On Marketing Brink

(tokamak) #41

Halo had amazing video footage which single-handedly caused the huge buzz around it.

(H0RSE) #42

The thing that made Halo big was being released on console. It was the first solid shooter for consoles in a long time. If it would have released on PC, it would have been just another shooter.

(Jamieson) #43

[QUOTE=mortis;229995]I also noticed the slow trickle of new information – and I suspected that they may have been running behind schedule. Software is often assigned launch dates that revolve around retail seasons and trade show dates, not completion. I’d rather wait for a finely tuned piece of software than have a bug ridden version today, so I say, “To Hell with completion dates!”

On the other hand, it is difficult to maintain my level of excitement about the game when I haven’t really seen anything new in the game in months. Maybe in the near future we can get a bit more info about other scenarios to be seen in the game.

One of the problems with ETQW marketing, in my opinion, was an over-saturation about the Valley map. I can’t tell you how many hundreds of Valley based screenies I saw, but they didn’t tell me much about the other scenarios, other terrains, other objectives, etc. I also swear that Activision left ETQW out in the sun to die, while endlessly promoting its other FPS games launched around the same time. I doubt Bethesda will make the same mistake in terms of advertising, but I have no idea where they are in terms of hyping all the maps and scenarios, time will tell.[/QUOTE]

I to think things are running behind schedule, That would also explain why we have only seen a small amount of the maps, it could be that the reason why we have not seen more regarding the different scenarios is simply because their not done and it would be quite embarrasing to show them at this point allthough SD would not admit that. Mortis is right though ETQW made a big mistake by focusing on Valley, its not ETQW best map at all, also agree they got shafted by Activision.

Its also quite strange how all the video footage we have seen is quite old, months old in fact. Why is SD not showing new video footage at E3?

(Seyu) #44

Whether or not I buy it, I want this game to be successful because it has the potential to bring a revolution to the shooter genre. Lets hope Bethesda manages to create more Brink hype than what currently is.

(tokamak) #45

[QUOTE=Jamieson;230004]Mortis is right though ETQW made a big mistake by focusing on Valley, its not ETQW best map at all, also agree they got shafted by Activision.
[/QUOTE]

I think Valley is the best map to show what ETQW is all about.

(mortis) #46

It’s not that Valley was a ‘bad’ map per se, but rather that I felt it was overly pimped when there was so much more to see and do. It’s already getting to be a few years ago, and I don’t remember exactly how things unfolded anymore, but when I think back, I mostly remember Valley, Valley and more Valley. :slight_smile:

(ultraddtd) #47

[QUOTE=Jamieson;230004]I to think things are running behind schedule, That would also explain why we have only seen a small amount of the maps, it could be that the reason why we have not seen more regarding the different scenarios is simply because their not done and it would be quite embarrasing to show them at this point allthough SD would not admit that. Mortis is right though ETQW made a big mistake by focusing on Valley, its not ETQW best map at all, also agree they got shafted by Activision.

Its also quite strange how all the video footage we have seen is quite old, months old in fact. Why is SD not showing new video footage at E3?[/QUOTE]

They had a live demo at E3. G4TV showed it on their Day 2 (or 3) coverage.

(tokamak) #48

I don’t think it’s that drastic. It’s just that for every demo they need to make a new build. All the maps might be roughly done but that doesn’t mean they’ve been optimized already.

(ultraddtd) #49

Bethesda doesn’t seem very good at Marketing IPs that they didn’t develop, but then again, WET and whatever that mess was with Mickey Rourke weren’t worth the advertising dollars.

Bethesda has some really winners this round with New Vegas, Rage and, of course, Brink. Rage has already had a ton of exposure from the new id engine and New Vegas is rolling along on the Fallout name. Brink, on the other hand, is a new IP from a studio that isn’t known for console games. They really need to step up their marketing game if they want the masses to take notice.

Like someone said way earlier in the thread, they really need to move the focus from gameplay to story. Build up anticipation by fleshing out the game’s mythology, plot and characters. Monthly updates to the site can build anticipation for the games narrative by featuring different locations–giving their fictional histories and current state within the game’s plot–, or talk about key characters in the story whether they’re in game or just mentioned. They could even create little short machinima (sp?) films in the style of the trailer (but rendered in-game) that maybe portray what it’s like to be in that conflict 9and show off the cool parkour moves.

Show potential users a compelling universe, make them think, “Hey, I want to find out what happens, how this all works out,” and then seal the deal with it’s new gameplay ideas.

(Seyu) #50

Yea, they do something like give game journalists a hands-on and demoes throughout the year. I mean, Homefront was announced at E3 2009 and no one cared much about it until this year. Now all of a sudden there’s this huge hype for the game after E3 2010.

(Jamieson) #51

I can agree to an extent, its great for showing off all the objectives (apart from Transmit) you have a build, MCP, hack and destroy.

I think Slipgate would have been better from a marketting point of view though for a number of reasons.

  1. Because of the slipgate it feels like a really big map.
  2. You get to show off the desert enviroment and then switch to the snowy enviroment all in one map.
  3. That fits in well with the theme of the game, The first part in the desert is all aout the GDF and when you go through the slipgate you are taking the fight to the Strogg at their base.

Its like you say though, SD should not fall into the trap of focusing on one map, although not a map I think SD are focusing way to much on the SMART system, Brink is still an FPS and while movement is important there are other important features that need to be marketted and explained, for example how shooting will work and the abilities the classes have.

(Seyu) #52

I agree, in every interview that Paul gave during E3 the talk was mostly about the customization and SMART, in my opinion they should focus some more on shooting mechanics and the core gameplay.

(Hansel) #53

Would be great to get another gameplay video that is similar to the container city video released last year, but with a different map. It was bit of a disappointment that all the videos from E3 this year had the same footage running background.

(Jamieson) #54

Not only that the footage was old, in certain interviews you can see that they copy and re-use the same video footage from early on in the clip and use it later on in the same video.

In comparison Valve released an 11 minute gameplay video for portal 2, all new footage and unseen etc. SD really needs to step up their game.
http://ve3d.ign.com/videos/70746/PC/Portal-2/Gameplay/E3-2010-Gameplay-Presentation-Voodoo-Extreme-Edition