this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2024
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Nothing was off-limits for retro game ads (startrek.website)
submitted 9 months ago by The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website to c/retrogaming@lemmy.world
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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 56 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Oh, man, you have NO idea:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2002/mar/15/games.advertising

[–] The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website 23 points 9 months ago

Oh my god, this is dark.

[–] kratoz29@lemm.ee 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Bro, using ads in the graveyards this is new for me...

I bet this will make a comeback...

[–] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 2 points 9 months ago

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[–] blackluster117@possumpat.io 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This would've been great for a game like DOOM.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

[Here lies your loved one]

"Ah! Fresh meat! Journey into Tristram and see what the Butcher is up to today!"

[–] jaschen@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Please be the onion....

[–] Odo@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Sorry, but Acclaim really was that wild for a bit there. They also had a promotion where you'd get a free copy of one of the Turok games if you named a newborn child after him. For what it's worth, I don't think anyone took them up on either offer, but it certainly brought in the publicity.

[–] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I currently work with someone who worked with acclaim back then and Virgin at one point too. The stories he tells me of some of the game Devs of the time. Insane. Some of them Devs still exist to this day and knowing what happened behind closed doors I have no idea how they got more business.

[–] sir_pronoun@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I feel that you owe us some anonymous gossip now.

[–] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

One UK based dev that worked on some edgy PC games had a "Red Room" at their offices that was purely there for them to take drugs and trip inside. It was just a room completely painted in red.

[–] sir_pronoun@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Haha you aren't disappointing

[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 3 points 9 months ago

Best played with a DeathAdder mouse.

[–] kromem@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Hahaha, yeah, that one was great.

Also the one where they paid parents to name their baby 'Turok.'

I sometimes wonder what those little Turoks are up to today (at least a half dozen parents took them up on it IIRC).

The shock advertising campaigns around games really were something. They worked - got a ton of free media coverage. But this was also at the time that video games were the Boogeyman like rock n' roll had been to a generation before. The media loved nothing more than a "look how terrible video games are" story and PR firms were playing into that environment.

So campaigns like this were basically the equivalent of Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off a bat.

As games became more normalized, the campaigns shifted accordingly and - like Ozzy - tamed quite a bit out.