What classifies as a good game commercial is perhaps even more subjective than what makes a good movie: while a short, constrained narrative is usually needed, the ad ultimately fails if it does not interest the audience in a product or service. Regardless, only two video game ads were nominated by AdWeek as some of the best of the decade.
The finalists all tended towards the highly stylized and the PS2 “Mountain” and Halo 3 “Diorama” ads are no different; the former depicts a city full of people trying to become king of the mountain as a metaphor for PS2’s online service, while the latter showed a diorama (naturally) depicting a battle between the alien Covenant and human UNSC.
Microsoft has put out several ads over the past few years that have split opinions on their emotional nature, but have generally been memorable. Sony’s had some great ad campaigns (like the recent Kevin Butler series) and some not so great (the crying baby). In our opinion, probably the most successful series of ads in the gaming industry has been Nintendo’s series of “Wii Would Like to Play” spots, even if they’re more informative than entertaining.
2 Comments
December 15, 2009
I always liked the Gears of War "Mad World" ads and the Syphon Filter 2(PS1) ad were a terrorist is trying to convince Gabe Logan to kill him with a weapon that won't be painful.
December 16, 2009
Everyone remembers the "Mad World" ad, even if they say they don't like it. That Syphon Filter 2 ad was hilarious, I remember it from several years back. Those ads with a guy in a Crash Bandicoot outfit were classic as well.