Adventures in Game Advertising

by Darius Kazemi on May 10, 2006

in Uncategorized

So I was reading some E3 news this morning, and I came across the following advertisement.

It looks sort of like our blonde bombshell Sim is ignoring the advances of the military dude, who is in turn preparing to give her a piece of his mind.

Then I remembered the infamous Hitman ad. Yuck.

The “future of entertainment”, indeed.

{ 3 comments }

solipsistnation May 10, 2006 at 5:28 pm

I really hate all the Hitman ads I’ve seen, and they’re usually 2-page spreads and hard to avoid.

Bradley Momberger May 11, 2006 at 2:16 am

Come create the future of entertainment, which is just like the present of entertainment, only shinier.

Darren Torpey June 24, 2006 at 4:14 am

I don’t read that image the way you do at all, actually. Feels like a case of looking for something that’s only there by a stretch, but I do see your point.

I’m more along with Brad in hating such ads for being so terribly ironic. They talk about making the future of games but show images that epitomize the “just churn out more of what worked” attitude that EA seems to have. Sure, there are experimental projects, but you’re certainly not going to work on them! “Come churn out the (shinier!) future of games!”

As for Hitman, yeah, those ads have been terrible. Despite the obviously questionable taste they exhibit to begin with, the advertisers are failing to understand what makes the Hitman games compelling.

It’s not the dead person at the end of a mission, it’s getting away with the act — out-smarting or out-maneuvering your would-be adversaries. In many senses, it’s not much different from a level of Thief, save for the fact that you are necessarily killing someone at some point.

Ironically, one review of the game I’ve read actually credited the game with offering a somewhat fair sense of horror in the act that your mission revolves around. Reviewer bias, perhaps, but maybe not.

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