Awful video game adverts.

[trashcanman]

You think normal commercials and ads are crude? You ain't seen nothing if you aren't an old-school gamer. Racism, barely-veiled homophobia, jive-talking squirrels, mullets, self-mutilation on a Saw scale, 80's Zelda nerd rapping, and good God the phallic symbols! Read 'em and weep.
www.ugo.com/games/the-scrubbiest-video-game-ads-ever

The NES and SNES ones were fairly par for the course back in the day, but I have to point out again that Sony have lost their fucking minds. Also note that this is not even a comprehensive list. They forgot this all-time classic from Xbox that seems to intentionally convey the message that this totally awesome fighting game is only worth playing if you are a complete toolbag who will never ever touch a woman in real life.


I've been playing modern fighting games since the day SFII showed up unnoticed in the very BACK of my local arcade months before I would ever have to wait in line for it (and been into the genre since it's formation with Karate Champ and Yi Ar Kung Fu) so believe me when I say that the DOA fighting games are legitimately some of the most fun I've had gaming. Yes, they make the female characters in the games attractive and bouncy on purpose and some of the moves are deliberately provocative in a tongue-in-cheek way, but that does not change the fact that the games themselves were surprisingly deep, innovative, and extremely fun, boobs or no boobs. Plus, it was featured in Buffy and that is instant cool. Drunken Monkey Fist reference for the win!

What is wrong with video game companies? A small bit on a cult tv show makes a game look way cooler than the commercial that is actually supposed to sell the game to you? It's like they WANT to fail but just can't.

[The Curmudgeon]

I think the problem lies in the idea that, because video games are seen as a "young person's pursuit" so the people who make all this shit have to try and make them, like, totally rad duuuude. Well, that was the 80s and early 90s. In the UK at least, the ads then started getting all "knowing" and "ironic" and then just plain weird, like that PS3 baby one.

The obvious exception to this is Nintendo. I've shown you their ad for Mario over here, and their approach is pretty simple. Get well known UK faces, have them play the game (always more than one person playing together), cut to the game, show it being played. End ad.

UK girl band Girls Aloud, for example, tout Mario Kart on the DS.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=is9W0EcS8yc&playnext=1&list=PL59A0C2F240F263C8&index=10

Simple. Effective. No stupid characters (well, apart from the obvious, ahem), no patronising "nerds" or gross visuals. Those ads are hilariously bad. God knows how much coke was snorted to make them seem like a good idea at the time.

What do you think of this ad for Assassins Creed, Trash? To me, it does everything an ad should - it keeps me watching AND it makes me want to play the game. Yeah the music doesn't fit, but it's still damn cool.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kbwsbvJ7oM

[trashcanman]

Assassin's Creed is freaking cool. Actually cooler than that ad. I just wish there weren't so many other games coming out all the time so I could keep up with it. Can't argue with simply showing the game. While we're on the topic, I have to say that I love this video featuring what I would describe as "assassin spaz poison":



Here's a version an ad that actually made me buy a game that turned out to be pretty average.

The one I remember was different and had actual gameplay in addition to the cutscenes, but the point is I'd be lying if I said that the soundtrack choice didn't influence my purchase. That's how it's done.