commercial
Latest
Retro look at extreme exaggeration in game adverts
"Do not have any other arcade machines before Me. Do not represent such arcade machines by any stories or pictures of anything in the heaven above, on the earth below, or in the water below the land. Do not bow down to arcade machines or worship them. I am God your Lord, a God who demands exclusive worship."Obviously someone from Neo-Geo forgot to read the Bible. We all know that we're supposed to bow down and worship our [fanboys, insert your console of choice here] on a daily basis. Arcade machines are for heathens.GameSetWatch has posted a brilliant article that highlights several examples of "visual hyperbole" being used in video game advertisements. The article looks at several examples where the marketing department might have gone a little too far, although in retrospect we're glad they did because it gives us the chance to laugh our socks off at their outrageous attempts to get people to buy their games.[Via Vintage Computing]See also:Lara advert portrays her massive buttHitman ad with undertones of rape
Apple airs new Mac commercial
Shout for joy, oh members of the Mac Elite -- our time has finally come! Apple is officially airing a TV advert that -- brace yourselves -- focuses on the Mac. In the spot I saw (on FOX, during Prison Break), comedian John Hodgeman (claiming to be "PC") and another actor (claiming to be "Mac") have a conversation about viruses. Hodgeman gets sick, and "Mac" talks about how Macs aren't affected by PC malware. Hodgeman then "crashes," falling backwards. It was almost too good to be true.As soon as I find a video link to the ad, I'll post it.Update: MacRumors posts about another, similarly-themed ad. This one focuses on the iPod and iLife. Still searching for the actual video....
Wii marketing ideas
Making the best of a bad situation, the British Gaming Blog has posted an animation and some images relating to how they think the name "Wii" should be marketed to Nintendo fans. I especially like the Mario Kart pitch, with the letters in the logo breaking apart to form two racers battling it out at a deadly velocity (just don't ask where the four extra dots came from). Read - Weeeeee.Read - Nunchaku.Read - Mario Kart.
French DS commercial [Update 1]
We're not sure just how old this ad is, but we know we like it, just like Nintendo's other commercials. Controlling objects in the world is an interesting prospect. Being able to let the sheer ecstacy of absolute power rush through you in an awesome wave, well...it's a nice idea. Kudos on the French commercial Nintendo.[Update: The movie file is no longer embedded in the post, since it starts to download and play automatically. Click the "read" link or the image on the right to watch it.]
Verizon seeks unidentified black male
My brother the starving actor sent me this SAG casting call for a gaming related Verizon DSL commercial. They're looking for a "genuine cyber-athlete" who is highly ranked at PC or Xbox online role playing games and happens to be an African-American male. Here's the notice in its entirety in case any of our readers fit the bill:Monday, Mar. 27, 2006, 1:07 PM PacificVERIZON DSL BROADBANDCommercialTELEVISION COMMERCIAL PRINTSAG Casting: Thursday, 3/30 and one day of the first week of April TBDTV Shoots: w/o 4/24 (4/24, 4/25 & 4/26)Print Shoots: o/a 4/20 or 4/21Location: NY areaUsage: National Network, Cable, Internet, Possibly Spot TV and IndustrialPrint: $5,000 buyout: All forms of Print including POP and OOH and for anypublicity purposes. Territory: Worldwide. Usage: Perpetuity. SEEKING: AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE20's. We're looking for an amazing (tournament level or High Ranking gamer, depending on what game) who plays online interactive role-playing game from their computer or gaming unit (could be from system such as XBOX or from their home PC), using a Verizon DSL broadband connection (**Note: Only looking for a great gamer that plays interactively with other people over their broadband connection, not just plays the game itself). Ideally this person will live in a NY accessible area (NY, Philly, Washington D.C., Norfolk VA, Baltimore) but if the perfect person with national rankings doesn't live in one of these areas then still feel free to submit 'cause we're looking for the best people. Again this person must have, and if chosen will need to provide, proof by showing past Verizon DSL broadband bills with a drivers license matching the address (not necessary to show proof in the initial submission). We're looking for a genuine, real cyber-athlete who loves these types of interactive online games and has a track record to prove it (tournaments, rankings, etc). We're NOT looking for the occasional gamer - only serious! Since the gaming industry has made a fortune off of offensive racial stereotypes, I suppose we should note this opportunity for an African-American gamer as a step forward for diversity. It goes 1% of the way towards making up for 50 Cent: Bulletproof.
macTV posts my least favorite Apple ad
Remember "Middle Seat," the ad that featured an iBook-wielding airline passenger? For some inexplicable reason, he decides he's just got to work on his iMovie project during the flight, and he commandeers the dining trays of the poor people sitting on his left and right, which he immediately fills with his computer, camera, Palm (why he needs this is a mystery) and stacks of CDs. Finally, he blasts his music and wakes the sleeping passengers. "Middle Seat" indeed. I've always thought of this ad as "Obnoxious Jerk." I like to think that, in the moments just after the story ended, the guy in the tie gave this kid a pounding.Check it out for yourself.
macTV posts unaired Think Different ad
Now this is pretty cool. macTV has posted an unaired ad from Apple's Think Different campaign featuring the great Muhammad Ali. I've seen this footage many times before, but I never knew it had (nearly) been used in a Think Different ad. That was a great campaign.Many years ago, I worked for a school. Midway through my first year, I learned that a stack of "Think Different" posters had been tossed just before I arrived. Ugh.
BF2 meets Sony BRAVIA bouncing balls commercial
Remember that commercial Sony did with the bouncing balls? Yeah, well someone liked it so much that they took the time to create one just like it. Well, kind of. A guy from a Swedish gamer/machinima forum named Snoken took a Battlefield 2 map, combined it with a bunch of solders and choreographed it all to the same music that Sony did.I don't know if this is what Sony had in mind but I'll tell you, it is cool.[via Boing Boing]
