Marketing Effect 3

[ThunderCavalier]

Personally, Shamus, I think you might be looking too far into the 'severity' of this trailer. It's EA merely selling a product at its base; if BioWare did make this trailer, then I guess there's a problem, but it's really a commercial first and an advertisement on the decency of the game later.

I can see where people may have some problems, but the problem is that I saw that commercial several times before you brought it up, and I didn't have any problem with it beforehand. No offense, but this DOES feel like a bit of an overreaction.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Despite the obvious past ineptness of EA's marketing department, I'm not really sure I see what the issue is here. Just because something is not being marketed to you does not make the marketing itself bad, it just means you're not the target. In fact, based on the fact that you're saying you already know you're buying the game despite the thrust of the advertising says as much. The advertising is targetting those who aren't already hooked on the deeper aspects of the series (characters, story, extremely solid RPG/Shooter fusion gameplay, etc.). They don't need to sell you the game because they already have.

As for the Garus ad, I found it funny. To me, it actually came across as a parody and felt like it was making fun of both the gun and the idea of preorder bonus weapons.

 

[The Random One]

They do that because they think people like games that are dumb are loud so they make games that aren't either look like both so that they sell. Since ME3 is the third game, people who know it's not dumb or loud will buy it anyway since they're already invested in the previous two games so they're focused on the (possibly imaginary) demographic of drooling CoD fans, which they imagine to be very large and have a great love of manly men who shoot manly guns. And it's the job of the marketing department to sell it to people who might not buy it otherwise, as opposed to people who will buy it anyway. And it's not like this is an isolated thing that can only happen on a EA-published game [http://www.cracked.com/article_15876_5-ways-hollywood-tricks-you-into-seeing-bad-movies.html].

ME3 is doing not if not trying to please everyone. They have an ACTION mode for people who find choosing from a dialogue wheel to be too taxing on their minds and a story mode that I was sorry to learn is just super easy difficulty, as opposed to a mode in which action sequences are replaced by a block of text that reads AND THEN SHEPARD WENT DOWN AND SHOT THE ALIEANS. I'm not making fun of the concept, that mode is what I actually want because I still don't know who let those boring shooty bits in my game about interstellar diplomacy/boning.

And yeah, I for one saw plenty of rage over the day one DLC and similar stuff. I'm especially amused by the rage following the Protean character, since people assume it went like this:

Marketing exec: FOOLISH WRITER, WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING PART ABOUT YOUR PUNY GAME?
Writer: P-please don't hurt me, sir! We have a Protean character, he's very cool!
Marketing exec: YES, MY EVIL FOCUS TESTING TELLS ME SUCH A CHARACTER IS PROFITABLE. I COMMAND YOU TO REMOVE HIM FROM THE GAME SO WE MAY SELL HIM ON LAUNCH DAY, SEPARATELY.
Writer: Please, sir, don't! That character is essential to the story!
Marketing exec: THAT WILL MEAN PEOPLE WILL NEED TO BUY THAT CONTENT TO PLAY THE GAME PROPERLY, WHICH IN TURN MEANS WE WILL ESSENTIALLY BE ABLE TO CHARGE MORE! SUCH A MOVE IS CERTAIN TO MAKE OUR DARK MASTERS MORE MONEY! NOW BEGONE, BEFORE I DEVOUR YOUR SOUL!

...When it probably went like this:

Marketing exec: We want a day one DLC. Is there something interesting you can use in it?
Writer: Uh, there's a Protean. They are supposed to be dead for millenia. But it's just a character that shows up briefly.
Marketing exec: Dead for millenia, eh? I think the fans will go crazy for it. Give the DLC team all you have on him and tell them to make him a full fledged party member.
Writer: OK. See you at home then, dear.
Marketing exec: Bye, love you.

(SURPRISE TWIST!)

 

[McMullen]

The commercials are bad because the marketing people at EA think their audience is the kind of crowd that craves trailers like that. Sin to Win and Your Mom Will Hate Dead Space 2 have already shown, quite clearly, that whoever Bioware is actually making games for, EA marketing thinks they're making them for the kids who give XBL a bad name.

Not really surprising. Still disheartening, but not surprising.

 

[Something Amyss]

This became a gears clone last iteration. Why are people still surprised they're focusing on chest-high walls?

 

[loa]

Aren't the gamestop made by someone else?
Like that retarded "zomg get power armor nowz!!!" gamestop ad that has haunted video streaming sites.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I see where you're coming from here. I thought the Garrus add was pretty funny myself, but taken in that light I understand why people wouldn't like it. I do agree with the whole, "Oh look! We have shiny guns!" thing going around. So far, the only DLC weapon that I found to be useful was the Locust you get with Kasumi in Mass Effect 2. And she wasn't part of any preorder thing. Most of these preorder bonus weapons are just jokes to me. You can't release a weapon on day one that completely breaks the game, so none of these new weapons will be amazing.
I feel like a jerk for pointing this out, but it's never been stated that the Reapers can't be beaten. Or at least Sheperd has never said it, nor has anyone on her team. All the way back in Mass Effect, Vigil says that the Reapers win because they cut down the leaders in a surprise attack. They know that if the races of the galaxy unite, they will lose. It's why Sovereign didn't attack straight away, because he would blow the Reapers' cover.

 

[Vivid Kazumi]

I see where you're coming from here. I thought the Garrus add was pretty funny myself, but taken in that light I understand why people wouldn't like it. I do agree with the whole, "Oh look! We have shiny guns!" thing going around. So far, the only DLC weapon that I found to be useful was the Locust you get with Kasumi in Mass Effect 2. And she wasn't part of any preorder thing. Most of these preorder bonus weapons are just jokes to me. You can't release a weapon on day one that completely breaks the game, so none of these new weapons will be amazing.
I feel like a jerk for pointing this out, but it's never been stated that the Reapers can't be beaten. Or at least Sheperd has never said it, nor has anyone on her team. All the way back in Mass Effect, Vigil says that the Reapers win because they cut down the leaders in a surprise attack. They know that if the races of the galaxy unite, they will lose. It's why Sovereign didn't attack straight away, because he would blow the Reapers' cover.

well some dlc weapons where usefull...like the black hole gun

 

[Freechoice]

Why was so much rage aimed at Portal 2, and so little aimed at Mass Effect 3?

Wait, what?

You, uh.... you don't spend much time on forums, do you?

There's been a lot of rage.

And he doesn't really seem to understand the gaming cultural phenomenon that is hats. If people are stupid enough to spend actual money on trivial aesthetic embellishments, then one must question the scruples of the purveyor of said embellishments.

In that sense, Valve is the mean kid on the playground that makes the slow kid run his head into a tree. And not a Fluttershy tree, a tree with a beehive on it.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I don't really see the problem. We are not the target audience of this ad. We already know about the series, have played the previous games, and are likely to buy the next one. EA had no reason to make a TV ad for this game to get my attention than Bethesda did for Skyrim. The ad doesn't need to be to play out in a manner consistent with the plot; it needs to sell Mass Effect 3 to people who have not played Mass Effect before. And just to be sure that the game appeals to people other than us, there is a new option to skip all those burdensome dialogue choices that you have to make, so you can just get to the action and enjoy a cut scene or two every now and then.

Again, there's nothing wrong with the ad. It's just not meant for you.

 

[wintercoat]

I see where you're coming from here. I thought the Garrus add was pretty funny myself, but taken in that light I understand why people wouldn't like it. I do agree with the whole, "Oh look! We have shiny guns!" thing going around. So far, the only DLC weapon that I found to be useful was the Locust you get with Kasumi in Mass Effect 2. And she wasn't part of any preorder thing. Most of these preorder bonus weapons are just jokes to me. You can't release a weapon on day one that completely breaks the game, so none of these new weapons will be amazing.
I feel like a jerk for pointing this out, but it's never been stated that the Reapers can't be beaten. Or at least Sheperd has never said it, nor has anyone on her team. All the way back in Mass Effect, Vigil says that the Reapers win because they cut down the leaders in a surprise attack. They know that if the races of the galaxy unite, they will lose. It's why Sovereign didn't attack straight away, because he would blow the Reapers' cover.

well some dlc weapons where usefull...like the black hole gun

And the Mattock. Oh, sweet Jesus, the Mattock.

 

[Farther than stars]

There's a big difference between near and not too distant. I would expect distant future to be at least 1000 years from now, if not longer. Perfectly acceptable use of the phrase.

Yeah, I think this is a very subjective point too. Personally I think 100 years is the distant future, but I can completely see how you might not think that. The thing that bothered me about the trailer was the use of that over-used phrase in the first place. Then again, it might have been self-parody. Then again (again), I didn't like the whole overall tone of the trailer anyway. Still seems like an odd thing to rag on though.

 

[beniki]

Marketing Effect 3

The portrayal of Mass Effect 3 in EA's marketing doesn't match the game.

Read Full Article

Have to agree with you. The over-marketing of this game has pretty much killed my enthusiasm for it. Oh, I'll play it, but it's not particularly high on my 'to do' list any more.

Coupled with the fact that if I buy the game, I know I'm not going to have the same stuff as the people who pre-ordered it, bought extra DLC, or any of the cross platform games. Intellectually I know I'm buying what should be considered the whole game... it's just that there's so much extra crap it feels like I'm getting the cheap version. Not exactly what I wanted to feel like loading up the end of this trilogy.

You're right... gong to wait for the EA 'hype' machine to shut up first, then let my actual enthusiasm for the game build again. Assuming they don't keep piling on the DLC and extras, in which case I might feel like it's too much to bother with.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Marketing Effect 3

The portrayal of Mass Effect 3 in EA's marketing doesn't match the game.

Read Full Article

I understand what you mean when you reference Portal 2 Shamus, but it seems some people just don't get it.

With Portal 2, people whined about the purely optional, co op only hat thing. The people who did bomb it, are just irrational haters of the idea, but are too stupid to understand that it's purely fucking optional and has no effect on the main game.

With Mass Effect, it should be receiving far more ridicule for this DLC shit because it very well could affect how the game plays. When the the DLC extras start affecting the game as a whole, people should be upset over it and not upset over some stupid fucking optional hats that don't change anything. Now since none of us have played it yet, we can't be certain that any of this DLC will change anything. If it does, we should all draw the line there. Nobody should have their game experience altered from the intended product because we didn't go out and buy some stupid action figure to get a gun in the game.

 

[Kingjackl]

Really, Shamus? Of all the trailers you could pick to critique, you picked that one? It's just a bit of harmless piss-taking, nothing really 'abomidable'. Stuff like "one man" and "galaxy at risk" is just hyperbole. Also, what was he supposed to say? One man or woman? One person? One future space captain? The Sheperd in the trailer was male, ipso-facto "one man".

Also, I think people are being a bit selectively perspective with a lot of the Mass Effect 3 marketing. The marketing for Mass Effect 2 (and to much, MUCH lesser extent, Mass Effect 1) was just as action-focused as the marketing for Mass Effect 3, and that didn't stop it from being an excellent game. Remember the trailer where Grunt exploded a thresher maw with his shotgun? Or the one where Thane took down six heavily armed Eclipse mercs in hand-to-hand combat? Did it hurt the game in any way at all? No. So what's your keffufle?

People like to throw around the term 'Gears of War/CoD/Halo clone' like it's some sort of insult, but all that really means is that they've based the gameplay on a series which is generally considered to be good at what it does. It's not written by Cliffy B, it's written by the folks at Bioware, and surely that's what matters. But if the gameplay is at least decent (which, going by the demo, it is) then surely what's there to be upset about?

 

[isometry]

If it were just the marketing that was dumbed down, and not the game itself, that wouldn't be so bad. I'm not talking about the shift from mediocre RPG gameplay to mediocre shooter gameplay, I mean the lack of world building and plot depth in ME 2 compared to ME 1. It's clear that ME 3 will continue the trend.

My prediction is that EA will use the reaper invasion as an excuse to trim down some of those pesky alien species that don't connect with focus groups as well as the near-future human marines fighting for earth do. Humanoid aliens as main characters is a risky move for a summer blockbuster.

 

[Daemonate]

Your tolly right Shamus!
We need to start a review bomb campain immediatly this sort of thing is unasseptabl!!


No, really, I felt alone up till now in that the *game* was taking this direction. Less RPG elements, less and less consistent or original story, more and more average shooting. I gave up with the ME series half way through 2 and I don't think I'll be back - this marketing just confirms what I already feared.

 

[Chevalier noir]

This became a gears clone last iteration. Why are people still surprised they're focusing on chest-high walls?

That is being a little mean, the series definitely lost me at the second game though.

 

[mjc0961]

(And I just have to ask again: Why did people aim so much pure rage at Portal 2? Remember that? The game had cosmetic, multiplayer-only DLC, and people got so mad they review-bombed it. Why was so much rage aimed at Portal 2, and so little aimed at Mass Effect 3? NOTE: I am not asking anyone to review-bomb anything. It's childish and pointless. I'm asking why, not demanding ME3 be similarly punished. Please, please no.)

Because people are stupid, basically. Hell, look at some of the replies other people left in response to this paragraph. It clearly says "Why was so much rage aimed at Portal 2, and so little aimed at Mass Effect 3?", or in other words, that lots of rage was aimed at Portal 2, and Mass Effect 3, while getting some rage, isn't getting nearly as much rage as Portal 2. You point out specific examples of how Portal 2 got review bombed and Mass Effect 3 hasn't. So what do people do? Ignore everything you just said about review bombing, pretend you said Mass Effect 3 got no rage whatsoever, and say "duuuur, u must not use teh forumz, Mass Effect 3 gets teh ragez to lol".

People. Are. Stupid.

Beyond that, no I don't know why people were so pissed at do nothing hats in Portal 2, but don't mind a bajillion different versions of Mass Effect 3 content that's actually useful in game doesn't get people nearly as riled up. And let's not forget all the other nice things Valve did for Portal 2, like free co-op maps and releasing the game early (which got people riled up and raging further because they tricked themselves into thinking it would be out days early with no basis in fact, and then blamed Valve when it was only about 12 hours early). Stupid people do stupid things, and I'd go nuts trying to understand why. So I just write them off as stupid and move on.