Media today might be less sexist but I think part of it is also that it became drastically more sex averse. Mortal Kombat is gorier than ever for anyone to see, but god forbid anything shows a nipple.
this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2024
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Yep, those were different times.
Battlecruiser 3000AD. This advert was later revised and they drew black knickers on the model.
Psycho Pigs UXB. Another British classic?
Well-placed censorship of pictures was the best purpose of a Battlefield 3000AD box. That was one of those games where the drama around it was far better than the game itself.
Isn't this the game that had to run full page adverts claiming a new, updated version was available and "the bugs have been squashed!" Obviously this was pre-internet, so updates like this were quite uncommon.
Might have been. That game was so bugged that the installer crashed for a lot of people. Once it got patched enough that you could actually play it--which took years--it was supposedly pretty good, but nobody cared by then.
Man, 90s video game ads were wild lmao
Am I the only one cringing at the perspective in the mirror more than literally anything else in the ad?
I can’t even process what’s going on with the reflection in the mirror being from an angle at about head height over the bed. I like that they didn’t even trust teen gamers to understand the allusion of a woman standing in a bedroom doorway without comping in this extra element.
In order to make the reflection work the bed would have to be angled against the wall.
It's funny how the brain instantly notices that the perspective is nonsensical but can't really pinpoint the issue ^^
It'd also need to be pressed against the mirror I think....?
Yup it sure looks like it.
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It was a super gross and embarassing era.
I'm still waiting for John Romero to make us all his bitch.
He can't do it without his friend Superfly.
Oh, man, you have NO idea:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2002/mar/15/games.advertising
This would've been great for a game like DOOM.
[Here lies your loved one]
"Ah! Fresh meat! Journey into Tristram and see what the Butcher is up to today!"
Bro, using ads in the graveyards this is new for me...
I bet this will make a comeback...
Oh my god, this is dark.
Hahaha, yeah, that one was great.
Also the one where they paid parents to name their baby 'Turok.'
I sometimes wonder what those little Turoks are up to today (at least a half dozen parents took them up on it IIRC).
The shock advertising campaigns around games really were something. They worked - got a ton of free media coverage. But this was also at the time that video games were the Boogeyman like rock n' roll had been to a generation before. The media loved nothing more than a "look how terrible video games are" story and PR firms were playing into that environment.
So campaigns like this were basically the equivalent of Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off a bat.
As games became more normalized, the campaigns shifted accordingly and - like Ozzy - tamed quite a bit out.
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The Rayman one was great, "small man, huge features" iirc :d
and he was at a urinal right?
My favorite old school game ad is one for Quake 3 Arena:
This German ad for Quake is awesome too!
Ah, fun for the whole family. Very wholesome, that Quake game is.
Im still a little bit miffed they didn't give me any compensation for using pictures of my setup
And people make fun of that one ad where John Romero was going to make us all his bitch.
To be fair, Daikatana sucked so the ad is mostly funny in retrospect because it didn't make everyone his bitch. If it had, I'm not sure we'd be making fun of it.
Is there a high res version of this anywhere?
I remember TR3 was a huge disappointment after 1 and 2. The new mechanics weren't very good and the level design was more confusing. I remember they added the Desert Eagle pistol and it was a giant brick (seriously the model consisted of probably 3-4 polygons total).
It really felt like they were just milking the franchise at that point.
This kind of marketing ruined gaming culture.
There is a throughline between gendered marketing; the idea that young hetero men owned gaming; and chud gaming culture like gamergate.
The idea of the young horny gamer dude is sexist toward men too. Never mind the accompanying stereotypes of gamers as loosers and nerds.
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Fun fact Tomb Raider was the first game with a nude mod.
Pretty amusing to see what they were up to with ads.
I guess it really was a different time back then where people were able to laugh about things instead of being uptight and serious.
The 90's were just better.
People could have a joke and a laugh without everyone being so serious about everything and getting offended.
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