Ad critic: Superman made by super people
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jun 30th 2006 at 10:58AM }
Ad critic returns with this ad for (the now delayed) Superman Returns: The Videogame, featured prematurely in the June 2006 issue of Game Informer (click on the thumbnail for a high-res scan). It doesn't look like much at first glance; however, upon closer inspection, you'll notice those three rather substantial chunks of (gulp) text. After busting out your reading glasses you realize that EA -- the giant game maker whose employees make a famously Faustian arrangement: their soul (and/or free time) for the chance to make video games -- is running ads talking up their developers!
As MTV News reminds us, this isn't the first time EA has highlighted developers in an ad. In 1983, one of the then-upstart Electronic Arts' earliest ads posed a handful of game designers alongside the question, "Can a Computer Make You Cry?" EA Vice President of Advertising Shawn Conly told MTV, "In some ways, that was a partial inspiration for where we're taking this right now."
Indeed, the Superman ad isn't alone! Additional ads will include NFL Head Coach, Madden 07, and NCAA Football 07 (as seen in the July issue of EGM). All the titles are made by EA's Tiburon Studios ("a quirk of scheduling," says Conly) but now your average mag-reading gamer can know that also. Right there, in the upper right hand corner, the ads read, "Creative Close-Up: EA Tiburon Studio Orlando, FL."
What say you, ad critics? Is EA's ad a super-success or a krypyonite-klunker? Sure, we might care about developers, but does your average, non-Joystiq reading gamer? Is it too text-heavy? What, if anything, would you like to see them change? Is this another sign that EA has turned over a new leaf?
See also: Ad Critic: Auto Assault, Ad Critic: Oblivion , Ad Critic: Tomb Raider, Ad Critic: Hitman.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Player1 @ Jun 30th 2006 11:09AM
I think they use that exact layout for other ads.
32_Footsteps @ Jun 30th 2006 11:17AM
It's kind of neat, admittedly, that EA is hyping up the various programmers who worked on the game. However, I think it could stand to be much more concise. I feel like alot of those words are just wasted.
For the actual visual design, it feels too fractured. A fractured and shattered look certainly would work for some game ads (like for a survival horror game), but it just seems schizophrenic for a character like Superman.
Moreover, it has the very bad visual similarities to DC's recent Infinite Crisis, which featured the utterly stupid reason that the universe's problems were because of an alternate version of Superman "punching reality".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superboy-Prime
There's some good ideas in the ad, but its layout is too poor and squanders those ideas.
Player1 @ Jun 30th 2006 11:44AM
You know, I'm not the typer of person who comments, "is this really news, joystiq" but what's up with the ads? Are you guys in some deal to provide market research or something?
Ultimatallica @ Jun 30th 2006 12:22PM
EA = Instantly bad
Austin @ Jun 30th 2006 12:34PM
so instead of resetting from a save-point can we just fly around the world backwards to turn back time and replay the last five minutes?
Jackson Pritt @ Jun 30th 2006 12:36PM
32_Footsteps is kind of missing the point with this ad. It's not just about Superman Returns, it's also about EA trying to get a friendlier feel and trying to pitch themselves to designers and programmers as a company that cares enough about its employees to feature them in ads and know their backstories. EA is following in the footsteps of some of the retail big-boys like IKEA and Target (which in turn were following companies like LIMN and Design Within Reach) and making their designers as prominent as the products they design.
While I agree that, visually, this ad is extremely derivative of other, better ads, and that the style doesn't neccessarily work for this ad, the direction they're TRYING to go with this is very interesting. Not to mention that the layouts they're ripping off certainly never appeared in video game magazines.
Your average gamer isn't going to like this ad, but in the end it isn't meant for them. This is the kind of design that designers like, and in combination with the text talking up game designers it makes it seem like this is less of an ad about Superman Returns and more of an ad about EA trying to covertly woo designers.
I don't know if it's going to work, but it's a valliant effort, and done in a way that isn't cheezy or obvious.
Artimus @ Jun 30th 2006 12:37PM
Am I the only one who finds these 'ad critic' entries to be kind of dumb (and often quite pretentious)?
C. Grant @ Jun 30th 2006 12:48PM
Player1: Should have stuck with your first instinct. I'll repeat it again (since everyone LOVES hearing it): "we are not a news site."
If you're really hankering for news, I hear CNN.com is pretty good. If you're looking for interesting things about videogames, be it news, advertising, academia, culture, videos, contests, whatever, then you come to Joystiq.
After digging around your site a bit (and adding it to my reader) I found this, "Advertising and marketing are everything these days. My god, it’s so important that it will make or break a product, brand or even a company." So you obviously agree that advertising is important to gaming and game culture. I would think you'd welcome a discussion concerning the largest video game publisher running 2-page ads focusing on designers and development ... at least note that it's interesting or "new." Unfortunately, through this prism, I'm assuming your comment was intimating that we accept money for discussing these ads, or posting about them. Cast aspersions elsewhere friend; we owe our allegiance to no one.
Judd @ Jun 30th 2006 12:53PM
I find the Ad critic feature important. The truth is there are a lot more people reading Game Informer than Joystiq, and as we all know most gamers(especially in the case of EA) are casual gamers. So I think it's important that we understand the message that mainstream gamers are getting about video games. It doesn't really matter what we think about the next gen systems, but if rappers and athletes still think Playstation is cool it will come out on top again. But perhaps EA knows that casual gamers like them, so by highlighting the developers, and how they really are Superman fans and not "the man", perhaps the ad is trying to get hardcore gamers to appreciate them. Understanding ads is very crucial in comprehending the message any company is sending, and as a video game news site I think it is important to know what direction a video game system/publisher/developer is aiming their demographic towards.
Catalyst @ Jun 30th 2006 12:57PM
You think the dev will be hunting down all the copies of this ad when the game gets released and sucks ass? ComicBookLicensePWNED!
Perry Mason @ Jun 30th 2006 1:00PM
I have a friend that works on that project who told me that the developer (Zach Wilson) in the "Flight Manifest" section was one of 5 or 10 people who left the project when it got pushed back. By all accounts, the project is really hard on the people who are working on it and people are dropping like flies.
Robert @ Jun 30th 2006 1:08PM
I always enjoy seeing how companies try and advertise to get us to spend our money. I personally end up buying games (and everything else, for that matter) in spite of their advertising rather than because of it. But it's definitely interesting to take a closer look at the advertising.
And I'm pretty sure most Joystiq readers are "smart" consumers in that they do a little more research than just saying "Oh look... an ad!" and going out and buying the game.
I'd actually like to see Joystiq get a little revenue from this (not that it ever will). Keep up the coverage of all this game-related information. I can always skip it if I'm not interested...
Player1 @ Jun 30th 2006 1:30PM
C. Grant:
Great, then my plan to become the most hated gaming blog no one has ever heard of is going perfectly.
C. Grant @ Jun 30th 2006 1:55PM
Player1: it ain't like that!
The "news" thing just really gets under my skin, as you can see.
Seriously though, I agree with a lot of the editorial on your site; I think you'd really be interested in a feature like this. You're the target audience!
slybri @ Jun 30th 2006 2:05PM
The only advertising that gets me to buy a game is a good playable demo. Other than that I read all the reviews on Meta-critic. 50-60$ is a lot to throw down on a game you know nothing about and I've been burned before.
I'm looking forward to this Superman game, being a fan, but I know it's going to suck. It's impossible to make a good Superman game because he's so powerful. Can the video game Superman use his X-ray vison on anything? Can he break through any wall or building? Can he fly into space? Can he drill himself underground? The video game Superman usually ends up just a flying man who shoots red beams out his eyes and punches stuff, which is lame.
Devilstower @ Jun 30th 2006 2:20PM
In the beginning...
EA actually celebrated the developers as stars. The whole idea of the company at its inception was to treat game developers the way artists in other fields were treated. Ads frequently spent more time dwelling on the developers than on the game, as EA tried to build the artists into a "brand." At the same time, EA saw itself as a "label" -- a place that offered an outlet and marketing might, very much like a record label. They also gave decent percentages to developers, meaning that a hit in those early days, even with many fewer machines to serve as a target, could leave developers holding a fat check.
However, over time EA moved more and more into the production aspects. And as game costs soared and more people were involved in each production, the treatment given developers and producers went steadily down. By now, they're regarded as commodities -- man hours on the hoof -- instead of artists.
samfish @ Jun 30th 2006 2:38PM
As a person who does graphic design and layout for a living...'eh...it's not the best looking ad...
That's not to say it's a piece of shit ad, but the over all layout just stinks.
It does what it's supposed to...it leads your eye around the page to the chunks of copy...but it's boring.
It borders on looking more like an advertorial piece than an actual ad.
Mark D. @ Jun 30th 2006 4:32PM
I think EA realises their "cred" amongst game players and who they actually need to advertise to, and this is a direct result of that fact.
Let's face it. Casual gamers, and the guys who buy sports games and movie games don't need to be advertised to interestingly. Throw some commercials on with your cover athlete or throw up a commercial with half movie footage and half CG game footage and they'll eat it up.
But a great majority of "hardcore" gamers hate EA now(usually because it's the cool thing to do, they don't really know why they hate EA). And how do you advertise to them? By showing that the devs have a say in how the game goes, not just the robotic overlords at EA corporate HQ.
Face it, deep down, most of us liked this ad on an informational level. The layout sucks, the disjointed graphics are "meh" at best, but it gives you the feeling that, "Hey, maybe EA knows what they're doing with this. They even delayed it to make it better."
obo @ Jun 30th 2006 6:24PM
Um... any chance we could get a Top 10 Video Game News Sites post? That's what Joystiq does, right?
Jason @ Jun 30th 2006 8:28PM
"It's kind of neat, admittedly, that EA is hyping up the various programmers who worked on the game."
EA is smart. They are also pure evil, but still smart. Do you think they're oblivious to the wrap their street cred has taken over the past years? (and it was about time, too)
EA knows marketing better than any other publisher; that's how they do so well. Even though the hardcore crowd may not be were the big bucks are at, EA still doesn't want to miss out on that piece of the pie. They're trying to earn brownie points.
James @ Jul 1st 2006 10:17AM
I'm not surprised that Superman is delayed. There were all features for that, especially not far release
raul alejandro @ Jul 21st 2006 10:13PM
it sucks