There’s a new commercial out for a video game (Dead or Alive III, maybe?) running on X-Box. It’s possibly the most offensive commercial I’ve ever seen running in prime time. It consists of shots of two losers sitting on a couch interspersed with shots of the game. One of the losers is saying that he likes the game because of, yeah, uh, the high resolution and non-stop action. Meanwhile the shots of the video are treating us to anatomically detailed shots of women kicking the bajeezus out of random people. And by “anatomically detailed”, I mean that you can see their pubic bones.
The final line of the commercial is the second loser giving a Beevus & Butthead style guffaw and saying “They kick high”.
I see… So the point of the this game is essentially non-stop money-shots?
Well, I'm not overly prudish, and I appreciate lovingly rendered porn right with the best of them, but what the hell is this doing being advertised on national TV in the daytime?
I guess the two of us have different definitions of “anatomically detailed”, “x-rated”, and “porn”.
For me, women clad in swimsuits is neither x-rated nor pornography. You obviously disagree.
If you really want to rail about decency in prime time, why not tackle the issue of real women in real matching bra and panties. Namely, the upcoming Victoria Secret fashion show.
Tangent: Is marketing ladies underwear to adolescent males a smart marketing strategy?
Reviews of Dead or Alive 3 made me think it was a good fighting game with exceptional graphics. However, I agree that this commercial would make me feel odd at Blockbuster. The girl behind the counter would suddenly picture me going “hehe she kicks high” and I’d exit the store all red-faced.
Actually, what disturbs me about the whole thing is that there are actually people out there sad enough to buy the game because of the hot cartoon women. In fact, I was reading some of my friend’s gaming magazines and they frequently commented on their desire for certain animated characters in certain video games. That scares me. I’ll offer to buy them a porn video or magazine so they can at least get their jollies off of real, live women instead of drawn ones. Like me
Are you kidding me??? That was the best commercial ever!!! I especially like the way they quote Al Bundy: “She kicks real high.” If they had more commercials like that, then maybe I will buy the set. I suppose you like the Playstation commercials featuring Crash Bandicoot, and the ones with skateboarding Tony Hawk looking like a doofus, don’t you??? The Dead or Alive commercial is the only commercial I want to tape, it was so good
Oh, Christ, that commercial is funny. And oh so true. I’ve got Tekken Tournament for my PS2, and it gives you a breakdown on how often each character is played. Guess who’s got over seventy percent playtime? Xiaoyu. Usually in her schoolgirl outfit.
I swear to God, it’s not me. It’s my creepy friends.
Grim: Never underestimate the transvestite market.
I’d be more puzzled about the commercial where the guy is sitting on the couch with some super-model type creature, and then there’s a few flashy shots of gameplay & whatnot, and in the last shot the guy’s sitting on the couch, looking at the game-console that now occupies the space where the girl was. What, the girl is the game? Is that supposed to be ironic and hip? Why does it just seem sad?
[sup](Don’t remember if that was an X-box or GameCube ad.)[/sup]
I remember a game for the N64 (I think) called War Gods. It was just your run-of-the-mill attempt at making a Mortal Kopy fighting game (like Primal Rage… remember that hack of crap?). Anyway, a friend of mine described it as being really cool. I asked him what was cool about it. He said he’d show me. So he starts up the game, and chooses a female character to play (I forget her name). The match starts, the two digital contenders began fighting. It seemed like a run of the mill fighting game. But when the match was over, his character did the standard “victory dance”… and in doing so, raised her arms above her head and jiggled her boobs.
My friend was ranting and raving about two seconds of boob jiggling.
I agreed with him that it was a cool game, based solely on that.
Whoo, boy, those losers and they’re video game hotties. What we need is a return of a good, wholesome cartoon woman like Betty Boop.
:rolleyes:
BUT… I have heard some rumors that there will be the first-ever “Adult Only” game released on a console system… for the XBox! Unconfirmed, it was a blurb in a gaming magazine… but I can’t wait.
I also saw this commercial and was surprised that it was so blatant about the purported object of interest because the game is supposed to be pretty good re graphics, gameplay etc. It could have been more subtle just showing the “hot action” without the slack jawed comments and the point would have been made more effectively.
I remember an arcade style fighting game I got for the kids when I picked up one of the disco’d Dreamcasts for $ 79 a few months ago. Lots of heaving, jiggling cleavage. Nicely done too! Finally, a game from the whole family!
Try http://www.adcritic.com since I bet they’d have it. You need Quicktime to view their stuff. Even if you don’t care it’s a really fun site to visit. Who’d think commercials could be so much fun? If a commercial is ever banned for some reason you can usually catch it here as well.
As to the ad I guess you need to consider who the target market is. What TV show was the ad placed in? If it was a Beavis & Butthead cartoon or Ren & Stimpy or something it was probably an appropriate to appeal to the audience usually watching those shows. If it was an ad placed on the History Channel during a biography of Shakespeare then maybe it was a bad choice.
I’d be curious to know what the demographics are for the XBox buying public. Most people consider video games to be a teenage male thing but I’ve seen stats that suggest it’s a male thing through age 35 or so. In addition, the average income of these people suggest they aren’t even close to a bunch of welfare recipients with nothing better to do but rather well-paid and usually college educated folks. Again, one has to wonder at the advertising strategy…I’m all for buxom women kicking ass but the ad needs to appeal on at least a slightly higher level than that for me to buy it (i.e. two buxom woman kicking ass or better yet mud wrestling).
I just read this in Popular Science yesterday, that 57% of the video game public was 18 or older, from some Gallup poll or something. Anyone wants more info I can post more details tonight.
People think that gamers are losers and we prove them right with ads like this one.
It’s a great ad. Really. It’s fantastic. If you are 13 and into fart jokes and the like.
It’s an ad full of crotch shots for what would otherwise be a great game. I saw the game in a store and it looked REALLY good. The graphics were impressive and fluid and there was a lot of detail. But you can bet that the public will now associate it with two zit faced virgins on a couch talking about ‘pixilated bump mapping huh huh’.
IIRC there were a few “Adult Only” carts for the Atari 2600 VCS. Though they left a lot to the imagination or consisted of penises “shooting” at stuff.
If that commercial offends you Finagle, how do you feel about the Red Bull “Adam and Eve” commercial? Real live barenaked pencil drawn breasts complete with nipples on prime time TV. I was surprised, not shocked, but surprised.
