picture on their favorite cheftestant, and post their new chef image to their personal Facebook page," the company says.
• "The Real Housewives Hidden Object Game," which is scheduled to launch next month. According to Bravo, the game lets players "earn 'housewife points' to become the newest housewife by helping the cast members from various cities find items they need for their next social event. Each scene will be based on a different 'Real Housewives' franchise," the company says, "including backstage at a fashion show with the cast of Atlanta, attending a photo shoot with the cast of New York City, and dinner at an Italian restaurant with the New Jersey cast. Fans earn points and badges that can be shared and posted onto their Facebook pages, and can invite and challenge their friends through Facebook invites." Bravo says that the game will be available both at BravoTV.com and as an "exclusive" iPhone application.
• "Who Is Top Chef?," which is scheduled to launch in June, and which Bravo bills as allowing players to see if they have what it takes to be a culinary master. According to the company, the game consists of "a bundle of various mini-games where players cycle through three quick, single-player games that gauge their abilities in the categories of agility, memory and presentation. The combined scores from each of these mini-games adds up to a player's overall ranking that is displayed as a score and as a particular rank title," Bravo says. Those rank titles include "Mistress of Mincing" and "Fabio," according to the broadcaster.