Thursday, April 5, 2012

Conker's Quest

Today in class we discussed briefly about advertising towards children. I found it interesting how much power kids really have in marketing. Its interesting to think that so long ago it was "cool" just to be able to own toys. Nowadays it's more about what brand name of toy you own that states your status of "cool". As well, some toys and cartoons have been created for more mature audiences but are still shown to youth below the proper age.

I remember walking into the local Blockbuster when I was tiny lad and picking up this game:
At a quick glance the game looks kid appropriate, right? My mom thought the same. with the Blockbuster case covering up the "ADVISORY:THIS IS NOT FOR ANYONE UNDER AGE 17" and the Mature ESRB rating, the game was soon in my N64 console.

The game was developed by Rare. This is the same company that has brought us such lovable family games as Banjo-Kazooie and Diddy Kong Racing. When first announced Conker's Bad Fur Day was going by the name of Conker's Quest. Screen shots further suggested that Rare was creating another family fun adventure game.
After the game wasn't heard about in over a year, people started to wonder if it was still coming out. in 2000 the game was finally revealed and Rare's revamp of the game was quite obvious. With the fuzzy main character still intact, The game's content was definitely meant for an older crowd. With an opera singing poo monster, and the fuzzy main character's drinking problem The game is not obviously good for children.

It was advertised in Playboy magazines, but not Nintendo Power magazines. Nintendo almost refused to acknowledge the existence of the game. Even with commercials that would advertise towards adults some young kids still got their hand on this game, like I did. It didn't ruin me by any stretch of the imagination, but it did open my eyes to some disgusting images and scatological humor without my mother being any the wiser.
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1 comment:

  1. Brandon RutherfordApril 10, 2012 at 4:05 PM

    I also have played Conkers Bad Fur Day, and the way they marketed the game at first made it look like it was intended for a younger audience. On the cover of the game, you see a cute squirrel and a bunny, kids; even adults would not expect it to be a game for mature audiences. The makers of this game also produce many video games which were intended for younger gamers which also mislead many buyers. Nintendo 64 did not have a wide variety of M rated games because there game system was for the younger kids. I think Nintendo was very hesitant about releasing this game because it was something different and that is why they did not advertise it in their magazine. They advertise in Playboy because they felt the readers of Playboy would like this game. The point I am trying to get across is that the makers who designed this game was still trying to market to younger kids with the cover of the game to make it look more childish, even though it is for a mature audience.

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