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Ad Critic: Ratchet & Clank's shrink ray
Surely, by now you've seen the brilliance of Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters' television spot. Like Size Matters, this commercial expands upon previous iterations. Does the "wacky weapon" idea from the PS2 commercials work for you? It certainly did for me.See also:PSP Fanboy review: Ratchet & Clank[Via IGN]
Ad critic: cooking with Wii
Gaming site Jeux France has uploaded this Japanese ad for the Wii version of Cooking Mama. Since Nintendo's video commercials, which point the camera at the players themselves, would not translate effectively as a stationary print advertisement, publisher Taito has decided to rotate the camera 180 degrees and present the Wii as a cooking utensil. The logic here, of course, would be, "if you buy this game, you will chop peppers. Peppers are food. Everyone likes food; ergo, everyone will want this game" -- or something similar, we're sure. The advertisement is minimalistic -- lots of unused white space -- placing a greater emphasis and surface area on the pathos-appealing mock-up of the Wiimote being used to cook eggs and prepare meals while relegating screenshots to a tiny row on the bottom. We think it's a fair assessment that Cooking Mama is not pushing the graphical limit even for a Nintendo Wii game; in fact, it looks identical to its DS counterpart. The raison d'etre for the game is an experience that is meant to be easy and fun to play for a wide demographic. In that context, do you think the ad is effective? See also: Ad critic archive [Via bits bytes pixels & sprites]
Ad critic: But I can't control my love for you!
Joystiq has a regular series called "Ad critic," in which you, the reader, can critique the ads released by sometimes foolish publishers.Sony's notorious for one marketing blunder after another. I wasn't a big fan of their previous ad campaign, featuring some racially insensitive squirrels. Sony's new series of ads for the Greatest Hits lineup doesn't seem to fair much better, though. It features the same immaturity of Sony's other ad campaigns, and I'd much rather have the system be promoted with a sleek, sexy look. If Sony wants to exclusively market towards stoned college kids, maybe they can just get the Dell guy to promote their line: Dude, you're getting a Sony.What do you think, readers? Voice your opinion about Sony's latest ad!
Ad critic: Wii-nimilast print ad
For this installation of ad critic, we're looking at what may be the first print ad for Nintendo's Wii console ripped from the pages of German gaming-mag GAMES AKTUELL and a Canadian film festival program (and coming to us via Go Nintendo). While there is some debate regarding the authenticity of the ad (see Go Nintendo for more), the merits of such an ad are still debatable.If Nintendo has chosen to not only pursue the Apple strategy of pretty white designs but also pretty white ads with a notable dearth of information, will a mainstream gaming audience respond? Try explaining the Wii-mote to your mom ... now try doing that with this image. Does the declaration that "playing=believing" communicate anything of value to a curious consumer? Considering the uniqueness of the Wii and its controllers, would Nintendo be better served with something more informational?See also: Ad critic retro: Perfect Dark, Ad critic: "Racist" PSP ad, Ad critic: Superman, Ad critic: Auto Assault, Ad critic: Oblivion , Ad critic: Tomb Raider, Ad critic: Hitman.[Thanks, PhoenixGeek; via GoNintendo]
Ad critic retro: Perfect Dark (N64)
One of the nice things about hanging on to old gaming magazines is the archive of classic ads they provide. I found this promo for the original Perfect Dark in the 10th anniversary issue of Entertainment Weekly (Spring 2000). Rare's sultry heroine is ready for war against the evil dataDyne corporation and those menacing Skedar -- notice the subtle alien presence in the upper right-hand corner.But how does this Joanna Dark model stack up (pardon the pun) against the lovely ladies who portrayed Ms. Croft? Her hairstyle and skin-tight, black leather outfit certainly seem to have inspired the wardrobe department for the Aeon Flux movie and game.It's interesting to note that a key promotional element persistent in today's gaming ads is absent here, which is a little surprising given the influence of the Internet on the gaming community at that time. Maybe Rare was too busy making a kick-ass game to bother with a web site (anybody remember if there was one?). In retrospect, it didn't really matter as Perfect Dark became one of the most popular and successful titles for the Nintendo 64. In fact, it was so good, I bet they'll make a sequel some day!Update: Thanks to RyanH for helping my tired old eyes. There is indeed a tiny "www.perfectdark.com" URL embedded in the fine print. Also, thanks to NothingShocking for posting URLs of the game's viral marketing campaign.
Ad critic: Sony's racially charged PSP ad [update 1]
We've decided to run ad critic early this week after this one landed on our doorsteps. The latest in a long line of questionable marketing decisions by Sony, this ad -- gracing the streets of Amsterdam and the Dutch PSP site -- promotes the upcoming white PSP with the racially charged image of a white woman grabbing a black woman's face. Other images on the website (embedded after the break) offer additional avenues of interpretation. While we think it's hardly debatable that the ad is offensive (debate ensues), why would Sony -- and their "disruptive" advertising partners at TBWA -- think this ad appropriate? Any Dutch readers care to offer a regional point-of-view on local racial mores? Any black readers, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere, want to offer your initial reactions to the image? Perhaps most importantly (this is an advertisement after all), will this fulfill the contention that generating word-of-mouth is the metric by which to gauge the success of an ad, no matter the method?Please keep the debate friendly, respectful, and well-mannered. It is possible to express your opinion on sensitive issues like race while doing so.See also: Ad critic: Superman, Ad critic: Auto Assault, Ad critic: Oblivion , Ad critic: Tomb Raider, Ad critic: Hitman.[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!] [Update 1: Sony has come to the defense of the controversial ads, telling Gamesindustry.biz, "All of the 100 or so images created for the campaign have been designed to show this contrast in colours of the PSPs , and have no other message or purpose." We'll gather up some of the best comments from this thread (thanks for keeping it on track everyone) and follow up later in the week.]
Ad critic: Superman made by super people
Ad critic returns with this ad for (the now delayed) Superman Returns: The Videogame, featured prematurely in the June 2006 issue of Game Informer (click on the thumbnail for a high-res scan). It doesn't look like much at first glance; however, upon closer inspection, you'll notice those three rather substantial chunks of (gulp) text. After busting out your reading glasses you realize that EA -- the giant game maker whose employees make a famously Faustian arrangement: their soul (and/or free time) for the chance to make video games -- is running ads talking up their developers!As MTV News reminds us, this isn't the first time EA has highlighted developers in an ad. In 1983, one of the then-upstart Electronic Arts' earliest ads posed a handful of game designers alongside the question, "Can a Computer Make You Cry?" EA Vice President of Advertising Shawn Conly told MTV, "In some ways, that was a partial inspiration for where we're taking this right now."Indeed, the Superman ad isn't alone! Additional ads will include NFL Head Coach, Madden 07, and NCAA Football 07 (as seen in the July issue of EGM). All the titles are made by EA's Tiburon Studios ("a quirk of scheduling," says Conly) but now your average mag-reading gamer can know that also. Right there, in the upper right hand corner, the ads read, "Creative Close-Up: EA Tiburon Studio Orlando, FL."What say you, ad critics? Is EA's ad a super-success or a krypyonite-klunker? Sure, we might care about developers, but does your average, non-Joystiq reading gamer? Is it too text-heavy? What, if anything, would you like to see them change? Is this another sign that EA has turned over a new leaf?See also: Ad Critic: Auto Assault, Ad Critic: Oblivion , Ad Critic: Tomb Raider, Ad Critic: Hitman.
Ad critic: Auto Assault MMORPG
This edition of our ad critic series is coming to you a day late. Sorry about that. All the excitement over Nintendo's big announcement has left us with little capacity to discuss anything else. Now that the hubbub's died down a wee bit, we ask you to focus your critical energies on this ad for NCSoft's Auto Assault MMORPG found on the back cover of the May 2006 edition of Computer Gaming World. (Click the thumbnail to view a high-res scan of the ad.) Does this advert work? How would you compare the quality of the concept and execution to other gaming ads? We already spy a bit of a mistake in this ad. Can you spot it? Also, what's with the Dell logo? Finally, for those of you who've played the game, does this ad capture what's best about the game, from your perspective (in other words, is there a disconnect between advert and experience)? See also: Ad Critic: Oblivion , Ad Critic: Tomb Raider, Ad Critic: Hitman.
Ad critic: Oblivion ad hot or not?
In our third installment of the Friday ad critic series, we bring you a more mundane ad (hey, sometimes it's just not appropriate to use sex to sell a game, but it sure makes for a less exciting ad), this time from the April issue of Computer Gaming World. This is a condensed version of a two-page Oblivion advert that ran across many gaming magazines in the month of April, and the best word to describe it might be "conventional." Is it too conventional, too standard, too boring? Does this epitome of the standard video game advertisement succeed or fail? Does the ad do justice to the game? If you're breathing and if you've been reading games media printed on dead trees, you've seen this thing in a magazine. Did it do anything for you when you first saw it? How about now? See also: Hitman ad critique, Tomb Raider ad critique.
Ad critic: Lara's booty too big to believe? [update 1]
As promised, this is the second weekly installment of a series of posts in which we invite you to rip ads apart after we rip them out of magazines. Pictured here, a two-page spread that appeared in the April 2006 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (click for a high-res image). There are actually several variations of this same ad in gaming magazines, but all of them feature Lara Croft's ample posterior, a bootylicious bundle of badonka-donk so large it serves as a friggin' grenade shelf. You might even say it's the bomb. At least that's the sort of salacious thinking that the ad invites. What do you think of the ad? Does it succeed? Will it sell games? What does "seeing is believing" mean, exactly? Is it really all about the ass? Sure, we know that game quality ultimately sells games, so let's avoid talking about the quality of the game itself. What we want to get at here is whether this ad succeeds or fails to interest you in purchasing a copy of this game. Gloves off! Go to! [Update 1: fixed a small typo that nobody else noticed, but that bugged the heck out of me.]
Ad critic: Hitman ad titillates, but is it a murder/sex sim?
Pictured here is a two-page ad spread for the Hitman game that appeared in the April 2006 issue of PC Gamer magazine. Click the image to view a larger version, and then post your critiques below. Does this ad speak to you? Does it make you want to buy the game? Is it too edgy? Does it appear to be, in the words of one Joystiq reader, an ad selling a "rape/murder fantasy" type of game? Let's see how well we can deconstruct this ad. Stay tuned, we'll do this again next Friday. We'll quote some of the best critiques in next week's post.
