It's really difficult for us to write clever observations about any installments in Sony's "It Only Does Everything" ad campaign. For instance, the recent commercial for Uncharted 2 (posted after the jump) is already really funny -- trying to get a few cheap lulz at its expense would be a Herculean comedic task.
Regardless, we'll give it the ol' college try: Man, that guy's girlfriend sure is confused, isn't she? She thinks it's a movie! What a silly misconception. Oh, look, she's got popcorn! Man, don't you hate it when you eat popcorn and a piece of shell gets stuck in the back of your throat? That's the worst, isn't it? You're all like "Hacccckkkkk! Caahllllkkk!" And it just won't come out!
@Marius Luv it. I'm in the advertising industry and I say "It's about damn time" though they'll get a little bit of backlash for the "girlfriend" watching thing. Personally I would of said a group of friends who thought it was a movie.
I'd also make the joke the Metal Gear Solid 4 felt like a movie :p
@MarkHawk The Metal Gear Solid 4 comment would not be needed nor as clever as the Uncharted one for a few reasons. MGS4 isn't marketable anymore as everyone knows about the game, and those that wanted to play it have or will when they get around to buying a PS3. Also MGS4 is a movie with interspersed gameplay elements that don't at all feel like a movie (with the exception of the Gekko/Vamp fight and the microwave). Whereas with the Uncharted experience you get gameplay that feels like a movie, even with the cut scenes they are short and will throw you QTE's at any point so it never feels like you have stopped playing, however to an audience it would, to a small degree, seem like a movie start to finish. Basically it comes down to this a "game that is a movie" is a negative thing (as movies are generally a passive form of entertainment) an example of this is MGS4. However a "game that feels like a movie" is a positive thing, the game has all the interactivity of any other game but the atmosphere is more akin to a movie and usually means a combination of the following was achieved: in depth story that makes sense to anyone, good voice acting and graphics, multiple gameplay camera angles used to enhance the experience, and a finer tuned speed at which the story moves along. And this second "game feels like a movie" is what is used to describe Uncharted, and it most certainly is a positive thing.
-btw as a Metal Gear Solid fan MGS4 was in my opinion one of the best games of last year, however for those playing a Metal Gear Solid game for the first time I see why there would be complaints of cutscenes too long and too infrequent... every time I replayed the game most of the cutscenes were skipped... just too much fan service and Kojima has recognized this himself and promised never to do it again to that extent.
I'm happy to see that Sony is actually putting out some GOOD ads for the system. Really brings them down from the whole douche-bag stink feel that I get from them (ever since the days of "FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE US DOLLARS"). Bravo on getting things strait with the PS3... and completely removing any trace of crying baby dolls. Things have certainly come a long way!
Sony has been putting great ads for a couple of years now. You may feel the "It only does everything" campaign is good because of the comedy. It is a fantastic campaign but so where "Universe of Entertainment" and last year's "Entertainment Unleashed". Even the "Play Beyond" (or "White room" if you prefer) campaign was good except for the creepy baby one which is the only one that anyone remembers. However that campaign had the rest of the commercials explain each one of the qualities of the system (Blu- Ray, HD, Cell, etc). Unfortunately they chose to go with the baby as the first ad and that's what people. And by no means I am saying that Sony has always done a good job as evidenced by some of the surreal campaigns for Europe.
People bash Sony for their ads. However IMO they have the most memorable ones from any company. I can recall every Ratchet & Clank ad for the PS2, the "PS10" ad for the PS2 launch, the PSP "Take me out" launch ads, "Dude, get your own", the PSP Kenna ads, "Play Beyond", "Universe of Entertainment", Entertainment Unleashed", and "It Only does everything". And that's just to name a few. On the other hand I can barely recall any Nintendo or Microsoft ads.
@Pat: You're being pretty selective in your recollection of commercials. Universe of Entertainment and Universe Unleashed were not memorable ads. They were generic game montages with generic ad music saying how they were the best. They were good ads, but hardly memorable by any stretch, especially compared to these new ones, which are actually distinguishable. These new ads have a common thread, character and style; the previous ads was a 3 game video plug and play. The white room ads were definitely memorable, but I don't think we're remembering them the same way. The egg one barely got its point across if at all, the baby one did nothing. The white room commercials didn't get good until later when they actually advertised games like Motorstorm instead of vaguely and ineffectively referencing features.
As for Wii and 360 ads, the Jump in campaign had many memorable commercials, and Wii would like to Play had its own charm as well. Sony's commercials at the same time period were either stupid or generic, while now that reverse is true.
I said I could barely remember any campaigns from MS and Nintendo. I didn’t say I didn’t remember any at all. I agree with you and do remember the “Wii would like to play” campaign for the Wii’s launch and thereafter. (In their own way those commercials were a bit unsettling as the crying baby in Sony’s one). Yet “Jump In” didn’t have a distinguishable lasting image compared to “Wii would like to play” and the Sony campaigns I mentioned (and I am not talking about the console logo/sound at the end of every commercial). It was merely video plug and play montages as you said
My point in the previous thread was that the whole argument about Sony finally doing a good marketing job downplaying everything they did before is inaccurate. They have done a good job all around with ads that are memorable in one way or another. For you the “White Room” Sixaxis ad (the eggs) didn’t work. For me it was simple and to the point. Yet we both remember it. The same with the ones mentioned as just game montages either through the visuals or audio. Each year the campaign is made fresh and adapted to current needs: year one highlighting console features, year two games and PSN, year three exclusives, and now price against features.
There have been bad ones as I mentioned before. Others have backfired such as the baby, the blood transfusion one, and the black and white one in Europe (which was honestly blown out of proportion). But these have been the exception more than the norm and it goes to the point that there have been good commercials before. If you go back to a year ago in these same threads many here were saying the same thing they are saying now- Sony is finally stepping up their marketing and doing a good job- when “Entertainment Unleashed” came out. Go back yet one more year and the same was being said about “Universe of Entertainment”.
This is why Sarcastic Gamer are just so damn good.. That was awesome, loved the ending dont worry we will make the money back on wifi and hard drives just awesome..
Good lord that ODST Fanboy commercial was awesome. I'll admit, the actual commercials for ODST are completely frickin' epic out of context, but since they are for a video game they make no damn sense.
I played both the demos last night and I agree. Both games are really REALLY fun, but I can only really afford one. I guess I have to sell some stuff on ebay.
Anybody like the toybiz marvel legends figures? I got a ton of them! :)
Brutal Legend demo was not for me. Gameplay felt old and uninspired and i get tired of Jack Black quickly. (Metalheads let the downvoting commence!)
Lost Planet 2 however, went from mildly interesting to a must-buy after I got my hands on the demo. The closest thing to a Monster Hunter on PS3 so far.
