So, I was watching TV last night, enjoying an evening of Family Guy, and suddenly, I was struck by a commercial...

People started setting up a "living room" type of stage or area right in the middle of a very busy place (it looked like an airport to me, but I don't know.) Commercial Video Link - Click- (Watch it if you don't already know what I'm talking about).

o_O

So, at the start, I'm actually assuming it's a Nintendo Wii commercial, airport, LIVING room, people EVERYWHERE...and then, an Xbox 360 pops onto the scene. Now, the first thing that hits me is the fact that IT LOOKS AND FEELS LIKE A WII COMMERCIAL!!! What on earth is Microsoft doing? Are they attempting to gain an audience, currently belonging to the Wii, with this "family-friendly" facade? I'm not against they're trying to reach out and hook another demographic, but one thing's for sure, they failed miserably on this try. That commercial bugged me enough to elicite a blog, and I usually don't pay attention to commercials.

1. First off, it is set in, again, what appears to be an airport. Nintendo has already DONE an airport commercial (Metroid Prime: Corruption's debut commercial anyone?) So, Microsoft is really sucking at the originality part of this commercial/marketing bit.

2. WHY, is a guy parasailing out of the sky NEAR A FREAKING AIRPORT!?!?!?!? Honestly, how dumb do you have to be, to jump out of a plane when planes are flying around everywhere! Now, granted, it's never made clear that it is ACTUALLY an airport, but still... *Edit...ok, so it's not an airport...it just looks like the passagways you see at airports...still...we have a parasailing guy drop an XBOX 360 FROM THE SKY!!!! Cause that's gonna just SLAY the viewers...how?...WHY? It doesn't make sense...

3. Another thing that bugs me is that they're portraying their console as a family-friendly console...Did Microsoft watch a Wii commercial and go "AH-HA, that must be why everyone likes it so much!!! Let's just slap that on there and run with it...maybe it'll catch somebody off guard and they'll buy our hardcore-gamer oriented console, for the family!!!" To which the Execs went "BRILLIANT!!!" (REALLY? ...WOW!)

4. Alright, now why do they have a stupid "Rated 'M' for mature" disclaimer before a commercial that seems to docile and happy? Well, the answer of which will surely seem as stupid as ever, is that when all is said and done, they've got freaking Halo 3, Mass Effect, and Bioshock, on the table. HOW DO THEY JUSTIFY THAT IN THEIR HEADS??? They've got them set up as "casual" family games, and they are the "CREAM-OF-THE-CROP" - hardcore 360 games that all have just recently been released and all with raving praise...but NOT as family friendly games. I doubt I'd sit down with my sister or mom or even my dad for that matter, and play Bioshock...maybe Halo 3, but only my dad would like that one...(WOW!)

5. Ok, so mid-commercial, you see a guy sliding games down a chute of sorts and by the end of the commercial...they go where? You only ultimately see THREE games on the table. Did they hand them out or something? What was the point of having that scene in the commercial? Crap, I mean, all the other RANDOM stuff that they've got going on, they throw a completely pointless part in...They should have just edited that out and called it good.

6. Finally, I'm watching this thing, I rewind it about four times so I can hate on it a little more, and I notice that, at the beginning, the people are attempting to "covertly" sneak the whole living room set up into the masses without apparently being seen...(something that eluded my hate the first few times). Seriously, when you've got a mix of adults and teenagers hastily building something, (and all to a children's choir version of a Poison song), you CAN NOT play it off as a "good natured prank." Which is what it comes off as...and man does it feel annoying.

Those are just a few of the things that I got annoyed at. There are more, and some of those six are a few rolled into one, but either way, I felt that it is a bad spin on what the Wii and Nintendo has already staked as theirs. Now, that isn't to say that I'm against Wii competition, but honestly, Microsoft is full of VERY smart people who get paid to come up with ORIGINAL ideas...this was just pathetic as pathetic gets. I'm sorry...someone either needs to get fired, or docked pay, cause that just sucks. Nothing in the commercial does...even down to the fact that they're selling a VIDEO GAME CONSOLE...at least Wii sticks to the game plan and markets to the people they set out to market to. You don't see them making commercials with people in their basement screaming at the TV cause..."BOOM HEAD SHOT!" (FPS DOUG!!!)

Microsoft has had some rad commercials too...WHAT HAPPENED!?!?!?!

Well, that's it, I threw this together out of frustration, so if it feels a little rushed, I'm sorry...it really just grated on my nerves.

Peace and Mercy,

Ty