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8.
THEY'LL BE SELLING POPCORN IN MY LIVING ROOM
At the frontline in
the project to confuse consumers into treating games as movies
- or to further amalgamate all forms of mass media - new XBox
and PS2 titles have developed advertising campaigns that mirror
those of cinematic marketing. Often not even including scenes
from gameplay in television commercials and instead focusing on
cinematic cut-scenes, games are sold on their apparent narrative
structure. Ads
for Halo 2 certainly had me fooled into thinking some new
space epic was coming soon to a theatre near me, as promotional
material even incorporated quotes from reviewers. Coinciding with
its I-want-to-be-a-film marketing, Halo 2 also ran a brilliantly
innovative campaign completely divorced from common conceptions
of advertising. Through a series of clues dropped on Internet
message boards, and sound bites that hardly related to the game
at all, keen Halo enthusiasts were privy to what is termed an
Alternative Reality
Game. Those running ARGs construct fake individuals and made-up
events and spread them through a variety of channels on the web,
to engage potential customers in an elaborate puzzle. Halo 2's
puzzle culminated with a real-world meeting of those involved
in playing at a location they were guided to via hints, where
they were introduced to a playable demo of the first person shooter
game. Although only reaching a niche market, this type of advertising
fully engulfs the player in the act of simulation and breaks down
the façade of movie-like commercials. It is the innovations
of such projects as ARGs that contribute to the possibility that
the games industry has something on its hands that can revolutionize
conventional media through both bringing people together and presenting
a completely original form of entertainment.
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