Microsoft, being fairly new to this market, have pulled out all the stops to try and out sell the PS2 and Gamecube. Their marketing campaign was very controversial not only the TV adverts but also magazines and billboards.

The most talked about (and most complained about) is a TV advert which was put on air for the release of the Xbox and got a huge response. The same advert was shown in Japan and America where the response was very different.

136 Wrote to the ITC all complaining that the advert was distasteful and offensive. The advert begins with a woman giving birth in a hospital bed. The baby then shoots from the mother out the window, while flying through the air you see the child age to manhood. As the man gets older he begins to get closer to the ground he becomes and old man right before crashing into his own grave. The advert ends with the words `Life is short` `Play more`.

Many people including some pregnant women, in fact mainly women didn't like this advert and the complaints were upheld.

The advert itself is very cleverly done and did actually boost the sales of the Xbox. This type of advertising is known as shock adve

Sony soon followed with the Playstation 2 (PS2), which was a massive success. They deliberately didn't make enough to make the hype bigger and better people were buying them at anything up to L1000 on the black market, this was the console to have.

The advert I looked at is the controversial Xbox advert. This ad caused a lot of fuss and there were quite a few unhappy people when this was first shown on British TV. It starts with a woman giving birth in a hospital which in itself is fairly graphic showing the woman in a lot of pain and looking exhausted. The moment the baby is born it shoots out the window at high speed. The baby is flying through the air and we see it slowly grow and mature until an old man where he starts descending. Right up to the point where he falls into his grave with the slogan of the Xbox coming up straight after - "Life is short" "Play more".

Microsoft are a new contender in the console market and have a lot to live up to. With Nintendo having experience, history and lots and lots of fans they seem to stand the best chance of winning this war simply because of their history.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mega Drive, Nintendo Gamecube, Play Due, Wrote ITC, Game Watch, SCEI Streaming, Xbox Play, British TV, Nintendo Game, San Francisco, nintendo weren't, play computer games, games else, telling people, games coming, playstation 2, market nintendo, home gaming, play computer, dvd player, mega drive, main target audience, built dvd player, giving birth hospital, woman giving birth,
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)