Notice anything different about the cover of the upcoming Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12? EA has shifted its focus on the Masters tournament rather than the controversial golfer.

When news broke of Tiger Woods’ infidelity, many companies smartly chose to end their endorsement deal with the golfer. However, EA Sports very publicly stood by their man, figuring that his private life couldn’t possibly affect his status as a golf wunderkind. Unfortunately, many additional women came forward to claim that they had been with Tiger. It became rather comical. I wonder if EA regretted their decision.

Let’s look at the design of the cover a bit closer. In the past, EA relied solely on Tiger’s face to sell games. People associated Tiger’s face with his golfing ability and this added value to the EA brand.

After the scandal, Tiger’s face became synonymous with infidelity because in every store checkout stand, there are 3-4 different tabloids with Tiger’s face next to giant bold text saying things like ‘INFIDELITY’ and ‘CHEATER’ and ‘MISTRESS.’

By minimizing Tiger’s presence on the cover, EA is relying instead on the EA Sports logo and the prestige of the Masters tournament to sell their game. Certainly, the lack of Tiger means the game will be less identifiable on store shelves. However, that’s what EA is banking on. For all intents and purposes, this is a classic case of damage control. The lack of Tiger will hurt the game’s sales, but not as much as if they keep his around.

I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t the name of the game still Tiger Woods? Yes, but the Tiger brand has been relegated to the very bottom of the box art. When displayed on store shelves, game boxes are stacked in such a way that the bottom of every cover is obscured by the row of games directly below. Essentially, the Tiger Woods brand is obscured. EA probably has to keep the name around for contractual purposes.

Augusta is the new sexy beast in town. Look at that sexy yellow flag. I’m not even sure if that’s Tiger’s silhouette in the distance.

ABOVE: Tiger in the tabloids

I get that the point of ads is not to recreate the gaming experience with accuracy, but to suggest that playing games will leave you happy and fulfilled. But honestly, when was the last time you invited three attractive friends from your multi-ethnic cadre to play Wii in your expensive, IKEA-furnished penthouse?

The Asian guy just farted. The black dude is trying to flip through some channels because Glee is on. The blonde is trying really hard to force a grin. (Check out the bulging vein on her forehead.) Finally, the pretty brunette has apparently been mangled by Photoshop. Either that or she’s a hobbit.

This picture is even sillier. Once again, we have an IKEA furnished apartment with a bunch of non-threatening 20-somethings. The guy on the left is obviously playing some kind of tennis or fencing game. The blonde girl appears to be skateboarding. I didn’t know there were any skateboarding tennis games for Wii. I especially love the knowing look that the Asian girl gives the camera. It’s like she just wants her money so she can put this whole episode behind her. Thank you, Jim from The Office.

We are totally not dorks. Trust us. To prove it, here are two beautiful women.

This picture is precious because of the man’s impish smirk and the random painting in the background. The girl appears to be playing a game where she’s inserting her ATM card into a machine. The man is about to beat her with a baseball bat and steal her wallet.

Dad: Hey kids. I don’t think the TV is on.

Are you ready to play Microsoft’s Kinect in your impossibly pristine penthouse apartment while sitting on modern minimalist furniture? Also, I love that these parents have nothing better to do than dress in business casual attire and sit on a couch. Finally, why is the lamp on? You have natural sunlight coming through your giant window!

If the goal of this image is to demonstrate the Wii’s appeal to all ages, it’s probably not a good idea to make grandpa look like he’s about to have a heart attack.

More pretty pretentious people playing the Wii.

Hey… any single ladies looking to play some Call of Duty and get totally pwned?

I think the lesson here is that humans and vampires are united by their mutual love for the Sony PSP. This is especially true when one of the vampires was once a crazy gypsy chick.

Playing the Wii will save your marriage. Trust us. *snuggle snuggle snuggle*

Ugh… that zebra print.

I’m a fan of the Android platform and the proud owner of a Nexus One handset. But for some reason, I’ve never quite warmed up to Verizon’s “Droid Does” marketing campaign. The commercials make me want to watch a science fiction movie rather than purchase a phone.

While reading an article today on 1UP.com titled: Twenty Years Ago In Advertisements, I noticed a familiar ad for the Sega Genesis.

When Sega brought the Genesis to North America in 1989, most gamers had an 8-bit NES. Sega couldn’t compete on the strength of its titles because Nintendo’s library was too massive. So they decided to emphasize Genesis’ powerful 16-bit processor. Guess what slogan they used?

Genesis Does What Nintendon’t.

No, I’m not kidding. You can watch this classic Genesis Does commercial on YouTube.

Well, we all know what happened in the end. Two years later, Nintendo released the SNES and dealt Sega a blow from which it never quite recovered. Today, the Nintendo Wii is the best selling console in the world. Meanwhile, Sega has merged with Sammy and publishes games. They haven’t released a new console since 1999.

Verizon’s marketing team appears to have retooled Sega’s campaign. The similarities are eerie. In both cases, a company with big marketing dollars (Sega/Verizon) with a new and fairly unknown platform (Genesis/Android) attempts to dethrone a market leader (NES/iPhone), that possesses a very strong library of games and apps. Both Sega and Verizon have chosen to emphasize their platform’s hardware superiority. Sega constantly reiterated in its commercials that Genesis had 16-bits, twice the number of bits as the NES. Similarly, Droid commercials emphasized the fast processor, open architecture, and multitasking ability over the iPhone’s offerings.

They say history tends to repeat itself. Considering what happened to Sega in the console wars, Verizon may wish to consider a different approach to marketing Droid.

I criticized the original US cover for trying to be too ‘badass’ and creating false expectations about the game’s content to people unfamiliar with the series. I’m sure a lot of other gamers felt the same way because Ubisoft made subtle changes to the cover art.

The original cover looked gritty and desaturated, like the opening battle of Fellowship of the Ring or Gladiator. The cover was split down the middle, showcasing the kingdom management on the left and the military strategy on the right. But because the original cover looked gray all around, it compromised the artist’s message. Both sides looked angry and ready for war. The man on the left had short, military-style haircut. The man on the right was decked in armor. If I didn’t know anything about The Settlers, I might think the game was about a rebel army fighting against an evil empire.

The new cover does a much better job make the two halves distinct. The most obvious way they emphasized the contrast was by adding color. On the left, the town looks cheerful under blue skies. On the right, the military stands ready, flanked by a fiery red backdrop. Secondly, the man on the left was altered with long, unkempt peasant hair. Although he’s still exhibiting an intense scowl, he no longer looks like the leader of a rebellion, ready to pick up a sword and bash some imperial skulls.

The more I look at this new cover, the more I like it. While the design is still somewhat misleading about the game’s actual art style, it has a clearer message about the player’s role in the game as both kingdom overseer and military commander. Plus, the purpose of the cover is to get people to pick up the box. What actually sells the game is the back cover, which remains largely the same regardless of region.

The Settlers 7 showcases a different but equally common type of regional tinkering. Take a look at the comparison below.

The European cover on the left shows a jovial, colorful village with all three facets of the game (commerce, exploration, and conquest) represented. The North American cover on the right screams: ‘military, war, darkness, KILL!’

Clearly, for Americans, there is only one ‘path’ to a kingdom. And in case you haven’t realized the cover art’s subtle message, let me spell it out for you, Heavy Rain-style. You play as the angry guy with the intense stare. This is because you are a pissed-off, testosterone-filled, rageaholic. You command the armies because you are a badass mofo. You slaughter your enemies because you take no prisoners. Victory is yours. THIS. IS. SPARTA!

The latter cover isn’t bad from a technical standpoint, but it is extremely misleading. You see, the actual game is very colorful and cute, like Katamari and Civilization barfed up rainbows. Anyone itching to slaughter innocents and bathe in their blood will be quite surprised when they see a bunch of fat peasants going to church and planting crops.

The phenomenon of making a North American game cover more hardcore by adding anger and rage is nothing new. Just look at Kirby, who time after time finds himself frowning as he crosses the Pacific.

I’d really like to see the study that shows angry cover art translates to more sales in North America. Have any publishers actually done an A/B test? I can’t recall any examples. More likely, this is one of those ‘best practices’ invented by some lazy marketing specialist with no empirical data as backup whatsoever and repeated as a talking point ad infinitum.

Heavy Rain has generated considerable debate about regional differences in box art. Fans have praised the European cover, which features an unsettling image of an origami seal in the rain. The game is about the Origami Killer. So it’s fitting that the origami’s flipper is dipped in blood. The image is simple, but powerful.

The US cover is noticeably less subtle. In fact, the artist made sure to include all of the main characters on the cover, lest we barbarians mistake Heavy Rain for a puzzle game. One of the characters even holds a gun. There’s violence in this game, folks! If that’s not all, there’s a woman wearing a tight tank and sporting some badly photoshopped cleavage.

It certainly would have been cheaper to use the same art for both releases. So the fact that Americans ended up with a significantly dumbed down cover suggests it was a conscious decision made by marketing. Painted as idiots incapable of liking a game unless it oozes violence and sexuality, American gamers were clearly annoyed.

Sony decided to retool the European art and released it as an alternate cover for download on Flickr. I think it’s a good lesson in marketing. First of all, never assume your audience is stupid. If consumers feel insulted, they will hate your product. More importantly, accept good feedback and be flexible. When gamers complained about the box art, Sony smartly provided a solution that appeased naysayers without having to recall thousands of shipped game boxes.

Before you jump into the deep end of the pool without a plan, consider the trouble you’re about to get into. Just as Chinese workers entered the US in the 19th Century for harsh labor under the misconception that streets were paved with gold, you may end up spending millions of dollars to market a game that never takes off! Are you prepared to live with that?

Success in the US market will requires a solid game plan. Here are five very important tips to consider as you develop that plan:

1. Hire A Good Localization Team

A lot of companies looking to ‘get rich quick’ neglect this very crucial step. Make your game readable! A lot of people think to themselves: “who plays an MMO for its story?” But don’t forget that a badly translated game affects more than its narrative. It also detracts from the gameplay and interface usability. If your game plays like crap, word will spread like wildfire regardless of the time spent reactively applying patches.

Hiring a good translator can be expensive. But if you want gamers to take your game seriously, a game that’s free of grammatical errors is a necessity. In fact, the more seasoned a gamer is, the more cynical he or she becomes at the industry as a whole. And the easiest way to nitpick a game is by mocking its translation. Consider how many Internet memes originate from badly translated Japanese video games from the 80s.

“Congraturation!”
“A Winner is You!”
All your base are belong to us!”
“This guy are sick.”

Don’t add to the list.

2. Be Transparent About Your Game

No matter how addictive your gameplay is, in order for any game to become successful in a new market, you’ll need to take in more money than spending. So for free online games with micro-transactions, it ultimately comes down to revenue, not user base. If you’re advertising a subscription MMO, the two metrics are more or less the same.

In either case, if you want gamers to pay money for an item or a subscription, you sure as heck better show them you’re a responsible company. Internet users have become far more savvy at avoiding scams since the early days of the Internet. The main thing they look for is: “If something goes wrong with my transaction, is there someone who will listen to me.” Trust is extremely important.

Transparency about your game means you disclose everything about the billing process and are completely open about your company. This means no hidden fees. No fine print. No credit card fraud. No fake addresses. This leads me to my next point.

3. Tell Your Story Offline

If you’re based in China or South Korea, you can’t assume US gamers know anything about your company or your game. American gamers are notoriously ignorant of any happenings outside of the US and most of them sure as heck won’t do any research once they see your ad. In order to succeed, it’s important to establish a compelling and truthful narrative about your business origins. Think about how Square’s narrative about bankruptcy and Hironobu Sakaguchi’s ‘final game’ intended to be a send-off called Final Fantasy that ended up saving the company. Who doesn’t know that story?

Reach out to game magazines and blogs like Kotaku, Destructoid, or Joystiq and tell them your story. Don’t assume they won’t be interested. Make your developers available for interviews and be truthful. Soften your company’s image through social networks and video diaries. If you can’t speak English, get a translator or use subtitles.

In the end, it’s about establishing context and building hype. Think about all of the great Japanese console games that come to the US and how much advance hype is built. Yet when you think about Korean MMOs or Chinese browser games, very little is known about these companies or the games until they’re suddenly sprung like a trap. To succeed in the US, your target audience must first know that you’re coming before they can embrace you with open arms. Otherwise, they’ll treat you like an unwelcome pest.

4. Keep Your Brand Message Consistent

In other words, make sure your ads and website aren’t misleading. When the marketing director comes up with a compelling narrative, everyone should stick to it. If you’re working with a creative agency and they come up with a proposal, ask yourself what are the worst case scenarios. Does the title have any hidden sexual connotations? Can certain concepts be misinterpreted? If one of your character has a Hitler mustache, is it a good idea to redesign the character at the risk of being known as ‘the Hitler game?’

When you’re entering a foreign market (this works both ways), your strongest asset is your game’s brand and you’ll live or die by it. Most gamers can tell within the first 15 seconds of seeing a brand whether they like it or not. An inconsistent message can dilute the impact of your marketing strategy by confusing these potential players or even hurt the reputation of your company by insulting them.

5. Understand The Nuances Of Your Market

Perhaps the most important aspect of bringing a game to the US is to understand that the life of a gamer in the US is very different from the life of a gamer in China or South Korea. Therefore, you have to adapt your product to fit that market’s wants rather than assume the market will adapt to you. In Asian countries, it’s a known fact that most gamers coalesce in web cafes. As a result, people develop communities not only online, but within the confines of that cafe environment. Seeing the same old chaps day after day encourages competition and showboating, not to mention endurance tests. This is also one of the reasons why Asian MMOs have a lot of repetitive grind. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not to extend the game artificially in order to get micro-transaction dollars. If that theory were true, it’d make more sense to extend the end-game options when players are actually built up enough to put those cash shop items to good use. Alternatively, players in the US play games in the comfort of their home, usually in a window, with the TV on. Slow, repetitive level-grinding is a major turn-off because the player surrounds himself or herself with far more interesting things.

There are also other nuances people might not realize. For example, in the US, people gasp at sexual imagery or nudity while thinking nothing of extreme violence and gore. In Europe, the opposite is generally true. I am overgeneralizing, of course. But you get the point. Similarly, copyrights and trademarks are seen as just a formality in China while intellectual property laws are taken far more seriously in the US. That’s why it’s common to see Chinese games with popular cartoon characters or story concepts taken directly (and illegally) from other sources. Understanding that these cultural differences are in place and that gamers might ridicule your stolen concept art or ripped music allow you to make necessary adjustments before entering the market.

There’s no better way for a company to fully understand another country’s gamer demographics and social norms without immersing themselves in the culture and respecting it. That’s why it’s recommended that companies based overseas open a US branch office (or a wholly owned subsidiary). Having a building and staff is not enough. Significant operations should be allowed to run from the office so that there is a more equal relationship between the offices. Granting autonomy in a foreign market may sound bad in theory, but with it comes benefits like increased flexibility and responsiveness for pressing local issues. Believe in the power of your personnel and let them do their job. If you can’t open an office, then partner with a reputable publisher with an excellent track record, brand recognition, and an open mind about international cooperation.

Good luck!

I saw this video on Digg today with the title: ‘best wedding proposal ever.’ In the comments section, people wrote things like: ‘you guys better take note’ and ‘this is how it’s done.’

Sorry to burst everyone’s bubble, but the proposal was actually acted out by members of Disney’s musical and parade performing cast. The video is simply clever viral marketing.

Hats off to Disney for thinking outside the box. The video has generated more than 1 million views on the DisneyParks YouTube channel and shows no signs of slowing down. And by blogging about this video, I’m driving more impressions to the video and moving the viral train along. When you factor in the tens of thousands of dollars saved by hosting their video on YouTube, it boggles the mind why viral videos aren’t more common among entertainment companies.

Not every video can go viral. But why is this one so effective? Simply put, it toes the line between cheesy-charming and cheesy-annoying very carefully. See, we don’t really care about the guy and the girl or the fact that they’re getting married. That’s all a distraction. What we really care about is how spontaneous the musical is and what it’d be like to propose like this. When you watch, you’re subconsciously generating ideas and this turns into an urge to share those ideas.

Case in point: Disney posted a different proposal video that completely misses the mark. This video doesn’t focus on the outrageous musical but rather the pure and simple fact that two people can get engaged at Disneyland. When you watch it (and the terrible contrast filters) it just doesn’t have the same impact.

First of all, they managed to make Moon Bloodgood look hideous. That’s not easy to do. Secondly, they made Chris Klein look like Nicolas Cage. Also, Chris Klein’s face apparently absorbs sunlight differently from a regular human since the light illuminates the left side of everyone’s face except his.

The cut and paste job on Kristin Kreuk is terrible. Look at the lines around her legs and the unnatural glow. Also, the skin tone of the face is far less saturated than the rest of the body. I wonder whose body they decided to paste her face on. If the body comes from a different Kristin Kreuk picture, then they clearly shopped her boobs to make them huge. Nice use of the burn and dodge tools there, buddy. Speaking of unnatural, did you notice that her left arm (our right) looks lopsided? It’s like they shrunk her hand, but forgot to shrink everything above her wrist.

Also, why the hell would anyone want to buy a 3-disc ‘unleashed and unrated’ version of this movie except to prank a friend? if anyone buys me this movie for any reason, our friendship is over.