by The PS4 hits North American shelves tomorrow, November 15th, but our European brothers of the controllers have to wait a couple more weeks to get their new console on November 29th. Which explains why the European launch advertisement just went into action.
I was irked by the U.S. ad, “This Is for the Players,” for its depiction of gamers as isolated hermits who only see their friends if they visit and miss out on life events and changing cityscapes. The European ad isn’t much better, depicting a world “enhanced” by gaming. Both ads, however, would have viewers believe that its a PS4 world, which it most certainly is not. South Park recently proved this by dividing friends over which console they would buy.
While I don’t think console choice will destroy friendships as Trey Parker and Matt Stone would have you believe, the gaming world is split. There’s a lot of hype around these new consoles (visit any website dedicated to gaming and that’s about all your going to see), but is it worth the space? I mean, haven’t gamers already decided which console they’re going to get? And hardcore gamers are just going to get both.
So, who are these ads targeting? Are the companies trying to dazzle parents with fast-paced images and flashing lights to trick them into buying a console for their kids’ Christmas present? Are they targeting pre-teens without enough money to buy their own? Since Sony went for nostalgia, are they targeting retired gamers hoping to get them to pick up the controller once more?
Yell! Magazine’s staff is split on console choice, and our Hell’s Temple thinks Sony and Microsoft should allow cross-platform compatibility for online play, but we want to know what your thoughts and choices are. Drop us a comment below or like us on Facebook and comment there.
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