A Cavalcade of Game Ads

So it was decided that we would do a radio show on advertisement and publicity within the world of video games. We were aware that using such a limited media to talk about a very visual subject was a bit of a problem, and so it was decided to create a sort of "Companion Sheet" with what we thought were some of the more interesting ads for games. Interesting for us because they are either funny, stupid, make no sense, or are total failures.

Of course, we are not the first to explore the relationship between publicity and games. A few years ago, 1UP.com started doing a series on the Best Worst Ads that ever came out in print back in the days of the Electronic Gaming Monthly. You'll find a link to those very articles (written by Scott Sharkey) somewhere below, amongst the cornucopia of videos embedded.

The radio show itself will not be exclusively centered on commercials and print ads, but it will also feature a discussion about the current and future presence of publicity WITHIN games. But let's get on with a few videos...

Japan is perhaps the most bewitching example of ads gone completely nuts. Culturally, Japan is believed to be bland and very respectful to standards and propriety. However, when it comes to hatching commercials, the Kingdom of SEGA and Nintendo are anything but standard. The best representation of this has to be the Segata Sanshiro series of ads for the SEGA Saturn System between 1997 and 1998. We have access to these beautiful episodes thanks to the liberal exchange forum that is the Internet. Here is a sample :




Ouch!

A full playlist of these ads can be found here.

Funny and extravagant is not necessarily a japanese thing however. This one for the N64's Super Smash Brothers, starring the voice of the great late Don Lafontaine, should not be sampled while operating heavy machinery :



There are obviously the ones that take a jab at the competition, either by name-dropping some technical marvel exclusive to a game or system, or just by being cheeky. Oh, Blast Processing...what would we have done without you?



And yet, taking a stab at the competition doesn't always have the desired effect. Especially if you go for the all-too standard tag-line-jingle number, like this one for SEGA Genesis, circa 1989-1990 :



Of course, the whole 16-bit war spilled onto the other System generations, and when the SEGA CD arrived, it was the MTV model that worked : flashing images, messages with attitude and a bit of overbearing pride. The following one is a classic :



This is like the Maxell Cassette Tape commercial, on crack.

Then SONY entered the conflict, and needed to establish itself as better than the Big N or SEGA. So a mascot was needed :





The MTV model worked, and games were of course aimed at immature men-boys. And according to the marketing teams in charge of spreading the message, the average gamer was a young adult male who couldn't care less about relationships :



I have to admit, that one was kind of funny. So was this one :



Talking about the MTV model above, we cannot omit the first Playstation commercial ever to air in North America : flashing images, cryptic messages, dominatrix sex and SONY telling the viewer that they were not ready...



This earlier one was rather fun though (and it also has an allusion to dominatrix sex) :




There are older commercials, of course. There have always been TV ads for everything. This is a consumer's market after all. But if we had made a list of older ads, they would have looked pretty much all like this :



Well, it's the Shat, teaching you that you don't need Intellivision or Atari. Of course I'm going to buy a VIC-20, Bill!

On to the future then. SONY had various problems within the last 3 years, trying to promote the Playstation 3. A lot of gamers have complained that the Mega Corporation became out of touch with the players. Nothing proved this more than the publicity for the new machine. One set of ads, earlier before launch of the system, became a "WTF" moment for many, exemplified by the following :



I have NO idea what they are trying to sell. A telekinesis training device perhaps.

But Sony did not stop there. Oh no. They decided to go all philosophical on our ass (well on European ass, at least) :



Yeah, lived in your mom's basement probably.

And then, why not go the weird-movie-no-one-is-meant-to-understand way? Is that David Lynchian or Brian DePalma-ish?



Well this one here below IS from David Lynch :



Others too draw inspiration from Hollywood. In the case of game ads, sometimes a cinematic approach is the best one. This TV ad for the original Gears of War somehow changed how a lot of us saw game marketing :



A Tears for Fears song, made cult-favorite by the movie Donnie Darko, seemed to make this war game, this shooter, a bittersweet affair.

And you know you made an impact in the gaming business when you get parodied :




The wonderful world of the printed magazine also saw some of the most horrible representations of gaming ever. Many marketing executives died to bring us the following information (well, I surely hope they did).

Best Worst Ads part 1

Best Worst Ads part 2

Best Worst Ads part 3

Best Worst Ads part 4

This is all I have for you at this time. I hope you enjoyed the trip into the dark and insidious world of game marketing as much as I did.