Support NeoGAF

[mantidor]

The idea of an ad is not to be memorable nor is it to show everything about the game. It is just a tease.

Hopefully you'll never work in anything publicity related. An ad should not be memorable? really?

 

[Parallax Scroll]

I though Blur was just like Burnout?

This is the target audience of this commercial.

 

[ConradCervantes]

I'll admit, this game has me interested. And the commercial only helps to stoke my curiosity.

 

[Odrion]

Ah, there's the commercial, wretched No-Script hid it.

Haha, it's a good commercial and it's message is clear, quit crying you babies.

 

[Skiesofwonder]

I recommend you guys getting use to seeing Pinky take one to the stomach because you'll be seeing a lot of it during the Lost finale and NBA finals (along with a brand new Blur commercial).

 

[Cipherr]

I though Blur was just like Burnout?

The point a few of us were trying to make, is that you probably wouldnt know watching that commercial. Your post kinds shines a light on the point. I had to watch it like 5 times to even notice the small snippets of gameplay that liken it to mario kart.

It would be exceptionally easy to watch this commercial which is like 2% Blur footage and think that this game was a Need For Speed esque game and not a kart esque game. Thats really whats being talked about. The Nintendo defense force fizzled back on page 1. Not sure why people keep bringing that up.

Had they kept the entire commercial the exact same, but added about 10 more seconds of Blur on the end it would have been perfect. Not enough footage to show the similarities imo.

 

[Galactic Fork]

What a terrible commercial. If I had no idea what Blur was I'd be confused at what I just saw.

Entertaining for those in the know, but for the general public (or even gamers) it's an awful commercial.

Actually, before I saw it, I had no idea what it was. I don't think I'd ever heard of it. But immediately after seeing it, I knew it was a Kart Racer type game with realistic cars. So umm, you're wrong.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Fun is fine. I can accept that people will find it fun. However, if a person finds this hilariously funny, then no, I'm not going to take the "every thinks different things are funny, it's all subjective" argument this time. If you find yourself in the group that is somehow rolling around laughing at this, your standards for humour are so low that you literally must spend your entire day laughing at everything you see and hear.

And I do tell people to get off my lawn. Fucking hooligans.

I dont' know, Segata, I found it real funny but only because how extremely aggressive it was. Also there's something inherently hilarious about mascots doing unsavory things (ie Wonder Showzen).

 

[jkanownik]

Also there's something inherently hilarious about mascots doing unsavory things (ie Wonder Showzen).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aulJIYU7BI

 

[Diglet]

Funny after watching it multiple times.
At first I want sure if it was a kart racer or not.

Eh, I'd still rather play Mario Kart than one of the million realistic racers, but I'll keep an eye out for this game.

 

[HadesGigas]

Have to be perfectly honest here, I didn't even know Blur was about to release before I saw this. I know I'm not the target audience here (I hate racing games, I like Mario Kart and the Burnout Series though) but it's still kinda bad that I know nothing about this game.

You are the target audience for this ad...

Someone who likes Mario Kart and Burnout is someone they'd want to make aware of their game that plays like one and looks like the other.

 

[Square Triangle]

It's even more funny knowing the fact blur won't sell 100k copies.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

I dont' know, Segata, I found it real funny but only because how extremely aggressive it was. Also there's something inherently hilarious about mascots doing unsavory things (ie Wonder Showzen).

If they were actually doing something unsavory, it might be funny, but "shut it pinky!" followed by a punch in the stomach is tame even by Bugs Bunny's standards.

 

[Jive Turkey]

I dont' know, Segata, I found it real funny but only because how extremely aggressive it was. Also there's something inherently hilarious about mascots doing unsavory things (ie Wonder Showzen).

I'd argue it wasn't nearly aggressive enough. See post 280 for more.

 

[D.Lo]

Finally saw this after reading the thread at work yesterday, and, uh, whatever. 'Big Boy'? really? What is this, 1996? It's like it's aimed at children who want to be 'tough kids', adults, or even teens, should feel slightly insulted for being talked down to like that. Also if you're a kid who likes Mario Kart you've been insulted, and if you don't like Mario Kart you're already playing one of these Fast and The Furious street racing with hispanic chicks games anyway.

 

[sfried]

This is the target audience of this commercial.

Not interested then, since everyone knows weaponized vehicular combat racing must have at least some element of fantasy for it in order to work. See: Extreme G series.

Heck, even the "mature" Vigilante 8 had fantastical elements to it.

 

[JJConrad]

Reading through a bit more of the thread. Holy shit guys, way to miss the point. The absolute best thing Activision can do to get people interested in this game is to compare it to Mario Kart. Who doesn't love Mario Kart? During the beta I heard numerous people playing their first race over voice chat. I can hear the excitement in their voice when they realize, partway through the first lap, "Oh shit, this is like Mario Kart! It has turtle shells!"

This commercial is one of the few ways Activision can make the comparison without implying that Mario Kart is the better game.

No one is saying that they shouldn't try to compare it to Mario Kart, only that they should do it in a way that would be appealing to fans of Mario Kart... their target audience. MK isn't a sacred cow here, either. I would say that Jive Turkey's doodling does a better job portraying the commercial's point than the commercial did.

If they were trying to get the viewer to associate their fake game with Mario Kart they needed to show more than a starting line. The "kiddy" angle has not been an effective strategy against Nintendo for years now; the overtly childish environment is only going to trigger an immediate connection to Mario Kart with fanboys, those who already make that connection. The commercial would be more effective with a more obvious Mario Kart parody.

If it were up to me and I were to re-edit this commercial while keeping this as a template, I would:

-Use a few more seconds setting up the "Mario Kart" scene.
-Pixelate the scene to emphasize that its suppose to be a video game and so that the fake footage doesn't make the real footage look muddy in comparison.
-Cut the scene where the character looks sad and says the game he is in sucks. If "Mario Kart" sucks, what does that say of Blur? Why should a fan of the real Mario Kart care about Blur? Instead have the character appear content until he sees the Blur racers.
-Cut the "Yoshi" character. Don't make the punchline of the commercial the worn-out hurt-Barney gag. Instead, use that time to show more of the actual game.
-Finally, get rid of the awful tag line. Seriously, I don't know how anyone can see that part and still defend the competency of the rest of the commercial.

 

[ZeoVGM]

I didn't realize Blur was published by Activision. Was gonna buy it when it hit the €30-35 range, now I'll wait for the sub €15 one instead.

You people need to stop with this dumb bullshit.

Stop punishing fantastic developers because you don't like the publisher. A good game is a good game. Grow up.

 

[Skiesofwonder]

You people need to stop with this dumb bullshit.

Stop punishing fantastic developers because you don't like the publisher. A good game is a good game. Grow up.

I just thought they were joking.

People actually do that shit?

 

[Dead Man]

You people need to stop with this dumb bullshit.

Stop punishing fantastic developers because you don't like the publisher. A good game is a good game. Grow up.

Or... people could support companies in the way they choose. Purchasing patterns are one of the ways people can show their satisfaction or otherwise with any number of measures of a companies performance.

If the devs are so fantastic, they should know if there will be any negative consumer sentiment about the publisher. Deal with it.

 

[LOCK]

I'm sure the point of making the "upgrade" commercial was to advertise to people who play racing games casually such as Mario Kart, and have them migrate to something more "appealing." Correct?!

Well as a casual racing fan who actually plays said Mario Kart, this commercial failed to tell me exactly what Blur was, and instead made me want to go back and play Mario Kart. Total failure of a commercial.

However, it did get me to ask What is Blur? That can be seen as a good thing or bad thing. Good in that I will probably now google the game, and bad in that I had no idea what it was to start with which further relates back to the failure of their advertisements.

 

[ZeoVGM]

If the devs are so fantastic, they should know if there will be any negative consumer sentiment about the publisher. Deal with it.

No. It's stupid.

I just thought they were joking.

People actually do that shit?

Yes. It's stupid.

 

[Dead Man]

No. It's stupid.



Yes. It's stupid.

:lol You have convinced me with your brilliant rhetoric.

 

[NinjaTehFish]

Finally saw this after reading the thread at work yesterday, and, uh, whatever. 'Big Boy'? really? What is this, 1996? It's like it's aimed at children who want to be 'tough kids', adults, or even teens, should feel slightly insulted for being talked down to like that. Also if you're a kid who likes Mario Kart you've been insulted, and if you don't like Mario Kart you're already playing one of these Fast and The Furious street racing with hispanic chicks games anyway.

Oh hey.....someone else gets it!!!!

 

[TAJ]

That's it, Kotick, I'm canceling my StarCraft 2 pre-order but will continue to play the beta, effectively COSTING you money! THE JOKE'S ON YOU, ACTIVI$ION, THE JOKE'S ON YOU!

Square just shot themselves in the foot.

 

[Odrion]

:lol You have convinced me with your brilliant rhetoric.

I'm sure we can find a middle ground.

People can choose to support certain publishers with their money. Hey, the power of the consumer. But it's still a pretty stupid way to be self-righteous, and the people doing it are probably naive with what else their money supports.

Or if we still want to talk about what your dollars will or won't support: If Blur (a new franchise that is doing something a tiny bit creative with it's online multiplayer) doesn't sell well I'm sure that Activision will do evil, mean things to Bizzare.

 

[Touchdown]

Reminds me of those old sega commercials trying to look "cooler" than Nintendo :lol. Mario Kart Wii is the most fun racer out there today plain and simple. Blur fails because it's Blur. Sorry.

 

[Odrion]

Comparing it to Mario Kart is still pretty silly, It's much more comparable to WipeOut: Armor, vehicle handling, the weapons (much more in the style of WipeOut than Mario Kart), and course memorization (and that the courses are much more static than mario kart's) are all shared attributes between the two.

But then again, I'm that comparing Blur to WipeOut won't get as much attention

 

[ULTROS!]

late: popcorn.gif

 

[Vizion28]

Isn't it ironic that a commercial that is so immature making fun of a supposedly kiddie game?

 

[Dead Man]

I'm sure we can find a middle ground.

People can choose to support certain publishers with their money. Hey, the power of the consumer. But it's still a pretty stupid way to be self-righteous, and the people doing it are probably naive with what else their money supports.

Or if we still want to talk about what your dollars will or won't support: If Blur (a new franchise that is doing something a tiny bit creative with it's online multiplayer) doesn't sell well I'm sure that Activision will do evil, mean things to Bizzare.

So people making uninformed choices means they shouldn't make one informed choice? Anyway, this thread is another classic GAF Carnival of Stupid, so I'll just LOL along with it.