Advertising for Video Game Medium

Whether false, such as Sonys new PS3 Slim carrying the slogan "IT ONLY DOES EVERYTHING", or overtly excessive, like desecrating the box art for games such as inFamous, Batman: AA and the most recent Uncharted 2 with explicit numerical scores, advertising for games really grinds my gears. As marketing and media fully grasp "the video game cultural phenomenon," publishers and developers alike expect to see more ways to "turn a profit" and eventually wind up sucking the very life out of gaming itself...

A prime example of advertising malpractice should go to Sony's marketing for their PS3 slim model. This will only serve to confuse and anger customers who later find out that IT DOESN'T PLAY PS2 GAMES! Shameful. Advertising is simply the beginning, seeing how DLC already formed a profitable niche of its own and more and more consumers continue to get shafted with day one DLC accompanied by this years releases such as Resident Evil 5 and Modern Warfare 2.

Staying on topic, another example would include commercials for Killzone 2, boldly stating "War Perfected." Yeah...sure. It's an awesome game, but nowhere even close to perfect as it is derivative of every other shooter out there and considerably bare bones when compared to the features offered by others in its genre. Were there any times where you felt that you had been misled by false advertisement for a game? Does FEAR YOU CAN'T FORGET ring any bells?

Most gamers are smart people and generally know what they like, but slapping the word "MASTERPIECE" or "9 out of 10" on a box or in a commercial is NOT enough to warrant a purchase from me. I can see this becoming a bigger trend as time passes by and frankly...I am starting to find it annoying.

For me, 2009 is all about Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2. But I find myself even more excited about the excellent games coming out next year, such as sequels to established franchises and a little something new from a few promising titles, for two of my favorite platforms - the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

360 - SC: Conviction, Mass Effect 2, Ghost Recon 4, Alan Wake, Halo Reach

PS3 - God Of War 3, Dante's Inferno, The Last Guardian, Heavy Rain, GT 5

These are my top picks for next year. What are yours?

My review for Killzone 2 is up and ready for critique!

If you checked it out, please let me know how harsh, generous or fair my given rating was. My new approach towards reviewing games will be geared towards conveying my initial thoughts during and after completion of said game through blogging and communicating amongst my peers. SO...I believe Killzone 2 fairly deserves an 8.0: it certainly is a solid shooter in its own right, which manages to accomplish more things right than wrong, but it simply does not overwhelm enough to be considered groundbreaking or show me anything more than what I've seen before and ultimately fails to live up to it's true potential by taking full advantage of the PS3's capabilities...