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Bigger than movies! Bigger than music! Bigger than….well, you get the idea, Games are apparently bigger than anything when it comes to media.
So why aren’t they doing more to up their image? It seems that all they’ve done so far is hire minor celebrities to host award shows (some of whom take the mickey out of the games players in the process) or some girl band who quite obviously have no idea why they’re there or even what an Xbox 360 is.
But then how do you sell a load of stereotypical geeks housed in a lan gaming party if you’re trying to make it look less…well…stereotypical? I guess you don’t, you just mention the prize money.
Games are easier to sell, of course. Many of them are becoming far more cinematic, so it’s only logical that their advertising would go the same way; Cinema ads, big TV events and the ultimate winning sales tactic, sponsoring programmes. It worked well for Nintendo, at least.
Adverts on TV are, at least, getting better. The Gears of War and Halo ads were pretty impressive, turning to film style presentation to make the game look exciting and epic. Then they try to sell the consoles. The Wii has probably done the best out of console advertising, a fact made all the more strange by Nintendo’s poor track record at advertising (beaten only by Sega’s last two consoles before that all went belly-up). They gauged their audience and played to the quirkiness of the console.
Sony went for the standard ‘ooh, lets to a semi serious weird thing that will get people talking’ approach. Well, that worked, didn’t it? Hah. Microsoft just went for ‘hey, we’ve got loads of games and a big white console. Buy it.’ Which, on the face of it, was all they needed (to be honest, anything that mentioned the software and didn’t mention the big failure rate would be good enough).
I guess, comparing it to 5 years ago, it’s come a long way, but it still makes you think, if games are really that big a business these days, perhaps they could put a bit more effort into it all…
So why aren’t they doing more to up their image? It seems that all they’ve done so far is hire minor celebrities to host award shows (some of whom take the mickey out of the games players in the process) or some girl band who quite obviously have no idea why they’re there or even what an Xbox 360 is.
But then how do you sell a load of stereotypical geeks housed in a lan gaming party if you’re trying to make it look less…well…stereotypical? I guess you don’t, you just mention the prize money.
Games are easier to sell, of course. Many of them are becoming far more cinematic, so it’s only logical that their advertising would go the same way; Cinema ads, big TV events and the ultimate winning sales tactic, sponsoring programmes. It worked well for Nintendo, at least.
Adverts on TV are, at least, getting better. The Gears of War and Halo ads were pretty impressive, turning to film style presentation to make the game look exciting and epic. Then they try to sell the consoles. The Wii has probably done the best out of console advertising, a fact made all the more strange by Nintendo’s poor track record at advertising (beaten only by Sega’s last two consoles before that all went belly-up). They gauged their audience and played to the quirkiness of the console.
Sony went for the standard ‘ooh, lets to a semi serious weird thing that will get people talking’ approach. Well, that worked, didn’t it? Hah. Microsoft just went for ‘hey, we’ve got loads of games and a big white console. Buy it.’ Which, on the face of it, was all they needed (to be honest, anything that mentioned the software and didn’t mention the big failure rate would be good enough).
I guess, comparing it to 5 years ago, it’s come a long way, but it still makes you think, if games are really that big a business these days, perhaps they could put a bit more effort into it all…
They do seem weird people to actually promote it. Nicole Kidman doesnt look like she's too bright on it either.
Seen the cover of the new Who Wants To Be A Millionaire DS game? Tarrant looks absolutely ecstatic to be on the cover :S
Think the DS would do better if it were advertised in a better way - as I said, people who would love its games are fooled I believe into thinking it's a cheap thing of £20 one off - not an add-on to a console. With titles such as Brain Training, Brain Academy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Friday's new release, Deal or No Deal, more elderly players should be into it than currently are.
Seen the cover of the new Who Wants To Be A Millionaire DS game? Tarrant looks absolutely ecstatic to be on the cover :S
Think the DS would do better if it were advertised in a better way - as I said, people who would love its games are fooled I believe into thinking it's a cheap thing of £20 one off - not an add-on to a console. With titles such as Brain Training, Brain Academy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Friday's new release, Deal or No Deal, more elderly players should be into it than currently are.
Can't make up my mind whether the Brain Training ads have the right people in them or not. It seems to work, as you say there are plenty of old people and non-target groups noticing it. But does the addition Patrick Stewart, Chris Tarrant et al seem right to you?
Twain wrote:
> To tell the truth, I hate the current Nintendo adverts. If you
> just saw an ad, it wouldn't make you want to buy a WIi or its
> games.
I enjoyed the first run of Wii adverts, when just showing the viewer ways the Wiimote could be used without game footage. Guess it was down to several ladies jumping about to smooth moves that got our store's attention.
The Halo adverts were almost movies in themselves and must have attracted more people to the videogaming concept. But yes, gaming is still considered geeky.
However, it is still funny to see the elderly coming in to buy games from us. "I want the Brain Training Game like I see on the TV". Is it for yourself? "Yes". Just to double check you have DS. "What's that?" The thing that plays the game. "No, I don't want one... I'll just have that Brain Game". They return within half hour saying the game doesn't work. Think that is down to misleading advertising though. Nintendo aren't the best in the world for that.
I also believe that videogaming will become more acceptable and less geeky in the future now that a bucket load of films are coming out based on games. You have Tomb Raider, Reident Evil, Silent Hill, Hitman, FF, Alone in the Dark and even the legendary game that is Halo is meant to be coming out as a film. Maybe, in 10 years time the boom will really start to take off.
> To tell the truth, I hate the current Nintendo adverts. If you
> just saw an ad, it wouldn't make you want to buy a WIi or its
> games.
I enjoyed the first run of Wii adverts, when just showing the viewer ways the Wiimote could be used without game footage. Guess it was down to several ladies jumping about to smooth moves that got our store's attention.
The Halo adverts were almost movies in themselves and must have attracted more people to the videogaming concept. But yes, gaming is still considered geeky.
However, it is still funny to see the elderly coming in to buy games from us. "I want the Brain Training Game like I see on the TV". Is it for yourself? "Yes". Just to double check you have DS. "What's that?" The thing that plays the game. "No, I don't want one... I'll just have that Brain Game". They return within half hour saying the game doesn't work. Think that is down to misleading advertising though. Nintendo aren't the best in the world for that.
I also believe that videogaming will become more acceptable and less geeky in the future now that a bucket load of films are coming out based on games. You have Tomb Raider, Reident Evil, Silent Hill, Hitman, FF, Alone in the Dark and even the legendary game that is Halo is meant to be coming out as a film. Maybe, in 10 years time the boom will really start to take off.
Gaming advertisments annoy me. Mostly because they still feel aimed at the geeky/action types when i think the market has advanced beyond that point. I dont think the majority of people under 40 consider gaming as "sad" as they did maybe 15-20 years ago but current marketing still seems intent on portraying games as brainless fun. For that reason i'll still have to constantly defend gaming to non-gamers, when i really shouldnt have to. I think showing a more grown-up side to things might finally end this "games are evil" bull**it the media brings up everytime some poor-excuse of a parent buys their socially inept, emotionally deprived psychopathic child something like Manhunt.
To tell the truth, I hate the current Nintendo adverts. If you just saw an ad, it wouldn't make you want to buy a WIi or its games. I think Nintendo are basing their ads on the idea that someone who already knows about it is already hyped up enough to ask their parents to buy it.
Bigger than movies! Bigger than music! Bigger than….well, you get the idea, Games are apparently bigger than anything when it comes to media.
So why aren’t they doing more to up their image? It seems that all they’ve done so far is hire minor celebrities to host award shows (some of whom take the mickey out of the games players in the process) or some girl band who quite obviously have no idea why they’re there or even what an Xbox 360 is.
But then how do you sell a load of stereotypical geeks housed in a lan gaming party if you’re trying to make it look less…well…stereotypical? I guess you don’t, you just mention the prize money.
Games are easier to sell, of course. Many of them are becoming far more cinematic, so it’s only logical that their advertising would go the same way; Cinema ads, big TV events and the ultimate winning sales tactic, sponsoring programmes. It worked well for Nintendo, at least.
Adverts on TV are, at least, getting better. The Gears of War and Halo ads were pretty impressive, turning to film style presentation to make the game look exciting and epic. Then they try to sell the consoles. The Wii has probably done the best out of console advertising, a fact made all the more strange by Nintendo’s poor track record at advertising (beaten only by Sega’s last two consoles before that all went belly-up). They gauged their audience and played to the quirkiness of the console.
Sony went for the standard ‘ooh, lets to a semi serious weird thing that will get people talking’ approach. Well, that worked, didn’t it? Hah. Microsoft just went for ‘hey, we’ve got loads of games and a big white console. Buy it.’ Which, on the face of it, was all they needed (to be honest, anything that mentioned the software and didn’t mention the big failure rate would be good enough).
I guess, comparing it to 5 years ago, it’s come a long way, but it still makes you think, if games are really that big a business these days, perhaps they could put a bit more effort into it all…
So why aren’t they doing more to up their image? It seems that all they’ve done so far is hire minor celebrities to host award shows (some of whom take the mickey out of the games players in the process) or some girl band who quite obviously have no idea why they’re there or even what an Xbox 360 is.
But then how do you sell a load of stereotypical geeks housed in a lan gaming party if you’re trying to make it look less…well…stereotypical? I guess you don’t, you just mention the prize money.
Games are easier to sell, of course. Many of them are becoming far more cinematic, so it’s only logical that their advertising would go the same way; Cinema ads, big TV events and the ultimate winning sales tactic, sponsoring programmes. It worked well for Nintendo, at least.
Adverts on TV are, at least, getting better. The Gears of War and Halo ads were pretty impressive, turning to film style presentation to make the game look exciting and epic. Then they try to sell the consoles. The Wii has probably done the best out of console advertising, a fact made all the more strange by Nintendo’s poor track record at advertising (beaten only by Sega’s last two consoles before that all went belly-up). They gauged their audience and played to the quirkiness of the console.
Sony went for the standard ‘ooh, lets to a semi serious weird thing that will get people talking’ approach. Well, that worked, didn’t it? Hah. Microsoft just went for ‘hey, we’ve got loads of games and a big white console. Buy it.’ Which, on the face of it, was all they needed (to be honest, anything that mentioned the software and didn’t mention the big failure rate would be good enough).
I guess, comparing it to 5 years ago, it’s come a long way, but it still makes you think, if games are really that big a business these days, perhaps they could put a bit more effort into it all…