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Selling the Game on Game and Player

Selling the Game

Nathan Riley  //  August 16, 2010


Why we should give gaming its dues.

I

t is a modern impossibility to go somewhere and not be bombarded by adverts. Walking down the street, browsing the internet and even using applications on my phone will have me at the mercy of the advertisers. Indy music and post-modern management talk surrounds us, selling us a product at every opportunity. Rarely, the passive intake of inane and grating products subsides and I feel genuine interest in what is being shown. Without fail, these adverts will be gaming related. This is more reason why the industry is ahead of the curve, and why we should give it its dues.

Many see them as a necessary evil, an understandable process in a fast-paced world which revolves around the corporate. The developers and publishers in which we have so much faith seem to be the best at advertising, selling us a product without us realizing and at the same time giving us something we want. We see them making use of new media technologies, social networks and alternate reality games. Games like Gears of War have repeatedly produced trailers and adverts of the utmost quality — a genuine artistic showing of form and function.

Another soldier in a fight to give gaming its deserved place.

Gears of War's "Mad World" trailer sparked a new wave of marketing — the smarter approach, one that has granted a great boon to the industry.The "Mad World" trailer is a key example. It was a haunting pairing of Gary Jule's rendition of Tears for Fears' single with scenes of Marcus Fenix fighting against the Locust horde. Not a single second of in-game footage was shown; it showed even less of the story. Yet it was beautiful and eye-catching. Instead of shameless celebrity endorsements which, admittedly, may have worked just as well, it was a risky and artistic approach.

The trailer sparked a new wave of marketing — the smarter approach, one that has granted a great boon to the industry. Another unique approach to trailers was Bungie's live-action effort for Halo: ODST. A haunting ballad befits a grey and lifeless setting in which we see a soldier's funeral; irrelevant to the story, yet a romantic and poetic insight into the universe. We are not shown the product; we are shown around the product.

A phenomenon in marketing increasing in popularity, especially in visual media, is the use of alternate reality games, one of the most successful examples being Halo 2's Ilovebees. They're chaotic and difficult to handle, yet their ability to build gargantuan amounts of hype in a relatively small amount of time is testament to the effectiveness of new ideas in marketing.

ARGs are extremely robust, taking place over many media types. A strange website is created, the internet community hooks in, and it takes off; unraveling itself into a glorified advert. That's the extent anyone can describe an ARG. They're messy, yet powerful. Not like the conventional by-numbers advertising other products pelt at us so readily.

The failure of Blur's campaign stands as proof that the frailties of normal advertising still apply to gaming.Then we have cases of bad advertising. This sad affair occurs when a game overrates itself and places itself too high in the grand scheme of games. Egotistical developers are there own worst enemy. Take Blur as an example. Its lampooning of Mario Kart was supposed to be funny, but it was embarrassing; egg on the face of a cocksure developer. Whilst this is a rare phenomenon, it stands as proof that the frailties of normal advertising still apply to gaming's attack on the market.

Yet does it really make a difference?

More than you would at first realize. The lines that split all media are blurring. Television, the internet and gaming are becoming one; adverts are just one common bond, a bond that we recognize either subconsciously or not. It's a sad fact that we are surrounded by these murals, but you owe more than you think to gaming adverts. They essentially represent us, given thirty seconds or so to prove ourselves to an unconvinced non-gamer who has layer upon layer of stereotype built up. It's not a lot of time, but the people behind the adverts have great cunning, enough to highlight the worthiness of the art form.

We can see that advertising has come a long way, evolving and developing. This is just another reason why gaming excels in its own right, and why this particular form of entertainment deserves recognition. It's for this reason we should pay attention to all gaming has to offer, all the details that make it what it is. You may be surprised by what you find.




Adam Bogert // August 17, 2010 // 9:26 PM

Just wanted to say I liked this article, Nathan.

I wish more companies would try the ARG route (well...if they could do it right). I fondly remember my limited involvement in ILB, and last year's "Something in the Sea" campaign from 2K was both enthralling and rewarding (as my 7" vinyl from Rapture Records occasionally reminds me).


Michael Ubaldi // August 18, 2010 // 12:17 AM

A bizarre combination of off-brand memorability would be this television commercial for the original The Legend of Zelda. It used to play during weekday afternoon shows, in no comprehensible way marketed the game's features, and yet can be recited by me to this day.

The "Mad World" short got me, too — I'm not a fan of Gears of War, but can't fault the publishers for taste in advertising.

I second the call for more risk-taking in game promotion.


James Day // August 23, 2010 // 10:10 AM

The Halo TV adverts have been becoming more and more impressive. ODST's was pretty breathtaking. I'm hoping Reach can some how top that.


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