Nick's Tech/Multimedia Marketing Mash

For anyone who reads my blog regularly (lovely imaginary devoted blog reader that you are) you may have noticed a few changes. I’ve changed the blog name and deviated from my theme. But no need to worry the content should remain it’s usual, dry, witty self.

I’ve also decided to make better use of this format and include more pictures and video when possible to help out the attention span challenged out there who balk at my primarily text based ramblings.

A screen shot of Bulletstorm gameplay (taken from 1UP @ http://www.1up.com/news/e3-2010-bulletstorm-scheduled-release)

Now that that’s been dealt with, onto the post of this week. Bulletstorm (a video game set to release on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 22nd) has brought an unusual (at least for the video game industry) approach to its marketing for the game. It has made an impact among the video gaming press (i.e. 1UP and Gamespot among others)  by basing part of its campaign around a blatant mocking of the hugely successful Call of Duty series. They have created a free five minute game demo that humorously takes pokes at of the hallmarks the Call of Duty experience and ends with a short trailer for the game. A large part of why its created such a buzz is because this sort of parodying of other games in a degrading fashion rarely happens as studios are usually quite polite towards one and other and focus on hyping the merits of their game (as opposed to making fun of the games of others).

Obviously, Epic (the developer for Bulletstorm) is seeking to differentiate itself and prove its game to be a different take on the FPS (first person shooter for those of you unfamiliar with the term) genre from the rest by making this sort of tongue in cheek critique of the most popular game in the genre’s gameplay and storyline. Personally, I think that it will prove to be a successful tactic (some might already call it successful based on the attention that it has received because of it) because although Call of Duty may be the most popular FPS  it certainly has its detractors (especially amongst the hardcore gaming community) who decry its lack of innovation and reliance on a gameplay formula that is now several years old. This demo release will certainly capture the attention of that market (who formed a large portion of the people who bought Epic’s previous entry, Gears of War 2, into the shooter space) and should prove to be an effective way to position Bulletstorm as an excellent alternative for those who want a FPS that isn’t just recycling the same old formula and brings a fresh new take on things.

It remains to be seen who things unfold but I know that I’ll be cheering for David. I’ve certainly had enough of Goliath.

Gameplay from the demo that Epic released