Trying to make a bad thing sound good (and failing at it)

[TRON.dll]

I've noticed a trend in marketing recently that I don't really think works, but rather makes the advertiser look like a complete idiot and/or backfires on the product. Post examples of this here. Here's my example:

Nintendo Power story about the Wii version of Rock Band; Matt Kelly from Harmonix is talking about some of the Wii version's limitations (create-a-character here) in this interview:

It was one of the things we looked at bringing over, and basically, first and foremost, we wanted to make sure the four-player band experience is supertight and polished, and basically you won't be able to notice a difference in it no matter what console you're playing on. (in short, he's saying that if you can create or choose your character, the overall quality of the game is ruined)

Now let's see here. I can create a character in the XBOX 360 version of Rock Band, how is the overall quality of that game ruined? I can choose a character in the guitar hero games, and I actually like those a little better than rock band. Customization isn't something that will ruin a game. Likewise, a RedOctane employee had a pretty embarresing moment with a New York Times reporter in a video interview. He said that "Guitar Hero World Tour will be the first time that you'll be able to play multiple instruments, like Drums, singing, different types of guitars.." and the reporter interupts saying "Oh! Rock Band I think?" :lol: Busted!

[TronFAQ]

The video game industry is one of the worst for deceptive and false marketing, broken promises, poor after-sales support . . . the list goes on. Only in the video game industry, can companies get away with murder every time. There need to be regulations of some kind, to put an end to the bullshit that the game publishers constantly pull. The ESA (the games association, not the space agency ) should create a new set of rules that all their members have to follow, with greater protection for consumers.

Of course, some game publishers are worse than others. And there are a couple that actually keep their promises and respect their customers. But they're a rare breed.

A lot of those marketing people who "creatively" try to turn negative news into a positive, need to quit their jobs. Bad news is bad news, no matter how much you try to sugar coat it. Just admit that it's bad news and move on. Trying to cover it up only makes you look dishonest, and makes me think twice about buying your games.

[TRON.dll]

Yeah, and now they can use the Wii system's large audience of casual gamers and "I hate good graphics" fanboys as an excuse for gimped games and 3rd party crapware. It's sad, really, that I got all excited when I found out that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and World Tour would not be gimped on the Wii; I literally danced around the room in joy singing all these classic rock songs. :lol:

This is the typical marketing strategy for some Wii Sports knockoff:

We figured that the Wii's large casual audience would make it a great system for our game, especially considering the huge success of Wii Sports!

Or, in the case of Wii Rock Band:

We've gimped the game, sure, but it's okay! Because people that own the Wii system love gameplay over graphics, so the fact that we've taken almost all of the fun elements of customization out of the game is perfectly okay!

I've been trying to convince people who have a Wii to save up for Guitar Hero World Tour because it's like the "un-gimped" version of Wii/PS2 Rock Band (yeah, they even copied character creation), but by then, it'll be too late.

What I find funny is that Harmonix never compared the Wii version with the PS2 version (of Rock Band). The Wii version is basically a port of the PS2 version, but with 5 extra songs. Harmonix stated that they chose to exclude all online functions from the Wii version of Rock Band because "the online functions of the Wii are yet to be fully realized", which basically means that they either A) Want their competition to "fully realize" the online functions of the Wii, or B) they think there is too much lag, which is not possible knowing that the game would run on EA's practically lag-free servers. I have you now, Harmonix! Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide! MWUHAHAHAHAHA!