Soul Calibur 2
The Glory of dress up games
I beat the dress up games last week. Before I bought it, I never saw an advertisement, whether online, TV, print, what-have-you. This game was basically released without a word spoken.
I know that studios want to whore out what they consider the most amazing games ever, but it’s a shame that this was a sleeper hit. It’s a freaking fahion games that has a cool story, awesome graphics, neato fighting moves, and – get this – a long playing time. Do you know how rare that is in dress up games?
I’ve been thinking about them lately. When you look at the market, actioners aren’t really advertised a whole lot except for FPS’s. FPS’s barely count anymore, and I believe that stems from the genre’s multiplayer community and the fact that actioners are usually more platform-based and open. And usually a franchise is the only thing that’ll get massive attention. Just look at Uncharted and God of War. They whored the crap out of those games. They were excellent franchises, sure, but you’ll never see the same amount of advertising from those exceptions for a majority of actioners. Hell, I only ever saw one commercial for Dante’s Inferno.
That makes me a bit sad. You see other genres being pimped like crazy. RPGs get the full marketing spa treatment, FPS’s have a huge line of multiplayers ready to talk shit into a headset, and horror/survival always has some really freaking cool commercials. Fighting games get rehashed like nobody’s business, despite not always having much to offer. Even sports games – the most rehashed and creatively bankrupt games of all – get decent marketing. Why skimp on actioners?
What’s great about action games to me is that they’re so simple, yet they never stop being the funnest things ever. All you need is a cool premise. We don’t need 25-hour cut scenes that deal with the struggle of humanity or a super-convoluted story that keeps you guessing even after you’ve beaten the game. It doesn’t need any of that high-falootin’ shit. It is what it is, with very few dings and whistles getting in the way. In fact, I’d reckon that one of action games’ downfalls is that their dings and whistles are pretty useless (see: Uncharted and Dante’s Inferno).
With all these great qualities and the sales of actioners still faring pretty well, why is there so little attention from marketers? Alan Wake had goddamn QR codes embedded in the game as advertising easter eggs. Final Fantasy has aired commercials as if they’re TV spots for an upcoming movie. Wii games are being sold as exercise equipment, for God’s sake! All this, and no love for actioners?
What a pity. So many cool dress up games out there, yet barely any attention drawn toward them. Sure, some franchises get away with a marketing blitz, but those are few and far in between. They’re too busy pimping out the next Madden, Final Fantasy, or Soul Calibur.
They’ll get their due respect one day. They’re simply too glorious not to. One of these days, actioners are going to get some serious action. And I can’t wait for it.
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Soul Calibur III Original Soundtrack [Audio CD] $49.99 Brand New and manufacture sealed. First class shipping from New York. Customer satisfaction is guaranteed…. |
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Soul Calibur II $58.49 Brand New and manufacture sealed. First class shipping from New York. Customer satisfaction is guaranteed…. |
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Soulcalibur V.3 $71.12 … |
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Soul Caliber: Necrid $9.99 Designed by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, this masked creature has a three-pronged claw appendage and a custom base. … |
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Exclusive Soul Calibur II – Spawn $39.90 Ultra Action Figure… |
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McFarlane Toys Soul Calibur 2 Boxed Action Figure Nightmare $59.99 McFarlane has done more then just made figures for Soul Calibur 2 he created the look for the Infamous one known as Nightmare! And for those of you who own an X-Box you can play as spawn in this, the best of all fighting games! Each of these figures comes with a spinning base, screen capture background and weapons…. |
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