Releaked Revolution Ad gives Hope to Nintendo Faithful
by Ben Striegel 
{ Jun 26th 2005 at 8:00AM }
Earlier this week, we posted a photo of what could
potentially serve as the Nintendo Revolution's upcoming ad campaign. Much more important than the ad itself was the
haunting implication of a March '06 North American launch date. Of course, there's been no confirmation of this
information from anyone anywhere ever, so it still lies in the realm of speculation. Regardless, we've just received an
anonymous link from a tipster whose friend supposedly works at the agency that created the ad. Following the link,
you'll find the original image from the earlier photo. Apparently, if this is a forgery, then someone's going to great
lengths to string us along. And, even if anonymous's story checks out, we still have no clue as to whether the ad
agency was working with any confirmed data or just speculative hearsay. Again, it doesn't hurt to dream…
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Momus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Maybe it's supposed to be lighting up like the disc slot.
SilverDogg @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
its not looking pale. im guessing you are not looking at the real size, but the small version that shows. you need to click on the picture and it will show the real size. it doesnt look pale at all. i would really like it if this ad was true =))
Link @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Absolutely fake if you ask me. The other fuzzy scanned ad may have looked more believable but this clean one...
It looks unprofessional and something that could be done easily with a few minutes in Photoshop and the Nintendo logo. Not to mention the generic typeface used, it's not something they'd want to use on a real ad, especially one meant to look slick. Still, props for trying to knock on the 360.
I hope the real ads are cool.
Zeo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Holy SHIT, stop posting this COMPLETE CRAP.
Are you JOKING me? There will not be any Revolution ads a YEAR AND A HALF before it launches in the US. Use your heads and stop posting such bull when you -know- it is. The ONLY thing you are doing, no matter what you say in the post, is spreading more rumors.
pointfour @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Zeo, try reading. If it's true, Revolution comes out in March '06. Which is less than a year away. Plus this advertising is leaked, meaning it's not supposed to have been released yet. Personally, I am really really hoping this stuff's real.
dr.n00bfragger @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
zeo, calm down, its just a rumor. Besides its fun to speculate
norebonomis @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
rumors are teh shiznit
Mark @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
1:
It looks like the photo was in a low-light of a screen, so the colors appear to glow and blur a bit, which makes it look different for the newer poster image.
4:
The typeface looks like Arial, which isn't 'generic' just versatile, lots of designers use it (hey, at least it wasn't Futura, right?), also, they'd most likely have an easier time and a better real/fake poster if they did it in Illustrator.
1 this could be easily made off the photo by anyone and 2 they could both be fake from the same source. I will agree, though, it is fun to speculate, naysaying is tiresome and boring. As for Zeo, I'd like to point out that design campaigns sometimes start far in advance due to size/scale and printing/production times. For all we know, this could just be one of a dozen or so early concept posters by a design firm, and its not uncommon to rough out ideas digitally if they look good in early concept sketchs.
Snipery @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
I work for a newspaper and my job is to create such ads. For sure I can say that this is fake.
The most obvious thing is the Nintendo Logo with the outer glow. The corporate identity would prohibit to use it in white with a red outer glow, period. So its a proven fake.
Even more fake is the "silhouette" of the revolution, which doesn't look right at all. 1pt lines are standart, not to be used by anyone. Overall if this came out of an agency then because someone of the cleaning team sad down on one of theire comps and tried using photoshop for the first time
Steve Galgas @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
It doesn't look as professional on a closer viewing.
1) FONTS & TEXT: The "Think Outside the Box" text looks great. Well spaced. Very visually pleasing. But the copy at the bottom uses the same font- I would think a professional agency would want to separate the two blocks of text to give the "Think Outside the Box" tagline more prominence. Also the spacing on the bottom is unpleasing. In fact, the font looks suspiciously like "Arial Rounded" which is on practically everyone's computers.
2) The "Pale Nintendo". I agree with the earlier comments. The Nintendo logo is so associated with red, and a very specific red, that I'd expect they would want to keep that consistent. They may occasionally display the logo in black, white, silver, or some other neutral color, but if it's in color, I bet it's almost always red. Maybe for "special occasions" they do the logo in other colors (like a green logo on a "Hulk" game, for instance), but never will they approach the red without it being the "Nintendo red". You'll never see the logo in a slightly red-orange, for example.
3) The glowing system- the gradients on the glowing system at the bottom look cheap, too easy to make in Illustrator, and unprofessional. Any ad agency that's going to make such a minimal ad would pay attention to such details. The glowing gradient looks like it was constructed by making a blue elongated oval, cutting it with a black line, and then blurring it. The two glowing blue stripes would probably be independent shapes if a real ad agency were making it. It just looks like someone was using a shortcut right now.
kfffjffff @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
yeah, and seriously, a raw copy of the poster only makes it less likely to be reallll
omg wtfg @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
This could just be an early version of the poster, you know.
Jedi Master @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Hello?! I've heard enough complaints about the visual quality of the poster to make me vomit greenbits.
IF ANYTHING, this is a VERY early concept for an ad. Not even a wealthy company would spend any significant amount of money to make distribution-quality CONCEPT ADS.
All Nintendo wants to do, is get a feel for what looks good, what works, and what has potential. A cheaply made concept ad does the job perfectly, and without costing much money.
In other words,the cheap glowing gradients are just that - cheap. It's not a tell-tale sign that some bored 15 year old did this, it was merely a cost-efficient way to create a conceptual advertisement. I'll bet that other "cheap" ads will surface soon. Many concepts get thrown around... that's why they're cheaply made. Get it? Got it? Good.
mike @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
"Much more important than the ad itself was the haunting implication of a March 06 North American launch date. Of course, theres been no confirmation of this information from anyone anywhere ever"
Except every single mention of the PS2 by any Nintendo Exec ever on record.Seriously, are you guys brain damaged?
Every time Nintendo talks about the GC they say "Oh we were late to the game. PS2 beat us by a year" etc.
Then.. they always say
"We won't be late next round. We definitely won't be late next round"
Okay.. so what does that mean? When does PS3 launch? Around Spring 2006...
Soooo using basic logic.. we can deduce that Revolution will have launched BY Spring 2006.
Does Nintendo want to launch right after PS3, and be 3rd place again? Erm.. that would be suicide. My guess is they will launch.. though with only a handful of 3rd party titles.. but with some kick ass 1st party launch titles right BEFORE the ps3.
Remember, 3rd parties haven't had much to play with dev kits.. but nintendo itself has been working on rev. titles for a while now...
Azalyn @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
I think people have been missing the point here...
There's no reason to sit here and investigate all the 'flaws' of the image. If this is indeed a concept, then it's more likely that it WOULD have flaws.
Designing things takes time and money, if an ad firm wanted to illustrate a 'basic' concept to Nintendo, a simple image like this using less professional techniques would be more ideal, since it wouldn't cost as much time and money to produce.
Imagine if they showed a concept image to Nintendo, and they refused the design, the ad firm would end up having spent all that time polishing the design for no reason.
This concept manages to perfectly illustrate the general idea, as well as being professional 'enough' that it doesn't look ugly. If Nintendo had accepted it, they could go ahead and work on a better draft of the design.
However, now that it's been leaked, this ad will never see the light of day. But to be honest, I think Nintendo may have refused it to begin with, since they're not the kind of people to openly target another system (the 'box' thing) or whatever. Although who knows, that may have changed...
The only hint of it being true, is if next year we find Nintendo launching close to the date marked on this image. But that could always end up being a coincidence.
To be honest I do believe that Nintendo will launch earlier than people think. And we'll likely be pleasantly surprised way before the launch. Like if they decide to host a SpaceWorld event, I think they'll end up surpassing our expectations. I also expect them to announce that they are going to support HD 720p after all.
I/ i I/ t 3 I/ d 0 o I/ @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
HA i will give you all another ad by me!!! http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/RevolutionRumors/NewRevolutionAd.jpg
zook mann @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
even if its a real agency, it doesnt mean its the official campaign. it could be a comp for a pitch from a potential agency.
SilverDogg @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
i dont think the boxthing is supposed to target xbox, i think they mean that its not all about the box, and the box is ofcourse the machine itself.
Mashko @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Why argue, it's coming out. Hopefully sooner then later. I'm excited for all three Next Gen consoles. Once all three are released then we can compare.
http://dmashko.typepad.com
Chris Kalan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
To Link (Post #4):
Apple uses Arial in all their iPod ads. That is pretty much as generic as you can get!
PvpMan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
Cant wait till all the new systems come out and see what cool new games will be showing us. The ad's date sounds great but I have a feeling that nintendo might be a little later then that but they've said that they arent going to be late so maybe not...
Shannon @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
I didn't think "Think Outside the Box" was a diss against MS, I thought they were implying that maybe you wouldn't need a TV. Or it would appear to come out of the TV.
Snipery @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
To Chris Kalan, (Post #20)
No theire using Myriad ever since,
Arial is Windows-Standart whilst
Myriad is Macintosh Standart.
snacs @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
I work in a design studio, and there is no way this would be created so soon. Design studios are busy places, and they're constantly pumping out new work - not creating concepts for a campaign many months away. Each job has a timeline and it would make no sense to be even in the early conceptual stages for this task so far in advance. Even when working closely with a client, it's never a good idea to show them images which resemble finished artwork so there goes that theory too.
As for the design itself, its flaws as a professional piece of work have already been pointed out. While the ad has a nice aesthetic, it looks a little too similar to PS2 imagery, and other fundamental design flaws regarding spacing, typefaces, and effects on logos instantly prove it's a fake. End of story.
My guess is it is merely a student production/assignment.
Oh and the typeface used is certainly Arial rounded.
#23 - Arial (Windows standard) is a rip off of the Helvetica (Mac standard) typeface. Apple use Myriad Pro in their ads.
Jimbo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM
When you click on the link to go see it on the other page http://photos17.flickr.com/21243025_facb15bcbb_o.jpg there is the outline of a head on it but on this page http://img202.echo.cx/img202/9382/revolutionad4cy.jpg it is a better quality and there isn't a head shadow