A Teaser For A Teaser!

A TEASER FOR A TEASER!

Welcome to my Blog folks,

Well it's a beautiful Bank Holiday Monday here in beautiful Blightly, and I know I should be outside catching the rays as it were. But that's not my style and to be totally honest with you reader, I'd probably look rather stupid doing so. So I felt it was time I discussed another matter that's recently been bugging me for my latest blog entry. An issue that seems to be a key point of discussion for many a gamer, something that we all seem to have a love/hate relationship with. Yes, you'd probably guessed from the title already that I'm talking about teasers. 

Teasers in the videogame industry have become a popular Public Relations tactic nowadays. We recently saw the shamefully short teasers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Kojima Productions'NEXT' site with it's countdowns to countdowns that have been driving many gamers mad. Look around the web and you'll see that for the most part, it's become a much hated new method of building excitement around a game. Now I'm in two halves when it comes to the teasing of specific games, while I don't always believe it's such a bad thing and can do a game the greatest of good. There is simply no denying that it's rather easy for companies to take it a little to far. Strangely I have less issue with the Kojima Productions teaser site then I did with Modern Warfare 2's blink of a eye teaser trailers. While I'd agree that 4 or 5 different countdown timers are a little on the excessive side, the Kojima Productions site as kept me interested for the slightest piece of information on Hideo Kojima's next title. 

On the other hand, I can't help but feel as if the recent Modern Warfare 2 teasers have made me less interested in the game. Which is obviously not what they were intended to do, but that could just be me. The Kojima site feels better organized and planned out, it's also strangely fascinating to watch. It's worth noting that both Modern Warfare 2 and Kojima Productions new game are two very different beasts. With Modern Warfare 2, we sort of know what were going to get while we have hardly any true idea what Hideo Kojima's new game will be. But even with that in mind, I still think the Modern Warfare 2 teasing as a had a negative effect on me. Which begs the question if any form of tease for a game actually really works?

Most folk will tell you 'of course they do, don't be a fool' but I've never been to sure. We all know gamers are an hard bunch to please, and we only truly enjoy teasers that have been smartly thought out or truly taken us by surprise. Nowadays we expect to be teased on the latest and greatest titles, but are we still enjoying the PR campaigns like we use to? I'll admit I'm a fan of smartly thought out teases, a fine example of this is found in the recent InFamous demo from developers Sucker Punch Productions. For those that look close enough, you'll see a 'Sly Cooper 4' listing on the front of a cinema building. Now this may or may not be an actual teaser, but it's little inclusions like this that I still get a kick out of. I just wish more PR departments tried being a little more adventurous when advertising their latest game. 

While I believe that PR as a place in the Videogame industry, and probably does the industry more good then harm. It's all still so clear that all to often mistakes are made. It's become common site to see a terrible put together videogame commercial or poorly thought out poster in the middle of a busy city. We've seen a lot of good games be given terrible often sickening commercials that have even become InFamous in their own right (see what I did there!). While I can have a small moan, even writing this is a sign that PR campaigns do work in an odd sense. The original intention of teases such as the Kojima Production site, are to get folks talking about every last detail and that's exactly what I've been doing lately. So I can't really talk and I don't actually hate the way games are advertised nowadays. I just wish more thought was used by PR companies around the World. 

Now teasers still won't sit well with me, and I'm not totally convinced that they have such a massive influence on us gamers as companies would like to believe. It's also clear that it could even harm the eagerness and hype for a game, and possibly even over shadow the eventual unveiling. While I don't believe there is any danger of that happening with Hideo Kojima's new title, I still wonder what degree influence PR companies should have over videogame developers and the industry as a whole. It's worth noteing that it's not just the videogame industry that suffers, the movie industry is also a fine example of where PR can go wrong. So folks will have their own view on teasers, be them in the form of sites or trailers. But there still going to be part of the industry in the years to come and with the E3 Entertainment Expo literally a week away, I think we can expect a hell of a lot more around the corner. 

Do PR campaigns have a positive or negative effect on the industry as a whole?

Thanks for Reading, 
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent)
(Twitter: JosephBayliss)

A TEASER FOR A TEASER!

Welcome to my Blog folks,

Well it's a beautiful Bank Holiday Monday here in beautiful Blightly, and I know I should be outside catching the rays as it were. But that's not my style and to be totally honest with you reader, I'd probably look rather stupid doing so. So I felt it was time I discussed another matter that's recently been bugging me for my latest blog entry. An issue that seems to be a key point of discussion for many a gamer, something that we all seem to have a love/hate relationship with. Yes, you'd probably guessed from the title already that I'm talking about teasers. 

Teasers in the videogame industry have become a popular Public Relations tactic nowadays. We recently saw the shamefully short teasers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Kojima Productions'NEXT' site with it's countdowns to countdowns that have been driving many gamers mad. Look around the web and you'll see that for the most part, it's become a much hated new method of building excitement around a game. Now I'm in two halves when it comes to the teasing of specific games, while I don't always believe it's such a bad thing and can do a game the greatest of good. There is simply no denying that it's rather easy for companies to take it a little to far. Strangely I have less issue with the Kojima Productions teaser site then I did with Modern Warfare 2's blink of a eye teaser trailers. While I'd agree that 4 or 5 different countdown timers are a little on the excessive side, the Kojima Productions site as kept me interested for the slightest piece of information on Hideo Kojima's next title. 

On the other hand, I can't help but feel as if the recent Modern Warfare 2 teasers have made me less interested in the game. Which is obviously not what they were intended to do, but that could just be me. The Kojima site feels better organized and planned out, it's also strangely fascinating to watch. It's worth noting that both Modern Warfare 2 and Kojima Productions new game are two very different beasts. With Modern Warfare 2, we sort of know what were going to get while we have hardly any true idea what Hideo Kojima's new game will be. But even with that in mind, I still think the Modern Warfare 2 teasing as a had a negative effect on me. Which begs the question if any form of tease for a game actually really works?

Most folk will tell you 'of course they do, don't be a fool' but I've never been to sure. We all know gamers are an hard bunch to please, and we only truly enjoy teasers that have been smartly thought out or truly taken us by surprise. Nowadays we expect to be teased on the latest and greatest titles, but are we still enjoying the PR campaigns like we use to? I'll admit I'm a fan of smartly thought out teases, a fine example of this is found in the recent InFamous demo from developers Sucker Punch Productions. For those that look close enough, you'll see a 'Sly Cooper 4' listing on the front of a cinema building. Now this may or may not be an actual teaser, but it's little inclusions like this that I still get a kick out of. I just wish more PR departments tried being a little more adventurous when advertising their latest game. 

While I believe that PR as a place in the Videogame industry, and probably does the industry more good then harm. It's all still so clear that all to often mistakes are made. It's become common site to see a terrible put together videogame commercial or poorly thought out poster in the middle of a busy city. We've seen a lot of good games be given terrible often sickening commercials that have even become InFamous in their own right (see what I did there!). While I can have a small moan, even writing this is a sign that PR campaigns do work in an odd sense. The original intention of teases such as the Kojima Production site, are to get folks talking about every last detail and that's exactly what I've been doing lately. So I can't really talk and I don't actually hate the way games are advertised nowadays. I just wish more thought was used by PR companies around the World. 

Now teasers still won't sit well with me, and I'm not totally convinced that they have such a massive influence on us gamers as companies would like to believe. It's also clear that it could even harm the eagerness and hype for a game, and possibly even over shadow the eventual unveiling. While I don't believe there is any danger of that happening with Hideo Kojima's new title, I still wonder what degree influence PR companies should have over videogame developers and the industry as a whole. It's worth noteing that it's not just the videogame industry that suffers, the movie industry is also a fine example of where PR can go wrong. So folks will have their own view on teasers, be them in the form of sites or trailers. But there still going to be part of the industry in the years to come and with the E3 Entertainment Expo literally a week away, I think we can expect a hell of a lot more around the corner. 

Do PR campaigns have a positive or negative effect on the industry as a whole?

Thanks for Reading, 
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent)
(Twitter: JosephBayliss)