Spreading the word…We know Ship Simulator Extremes will rock, our dedicated community knows that Ship Simulator Extremes will rock, but does the rest of the world know that Ship Simulator Extremes will rock ? Spreading the word is essential in reaching all simulator fans, because if there are still simulation fans and ship fanatics out there that haven’t heard of Ship Simulator, then we will do our utmost best to change just that. After all, why should anyone be deprived of their bit of maritime gamesfun?
There are different ways to get the word out, and all of them have their strengths. The traditional channels like gamespress sneak peeks and advertising spring to mind. But there are many others, very effective channels. More powerful than any advertising - although a nice advert in a leading mag is of course always cool and great for your ego - and a lot more cost effective, is the word of mouth. Gamers telling other gamers why they love the game and why they want others to enjoy it as well. As far as word of mouth goes, the Ship Simulator Series can count itself very lucky to have a dedicated community spreading the word and getting other people on board (pardon the pun).
However, there is no escaping the traditional events, so we’ll be at press and publisher events, strutting our stuff and talking our talk. A new menace at these events nowadays are videocamera’s that seem to pop up from everywhere. Back in the old days, an interview was no more than a journalist with a voice recorder, and the interviewee getting plenty of time to think about what to say. Nowadays, you get crammed full of microphone receivers, and are staring into a cameralight before you can say « you’re not writing this down are you ? ». Thus, every single word you say is recorded, analyzed and re-analyzed by the press, and then by the gamers, as if it were the holy scripture itself.
Ah well, it’s a logical evolution in an ever changing industry, both in front of the spotlights as well as behind the scenes. A good thing ? In the long run, sure, because the more information about a game you long to play is available, the more eager you get…we hope !
And, as our presence at this years E3 expo, the biggest games event on the planet, proved once again, some journalists are a true liability when given a video cam:
See for yourself!
But thank god there are professionals out there as well :
E3 Gametrailers.com Ship Sim Extremes video If nothing E3 was very exciting, and Paradox did a great job of making us developers feel very comfortable. The schedule was tighter than a G-string on a Sumo wrestler, with a neverending stream of interested journalists popping up from all angles and at all times. It was worth it though, as the general reception of the game was very good and people were surprised by the quality and realism it will offer. Goes without saying that our team is striving to do its very best to match up to expectations.
Some lessons learned at E3 : - never trust a journalist with a mini HD camera asking about flamethrowers.
- Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and EA have ridiculously huge marketing budgets.
- A Belgian beer, however tasty and refreshing, costs an arm and a leg in LA, and referring to Heineken as beer is a layman’s mistake.
- South-Koreans make quite a racket when their team scores at the World Cup, even if it’s the middle of the night.
- One of the Paradox employees thinks Brussels and Belgium are different countries (you know who you are, be very very ashamed !)
- Having the NBA finals the same time as E3 causes massive traffic congestion to and from the convention centre and turns downtown LA into a militarized zone.
- Even Boothbabes and Cylons complain about making long hours.
- Some E3 babes get paid for just lying in the sun looking beautiful…how’s that for a nice job !
- Ship Simulator Extremes will surprise many people, according to some leading game journo's.
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