Monday, April 11, 2005
The revolution will be televised... on May 12.
And the award for the most misleading headline goes to... Tom!
If you jumped out of your hat in anticipation for brand new information on the Nintendo Revolution, sadly I must tell you that there is none to give. Though you must first look at yourself if you want to blame someone rather than your loyal messenger. You can be sure that, if I was really giving you information about the new Nintendo system, there would be a capital "r" wherever appropriate, as well as random capital letters thrown in just to show my excitement. I may even cross the line and add multiple exclamation points just to emphasize how big this news really is.
Now that I've thoroughly wasted your time and buried the lead more than 100 words into my post, it's high time I told you exactly what revolution will be televised. Instead of using the massive trade show in L.A. or simply offering an exclusive to a magazine or online site to show off their newest system, Microsoft has decided to purchase 30 minutes of prime time television five days before my holiday in heaven begins. At this event they promise celebrities, live music and, of course, the worldwide debut of the Xbox 2.
Hosted by Elija "North" Wood, MS is set to unleash probably the best ad campaign in the history of gaming. Yeah, that's right, this is probably even better than "Genesis does what Ninten-don't" from the early 90s. Think about it - Sony has built an empire by appealing to people who don't even play games. They market their systems so they seemed cool to the average consumer with too much cash. They got their own celebrities to play it and made sure it is featured prominently wherever the mainstream shopper could be easily swayed. Sony was able to build a huge user base because they went after a market which did not previously play games. You don't sell systems by announcing sequels to franchises born in the 80s - you get on your horse and make sure the world knows how cool you are and that your graphics are oh so pretty.
By showing off the Xbox 2 in this atmosphere rather than the ultra nerdy E3 environment, MS is attempting to cut away the middle men (be it the hype machine from magazines or the blatant lies you hear at gaming stores) and trying to appeal directly to the lowest common denominator in our society. And I couldn't be more excited. Yes, it will have way more style than substance. Do you think there's any chance MS is going to waste its half hour with tech specs? Not likely. And forget about talking about geek games like Oblivion. Instead, we'll get glamour shots of their money titles and celebrities gushing about how this thing is "the biznicks kitchen fo' sho'" or something. Clearly, this is not geared to someone who lives and dies with video games - MS knows they won't be swayed by anything other than games. This is for the mindless mass market that will actually spend their hard earned cash because a celebrity they like says something is cool.
Anyway, I stand and begin my slow clap for Microsoft's great marketing department. I bet Sony is kicking themselves for not thinking of this. They tried to usurp MS by moving their E3 press conference three hours before Microsoft's, but it looks like MS may have gotten the last laugh after all.
Ah, going after the mainstream, is there anything quite so degrading?
If you jumped out of your hat in anticipation for brand new information on the Nintendo Revolution, sadly I must tell you that there is none to give. Though you must first look at yourself if you want to blame someone rather than your loyal messenger. You can be sure that, if I was really giving you information about the new Nintendo system, there would be a capital "r" wherever appropriate, as well as random capital letters thrown in just to show my excitement. I may even cross the line and add multiple exclamation points just to emphasize how big this news really is.
Now that I've thoroughly wasted your time and buried the lead more than 100 words into my post, it's high time I told you exactly what revolution will be televised. Instead of using the massive trade show in L.A. or simply offering an exclusive to a magazine or online site to show off their newest system, Microsoft has decided to purchase 30 minutes of prime time television five days before my holiday in heaven begins. At this event they promise celebrities, live music and, of course, the worldwide debut of the Xbox 2.
Hosted by Elija "North" Wood, MS is set to unleash probably the best ad campaign in the history of gaming. Yeah, that's right, this is probably even better than "Genesis does what Ninten-don't" from the early 90s. Think about it - Sony has built an empire by appealing to people who don't even play games. They market their systems so they seemed cool to the average consumer with too much cash. They got their own celebrities to play it and made sure it is featured prominently wherever the mainstream shopper could be easily swayed. Sony was able to build a huge user base because they went after a market which did not previously play games. You don't sell systems by announcing sequels to franchises born in the 80s - you get on your horse and make sure the world knows how cool you are and that your graphics are oh so pretty.
By showing off the Xbox 2 in this atmosphere rather than the ultra nerdy E3 environment, MS is attempting to cut away the middle men (be it the hype machine from magazines or the blatant lies you hear at gaming stores) and trying to appeal directly to the lowest common denominator in our society. And I couldn't be more excited. Yes, it will have way more style than substance. Do you think there's any chance MS is going to waste its half hour with tech specs? Not likely. And forget about talking about geek games like Oblivion. Instead, we'll get glamour shots of their money titles and celebrities gushing about how this thing is "the biznicks kitchen fo' sho'" or something. Clearly, this is not geared to someone who lives and dies with video games - MS knows they won't be swayed by anything other than games. This is for the mindless mass market that will actually spend their hard earned cash because a celebrity they like says something is cool.
Anyway, I stand and begin my slow clap for Microsoft's great marketing department. I bet Sony is kicking themselves for not thinking of this. They tried to usurp MS by moving their E3 press conference three hours before Microsoft's, but it looks like MS may have gotten the last laugh after all.
Ah, going after the mainstream, is there anything quite so degrading?
// posted by Tom @ 9:48 AM 
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