I currently reside in England, but shhh, don’t tell anyone. Yesterday I had to actually go outside. During my journey I noticed something I’d never seen before – a Playstation 3 plastered across the side of the bus. I was dumbfounded. I’d seen the XBOX 360 on a bus before, but never a Playstation 3. Never. Sony don’t advertise right? It was bizarre.
When I got home, still in a sense of shock you must imagine, I turned on the TV hoping to catch the latest episode of Neighbours on Channel 5. Within about 4 minutes of the TV having been switched on, I see the new Playstation 3 logo pop onto the screen. “What the-?!” I murmur.
It’s a Need For Speed: Shift advert, headed and footed by the Playstation 3 logo and images of the PS3 Slim/pricing information. For years and years now I’ve seen Microsoft do a similar thing. Take a multiplatform release and make it appear exclusive.
Needless to say I was dumbfounded. Since the Playstation 3 launched I have yet to see any real promotion for anything related to it. But yesterday, well, I could actually go on. Walking past the local GameStation store in my area I saw massive Playstation 3 posters in the window. Outside the GAME store was a little sandwich board detailing their Playstation 3 bundle. It’s like the system has been reborn here in England, it really feels that way.
With Microsoft releasing a Halo game around the corner, I’m sure they’ll have a promotion of their own, but these past few weeks have been Playstation mad. Even the ill-fated Watchdog report on the BBC suggested a turn of interest in the Playstation 3 — sure the topic was inherently bad press, but needless to say the poor team of researchers who pieced together the episode thought that the PS3 was a big enough deal to rake in viewers at this time.
It’s a massive turn of events. A company well known for arrogance in the marketing department have got their shit together. Playstation is everywhere — and it’s not weird commercials involving babies crying in the middle of a room, it’s real marketing. It’s honest.
I just hope Sony put everything they have behind this holiday’s exclusive games. At the end of the day, games sell consoles. And I think Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted 2, Eye Pet and, dare I say, Gran Turismo 5, could sell a helluva lot of consoles.
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Very nice..BIG Ps3 marketing is going on in UK....real big Ps3 marketing.
SONY is trying to make it seem like the console is being released now











