How Do You Market A Game Like This?

The North American Release for Bayonetta is only a week away. I recently started playing the imported copy and am floored by the reminder that the game is not one to overlook. The is game is so fantastical and nonsensical, I feel every game player should try it.

I've often times seen people in chat go, "Bayonetta is a rent, not a buy." With the game not even out, I don't think that those people have any reason to be telling others whether or not to purchase the game. Sure, the demo is out, but by no means do I feel that it a good representation of the game. That's probably the one thing I've always hated most about demos and THE reason I avoid them 90% of the time. How do you take something that is a 10 or so hours and try to condense it into a 15-30 minute demo. If it were just the case of a trailer and trying to explain the story, I think that would be more possible. But to try to encompass game play and controls, my opinion is that players come off of playing a demo with a feeling that they know what the game is all about when clearly it cannot be accomplished.

But I digress. The point I am trying to make today is not about demos and their effectiveness. I am trying explain that a game like Bayonetta is near impossible to comprehend without getting hands on time with it for at least a few hours. Let's take out the fact that the game play is not our regions most sought out genre. The problem lies in the fact that from an outsider's view the game look prettygeneric, for the lack of a better word.

Blasphemy you say? Well here. Let's imagine that the subjects for this demonstration are none of us - Normal, everyday, law biding game players. Because you're reading this from a video game blog, we can all assume that you listen to a video game show once in a while or we at least do some research about the games market. You get impressions from people who work in the industry or have hands on impressions yourself for either a trade show or convention. So as the opposite, non-informed gamer, you see a trailer for Bayonetta. A high powered action game with a buxom babe heroine as the main character and you think to yourself, I've seen this game before, it's nothing special.

First, if you're not immediately one of those types that goes crazy for a female character with large breasts or a nice ass, you think "Great another generic female video game character." Keep in mind again, without somewhat of a trained eye, these characters all looked the same. Without the experience of being around games and game characters, what is the difference from Bayonetta and let's say a character like Ayumi from X-Blades or Alicia from Bulletwitch. The latter of which, I could say is near identical in style and colors except for minus the glasses. Also I'd like to point out that Bulletwitch is not a good game.Although the visuals may be rather appealing.

From thought that the characters look the same, the next logical step is that the game play looks strikingly similar to Devil May Cry. Assuming that the player has either played DMC or have been around to be familiar with it, they're going to think ripoff/copycat. Little do they know that Bayonetta is being done by THE creators of Devil May Cry. If anyone should be allowed to make a game similar to Devil May Cry, the proper "anyone" is involved. I can't express enough this point and how adversely that it may effect Bayonetta. How can you convince people you're not a copy cat? You can't literally go to each person to explain that. So you basically have to conceed that there will be a lot of people who just don't know any better and will see this game and immediately think, been there done that, it's not for me. They won't even get into the combat, let alone the finer points of it. They won't be able to tell or appreciate the changes made from the previous DMC games and that's just the fact of the matter. I'm a little worried now that because Platinum Games came out and made a game so similar to their original masterpiece, they're going to suffer because of it. Then if you take someone who's never been experienced with the DMC series at all and they will be too overwhelmed to know where to begin. Either way, it's trouble.

And finally, in the area where Bayonetta has it's most uniqueness and significant differences, it's style and theatrics, I think will be lost as well. When I first heard about her hair and the guns, I definitely got a sense of, "this is something new." The hair concept has kind of stayed in Japan, outside of maybe Milia Rage from Guilty Gear. But if you think about it, when you try to explain Bayonetta, a woman with hair as clothes and guns in her hands and feet.....

The concept will be lost on a lot of people. It's too fantastical. Too Unrealistic. Too outlandish. It doesn't at all make "sense," even though for people who have been around video games since Mario realize it doesn't have to make sense. I mean how many times has someone gone back and try to analyze the basic concept of Mario only to realize that it is completely off the wall insane.

So Sega will do it's best promoting this game. They will try to build hype and excitement. But I don't know how theycan even stand a chance. It seems like some of the hurdles set in front of them would be near impossible to overcome. For instance, if you follow the UFC, their next Pay-Per-View is being presented by Bayonetta. I want to say that they're going about it all the wrong but what do I know? Maybe watching Evans vs Silva fight, those UFCers will go out a pick up Bayonetta.

I hope this title does well. There are reasons why this game should be a buy. Whether or not those reasons match up with you, that is the question. Advertising is not just about telling as many people as possible. It's not about bombarding the same person until they get the point or become too apathetic to care. It's about getting the right message across. So here's what I've been taking from Bayonetta.

This game is over the top. You take something as ridiculous as a John Woo gun fight and you put it in a world that can only be captured by non-real characters and physics. But you make it very very cool and stylish. You take the main female role but you throw her off center. She doesn't follow the norm and what a player would call attractive. You give her out of place characteristics like clothes made of hair, a British Accent, and spider-like moves to keep the players on their toes. Shes a sexy character but she is so because of her confidence. Yes, a nice butt and hips go a long way, but the way she handles situations exudes confidence, so much that you almost dislike her. (How this scenario will play out, I don't know because I have yet to finish the game). Then you take these over sexualized situations and let the player laugh at them because of the absurdity of them. I've never thought Bayonetta is the type of game that is supposed to turn you on. I've always viewed it as poking fun of sexuality in movies and games. This statement of, "Let's not hide this anymore and be shy around it. This is what you wanted so here it is!"

Finally you take combat that was somewhat flawed and outdated and you go in and completely fix all that was wrong with it. You implement new ideas that make it more accessible and and erase the clunk. You prove that you still have the talent and skill to reinvigorate the genre that you once created and you do it better than all the copycats since then. On top of that you create boss battles in the likes of which no game player has ever experienced. The kind of situation which could never be imagined in real life. Again only in the free scale world of the video games are these allowed to take place and fully realized. Lastly you give the main character glasses some thick rimmed black glasses and you call it a day.

Sure there a other places that could have been worked on. Story is probably not the draw of this game, but you pick your battles and you do what you are set out to do. That is the message I would try to get across to someone if I wanted them to buy Bayonetta.

How Do You Market That?
David