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I was using the underground over the weekend, when i noticed something. Not some smelly tramp, they were noted by their absense in fact. But by something else. An advert.
Whats so special about? Well, it was for Onimusha, the new PS2 game. It got me thinking about adverts i'd seen on the telly, in magazines etc. Then i realised it.
I've only ever seen games advertised, other than in magazines, for either the PSX or PS2. There have been loads of adverts for the PSX, both games and hardware, on the telly. Adverts for the general branding of Playstation, adverts showing particular in game action, Spyro The Dragon and some Samurai game for the PSX, are ones i remember.
Why aren't there adverts (and i'm talking about on the telly here) for PC games, or DC games? The only time a PC game gets some advertising is if the advert is for the PSX version of the game and it says "Also available for PC" in little letters at the bottom of the screen. I suppose it's because the PC games don't have the budget to be advertised. I don't know how much it costs, but i imagine a 30 second advert on prime time TV costs a fair amount.
So thats PC's forgiven, what about the DC?
Sega must have had the budget to put adverts on the telly. I don't remember ever seeing one. Not for the hardware, not for a game. There was allegedly an advert showing game footage from M:SR. It was apparantly shown once. Once. Whats the point in that? No wonder Sega messed up!
Games like Shenmue had an alleged budget of $70 million. You would have thought that some of that could have been spent on some adverts. I know that not all games would look particularly impressive if in-game footage was shown, Chu Chu Rocket would probably have been a waste of time, but what about games like Q3A? M:SR? PSO? Ecco? Shenmue? It's ridiculous, all those games should have had in game footage used in TV adverts.
Also, whats the point in advertising a DC game in a DC mag? Or a PS2 game in a PS2 mag? If Game X is reviewd and given 1/10, is a nice looking advert really going to make you buy it? I doubt it. Surely it would be better to advertise PS2/DC games in, say FHM, or Loaded etc. That way, if the advert looks good, people won't know if the game is good until they buy it, by which time it's too late as the publishers have the money.
All in all, i think that Sony just have the money to spend on advertising. They are used to that sort of aspect, where maybe Sega an Nintendo aren't. Look at the prePS2 launch, the marketing people were working overtime, and it worked.
Why don't Nintendo or Sega go down the same road?
Whats so special about? Well, it was for Onimusha, the new PS2 game. It got me thinking about adverts i'd seen on the telly, in magazines etc. Then i realised it.
I've only ever seen games advertised, other than in magazines, for either the PSX or PS2. There have been loads of adverts for the PSX, both games and hardware, on the telly. Adverts for the general branding of Playstation, adverts showing particular in game action, Spyro The Dragon and some Samurai game for the PSX, are ones i remember.
Why aren't there adverts (and i'm talking about on the telly here) for PC games, or DC games? The only time a PC game gets some advertising is if the advert is for the PSX version of the game and it says "Also available for PC" in little letters at the bottom of the screen. I suppose it's because the PC games don't have the budget to be advertised. I don't know how much it costs, but i imagine a 30 second advert on prime time TV costs a fair amount.
So thats PC's forgiven, what about the DC?
Sega must have had the budget to put adverts on the telly. I don't remember ever seeing one. Not for the hardware, not for a game. There was allegedly an advert showing game footage from M:SR. It was apparantly shown once. Once. Whats the point in that? No wonder Sega messed up!
Games like Shenmue had an alleged budget of $70 million. You would have thought that some of that could have been spent on some adverts. I know that not all games would look particularly impressive if in-game footage was shown, Chu Chu Rocket would probably have been a waste of time, but what about games like Q3A? M:SR? PSO? Ecco? Shenmue? It's ridiculous, all those games should have had in game footage used in TV adverts.
Also, whats the point in advertising a DC game in a DC mag? Or a PS2 game in a PS2 mag? If Game X is reviewd and given 1/10, is a nice looking advert really going to make you buy it? I doubt it. Surely it would be better to advertise PS2/DC games in, say FHM, or Loaded etc. That way, if the advert looks good, people won't know if the game is good until they buy it, by which time it's too late as the publishers have the money.
All in all, i think that Sony just have the money to spend on advertising. They are used to that sort of aspect, where maybe Sega an Nintendo aren't. Look at the prePS2 launch, the marketing people were working overtime, and it worked.
Why don't Nintendo or Sega go down the same road?
I remember this time last year Sega advertised their football game quite heavily, as it was around Euro2000. They had the ads wityh the arrogant German, and other Euro stereotypes.
When my parents first got satellite TV some years ago there were a lot of German channels. When flicking through these I used to see dozens of ads for Nintendo games, but they just weren't advertised over here? If they can advertise in Germany, why not here?
Mind you the advert for A Link to the Past (SNES Zelda) was quite disturbing. Germans dressed up as characters from the game, dancing and singing. Of course they might not have been Germans, it could have been an American advert, with the German singing dubbed on...
And it annoys me when you only see FMV in the ads. It must be kind of annoying when you see a game on TV, think the graphics are stunning, then you realise that all of the work went into the FMV, and the in game grahics and gameplay is extremely poor.
When my parents first got satellite TV some years ago there were a lot of German channels. When flicking through these I used to see dozens of ads for Nintendo games, but they just weren't advertised over here? If they can advertise in Germany, why not here?
Mind you the advert for A Link to the Past (SNES Zelda) was quite disturbing. Germans dressed up as characters from the game, dancing and singing. Of course they might not have been Germans, it could have been an American advert, with the German singing dubbed on...
And it annoys me when you only see FMV in the ads. It must be kind of annoying when you see a game on TV, think the graphics are stunning, then you realise that all of the work went into the FMV, and the in game grahics and gameplay is extremely poor.
Anyone else with any comments?
Sega did advertise a wee bit for the DC launch using the up to 6 billion players slogan. And Nintendo advertised Zelda and they have been using the web a lot recently. Also there have been Tomb Raider ads. But I do agree with you about advertising in FHM or loaded etc. Had sega advertised more then they would have sold more DCs and would possibly have still been around as a hard ware company today.
I was using the underground over the weekend, when i noticed something. Not some smelly tramp, they were noted by their absense in fact. But by something else. An advert.
Whats so special about? Well, it was for Onimusha, the new PS2 game. It got me thinking about adverts i'd seen on the telly, in magazines etc. Then i realised it.
I've only ever seen games advertised, other than in magazines, for either the PSX or PS2. There have been loads of adverts for the PSX, both games and hardware, on the telly. Adverts for the general branding of Playstation, adverts showing particular in game action, Spyro The Dragon and some Samurai game for the PSX, are ones i remember.
Why aren't there adverts (and i'm talking about on the telly here) for PC games, or DC games? The only time a PC game gets some advertising is if the advert is for the PSX version of the game and it says "Also available for PC" in little letters at the bottom of the screen. I suppose it's because the PC games don't have the budget to be advertised. I don't know how much it costs, but i imagine a 30 second advert on prime time TV costs a fair amount.
So thats PC's forgiven, what about the DC?
Sega must have had the budget to put adverts on the telly. I don't remember ever seeing one. Not for the hardware, not for a game. There was allegedly an advert showing game footage from M:SR. It was apparantly shown once. Once. Whats the point in that? No wonder Sega messed up!
Games like Shenmue had an alleged budget of $70 million. You would have thought that some of that could have been spent on some adverts. I know that not all games would look particularly impressive if in-game footage was shown, Chu Chu Rocket would probably have been a waste of time, but what about games like Q3A? M:SR? PSO? Ecco? Shenmue? It's ridiculous, all those games should have had in game footage used in TV adverts.
Also, whats the point in advertising a DC game in a DC mag? Or a PS2 game in a PS2 mag? If Game X is reviewd and given 1/10, is a nice looking advert really going to make you buy it? I doubt it. Surely it would be better to advertise PS2/DC games in, say FHM, or Loaded etc. That way, if the advert looks good, people won't know if the game is good until they buy it, by which time it's too late as the publishers have the money.
All in all, i think that Sony just have the money to spend on advertising. They are used to that sort of aspect, where maybe Sega an Nintendo aren't. Look at the prePS2 launch, the marketing people were working overtime, and it worked.
Why don't Nintendo or Sega go down the same road?
Whats so special about? Well, it was for Onimusha, the new PS2 game. It got me thinking about adverts i'd seen on the telly, in magazines etc. Then i realised it.
I've only ever seen games advertised, other than in magazines, for either the PSX or PS2. There have been loads of adverts for the PSX, both games and hardware, on the telly. Adverts for the general branding of Playstation, adverts showing particular in game action, Spyro The Dragon and some Samurai game for the PSX, are ones i remember.
Why aren't there adverts (and i'm talking about on the telly here) for PC games, or DC games? The only time a PC game gets some advertising is if the advert is for the PSX version of the game and it says "Also available for PC" in little letters at the bottom of the screen. I suppose it's because the PC games don't have the budget to be advertised. I don't know how much it costs, but i imagine a 30 second advert on prime time TV costs a fair amount.
So thats PC's forgiven, what about the DC?
Sega must have had the budget to put adverts on the telly. I don't remember ever seeing one. Not for the hardware, not for a game. There was allegedly an advert showing game footage from M:SR. It was apparantly shown once. Once. Whats the point in that? No wonder Sega messed up!
Games like Shenmue had an alleged budget of $70 million. You would have thought that some of that could have been spent on some adverts. I know that not all games would look particularly impressive if in-game footage was shown, Chu Chu Rocket would probably have been a waste of time, but what about games like Q3A? M:SR? PSO? Ecco? Shenmue? It's ridiculous, all those games should have had in game footage used in TV adverts.
Also, whats the point in advertising a DC game in a DC mag? Or a PS2 game in a PS2 mag? If Game X is reviewd and given 1/10, is a nice looking advert really going to make you buy it? I doubt it. Surely it would be better to advertise PS2/DC games in, say FHM, or Loaded etc. That way, if the advert looks good, people won't know if the game is good until they buy it, by which time it's too late as the publishers have the money.
All in all, i think that Sony just have the money to spend on advertising. They are used to that sort of aspect, where maybe Sega an Nintendo aren't. Look at the prePS2 launch, the marketing people were working overtime, and it worked.
Why don't Nintendo or Sega go down the same road?