No Rest for the Wicked

Entry for February 7, 2008

I think the idea for today's blog was given to me by someone else months ago, but it's really cool. And very retro, by the way.

You know who were real marketing geniuses? The guys who developed the image and packaging for early home Video Computer System games (such as the Atari 2600). I remember how cool they looked at the store before you bought them, how great the artwork was, how well written the background stories were (you read the ads in magazines or the instruction manual and you just HAD to play the game)... and now that I'm reviewing the games again, I realize they did a great job of prepping you up for a great experience by stimulating your imagination for visualizing a lot of what was NOT on the screen.

I remember dreaming up exciting adventures surrounding the Star Raiders game, or imagining the cool dungeons and landscapes of Adventure, when the actual video games were, well, very simple to say the least. Nowadays the games speak for themselves, they are SO incredibly cool! But back then you had to imagine a square and an arrow were an adventuring knight with his sword roaming a fantastic kingdom.

The real credit went to the people who developed the cool artwork and engrossing written materials. I mean, just look at the covers for Outlaw, or Night Driver, or Warlords... or any of the early games for that matter. If you are curious about what I'm talking about visit www.atariage.com and you'll be surprised of how well they went about their work making you dish out over $30 for those early video games. I've never understood how they went broke in the 80's before Nintendo came along to revive videogaming at home.

Anyway, there's a lot to be learned here about those early efforts on how to excite a young person's imagination (today's card games and still-alive board and role playing games such as Yu-Gi-Oh, Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons are great examples). These became the basis for today's cool videogaming and on-line gaming communities. It's so cool to see how these (and kids' minds) have evolved over the years...

2008-02-07 15:18:03 GMT

Comments (0 total)

Site Home




			Random thoughts from 20th Century Fox Mexico Theatrical's Marketing Director.

			Entry for February 7, 2008 I think the idea for today's blog was given to me by someone else months ago, but it's really cool. And very retro, by the way. You know who were real marketing geniuses? The guys who developed the image and packaging for early home Video Computer System games (such as the Atari 2600). I remember how cool they looked at the store before you bought them, how great the artwork was, how well written the background stories were (you read the ads in magazines or the instruction manual and you just HAD to play the game)... and now that I'm reviewing the games again, I realize they did a great job of prepping you up for a great experience by stimulating your imagination for visualizing a lot of what was NOT on the screen. I remember dreaming up exciting adventures surrounding the Star Raiders game, or imagining the cool dungeons and landscapes of Adventure, when the actual video games were, well, very simple to say the least. Nowadays the games speak for themselves, they are SO incredibly cool! But back then you had to imagine a square and an arrow were an adventuring knight with his sword roaming a fantastic kingdom. The real credit went to the people who developed the cool artwork and engrossing written materials. I mean, just look at the covers for Outlaw, or Night Driver, or Warlords... or any of the early games for that matter. If you are curious about what I'm talking about visit www.atariage.com and you'll be surprised of how well they went about their work making you dish out over $30 for those early video games. I've never understood how they went broke in the 80's before Nintendo came along to revive videogaming at home. Anyway, there's a lot to be learned here about those early efforts on how to excite a young person's imagination (today's card games and still-alive board and role playing games such as Yu-Gi-Oh, Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons are great examples). These became the basis for today's cool videogaming and on-line gaming communities. It's so cool to see how these (and kids' minds) have evolved over the years... 2008-02-07 15:18:03 GMT Comments (0 total) Compose a comment for this post. Comment: 0 characters left (limit 4,000 characters). No HTML permitted. Author (optional): Email address or URL (optional): Word verification: To validate this comment, showing us that you are human, and not a computer, please retype the following code in the field provided. (This helps prevent blog spam.) Site Home