One doesn’t have to look too hard to find uninspired commercials, and with two of the three major game console manufacturers launching their next-gen products, it’s heating up the airwaves with each companies’ attempt to sway us. We have a total of three brand new commercials for you straight from the Xbox official Youtube channel – and it looks like Microsoft’s marketing team is picking up the ball and running with it. The first one (above) is “His and Hers.” I admit, it made me laugh a bit.
Next is hardware shots in “Xbox One: Revealed” and is well done, though I think the “your ad here” on the music screen was tacky. Since it’s not out yet, it’s no great surprise that the ads aren’t populated – but I would have left that particular shot out.
For you NFL fans, we’ve saved the best one for last- “Retirement Home” which shows the integration function of TV, gameplay and chatting. Let’s just hope that the Kinect is doing its job there (as of course, commercials are simulated) and can actually allow a normal conversation over the sounds of the TV.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada, at a young age I was forced to decide whether the harsh northern winters were going to claim my fingers, or to turn to the safer pursuits of indoor activities. Little did I know that a little game called Ninja Gaiden would bring my digits more pain than frostbite ever could. Starting with Vectrex and C64 games and moving forward through the era of electronic entertainment, I sampled as much as I could in the different platforms, and began my interest in PC gaming from wrestling with DOS memory management.
While console games were a part of my earliest gaming memories and I certainly had played on most platforms including 3D0, all things Nintendo, PS1 and the like, truly the PC was my domain until the Xbox. As an old PC gamer, I ever chased the cutting edge technology. Eye of the beholder with CGA 4 colors was my first step down the the path of blowing thousands of dollars on PC upgrades over two decades. Ultima 7, with the Guardian talking to me through my monitor, still haunts my dreams and keeps me ever hoping for a decent Ultima 8 and 9. From the 3DFX SLI VooDoo2s and Aureal to today's GPU driven DirectX games, the new and shiny pictures seem to keep me going. My PC gaming has slowed down with the market shift though, and although I have choice games that will ever be on PC, I have found myself in console gaming with a bit of portable gaming in my life.
Back around the turn of the millenium (and long before fatherhood), I had fired off an email offering to help Ron with a little-known site called ConsoleGold. Little did I know it would be be a part of my life to this day. While I've seen my fair share of shovelware (thanks Ron!), I manage to try and find the fun in most games. Leaning towards sandbox and action titles, I've grown to love games for their potential to reach art. Console agnostic and excited for the progress of tomorrow, I fancy the latest and greatest, but still enjoy the good old classics ... as long as they've been revamped from their 8bit graphic roots.
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