joelface

Benguin

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

[www.page3.com]

Fish Free! When it works.

EnigmaNemesis

Anyways, they really need to remove that fish.. Hehe..

NickPLG

nxp3

Naked chicks are not appropriate for your brand. But bring on Bad Company, more war games, even more violence in Army of Two with gratuitous swearing.

Oh and don't forget the "gangsta'" rap in the sports games.

EnigmaNemesis

Onizuka-GTO

(by the way that comment I made on the other article for this was a joke... I sometimes forget that you can't read sarcasim...)

That Girl Hates You

theherlihyboy

Imagine this scenario:

EA: "So you're asking us why the PS3 version of BallGame 2009 is inferior in almost every way to the X360 version? Ok, but before we tell you, look at this ad with the naked cheerleaders."

Press: "... What were we asking about?"

PissedPS3Fan

GreenCard200

Wyld

hrabbit

Ed-the-Third

sing4england

sing4england

goddessakasha

jayntampa

The fact that EA says this "accidentally slipped by" is hilarious. humorbot said it before me, this shit doesn't "accidentally" get by. They thought it was a great idea, and now that it backfired they're just trying to make it seem like they had nothing to do with it.

I wish terrible things upon any foolish enough to buy a game because of nude women in an advertisement thats advertising a game that has nothing to do with nude women. And I wish even worse things upon those who create such crap.

@Lu-Tze: I see that crap quite a lot. Depressing stuff indeed.
"wtf is a katamari? Is that some gay japanese shit son yo this is for fags fo real. oh shit yo they got vice city stories here!"

Furious_Liver

VeritasVierge

dtroyt

Next time try the reading thing first.

Mike Fahey

Yeah, that's my bad. I was simply using it as an analogy, and didn't mean to divide people. That's why I made sure to rip on both sides. I don't think much of either side, personally, and think they're equally as corrupt, just owned by different companies.

My point was simply that EA seems to have forgotten to whom they are trying to market.

PapaBear434

[kotaku.com]

VeritasVierge

erlik

erlik

man i love the fish today. that is so funny. [:

jerrt

devoinc

I really like your avatar...is that yours? :)

nxp3

Nintento is doing a great job at getting these nongamers to game. Because if they (the people) had a brain they wouldn't be buying the Wii. It's definitely an inferior gaming device. It's a shame ms and sony isn't doing a better job at persuading nongamers. They both are targetting gamers, which they already have and no need to waste advertising dollars on.

nxp3

Canadian Impostor

eugaet

We we never cool.

doubtful

belo

(Forgot that part)

erlik

erlik

Cchrist

WalletMan

jayntampa

Big Fake Tits are to Erotica as EA is to Games.

Steel_Pelican

"Def Jam. Yo. This game is wicked innit. You can stick a guys head down a toilet."
"Ah man, Need For Speed, this is so wicked. I'm so gettin dis."
And then the finale when they were standing in the queue near the budget PC titles...
"This cheap **** is always stuff no-one has ever heard of, WTF is 'Flight Unlimited'"

Jesus wept.

Lu-Tze

Pezdispenser

kidnicky

Well, they TRIED, but they did it in an unoffensive way. While the Republicans were calling them pussies that were siding with the terrorists, Kerry was busy chasing his own tail trying to shake off the fact he may or may not have went to a protest rally when he was a young man because that might offend some folks.

Stupid. But my point is that they knew who they were going for, and didn't care if those who wouldn't agree with them anyway were offended or not. I think this is how EA started out with this campaign, and back tracked as soon as they heard a murmur of protests from the "think of the children" crowd.

Personally, I think if the worst thing my daughter sees is a naked tit, she'll be doing just fine.

PapaBear434

klickdude20

If they're shooting for a wider audience, then yes, topless women sends a message contradictory to what the game itself was trying to say.

But, hey, I haven't even played the demo of the game, and I could be totally wrong, and I'd be more than happy if someone corrected me.

BtownDesignGuy

humorbot

Mezodon

BlahDev

Tomy

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

Tonx

BtownDesignGuy

But all joking aside, didn't the Democrats also target people who agreed with them about things like the war and health care? The real issue may have been that, for the most part, Democrats know that a large and disparate group of minorities agree with them, whereas the GOP knows a large, central majority agrees with them. Not trying to pick a fight, I'm just curious, is all.

To bring it back to the topic of the post: I guess they deemed this marketing inappropriate for their brand, because most racing games are rated as appropriate for minors (is it E-10+ that most NFS games get?), and with all the controversy surrounding adult-themes in games that are actually rated to be played by adults, they probably didn't want to invite similar controversy over a game that would be marketed to minors as well as adults.

It just sounds like a case of the left hand not asking the right hand for approval before it photographed a couple of naked women posing in front of a sports car, to me.

BtownDesignGuy

parad0x360

aldo_14

gebster3

VGVisionary

And another mistake!

BtownDesignGuy, I have no idea why I posted it to you. I was suppose to quote myself.

I'm going to take a nap now.

PapaBear434

Wow, so many mistakes on my part. Let me correct the most offending paragraph.

"They(being EA) concentrated on an intended audience that would likely buy this (males, 18-30 years old, that enjoy boobs and cars.) Now, they back pedaled in an attempt to get a wide audience and are afraid to offend a bunch of prudes that wouldn't buy the game anyway."

PapaBear434

And you know what? EA's cowardice in this matter infuriates me.

I hereby announce that I am refusing to buy another EA developed video game until they reinstate this website and/or create a similar advertising campaign for another game (it must feature breasts).

You hear that EA? You just lost my custom! Let's see a small time company like you try and survive without the cash given to you by me and my 30 friends!

You just lost big time monies you puritan bastards! Do you hear me? You just lost BIG TIME MONIES!!!

JethroVegas

cybereality

Let me explain. Traditionally, American politicians go after the mythical "Undecided Voter," the guys in the middle that theoretically could come out and sway the vote to them. They didn't concentrate on the people they considered to have "in the bag."

However, the Bush campaign concentrated on the people that already agreed with them, but never got off their asses to vote. They needed to put out inflammatory arguments and positions to make them believe that if they didn't get out to vote, everything they believe in would be destroyed by gay married aborted fetuses wanting to burn flags instead of celebrating Christmas.

The concentrated on an intended audience that would likely buy this (males, 18-30 years old.) Now, they back pedaled in an attempt to get a wide audience and are afraid to offend a punch of prudes that wouldn't buy the game anyway.

And the arguement that the Wii is so successful by marketing to everyone doesn't hold weight. They aren't marketing to gamers, they are marketing to non-gamers who don't traditionally game. They are marketing to people who are a fresh, new audience. It just so happens that a lot of gamers share similar tastes.

It's basically how when women first got the chance to vote. Legal aged voting turnout of women was almost 75%. Now that the idea of being legal to vote is something that has been around for a while, the turnout is more like 18% like every other demographic.

Know your audience, and market toward them. You'll be a lot more successful that trying to pull a John Kerry and be bland as dry toast in an attempt to not offend anyone.

PapaBear434

BtownDesignGuy

Retribution

tehFluffz

Brogan

Hurr.

AnonymousNoob

Here, here!

artsaveslives

i'd say the branding was entirely appropriate. who buys NFS games? chavs, innit.
/sweeping generalisations ftw

cambridge

Mommar