Using Viral Means to Speak to the Gaming World
October 25th, 2005
Design and Illustration Rock Star Justin Gammon here at Brains on Fire is an avid gamer. And, like many other hard-core enthusiasts, he has been anticipating the arrival of a new game for the PlayStation 2 entitled Shadow of the Colossus. (SotC is an action game that consists of the main character seeking out and fighting giants across a massive landscape.)
The boys and girls over at Sony Computer Entertainment did the usual beautiful website with message boards, etc. But they also used a blog with video logs in it to help gather the community together. The blog is called Giantology and is a collection of images and videos posted by the author about these “real” archeological digs that are turning up the remains of these massive beasts (from the game). The author mixes these posts with other musings and the game is never mentioned. There are even comments from readers (obviously who don’t know what’s going on) who challenge the authenticity of the videos and pictures.
Sony was smart in the way they approached their launch plan. They went after the Justin’s of the world first and then teamed with heavy.com to appeal to a wider audience who probably doesn’t know much about SotC. You can find more about the partnership with heavy.com here.
Other posts by Spike.
Olivier Blanchard says:
Brilliant. They really did a great job with this.
February 21st, 2006 at 6:56 amGammo says:
Well… it is great, but what use is it if “regular” people don’t make the connection?
February 21st, 2006 at 6:56 amSpike Jones says:
That’s okay. As Harley-Davidson once practiced, you have to “speak to the core and the others will listen in.” Sony wanted to speak to their core and not alienate them by taking the message straight to the masses. It usually pays off for a company to do this. I guess it’s too early to tell if it’s worked for Sony.
February 21st, 2006 at 6:56 am