Effective Marketing

Let's face it:  Marketing is a huge problem for many video games, especially with game development costs increasing (not helped by the fact that many have expectations of their games selling like the next Mass Effect or Call of Duty game if they dump enough money into it).

However, many video game commercials these days seem quite forgettable.  It wasn't like this years ago, when some companies took themselves less seriously and just, well, had fun with their commercials.

A prime example?  Ones like these:

While it's hard to pin down exact numbers, at least as of 1997, the Saturn had sold around 7.6 million units worldwide, with about 5 million coming from Japan.  Huh, I wonder why it did so poorly in America.

I'm sure we can attribute a lot of things to differences in gaming cultures across the globe, but I think one lasting Segata Sanshiro left with us is this:  Having a mascot that will threaten to beat you up if you go outside to play instead of playing video games can be very effective.

If nothing else, it'd sure be funny to air right after a commercial for The Biggest Loser.