Sony marketers are horrible liars, pretend to run fansite
PSP fansites are popping up all over the internet. The demand for the portable system is at an all-time high as enthusiasts can't contain themselves. Rather, they opt to start seasonal fansites evangelizing the portable's many benefits not to mention its huge list of AAA and exclusive games. PSP fansite All I Want For Xmas is a PSP is no different. It was started by two "kids" -- one of which raps and looks disturbingly old for a kid -- in an effort to entice their parents to buy them a PSP for Christmas. Furthermore, the site only uses lower case letters, always references "two" as "2," embraces hip phrases like "here's the deal," publishes fake user-generated comments like "this is the best site ever" under the alias of True Gamer, and posts homemade rap videos full of stage props and trite "izzies." The above video is sure to reach the top spot on YouTube by tomorrow. It just screams street cred.
The only problem is the registered domain where this lame video is posted is owned by a marketing company called Zipatoni, presumably one hired by Sony. And we can't think of an individual stupid enough to post such a video only to get laid into worse than the Star Wars kid had it. I won't even quote the atrocious lyrics for fear you might throw up a little in your mouth after hearing. You almost had us, Zipatoni. Almost!!! Dense marketers usually do an excellent job in fooling ignorant consumers with such authenticity.
[via Something Awful; indeed it is]













(Page 1) Reader Comments
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and is the psp target group?
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i mean seriously, is this what marketing people think kids would want to watch, much less influenece their video game system buying habits.
Hope they didn't pay in full.
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They've been thinking /that/ ever since they decided to make a portable gaming system without the games. Or, yannow, "$599 US Dollars".
Seriously, has there ever been a /good/ Sony advertisement? I mean, vandalism, racism (As some may view it as) and now treating their customers as fucking retards.
Then again, you may just have to be retarded to buy from Sony now.
Good job, Sony. Good job.
>> Kritz
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Let me start by saying LAWL111
i luv what you guy's are doing an i hope ur grandma get's j that psp he rly wants... I will be saying 2 all my frendz (SHOUTOUT kenny knutaragi, tub ril & last but n0t least Trogdor teh Burninatorrr) who dont have psp's like mi 2 cum 2 this site for insperation
Props word yo!!1
Comment By PSP Roxxors At 12/11/2006 3:23 PM
Wow. Just...wow.
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"Fo-shizzy!" UGGGGGGGGHHHH!
Hoolarious! Everytime I see a PSP I will laugh in utter amazement and disgust. This makes me even more sure that buying the DS Lite was the right idea.
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High Quality "fan site". Check!
Blatent plugs about PSP and how much they love it. Check!
a guy rapping about PSP who is nearly 30. CHECK!!!
this stinks.
is pathetic.
and whoever thought this was good marketing should be beaten to death with a blunt object. Or even better, i hope it's the guy in the video so he earns himself some well deserved internet infamy. Because he deserves to have his name AND face plastered all over that masterpiece.
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Seriously that has to b a joke!
Ya kno wat, fuck u sony, ur nearly bankrupt anyway and i hope this is the last nail in ur patranizing coffin.
Oh and hey, Ken Kutaragi, I hope ur laptop battery explodes with u under it!
Maybe a bit too far there, but watever.
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Also, I think this post should link the Sexyback video, you know, just to show that Sony isn't alone in the lame-fake advert bid.
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That said, there is a certain irony to reading about corporate advertising masked as fan-interest on Joystiq of all places. This site as only slightly more journalistic credibility than the Korean News Agency. Joystiq has proved time and time again that it is more interested in harming PS3 than reporting about it. How many headlines such as "Sony is a bunch of liars" does one have to read before getting suspicious of Joystiq's true intent. I find myself wondering how many MSFT bloggers are at work.
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I always wonder how many comments here accusing rampant bias, etc. are actually from the companies being lambasted.
Joystiq is not biased, they sh*t on everyone - rock on guys! Besides, anyone who actually posted a POSITIVE article about this schill website would be biased against reality...
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John, man, are you forgetting all the anti-Wii posts that what'shisface was making right after the Wii launch? Or how about all their reporting about 360s bricking and overheating? Joystiq is equally critical of ALL SIDES. The difference is that only SONY has been stupid enough to hire such a hack marketing group.
I'm a Ninty fan, but I actually feel *bad* for SONY because of this. I'm sure the marketing group sold themselves as being really in-touch with the "urban" market and lied to SONY about what they were going to do with their funding, because there's just not way I can believe that ANYBODY would approve of this if they knew what they were signing on to in advance.
Actually this is so awful that, as much as I love Nintendo, I'm starting to wonder if maybe THEY hired these people to make the worst possible site so that SONY would take flack for it.
The only way we'll know who this is is if SONY doesn't issue a press release within the next 1-2 days denying involvement with this site. If they deny involvement then it was either Nintendo or Microsoft trying to make SONY look bad. If they DON'T deny involvement then this really was a SONY marketing ploy, and that will push me over the edge to never, ever buy another SONY product as long as I live. I'm still pissed about them killing the AIBO, but this is just intolerable.
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It just goes to show you that the people running the companies making video games are so tragically out of touch.
Thank God Nintendo didn't put out anything like this.
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that absurd prefab comment on the site had me rollin for hours.
ROFL doesn't take much for the "consumer" monster to come out these days eh. Like people are really insulted by this. It's just lame (to the third power). After reading some of the comments on this story (not particularly at this site..more so on the site itself). The ignorance spewed is so bad..makes me wonder.. who's the real monster? Zipatoni marketing...or the so called "disgruntled consumer".
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except Intellivision
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---
XBOX 360 - Now supporting all HDTV resolutions so that you don't have to.
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100% agree.
The main difference between the “Bringing Xbox Back” and the “All I want for Xmas is a PSP” is that Microsoft stamped their mark on the video and was happy to pass it off as parody. Sony tried to make their rap look like a fan video.
It’s like the Sony blog “ThreeSpeech”. Sure, Major Nelson runs a blog and is a M$ employee – but it says so all over his site. ThreeSpeech was a Sony blog trying to pass itself off as journalism.
Hell, Sony – your fans are desperate to hear from you. Just come out and hype your games. Microsoft does, and it’s only brought them positive things. Quit trying to sneak the publicity onto us.
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date Dec 11, 2006 5:08 PM
subject offensive marketing campaign
I'm a high school teacher who is committed to helping my students sort out reliable information from ethical sources and dishonest, lame marketing schemes like yours. Congratulations. . . you just made the next lesson with the "all i want for xmas" campaign.
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"Obviously its working since it was posted here, and other popular blogs."
Wrong. Advertising only "works" if it results in sales of the product it's selling.
Can you honestly see people buying a PSP after watching this?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
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You are lame. Also, I would like 1 min and 18 seconds of my life back please. Thank you.
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My favorite comment to date on that site.
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