I would also like to say that early advertising of a game like Society is a great way to get the buzz going! It might not be a bad idea to place a half page add for Society in the near future. But weighing the cost of a add might out rule that idea.

I remember reading about Spore in last years E3 Coverage from PC Gamer and I found it very interesting, then I read the preview on Spore in this years E3 convention in CGW and I was down-right excited about it. I don't know why, I don't really like the Sim series but this game seems just too cool not to give it a try! The game is still a long way from being released and I know that I will buy it when it's released, unless it really gets panned something like a (5.5 out of 10) otherwise I will buy it!

I feel the same way about Society I am very excited about this game, I heard about it on the GC2 forum and checked out the website. I would of done the same thing if I had seen an add in CGW, how could I not check out a game that advertises a MMO-RTS with unique user created buildings thats FREE! Society is a ground breaking game and I am very excited to hear any information about it. I hope you can land a nice 4 page preview soon in one of these magazines and/or online sites to help get the buzz going!

I only hope I can play it over a Dial-up modem! Its all I have available right now, until either Satellite online service lowers it's price or the new (INTERNET through your home power lines.. thingy) becomes available in my area otherwise I will have to sit on the sidelines and watch.

Just my $.02, but while I think it is noble to want to be able to give back. It is supposed to be the job of those magazines to present a fair representation of their industry. It should be independant of advertising. I realize that is not how the system works anymore, but I am enough of a foolish idealist to think it should...

It is supposed to be the job of those magazines to present a fair representation of their industry.

If your talking about not only the content of the magazine but also about the adverts for games contained within them then this creates a problem for advertisers.

Because more often than not adverts sell presumptiously, by selling ideals that are greater than any single product. I'll give everyone an example, an advertisment for a Black and Decker Drill. Adverts often rationalise the product, people dont want a drill they want 3mm holes, people dont want 3mm holes they want a new shelf, people dont want a new shelf they want their home to look beautifull.

And i think its very difficult to sell a video game this way without making it look like you have deliberatly misguided the consumer and duped them into buying a product that was being sold as more than the sum of its parts.

Have to say, I rely more on word of mouth than advertising.

Personally, I haven't picked up a gaming mag in years now. Why? Because since the web took over as the primary source of gaming news, the magazines have become 75%+ ads. I don't want to pay a monthly fee to get a 100 page magazine with a grand total of 10 pages of real content and news. There are so many ads in these magazines that unless the ad is absolutely spectacular, it is lost in the crush of other ads.

In my opinion, the best place to advertise now is on prominent gaming websites. Run contests and promotions on your own sites. Get respected members of the gaming community excited about your product so they WANT to talk about it (Penny Arcade). Maybe get a cardboard stand-up placed in local EB and GameStop stores. Basically, place the advertisements in places gamers are known to go to now. Subscription numbers for magazines is an unknown, and likely sliding as the quality decreases. Stardock leverages the online model beautifully for distribution, it's only natural to leverage it for advertising the same.

Tossing $20k at a magazine ad is probably money that could be better spent on in-store advertising, or even more/bigger/better gaming site ads. But tultimately, the most powerful advertising method is going to be word of mouth. I'd bet having Tycho rave about the game on penny-arcade.com did more for sales than your entire print ad campaign did. He's a respected voice that a lot of people listen to... an ad is impersonal and ill-targeted.

It's been ages since I read about a game in a magazine. These days, the Internet review sites are where I go to keep track of what's out and what's about to be released. For that reason, the best advertising is to make a good game that gets reviewed positively (as this one has done) and then provide good support that earns good word of mouth (as this one has done). Getting previews out to the review sites is a good step too, assuming that the product is ready to be previewed.

My two cents.

In my opinion, the best place to advertise now is on prominent gaming websites. Run contests and promotions on your own sites. Get respected members of the gaming community excited about your product so they WANT to talk about it (Penny Arcade). Maybe get a cardboard stand-up placed in local EB and GameStop stores. Basically, place the advertisements in places gamers are known to go to now. Subscription numbers for magazines is an unknown, and likely sliding as the quality decreases. Stardock leverages the online model beautifully for distribution, it's only natural to leverage it for advertising the same

You really should be trying this in adddition to any print you do. That makes a lot of sense. Again the payoff can be huge.

I don't read many/any magazines anymore, but some web ads have been good source of information a bit surprisingly. Ads that don't flash or make annoying sounds or try to sell me something via a DD breasted blonde or have other annoying infomercialisms (that was a fine word I admit) can be useful. I found a few new games from ign ads, some movies and other interesting things. Axe trying to convince me that I'll get laid if I use their product is not very appealing, but a new fantasy based roleplaying/strategy game? Hmm, let's check this out.

For me ads are all about information and not about feelings or promises or threats or other hoaxes. A good layout with good art work and the core information in a few words. It might tricker my lightning fast fore finger to see more.

Personally, I think saturation advertising for a very good game...and this is a very good game...is a bit pointless. It really depends on your market. These types of games appeal to a certain type of player...and they generally would read magazine articles, web reviews etc etc and be aware the product is coming.

Advertising for this game would only be productive if you were targeting gamers who dont normally play this genre of game

IMHO, huge advertsing in magazines is really overkill for players already into this genre of games...there arent alot being made. Web advertsing would be worthwhile however.

I tend to visit GameSpy, GameSpot, IGN, CivFanatics, GalCiv2, some forums, etc to get my gaming information.

I never did care for computer gaming magazines, even before the online sites really got going. Online resources are free (for the most part), more up-to-date, and you can get almost every file (demo/patch/trailer/movie) for free easily enough too. So paying $X for an out-of-date magazine with an overpriced and out-of-date demo DVD doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I suppose putting ads in print media can get you more exposure...but depending on cost I dunno if it'd be worth it.

GalCiv 2 got a nice amount of previews, updates, and then reviews from all the big online sites, and even without advertising that's very good exposure.

I would think that most people geeky enough to buy a gaming magazine are probably well versed in the internet and reachable via online advertising, word of mouth, game site previews, etc.

As a programmer, serious gamer, and internet junkie (ie, highly pc-oriented person), I can't imagine buying a gaming magazine unless I was going to be travelling and away from my computer or something like that. But I guess somebody buys those things.

The only time I pick up a gaming magazine is if I happen to be travelling - I might get one at the magazine stand to read on the plane. Other than that ( and that is RARE), if its not on GameSpot, I don't know about it. I found GalCiv2 previews on GameSpot and waited .. and waited .. and when it came out I bought the only copy my local EB had.

All that to say: don't waste money on print advertising anymore.

Can't honestly remember the last time an ad in a magazine made me run out and buy a game. However they have certainly made me search out more info on the web.

I'm usually of the mind set that if I can't see it in action then I pass. I've been burned far too many times by games that looked wonderful on paper and then turned out to be major piles of junk. ::cough:: MoO3 ::cough::

So I rarely buy a game unless:
a) I played the demo.
I played a previous version, liked it, and the new version is from same developer (as in GC1 ).
c) A buddy of mine has the game already and I get the chance to play at his place.

I don't pick up a game because of or lend any value to what is printed in an ad since as others have mentioned an ad only points out the things the company wants you to know. And of course every game ad says their game is the best, most creative, and all that. So for me all I want in an ad is for it to tell me the name of the game and/or the company website so I can do a little digging of my own.

I feel like most advertising is overdone... the only way I see any ad getting me to buy a game is if, say, GalCiv 3 was coming out next month and I didnt know about it until I saw the ad--basically a game I would already be interested in, but wasnt aware of. The time gap where I would want to keep up with sequels, but not read up enough online about them was maybe half a year.
I think what would be far more effective, especially in a magazine, would be if the magazine did an article about the game, rather than a paid advertisement.

The other problem with game ads are that they show me one thing: graphics. I'm not big on eye candy in games, personally, I just need it to be modern enough so it doesnt hurt my eyes (FF7 or like fallout 2 are borderline ). I guess some people who care more about pretty games and will buy a game based on looks (you wont find too many on these forums I'd wager) could start researching a game they saw in an ad... and later decide to buy it.

I was refering rather to "upgrades", such as pertaining to enhanced features.

I would say that what you call enhanced features, others call required fixes that might should have been there to begin with. While I am happy I purchased the game, I feel too many people attribute working long hours to accomplishing something. I by no means am saying Stardock has not accomplished anything, I just hesitate to say its done just becuase hard work was involoved.

On the issue of advertising, I never read magazines and suggest you utilize the web as much as possible. I got GC2 after reading several online reviews. I use the web and retailer shelves to determine the games I buy. It was also mentioned that "people have to respect that kind of integrity" talking about a magazine doing an article about a game that did not and would not advertise. I have a problem with this concept since if I did read a magazine, I would expect them to review what might be useful to me, the reader, not only those things that would bring in advertising. That smells too much of I will rate your product highly if you pay me for it regardless of whether I think its good.

I purchased and loved the original GalCiv, however if not for a full page ad in PC Gamer I would not have known about GalCiv2. So from my pespective, keep up the print ads!

Well I rarely take any notice of adverts and buy what I need and want solely by whether I like it (food), Whether it works (household goods)or via review (technology). Therefore I considered adverts quite unimportant. That was until I met my neighbours wife. She is obviously the advertisers dream. She is completely convinced by any advert. If the advert says so it must be true. "They are not allowed to lie". she takes their word as gospel. If it's in an advert it must be best.
Endless conversations about the facts:
It's the manufacturers opinion that it's best.
It's paid actors reading lines written by paid for advertisement agencies.
"Facts" based on very limited polls with loaded questions.
Just make no difference to her.

Walls say they make the best sausages so she wont even try any others.
I ask her "does she think that Harrods finest sausages are walls" I think not.
But thats the sort of mentallity she has.

I use this example as she is 50+ and computers are a mystery to her. but if she were to get one it would have to be a Dell.

If it's on television then it must be good and the claims made must be totally true.

Considering ppl like her exist then advertising must be more effective than I give it credit.

I do notice your ads in PC Gamer, they draw the eye and I think it stands out well. As for if it convinces someone to actually buy the game, I don't know. I'd bought your game on the first day, and had already planned to buy it before I ever saw the ad.

20 grand is a lot of money, do you have to pay that every single time the ad runs? You'd need to sell a lot of copies to get that money back...

Ofcourse, it also depends on how people still use game magazines. I typically only get PC Gamer for their scoop section, because it saves me the effort of having to go check on multiple sites to keep up on news. But I never rely on a game magazine to tell me if a game is good anymore, because by the time they finally get around to reviewing it, it's already 6 weeks old.

So I think people like me will have already formed an opinion on your game before ever seeing the ad?

Creston

Me, I usually first hear about a game in one of PC Gamers reviews or previews. That's how I found out about there even being a sequel to GalCiv. As for the first GalCiv, I heard about THAT on the PCG Demo Disk. I have based many purchase desicion on the review in PCG PLUS the demo on the Disk.

P.S: When making a demo, Make it meaty enough to get a real good taste of the game, and not just a nibble. This goes for ANY game.

Im taking OXMS opinion on this. (Official Xbox Mag.) If Its a Coke can or a banner and makes the game play feel more real in game advertising is ok. (I dont mind throwing around a Heiniken Beer in Half-life2 for example using the Havok physics engine.) BUT if its somekind of popup or banner add or in any way distracts from the gameplay. Then I am against that form of in game advertising or advertising in games in any way shape or form. It all depends on how it is implemented and whether it distracts the player from the game.

I rarely buy a game due to the ads, but I did buy "the Political Machine" because I was amazed at the depth of the game in the Tom vs. Bruce article. What the ads can do for me though is create anticipation to read a review of the games as soon as possible.