Here's my idea:
Commercial opens with several seconds of in-game clips.
Camera zooms out and you see a kid sitting on a couch playing Zelda.
The kid's brother walks behind him and looks at what he is playing.
Kid's brother: Ha! That game looks like a Saturday morning cartoon!
Kid is having too much fun playing Zelda to hear.
Kid's brother begins playing a super realistic game. He tries to get his guy to move to avoid some monsters, but is killed becuase the controls are very unresponsive and his guy is really slow.
Super realistic game: Ha ha ha! You are a loser! Ha ha ha
Kid's brother: Did you see that! My guy totally...
Kid is too engrossed in playing Zelda to notice.
Kid's brother: Uhh...can I play Zelda when you're finished?
Screen goes to Zelda: WW logo with in-game clips in the background.
Narator: Who needs ultra realistic graphics when you have one of the greatest gaming experiences of all time? [Or something to that effect]
Someone tell me that commercial would not be a perfect way to advertise Zelda. Sure it doesn't have very many in-game shots, but it hypes up game.
Neat idea. :D
I think that Nintendo should just show a lot of gameplay so that people can see just how amazing this game looks like, followed with a bunch of quotes from ign etc., saying "Best Gamecube game ever!" and things like that.
I likey. Now we just need to have A Black Falcon playing the super-realistc game to make it more...erm...realistic :D
Quote:Originally posted by OB1
Neat idea. :D
I think that Nintendo should just show a lot of gameplay so that people can see just how amazing this game looks like, followed with a bunch of quotes from ign etc., saying "Best Gamecube game ever!" and things like that.
Yeah, they would need a commercial like that too.
Here's what they do: Start running my commercial now, then when Zelda is released start showing a commecial that's almost entirely in-game shots with some quotes.
Egad, I'm a genius! I should be in charge of Nintendo's advertising!
While I agree that Nintendo's "Rush" camapaign went right over people's heads, this commercial seems a little heavy-handed. While it may attract people the age of the younger brother, it does so at the expense of people at the age of the older brother. Who actually wants to be the older brother in this situation? But then, I have to ask, how many teenagers does Nintendo have to piss off in the first place?
nintendo could have avoided this whole situation of having to market the game to the casual gamer by simply making it look like something that will appeal to those people. OoT didn't sell because it was zelda alone...it sold because it was beautiful, and had a "cool" style.
now that i've gotten that out of the way i think i have some ideas for how they could advertise this game.
idea # 1: Humor
take full advantage of the fact that link has reactions to his environment. show link in funny situations, reacting to those situations and then have some witty remark about how to style allows link to have this personality.
idea # 2: Fantasy
show off link fighting, make the battles appear epic and badass. play the classic zelda music, and show off particle effects. people love the spells in FF games. show off the magic that this game will surely have. give it a very epic, fantasy feel, and make it out to be this incredible adventure. it'll get people to take notice, i think.
idea # 3: Use OoT's popularity
take footage of OoT and run that...let's say, link fighting gannon, or something memorable from the previous game, but make it appear archaic looking, and boring. cut to a montage of WW with link doing crazy flips in battle, and fighting huge bad guys, making it appear as action packed and fun as possible and then people will say "wow, i liked OoT and this look so much cooler."
now, i'm not an advertiser and have recieved no sort of education on advertising psychology, so i don't really know if any of these would really work, but they seem like decent enough ideas to me. and they are merely suggestions.
comment as you see fit.
Quote:nintendo could have avoided this whole situation of having to market the game to the casual gamer by simply making it look like something that will appeal to those people. OoT didn't sell because it was zelda alone...it sold because it was beautiful, and had a "cool" style.
So basically what you're saying is that from now on Nintendo shouldn't dare do something fresh and different with their games because some narrow-minded people don't want to accept change, even if it's for the better? Yeah, great idea. If Nintendo were to follow that rule then there would be no Yoshi's Island, no Metroid Prime, no Paper Mario, and no Mario 64.
i should have recognized that bit's potential as flamebait...but i really only intended it as a disclaimer about my opinion on the look having not changed. oh well.
and i would hardly consider the new look a clean cut change for the better. i know that many people here have admitted that they like it, but fewer have said they prefer it to OoT's style. it seems to me that most of the supporters of this new artistic direction realize that the game will be great no matter what and have realized the charm that these graphics hold. even i'll admit that there is something charming about them. but i don't think that this gives them an advantage over OoT's style, as that game was perfectly captivating. i think that most people who like the look hold it at an equal level as the games from the N64. maybe i'm wrong, and i'd hate to speak incorrectly for everyone here, but that's been my impression.
now, i don't think nintendo should cater to the mainstream, but they shouldn't try to alienate them either. it's just bad business. sony has established with the world that nintendo is cute and that cute is bad. now, we know that nintendo makes good games, but nintendo is losing popularity. and i can't count the number of times i've heard that nintendo caters to children. from people and companies alike. hell, hideo kojima won't release metal gear for gamecube citing that it's a console for kids. this image is not helping nintendo succeed. and the new zelda does nothing to change that image, which is not helping nintendo generate sales within the mainstream, which is only hurting them in the long run.
also, i wouldn't put a style change in the graphics of zelda in the same league of fresh and different that Mario 64 falls into.
Are you kidding me? You cannot seriously compare OoT's graphics to WW's. OoT looked good when it came out, but come on, you're just being silly. WW is an incredible graphical feat, whether or not you like cel-shading. I definitely prefer the cartoony look over the more realistic OoT look. There's so much more that you can do with this new graphical style, and it makes it so much more immersive (since you really are walking around in a cartoon world). Most gamers will despise the look right up until the game comes out and then they'll love it. The exact same thing happened with Metroid Prime and Paper Mario. The game is just so colorful, so full of life, so innocent. That last part was especially lacking in the N64 games for me. At least compared to the 2D games.
Quote:Originally posted by Nintendarse
this commercial seems a little heavy-handed.
Heavy-handed? Phht. It's those teens that need to be slapped around and shown what a real game is. Not some interactive eye-candy, but the immersive experience of playing Zelda: WW.
But WW is eye-candy. I've seen dozens of clips from the game and I still can't believe how beautiful it is.
NOA Marketting Guy: Let's get a big cartoony Link mascot and have it beat up on a big cartoony Ganon mascot while playing happy music in the background!
No offense guys but your ideas kinda suck. I don't think Nintendo should use any live actors talking about how incredible the game is with some stupid ass dialogue. Unless the get the Legolas the dude from LOTR to play Link for a commercial spot, they should use in game graphics. If I had my wish fulfilled, Nintendo would look back on it's Zelda:TOOT commercials and basically copy them because those ruled.
Knowing Nintendo's recent ad campaigns, I don't expect much... though that one WW ad/trailer thing was better than most recent Nintendo ad campaigns. Nintendo proves once in a while their marketing isn't completely incompetent... its just too bad that those moments are so far and few between...
Quote:Originally posted by MgL
No offense guys but your ideas kinda suck.
No, YOU suck!!
I like some of the ideas in this thread. Nintendo can't just show off the graphics because people will immediately think "kiddy." They cannot afford to alienate everyone over the age of 12. I think the best idea would be comparing it to OoT. Start now by announcing the preorder campaign and show off a few cool parts of Wind Waker. Then when we get closer to WW's release, show similar fight scenes from both games.
If I were in charge of marketing i'd put a commercial out that's entirely in Japanese and shows Link crawling through holes and showing off his green underoos - Zelda: WW - "Underwear simulator" and have commentary simmilar to that of Iron Chef with Lewis Farrakahn, Arnold Swarzenegger, Wolf Blitzer and Pia Zadora. Then during the commercial, have another commercial inside it for Nintendo condoms featuring Nintendo's greatest characters, of which Donkey Kong's rubber would be 2 feet long and Yoshi's smells of fruit, etc. Then going back to the Iron Chef-like commercial, show an atomic bomb which kills countless people followed by a slow montage of different video game commercials from the past 20 years against a background of a beautifully rendered depiction of an asian Jesus drawing water from an ancient well while Barber's Adiagio for Strings plays.
And then the tag line:
"Zelda Wind Waker sucks and so do you." Followed by a high resolution picture of an old man sucking a Gamecube controller and weeping.
i wonder how many times one has to say "style" after the word graphics before OB1 realizes that one is comparing the art designs of two games, not the technical aspects of the graphics.
lazy: I love that idea! That would sell soo many cubes! If only you worked for Nintendo...
big guy: Pfft, the style is awesome. You suckos muchos.
Big Guy has it just right... the style and a modern Zelda game just shouldn't be together...
As for the advertising, I do agree that they can't just focus on the gameplay or people will really dislike it... they won't see that the gameplay is great and will ignore it.
Like they did because of the stupid Mario Sunshine ad campaign...
I'm not sure what Nintendo should do, though... but that trailer thing a while back was pretty good. Focus on it as a classic Zelda game, and not as a graphical experiment, I guess...
Well thanks for letting us know that the style is wrong, GOD.
"graphical experiment". Punk. I suppose "innovation" isn't in your vocabulary, huh?
Experiment, innovation... why the problem with the term? It just might have a slightly more negative connotation... but not necessarially. Oh... and is it innovation? Sort of, but not exactly. I'd hardly say cel shading is a new technique...
Of course cel-shading isn't new, but the way Nintendo is implementing it is most certainly innovative.
Well, I was going to get defensive, but I know that'll get us nowhere...so I'll try to keep a level head as a disclaimer. As always, everything I say is IMO.
If you're trying to gain interest among people whom identify with the younger brother, this a great commercial. However, I would feel dissed if a character I identify with is humiliated. It certainly would not make me say, "Wow, I was such an idiot for buying those shallow realistic games. I want to play Zelda because I want to be just like that guy who gets humiliated by his younger brother." Case in point: I made a statement that I thought was a fair post of personal opinion, but, from your opinion, my opinion was an attack on your idea. So you got defensive. And when you got defensive, I got defensive. And when one is put into defensive mode (as would a person who identifies with the older brother), the person stops listening.
OB1- Some things are so based on opinion that they simply cannot be logically refuted. Taste in art is one of them. I'm sorry to take you as an example, but I have experience so many people that believe, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...as long as I am the beholder." You're going to have a tough time convincing someone that their taste in art is wrong...just as it would be hard to convince you that your taste in art is wrong.
I think big guy was not making a statement about the quality of the art style at all. Here's an example of the above: "I like the Wind Waker art style." This is my opinion of the art style itself. He was stating that he believed that this art style of Wind Waker does not appeal to the mass market as much as the art style of Ocarina of Time. Oddly enough, I share his view. How can this be? How can one like the art style of a game and simultaneously think it will be unpopular? Because I'm okay with the fact that the mass market doesn't have to agree with my opinion, and I am going to have very little effect on the opinion of the mass market. The thing is, the very people I disagree with on the "kiddy" argument are the people I want to buy the game. So, saying "screw you" simply screws me over because it makes them want to buy the game less, which is my ultimate un-goal.
For example, I would love to see a commercial like that, lazyfatbum, but I know it would go way over the consumer's heads. So while I love the commercial idea, I don't think it would work as a commercial.
However, I must agree (with OB1) that simply pandering to the consumer does not work... Because the consumer cannot be overwhelmingly shocked and amazed at something that it knows it wants. The thing is, people don't want sequels, they want to be shocked and amazed like they were during the first movie/game/book. For example, people didn't really want a sequel to Super Mario 64 in Super Mario Sunshine, they wanted to be shocked and amazed like they were when they first played SM64.
However, where I disagree with OB1 is...what is that next step? What is not so foreign that it alienates the consumer, but foreign enough to shock and amaze? Simply put, I don't think the cartoon look is that next step...at least not by itself. It already has negative connotations among the teen market, so instead of irritating that connotation and rubbing it in their faces, Nintendo will have to do some slight of hand...making consumers focus not on the apprehension, but on something else...humor, nostalgia, fantasy, whatever. Fantasy seems like a good trend to follow, but if it really wants to have huge sales of Zelda, it has to take that fantasy image to the next level. The whole "Enya" thing is in right now, but to make an impact, it has to examine where that's going, and MAKE the next step in the image of fantasy. The game is finished, but the image of the game is just beginning to form in the hearts and minds of consumers.
Enya? Enya is so 1991. :D
And dude, I've been talking about how this whole debate on the style is subjective. ABF was saying that it's simply wrong for Zelda just because he doesn't like it.
But should Nintendo stop trying to innovate just because a bunch of insecure teens might feel like they're playing a kid's game? I certainly hope not. And we've already seen that Mature-themed Gamecube games don't sell as well as they should. Eternal Darkness was a complete flop, the RE games only sold "well enough" and Metroid Prime--arguably the best game ever made--was outsold by games such as Splinter Cell and Dragon Ball Z Budokrap. So don't tell me that Zelda would sell better if it were more mature-looking.
Wind Waker sold pretty damn well in Japan compared to most other GC games, and those guys didn't have a problem with the new look. And really, if American gamers can't enjoy the game because they don't think it's realitic enough, who gives a damn?
First. I really can't figure out if you actually read my posts... I just don't get why you think that I state everything as absolute truths when if you've read much I write I make it pretty clear that, in almost all cases, I'm just stating my opinion... of course its subjective...
Look... while you may not care what the American consumer thinks, Nintendo should because they do have to look to the bottom line... public opinion IS very important, and if Nintendo makes a game that is against it like Zelda is, they'd better get out to the public why they should get the game... better advertising is a absolute must. Problem is, Nintendo's marketing is awful overall. It would have helped greatly to advertise better in many cases and they didn't do it. I mean, Eternal Darkness was an incredible game that, if it had been successfully marketed to the right group, could hvae been a great success... we all know what happened there. Mario Sunshine's marketing issues I've already discussed. Nintendo better have a great ad campaign that APPEALS TO THE MASS MARKET or sales will be dissapointing... actually I expect them to be, given Nintendo's marketing as of late...
And I know you know cartoons are much more accepted in Japan so that really isn't a valid comparison...
Quote:Originally posted by Nintendarse
Well, I was going to get defensive, but I know that'll get us nowhere...so I'll try to keep a level head as a disclaimer. As always, everything I say is IMO.
If you're trying to gain interest among people whom identify with the younger brother, this a great commercial. However, I would feel dissed if a character I identify with is humiliated. It certainly would not make me say, "Wow, I was such an idiot for buying those shallow realistic games. I want to play Zelda because I want to be just like that guy who gets humiliated by his younger brother." Case in point: I made a statement that I thought was a fair post of personal opinion, but, from your opinion, my opinion was an attack on your idea. So you got defensive. And when you got defensive, I got defensive. And when one is put into defensive mode (as would a person who identifies with the older brother), the person stops listening.
Chill, man, I was just poking fun at you.
But, really, most people are going to overlook Zelda because it doesn't look "cool", my idea for the commercial was try to show that though it may not look cool to them, it is a very awesome game.
You know what though? Most of the people that I know who hated WW's look quickly changed their mind once they saw it in motion. The game really does look incredible in motion, and Nintendo needs to show that. The only people that I know who still despise the look are the ones that started playing Zelda with OoT so they think that that's how Zelda should look like, which is wrong.
Zelda fans who hate the look are still going to buy the game because they know that the gameplay is going to be fantastic, and the non-Zelda fans will flock to it because of how awesome it looks like in motion. I've already convinced a few non-gamer friends to get a Gamecube just because of this game.
I don't think I would ever tell someone to spend $150 dollars on something that might be good.
"might" be good? The game was released two months ago in Japan, and all of the major sites and magazines have all said that it's a very, very good game. Did you seriously think that it would suck?
As you can see
here, several websites have already reviewed the Japanese version of the game and it has an average rating of 96%.
Sweet. This game will chew off a few months of my life.
Arse/ JESUS CHRIST MAN TRY DECAFF There are brands available that taste just as good as decaffinated brands and often at a lower price.
My opinion on Zelda - God's gift to gamers.
My opinion on the art style - Shigeru Miyamoto like-a the acid.
My opinion on people who actually put down the art style - You need this:
Link
Now let's all do the adult thing and make fun of the Playstation 2
Guy at Sony: HA oOooOoOOo ! i work at SONYYYY ! *dur* i want to make a new video game system because i'm JAPANESE *wears a sweater* I KNOW *dur* i'll put 2 PLAYSTATIONS TOGETHER *dislikes Zelda's art style* AND MAKE IT HARDER TO PROGRAM *briefly thinks of animal porn* GAGAGAGAF ! GENIUS ! *went to vocational schools as a child to learn ancient cullinary art and apartment complex management*
Square: well ADOY!??! *finds new ways to reinvent redundancy* ARE NOT YOU GOING TO ADD UPON IT A DVD PLAYERRRR???//??/?
Guy at Sony: YES ! AND I WILL ALSO GIVE IT HUES OF BLACK AND BLUE TO CONVEY MY YOUTH AS I WAS CONSTANTLY BEATEN BY MY OWN SISTERS ! ****THE HIDDEN MEANINGS TAUNT ME IN THEIR DELICATE REASONINGS*****
Sisters: *commit seppuku*
*clap clap clap clap clap*
I'm sorry I even tried to be serious for a moment.
Someone else's opinion doesn't mean you'll have fun. I'd laugh if someone bought a system for one game and found out they couldn't stand it.
Do you think that WW is the only good GC game out there?
WW is just the big game that I used to get these people into buying a Gamecube. Once they get one they'll soon be able to buy other awesome games such as Metroid Prime, Mario Sunshine, ED, Smash Brothers, etc. I showed one of my older sisters (the one who's always been into gaming, and the one who had the 2600 and NES that I played when I was a toddler) a quick video of Wind Waker last summer and she could hardly contain her excitement. She's loved Zelda longer than I have and can't wait to get this new one. Her newest system is the Dreamcast, so she's been itching to get a new one. I then showed her stuff from Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, and Smash Bros. and that convinced her to get a GC. She'll be getting the Mario Sunshine bundle as soon as WW comes out. I've also convinced other friends to buy Gamecubes by showing them videos and letting them play my GC games.
You, my friend, have some very impressionable peers.
All I have to do is show these uninformed people how great the Gamecube line-up is. It's as simple as that.
I think that verifies what I said earlier.
But most of these people are stubborn, not very impressionable.