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On The Quality Of Videogame Commercials

Posted by simoniker on from the and-the-quality-of-mercy dept.

Thanks to GameSpy for their opinion piece discussing why many videogame TV commercials sell the product short. They cite the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance spot, in which: "Three kids, pretending to be three characters from FFTA, were pretending to man phone lines, urging kids to call in to help them progress in their quest", and a recent Everquest PS2 commercial in which "a businessman, a slacker/skater, a punk girl, and some other stereotype get together to play EQ after the businessman makes a call on his cell phone, proclaiming, 'It's time to slay the dragon.'", suggesting that "If gaming is to truly grow up... then it really needs to get its act together with its commercials." Which game TV commercials work for you, and what do companies need to do to improve them?

3 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. For some examples... by WiredOni · · Score: 3, Informative

    Try gametrailers.com's tv spot section.

    I thought the one for GTA III was nicely done. It was just like a movie trailer; it showed some of the action, showed some of the cut scenes, along with clips of audio which gave us a feel for the plot and game.

  2. Japan by n0wak · · Score: 2, Informative

    The commercials here royally suck. Often, they're just over-hyped crap "blast processing", "power of X" etc etc

    Japan, however... why can't we get weird ads like they do. Here's a bunch:

    http://hyahhou.hp.infoseek.co.jp/housou/cm.html

  3. Morph-o-Ray ad by raiderx · · Score: 2, Informative

    I loved this ad and ended up buying Ratchet and Clank. Probably not directly because of the ad, but it did steer me toward the reviews, which in turn convinced me to give the game a try.

    QT movie of the Morph-o-Ray (aka Chicken Gun) ad

    I am considering FFTA, despite the ads on TV. Certainly, if I were a parent looking for something to buy for my kid, I doubt that commercial would inspire me to go out and buy the game. Honestly, I doubt a non-gaming adult would be engaged enough to realize there was a game associated with the ad. Even as an avid gamer, I barely made the connection.