Remember last week when I theorized that Microsoft's pending Xbox360 unveiling on MTV could prompt "large developers, [to] deny access to the press and decide to spend their effort on their own 30-minute prime time informercial instead"?
This could be the first step.
Sure, this is only a 60-second commercial, and it's not the first time that a game developer has shown game footage in an ad. Movie studios routinely make media events out of TV trailer premieres as well. But this is the first time I can remember that a game company used an ad as a major media unveiling.
Given the ad's prime position during the first half of the 2006 NFL draft and the significant press attention the ad is getting days before it airs, it's a good bet that millions of people will get to see Madden 2006 at the same time the press is getting its first look. Heck, EA is even running ads for the ad, emphasizing "how far we've come" from the blocky, eyeless characters in early Madden games. That ought to show you how serious they are about this.
We can write all the pretty words we want, but once those photo-realistic football players get in gamers' heads, anything we say is going to be so much window dressing. I'll be out of town this weekend, but I'll try my best to catch the premiere and share my thoughts in this space if I can.
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Who says the press is being denied access? Some in the press may have already seen the game already; there have been plenty of previews of Madden 06.
ReplyDeleteYou're kidding right?
ReplyDeleteThe Xbox MTV thing I can kind of understand as it's basically a 30 minute infomercial being passed off as "news".
But this is a comemrcial. One single commercial. Video games have been running commercials since the Atari. And EA is no stranger to sports broadcasts. Nearly every other commercial during every sunday afternoon football game and regular season baseball games feature EA commercials.
This is the first time that I've seen a TV commercial for a game promoted beforehand. Like you said, it's become common for movie trailers, and I bet this won't be the last time we'll see this kind of thing for games.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious as to the slant the ad will take. I doubt it will look like a standard game ad at all, with the way this is being hyped...