Both please.

I think I like the good girl better.

I realize Nintendo is trying to reach out to the “mature” crowd with the DS, but I sort of hoped they were above stuff like this.

They look so similar Id have a hard time choosing. Guess Id go with the Good Girl if I had to pick one. Still doesnt seem that good…:)

I would hope Nintendo is not ‘above’ stuff like this. They’ve got a business to run, i’d hate for them to get all elitist.

I think that ad would be more convicing if she could actually hold the damn thing right.

Eh… maybe I’m just nit-picking. It’s okay.

While I personally might find this sort of advertising senseless and unappealing, I have to agree with drgherbik here. Nintendo needs to appeal to a wide demographic and this sort of advertising placement (hot women in Stuff magazine), while it might seem rather shallow, is exactly what they need to push. It was the seemingly elitist attitude that they were ‘above’ this sort of thing that caused many problems for them with the Gamecube. Why do you think people have a preconceived notion that Nintendo is a ‘kiddy’ company? Advertising certainly plays a large role in how the public perceives a company…

the writing’s excellent. well done, nintendo

yes. i agree, grammatically correct. maxim readers will be floored.

this is better than the god awful mario 64 DS ad

This line of advertising is idiotic. Why does “mature” have to mean devoid of intelligence and base as all hell? I mean come on…this isn’t an Xbox. It’s a DS!

I’m not sure this line of advertising even does anything, to answer some previous posters. It just seems like a waste of money. So lets say you get these stuff readers to check out the DS, what will they find? That the games released for the system and coming out for the system DO NOT match the presubscribed notion of what the system is about. These people are looking for shooters and hot lady demon fighters or something, not virtual dogs. I mean I really think this is not the demographic nintendo needs to shoot for. If you ask me they should be advertising more TO women, instead of having stupid ass ads with women in them.

Both.

you guys are pussies. it’s advertising, get over it. sex sells, and it’s right about now that nintendo needs to sell. nothing is a lie in the ad, they doesn’t say they have sexy women in their games, and there’s nothing offensive. everything listed in the ad is possible on the ds, it’s just their creative way of listing its features.

Typical perverted male fantasy…

This line of advertising it meant to appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator. Even non-gamers like to spend money, and maybe, just maybe… they’ll buy a ds.

Typical perverted male fantasy? You think the typical male fantasy is a gorgeous woman holding a ds?

They both look like old strippers…. I’d rather have the DSs.

yeah, there are plenty more better looking models out there

Thats what old strippers look like? I had no idea.

you guys are missing the point of my argument. This is just a waste of money. These people are not going to buy a DS based off of this ad. They may not be bright but they arnt THAT stupid. They are gonna take one look at the game list and run crying to the PSP. and that is FINE. I just think Nintendo is missing the boat on truckloads of potential customers. I think someone reading Stuff magazine already pretty much has their mind made up about what kind of tech stuff they are into. I don’t think Nintendo fits that mold and that is fine also.

NOW, if Nintendo fucks up and doesnt have tons of ads on animal planet, lifetime, cooking channels etc etc etc upon release of nintendogs and instead keeps focusing on this kind of defeatist nonsense, then that will be that.

just my opinion. nintendo is doing fine on the games front, they just need new ad people.

don’t be so sure, LAWRENCE. you seem to not realize how gullbile some people are.

Lawrence, i think you’re also giving consumers far too much credit.

Also, where did you get your advanced degree in business and advertising? I’m considering getting one as well.

I don’t have an advanced degree no need to get snarky geeze! It just seems like common sense doesn’t it? Don’t you have friends or talk to people? The very people that would be into the ds the most havn’t even heard of the thing. And I got news for you, my fratboy neighbor who gets Stuff AND Maxim is not about to rush out and get a ds. He has Halo 2 what else does he need? And that is not a diss! That just fits his lifestyle. If Nintendo wanted to pull those people they would make games that catered to them. They don’t. So maybe when they make a game featuring scantily clad women then it makes sense to have ads like that..It just seems kind of sad to me. Nothing about about Nintendo gels with this sort of advertising and it is obvious to anyone. Come on. Consumers arn’t that stupid.

the older age demographic can play GTA, or nintendo(to be even more “mature”)could make sexy princess peach centerfolds to appeal to the demographic

but that would destroy peach’s image as a viable IP for kid oriented games.

maybe a brand new IP? or samus aran?

and LAWRENCE .. tsk, tsk. are you five or something? if there’s one thing john doe responds to, it’s SEX. yeah, that’s right. SEX.

this is an old tactic used by advertising agencies to catch stereotypical joe sixpacks’ attention. come, now.

nintendo’s gotta do what they gotta do to survive in an increasingly competitive arena, and to broaden their market (and to try and shed their ‘kiddy’ image at the same time), and what better move than feature attractive women to promote their products?

and booth babes, how about booth babes? they have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH GAMES, and yet there they are, at every E3. and did you see tecmo’s model runway last year? my, my.

In my humble 5 year old opinion btnheazy03 or whomever, Nintendo doesn’t need to mess with that stuff. They will never be seen as sexy or viable to that market. But that is ok. There are MILLIONS of people that have never even picked up a video game before. They need to shoot for these people. That is all I am saying. Everyone that reads Stuff magazine already has their Nintendo opinions and a sexy babe isn’t going to change that. I just think it’s kind of sad that you think that is how the game must be played. Bill Gates called Nintendo a “niche” company today. He meant it to belittle the company but I see it as a firebrand. Wasn’s apple just a “niche” company a few years ago? They don’t go around putting up stupid ads like this. I really feel that Nintendo, just like Apple a few years ago, is a sleeping giant. And while they may never capture the marketshare again like the old days, they will never be boosted out of the console business simply for the fact that they seem committed to offering up the sort of gaming experience that the other ones do not. That is what they should focus on. Nintendo is different. They shouldn’t shy away from that. Well I have to go eat glue now not to mention naptime.

sure, you go ahead and frolic in your fantasy world filled with bunnies and butterflies and rainbows, while nintendo does battle in the real world

and for the record, this is only one sector of nintendo’s advertising campaign to inform it’s potential customers about it’s latest product. they’re not only after this particular demographic, but many other demographics of different age groups. they have many more strategies to broaden not only their market share, but the games industry’s market share itself

PS. bill gates’ opinion is a non-factor for me: all he spews is filth and FUD, now why would you associate yourself with such a shady source? tsk, tsk.

I’ll go dual

Wow. First I see the word ’snarky’ then I see something about a ‘fantasy world filled with bunnies and butterflies and rainbows’. I’ve got my fingers crossed that a unicorn flys through my window.

Again. Don’t give consumers too much credit. They can be very stupid. And fratboys aren’t the only people that read Maxim - just a heads up.

I’m gonna guess Nintendo hired an agency of some sort to handle this, and they probably know what their doing.

only at 4CR

man, i hate these smileys!

And I have a feeling Reggie Fils-Aime had a hand at this .. I guess he’s putting his experience at VH1 to good use? I truly hope it works out for them.

If you assume your audience are idiots, eventually you will have an audience of idiots.

Idiots have to spend money too.

Hey, great attitude. That’s exactly what landed in the game industry in the state it’s in today.

The real problem with pandering to a low common denominator like that is that you will be bested by someone who’s willing to sink lower. It’s a slippery slope; once you start marketing like that you can either fail or go all the way. I don’t think anyone wants to see that happen to Nintendo. Ultimately that would not be good for the quality of the game, or the public image thereof.

Another issue is that the “Maxim” crowd is STILL only a small part of the potential market. Maybe it seems large to you because you’re a young male with enough cash to spend on videogames (and thus are targeted by that kind of advertising), but there are whole other markets that don’t intersect with that demographic at all. If you rely on tits and ass for your marketing, you are ultimately losing as many customers as you gain.

I really don’t see the big deal. Lotsa people spend money on lots of different things. And if you really really think these ads are so tasteless, you’re not paying attention to advertisements much.

And whomever said that the Maxim crowd was such a large part of the potential market? Again - i’m sure Nintendo hires professionals to help them target each of their potential markets. And ‘if’ this campaign is successful, we will seem many more. Nintendo needs to make money too.

you people are retarded. those ads are tame.

as for pandering … pandering to whom? those are designed to elicit a response for the boy in all of us, but also are childish and tame. get a sense of humor.

The ads are indeed tame. They’re also lame. Nintendo is just embarassing themselves by running them. Not really much different from a “Women of the Republican Party” calendar. Hilarious, but in a laughing-at rather than laughing-with kind of way.

Ok. How about this.

If Nintendo drops a press release any time soon claiming that these ads were an embarassment and have damaged their reputation, I owe you a coke.

I can’t believe how childish and inane some of these rants are.

Nintendo’s primarily a BUSINESS, secondary an interactive software/hardware maker. They HAVE TO DO WHAT THEY GOTTA DO to stay afloat in this industry, even if those means are somewhat unacceptable to you.

[…] felse.co.uk”> DS Ads in lad’s mag May 7th 2005 Nintendo DS: Dual screen, double entendre’s? Filed to Shorts by Phu Go to comments « Movie title screens | […]

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Sunday May 8, 2005

Nintendo DS Ads in Stuff

Nintendo DS ads in Stuff Magazine are overtly sexual but, IMHO, quite cool!

Writ […]

WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????

its just good. now, if they were topless…………

now THAT would be bad .. this setup is fine (scantily clad, but tasteful)

“Typical perverted male fantasy…”

That’s the Amish in you talking!

Topless would be bad? What the hell…

imagine the flood of complaints by parents when they see magazines running topless ads for nintendo .. their reputation will be destroyed. THAT’S why it’s bad

Imagine I was being sarcastic.

oh i’m sorry, i didn’t have my sarcasm detecting device turned on. my bad.

This is exactly what Nintendo had been missing with the cube, ads that appeal to the audience that the console doesn have, really good work Reggie

btz, you are slightly missing our point. mostly i just think the ads are stupid and useless. and to say “i’m sure they know what they are doing” regarding their mysterious ad company, now who is in the fantasy world? all i’m saying is that, in addition to tasteless, these ads are a bad business move! Which seeems to be your only point, that Nintendo is a business and need to do what they need to do. I just think NIntendo has to play to their strengths. and EVEN THO there are 50 odd posts regarding these ads, lets all face something: They are forgettable at best. I want NIntendo to be taken seriously. This is like those Democrats who were gung ho to invade Iraq then come election time were aghast that we were in Iraq. Nintendo has never been this kind of company. And people know that instinctively. Thats all.

This ads are not tasteless and they are not a bad business move. Again, if the company goes bankrupt in the next few months, I owe you a coke. I’m sticking by that.

I do get your point. You seem to assume that Nintendo is not a business, that they are here to serve your vision of the kind of company they should be, and that you exclusively have the business savvy to somehow earn them respect. Forget their need to make money, attrative women are an abomination.

Also, avoid the political comparisons and analogies, they really really make you sound foolish. Especially when they don’t work.

I love how people seem to think these are tasteless. Seriously, loosen up. A lot.

i think LAWRENCE is just a bit shellshocked because this form of marketing is fairly new to nintendo, so his brain is kind of reeling from shock.

the bottom line is, this type of marketing has been used in the past regularly by other advertising agencies (especially breweries like budweiser and miller), and nintendo wants to broaden their market demographic, and that’s it. simple.

you won’t find this advertisements anywhere else, just magaines like stuff and maxim.

*these forms of advertising*

my bad

[…] es mejor de a dos que de a uno” entre otras cosas. Agencia: LeoBurnett USA Vía: 4ColorRebellion

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DUDE, WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!? GODDAMN

From what I can decode from that post, Leo Burnett created the ad. This is a huge global advertising agency, they know what they’re doing.

So rest assured, this ad was strategized and targeted very very carefully.

Dunno, the model looks like an airhead in each version.

I think i will get another DS after seeing that ad.. and I’m the mature crowd. Just kidding, but i do think it will be effective advertising. And it’s true women like the DS. My wife does not like video games one bit, but she plays the DS all the time!

Finally, a comment that makes sense

Some people think most GC games are “kiddy”. Thats understandable, because back when NES first came out, the biggest target audience was children. It was a toy!
Now all those kids have grown up, and they’re interested in different, more mature things. Thats’s why games where you kill masses of people in cold blood are so popular. Nintendo isn’t a sucky company; they’ve been the best since the beginning. It’s just time for them to grow up too.

Bad argument. Just because someone is ‘grown up’ doesn’t mean they crave games “where you kill masses of people in cold blood”. Most of the individuals focused on these types of games ARE children. Most of the older gamers I know seem to enjoy all games, and above all, games that are probably labeled as ‘kiddy’.