Europe: PS3 commercial as cool as... speed stacking?

Did I actually see in-game footage?!?!!? Blasphemy!

Does or can this ad resonate with us over here? Well, it is a pretty new thing, as far as the conception most people go. We (working for German tv) started reporting about this only, say, a year ago and we have not been following it up since. It is certainly nowhere near mainstream, or in the mainstream vocabulary. It is sort of a niche thing and may even be considered a bit nerdy (since it´s mainly schoolkids doing it, I think).

This was already posted on the Stiq...

There was a cup-stacking game on one of those big "hot holiday toy" lists last year, side-by-side with the Wii. I remember it distinctly because the game retailed for like $30, and I thought to myself that about $27 of that must be pure profit. How much does it cost to manufacture plastic cups?

Oddly, some european poster claimed in the last thread that euros know nothing about stacking, but see it on TV and know it's something us idiotic/wacky/zany Americans spend a lot of time on.

I'd never really seen it before, nor ever considered it. So I was a bit confused.

wiipeat, roight?

I've never seen anyone doing that at school, college or university. I didn't even know it was a "sport" till this advert.
What a bad advert too. I mean what are they advertising? PS3 or Cell? Is the British public, full of tea sipping folks watching Last of the Summer Wine going to care about Cell?

I'm still trying to decide on a PS3 or 360. But really, this advert doesn't help. At least the Wii adverts show you what it's all about.

to be honest i havent even heard of the cup stacking




and the cups relate to PS3's how????? metorphorically maybe but...



i dont thinks their target market will eatch that and think im going to buy ps3 as its like them cups and im sure most younger kids will turn the channel if they switched on tv and it was in the middle of the ad it makes no sense without seeing the first bit ...

at least there was gameplay on a plus note



they are way to conceptual with their ads just get to the point..show footage gain hype....sell ps3's



not let ppl watch cup stacking ...ppl get bored...switch over and lose sales

Ok...this is a repeat...the consensus was that speed stacking was definitley more fun, and that everyone wanted pie...also that CG graphics do not play well with speed stacking...and that the girl taking forever to start was the PS3 load times, and that instead of "This is Living" it should be "This is Lying"

we saw this post like two days ago?

I can just imagine someone going in a toy store or where ever they sell cup stacking sets, and asking for the Playstation 3 cup set, and if it comes with cell balancing chip technology in the cups.

... Or the other way around, with someone going in the gamestop (or whatever there is in Europe) and asking if they have the new cup stacking game.

I like it. but it does make me want to take up cup stacking with over priced cup more that play games on a under priced blue ray player

MosquitoControl, that would have been me. We don't have it over here in Europe at all. As Falafelkid said it was shown a little and then dissappeared ever since. It was basically said to be some thing Americans had started doing in the vein of national spelling bees etc. I think i've seen short clips of it on tv maybe twice, I would imagine it would be on Ripleys believe it or not or something, and I haven't seen that in like 4years.

The fact that a lot of Americans don't even seem to know what it is proves just how far out of touch Sony are. Its something we don't have in Europe, and even in America where you have it no one knows or cares.

Wikipedia lists it as America, Uk, Germany and Australia that have it. However it also says its a popular sport. I have never seen it at all in the Uk expect when on tv saying its something in America.

I never knew cup stacking was an activity let alone a sport. I'm in the UK. And if it wasn't for the smidgen of in game footage that would probably be one of the worst console advertisements ever.

"Oddly, some european poster claimed in the last thread that euros know nothing about stacking, but see it on TV and know it's something us idiotic/wacky/zany Americans spend a lot of time on."

from the uk and i agree. cup stacking? seriously?

cup and ball is where its at

Adverts never make me buy games, OMG! Cup stacking, I'll definatly go buy a PS3 now! OMG Microsoft has ppl skipping in theirs, I'll definatly go buy a 360 now, OMG! Wii has two Japanese men going to ppls house and demanding they play Wii, I'll defiantly go buy a Wii now ^^

I don't care about what ads or media.

And as for saying this is aimed at Europeans, the only places I know that do anything close to cup stacking are bartenders with glasses. Thats it.

The comercial sux, compared to the good ones here in Sweden. It does have a point, but it too weak and the comercial is too long to keep me interested all the time. Seems to me Sony is loosing it..

This is just a bad commercial. It is the worst analogy, comparing Cell to cup stacking.

Commercials do effect what people buy, just look at the Gears of Wars commercial, it made the song 'mad world' go up in sales.

Effing cup stacking fanboys. Lemme sticks FTW!

The one thing I like about the commercial is that they are basically assuming that the people watching aren't idiots, and treat them as such. US commercials are just loud music and flashy graphics with quick cuts between them.

"Is the British public, full of tea sipping folks watching Last of the Summer Wine going to care about Cell?"

Last Of The Summer Wine is so last season. If you want the quintessentially British, try "listening to The Archers". :)

"The one thing I like about the commercial is that they are basically assuming that the people watching aren't idiots, and treat them as such. US commercials are just loud music and flashy graphics with quick cuts between them."

No, treating people like they aren't idiot means not running an analogy into the ground. The reason that America gets flashy graphics and quick cuts is because that's the sort of thing that the coveted 18-34 male demographic will pay attention to. Quick cutting and flashy graphics get the heart pumping (though we're getting desensitized to it). They're also a stand in for not having any compelling message to show people. I think that Sony merely needs to find that message, while at the same time not pushing any one game. This would be better if they had more than one good game.

Besides that, this commercial features (by my count) 32 cuts in 60 seconds. Rubik's cube? 9 cuts in 30 seconds. Eggs? 13 cuts in 30 seconds. Don't complain about fast cutting if it's not actually happening.

"where the old rules don't apply"

like low costs, plug an play and proper ads?

It's about as awe inspiring as a goat. Speed stacking is more of a craze, like yoyos, pokemon and pogs. And so is the PS3. Boo hoo.

Hi there from Italy.
Never heard anything about "speed stacking" here.
This PS3 commercial has no meaning...

I have 2 neices in elementary school, and it isn't that the 'sport' is so popular, it is that they replaced dodgeball and other apparently dangerous gym activities with speedstacking, that way no one gets hurt (wahhhhhhhhh)....

That is how it has managed to become so "big" as a
'sport'.

I'm from the UK, (and no we dont sit around drinking tea and watching last of the summer wine - for me its starbucks and lost) and I had never heard of cup stacking in my life before seeing this ad. Sony must've sent a monkey to research what appeals to europeans.

I saw a show (in America) covering a competition of speed stacking.

I looked at my girlfriend, she looked at me, we both laughed and sait, "You have got to be f*cking kidding me!"

So, who does this commercial appeal too? Not anyone that has a job and any money to spend. I guessit will get the 8 year olds who think its cool fired up. Good job Sony, grab the attention of people who cannot buy your product.

"This is thinking!"

I've seen cup stacking once or twice, I always assumed it was some crazy American high-school thing like dioramas and show and tell. But then I only learn about Americans through cable tv shows.

Cup stacking obviously sucks as far as sports go, so does the ad.

Scott, London