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[ElzarTheBam]

The GI article - which has yet to be debunked or clarified.
A leaked barnyard video
Any Halo 4 footage is offscreen. (343 marketing department must have taken inspiration from the leaked barnyard vid)
Any direct footage of Halo 4 is of campaign - the mode I dont want spoiled.
Oh finally, some direct feed video - oh its 8 perspectives of one match.
Limited edition debacle.
whole bunch of other debacles including specializations etc.
I could go on.

Greatest leak of all time.

 

[Homeboyd]

Man I am getting sick of image and gif responses. I wish I could turn them off on full site. They can be funny, but they are just excessive and annoying lately.

Less? No! We need moa!

Somebody somewhere give me some Halo 4 gameplay. Long day. Need my fix. Frankie, a copy of the game would be fine too.

Will show cleavage.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

Is it? Tons of games I played had shitty marketing, but I loved game -- which is the most important thing. The fact that people are not buying it based on everything around it is absurd.

I dont think you are getting my point.

From the marketing - there are people out there who expect the gameplay to suck. 343 has done nothing to show those people how good the gameplay is.

All the other mistakes 343 have made alone are not the reason people are skipping out on the game - but when you put all the peices together they go a long way into making other AAA games look more enticing.

If everyone could go play the game then that would be fine - but considering 90% of the people wont get to try it out - you need to make sure they are on board by putting your best foot forward and marketing your game well.

 

[Tashi]

It's OK Sai, any Marina gifs are allowed

 

[YourExWife]

Man I am getting sick of image and gif responses. I wish I could turn them off on full site. They can be funny, but they are just excessive and annoying lately.



Yes. Its frustrating, but if your decision to get or not get the game is based on preorder bonuses and marketing... :/

I don't mind them too much (and I've probably contributed more than my fair share) but if they truly bother you just browse the "printable version" of the thread instead. Right there under "Thread Tools".


You're welcome good sir.

EDIT: I should note that this works for browsing only. If you want to contribute, you'll have to go back to the standard style thread momentarily.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

And yet not buying the game because of the market campaign?

Riiiight.

edit: lmfao senador oops sorry can't turn it off i am a marina machine

You do realize that marketing is what sells people on the game right?

Bad marketing campaign for game A == no interest
Good marketing campaign for game B == lots of interest

Consumer goes and buys game B. Its pretty simple, why else would you even bother with marketing? If your marketing campaign is full of misinformation your hardly going to bring people on board.

 

[Steelyuhas]

Agreed on your points Bobs.

 

[senador]

And yet not buying the game because of the market campaign?

Riiiight.

edit: lmfao senador oops sorry can't turn it off i am a marina machine

Ha! Yours are always tasteful and fun, but you also add more to your post than just the image. Its more the ones Moa and jhferry are doing that are annoying.

I don't mind them too much (and I've probably contributed more than my fair share) but if they truly bother you just browse the "printable version" of the thread instead. Right there under "Thread Tools".


You're welcome good sir.

When that's all the post is they are especially annoying, I've been ignoring some of the people that do it excessively. Not you though.

Printable version blows. Maybe I'll make a Safari extension.

You do realize that marketing is what sells people on the game right?

Bad marketing campaign for game A == no interest
Good marketing campaign for game B == lots of interest

Consumer goes and buys game B. Its pretty simple, why else would you even bother with marketing? If your marketing campaign is full of misinformation your hardly going to bring people on board.

I would say that's true for many people, but not fans of a series that go as far as to post on a forum. Marketing seems like its more for casual or non fans of a game or for a game that is a new IP. Marketing is just extra fluff for me personally these days.

 

[TheOddOne]

I dont think you are getting my point.

From the marketing - there are people out there who expect the gameplay to suck. 343 has done nothing to show those people how good the gameplay is.

All the other mistakes 343 have made alone are not the reason people are skipping out on the game - but when you put all the peices together they go a long way into making other AAA games look more enticing.

I get your points fine, it just struck me as weird that somebody would base their purchase only on marketing reasons. I mean, I find that very narrow way for a consumer to look at a product. That is just me though.

 

[Conor 419]

Is it?

I don't know his reasons - but I know he's a pretty level headed guy - and I remember reading he is planning to play through Assassins Creed 3 and then maybe get it when hes done with that. Which is exactly what I was contemplating to do before I got to play the game. I cant speak for him, and hate the idea of cross posting on his behalf - so I will give my reasoning's. Assassins Creed 3's marketing has hit some pretty good high notes. Then I look at Halo 4 and see:

The GI article - which has yet to be debunked or clarified.
A leaked barnyard video
Any Halo 4 footage is offscreen. (343 marketing department must have taken inspiration from the leaked barnyard vid)
Any direct footage of Halo 4 is of campaign - the mode I dont want spoiled.
Oh finally, some direct feed video - oh its 8 perspectives of one match.
Limited edition debacle.
whole bunch of other debacles including specializations etc.
I could go on.

If I hadn't played the game I would still expect it to suck to be quite frank - not because the marketing is bad, but because the marketing is showing a very bad game. Everything on paper makes the game look terrible - 343/ microsoft has yet to put out a single bit of marketing that captures how good the game is - which is shocking.



Just saw the edit: I don't think that's anyone's reasons - but it does go a long way into making the company seem pretty incompetent. I mean if you only have time for one game, and one game is a pretty solid package and the other has all the bullshit surrounding it - I know which one is more enticing to me.

Let's not forget Forward Unto Dawn - Which hasn't been overly tremendous (so far), and the live action trailer which was....pretty bad.

We did have a good gameplay trailer today, but it could have been better.

 

[MrDaravon]

I get your points fine, it just struck me as weird that somebody would base their purchase only on marketing reasons. I mean, I find that very narrow way for a consumer to look at a product.

Isn't marketing how an average joe who doesn't spend much time (if any) looking into games coverage on the internet makes purchasing decisions though? I know people who will see an ad for something on tv, think it looks cool, and will then go buy it because of that.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

I get your points fine, it just struck me as weird that somebody would base their purchase only on marketing reasons. I mean, I find that very narrow way for a consumer to look at a product.

That's the only way for a consumer to look at a product...

If the marketing is making the game sound like a CoD clone, then why is it narrow minded for me to be turned off by that? I was lucky to be able to go to Eurogamer - playing the game absolutely blew me away.

Not everyone is going to go to gaming events, for them if things like Game Informer have put them off the game, then they will have more hype for a game like Assassins Creed 3 which had hit marketing high notes all the way through.

 

[Steelyuhas]

I would say that's true for many people, but not fans of a series that go as far as to post on a forum.

Yes, and I assume someone that posts on HBO is going to get Halo 4, but the point applies to the whole Halo 4 marketing situation. Halo 4 has a very fun MP (one that the masses will also like a lot more than the past few games), a great looking campaign, and probably the most marketable thing of all, the games visuals are fucking unreal.

Average Joe (the majority of the people who buy the game) doesn't know any of this though, the marketing for this game hasn't been good. On the contrary, as Bobs brought up, every person I know has seen the awesome ads for AC3 and thinks it looks incredible and I know people that haven't played the past few AC games, but are going to get AC3 on day one like it's their job. I can't say the same about Halo 4.

 

[kittens]

Is it?

[snip]

If I hadn't played the game I would still expect it to suck to be quite frank - not because the marketing is bad, but because the marketing is showing a very bad game. Everything on paper makes the game look terrible - 343/ microsoft has yet to put out a single bit of marketing that captures how good the game is - which is shocking.

It feels like you're talking about two different things here.

1. Design choices.
2. How those design choices were communicated.

If you* think the design choices are crappy and that they cumulatively make for a crappy game, then yeah, that's a great reason for not buying the game. But if you are just frustrated by what and when and how 343/Microsoft is releasing information, then... I dunno, write an angry post on a Halo forum or something! This hasn't always been the case obviously, but at this point 343 has either directly communicated or implied their design philosophy pretty clearly. We have a pretty damn good idea of what to expect from it. And anyone who participates on any Halo forum has also had a chance to read plenty first hand impressions from fans who've played the game, nearly all of which have been glowing. And those impressions had to come from fans. A fan says "feels like Halo!" and everyone gets hyped. 343 says the same thing and gets mocked for months.

*That's a metaphorical you, not you Bobs, hah.

Edit : And yeah, after seeing what Steely said above, I should make clear that I'm talking about a Halo fan on a Halo forum here. I could absolutely see why some average joe wouldn't be hyped over Halo 4's marketing.

 

[Tashi]

http://majornelson.com/2012/10/24/live-activity-for-week-of-october-15/

Holy minecraft. I'm really the only one who hasn't played it.

 

[TheOddOne]

Isn't marketing how an average joe who doesn't spend much time (if any) looking into games coverage on the internet makes purchasing decisions though? I know people who will see an ad for something on tv, think it looks cool, and will then go buy it because of that.

Uhm, yes I know how marketing works.

That's the only way for a consumer to look at a product...

No, I don't agree with that at all. There are multiple other ways that you can look at a product, getting informed by other people who are users, online reviews, differences between brands. That is just a philosophy though and get that people don't want to go through that many hoops.

 

[YourExWife]

When that's all the post is they are especially annoying, I've been ignoring some of the people that do it excessively. Not you though.

Something something Halo 4 rage...

 

[GhaleonEB]

http://majornelson.com/2012/10/24/live-activity-for-week-of-october-15/

Holy minecraft. I'm really the only one who hasn't played it.

Well, I played the demo once for about ten minutes. Does that count?

 

[Steelyuhas]

http://majornelson.com/2012/10/24/live-activity-for-week-of-october-15/

Holy minecraft. I'm really the only one who hasn't played it.

HOLY SHIT

I haven't played Minecraft either (play the trial for a few minutes once).

 

[squidhands]

Whats going on with the Austin MS store midnight launch for halo 4?

alison was tweeting about it

Launch event which she is going to participate with Certain Affinity and I do believe the Rooster Teeth guys will be there too.

You know so much for being so far away. I may go if that's the case, lengthy drive be damned.

 

[MrDaravon]

Uhm, yes I know how marketing works.

Then why are you surprised that someone would make their purchasing decision (or not) based on marketing?

 

[Poker Face]

http://majornelson.com/2012/10/24/live-activity-for-week-of-october-15/

Holy minecraft. I'm really the only one who hasn't played it.

holy shit minecraft, damn. major nelson has been playing halo 4...

can't wait to see if Halo 4 somehow beats out Blops2 for the #1 spot in November. probably wont happen but you never know

 

[Flipyap]

Is not buying a game based on messed up "marketing" (I assume what he meant includes shitty business practices) really that much worse than buying a game based simply on the label on the box? I don't remember seeing anyone mocking the idea of "going in dark".

 

[Hypertrooper]

You know so much for being so far away. I may go if that's the case, lengthy drive be damned.

I am just assuming that Alison and RT are going to be there. But Certain Affinity said via twitter that they are there.

 

[MrDaravon]

holy shit minecraft, damn. major nelson has been playing halo 4...

can't wait to see if Halo 4 somehow beats out Blops2 for the #1 spot in November. probably wont happen but you never know

I don't know if it was mentioned in here or not, but launch weekend for Blops 2 they're doing double XP if you pre-ordered the game. I'm wondering if that's a reaction to try to ensure they pull anyone on the fence away from Halo.

 

[Fracas]

I wouldn't say people buy this game based solely on marketing, but I will say that I don't think the marketing campaign thus far has swayed many potential customers that were on the fence.

 

[TheOddOne]

Then why are you surprised that someone would make their purchasing decision (or not) based on marketing?

I was suprised that somebody would only base their purchase on marketing, which most of the time is just fluff (usually with videogames).

 

[bobs...onGaf]

It feels like you're talking about two different things here.

1. Design choices.
2. How those design choices were communicated.

If you* think the design choices are crappy and that they cumulatively make for a crappy game, then yeah, that's a great reason for not buying the game. But if you are just frustrated by what and when and how 343/Microsoft is releasing information, then... I dunno, write an angry post on a Halo forum or something! This hasn't always been the case obviously, but at this point 343 has either directly communicated or implied their design philosophy pretty clearly. We have a pretty damn good idea of what to expect from it. And anyone who participates on any Halo forum has also had a chance to read plenty first hand impressions from fans who've played the game, nearly all of which have been glowing. And those impressions had to come from fans. A fan says "feels like Halo!" and everyone gets hyped. 343 says the same thing and gets mocked for months.

*That's a metaphorical you, not you Bobs, hah.

Just to clarify -

For me personally - I am annoyed by both aspects - I felt like 343 was going a bad job of putting information out on the game and I feel like the information they where releasing is underselling the game.

I still feel like both aspects are going to hurt almost anyone who is on the fence about the game and is deciding between Halo 4, Assassins Creed 3 and Black Ops 2.

If the 'information' which is coming out is lacking meat or is just wrong - then thats hardly going to excite me.
If the 'information' makes the game sound like a blatant CoD rip-off - thats not going to excite me.

Am I right in thinking thats what you meant? Design choices + how those design choices are communicated is one and the same - if you make good design choices - but then communicate them badly. You mightaswell have made the bad design choices from the beginning as far as marketing is concerned.

For me - I played the game - I know the design choices are amazing. I know they are being communicated badly.

Most people can only assume that the communication is correct and the design choices are bad. Does that make sense?

Saw your edit - as a fan on a forum - I felt like the game was going down the 'lets rip off CoD route' which very nearly turned me off on the game - god knows I bitched enough about it before actually getting hands on time with it. I honestly dont know if I would have been day 1 considering how 'bad' the game sounds until you play it.

 

[ElzarTheBam]

http://majornelson.com/2012/10/24/live-activity-for-week-of-october-15/

Holy minecraft. I'm really the only one who hasn't played it.

The reactions to this are going to be great.

Anyone still remember when H3 got knocked off by COD4 for the first time?

 

[TheOddOne]

Most people can only assume that the communication is correct and the design choices are bad. Does that make sense?

Ok, this makes more sense

 

[MrDaravon]

I was suprised that somebody would only base their purchase on marketing, which most of the time is just fluff (usually with videogames).

Ehhh, that doesn't really surprise me at all. It's a costlier purchase so it's not a great comparison, but for example people will go in blind to see movies just based on a trailer they saw.

 

[Poker Face]

The reactions to this are going to be great.

Anyone still remember when H3 got knocked off by COD4 for the first time?

Of course. There was a shit ton of articles "THE KING OF XBOX LIVE DETHRONED BY CALL OF DUTY"

;_;

 

[Striker]

holy shit minecraft, damn. major nelson has been playing halo 4...

can't wait to see if Halo 4 somehow beats out Blops2 for the #1 spot in November. probably wont happen but you never know

I'm sure some in here will put it as a failure if it doesn't.

 

[squidhands]

I am just assuming that Alison and RT are going to be there. But Certain Affinity said via twitter that they are there.

Hmm, I don't know if I can pass up an opportunity to berate the people responsible for not creating a flat, clean space to forge on.

Spoiler

not really

Spoiler

well, maybe a little

 

[bobs...onGaf]

http://majornelson.com/2012/10/24/live-activity-for-week-of-october-15/

Holy minecraft. I'm really the only one who hasn't played it.

What!?? How the hell did that happen - what caused Minecraft to pick up so much steam?

 

[MrDaravon]

Annnnnnd I just got spoilered in a random fighting game stream on the game before I could hide the chat and I misclicked. Could today get any worse? Let's find out!

 

[ElzarTheBam]

What!?? How the hell did that happen - what caused Minecraft to pick up so much steam?

James caused it, with his terrible minecraft creations.

 

[Poker Face]

What!?? How the hell did that happen - what caused Minecraft to pick up so much steam?

pretty big update (sprint, hunger, villages, abandoned mineshafts, swamps, new items, etc)

 

[Wifiplayer13]

I'm so happy that Minecraft beat Modern Warfare 3. So happy.

 

[Sai-kun]

It's OK Sai, any Marina gifs are allowed

Ha! Yours are always tasteful and fun, but you also add more to your post than just the image. Its more the ones Moa and jhferry are doing that are annoying.

Marina_kiss.gif for both of you

Bobs: IDK, I would agree with you, but someone on HBO is probably not the average consumer :/

 

[CyReN]

Being able to content create helps games like Minecraft, LoL, etc. Give the user the tools and the game life excels. Props to Notch and friends.

Hope Halo can reclaim the top once again.

 

[DeadNames]

How can people play minecraft... So boring. Seriously pre 1.0 absolutely sucked.

at least I think

 

[LD2k]

Annnnnnd I just got spoilered in a random fighting game stream on the game before I could hide the chat and I misclicked. Could today get any worse? Let's find out!

Being able to content create helps games like Minecraft, LoL, etc. Give the user the tools and the game life excels. Props to Notch and friends.

Hope Halo can reclaim the top once again.

Agree 100% Bummed that tools were stripped out that helped create SO MUCH community content. Not complaining, just find it disappointing. I can only imagine the technical hurdles the kind of stuff Halo's theater mode actually takes on, but it's still disappointing. I love the Halo community.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Minecraft is wonderful. I really hope 4J & MS keep supporting it. And by really hope... they'd be crazy not to.

Hmm, I don't know if I can pass up an opportunity to berate the people responsible for not creating a flat, clean space to forge on.

Spoiler

not really

Spoiler

well, maybe a little

No harm in asking what their thought process was in not doing it.

Edit: Oh my.

Spoiler

Yes, I managed to lazily forget the s in weeks. I'm not proud of it.

 

[Hypertrooper]

Hmm, I don't know if I can pass up an opportunity to berate the people responsible for not creating a flat, clean space to forge on.

Spoiler

not really

Spoiler

well, maybe a little

They are pretty cool guys. Especially Max.

 

[blamite]

Which brings up another question. There'd be no point in getting an armor skin for armor you can't even use yet. I'm thinking all of these skins work a lot like the Recon helmet did in Reach. If you preordered from Gamestop, you unlocked the special attachment Recon helmet early. However, if you wanted the normal Recon helmet, you still had to unlock it the old fashioned way.
I'm thinking each skin will unlock that set of armor, but only that specific skin variant. There'd be little point to the preorder bonus otherwise. If you want the normal variant, you have to unlock it the normal way.

Just a guess.

I believe you're exactly right: Preorder codes unlock a version of the armor with the skin applied, just like in Reach. There's no skin selector or anything for each armor piece, they're actually just separate pieces. So the amazon code would unlock CIO (WEB), but not the default CIO.

 

[broony]

Well done to 343 for sorting out the LE / War game pass helmet crazyness. I'm guessing it wasn't their decision but microsoft's to not include the helmets in the LE but I'm also guessing it was them who sorted it out.

 

[Fracas]

So wait...I get the helmets with the LE now?

There's a happy gif for this somewhere, but I don't know where.

 

[Overdoziz]

Hmm, I don't know if I can pass up an opportunity to berate the people responsible for not creating a flat, clean space to forge on.

Spoiler

not really

Spoiler

well, maybe a little

Please ask them why the category object limit is still in.

 

[Conor 419]

Really makes me wonder how J-Lo 4 will perform in the chart.