Next-Gen Product Names? [2019 Edition]
- Thread starter BRiT
- Start date
Not nearly as much. And the fact we just say "do you have the new Play" "The Play 3 or Play 4?" "Play 4" is part of it.
It's a nicknamable name. You don't have to feel like an official marketing representative of Sony Inc. to talk about it.
I strongly feel like my personal resposability as a consumer is to undo all the hard work these big companies put into marketing.
"Oh, this is not a tape, it's a Game-Pack™, it Packs-in hours of entertainment fun for the whole family" "Ok, business man, you can shove that, I'll get my ninty tapes on the other store"
It's our tool for fighting back the bullshit.
'New Xbox' is surely the most natural way to talk about it?
Is that a US thing? Never, ever heard of it called the Microsoft anything.
For illustration, take a look back at how the last console names were introduced. Xbox one needed an explanation. The name could not justify itself own it's own. It required the while salesperson storytelling bs.
"Xbox ONE, It's is going to be the ONE machine at the CENTER of all YOUR home EnTeRtAineMenT COnTenT" (all that in the patented corny american over enthusiastic movie-trailer-narrator-like voice)
or"Xbox 360, because it puts you in the CENTER, and blah blah blah, something friends around you, online subscription dlc achievement give us money"
They try to create all this magic fairy dust world around anything they make. I feel like they take me for a total shmuck. I feel personally attacked by that shit. It's so insulting to my intelligence.
I know I'm being over dramatic, but this is my Larry David side coming out here, everyone has a bit of Larry David in them, so bear with me.
Now compare all that to PS4. I still remember that moment when they made the name official to this day, because it was that memorable to me. The Japanese sony guy, forgot his name, came and said in a heavy japanese accent with a humble smile and absolutely unpretentious demeanor: "and oh, its name is play station 4" followed by a natural short no-biggie laugh.
That shit is super refreshing. I love it. It's so unpretentious and devoid of the marketing Reality Distortion Field they didn't even feel the need to wait for their big on-stage reveal of ps5 to officialize that that is its name. They just put it out there in one of their latest understated interviews.
That is great. A product that sells itself on its own merits, and creates its experience on its own, without a used car salesperson needing to charm me into doing it. When I buy a product with too much marketing aura around it, I can't help but have my bullshit'o'meter be ringing bells. Even if I like the thing, a side of me os feeling conned.
"Xbox ONE, It's is going to be the ONE machine at the CENTER of all YOUR home EnTeRtAineMenT COnTenT" (all that in the patented corny american over enthusiastic movie-trailer-narrator-like voice)
or"Xbox 360, because it puts you in the CENTER, and blah blah blah, something friends around you, online subscription dlc achievement give us money"
They try to create all this magic fairy dust world around anything they make. I feel like they take me for a total shmuck. I feel personally attacked by that shit. It's so insulting to my intelligence.
I know I'm being over dramatic, but this is my Larry David side coming out here, everyone has a bit of Larry David in them, so bear with me.
Now compare all that to PS4. I still remember that moment when they made the name official to this day, because it was that memorable to me. The Japanese sony guy, forgot his name, came and said in a heavy japanese accent with a humble smile and absolutely unpretentious demeanor: "and oh, its name is play station 4" followed by a natural short no-biggie laugh.
That shit is super refreshing. I love it. It's so unpretentious and devoid of the marketing Reality Distortion Field they didn't even feel the need to wait for their big on-stage reveal of ps5 to officialize that that is its name. They just put it out there in one of their latest understated interviews.
That is great. A product that sells itself on its own merits, and creates its experience on its own, without a used car salesperson needing to charm me into doing it. When I buy a product with too much marketing aura around it, I can't help but have my bullshit'o'meter be ringing bells. Even if I like the thing, a side of me os feeling conned.
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D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
Do people speak "PlayStation" in full? PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5 seem ubiquitous in use and they roll off the tongue easily. At least in English.
Believe me, I have tried all nicknames that could possibly work, they were always kind of ambiguous. It always ended up with "you mean the Xbox ONE?"
And everyone in that room would get a imediate 10% drop in their testosterone level every time that moment happened.
No, but milk is talking about people who dont know any better yet somehow are going to be buying items for it.
If necessary. You'd never ask for the new Sony in a gaming shop though, or talk about the new Sony when talking about consoles. I guess the new Nintendo happens because they have no consistent console names, so that's the only constant.
If you know the model, you'd ask for it as PSn. If you don't, non-gamers buying for relatives, you'd say, "have you got that new PlayStation in?"
I can't imagine anyone asking for "that new Microsoft" or "that new Sony" but I can "have you got the new XBox in." MS have done a good job of making 'XBox' a household recognised brand (whether people buy it or not, they know what it is).
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Interesting how times have changed. Gen X, X games, etc.
In the 90's and 2000's it was the embodiment of physical activity (at a time when the US was perceived as fat and lazy), experimentation (trying new things, especially in sports), changing up the music scene with more home grown (garage bands) music, etc. Basically X represented the pinnacle of physical activity and being in shape both physically and mentally while simultaneously exploring your environment.
While I'm of the previous generation, I hung out with a lot of Gen X'ers. And they certainly weren't fat nerds. Most of them didn't even own a computer at the time, and thought that people who used computers were fat nerds (although that perception about people using computers started to change a bit in the 2000's).
Interesting. I suppose I'm out of touch with current culture.
I'm with Brit, however in seeing an Adult asking for a PlayStation as far more adolescent and childish. But then again Xbox certainly brings up images of angst ridden Teenagers.
So, pick your poison. Feel like a little kid or feel like a teenager I guess?
Regards,
SB
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https://storage.googleapis.com/think/docs/its-lit.pdf
In the US:
Millennials (18-24) think PS is cooler.
Gen Z (13-17) think XB is cooler.
In the US:
Millennials (18-24) think PS is cooler.
Gen Z (13-17) think XB is cooler.
I've been through those times too, but it still always felt like the corporate phony keyword to represent all those things. It felt go me more like the pinnacle of steve bucemi in a highschooler outfit saying "hello fellow teenagers".
And of course, anything that was the pinnacle of cool and swaggy 20 years ago is by definition outdated and un-cool in the present, for one just for a failure to move on with time and find new references and aspirations, and aditionally for the fact that whatever was cool 20 years ago has already been completely apropriated by marketing and corporate phonies so much to the point people remember it more for the TV comercial charicatures than for the original birth of whatever trend, just like I pointed out right now.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Ah, gotcha, so in 10 years or so X will be cool again, since these things go in cycles. Just like 80's culture is currently cool.
I guess my view of X is different as I hung out with these people (and participated in activities with them) prior to corporate marketing latching onto it. Its commercialization just seemed like a natural evolution of how popular the concepts were to me.
Regards,
SB
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Heh, this made me laugh with a completely inane thought that entered my head.
- Millennials - Man, PlayStation is cool, I miss being a kid.
- Gen Z - Man, Xbox is cool, I can't wait to be an adult.
Also, this is not commentary on what types of people like what things. Just a completely random and inane stray thought. The reality is that Xbox is likely more associated with Minecraft and younger people really love Minecraft.
Regards,
SB
Ah, gotcha, so in 10 years or so X will be cool again, since these things go in cycles. Just like 80's culture is currently cool.
God damn it. You are absolutely right. I can see that happening already.
Anecdotal but I think it's top down, my daughter wants Xbox because most of her friends have Xbox but most of her peers didn't make the buying decision. Dad bought an Xbox and family eventually migrated to using it. The kids talk to friends at school and want to play games online and because more are on Xbox, the Xbox brand is the one they prefer, simply because that's where the friends are.Heh, this made me laugh with a completely inane thought that entered my head.
Oh you poor poor fools.
- Millennials - Man, PlayStation is cool, I miss being a kid.
- Gen Z - Man, Xbox is cool, I can't wait to be an adult.
The reality is that Xbox is likely more associated with Minecraft and younger people really love Minecraft.
Regards,
SB
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