Japanese viral Gears of War videos are chainsaw-less
by Kevin Kelly 
{ Mar 29th 2007 at 7:56PM }
They've always said, "If you can't beat 'em ... confuse the hell out of 'em." That appears to be Microsoft's new marketing campaign for Gears of War in Japan, where they really need a shot in the arm to start moving consoles in big numbers.
However, have you taken a look at the wacky new ads? Kudos to Microsoft for not just sticking to the same old marketing that clearly isn't working, but these draw a collective "Wha?" from us. Although, we never would have thought that tamagotchis and boba would be a huge hit either, so maybe they know what they're doing over in Japan. Check out the second video after the jump, and bonus points to any Japanese speakers who can do some on-the-fly translating for us.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bradley G. @ Mar 29th 2007 8:03PM
That first video scared the heck out of me!!
Jeff @ Mar 29th 2007 8:05PM
All I know is I hear the words for "happiness" and "cute" so my bet is she's talking about something completely unrelated to the game.
I'm sure this is supposed to be a Youtube-style video log about her day, gone horribly wrong.
NoHitHair @ Mar 29th 2007 8:11PM
She was basically talking about wanting to be someone (I'm assuming a character related to Gears of War) because he looked "cute" and/or "cool".
http://blog.myspace.com/nohithair
Dolla Dolla @ Mar 29th 2007 8:19PM
I'm not gonna lie ...
I'm jumped like a little b&%#! from the first video lol
Ghost @ Mar 29th 2007 8:26PM
:akbar:
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Mar 29th 2007 8:31PM
When Sony does shitty ads, it's "shitty ads sink PS3".
When MS does shitty ads, it's kudos to MS for trying something new with "viral" ads.
Kazi @ Mar 29th 2007 8:42PM
@LS2/LS7
We're talking shitty viral ads that insult the gaming community vs shitty viral ads that are just shitty.
BPM @ Mar 29th 2007 8:46PM
Cute Japanese girl >>>>> White boys who think they're Black.
ty @ Mar 29th 2007 8:47PM
she's basically saying that her dream is to design shoes and that shoes make her happy.
Joshua @ Mar 29th 2007 8:47PM
Would you shut up about the Sony/Microsoft stuff? It's all that's ever posted here!
The videos were weird, especially the second, but the first did scare me. :P
Capt. Castellanos @ Mar 29th 2007 8:47PM
at least the microsoft commercials have a BIT more to do with what they're promoting.
but thats saying alot.
either way.
i still like both of them.
(both meaning, PS3 and GoW commercials.)
(and both gears of war commercials.)
byouki @ Mar 29th 2007 9:01PM
Actually in the first video she's not talking about the game at all. She's talking about how she wants to be a own a shoe store and be a shoe designer. She has lots of ideas for cute shoes and she wants to go to a trade school.
In the second one she's just asking "can you see it" "it grabbed me earlier" etc., then she yells at it to come out, says it has thorny hands...
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Mar 29th 2007 9:12PM
So, Japanese girl talking about designing shoes and a green arm comes and grabs her (note, there are no green creatures in Gears, and for that matter no girls nor rooms that aren't littered with rubble) is about Gears then?
Both of the series are equally bizarre. They serve no purpose except to get people talking about them. Both do manage to do that, true.
Neither insults the gaming community.
But I can't see how one deserves massive condemnation and one kudos.
Ryuukuro @ Mar 29th 2007 9:16PM
Freaky. But the PS3 videos are scarier. Who wants a video game console that's possessed by the Devil?
jan_halmes @ Mar 29th 2007 9:57PM
If Gears of War was about a cute girl with a monster
under it's bed, I'd buy it.
A game about another generic "space marine" fighting
another horde of generic aliens, not so much.
Smart of MS to advertise GoW as a game that the Japanese might actually buy. Now they just need to make the game to go along with it.
Matt Warner @ Mar 30th 2007 2:33AM
It scared the crap out of me too, and I was even expecting something like that to happen.
oldschoolgamer @ Mar 29th 2007 9:40PM
I thought I was watching the grudge 3 or the ring part 10. I did kinda jump
linus @ Mar 29th 2007 10:32PM
like the other guys said, in the first video she is talking about her own future, that she wants to design shoes etc. there's actually a whole bunch of these video blog style clips up on youtube, i watched them some months ago. the first one here is actually like episode eight or something, and all the earlier episodes is like a normal video log with this girl talking about girly stuff and her life. after the monster appears, he starts living under her bed, and only shows it's green arms. she goes on with her girly rants in later clips, and treats the monster like a pet. in a later clip, she dances to some music, while he swings his arms from under the bed, etc..
apparently the girl is some famous idol/model in japan, and on her blog (might be part of the viral marketing too, but it looks like a normal blog) she writes how she plays gears of war and that she really likes it.
Aceman @ Mar 29th 2007 10:57PM
My take is that she has an Emergence Hole in her room and doesn't quite realize the severity of the situation.....until it's too late.
Almost reminded me of a Japanese horror like the ring or something.
I could also make an Emergence Hole joke here, but I'm gonna stop while I'm ahead.
NekoMode @ Apr 10th 2007 11:35PM
You can view all her videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=YunnieVlog
My favorite one is the one where she is changing her clothes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgy9RxnRsCM
Dude the GoW monster starts sniffing her freaking pantsu!
On another note really I dobut we would get it 'cause these are one of those "Only in Japan" things. Using American style ads certainly didn't work before but these... these are totally freaking Japanese so of course you or I won't get it. I see that as a good thing though that they are trying new things rather than the same shiz that hasn't been working for months.
Kerber @ Mar 29th 2007 11:25PM
Holy shit! I knew it was coming and that STILL scared the crap out of me!
Hovig @ Mar 29th 2007 11:45PM
That was gay as fuck
saboola @ Mar 29th 2007 11:45PM
I pooped a little
user_21937 @ Mar 29th 2007 11:49PM
I get it. In the world of Gears, the Locusts came suddenly. It is the lore of the place that the Locusts are the monsters that you hear tales of, the creatures in closets and under beds, that kind of thing. So, the videos are representing moments of relative peace destroyed by the sudden appearance of the locusts.
Intelligent, but probably around a lot of peoples' heads if they don't know that about the game.
Rubang B @ Mar 30th 2007 12:58AM
@LS2/LS7, the key word here is viral. Kazi was talking about Sony's viral AllIWantForXmasIsAPSP fiasco, which insulted everybody involved. This weird Gears thing seems like an attempt to be the next Lonelygirl and then slowly turn into a Gears ad way down the line through her blogs. It might be neat or lame, but it's not insulting us.
Dave @ Mar 30th 2007 1:35AM
This is living
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Mar 30th 2007 2:42AM
Rubang, thanks for the explanation.
That's just Kazi's misconception. I never used the word "viral" to refer to Sony's ads. So his jumping to the conclusion that I meant AllIWantforXmasIsAPSP was his mistake.
When I referred above to "shitty Sony ads sink PS3", I am referring to this story:
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/24/this-is-living-toilet-girl-helps-flush-pal-ps3-sales/
Why are Sony's ads "sinking PS3" (esp. when it sold well) and MS's ads are "viral"?
All either ad does is try to get you talking about the ads. Neither makes sense on its own. Both have succeeded in their goal of getting talked about, BTW.
I just don't see why there's two standards here.
Mikael @ Mar 30th 2007 2:43AM
Check out part twelve of the series (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ATlZ3rkiza4) where Yunnie dances togheter with the monster under the bed. Not exactly scary anymore.
something_something_parasol @ Mar 30th 2007 3:58AM
I totally agree with LS2/LS7.
When Sony makes a "wha?" type ad it's so shitty joystiq writes about it several times but when MS does it it's genius? please.
I hate both.
Anon - I - mousse @ Mar 30th 2007 4:57AM
Wow, 1:40 + 56 seconds that are just never coming back, wasted, *poof*, just like that. Makes you think amirite?
Worst ads ever. While on that, all the ads coming these days for next-gen are usually crap. lame.
ty @ Mar 30th 2007 4:53AM
it was scary because we were misdirected to believe something would come out through the door.. note the moving shadow as she keeps looking out the door. but then the green arm shows itself from stage right. this is why it scared us even though we were expecting something to come out i think. that and the loud noise as the arm grabs her.
Amos @ Mar 30th 2007 7:29AM
That PSP ad...ugh, that rap was disgusting. Seriously, the voice, the lyrics, the dancing, it was like nails on a chalk board combined with hurling and tearing my testsicles inside out.
These ads were just funny...and it was already noted, they're not only old, but not even really ads...just some weird on-going gag was loosely viral for GoW. People need to settle the fuck down.
chenry @ Mar 30th 2007 8:13AM
I didn't understand a word, but her skirt was short so that's cool.
Jake @ Mar 30th 2007 9:47AM
jan_halmes. Maybe you should try the game before making stupid comments about how you probably won't like it anyways. There are no space marines or aliens in GOW. The Locusts come from underground, so they are monsters, mutants, etc. The only thing that has to do with space are satellite weapons.
I get it. You are trying to say Gears is just another Halo or something. But, you are clearly wrong. Anybody who knows anything about games knows that. Let me guess, Nintendo fanboy?
Man, I'd think you n00bs would know at least something about the Game of the Year. Sheesh, crawl out of your single console holes. Just because you can't afford them all doesn't mean you have to brainwash yourself into thinking you bought the only one worth buying.
Kazi @ Mar 30th 2007 10:18AM
A bad commercial in Japan for the 360 can't make the 360's position there any worse (barely selling to gone?).
A bad commercial in England for the PS3 can do a little harm since they actually have a following where their crappy advert is showing.
Booxatron @ Mar 30th 2007 11:13AM
Jake-
Fine. So they're terrestrial marines fighting a horde of terrestrial monsters. It's still the same formula we've seen a million times.
For the record, I played all the way through GoW and thought it was a lot of fun. But the story made no sense to me and it didn't matter. The game wouldn't be any more or less fun if the enemies in it were from space, or the desert, or the ocean, or the fog, or whatever.
It would be more fun though if you played as that cute Japanese girl....
Jack of No Trades @ Mar 30th 2007 11:43AM
"It's still the same formula we've seen a million times."
Oh, your talking about the formulas like using spit fire, jumping on gumbas, finding the master sword, getting the hookshot, going to next castle, collecting stars.
Don't give me that bullshit. We have seen the mario/zelda concept a million times more than the Gears concept.
Scott @ Mar 30th 2007 12:28PM
A fake video blog with a cute girl?
寂しい子十五
Rubang B @ Mar 30th 2007 3:03PM
Hey, I still think the Locusts are considered aliens. Is there any evidence within the game or the game's manual that makes you think that both the humans and the Locusts evolved on the same planet over millions of years without ever knowing each other existed? I assume that either the humans or the Locusts emigrated to the planet at some point, either making the Locusts aliens or the humans aliens, in which case you're fighting aliens on their own home planet.
maylon @ Mar 30th 2007 6:00PM
@anyone bringing Sony in on this subject, what on earth does it have to do with Sony? Oh yeah, the whole flame thing. Its going to be ok, Sony will sell 130 million consoles and pwn Microsoft, and Microsoft will exit the business altogether. This is my actual prediction, even though I support MS. Feel better?
Kyle Palko @ Mar 31st 2007 1:28PM
That first one, makes you jump... My heart it still racing...