The Friday Debate – Welcome To The Third Place

we should really celebrat ps2′s birthdays with some PS2 themes and avatars for ps3 and more ps2 classics in HD making there way to the PSN store so that those of us who remember can play timeless classic and those who are new can see where great franchises came from.

also is worth noting that PS2 did great things when actively promoted so why isnt the PS3 promoted more through Europe. it’s certainly not been promoted as much as ps2 was back in the day.

They are some really really really weird adverts, was the marketing plan to scare people into buying the console because it worked amazingly lol

hi james, i’d like to express how angry we are that the blue toad murder files christmas theme is being offered free to new adopters at the cheap price, however, early adopters who paid full price for the series and have completed them (no replay value) have to pay for this theme. that is a disgrace… how could anyone even think that that could be anyway remotely fair !

sort it out please, i brought up this point in the blog post about the theme and the fellow from relentless said he would sort it, it was never solved. i also mentioned it in the store update post(along with other people) and none of them were answered.

bk in the day, memories, loved that youtube clip. ta.

Hello,

My personal favorite TV ad undoubtedly is the “PS3: The Wait is Over Ad” advertisement particularly due to the fact that is truly evokes our feelings prior to the release of an eagerly awaited product; in this case the Playstation 3 system.

I have often stated on the Playstation Forums, Playstation Home section specifically, that this service should first and foremost be a celebration of all things Sony and Playstation. Sadly, it isn’t the case, far from it really. Despite the fact that Sony does occasionally offer within Home temporary gaming related events such as E3 or the promotion of various titles such as Heavy Rain, and that several ‘Museums’ have been implemented such as the absolutely magnificient Wipeout Space, it simply is not enough. Where are my favorite videogame mascots and statues? In this case, where is the PS2 Museum retracing Playstation2 era in which users would discover or rediscover the history and evolution of the system, with its greatest games?

My favorite PS2 game, which also is my all time favorite game, is one of the few titles i rarely purchase day-one. This spectacular game is entitled: Okami.

What happened to the great Playstation marketing?

Some crazy ads, not to sure that I was a big fan of those ads at the time. But compared to the ones now they are class.

1st i Like to say HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to Ps2 but once again SCEE you drop the ball No Ps2 games on the Psn-stores no nothing to mark your best-selling product.

what a perfect time to release the games for 10th anniversary are we gonna wait 5 more years now 15th to get Ps2 games, the japan store wants our games they getting a imports store Soon the USA got imports, & here us EU be the last region to Wait.

no blog post about the 6.35 psp update that i updated yesterday it showing qriocity musi unlimited on my XMB don’t know if it region lock as No infor & it was promise infor soon.

I vote for:

IT
ONLY
DOES
EVERYTHING

Which MUST be brought to EU because the Start! ads are stupid.

But for PS2, Double Life.

I agree with zootang..so what is happening to the playstation marketing ?

Aside from the Playstation Move adverts which imo look a bit shoddy…especially the slowdown in the gameplay footage towards end of the most recent adverts (specifically when its footage of TV superstars) :/

It would just be nice to see more of a TV campaign for playstation especially towards christmas and especially with Gran Turismo 5 being released…is there even a UK advert for this game?

I know it sells itself but still..

Sly isn’t out until next Friday.

I’m not voting for any of them they aren’t pressenting the PS brand in a good way.

2 words
kevin butler

Don‘t know what you saying about the ads i thought the ads were more touge-in-cheek humor

The quality of the PS1 and PS2 and the quality of their exclusives are what made them far, far better than their competition, the adverts… some were a little bizarre, but were definitely memorable.

That said the alien girl will forever haunt my dreams, thanks Sony!

Metal gear solid 3 on the playstation store would be nice, but MGS2 on the store would make my day

Don’t know wich to vote for, they are all really good =)

in regards to your apply above on the blue toad james,

it is nothing to do with the price of the game, it is the fact existing owners of all 6 episodes have to pay for the theme. yes, of course the game will be cheaper but no need to give the theme free to them when they are taking advantage of the cheap price and not to give it free to existing owners.

everyone who owns 1-6 regardless of when they purchased the episodes should get the theme free !

sorry, i mean in regard to your reply above*

Guys @ SCEE, i mean no disrespect, but if you wanna get the respect of the majourity of people here, you needa change your Advertisments.
“The Game Is Just The Start”, is just “stupid” as someone said above me, its forgetable, and boring.
Now, i know you’ve said countless times “Were Not Getting A Kevin Butler”, and i’ve accepted that. Im just saying, if you wanna improve on what you have, our own Kevin Butler is the way to go.
Just subtitle it for the other regions, or provide voice overs.
I created this thread on possible Kevin butlers for the EU,
I created this thread on who should be our KB, if anyones interested : http://www.community.eu.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3-General-Discu ssion/This-Guy-Should-Be-Our-Kevin-Butler/m-p/11523134

After watching those advertisments, i gotta say each one was mentally disturbing.
Is this the hieight of Sonys UK advetising? They were awful.
And mentally disturbing.

lol that music at the last video crack me up i hear it Long ago i forgot what it called it was in the charts as well

@Skookie30

fun ain’t it being ignored while making a point

I always loved that Sony tackled most of their advertising campaigns with a really surreal approach, because video game interaction is surreal in itself when you boil the idea down.
My favourites have always been Dave Lynch’s advertisements. ‘The Third Place’ is a fantastic exercise in nightmarish abstraction (the mummy creature scared me shitless first-time I saw it!), but the other ones he created are even better and more powerful;

‘Bambi’ – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4tOvkvCvwQ
‘Rabbits’ – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzn4WDe13mU
‘I Am the Wolfman’ – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbOjxU6OpoM
‘Blind’ – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-i__nfVdGI

It’s a shame Sony’s advertisements lacks the balls and wonder of the PS1 and PS2 days, but gaming has changed and opened up to more below-core audiences since, so it’s only to be expected that their advertising became more accessible and toned down.

*David Lynch, my bad.
Also, another of my favourites, although I’m not sure if it’s American or British-made; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL6cK6O5zb8&

@dgnfly it doesn’t bother me that they can’t answer if there no good excuss to give, let hope when music unlimited does come it be for Ps3 as the 1st september blog post has said.

& the Now Added to PSP for All not just to SCEA.

@Skookie30

if i recall music unlimited isen’t active yet is it?

I really don’t get these UK adverts, none of them appeal to me. It’s funny though cause I love the Kevin Butler ones and I’m sure people here would too. So why not show them here?

no it not active yet it was just set to XMB when it comes it says comeing soon so not long for it. 1000 music PSP = Awsome

1000 music on Ps3 = Epic.

well it‘s friday night i‘m out now for the Night.

I voted for Mental Wealth, although I think I actually prefer the “This Is Living” advertisements.
I was young at the time so Mental Wealth and Double Life were the only two of the six I had seen previous to this post, the rest are new to me.

Thank you James, this post cheered me up (really, I’ve been down lately and needed something like this to remind me why I love PlayStation so much). So more of this type of thing on the Blog, like learning more about the history of PlayStation, would be appreciated.

Again, thank you!

this is tough… I like the visual style of “double life”, and of course it has the nostalgic value as I remember it the first time around, but of all the videos, I think the message behind “Mental Wealth” is the most poignant, despite it’s casual (and slightly bizarre) delivery.
Mountain looks great too, and reminds me a lot of the classic bouncing balls video, but I’m going to sink my vote in with Mental Wealth.

Stop living off the achievements and glory of others by proxy, and experience it for yourself. That’s a nice justification for the many years I’ve “wasted” playing games!

can you drop an email to Kevin Butler and ask him to do an advert for the old UK…

To be honest SCEUK failed with promoting the PS3, the current advertisements don’t leave a message and leave you confused. They need to take a look at SCEA and look at what they’ve created. Hell the Kevin Butler adverts sold tons of PS3. We need advertisements like this in Europe to sell more PS3′s.
Have SCEUK got any advertisements planned for this Christmas?

Let’s copy playstation ads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zixQYDeRtzI

My favourite ad would be ‘I am the Wolfman’
http://tinyurl.com/ps2wolfman

They all suck tbh. American commercials are a lot better.

I’m surprised Fi-Fi’s mental wealth hasn’t got more votes. Ah, well… maybe the controversy at the time is one of the main reasons I think it’s the best. I still remember people wondering if that was her actual appearance. If I recall correctly, the PS2 hardware- despite not being released yet- was used to alter her image (although that may have just been a rumour).
PS3 adverts had a brief attempt at arty content, shame it wasn’t pulled off as well.

“stylized approach.”, huh?

The ones you posted don’t speak of PlayStation to me, I’m afraid – they too often, more speak of bored ad agency staff.
What you showed is unique, but doesn’t relate to anything. “Do not underestimate the power of PlayStation” – words to conjure with: now, that campaign was electric!

I remember that tagline with fond memories and goodwill associated even today, when the same cannot be said of what you’ve brought for us to see, from years closer to now – does that answer your question? MEMORABLE, EVOCATIVE. It Only Does Everything. A glorious looking PS3, busts out a swiss army knife of its many abilities. I would like to be able to quote you more European literature, except, I don’t remember much of it.

Don’t talk Third Place, talk instead of Our Place, what PlayStation means. Another American (J. Tretton) initiative maybe, but PlayStation Nation is how their blog would refer to its readers.

I liked the short-lived campaign with the hotel for PS3, it had a concept you could follow, got you thinking, showed community, and you could equate what you saw, in a way to PS. Not loads of people in a pile jumping on each other :p lol But, you didn’t stick with that.

SCEE should survey what people want in their advertisements.
I’d do it on the forums if I knew how.

@CinderShadow: Regarding the first three adverts relating to nothing, that’s kinda the point; whilst seemingly relating to nothing, they embody the very nature of gaming, anything and everything can happen. Playstation pushed the boundaries more than any other brand and these adverts threw away the idea of getting an impression of the product by presenting it in such a fashion. “Do not underestimate the power of PlayStation” was the perfect compliment to these suggestions.
“The Third Place” really expanded on this; stating gaming is a universe in its own right, spectacularly followed up by the PS3′s “This is Living”.

Your thoughts of “Our Place” is more relevant today, I believe. Social gaming is acceptable for literally anyone now. It was recognised through “Fun, Anyone?” through to current PS3 adverts. Myself, as an old-school guy, am still bound by the original vision, there’s still plenty more that can be done, Heavy Rain being a fantastic example!

First time I played GTA 3, Devil May Cry, Jak & Dexter, Shadow of the shadow of the colossus, too many to chose from all of them were exceptional Long Live Playstation….

@James Gallagher, you said “Which is your favourite PlayStation TV ad?” of the ones you showed, then I said that I don’t like the ad s because it(nearly) doesn’t say anything about the playstation or repressent the PS brand in a good way.

It’s a mistake that Sony dropped that kind of advertisement. That’s the kind of marketing that makes you stand out in the crowd. My fav is Third Place, it reminds me a lot of the TV show seen in Max Payne 2 called Adress Unknown and the duck is almost like the Pink Flamingo ;]

@European_Gamer: looks like you prefer the “Our console have buttons!” approach…

@Project2insanity: I agree that you can have interesting ways to grab people’s attention, and should, because the PlayStation platform, the brand identity, is a great asset for promoting the idea and appealing to people.
I think that there are many ways to present the idea – Kevin Butler’s certainly a successful example.

I wouldn’t however, want to see Europe’s “take” on the concept. As much as I may prefer America’s marketing, it shouldn’t be facsimile’d to EU. I like that (it reminds me of the changes made by Kaz Hirai, in terms of autonomy and collaboration within WWS) – when something works, we can adopt and share it, and when it’s better, we can follow our own ideas. Even if, we in Europe so rarely adopt. Beyond the point…

Where I think Europe’s past campaign is not so good, is when someone’s looking to buy a console, how likely is it, that they will relate the message carried by the Third Place campaign, back to an aspiration, or desire to get Sony’s machine. While they’re interesting pieces of media, (and I think Mental Wealth’s the best of them, because it’s the most direct/memorable) I don’t share the view that they’re that good, as ads.

I demand these ads be put on the Store. Shirley Temple FTW.

‘Mountain’ got my vote and I actually think that in this age of online gaming it’s more relevant to PS3 than PS2. My all time favourite though have to be ‘This is living’ closely followed by ‘Wolfman’ and the PSP ‘Dustball’ adverts.

@CinderShadow: Yeah, very fair to say so. I guess, in retrospect, Playstation was more of a means to discuss the adverts rather than the other way round for the majority which brings us to the more direct present-day campaigning once again.
I totally agree that an alternate Kevin Butler, as great as he is, shouldn’t arrive on our screens. I’d like to see an attempt along the vein of Home’s Xi but that would likely prove very difficult to accomplish with a good degree of success at this point in the console’s life-cycle. Reserve that idea for PS4 in many years to come…?

i like the double life ad, probably one of the best gaming ads of all time, not just for the playstation.

it just sums up what’s great about gaming, no matter what you do for a living, how dull your real life may be, and face it, not that many people lead truly exciting lives, no matter what, load up the game, and you can do anything, be anyone.

you can race a half a million pound racing car, play rock music to a sell out stadium, be a fighter pilot, fight off the zombie hordes, battle aliens, fly a starship, and yes, command armies and conquer worlds.

i just love that robot ad though, makes me smile every time i watch it.

‘Double Life’ is the single greatest gaming advertisement ever created, regardless of whether for a system or a game. Pure brilliance.