Modern Game Marketing: You got Halo: Reach in my controller!

One of the less-noticeable marketing ploys is the special edition controller.  No better way to play Halo than with a Halo T-Shirt, Halo boxer shorts, Halo cereal, and OH!  Don't forget the Halo controller.

This little piece of selling-out will run you $60.

That's the price of a game.

A whole game.  Never mind if you're buying the ultra-special-edition of Halo: Reach.  Shelling out for the controller will probably make your hands feel dirtier than usual, despite the fact that you had to carry the box with the die-cast figures out of Gamestop because they didn't have a bag big enough for you.

Xbox.com revealed this little number before quickly pulling it back.  God forbid we spend money on more software this fall.  Instead, we'll need this lightly reskinned controller to make guests feel inferior while we enjoy multiplayer.

Modern Game Marketing is a series on how new games, and the corporations behind them, get you to want them.
To read more in PLAY READ WRITE's Modern Game Marketing series, check out the tag!

Modern Game Marketing - RE: Darkside Chronicles trailer really makes an impression

Don't take my word for it, head on over to the page and check it out. Right now! Here's a link: click it! I like it a lot when game companies do this sort of thing. Does anyone else remember the Wario Land: Shake It trailer they had on Youtube?

Anyways, if you still don't know what I'm talking about, the ads around the video aren't the only thing that's breaking boundaries for Resident Evil. I really like when game companies market this way. It certainly takes modern video game marketing in to the Web 2.0 space. I don't understand why more of these haven't been made, especially because they make such an impact on the viewer.

Maybe if the technique was used more often, it wouldn't make the same impression, or maybe it just costs a lot of advertising dollars that would be better spent in another area (like outdoor ads, or on public transportation [I actually saw some Darkside Chronicles ads on the Bay Area Rapid Transit last week]).

Modern Game Marketing is a series on how new games, and the corporations behind them, get you to want them.

Epic Mickey's epic atmosphere spreads to comics etc

Modern Warfare 2's Infamy Trailer

Microsoft's MW2 Branded Xbox 360

The Ballad of Gay Tony

Modern Game Marketing - Epic Mickey's epic atmosphere spreads to comics etc

As more and more Epic Mickey details pour out, so does word of the Epic Marketing Campaign that'll go with it.

Kotaku reported Thursday that designer and cool-last-name-having-guy Warren Spector is going to continue "beating on that drum." What drum is he talking about? The drum of marketing (of course!) and taking a product and selling it across as many different products as can carry that product. In this case, you'll see Mickey tear across a dark landscape of T-shirts, coffee mugs, beanie babies and of course, big-screen adaptations. Who wouldn't want to see a good thing run into the ground?

It might be too soon to talk about good things though, especially because Epic Mickey is still a long way out. The Game Informer cover has come and gone (but we know how "cheaply" those things are considered), but a lot of the things you see about Epic Mickey remain in the conceptual stages.

Let us not forget that this is a third-party Wii game we're talking about. I don't mean to be such a detractor and suggest that Epic Mickey won't sell through mini-game compilation numbers, but I think the gaming public and the general public who will certainly have Epic Mickey forced down their throats in numerous ads, sponsorships, and general news media coverage should consider Epic Mickey with a grain of salt. It takes a lot more than a great idea to get the game out the door and it takes even more for the masses to latch onto that game and make it a seller into the sixth figure.

With Disney's burgeoning game's division, it's looking-good purchase of Marvel, and the usual marketing machine behind it, I'm sure we'll see Epic Mickey in at least two mediums come release.

Modern Game Marketing is a series on how new games, and the corporations behind them, get you to want them.

RE: Darkside Chronicles trailer really makes an impression

Modern Warfare 2's Infamy Trailer

Microsoft's MW2 Branded Xbox 360

The Ballad of Gay Tony

Modern Game Marketing - Modern Warfare 2's Infamy Trailer

Video Games | Modern Warfare 2 | Infamy Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Infinity Ward has released yet another Modern Warfare 2 trailer. I suppose I should have expected to write more than one Modern Game Marketing piece on MW2 as it is supposedly going to be the biggest holiday release this year. Here were are with another story driven trailer and you have to wonder what the gamers are going to think.

I always try to account for the differences in gaming demographics. With this trailer I thought I'd look at the differences between comments on Kotaku, Game Trailers, and You Tube. The trailer has been up for approximately 24 hours now so I'll take note of how many comments each posting has received and we'll record a quick survey of the comments and the overall opinion users display.

Kotaku's post had 467 comments at the time of writing.

--User vorpal_radish said "Awesome trailer. Gave me chills."

--User AraByblis pontificated "The only power capable of attacking the US on American soil is the US. I'm voting on some sort of civil war scenario. And the troops on both sides in the Washington scene appear American, the dudes on the white house roof were shooting at standard US troops. I think it will play out that a blackwater-like group will use a group of terrorist attacks as a cover for a full military coup." Many users responded to this posting, including their own break downs of the trailer detailing bits and bites that contributed to this theory.

The overall atmosphere of commenting was very much in depth. Commenters picked out specific details and were generally excited by the trailer. Of course, it helps that Kotaku employs a commenting system that promotes regular, thoughtful users.

Game Trailers' post had 1103 comments at the time of writing.

--User Brun0Th3BANK3r responded to Enfluence who originally said "Those graphics are..crap...and before you someone say im a graphics whore...im honestly not..i just like seeing what im shooting and right about now im thinking cod 4 ..you know the way every enemy BLENDS IN WITH EVERY TEXTURE IN THE ENTIRE GAME?" Brun0Th3BANK3r said "Thats why people who know more about graphics than you say they might be the best ever."

--User atheistnation wrote "awesome, attack on the home front.
going to kind of feel like a starting point to fallout 3 haha.
is there anyone who can really say this game looks like crap?"

In general, there was far less pleasant discussion. Some users were insulting others based on their opinion, some wrote incoherently, and even more didn't really hang around for a discussion, dropping a line and leaving.

Youtube's video had 7,947 comments at the time of writing.

--User seebrfc1 was spamming the comments with "I'm getting this game for free. You can, too. I have the details on one of my videos."

--User TheLittleWorldofGaz said "well concidering you've resorted to calling me childing names i think that shows how valid your argument is. I get better resolution on the PC, end of"

Ultimately I think we can rule out Youtube as a proper place to comment on video games. I can't deny that there is sometimes quite a bit of very watchable content on Youtube, but I don't see any reason to become a regular commenter there. Of course, some of the noise could be attributed to Youtube's huge user base, but I have a feeling eliminating even 75% of those users wouldn't necessarily bring the quality of comments up.

I'm letting this post publish within the Modern Game Marketing series because this very loose study of comments on these three sites still goes to show just how much a well designed and anticipated trailer can inspire desire in the modern gamer. Simply put, no matter where you find the latest MW2 trailer, people are going to be talking about it.

Modern Game Marketing is a series on how new games, and the corporations behind them, get you to want them.

RE: Darkside Chronicles trailer really makes an impression

Epic Mickey's epic atmosphere spreads to comics etc.

Microsoft's MW2 Branded Xbox 360

The Ballad of Gay Tony

Modern Game Marketing - Microsoft's MW2 Branded Xbox 360

I guess it's all kicked into full on over drive. I think the holiday season will still be filled with as much excitement as the industry can muster. It needs it, after all the numbers that have been declining every where, I'm sure that the industry could be enjoy a busy time for sales and some of the bigger movers in gaming. Of course that means console bundles and special editions!

And no one could deny what the offender Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is turning out to be!

Of course I can understand what they want to happen, but this sort of fanfare hasn't been pulled since Halo 3, and even that game didn't seem to come from such an evil marketing place. I suppose, again, the industry's sales will have to depend on another title to move units like there's no tomorrow, but in 10-year console cycles, there's got to be a tomorrow and that might be what's happening right now.

But in a way I think this can all be swayed as a good thing. Hopefully, the console manufacturers can focus enough on their own software efforts (and with the advent of digital download services it seems to be a easy and profitable thing for them to do), we can see the limits of all these different technologies stretched in as many ways as possible.

Still, Activision's deft and nimble marketing push, dropping new information on the game weekly, growing their advertising charge on all channels in a parallel effort, makes me a little uneasy. I can't help but feel like I'm being a little to directly marketed at....

Modern Game Marketing is a series on how new games, and the corporations behind them, get you to want them.

RE: Darkside Chronicles trailer really makes an impression

Epic Mickey's epic atmosphere spreads to comics etc.

Modern Warfare 2's Infamy Trailer

The Ballad of Gay Tony

Modern Game Marketing - The Ballad of Gay Tony

Ever since the marketing spree for Inglorious Basterds kicked in, I've been exceedingly sensitive to when companies are trying to market directly to me. I was a little disappointed by the movie and the advertising certainly made it seem to be a beast of a different color. Now, I'm taking my eagle eye to the latest games trailers that have made must haves out of titles arriving this holiday season. This will probably morph into a larger piece maybe for a larger site, but we'll see how it goes this first time.

Rockstar Games released the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV's second DLC episode, The Ballad of Gay Tony, to much excitement on Tuesday, and to put it plainly, it was a great trailer. There's a lot of character and information and life in this trailer, maybe something that was missing in the previous The Lost and Damned trailer. There are a lot of things this trailer does

much better than any other. Let's run down exactly what makes it great.

1) Make it like a movie trailer: Rockstar Games are obviously very proud of the work they do in their ability to have a very directed style and goal. Much of Grand Theft Auto IV was a parody, a parody of the environment, the people, and the actions involved in "achieving the American Dream." With the Ballad of Gay Tony they obviously are aiming for the flashy glitzy life style. How does the rest of the trailer achieve this?

2) People dancing in a flashy club is a sure way to promote this downtown lifestyle. A large crowd is going to make the viewer think "If I play this game, I'm really going to be in the thick of it." The people dancing in the club also plays on some of the nostalgia people feel for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. How many of us spent plenty of time watching the people dancing about in the hippest clubs? Using player nostalgia is another way Rockstar is going to be selling this game in the rest of the trailer.

3) Maybe the reason The Lost and Damned got lost in itself was the vehicles the characters were using primarily. I know after my horrific experiences with the motor bikes in the main GTA IV game, I was more than a little hesitant to hop back on (despite the proper changes being made). Now in TBoGT, we see lots and lots of the most powerful cars in the game, which were actually a lot more fun to drive than the various motorbikes.

4) With all of the fast cars, and dancing people, will there be any combat in the game? Of course, and those images are cut in with the dancing and set to the music as well. Showing a little blood on Luis' forehead means that he's going to be doing a lot of work. He's also got a big gun, and people like that too. Of course, as the player we won't be seeing the action in quite the same way, but watching is very far from doing, so the trailer is certainly whetting the appetite in these quick shots.

5) Here are the main marketing images in the trailer. What exactly is new about TBoGT and why should anyone want to expand their GTA IV experience? Of course everyone loves flying around in the Annihilator helicopter in the main game, but in TBoGT we'll be given a much more compact, and deadly toy to fiddle with.

6) This image also represents a fair amount of nostalgia and giving long time players of GTA what they want. At the release of IV, many players lamented the loss of the gigantic sandbox that San Andreas let players wreck. They wanted to see the load of planes to fly and all of the other crazy things you could see and do across the three expansive cities. This golf cart footage harkens back to the more comedic elements in a GTA.

7)Here's another image that gets spliced alongside dancing and flashing lights. It also makes the player's mind boggle. What could possibly be happening here and what is the players involvement in such an environment changing event? While players saw crashed and damaged railway cars in IV, they certainly never saw one being lifted off the ground by a helicopter.

8) This frame is also crucial in the specific message the marketing is trying to send to prospective consumers. The first thing the viewer notices is the explosions, the second is the amount of destruction happening here. The trailer is trying to tell the potential buyer that they will have a profound effect on their environment, that they'll be able to change it and even destroy it.

9) When Luis is climbing up the skyscraper, we know that the gameplay in the latest DLC pack is going to expand vertically. After spending so much time exploring the streets of Liberty City, Rockstar is trying to say that they're going to take the lid off in TBoGT. Also notice the helicopters circling Luis: they inspire images of King Kong fending off the planes firing at him as he climbed the Empire State building. Do we see how subtle images inflect different feelings in the potential consumer yet?

10) The final image of the trailer is probably meant to drive home the overall message that GTA fans will want to play TBoGT because it is going to bring back all of the chaos and absurdity of San Andreas. Were you one of the people who decried the lack of planes and parachutes in IV? Rockstar will assuage your complaints and bring in a new era of flying around only to crash a copter into a building and bail out at the last second.

I sometimes think that game trailers have a long way to come before they can invoke the same kind of draw that movie trailers have already. Quick cuts, specific images, flashing lights, all of which combine together to get a player to say "wow, I want to do all of that." Sometimes it can be very hard to market a game through video when the main attraction is the interaction, but these days I find it harder and harder to discern where Hollywood marketing begins and ends because with each trailer games seem to get closer to standing shoulder to shoulder with movies.

Modern Game Marketing is a series on how new games, and the corporations behind them, get you to want them.

RE: Darkside Chronicles trailer really makes an impression

Epic Mickey's epic atmosphere spread to comics etc

Modern Warfare 2's Infamy Trailer

Microsoft's MW2 Branded Xbox 360