Nintendo Launches Wi-Fi Campaign for DS

The Inquirer has the word that Nintendo has launched a massive theatre-based advertising blitz for the DS. The campaign launch features a trailer length film entitled "The Sad, Agonizing Tale of Bhuvan Ganguly". From the IGN Story: "'There is a great element of surprise to this ad,' says Nintendo's advertising manager Kelli Koenig. 'The spot opens on a very dramatic situation that you just wouldn't expect to be related to video games or Nintendo. The spot clearly demonstrates Wi-Fi as it relates to the Nintendo brand with a nod to Mario Kart DS and it does this in a magical, clearly ownable by Nintendo kind of way.'"

Comments

Wrong Timing

[superpulpsicle]

Talk about the wrong time to invest in a multi-million dollar cinema ads, when cinema attendence in general plummeted some record breaking 20 weeks in a roll.

Re:Wrong Timing

[Anonymous Coward]

Movies are always a good place to advertize gaming stuff because the people who see movies are reasonably young (13-25) and have excessive money to spend on entertainment related products.

That's nice, but...

[vertinox]

Exactly how does one get to use Nintendo Wi-Fi? I don't think the articles or the Ad let me know. Do I go sign up somewhere and hunt for hot spots around town or do I go out and get a Wireless router? Since I already have a DS, inquiring minds want to know.

Re:That's nice, but...

[octover]

Exactly how does one get to use Nintendo Wi-Fi?

They wait till Fall.

It appears as though Mario Kart will be the kick-off title for this. It doesn't come out till Nov. 7, that means 3 months before you will even be able to use this. Why spend the 30 seconds explaining something can't use right away, or even all that soon. Instead the teaser works perfectly to get buzz about it out in the public. Potentially tipping the casual gamer deciding between a PSP or a DS to purchase the DS, cause soon they will be able to play Mario Kart wirelessly.

Re:That's nice, but...

[Meagermanx]

It was kind of a sad ad. I mean, here we are, going to see movies, racing our super-fancy cars, and anticipating our WiFi DS access, and this poor bastard's pushing his li'l cart through the desert eating a half-rotten banana? I kind of want to donate the $150 instead.

My opinion?

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Commercials aren't telling us what they're selling any more. If I'm going to be a good little consumer, I have to know what I'm supposed to drop my desposible income on. Bananas? Old guys with carts?

It reminds me of the movie "Alone in the Dark" if you've seen it, you may understand why:

Alone in the Dark opens with a long text crawl explaining the movie (because Uwe Boll is an idiot, but that's not the point). They added it because nobody in the test audiences knew what the fuck the was happening in the movie.

If you have to go back and say "Oh, this is what's going on" or "This is what we're selling" you should probably re-think what you're doing.

Re:My opinion?

[NekoXP]

Okay so you have ADD *AND* you're a cynical bastard? :D

I guess you aren't the target market, but that doesn't make you right. Being
weird and artistic (rather than loud, obnoxious, brash and right to the point)
is odd and eye-catching.

The first thing you do is wonder why this guy is pushing the cart. And he eats a
banana.. and you wonder what is coming next. That's the whole point. Explaining
the movie at the beginning is ADD culture in action; listening to focus groups
and so on. Here's a hint; maybe this advert will be on at March Of The Penguins.
I think Nintendo are trying to hit up a little more mature an audience here, the
discerning geek or Nintendo-fan, and not the 11 year old.

Either way if you aren't a hyperactive junky who is munching his hotdog and
popcorn a good 22 minutes before the movie starts, you might be interested. In
fact the people who DO pay attention and ARE interested are more readily going to
be the kind of people who play games because they have staying power and attention
spans; they're very similar to the Japanese gamer ethic, that "hardcore RPG gamer"
who will sit and play Pokemon through 10 times until they get every damn animal,
patiently.

They're not going to be sitting there, fiddling the stylus for 10 minutes then
throwing the DS across the room and buying a PSP because they are irrationally
bored of it.

You understand or did I go on too long? Hey, look at me when I'm talking to you :)

Neko

Re:Just what we need

[alvinrod]

I actually disagree with you to a certain extent. I actually enjoy about 10 minutes of trailers for new movies or movies that will be out shortly. I've actually gone to a few movies that I thought I might enjoy that I might not have otherwise gone to if I hadn't seen the trailer.

Additionally, this gives me an extra 10 minutes to get to the movie. Occasionally I will decide to go to a movie shortly before it starts. Sometimes, I won't always make it there exactly when the movie is going to start, but that extra 10 minutes ensures I won't miss anything.

On the other hand, I really don't care product advertisements. Trailers I can stand, but not something telling me to buy product x or watch TV show z. I'll have to watch the DS commercial myself before making a firm judgement, but the article makes it sound as though it wouldn't be all that bad.

Considering I go to 3 movies a month tops and that this advertisement will only run for about a month and might not show at any/all movies/theaters I go to, I'll probably only see it once, which isn't bad really. On the other hand if it were crammed down my throat every hour like most products on TV, I'd get sick of it pretty fast. At worst, I'll see it 3 times and it will have wasted 3 minutes of my life over a month's time. That's about the same amount of time wasted posting this reply. Coincidence... hmm...

not generic at all

[Anonymous Coward]

if you think about it a bit more, it's not just 'throwing things on the ground causes car accidents miles away" (the cars never hit each other anyway). it's more that the car slipped (on the bananna peel) and then spun out. much like what would happen if you drove over a bananna peel in mario kart (hence the mario cart clips at the end).

and the fact that the guy throwing the bananna and the guy driving the car are miles apart is meant to highlight the wireless connection feature. you can play/affect other people miles away...etc.

the ad is very mario cart specific, not generic at all..

although, imo, the 'for every action, there is a blah blah reaction' tag was kinda lame.

my 2c