In reference to the advert, why the hell are they all up on the roof? Is the Giant Enemy Crab ship coming to abduct all the kids. I defie you to find a launch title that is under a 15. The PS3 is blatantly a console for the older market, hell so is the 360. I have no games that are under 15 and the bulk at 18+. Viva Pinjata is the only game i can think of that won't be a 15. 'But 15 is a teen age certificate' Shutup, the kid on the advert was obviously not 15. I swear Sony are purposefully shooting themselves down, they haven't made one good move yet. PS2 and Playstation were magical consoles, but i'm afraid to say PS3 is looking like a bucket of shite, they have over extended themselves. They have said and done too many controversial things and that is going to pay dearly. Who is going to say no to Zelda i mean jesus christ you'd have to be a nazi.

The wait is over? Who the hell was waiting?

Broni

gre9del

3SuB

Bad commercial

Bad price

Bad amount of systems

ugly system

Nintendo4564

Norellicus

Though I can't help but think the director has seen the UK NSPCC campaign (cruelty to children charity). Exact same music, framing and grey colouring.

mSuu

SXGlory

who8myrice

Ads flashing a release date and nothing else have been around for a very long time. And this won't do anything to convince the current naysayers in any way. If I'm skeptical of the unit, the SpiderMan font and some After Effects preset ain't gonna sway me. Even with the inclusion of creepy kids on a roof.

I'm reminded of the "SUPER" add in EGM for Super Street Fighter 2. All it had was the "SUPER" word and the release date. That was it. For those waiting for the game, it was great. For everyone else, it was a waste of a perfectly good page.

realyst

1.) No kid around the age portrayed in the commercial would have the money to buy the PS3
2.) that means "good luck parents putting up with those relentless whining"
3.) "The Wait" felt more about the waiting for the end of the commercial where it's actually portraying something meaningful
4.) "The Wait" is not over. Many (or few) people who want a PS3 will continue waiting for a PS3 after Nov.17 because of the shortage.
5.) gg Sony.

Etheo

Ryan

LORDofDANCE

"Wait. Why are they showing some 13 year old kid? He'd have to save his allowance for four years before he could afford the PS3."

Maybe that's what "the wait" really is.

TheLostSkeleton

freakotaku14

Rez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53xxUE7tDlE

Barbara

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Bqq38WZctA

Repsode

As for 'Not this over pretensious, serious, epic, monumental hope for all mankind to raise our civilization to it's apex; it's just a f@#$ing PS3, sell it to me as if it was supposed to be a fun source of entertainment!'

Oh, please. Nintendo may be able to afford that line. But they don't have a serious, epic, monumental price to justify.

Branding, like this ad, is their route to achieving that since the truth ('it's pretty good value when you consider we're losing money on each one sold, we think all this hardware will make your games look slightly better than the Xbox 360, plus you'll have to buy one anyway if you want to play the next Final Fantasy') isn't exactly going to convince anyone on a visceral level. Selling out at launch also helps their case (look, it sold out! it really must be worth that much!)

quen

Judging from that huge fohking shadow, I'd say you were correct.

Piraat

methane47

incidentally... it is ACTUALLY from the soundtrack to a documentary about the Apollo missions and the album itself was originally released in 1983. which was actually 17 years prior to appearing in "Traffic".

though the movie itself (apparently) wasn't released until later : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097372/

the parenthetical words should be reversed in your "answer". it is actually "An Ending (Ascent)".

in addition... it's been used in a quite a few movies to date (or in trailers before the actual soundtrack was finished) but i think this commercial is where it has finally truly jumped the shark.

http://imdb.com/name/nm0006061/

x23

AltDelete

Then the seller will sell them a Wii or a XBox 360 because mommy/daddy can't go back home with empty hands because PS3 is BO for x months. I'm pretty sure sellers are getting some push from their boss to sell Wii and Xbox: "Selll them, they will come back anyway for PS3 later. It's Christmass time, they need gifts."

Sony is doing publicity for Nintendo and Microsoft by stating loudly that Next Generation Console War is open but can afford demands.

Oh and the ad is ok, but little child isn't such a good idea. Kids don't want to see themselves in "adult-style product" publicity, it fades the cool factor. I mean, it's like smoking :P

slimky

heh3d

B1ooDshOt

Second, the Playstation has a long-standing identity in commercials and ads, trying to be the surreal "something different." The idea is that they're not just making a game, they're pulling you into a whole other world. This is a lot tamer than their usual stride, but it's still part of the Playstation identity, it's still a lot different than the 360 and Nintendo's ads.

Finally, all you people who think you're above advertising and it doesn't affect you, get over yourself. 95% of the U.S. population think they're above advertising, yet companies still pour billions of dollars each year into commercials, newspapers, magazines, movies, posters, and everywhere else you can think of. They've done the math again and again. I seriously doubt they're spending their money worthlessly.

ei

J B Cougar says:
Next up: "The Price"

PRguitarman says:
That was almost as bad as the XBOX360 commercial with the...erm...urban folk playing Jump Rope.

Jonn

Islandkiwi

Regarding this piece of PR, it's about twice as long as it needs to be. I scrolled to the last five seconds just to see what the denouement was.

"The wait is over."

For whom?

bassbeast

It should be:

11.10.06 "If you want one, the line starts here"

With pictures of parents in overcoats, carrying sleeping bags and camping gear in front of a ToysRus, and standing in a line that goes around the corner.

Then being told to go home, as 10 people at the front walk off with PS3s.

There will not be a single PS3 available for purchase in a retailer in the United States that is not already accounted for or gone before it hits the shelf.

dcartist

i need more people to know about it and want it before i put it up on ebay

dh4645

Beats japanese pop xbox ads. :)

gblock

Wii please, Wii.

RocketChump

*chokes on coffee*

Cell9song

Also, for those who mentioned those PS9 commercials, they were literaly horrible. While I got it and most of us hardcore gamers understood that it ment the PS2 was just the beginning, most casual gamers had no freaking clue what was going on. I don't know how many times I was asked if the commercial ment they were coming out with a PS9 soon, or if it was going to be an accessory for the PS2, along with other questions of confusion, but it became annoying after a while.

Darkest Daze

sleepless

After browsing the comments a bit, Sony may be missing the point entirely. They seem to have created this pseudo religion around their products, especially with the Playstation 2, and are trying to create the same level of blind worship with the Playstation 3.

One school of thought in marketing is in order to make your product desirable, make it an icon. Create such penetration into the minds of the general public, that even someone who is as far can be from the hobby in question will have some general idea of what you are talking about. Make the product the most desired, despite its blarring shortcomings. It worked for the iPod (despite the first 2 generations bringing absolutely nothing more to the table than the average MP3 player). And to that effect they have succeeded. They sold millions of units (although I believe most of them were replacements due to the DVD-ROM trays breaking, but that is besides the point :p ) and took gaming further into the mainstream then any other platform before it.

Through a combination of the 'Sony religion' advertising, large marketing gimmicks like the Playstation Store at the Metreon in San Francisco, being featured in countless elements of pop culture, and deals with publishers that made ownership of the device necessary (Sony owes their soul to EA) They have created an icon, just like Nintendo did with the NES. The Playstation 2 will remembered in the history books despite its total lack of profitability for Sony.

And now they are trying to do the same with the Playstation 3. One major problem: Gamers are smarter now.

Back in 1999 and 2000 (before the PS2 launch) gamers were a finicky divided bunch. Few legitimate sites existed that you could count on for journalistic integrity. Corporate America had discoverd the internet and was making it their own. The white noise of marketing was drowning out the voices of reason and rational thought. The Dreamcast was sitting pretty (dubiously) and the battle lines had been drawn. Stay loyal to the wavering Sega, or give to the allure of the Emotion Engine. The internet was full of speculation, rumors, and just plain misinformation.

Sony's marketing machine was a damn powerhouse in comparison to Sega's shortbus of advertisments. Yet despite this, Sony needed this kind of killer punch. They had gone up against Sega once before in the Saturn/Playstation Wars, and won. Now the gloves were off and Sega was going to put up one hell of a fight. All things considered the Playstation 2 turned out to be the better machine as a whole. Better support, more features, clear confident backing from its creator. We all know what ended up happenening to the ill-fated DC. It's easy to win a war with a Bazooka when your opponent shows up with a pop-gun.

Yes the Xbox showed up at some point, but Sony's image, having well over a year's time to establish itself, and by simple nature of the almost universal disdain for Microsoft, remained unwaivered.

Now in 2006, things are very very different. Microsoft, despite the current sales and trends, has deeply entrenched itself in the hearts and minds of a significant portion of the gamer population and Nintendo is betting pretty much everything on this new 'revolution' they plan to bring about with the Wii.

Microsoft itself is an organization that seems to have discovered a money forest will continue to pour endless amounts of cash into this grand experiment known as the Xbox, currently in its second generation. There are no signs of Microsoft ever exiting the arena. Add to this, Microsoft is known for the kind of 'religion marketing' that Sony is known for.

Nintendo has and always shall do things their own way, no matter what the competition is doing. Thats not to say they aren't educated in business. However after the considerable failure of the Gamecube (yes, it may have been the only profitable sixth-generation console, but as far as icons go, it will be forgotten) Nintendo has about only one more shot in the console business before they lose consumer confidence and relegate themselves back to their most profitable business: handhelds. So Nintendo will not whimper away like Sega. They are going to put up one immense fight in this generation. With their non-traditional style of playing, they be the wildcard.

Take these things into account, and the picture of battle is no longer a gigantic sumo wrestler destroying the soul of a small retarded child. Its an honest to goodness battle. Examine it even more by looking at all the continuing huginamungous blunders Sony has made on the roadmap to release and the picture changes even further: Sony is bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Now in 2006, gamers are a more intelligent and informed bunch. Extreme marketing and reality TV shows have since died and fossilized. Websites are dedicated the sheer act of debunking the horsehokey that companies try to spoon feed us. The internet has fulfilled its destiny as being a hub for communication and information.

In essence, humanity's bullshit detector has been collectively raised in the past 6 years.

This generation has become immune to the grandiose marketing machine of generations past. We are, once again, a consumer America. But we are now a nation, nay, a world of informed consumers.

Now it becomes clear. Sony is going to have to do far more than rely on its well-honed marketing skills and belief that the gaming community is a giant pasture of cattle with bottomless wallets. Surfing on the legacy of the icon that they have created will no longer carry them to the front of the race. Continual slaps in the face in the form of a cost prohibitive price tag and a downright insulting lack of inclusion of equipment required to make the unit useable to its fullest extent will disillusion the flock. The religion of Sony will become irrelevant.

The Playstation 3 may be the most powerful, the most capable, the most advanced piece of gaming hardware the world has ever seen. But if Sony does not attend to the fact that gamers have matured, are no longer blind consumers, and that they have real, intelligent competition in this go, they will have shot their horse before the gates have even opened.

In summation, gamers do not buy this crap anymore.

TwEEkEr

aelfin

"THE WAIT IS OVER, well nearly, if fact if you could bend over while we slag you off, charge more for it than anywhere else in the world, give it to months late OH and...

...can we fuck you up the arse?"

I THINK YOU ALREADY HAVE.

bluefunk

Myra

Thanks divisible for the track info.

zurfdude

"Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called "The Pledge"; The magician shows you something ordinary, but of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn"; The magician makes his ordinary some thing do something extraordinary. Now if you're looking for the secret... you won't find it, that's why there's a third act called, "The Prestige"; this is the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before."

cactaur

Well, I could have easily said that, but then I would have been accused of being racist(Which I am not)" "

You know, there's nothing wrong with describing someone as black. Just like there's no problem with somebody describing me as white. If one of these is wrong but the other is alright, that in itself is racism. In fact, by describing black people as being "urban" generally, it could be said that you were stereotyping.

It's like describing a black person as "African American." Now, when you call somebody African American, you're making two assumptions. First, that they're African. Second, that they're American. Let's say you saw this guy walking down the street:

http://cy606.sitesled.com/pictureofblackperson.JPG

You're probably thinking: That is an African American person. He's not. He is British, born and raised. Therefore, this makes you a presumptious fool. Not to mention that every time you give a black person the distinction of being "African American" out of a mixed group, you're making an assumption about an entire continent; not everyone from Africa is black.

I guarantee all you politically correct morons out there have never called a white person an African American. Indeed, one of my classmates at school was born in South Africa, but has physical traits more reminiscent of an Aryan (White complexion, blonde hair, blue eyes, etc.).

Of course you could avoid all these problems by using the same standards on blacks as you would on whites by simply assuming that all whites are from Africa just as you do for all blacks. But of course, that might be too forward, and in a polite society like ours, people would be all too pleased to point out which of the 192 UN-recognised countries you didn't guess they were actually from.

Anyway, regarding the GBA ad, I liked that one more than the other because of one very simple reason: Stuff actually happened. Honestly, would you rather be bored out of your mind watching some douchebags staring at some ominous "3"-shaped umbra, or at a high-class orchestra where all kinds of random stuff go down. It's much more interesting, wouldn't you say?

Crank Yanker 606

Someone should make an advertisemnet mocking the PS3, like a kid robbing a store or killing somebody to get the money for the console.
And why doesn't Nintendo go with a Wii to peoples houses, have them try it, video tape it and make it into a commercial.

Spiderbait

On another note, I love how they straight up tell you to pack your bags, cause you're gonna have to camp out for one!

Brill

All in all, I thought it was a crap ad - it does nothing to sell the brand, that I can see. At first I thought I'd clicked the wrong video and got through to some children's charity warning us about runaway kids.

aniki21

I thought the ad itself (up until the giant 3) was quite pleasant, but considering how many times the console has been pushed back, I can see how its message can be construed to be just a mite insulting.

Retropants regrets nothing

devisible

Alice

Welcome...to...theTHIRD...place...

Dom

Seriously Sony, you should have just changed it.

Benathen Kay

Walken

It won't be at launch that's for sure. Not cause of the European shortages, simply because I wanna find out what sort of problems these first units will present. All hail Kotaku, with their overheated X360s and cracking NDSs. Hooray!

Anyways, I have to wait for other stuff first, like wait a half year... Final Fantasy XII PAL anyone?...

P.S. The ad is quite good, and the kid sees a 20plus guy to his right when he walks to the rooftop, so stop complaining about the age.

P.S.2. I'm still wondering what that shadow of a Space Invaders' UFO was doing over the rooftops. Was that a PS3 with legs?

oni

I didn't like the PS3 commercial is boring, I would probably change the channel at the middle of it.

mikehc

Well, I could have easily said that, but then I would have been accused of being racist(Which I am not)

"PRguitarman: you didnt like the jumprope commercial? I liked the idea of it, "jump in""

It was a shot of people in a city's basketball court playing jump rope. They could have "jumped in" more exciting things than that, in my opinion.

PRguitarman

Taurich

brockomatic

Maybe they all pre-ordered Heavenly Sword.

DannoHung

brockomatic

brockomatic

jaz

dribbles

wootness

I rather liked this commercial (especiall when compared to the PS2 commercial few years back)

Aside from Xbox commercial above, Nintendo also had a commercial for GBA that showed barely any gameplay video (saved for the last few seconds): http://youtube.com/watch?v=zBFzXsS44_0&mode=related&search...

Chucky

ieatrocks

At least no one is choking a black woman.

Minister of Fun

because PS3 is OUT OF THIS WORLD.

khy

t0nic

Kempatsu

i didnt like it, its trying too hard. Ginger kids dont move inventory.

Graedus

It shows the controller but no gameplay, and not even what's so special about it.

Look, the Wii commercial is a fine commercial, but people will love that one and call it to the point, and hate this one and call it vague. One could also say the Jump In ads show even less of the system than this PS3 one. I liked them all.

Gloominati

XsTatiC

The Wii commerical isn't vague, in fact they actually show the controller in the commercial

Avinash_Tyagi

least the 360 commercials involved actual people, actually doing something fun. Not some cryptic message where its half a face of a kid crying a fireball *blank screen* fin.

theboyfrombrasil

It reminds me of Sigur Ros too, but I dont know them well enough to name the song.

I saw this ad in theatres just over a week ago, Thanksgiving weekend in Canada.

P.S. Anyone else notice the time on the clock was 11:17?

Gloominati

Alfarif

Hotsuma (秀真)

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

Also, Sony, I know you own the Spider-Man font, but couldn't you have sprung the money for a new logo font? For a moment when the date was shown, I was thinking to myself, "Is that when Spider-Man 3 is coming out?"

Kittyhawk

Raynre Valence

DustoMan

PRguitarman

...for my mom to buy me one.

Seriously, how are they expecting someone that young to even be able to afford a PS3?

Raynre Valence

PhantomVI

Fuzz

The BG music was nice in it, at first I thought it was Sigur Ros, but I couldn't really pin it to one of their songs.

zurfdude

The only waiting I'll be doing is for the price to go down.

StacMaster-S

Avinash_Tyagi

marky7474

Your all right.
No little kid will have 600$
If he whines enough he will get his parents to get him one
The xbox360 ad was great and had nothing to do the video game
Parents should beat there children more
and
This ad is great/bad because it is just like the ps2 ad which was really an ad for the ps7 or 9, i cant remember, but they try to show you that if you can create a dream and there ad take you there in but a minute of there time, imagine what buying the ps3 can do.

basicly they are trying to tell you, open your hearts and free your minds, let the ps3 ad help you make a dream, spend a thousand on the system, 2 on the HDTV from sony, and then another 4 on the Sound system and wires and shelfs and what not, and then you can escape your real world and work for a few hours to play a video game which will brign you to an entirely diffrent place untill your wife screams at you to pay the bills and your kids start crying because they havent been fed in a week.

That, is what sony wants with the ps3.

lord_hewlett

But, I will say this ad disappoints me. I loved the PS2 ad where it showed a PS9 system, stating that the PS2 was just the beginning. That was cool. This commercial was just boring. It had a good BG track, but wow. Nintendo made better ads, and they usually suck.

cronotrigger913

Oh and it doesnt nearly measure up to the "Playstation 9" ads from days of yore. If the ad had been any longer my brain would have triggered a sleep cycle from the lack of action.

goodbadorugly

Kid: "I WANT A PS3 WAAAHH WAHHHH"

All they have to do, is pop in Wii Sports and "accidently" swing the controller into the kids face.

Problem solved. Pure evil, but solved.

theboyfrombrasil

zacwight

In the year 2015, all PS3s on Earth will connect online (lol and you said there was no good Sony plan for online) to create what will be known as SonyNet.

SonyNet runs off solar energy and grows into a huge building that controls mankind and produces robots that kill anyone who is over the age of 8 (this happens around the year 2019). Just before the last of the adult human race is destroyed, they shoot out smoke clouds around the atmosphere in hopes it would stop SonyNet from eliminating what little was left of humanity.

These 8 year old kids are watching this occur. The next commercial tells us what happens to SonyNet.

DaveKap

What doesn't make logical sense is, as many mentioned before me, kids that age in that town don't have enough cash for PS3. The title of the commercial is comical.

BRASH

telstratouchfone

Barbara

scarecrow

But I thought it was supposed to be an all-encompassing media-replacement center, not just some $600 game machine. I know I'm throwing my PC away when I get a PS3!

I really liked the Wii commercial showing just the Wiimote. Simple and clean. This one is OK, but what are they advertising? Waiting?

mil

That is a big, fat lie.

All lil' Timmy has to do is throw a tantrum, and he will get a premium PS3 with extra controller and all the launch games he wants. These days, the kids run the household.

I'd say parents need to beat their kids more often...but that is going way off topic.

Deathcoil

jesus_bon_jovi

Nobody's going to get one of these machines to actually play, and those that do will have to pay $1000 for them on eBay.

Little kids like those shown in the commerical will be lucky if they get one by March.

agdTinMan

firelogic

Sorry kid, this christmas you're getting a Wii.

theboyfrombrasil

linemarvel

Not this over pretensious, serious, epic, monumental hope for all mankind to raise our civilization to it's apex; it's just a f@#$ing PS3, sell it to me as if it was supposed to be a fun source of entertainment!

Ape.of.Gods

Kenofthedead

Me: They have a better chance of a PS3 falling out of the sky than actually getting one from retail at launch.

Yoshi3gg

Galls

Vabor

Good Luck Sony, I can't wait for the PS3 to come out so we can see if we were right (no matter which "side" we were on).

FlapjacksAreTasty

...but only for 500,000 of you.

MC2009

d-_-b

Kyoji

Neon

Naught

Bad commercial, Sony, bad commercial.

Deathcoil

kingofallcosmos

cskozmo

Thanks for reminding us Sony.

CountLovE

Not only is it everything I hate about advertising , even though it's technically for a new product, it still feels like brand marketing, which is pointless in my PoV.

But it makes the PS3 look like a system for the kiddies. Which is rather ironic, considering that's the charge that is usually levied against Nintendo.

For what it's worth, I hate the first Asian Wii ad almost as much. Now an ad campaign based around the "Wii Experiences" videos would be great.

Karmakin

Wildarms7000

Footlong

The Wii ads are showing adults and the PS3 ads are showing kids. What's the world coming to?

Two words: "MOTAL KOMBAAAAAAAT!"

Thank you, thank you, try the veal.

Merus

Naught

Jack Loftus