I must admit that I’m not the avid videogamer I once was. I hung up my gaming cleats in my late teens (about five years ago) and have watched the new releases from afar, flexing my knuckles, trying to avoid a destiny of Carpal tunnel syndrome. Usually, videogame ads all look the same and sport some generic 9/10 rating. But occasionally, a commercial will stand out and make wonder whether I should play again. For those of us who are worried about falling off the wagon, a compelling game ad can be both exciting and scary.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified trailer – created by Team One, which also handles Lexus of course – may be vague, but it is certainly not generic. The three-minute spot sells tone in a cinematic style, and according to Team One, contains 20 Easter eggs for future customers. The game is set in the Cold War and re-imagines a doomsday Cold War where aliens invade instead of Russians. You then have the fearless protagonist who will stop at no costs to complete his mission. The game will be out August 20, and the creators have promised more mysterious pieces of ad content leading up to the release date.

Credits after the jump.

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Yeah, we’d probably gawk at that mug in the same exact fashion, too. Anyhow, Saatchi & Saatchi’s Team One division has bumped a couple of its staffers, namely the blokes above, Alastair Green and Jeremiah Knight (pictured l-r). The former, who joined Team One as digital ECDin summer 2010 after spending some time at McCann SF in the same role, will now take a chair as part of the agency’s executive leadership team, which also includes president Paul Mareski, CCO Chris Graves, CSO Mark Miller, executive director Julie Michael and executive director, Paul Silverman.

As for Mr. Knight on the right, the current Team One group account director, digital has been promoted to the post of managing director, digital across the agency’s accounts including, yes, Lexus, as well as the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott. Prior to joining Team One towards the end of 2009, Knight spent well over six years at TBWA\Chiat\Day, initially working on the account/management side at the agency’s TEQUILA\ unit before moving up to the post of director of digital strategy at TBWA\Chiat\Day proper in 2007.

Prior to their new roles, the lads recently conspired on the nifty Cineprint Lexus ad promoting the 2013 ES.

-Interbrands released its 13th annual “Best Global Brands” report. Surprise, Apple’s not #1. link

-Former AKQA SF senior UX designer Charlene Zvolanek has joined Team One as director of experience design.

-The dress worn by Progressive’s “Flo” (above) is not only selling on eBay for a good cause, but the insurance spokeswoman is adding more to her mantle, having been inducted this week into the Madison Avenue Advertising “Walk of Fame.”

-MDC chief innovation officer Faris Yakob sits down with Yahoo to discuss the future of advertising. link

-Our old pal Matt O’Rourke is looking for writing ideas, y’all. link

-Have you seen Target’s “Amazing” training videos yet? link

-In case you missed it during all the Advertising Week kickoff hijinks last night, Microsoft Advertising unveiled its Windows 8 Ads in Apps concepts with agency partners. link

Perhaps it’s still Advertising Week recovery time, which could explain the lack of earth-shattering people news, so this will have to do for now. We’re hearing from sources on the Spy line that Jod Kaftan, currently experience lead at Santa Monica’s BLITZ, is leaving the shop after 11 months and heading over to Saatchi’s Team One division. As you’d expect, Kaftan will work primarily on the Lexus account. From what we hear, he’s taking on the title of experience design director at the agency. During his career, Kaftan has worked at the likes of Schematic as a UX designer and served as a senior content strategist at Razorfish. We’ll hopefully have confirmation on Kaftan’s move, official title and start date some time today.

Update: Kaftan is indeed joining Team One. He will start on November 1 as the agency’s director of experience design, reporting to executive digital creative director, Alastair Green.