News Thoughts on Mainstream Game Advertising

Can someone post a link to this UK only video so the rest of the world can see it?

 

it's not the UK gvt that bought out youtube. Here in Germany, most videos with any music from the big 4 (UMG, warner, Sony and forgotthelastone) are blocked. Half the links in the videos of awesome thread do not work for this exact reason.

However, in this case, the video has been blocked courtesy of nintendo themselves. Seriously...

 

"This video contains content from Nintendo UK, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds" ... FAIL

 

Nope, happends all the time.
Especially often on Music-Viedeo's and Movietrailers.

And then it's the Pirates that hurt sales...

 

25 years is a long time in this business. Sony and MS are relatively new in the console market compared to Nintendo. Sega tripped up badly with the Saturn and almost went out of business. Atari used to be a massive unstoppable juggernaut back in the day but they've gone to wall quite a few times now and seem to sell more vintage replica t-shirts than games these days.

Fair play to Nintendo, certainly worth celebrating characters that've survived 25 years in a technically demanding and turbulent market and is still innovating and selling in the tens of millions. Reckon Master Chief will be remembered by anyone outside his circle of hard-core fans in 25 years time? The odds are very much against it.

But yeah, Nintendo's current ad campaign does have a certain cringe factor to it. Can't deny that.... makes me chew my fist every time that Wii pub night advert shows.... cheesier than the Leerdamer factory...

 

Adding "Mario since 1985" is one of the smartest moves in advertising, especially for a company who is being outclassed by Microsoft and Sony. Most all of the gamers out there now are in their mid 30's to mid-20's. One of the most iconic characters for those gamers is Mario. You know harekening back to a time when games were made for the fun of playing the game, not a time when it was all about being serious and not calling others noobs.

 

Nintendo's consoles may be technically inferior but their bank balance certainly isn't. Have Sony even managed to make a net profit on the PS3 yet?

The consoles may not be great but, as much as "serious" gamers hate them, the games are good and often groundbreaking. Mario 64 was the first 3D platformer. Zelda OOT introduced Z-targeting. Mario Galaxy is the annoying **** in the corner of the console bar bragging to Master Chief and his posse about his dynamic gravity. "Oh, darling, constant acceleration is sooooo last decade...."

Okay, some innovations Nintendo is credited with were done earlier by other people and stolen*ahem*adapted to big franchise games by Shigsy and his crew, but few people can actually name the games/teams who got their first. If no-one can remember it, it didn't happen.

 

Grrr. I'm mad because the youtube video is blocked in the US on copyright garbage. It's an advertisement for goodness sakes. Don't they want to advertise to me?

In response to the article I think it's a really good approach. I particularly like the comment that greater game penetration is good for more normal reactions to games. There are plenty of horribly violent, sex ridden movies, but we stick a rating on them and we move on. But games with an M rating are still attacked when they sex. I think more people playing games means more people will understand the medium and the ratings better.