If you haven't seen this commerical for the original Legend of Zelda NES game, you haven't lived: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40IR--uQ2Sc&search=zelda

That is excellent! I love old games ads. There's never any good ones here in the UK these days. Do they still do any good ones in the US, Phil?

What amuses me about the Sega ads is that nobody on YouTube seem to realise that: they're great ads. Really nicely produced, and very clever. But no, people would rather just drag out old rivalries that should have ended long ago.

But then, I don't know why I should expect intelligent comments on YouTube. It's a great site, but it has perhaps the dumbest collective community on the entire internet, at least in the comments.

I can't wait to get the Nintendo Wii so I can play all the classic games again. It's just not the same with the emulators. I KNOW the Wii will be using emulators, but it's just the idea of playing them on a console.

I think Nintendo's ads for the Wii are going to make or break the system. They need to get across the idea of using the new controller rather than focussing on the visuals, which aren't going to be as good as the PS3's. So lots of shots of people going mental in their living rooms (even though in reality you don't need to swing it around like a madman). 'Fun' should be the emphasis.

>it has perhaps the dumbest collective community on the entire internet, at least in the comments.

No argument on my end, sir. Usually you'll find at least ONE intelligent comment, no matter how low the average intelligence of the visitors...but I don't know I've ever seen one on YouTube, at any point, under any circumstances. Which leads me to believe it's so bad that intelligent people just...well...don't bother responding.

What I really find interesting about that second commercial of yours is that Sega makes a big deal of its blast processing, showing Echo the Dolphin (fun game) and Sonic the Hedgehog (also fun game) but then says, "And what do you get WITHOUT blast processing?" The illustrate this with fucking MARIO KART, one of the most fun games ever produced, hands down.

I mean, come on...pick a lousy SNES game...there were plenty of them. But Mario Kart? That game was insanely good. Grr.

Regarding video game commercials here now, to be honest, I don't watch much television (unless it's on DVD) so I don't know. I recall a Final Fantasy commercial from a few years back that stitched together loads of cut-scenes to make it look almost like a film trailer, which was definitely cool...but I'd have to leave it to someone else to answer whether or not the art is dead.

Mario Kart. Possibly the greatest idea Nintendo ever had, and one of the best games of all time.

The insults against Nintendo are quite interesting and seem to date the adverts somehow. Am I wrong in thinking some kind of advertising rule was passed at a later date to prevent companies from attacking each other specifically like this? Supermarkets now just say "leading competitor" don't they? Or am I speaking shit?

I don't know what the rules are, either here or in the USA. But I do remember an advert for Burger King on the side of a bus a few years ago, simply proclaiming "MORE MEAT THAN THEM" - and the final M was the McDonalds logo!

I have no idea how they got away with that one.