Asia sure knows how to advertise it's games. And the weirder the advertising is, the better. It's not uncommon to see popular Japanese singers and actors flaunting their stuff in gaming commercials ... no matter how random, obscure, or un-game related the commercial actually is.
It's also becoming more and more frequent to hear (or even see) these singers/actors inside the actual games; singing theme songs, performing a voice-acting role, or playing an actual character themselves.
Odd gaming products and merchandise aren't unusual sights to see on the streets of Japan, China or even Taiwan. Final Fantasy Potions, Mario Speaker boxes, and Metal Gear dolls are just a few ...
But will the Western world soon catch onto this gaming advertisement craze? We'll just have to wait and see ...
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Ice skating and Pacman? Yes ... it apparently makes total sense
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Weird tasting Final Fantasy drinks, Coke ads featuring Taiwanese pop singers getting sucked in by WoW, and ... travel packages centered around your favourite game? Admittedly, the game-based travel packages are for MMORPGs that are based around actual geography, but gaming tourism (and I don't mean casinos) was a new one for me:
quote
In July 2007, China Youth Travel Service Co., Ltd and Sohu jointly released a travel package based on the plots of a popular internet game: the Semi-Gods and the Semi-devils (????,Tianlong Babu). The game was adapted from a well-known martial arts novel by a Hong Kong novelist Jin Yong. In 2002 Taiwan-based Soft-world turned it into a RPG internet game and received enormous success on mainland China. The new travel package covered plot-related legendary places such as Hainan Island, Sichuan, Nanshao etc. and included real-world games similar to the internet games. The "Tianlong" fans, most of whom are in their twenties can also get VIP cards to play with the internet games after they go back home.
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This is advertising WoW and Coca-Cola ... right?
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I wonder if this is the sort of thing that will ever make the jump outside of Asia. And what form would it take? And would Western gamers pony up for the chance to travel around with a horde of fellow gamers, taking in the sites.
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Relevant to Metal Gear Solid? No.
Enough to make Japanese fangirls buy the game just to collect this singer's dog-tag? Most likely.
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