Some scary Halo 3 marketing in Korea

by Dustin Burg { Aug 31st 2007 at 11:15AM }

What do you do if you're hired to promote an extremely popular Western video game franchise in a country in which they are clueless to its existence? Well, you have the hero of said video game beat up a dinosaur ... of course! And that's exactly what Microsoft has chosen to do to promote Halo 3 in Korea.

Over on the Korean Halo 3 website Microsoft has posted a few rather odd videos showcasing some of the marketing attempts they've tried to promote the game. Their marketing "events" include a person dressed up as Master Chief scaring shoppers at a local mall, beating up a dinosaur statue and dancing with a random stranger on the subway. And after watching these marketing attempts we've come to the conclusion that either the Microsoft marketing team totally missed the target on their advertising campaign or that the Korean gaming culture is messed up. We're speechless ... just watch the video above and the other after the jump and you'll be just as confused as we are.

[Thanks, zizzy]

Tags: bungie, bungiestudios, halo3, korea

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

J8675309 @ Aug 31st 2007 11:25AM

No wonder Halo and Xbox stuff in general falls flat in the far east.

They could pick almost any random gamer to do a more effective job of marketing.

Patrick @ Aug 31st 2007 11:35AM

umm no, they have wacky shit like that all the time over there, they eat this shit up

Milly @ Aug 31st 2007 11:39AM

@2 i agree with this. They love this stuff. I'm not saying americans have superior taste in entertainment, just very different between two cultures. Look at gaming, they love all that pokemon and dance dance revo stuff, they're addicted to it. And look at their love for hentai porn, that shit is pretty F'd up.

TORO @ Aug 31st 2007 11:43AM

Have you guys seen of the eastern game shows? They're so out-of-whack and hilariously stupid, so this marketing campaign doesn't suprise me.

Fontez @ Aug 31st 2007 11:45AM

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Korea is FUCKED... UP...

Sam @ Aug 31st 2007 11:51AM

@3 Hentai is japanese. The word and the actual cartoons. Hentai is how sex education is done in japan. Cartoon porn basically. Graphic and detailed enough to explain sex but no actual nudity. True story. Koreans /= Japanese.

Bravo6 @ Aug 31st 2007 11:54AM

That's real open-minded of you Fontez.

Meliv @ Aug 31st 2007 11:57AM

Halo Spoilers:

Elites have been replaced with T-Rex's

John McClane @ Aug 31st 2007 12:03PM

Video of the

W E E K

BananaBoat @ Aug 31st 2007 12:27PM

Master Chief punching the dinosaur has meme written all the hell over it.

haukke @ Aug 31st 2007 12:28PM

wow.....either i am glad i do not live there or i wish i did.....i am not really sure now.

Grendel Pr1me @ Aug 31st 2007 12:31PM

Why don't they just show someone falling flat on their face dead after playing Halo 3 for 72 hours straight.

That should peak their interest.

"Hey I could die playing that game? Sweet."

Lesbian Ham @ Sep 11th 2007 6:31PM

someone ytmnd this, please - the dinosaur-punching bit.

Darkwun @ Aug 31st 2007 12:33PM

WTF!!

Anticrawl @ Aug 31st 2007 12:40PM

Awesome, now that's a Master Chief you can party with.

Me - "Hey Chief, wanna get baked and punch some zoo animals then bake cookies and play DDR?"

Chief - "Affirmative"

Edog Lost @ Aug 31st 2007 1:06PM

wtf

NATO_Duke @ Aug 31st 2007 1:07PM

Now its just a matter of time till you can buy used masterchief underwear from vending machines.

Lucky @ Aug 31st 2007 1:43PM

I can't wait to punch dinosures in the face in Halo 3.

sparkchronic @ Aug 31st 2007 1:58PM

masterchief 1
korea 0

Big Daddy Bane @ Aug 31st 2007 2:44PM

oh wow #12, 14, 17 you guys are to fucking funny....LMFAO!!!!!

Rubbinz @ Aug 31st 2007 5:52PM

Halo 3 is forever shamed.

finnith @ Aug 31st 2007 9:29PM

This makes me not want to play any videogame...

Ever...

Ryan Bond @ Aug 31st 2007 11:43PM

This deserves the biggest WTF i've ever typed.

JKYOO @ Sep 1st 2007 1:34AM

I would expect a more corporate blog as xbox360fanboys to be more cautious with the way they handle such contents. This looks nothing like an official Halo 3 marketing campaign and seems far more like an extremely grotesque example of a youtube style UCC content. WTF are you on about sizing up an entire country based on this?

JKYOO @ Sep 1st 2007 1:42AM

The video you see here is a viral ad and it isn't supported by microsoft korea although the video is linked to an external website.

This is the official Halo 3 website in Korea. You can check out it's marketing consistency with other regions
http://www.halo3.co.kr/main.html

brian @ Sep 2nd 2007 4:22PM

When it's completely retarded that people do in Asia that Americans aren't used to, the culture is messed up.

But when it's something completely retarded that people in America do as well (dressing up in costumes of their favorite video game and/or anime characters is the first example that comes to mind), things are viewed a little differently. They're fools, but the entire culture is never labeled "messed up."

Of course being judged by a country whose promotions include slapping the logo on a burger and french fries (obesity, anyone?), where a show like American Idol is constantly number one and whose gaming industry is controlled by politicians who have probably never played a game in their lives essentially renders all these judgements meaningless outside these borders. I find the video amusing just like the next guy, but the context it's put in is fairly, well, stupid. I would have expected it on some other blog, but I'm surprised I found it here.

While we're on the topic of analyzing other cultures, this is pretty much the only country in the world where killings and shootings are constantly linked to video games. How "messed up" is our gaming culture, then?