Gallery: Animal Crossing: City Folk
Posts with tag commercial
City Folk crossing into central mainstream with new ad
Wario shakes up YouTube
Well done, Nintendo. If you hoped this fourth wall-shattering commercial for Wario Land: Shake It! would make the blog rounds, then you succeeded. We don't usually post about media of games that are already on store shelves, but this was just too good to pass on. We can't really say much more for fear of spoiling the surprise involved, so click here and get watching. But come back, please. Gets lonely here, y'know.
Gallery: Wario Land: Shake It
[Via 4cr, thanks JR!]
Wii Warm Up: On commercials
Nintendo history is littered with famous TV commercials (many of which have since become memes in their own right), and there have been plenty of memorable efforts for Wii games so far, including some really funny Fatal Frame IV spots and the love-it-or-hate-it Cowboy Jed trailers for Mario Kart Wii. What's your favorite Nintendo commercial of all time?
Top 5: Nintendo on YouTube
Privacy issues aside, YouTube is a great place to take the pulse of a culture. Just type in a subject, and instantly you're provided with news stories, film and television references, artistic responses, editorial presentations, and individual observations. Given the gaming community's incredibly strong presence online, YouTube is packed with videos of/for/about gamers. As to be expected, there are hundreds of thousands of videos inspired by or based on Nintendo's history. Indeed, a simple search for the word "Nintendo" yields about a half a million results. Aside from the usual dead horse-beating of people acting out "Mario in the real world!" (OH WOW LOOK HE WENT DOWN A PIPE JUST LIKE MARIO DOES), there's a wealth of quality Nintendo-related videos that all should experience. Here is our top five.
5. Zelda Rap - There are embarrassing memories that, despite all best efforts to forget, will replay in one's mind until the brain isn't supplied with oxygen anymore. Eventually, however, the awful moments can desensitize the public such that the original matter loses its acidity. It's similar to a hot fudge sundae-induced brain freeze. At first, it's shocking and awful. But then you start to grow used to it, and before long you're dying for one due to its association with ice cream heaven. This basic principle applies to Nintendo's 1986 "Zelda Rap" commercial. As a couple of kids are sitting on a couch, the nerdier of the two asks, "Did you see the latest Nintendo newsletter?" (I've always loved how commercials choose to ignore the way people actually talk) While one might expect an immediate wincing reaction to the crispy freestyle that follows, the more common response is similar to a post-Jim Norton joke: "wow, he really went there ... like, all the way there without looking back." A week after viewing, you may find yourself reciting your own NES-influenced rhymes.
Bully is still riling up the Brits
When will the UK stop freaking out about Bully? If you guessed "Never," "Probably not anytime soon," "Not in this lifetime," or "Is that a rhetorical question?" then you're on the right track.The newest slew of censorship whinings stemmed from a commercial for the game, which some people found "offensive," "distasteful," and (insert negative adjective here). The ad featured typical Bully shenanigans: destruction of property, wedgies, and so forth. The Advertising Standards Authority received thirty-one complaints about the commercial in question, as a handful of folks were upset that children could easily see it on their tellies.
Take Two blames sensationalist media coverage for the complaints, and as for the ASA? They don't seem too worried, as the organization declined to take any action regarding the ad. Even so, Take Two has no plans to run it again in the future.
To see the "offensive" commercial for yourself, just click past the break.
Gallery: Bully
A new habit for nuns
Looking for someone to play Wii Sports with? Get thee to a nunnery! We admit that this unofficial commercial is predictable and probably a bit corny, too -- just like our post title -- but at least it's 10 million times more entertaining than Sister Act.
As for the origins of the clip, Youtube user Phil Strahl and several of his classmates at the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg shot the commercial for a Post Production course last year. Make sure you watch it 'til the end for some extra goofiness -- how were they able to knock down bowling pins while playing tennis?
Three things to get you excited about Shiren 3
First reason to be hyped about Shiren the Wanderer: The Sleeping Princess in the Clockwork Palace's release, even though no one has announced a U.S. localization yet -- Famitsu's review score: 35/40 (9 / 9 / 8 / 9). Though many consider Famitsu to be too forgiving with its reviews for highly advertised, big-budget games, the Shiren series doesn't seem to fit that description. For such a niche game to receive a high score like this, Chunsoft must have done something right!
Second reason -- See Asuka model pictured above (and past the break). We're not the type to leave figures of female anime characters posed around our rooms, giving women even more reason to run away from the mess we've made of our lives, but as we demonstrated with the Koppa remote stand preorder bonus, we have a weakness to Shiren merchandise.
As for our third reason, swing your sword to check for traps, and step past the break for a new Shiren 3 commercial. It features a collection of player deaths set to Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 -- what's not to like?
Continue reading Three things to get you excited about Shiren 3
Wii Warm Up: Cowboy Jed vs. guys who want to play
This morning, we've got a very simple question for you: which commercials do you prefer, the new Cowboy Jed ads (minus the hilarious remix footage), or the Wii Would Like to Play guys? It's a tough decision. Cowboy Jed is off the proverbial chain with those extras, but extremely annoying on the actual television. The Wii Would Like to Play guys are great themselves, but some of those ads are not. Have an opinion? Or do you just skip the commercials anyway?
Mario Kart ditches 'Wii would like to play' for Cowboy Jed
"Look at that boy!"
As effective as Nintendo's "Wii would like to play" commercials have been, expanding the system's audience and attracting non-gamers, we're glad to see the campaign shunned for Mario Kart Wii (Though we expect to see it reappear for Wii Fit). In our opinion, the advertising style seemed inappropriate for some titles, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, for instance.
In the slogan's stead, we have Cowboy Jed and his Mario Kart Emporium parodying local, low-budget dealership commercials. Fantastic! We hope Nintendo of America and advertising firm Leo Burnett are planning more of these strange commercials for upcoming games. Get behind the wheel and drive past the post break for two more videos with Jed. Woo!
Gallery: Mario Kart Wii
Continue reading Mario Kart ditches 'Wii would like to play' for Cowboy Jed
Coolly energetic Wii Fit videos to whet your exergaming appetite
Continue reading Coolly energetic Wii Fit videos to whet your exergaming appetite
Friday Video: Nintendo mascots 'so happy together'
Oh, the good old days when we spent more time playing games and less time getting whipped bloody while we furiously tapped away on a rented laptop. That's what this commercial reminds us of, back when we'd stay home from school, pretending to be sick so we could get more time in with the game. And when we'd host all of the neighborhood riffraff in one big Super Smash Bros. 64 tournament on Saturday afternoons. But most importantly, it reminds us of everyone ganging up on that cheap bastard Pikachu.
[Via SmashBrawlRankings]
Nintendo using its totally unnecessary Brawl ad budget
We'd think this commercial for Super Smash Bros. Brawl was a fan-created fake if we hadn't, uh, been forced to watch it before our chosen video on Gamevideos. News appears everywhere, even in the way of other news! It's about as basic as a commercial can get: it shows some characters doing a few moves and poses, then cuts to the boxart and text reading "March 9, 2008." It doesn't really need much else.
The question, of course, is "does Brawl really need any advertising?" This isn't a Metroid Prime 3 situation, in which a good game needs a bit of a push to get into as many hands as possible. This is Super Smash Bros. It's basically the only game that was a genuinely huge hit on the GameCube. There's no concern that it'll undersell.
Wild Earth: Trailer Safari
Wild Earth: African Safari continues to keep us entertained for totally unintentional reasons. At first it was some of the absolutely loopy minigames, but now it's this terrible advert for the game, which depicts Mum and the kids getting their safari on, and falls in the "so-bad-it's-kinda-good" category. Frankly, we can smell the cheese from here.
Fortunately (and more importantly), the game itself continues to show promise. Some of the animation on display here is very decent, and the multiplayer sections, where one player steers the jeep or helicopter and the others snap the wildlife, actually look pretty exciting. There's even a brief glimpse of Whac-A-Meerkat!
Gallery: Wild Earth: African Safari
Japan to run plenty of ads for Smash Bros. Brawl
With Super Smash Bros. Brawl releasing upon the Japanese public at the end of the month, it's no surprise that Nintendo has prepared a plethora of TV spots to be run. And, thanks to the intertron, one doesn't need to live in Japan to see them. So, sit back, relax and catch an eye full of Brawl goodness in one of the spots above, then head past the break for some more.
Continue reading Japan to run plenty of ads for Smash Bros. Brawl
NiGHTS? On my broadcast TV?
It's more likely than you think. Look at Sega, spending money to promote their game! They really seem to be targeting more than just the insane NiGHTS fan demographic with their marketing for NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. One YouTuber caught a commercial for the game during Courage the Cowardly Dog. It's very strange to see something like NiGHTS, which seems like the exclusive domain of brutally devoted Sega fans, being advertised on mainstream television. Is it just us, or does the narrator make you think of those Claymation(esque) Puffs commercials? Maybe that's just the default "fairy tale" voice for commercial narration.
Speaking of advertising and Courage, Cartoon Network should really let people know that Courage is still on. We had no idea.
[Via GoNintendo]
