Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Ad critic: cooking with Wiihttp://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/27/ad-critic-cooking-with-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/27/ad-critic-cooking-with-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/27/ad-critic-cooking-with-wii/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Gaming site Jeux France has uploaded this Japanese ad for the Wii version of Cooking Mama. Since Nintendo's video commercials, which point the camera at the players themselves, would not translate effectively as a stationary print advertisement, publisher Taito has decided to rotate the camera 180 degrees and present the Wii as a cooking utensil.

The logic here, of course, would be, "if you buy this game, you will chop peppers. Peppers are food. Everyone likes food; ergo, everyone will want this game" -- or something similar, we're sure. The advertisement is minimalistic -- lots of unused white space -- placing a greater emphasis and surface area on the pathos-appealing mock-up of the Wiimote being used to cook eggs and prepare meals while relegating screenshots to a tiny row on the bottom.

We think it's a fair assessment that Cooking Mama is not pushing the graphical limit even for a Nintendo Wii game; in fact, it looks identical to its DS counterpart. The raison d'etre for the game is an experience that is meant to be easy and fun to play for a wide demographic. In that context, do you think the ad is effective?

See also: Ad critic archive

[Via bits bytes pixels & sprites]

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]]>ad criticAdCriticcooking mamaCookingMamataitoRoss Miller2006-12-27T15:25:00+00:00Ad critic: Wii-nimilast print adhttp://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/21/ad-critic-wii-nimilast-print-ad/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/21/ad-critic-wii-nimilast-print-ad/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/21/ad-critic-wii-nimilast-print-ad/#commentsFiled under:

For this installation of ad critic, we're looking at what may be the first print ad for Nintendo's Wii console ripped from the pages of German gaming-mag GAMES AKTUELL and a Canadian film festival program (and coming to us via Go Nintendo). While there is some debate regarding the authenticity of the ad (see Go Nintendo for more), the merits of such an ad are still debatable.

If Nintendo has chosen to not only pursue the Apple strategy of pretty white designs but also pretty white ads with a notable dearth of information, will a mainstream gaming audience respond? Try explaining the Wii-mote to your mom ... now try doing that with this image. Does the declaration that "playing=believing" communicate anything of value to a curious consumer? Considering the uniqueness of the Wii and its controllers, would Nintendo be better served with something more informational?

See also: Ad critic retro: Perfect Dark, Ad critic: "Racist" PSP ad, Ad critic: Superman, Ad critic: Auto Assault, Ad critic: Oblivion , Ad critic: Tomb Raider, Ad critic: Hitman.

[Thanks, PhoenixGeek; via GoNintendo]

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]]>Ad CriticAdCriticAdvertisingMarketingNintendoWiiChristopher Grant2006-07-21T19:55:00+00:00Ad critic retro: Perfect Dark (N64)http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/15/ad-critic-retro-perfect-dark-n64/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/15/ad-critic-retro-perfect-dark-n64/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/15/ad-critic-retro-perfect-dark-n64/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

One of the nice things about hanging on to old gaming magazines is the archive of classic ads they provide. I found this promo for the original Perfect Dark in the 10th anniversary issue of Entertainment Weekly (Spring 2000). Rare's sultry heroine is ready for war against the evil dataDyne corporation and those menacing Skedar -- notice the subtle alien presence in the upper right-hand corner.

But how does this Joanna Dark model stack up (pardon the pun) against the lovely ladies who portrayed Ms. Croft? Her hairstyle and skin-tight, black leather outfit certainly seem to have inspired the wardrobe department for the Aeon Flux movie and game.

It's interesting to note that a key promotional element persistent in today's gaming ads is absent here, which is a little surprising given the influence of the Internet on the gaming community at that time. Maybe Rare was too busy making a kick-ass game to bother with a web site (anybody remember if there was one?). In retrospect, it didn't really matter as Perfect Dark became one of the most popular and successful titles for the Nintendo 64. In fact, it was so good, I bet they'll make a sequel some day!

Update: Thanks to RyanH for helping my tired old eyes. There is indeed a tiny "www.perfectdark.com" URL embedded in the fine print. Also, thanks to NothingShocking for posting URLs of the game's viral marketing campaign.

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]]>Ad CriticAd Critic retroAdCriticAdCriticRetrojoanna darknintendo 64perfect darkrareAlan Rose2006-07-15T15:05:00+00:00Ad critic: Sony's racially charged PSP ad [update 1]http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/04/ad-critic-sonys-racially-charged-psp-ad/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/04/ad-critic-sonys-racially-charged-psp-ad/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/04/ad-critic-sonys-racially-charged-psp-ad/#commentsFiled under: ,


We've decided to run ad critic early this week after this one landed on our doorsteps. The latest in a long line of questionable marketing decisions by Sony, this ad -- gracing the streets of Amsterdam and the Dutch PSP site -- promotes the upcoming white PSP with the racially charged image of a white woman grabbing a black woman's face. Other images on the website (embedded after the break) offer additional avenues of interpretation.

While we think it's hardly debatable that the ad is offensive (debate ensues), why would Sony -- and their "disruptive" advertising partners at TBWA -- think this ad appropriate? Any Dutch readers care to offer a regional point-of-view on local racial mores? Any black readers, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere, want to offer your initial reactions to the image? Perhaps most importantly (this is an advertisement after all), will this fulfill the contention that generating word-of-mouth is the metric by which to gauge the success of an ad, no matter the method?

Please keep the debate friendly, respectful, and well-mannered. It is possible to express your opinion on sensitive issues like race while doing so.

See also: Ad critic: Superman, Ad critic: Auto Assault, Ad critic: Oblivion , Ad critic: Tomb Raider, Ad critic: Hitman.

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]

[Update 1: Sony has come to the defense of the controversial ads, telling Gamesindustry.biz, "All of the 100 or so images created for the campaign have been designed to show this contrast in colours of the PSPs , and have no other message or purpose." We'll gather up some of the best comments from this thread (thanks for keeping it on track everyone) and follow up later in the week.]


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]]>ad criticAdCriticadvertisingMarketingPSPSonyWhite PSPWhitePspChristopher Grant2006-07-04T18:30:00+00:00Ad critic: Superman made by super peoplehttp://www.joystiq.com/2006/06/30/ad-critic-superman-made-by-super-people/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/06/30/ad-critic-superman-made-by-super-people/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/06/30/ad-critic-superman-made-by-super-people/#commentsFiled under: ,


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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]]>Ad CriticAdCriticEAElectronic ArtsElectronicArtsSupermanChristopher Grant2006-06-30T10:58:00+00:00Ad critic: Auto Assault MMORPGhttp://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/29/ad-critic-auto-assault-mmorpg/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/29/ad-critic-auto-assault-mmorpg/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/29/ad-critic-auto-assault-mmorpg/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

This edition of our ad critic series is coming to you a day late. Sorry about that. All the excitement over Nintendo's big announcement has left us with little capacity to discuss anything else.

Now that the hubbub's died down a wee bit, we ask you to focus your critical energies on this ad for NCSoft's Auto Assault MMORPG found on the back cover of the May 2006 edition of Computer Gaming World. (Click the thumbnail to view a high-res scan of the ad.)

Does this advert work? How would you compare the quality of the concept and execution to other gaming ads? We already spy a bit of a mistake in this ad. Can you spot it? Also, what's with the Dell logo? Finally, for those of you who've played the game, does this ad capture what's best about the game, from your perspective (in other words, is there a disconnect between advert and experience)?

See also: Ad Critic: Oblivion , Ad Critic: Tomb Raider, Ad Critic: Hitman.

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]]>ad criticAdCriticadvertisingAuto AssaultAutoAssaultncsoftvideogamesVladimir Cole2006-04-29T15:46:00+00:00Ad critic: Oblivion ad hot or not?http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/21/ad-critic-oblivion-ad-hot-or-not/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/21/ad-critic-oblivion-ad-hot-or-not/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/21/ad-critic-oblivion-ad-hot-or-not/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

In our third installment of the Friday ad critic series, we bring you a more mundane ad (hey, sometimes it's just not appropriate to use sex to sell a game, but it sure makes for a less exciting ad), this time from the April issue of Computer Gaming World. This is a condensed version of a two-page Oblivion advert that ran across many gaming magazines in the month of April, and the best word to describe it might be "conventional." Is it too conventional, too standard, too boring? Does this epitome of the standard video game advertisement succeed or fail?

Does the ad do justice to the game? If you're breathing and if you've been reading games media printed on dead trees, you've seen this thing in a magazine. Did it do anything for you when you first saw it? How about now?

See also: Hitman ad critique, Tomb Raider ad critique.

One quick note to address some reader concerns that popped up in our previous discussions of advertising: we're not paid by any company to post these ads. There's no profit in it for us. We're doing this for a few reasons.

  • We believe that our readers (by virtue of their formidable experience as game consumers and the mere fact that they're reading Joystiq, a blog that prides itself on unconventional angles on the games industry) have intelligent things to say on the subject of these ads, and can deconstruct and dissect these things like pros.
  • It's fun.
  • It's interesting. With 173 insightful comments (and counting) made about the Hitman ad, it's clear that there's tremendous interest in reverse engineering what it is that marketers are trying to achieve in their communications to gamers.
  • It makes us better consumers. Reverse engineering the tricks that companies use to sell us games helps us make better decisions about the quality of games and helps us cut through the bullshit to properly assess the quality of titles.
  • It gives us self-knowledge. Who are you as a gamer? Do you understand what motivates you to play? What you want out of a game? By dissecting these adverts, we begin to understand how marketers view us and how they segment us into psychographic or demographic groups. We develop understanding of who we are by discovering how others perceive us.

Hope that provides plenty of justification for why we have started this series, and why we'll continue to run it. Response to this has been fantastic, thanks!

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]]>ad criticAdCriticadvertisingcreativeElder ScrollsElderScrollsoblivionrpgVladimir Cole2006-04-21T11:15:00+00:00Ad critic: Lara's booty too big to believe? [update 1]http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/14/ad-critic-laras-booty-too-big-to-believe/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/14/ad-critic-laras-booty-too-big-to-believe/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/14/ad-critic-laras-booty-too-big-to-believe/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


As promised, this is the second weekly installment of a series of posts in which we invite you to rip ads apart after we rip them out of magazines.

Pictured here, a two-page spread that appeared in the April 2006 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (click for a high-res image). There are actually several variations of this same ad in gaming magazines, but all of them feature Lara Croft's ample posterior, a bootylicious bundle of badonka-donk so large it serves as a friggin' grenade shelf. You might even say it's the bomb. At least that's the sort of salacious thinking that the ad invites.

What do you think of the ad? Does it succeed? Will it sell games? What does "seeing is believing" mean, exactly? Is it really all about the ass? Sure, we know that game quality ultimately sells games, so let's avoid talking about the quality of the game itself. What we want to get at here is whether this ad succeeds or fails to interest you in purchasing a copy of this game.

Gloves off! Go to!

[Update 1: fixed a small typo that nobody else noticed, but that bugged the heck out of me.]

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]]>ad criticAdCriticadvertisingelectronic gaming monthlylara croftLaraCroftVladimir Cole2006-04-14T08:00:00+00:00Ad critic: Hitman ad titillates, but is it a murder/sex sim?http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/07/ad-critic-hitman-advertisement/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/07/ad-critic-hitman-advertisement/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/07/ad-critic-hitman-advertisement/#commentsFiled under: ,


Pictured here is a two-page ad spread for the Hitman game that appeared in the April 2006 issue of PC Gamer magazine. Click the image to view a larger version, and then post your critiques below. Does this ad speak to you? Does it make you want to buy the game? Is it too edgy? Does it appear to be, in the words of one Joystiq reader, an ad selling a "rape/murder fantasy" type of game? Let's see how well we can deconstruct this ad.

Stay tuned, we'll do this again next Friday. We'll quote some of the best critiques in next week's post.

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]]>ad criticAdCriticAdvertisingEidosHitmanVladimir Cole2006-04-07T09:30:00+00:00