WSJ: Here Comes 'Halo 3' -With a Side Order of Fries, 1 million pre-orders confirmed

I've never understood why this sort of marketing hasn't gone in to games in the past.

Especially when you consider companies like Sony - who do this sort of marketing in their movie group, and Microsoft - who have insane wads of cash.

I mean, there's a console war going on here, with far more resting on it that just a single Summer movie. So why has marketing always been so limited.


As much as I shudder when I see Halo 3 on the fries, if this becomes the norm, I can see gaming (as in real movie-style epic games) becoming far more mainstream. I've never seen accessibility as the problem with videogames, but the fact that the marketing has always been so poor.

But I think that after Halo 3, we won't see a marketing campaign like this from MS until Halo 4. Which is a shame, because out of all of MS's upcoming first party titles, Halo is probably the game which requires the LEAST amount of marketing. I bet we don't see this for Mass Effect or Alan Wake. Or more relevant - to the Burger King customer base - Banjo Kazooie.
 
pswii60 said:
But I think that after Halo 3, we won't see a marketing campaign like this from MS until Halo 4. Which is a shame, because out of all of MS's upcoming first party titles, Halo is probably the game which requires the LEAST amount of marketing. I bet we don't see this for Mass Effect or Alan Wake. Or more relevant - to the Burger King customer base - Banjo Kazooie.
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We'll get it for Gears of War 2, but I agree with everything else you said. The only media games ever really get is in gaming magazines.
 
GashPrex said:
I really think some people underestimate how popular Halo is because its another generic FPS to them...
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It hurts people that MS hold one of the biggest franchises in gaming. Halo 3 is going to top Halo 2 first day sales based on the price being $60 - $100.

Im buying Legendary edition
 
Prine said:
It hurts people that MS hold one of the biggest franchises in gaming. Halo 3 is going to top Halo 2 first day sales based on the price being $60 - $130.

Im buying Legendary edition
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Eh, fixed.

Dollar amounts, shit yeah it will outsell Halo 2. Unit amounts? Sorta up in the air.
 
Prine said:
It hurts people that MS hold one of the biggest franchises in gaming. Halo 3 is going to top Halo 2 first day sales based on the price being $60 - $100.

Im buying Legendary edition
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It really only hurts Sony people who seems to have a mild case of Halo envy. Miyamoto slightly, (based on one comment that might be taken out of context) but he made Mario and Zelda, with the former far bigger than Halo could ever hope to be so I doubt it really keeps him awake at night.
 
titiklabingapat said:
It really only hurts Sony people who seems to have a mild case of Halo envy. Miyamoto slightly, (based on one comment that might be taken out of context) but he made Mario and Zelda, with the former far bigger than Halo could ever hope to be so I doubt it really keeps him awake at night.
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Prine wasn't saying it hurts Sony execs or Nintendo execs... but just fanboys here on GAF.
 
Most of my friends havn't even pre-ordered yet, and I've just put mine in along with the LE Bioshock. With two months left I expect the number to be much higher.
 
as shitty as Halo is.. this interest in gaming in the mainstream is a hell of a lot better than Nintendos casual-catching strategy, at least for the hardcore gamers.
 
Karma Kramer said:
Prine wasn't saying it hurts Sony execs or Nintendo execs... but just fanboys here on GAF.
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Yeah, KZ2 overhypage. It's why I said Sony people. I'm not sure if Nintendo fanboys want a Halo clone although I'm sure there are at least a small number that do. Most of them will just coimeback with Zelda/Mario/Pokemon anyway, and talk about Metroid Prime's scores. Or something.
 
painey said:
as shitty as Halo is.. this interest in gaming in the mainstream is a hell of a lot better than Nintendos casual-catching strategy, at least for the hardcore gamers.
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So fucking true. This is the way its supposed to be done.

(agree with everything except for the Halo is shitty part)
 
rakka said:
So fucking true. This is the way its supposed to be done.

(agree with everything except for the Halo is shitty part)
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It will still not help in clearing the unfair stigma that videogames have in the mainstream and will most likely prevent the industry from ever realizing it's true potential in the cultural, financial and social sphere. In fact, it will probably further strengthen the prejudice and increase the premature witchhunts.
 
Scarecrow said:
I wonder how big the 7-11 cups will be. I need a replacement for my flaky Halo 2 one.
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Kotaku: "That cola is 42 ounces. Not being one to deal in ounces, I looked that up. It's 1.2 LITRES. That little part at the bottom of the cup is so your human hand can grip it. Jesus, nobody needs that much cola."
 
nobody concerned about marketing a 'Mature' rated game on burger boxes? Sure, they won't be kids meals, but they'll be there alongside, and they already said there is nothing stopping kids buying them.

Isn't that opening yourself up to the critics just a little too easily?
 
titiklabingapat said:
It will still not help in clearing the unfair stigma that videogames have in the mainstream and will most likely prevent the industry from ever realizing it's true potential in the cultural, financial and social sphere. In fact, it will probably further strengthen the prejudice and increase the premature witchhunts.
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True as well.

Best then would be to do it both ways :P
 
mrklaw said:
nobody concerned about marketing a 'Mature' rated game on burger boxes? Sure, they won't be kids meals, but they'll be there alongside, and they already said there is nothing stopping kids buying them.

Isn't that opening yourself up to the critics just a little too easily?
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No. Burger King has been shifting thier focus to the 18-35 y/o males demographic. Of course, there are some 15 y/o in there but Halo and BK's demo are one and the same.
 
mrklaw said:
nobody concerned about marketing a 'Mature' rated game on burger boxes? Sure, they won't be kids meals, but they'll be there alongside, and they already said there is nothing stopping kids buying them.

Isn't that opening yourself up to the critics just a little too easily?
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This isn't Manhunt we are talking about, it's Halo. I don't think critics will bother, Halo isn't controversial enough.

Unless it has a Cortana sex scene...
 
titiklabingapat said:
It will still not help in clearing the unfair stigma that videogames have in the mainstream and will most likely prevent the industry from ever realizing it's true potential in the cultural, financial and social sphere. In fact, it will probably further strengthen the prejudice and increase the premature witchhunts.
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Not until Take Two changes every Wendy in America into a Little Sister.
 
Rhindle said:
If you're trying to be smart about building a brand that will still be perceived as cool 10 years from now, I'm not so sure it's such a great approach.
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Yeah, because all that Slurpee marketing really hurt the Star Wars brand.
 
Still being perceived in any terms ten years from now will be a more or less awesome result. Being cool is a bonus - if people are still thinking about you, you sort of won.
 
snack said:
Is that much soda really neccessary? Really?
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I wouldn't get a soda that size or if I did , it would be diet . However yes it is. I can easily finish off a liter of water while eating dinner. Though I know friends that don't even drink while they eat .
 
Which is a shame, because out of all of MS's upcoming first party titles, Halo is probably the game which requires the LEAST amount of marketing. I bet we don't see this for Mass Effect or Alan Wake. Or more relevant - to the Burger King customer base - Banjo Kazooie.
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QFT.

Halo doesn't need this kind of marketing - other games could really benefit from it far more! (BioShock i'm looking at you!)
 
Hammer24 said:
Kotaku: "That cola is 42 ounces. Not being one to deal in ounces, I looked that up. It's 1.2 LITRES. That little part at the bottom of the cup is so your human hand can grip it. Jesus, nobody needs that much cola."
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oh shit :lol :lol awesome

I was going to make a post about the weird design of the cup as it looked like it was designed to fall over, but now i understand :P
 
Pope Benedict XVI said:
oh shit :lol :lol awesome

I was going to make a post about the weird design of the cup as it looked like it was designed to fall over, but now i understand :P
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I thought it was pretty obvious that it was designed to fit on outdated cup holders that don't accomodate XXL sizes. My dad's 98 expedition won't let us fit 7-11's largest size >.>
 
titiklabingapat said:
Haven't MS collaborated with a publisher before when it comes to marketing? I thought they moneyhatted Lost Planet's marketing?
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I'm not really sure..

edit: I don't think Microsoft helped pay for Lost Planet's marketing, I'm searching google to see if I can find anything.
 
I don't see how anybody in my part of Australia (and maybe the whole country) who isn't into games (to the extent of checking out games shops or magazines, owning a console or gaming regularly on their pc) would know or find out that Bioshock exists, let alone what it's about. Big marketing for specific games (with the exception of Brain Age, which is on billboards, tv) doesn't seem at all on the radar around me, and I'm hardly out bush.
 
Salazar said:
I don't see how anybody in my part of Australia (and maybe the whole country) who isn't into games (to the extent of checking out games shops or magazines, owning a console or gaming regularly on their pc) would know or find out that Bioshock exists, let alone what it's about. Big marketing for specific games (with the exception of Brain Age, which is on billboards, tv) doesn't seem at all on the radar around me, and I'm hardly out bush.
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Well anyone who isn't into games also isn't going to own a $300 -$600 next gen console. If they did, they would be more in-tuned with the video game world and know that these games are coming out.
 
Pope Benedict XVI said:
oh shit :lol :lol awesome

I was going to make a post about the weird design of the cup as it looked like it was designed to fall over, but now i understand :P
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It's designed to fit in standard sized cup holders.
 
I've missed the entire thread bar a few of the first posts where people were talking about having not pre-ordered yet. Add me to the club. The only reason I haven't bothered is because it's Halo 3 and I know there'll be enough copies anywhere I go. I'm not bothering with the midnight launch this time as I just don't have as much interest in games as I did when Halo 2 launched, so I'll just walk into Big W or Target and get it some time in the avo.
 
Opus Angelorum said:
Most of my friends havn't even pre-ordered yet, and I've just put mine in along with the LE Bioshock. With two months left I expect the number to be much higher.
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Yeah, I would imagine a ton of preorders will happen during the last few weeks. This is going to be epic in every sense of the word.
 
If Bungie was influenced by GAF in choosing "Believe", I will lose some respect for them. To cater to a message board to get a few "lols" is pretty ridiculous.
 
Akira said:
If Bungie was influenced by GAF in choosing "Believe", I will lose some respect for them. To cater to a message board to get a few "lols" is pretty ridiculous.
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Even if they did get it from GAF, who says they are doing it to "cater" to a message board??

What if they got it from GAF, and it was um.... A GOOD CATCH PHRASE!!!
 
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