Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Blast from the Past: Video Game TV Marketing Through the Years
Being a child of the 80's, I got to see video games come from their infancy, being a nice perk that parent's shunned to a household item (that parent's still shun). Over the years and with the increase in sales, as video game companies began seeing gaming as a formidable business model, I have always been fascinated at the way that they went about marketing gaming. Atari started out as a "computer" for family gaming that could be enjoyed by kids of all ages. That morphed into Nintendo which targeted younger ages. Then Sega, Turbo-Grafix, and Super NES were EXTREME and out for the high school crowds. Now, gaming marketing is aimed at a general population using themes from popular culture that doesn't necessarily have a genre. As sales increased so did the quality of the marketing. There was real money to be made and the marketing of new products was the first step. Take a look at some of the TV commercials through the last thirty years to get a feel of how companies changed their perspective on video game marketing.
This oil tycoon took a minute away from drilling for more oil in Texas to make this commercial.
This is where hip-hop originated.
Even in the early 80's, Luigi was a bitch.
They are right, it will be fun.
Ahhhh...arcade controls. Love the Mr. Roboto feel to the music.
I am not sure if this is a commercial, it seems more like a trade show piece but I included it anyway. Atari HAS reinvented the video game, that is until the NES comes out and then they fall into obscurity.
Well, if the Captain of the U.S. Video Game Team says so...
Gotta say...R.O.B. never worked. That is all. I had the original NES with R.O.B. and the Zapper but no Super Mario Bros. Tell me that doesn't suck??!!??
'Hang On! Hang On!' Take a breath there Ricky Shroder.
Robocop lookalike, check. Denim jacket, check. 80's hair band metal, check. An OUTRAGEOUS new game called Tetris, check.
Just don't sit on it...
Beware, some serious catchy tuneage going on here and a creepy Joe Montana to boot.
NOW!!!!!
Stay calm. 3-D graphics, 360 degree rotation, 96 levels, 32,000 colors, even more enemies. Win.
Very 'Hackers'-esque, just missing Angelina Jolie.
This oil tycoon took a minute away from drilling for more oil in Texas to make this commercial.
This is where hip-hop originated.
Even in the early 80's, Luigi was a bitch.
They are right, it will be fun.
Ahhhh...arcade controls. Love the Mr. Roboto feel to the music.
I am not sure if this is a commercial, it seems more like a trade show piece but I included it anyway. Atari HAS reinvented the video game, that is until the NES comes out and then they fall into obscurity.
Well, if the Captain of the U.S. Video Game Team says so...
Gotta say...R.O.B. never worked. That is all. I had the original NES with R.O.B. and the Zapper but no Super Mario Bros. Tell me that doesn't suck??!!??
'Hang On! Hang On!' Take a breath there Ricky Shroder.
Robocop lookalike, check. Denim jacket, check. 80's hair band metal, check. An OUTRAGEOUS new game called Tetris, check.
Just don't sit on it...
Beware, some serious catchy tuneage going on here and a creepy Joe Montana to boot.
NOW!!!!!
Stay calm. 3-D graphics, 360 degree rotation, 96 levels, 32,000 colors, even more enemies. Win.
Very 'Hackers'-esque, just missing Angelina Jolie.
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