Acclaim Tries Bloodvertising To Promote New Game

Thanks to Ananova for reporting that Acclaim UK are trying what they call 'bloodvertising' to promote Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance, their PlayStation 2 and Xbox title billed as "the bloodiest ever [videogame]." The UK promotion will include: "Advertisements in bus shelters.. [where] cartridges of red dye will be placed behind clear sheets of film and released over a six-day period. The 'blood' will slowly appear to spill out on the streets and drip onto the pavements." This continues Acclaim's increasingly desperate series of publicity stunts, including using "spray-painted homing pigeons" at the Wimbledon tennis tournament and trying to place game adverts on gravestones.

oh yeah...

[herrvinny]

Shaun White, Communications Manager at Acclaim, said: "The concept of 'Bloodvertising' ties in with our marketing strategy and sticks to the theme of blood and carnage which is consistent throughout the Gladiator video game."

Terrific. The parent and "think of the children" groups are going to have a field day with this. Blood dripping into the streets? Yup, someone in a high place is going to be told about this and raise a firestorm.

They have already won..

[Yakman]

You see, the point of these campaigns Acclaim does, and especially their promotion of them before their fact, is that they get more publicity than by just running the campaign. Even if they never actually go ahead with the bus shelter campaign the game, their brand, etc, is all out in the media.. and FOR FREE!

Pretty good marketing, really.

Final Fantasy and buying it for it's name

[Cecil]

I have a problem with the following implication:

Like all the people who buy a Final Fantasy game just because it says Final Fantasy on it.

which concludes that:

These are the shallow minded retards that probably buy games Acclaim makes.

I am not a Final Fantasy Fanboi, although I'm sure some people would disagree. I do think it's unfair to say that people who bought it just for the name are retarded. I buy Final Fantasy games just for the name, granted. It does not make me retarded. I buy them because they are a franchise which has excellent quality standards, because they are made by the same company, a company that I admire and trust with my purchasing decisions. Brand loyalty? Yes.

Admittedly, some people don't enjoy the FF series. Are they the people who keep buying FF games? I doubt it. If they are, then I grant you your point, those people are stupid, and would likely also buy Acclaim crap.

If you like the series, and have in every past iteration, and have liked every spinoff line, then why SHOULDN'T you buy the game just based on it's name? It's very likely that you *will* end up enjoying it a lot. (and if not, it only takes bad purchase to break you of that habit pretty damn quick. See: Master Of Orion 3, Sim City 4)

Re:The right step down the wrong path

[Babbster]

Do you even have the slightest clue what you're talking about?

PC games don't get advertised as heavily because a) the number of people interested in playing PC games is much, MUCH smaller than the number of people interested in playing console games and b) the PC, despite what some believe, was not designed as a video game machine and was in fact designed as a productivity tool. It requires a significant investment to turn a basic PC (with CPU, 256MB of RAM, onboard video and sound, hard drive, monitor, etc.) into a capable gaming device, whereas it takes less than $200 to obtain the hardware necessary to play console games (a little more than $200 in the case of the PS2).

Further, your system-specific points barely make sense and provide no information to back them up. Who claims that the PS2 is "most difficult...to figure out"? Which gamers, besides the most lunatic proponents of other consoles, call the Gamecube "kiddie"? And which Xbox games have "little replay value without Xbox Live"?

I'll save you the trouble of answering those questions. Nobody but the addle-minded find the PS2 hard to operate, ONLY rabid anti-Nintendo nuts dismiss the Gamecube as being a kiddie console, and very damn few Xbox games can be considered as needing Xbox Live to be enjoyed.

The truth is that console titles sell more units and, in general, make more money than PC games. Thus, the console games are naturally going to be more of a marketing priority than PC games owing to the fact that 'it takes money to make money' and television advertising still isn't what I would call cheap.

I'll finish by addressing one more of your points: Even though I watch television via ReplayTV, and thus watch VERY few commercials, I do see snippets and Sony and Nintendo do plenty of advertising for systems and games. There is no way that 29 of 30 video game ads are for Xbox titles. If you think so, then you're not watching a lot of TV - which, of course, most would consider a good thing.

Let's tell Acclaim that this ad hoax is too much

[1iar_parad0x]

rant

I don't want to play games anymore because their so violent. Okay so this game isn't the most violent, but they're advertising is over the top. Games are dark. I feel depressed after spending hours killing stuff. Maybe I'm getting old, but I like a little bit more in my entertainment.

I was just killing some time at the mall yesterday. I start to overhear (she was hard not to hear) a mother getting upset about the ratings on a video game. She was worried that "Syphon Filter" was too violent a game. She started asking some of the salespeople (read saleskids) if they had played the game. She asked them if the game was violent. Hmm. Let's see, your a trained killer sent by the government to kill. Geeze, I don't know if the guy carrying a gun on the cover is any clue. I guess in the world of video games it's not as bad as that new serial killer game or the naked bike riding game or the anarchy game. I know it's easy to code the hunt and kill AI. It's hard to parse out text. And we all know games can't pass the Turing test. MMORPGs are still young and we just aren't all that creative. Trust me, hackers are smart but they're just not creative. Most games looks like a cross between Snowcrash and the Evil Dead.

You know I heard a story about Nero once. People around him were starving yet he would hold these massive feasts. There would be too much food for even Nero too eat. The party-goers would gorge themselves until they became full. Then they would proceed to vomit the food they ate so they could run back to the dinner table and gorge some more. They became addicted to the pleasures of life. So much even the simple act of eating became unhealthy.

Look, I'm going to do more than boycott this game. I intend on personally blacklisting Acclaim and the designer. Any other game that this desinger(s) or Acclaim puts out, I won't buy. I'm going to write them an email telling them this. I don't want Joe Lieberman to create a new law. I don't want Phil Mushnik to write a bunch of articles about this. I want to boycott Acclaim. I'm part of their prime demographic. I'm a young male who writes code for a living and can afford to buy such a game. We've got to let them know. Frankly, the game industry is worse than the music industry. There aren't any legitimate artists making games. John Carmack can code, but he couldn't design his way out of a paper bag. He's got the creativity of a 13 year old hopped up on Ritalin.

end of rant

It's remarkable to what lengths...

[Kyouryuu]

It's remarkable to what lengths a company will go to foist a sub-par video game into the limelight. Acclaim hasn't made anything worthwhile in months, if not years. A desperate advertising campaign like this is only trying to mask their shortcomings in game design.

Re:Final Fantasy and buying it for it's name

[Anonymous Coward]

The Final Fantasy series must still be entertaining/enjoyable if people are still buying the games. For contrast, look at Lara Croft. No amount of brand loyalty is saving that franchise from its doom.

I downgraded by interest in Final Fantasy games not because I didn't like the games, but because I wanted to expand my collection of games to include other sources. I'll still buy Final Fantasy games... just not at full/initial price.

Desperate

[t0ny]

This game must really suck badly if they need to resort to shock advertising. They are just trying to get the media to advertise for them, like Running With Scissors did with Postal and Postal 2. Sadly, P2 didnt do so well because it was a shit game (I liked the original quite a bit).