The World Has Become A Video Game, And It Is Very, Very Sad


This is a commercial currently airing on Australian TV. I won’t spoil the bizarre ending by telling you what it’s for, but that’s not the point. The point is how great the voxel effects look.

Voxels, which had a trendy little run in the video game business in the 1990s with titles like Outcast and Comanche, are making a bit of a comeback in recent times courtesy of games such as Minecraft, Voxatron and 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Discuss

(35 Comments)
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  • [–]

    scree

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 8:47 PM

    When I first saw the ad, I was impressed and then I was infuriated. I’m a little sick of society using gaming and modern technology as a scapegoat.

    Still, I don’t really see how it all ties in with Gardening tools, because most people play games to avoid doing chores. Whether they have Stihl products or not. =/

  • [–]

    shane3x

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 8:48 PM

    I have no idea why this ad would want to make me buy power tools. The average consumer doesn’t want to have to think on an inception deep level to make sense of that.

  • [–]

    Robert Janssen

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 8:50 PM

    That ad actually insulted me a little at the end there lol

  • [–]

    Morkai

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 8:52 PM

    yeah because when i think about spending a day outdoors, i don’t think, let’s go for a walk, or let’s kick a footy around, i think “Hey! Let’s play with a chainsaw!!!”

    • [–]

      N0NEoftheAB0VE

      Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:48 PM

      Put that chainsaw on the end of a gun and I’ll think about it!

      • [–]

        Lord Bob

        Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 2:52 PM

        2 chainsaws strapped to a canoe paddle.

        Not an insulting ad. Just makes more wtf than sense.

  • [–]

    Trjn

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 8:56 PM

    So… what exactly does this have to do with the Stihl brand?

    Smacks of something an ad agency came up with to try and get some attention without bothering to see how it meshes with the brand in question.

    Also, CBF did it first. In a less pretty and more obnoxious way, but they were first.

  • [–]

    Shorinji

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:02 PM

    Well, the add did it’s job, it’s made publicity. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with the brand or what they are advertising it just has to get ‘out there’ really. It’s a success, it has you guys talking about it.

  • [–]

    Aidan

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:02 PM

    Those people dissolving are a little nightmarish.

  • [–]

    simon

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:02 PM

    i thought it was an awesome ad

    lighten up guys – its quite clever, and there is about 0 reference to video games

    you make the connection yourself

    • [–]

      Matt

      Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:33 AM

      It was a cool ad until the “Get real, Get Outside” bit which is a huge reference to video games, last time I checked movies and toys are not made of voxels and get real is obviously referring to video games being a waste of time as it is a fake reality, the message is clear and all forms of media use video gamers as a scapegoat which in this case is really dumb.

    • [–]

      TSH

      Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 11:25 PM

      I more or less agree here. Games are a big part of it (sports titles, FarmVille, Nintendogs) but the ad is about people who substitute the virtual for the actual and find it lacking. The most important scene (given how much screen time it got) was socialising at the BBQ, in the garden/backyard.

      Clever, and quite effective with cool FX

  • [–]

    Patrick

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:04 PM

    I actually thought the voxels looked quite beautiful, in a very Minecrafty kind of way. Heck, even the simple Piano music was reminiscent of climbing a mountain and surveying the pixelated landscape around you.

  • [–]

    Stevorooni

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:18 PM

    I thought it was funny.

    • [–]

      Jimmy James

      Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 7:49 AM

      Me too. Are we the only ones?

  • [–]

    Plazma

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:26 PM

    If it was more of a campaign to promote the healthiness or the heart foundation or anything to do with health, this would seem like quite a good ad. Not only that, but it would make SENSE.

  • [–]

    Matthew K

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:27 PM

    I already have a power drill and a hammer, but if I ever have need for a chainsaw, I’ll be sure and buy Ryobi. Back in the 90s their advertisement had a samurai in it.

    • [–]

      Tigerion

      Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:19 AM

      I haven’t seen a Ryobi ad in a long time. Please don’t tell me they have gotten rid of the Samurai, was one of the best logo scenes around

  • [–]

    qwed

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:56 PM

    Chainsaws > Video games
    ???

  • [–]

    Chris Mac

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:58 PM

    Here’s a better form of this execution from about 5 or 6 yrs ago for Canon also done out of Aus.
    The only SFX is the bull.
    enjoy

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5F7Q-g5laM

  • [–]

    James

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 10:08 PM

    Is this on ytube? I can’t watch it here.

  • [–]

    AussieSniper

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 10:13 PM

    I just came in from working in my garden.

  • [–]

    Milton

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 10:40 PM

    I thought it was a government ad about getting out of the house, but then the power tools show up. Biggest trolls.

  • [–]

    Timothy

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 11:01 PM

    I interpreted it as “Use Stihl power tools to chop up your dog and loved ones into little cubes”

  • [–]

    Pariah

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 11:51 PM

    Sport injures more children than video games will ever injure the entire human populace.

    Industrial tools are responsible for missing fingers among other workplace incidents. And yet, with that said, they’ll attack a harmless medium to promote tools.

  • [–]

    Josh

    Monday, October 10, 2011 at 11:59 PM

    What self-indulgent tripe that was.

  • [–]

    Aliasalpha

    Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 12:04 AM

    Well my ultimate reaction was “Wow thats really kind of beautif… chainsaws? Err… Wha?”

    Maybe the moral is that if you used a chainsaw the dog wouldn’t have bumped into the tree?

    • [–]

      red-one

      Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 12:33 PM

      True, but chainsaw-ing the dog Gears style is a little extreme for what is just an absent minded pup, with possible crossed eyes…

  • [–]

    Lazlow

    Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:06 AM

    A great piece of film made with the agencies portfolio in mind. I can’t decide if it is deliberately ludicrous or not, that sort of message is usually reserved for more positive outdoor activities, not something destructive.

    Only game I’ve ever played that used voxels was Blade Runner. Even then it was only reserved for the character models.

  • [–]

    kksl1der

    Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:13 AM

    This ad has made me reconsidering my life as a gamer. Tomorrow I’m going out to buy a chainsaw.

  • [–]

    kksl1der

    Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:14 AM

    This ad has made me reconsider my life as a gamer. Tomorrow I’m going out to buy a chainsaw.

  • [–]

    Exaemo

    Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 8:44 AM

    “Screw with Mario, fuck up a Tree”

    That’s what I got from it.

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