Apparently, Nintendo is (or will be) running this commercial (4mb mov) for the Gameboy Micro here in Canada. It appears to be the work of QMG. The ad directs viewers towards Too Much Fun, but there’s only a place-holder page that redirects you to the main Nintendo page.
Some may say it’s a bit risque for Nintendo, but I’d just say it’s just something you’d usually see in another market (like parts of Europe). I was watching actual television over the Thanksgiving holiday, and found that Canadian commericals were becoming bearable for a change. There was a point not long ago, when most of them seemed like they were created by the drooling 3-year old nephew of an advertising exec.
The commercials were somewhat enjoyable, until I’d watched the same ones approximately 2,137 times over the course of a two or three hour movie. The point is more that these things are actually watchable in small doses. There’s no reason the television industry can’t get off it’s lazy ass and provide free, fast and viable torrents of all their shows with a few commercials. If they make it easier to get a legal torrent with commercials than an illegal one without commercials, people will likely go with the studio version.
Ah, but the what’s stopping them? Greed probably — there’s that impulse for absolute control. There will be copy-protection, 1:1 ratios of ads to content, shitty resolution and quality… just because they’ll feel they can get away with it. Most of this is a moot point, I don’t really exert an influence on the media. It would just be nice if the television industry opened up to the internet in the same way that they’ve opened up to the DVD market. Their product is designed to be interupted by ads, we’re used to those interuptions, and they already give it away for free.
Go watch the mouse humping video.