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History Proves That Videogame Ads Are Awful
headcold writes "Scott Sharkey of 1UP just penned his third retrospective of Game Ads, The Best Worst Ads 3, this time culling the tragedies from a stack of old CGWs. Where the two earlier installments dealt with the atrocious videogame ads from the late eighties and early nineties, respectively, this episode explores computer game ads from the mid-to-late nineties — proving, at last, that advertising sucked as recently as eight years ago."
1)How is this news?
2)People don't don't go into advertising because they're smart.
"Oh god, that woman is John Romero!"
Thank god I wasn't drinking any coffee.... at any rate, I've now found a new sig... score :)
Oh god, that woman is John Romero!
a story about terrible advertisement in video games that strewn over 12 ad laden pages.
..because they stay with you. Unfortunately, it works.
The next article will be about proving that oranges are orange.
Let's face it: ads suck. Sometimes, rarely, we might be happy to have watched one. But usually, and I mean a vast majority of the time, we just want ads to go away.
For video game ads the only thing I take from them is:
- The name
- The genre
- The platform
Ads for video games are like pictures of women in magazines like Maxim -- they're air-brushed extravagances of the real thing that in no way resemble what the actual woman would look like without all the extra work. Of course, YMMV.
TLF
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
At least, they didn't say that video game ads cause violence.
You have to read two posts to get my comment
It should have read:
"a story about terrible advertisements in video games that is strewn over 12 ad laden pages."
1: The Toyota MR2 - one of my favorite cars, but I'm pretty sure I would not have bought one based on this commercial alone:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fHCVFrf5FKg
2: Nissan 280Z - check out this guys mustache! I'm pretty sure this guy was the basis for Ben Stiller's character in Dodgeball:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=owK0sWEMN3k
3: The worst of them all - the Buick Grand National. I haven't been able to make i through the whole commercial it's so embarrassing just to watch...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drBYWdKDCfg
Next on Slashdot, the Top 10 Worst "Best Of" Lists ever!
#1: 1up's Best Worst Ads
Does anyone else think that the Gears of War commercial is one of the best, if not THE best, video game commercial ever made? Very memorable...
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
These adds are not THAT bad for the most part.
The Dikatana ones are actualy relatively good (they get you to go "wth was that! gona go look it up"), as well as sticking with you (the fact that the first one is still a meme to this day).
A couple involve people looking stupid (he is right on that, make people in your adds look COOL, not stupid), however he lumps planescape torment in there with em, and I personaly think that the guy from that add looked awsome.
His main complaints seem to be that he does not like ussing sex to sell, well sorry mate, sex sells, deal with it and move on. Slap a scantily clad lady on your add and the target demographic WILL look at it (that is the sign of a GOOD add).
The previous articles had considerably worse adds, and to tell you the truth the were MUCH worse adds from that time.
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
They are worried that you'll be confused and think they mean the 2080s.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Do ads for anything related to PC audio/video/controllers qualify as video game ads now? Out of 24 examples, I can count the actual video game ads on one hand. Any list of the worst video game ads that doesn't include that original Zelda ad with the wierd guy jumping around screaming "Tektikes!" just isn't a proper list.
I was gonna stop reading if the first ad wasn't the John Romero Daikatana ad. Luckily for them, it was and I smiled a little inside and remembered PC Gamer magazine. Unfortunately for them, the next thing I saw was that I was on page 2 of 12, and quickly exited that window.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
I still remember the Zelda ads from the '80s... and I didn't even have a Nintendo.
It's the Legend Of Zelda and it's really rad,
...I'll stop myself.
Those monsters from Ganon are pretty bad.
/* No Comment */
yeah, good point. If they say "late eighties and early nineties", I'll know they're talking about the 1980's and 1990's. But if they say "late 80s and early 90s", I'll have no way to discern that.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
Note to Scott Sharkey: You are not Seanbaby, nor are you half as witty. Please leave the funny in more capable hands.
Check it *here*. Romero himself thought it was kinda funny. By the way... if you get the joke, consider yourself a true nerd^H^H^H^Hhardcore gamer.
Circumcision is child abuse.
"shorter, and quicker"? If your time is that goddamn valuable, maybe you shouldn't be reading an article about old videogame ads.
The worst, and I have this song STILL stuck in my head... the Defender jingle from the early 80's for the Atari... The Defender sees lots of alien ships The defender sees lots of radar blips Each blip is a ship On a body snatching trip! When you play a game of Atari... Have you played Atari today!
Video game commercials are still bad, in the most part. It's only this year I've noticed video game commercials start to use actual in-game footage, rather than pre-rendered crap.
Using pre-renders is also a big problem on the net. When I hear about Gran Turismo 5 (or whatever), why do they always show us great pre-rendered shots that are totally unrepresentative of what you'll see in the game? I don't want to see a preview video of the cars from the outside.. I want to see the actual gameplay footage. Yet, people drool over the pre-renders, and then when the real game hits.. it's never as good.
I guess this is a problem with all advertising, however.. but it seems particularly dishonest with videogames to me.
If your article went from 1 page in length to 12 pages because it's in a 3"x4" box lined with advertisements then drawing attention to how horrible advertisements are may not be in your interest.
(cutesy voice) Nine girls! One island! You do the math! Tee hee!
You know the commercial. And I know I'm not the only one who gets this sickening image of a balding, obese virgin sitting in his parents' basement.
Actually, considering most video games these days are crap, is it any wonder that the commercials for them are as well? You can call it filet mignon if you'd like, but a steaming pile of dog shit is still a steaming pile of dog shit.
"late eighties and early nineties"By this, you do mean the 1780s-1790s, right?
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
it was a Neo-Geo add which ran in Video Games & Computer Entertainment back in the 90's. There was a picture of a yuppie type and a hot chick in lingerie and a caption along the lines of "He used to spend all night playing with me."
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
There was one ad for Jet Set Radio Future that I had seen on German TV some years ago, unknowingly what game that might be. I thought it was cool as hell, but I only saw it once and never again. I didn't care for consoles back then, but when I bought my used Dreamcast and got the original Jet Set Radio with it, I remembered the ad and, luckily, found the full-length clip.
That, and the Polaroid: "Resignation" ad were the only ones that kept stuck in my mind long enough to make me search for them years after I initially saw them.
that's it. I'm amazed anyone but me remembered it. :).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
There are a few shinny stars when it comes to videogames Ads. Take the SOCOM 2 Ad, i was dying the first time i saw that. Jester? Doh, Jester just killed me! What's he doing?
The music played is a blood-drained, lifeless version of Tears for Fears' "Mad World". I dimly remember hearing this as a "new hit" some 2 or 3 years ago and going near ballistic over what was made out of a very sad and angry song with a lot of impact, heart and soul. What was an outlash to the world turned into self pity. They bloody well made a perfect song emo!
Well, I might not be the target audience for the commercial, remembering the (by far superior) original "Mad World" and hating the copycat version.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.