Kotaku Australia » adwatch

How Painkiller Should Have Been Advertised

Mike Fahey — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Seemingly moments after The Escapist released this week’s Zero Punctuation video featuring 2004’s horror FPS Painkiller, Steam’s home page got an updated advertisement for the Gold Edition of the game, utilising Yahtzee’s astute insight into the biggest selling point of the title.

If they had originally marketed the game in a plain red box with the line “Includes guns that shoot shurikens and lightning” in big gold letters, Painkiller would have become the bestselling first-person shooter of all time.

Steam Home Page [Valve - Thanks Mascott!]

The Power Of Kamehameha

Mike Fahey — Sat, 17 May 2008 02:00:00 +0000

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit is coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next month, and Atari is gearing up for a massive advertising blitz centered around the power of everyone’s favourite energy wave, Kamehameha! Along with the three videos you may have seen elsewhere, Atari was nice enough to give us the exclusive clip above, displaying how shouting the name of the first king of Hawaii can make everything alright.

Hit the jump for the other three clips, which get progressive more amusing as they go along.

Metallic Rose DS Gets Superstar Launch

Mike Fahey — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:40:00 +0000

As is always the case, mere weeks after I pick up a new DS, Nintendo goes and releases a new colour. The metallic rose DS, originally sold as part of a holiday Nintendogs bundle, will be hitting stores later this month in stand-alone form, and Nintendo has recruited Ugly Betty star America Ferrera and American Idol-born country singer Carrie Underwood to appear in ads promoting the new shade. The commercials will begin airing on Monday, May 19th. Along with those two, Liv Tyler will also be appearing in commercials hawking the crimson and black variant.

Strong female role-models America and Carrie will surely inspire many young women to pick up one of Nintendo’s handhelds, while the Liv Tyler ad will have men who are subconsciously attracted to Steven Tyler to the stores in droves.