How to turn something great into something average, just by talking about it

Mass Effect 2 is out in about a week, which is incredibly exciting for me and for a lot of other gamers around the world. But why are we excited about it? Well because the first installment of the game turned out to be fantastic, and the sequel can ride on the quality of the original. The Dark Knight was a fantastic film, and was completely sold out at every theatre I tried to watch it at on release night, again a good example of the strengths of the original selling the sequel. But sometimes the strength of an original work doesn't seem to be enough, sometimes because there isn't an original product to be followed, or maybe the previous entries weren't well received. Or maybe because there is the potential to make even more money that anyone could possibly imagine. In these situation the go to resource is hype, a word that is thrown around a lot, but not unjustly.

It's nigh on impossible to talk about hype wihout mentioning a game called Modern Warfare 2. No product has received so much hype from its publishers and yet in actuallity has required so little. Being the sequel to one of the most successful first person shooters of all time all that would be required would be a blank screen with the release date, actually that's not too far off what the original teaser was, however greed took hold and the over staturation of marketing began. Activision went promo crazy, there were teaser trailers, trailers announcing the release of full trailers, random celebrities were invited to play the game then tweet about it, every day some news about the game or it's development was leaked to videogame blogs. Taking a gamble activision initiated the big marketing push a good 3 months before the game was due for release, risking people being sick to death of hearing about MW2 by the time the game came out. A quick look around the net shows that that is exactly what happened, but it didn't stunt the sales of the game any.

It's not just games that become victims of their own hype, films are just as likely to fall victim. Final Fantasy (yes I know it's a game movie, clearly gaming has a lot to answer for) received a push like no other, television specials, dedicated magazines, reputable newspapers even got involved in pushing this film. The technology on display was revolutionary and by the time the film came out there wasn't a soul alive who wasn't aware of how important this film was going to be the industry. Then came the release day, and the film turned out to be so overwhelimgly bad that no amount of fancy pants teu could save it, Square was almost forced to close down as a result of the crippling losses, and technology in films was pushed back 8 years.

Good advertising is an important part of making sure your work reaches as many people as possible, and a little hype can work wonders. But taken too far it can damage the reputation of the product, and yourself, beyond repair.

Advertise responsibly kids!

May I have this dance...?

Well,

I doubt I can do any better than introducing this blog to than what Jimi has, and I won't even attempt to. I'm here to just introduce myself to you. Obviously you can look at my profile, and see what I have said about my ego, but it was all very brief.

Hello, my name is Michael/Mike/Mikey. I live in Lowestoft - the hub for all new things in technology and music....(why does sarcasm never come across in text???) I am a Year 7 instructor at a local Middle School where I teach Music and Art.

I live with my girlfriend, who puts up with me and my hobbies (obsessions) rather well! Lets list these obsessions shall we?

First and foremost - Music. I love music. I write, play, record and to a certain extent produce a lot of my own music. I play guitar, bass, piano/keyboards, drums, and give a fair go at singing. But I would never have gotten to this stage without my inspirations (also an obsession)...RADIOHEAD! What can I say? I love them, I love how they are consistently different, and yet they constantly deliver! I have a collection at home with all but 1 of their UK releases, CD's, Vinyls, books, DVD's...the list is endless!!

But of course other acts make me raise any eyebrow (or two) are The Prodigy, Muse, Aphex Twin, Coldplay, Scott Matthews, Ash, The Beastie Boys. But to be honest I'm pretty much game for anything!

I am a huge Apple fan. I started off with a 2002 eMac and an iPod Video. Obviouslt this has changed. I am sitting in front of my MacBook, after having recently given up my iPod Nano, making way for my 16GB iPhone 3GS! Its programs like Cubase, Sound Studio, and Final Vinyl that help me with all my Music editing.

And last but not least, you will almost definitely catch playing on XBOX Live (Noel Tidybeard add me!) Batman was awsome, Mass Effect is awsome, Modern Warfare is crowded...but awsome, but what has me addicted at the moment is Assassains Creed 2. Its soooo much better than the first. Although the missions are basically hurdling over rooftops and lunging your blades into unsuspecting victims, AC2 has much more depth to it.

But more about that and things alike soon...

So, thats me in a relatively large nutshell. What I write is not gospel. Debate and disagree if you like. This is about personal opinions and freedom of speech.

I look forward to rambling on some more in the very near future!

--Mike--