My wife, who wasn't even a gamer until she received a prescription from Dr. Kawashima, is hugely impressed with Nintendo's TV ads for the Wii: "It looks like such fun. And it's clever how they don't show any of the games in action, but just the action of the remote. It makes a big impression that way." And I fully agree.
Nintendo's Wii commercials have been running on the main Japanese networks for a couple of weeks already. They are being aired in breaks during kids' cartoons, yes, but Nintendo also has a lot of time booked in the evenings, interrupting prime-time family programs (Toneruzu no Mina-san no Okage Deshita on Thursday night), made-for-housewives dramas, and shows which are particularly popular with young women (Sunday evening's Sanma's Karakuri Terebi, for example).
The format of the ads is pretty simple. One, which you can see for yourself right here, goes like this:
[Wii logo splash.] "What's this?" [Zoom-in on floating Wii controller, white against a milky white backdrop.]
"It's a new remote." [Confirmed by "new remote" being written in a classy font. A hand, likely human, appears and grasps the new remote.]
"Nintendo Wii remote." [Another Wii logo appears for good measure, and beneath it "12.2 START" says everything.]
And then it ends. It's simple to the point of calling an apple an apple; and, funnily enough, it is a very Apple kind of ad. Other Japanese Wii commercials are in a similar vein, only expanding slightly to show golf and tennis strokes being made by torso-less, remote-clutching hands. As yet, there's no game footage to be seen in these ads. They're all about the concept of something new and, clearly, something which anyone can grasp.
Nintendo's next big marketing push is due on November 2, when the first of three game shows under the Nintendo World 2006 banner gets under way in Tokyo. After Tokyo, the tour goes to Osaka and from there to Nagoya. Although these exhibitions aren't exactly Shoshinkai/Spaceworld substitutes, they will be big -- for instance Nintendo has Intex, an impressive arena-cum-concert venue, reserved in Osaka -- and they will be overflowing with gamers, especially as admission to Nintendo World 2006 costs 0 yen.
Sony, on the other hand, will use the ongoing Akihabara Entamatsuri 2006 (in Tokyo) and the forthcoming Osaka Games Festa 2006 events to present fifteen of its biggest PS3 titles, most of which are TGS replications. (One notable exception is Afrika, which will be playable at these events.)
It's easy to see why Sony's approach is smaller-scale and, in some ways, less urgent than Nintendo's: whatever Sony does, the meager 100,000 PS3 consoles in Japan for launch will sell out before they're put on the shelves. Nintendo, however, will have far more systems to sell to Japan this Christmas. Whether the Wii can match the DS's phenomenal success is not dependent on smart ads and game shows, but these things help.
The most likely outcome is that both Sony and Nintendo will be able to claim that their Christmas was a merry one.
