I hope you didn't get the wrong idea. Sony's latest ad continues to promote the PSP's unique capabilities in strange ways. In the same vein as the love-it-or-hate-it dustball commercials, these plants solemnly contemplate battling over PSP's wi-fi connection. Because as you know, PSP: it's like a lilypad with wi-fi.
Posted Dec 13th 2006 3:20PM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
It looks like the now-infamous Sony blog, "all i want for christmas is a psp," is going to keep it real. Shockingly, the blog writer "isn't a real hip-hop maven." The apology states that the blog will now be used to give "nothing but the facts" on the PSP, but we're sorry, Sony. No way you're going to compete with us!
Here are two of Sony's arguably biggest products hitting the PSP this year. First, you see the amazing Tales of the World commercial. It's only 15 second long, and shows mostly anime sequences. But what I see here is good.
Next, you see an insanely long demonstration of Chotto Shot, the PSP camera software suite. Like Hikaru Utada, it's very Japanesey, featuring a cute Japanese couple getting all lovey dovey over the device. Who knows? Maybe with Chotto Shot, you too can score yourself a Japanese girl or boyfriend!
ADS recently announced a new product called InstantVideo To-Go, which is supposed to be a video encoder accelerator. Using this USB key-shaped accelerator allows you to encode PSP-compatible video (in AVC format) insanely quickly. A DVD can take up to 5 hours to encode, but with this device, it'll take only 20 minutes. It'll work with a slew of media formats, including MP4, MP3, AVI, WMV, MOV, RM, JPG, and TIFF. It'll cost $80.
More ads from Sony for tonight's Video Sandwich. These two are from the other side of the Pacific, and they show a very different style than what's available here in the States. First, from Japan is a ridiculously awesome ad for Jeanne d'Arc. You might not know Japanese, but seeing Japanese business men go crazy is always funny, no matter what language you speak.
Finally, we have this pretty awesome Korean ad for the Talkman. Man, they make the most romantic ads over there in Korea!
Which ad do you like better? The ad on top heralds the return of the dustballs. Now they're hitting a new audience: Europe. Does this newly resurrected ad campaign appeal to you? Or does the following fan-created effort, found via Digg and PSP3D, catch your fancy? It's sad how much better the fan-made video is, no?
Vroom, vroom! This Japanese ad for the Ape Escape racer is awesome because it's so over-the-top. Too bad the game is nowhere as sleek-looking as this commercial. At least the Japanese can pick up a free toy with the game, it appears. (Don't forget to try out the downloadable demo for yourself!)
Finally, to end our daily series of sandwiches, we have one very... special boy that knows how to handle a situation... in a special way. Anger management isn't a bad thing, kid. Unless it's that really awful Adam Sandler movie from way back when.
Ah, commercials for the PSP. America seems to have given up advertising Sony's handheld (while they get their act together), but the European division just keeps on making more and more. Some are sure to be hits, while others are not. Here are two samples from the European waters: what do you think about them? Do they seem too random, or are they super-cool and edgy?
The PSP can be a lot of things. It can take pictures, for example. Sony Japan's newest ad shows off the upcoming PSP camera and all the fun things you can do to harass Japanese businessmen. Awesome~! I hope once the device comes to the States, all members of the press start carrying this peripheral around: photos like these will make the news so much more interesting, because everything's at least 30% funnier when a giant afro is transplanted on top of someone's head!
But once you've taken such classy photos, you'll want to show them off... with style. An enthusiastic fan has crafted an elaborate, elegant wooden frame for his PSP. Just drop the PSP in and let it display your photos. It'll look a whole lot cooler than a traditional photo frame, and it'll kill a lot less trees. And we love trees, don't we?
It's been a while. It's time for another Video Sandwich. We love looking at PSP ads here, and I would have to say that this "viral" ad is pretty effective. It tells you that you can play your PSP anywhere, any place... but would the PSP function in a low-grav, no-oxygen environment? Something tells me no. MISLEADING AD!!! (Okay, maybe it's just puffery.)
Below, you'll see a fan-made parody of one of the earliest PSP ads: you know, the ones where they threw them around, from friend to friend. I was always horrified by that ad, just because I asked: what would you do if you dropped it??? That's $250 down the drain! Well, thankfully, these kids find out so you don't have to.
I'd like to end your evening with absolutely terrifying footage from GameVideos. These McDonald's ads from the PS1 era feature your favorite Ape Escape and PaRappa characters, dancing and singing. AND EVERYTHING IS SO HAPPY!!! Maybe Sony isn't as "t3h m4tur3!!!1" as we thought it was.
While we're still waiting for Disgaea to get announced for US release, let's watch two super happy Japanese commercials for the game! They have a distinctly low-budget feel to them, which I guess is part of its charm. The above video shows you that peer pressure always works. ALL the cool kids are playing their PSPs (although Japanese sales data would suggest otherwise...).
Below, we see that you don't need to be a Cooking Mama to chop lettuce: Disgaea for the PSP will suffice! Moms might seem like a weird demographic for this game, but I hear that they're pretty important to the gaming market as a whole these days. Crazy.
This can not be real. PSP ads have been terrible for the most part, but this takes it one step further into the "what the f--- were they thinking?" category. The video is embeeded after the cut, but I'll have a FOX-like warning for you: Due to the violent nature of this advertisement, viewer discretion is advised.
Joystiq has a regular series called "Ad critic," in which you, the reader, can critique the ads released by sometimes foolish publishers.
Sony's notorious for one marketing blunder after another. I wasn't a big fan of their previous ad campaign, featuring some racially insensitive squirrels. Sony's new series of ads for the Greatest Hits lineup doesn't seem to fair much better, though. It features the same immaturity of Sony's other ad campaigns, and I'd much rather have the system be promoted with a sleek, sexy look. If Sony wants to exclusively market towards stoned college kids, maybe they can just get the Dell guy to promote their line: Dude, you're getting a Sony.
What do you think, readers? Voice your opinion about Sony's latest ad!
