The video game database site Giantbomb.com released their iPhone app yesterday, which I’m sure pleased their gigantic community of users who can now utilize all the site’s features while jogging or eating salad outside in the sun.
I think the release of the app is great for Giantbomb. Those guys put out a hell of a product, and I’m hoping that the app’s $1.99 price can help them continue to put out a hell of a product.
But I’m more interested in the commercial that Giantbomb made to advertise for the new app because, you know, that’s what I do here.
The commercial succeeds because of the strong casting, bold ideas, and a receptive audience that spends their free-time editing a database about video games.
Ryan Davis leads the commercial off with an oscar worthy performance as the “Fart App” in a parody of the Mac vs PC commercials. The idea for this part of the commercial isn’t the greatest, but Ryan manages to carry it much like Edward Furlong in Pet Semetary Two. Sorry, Anthony Edwards.
And what can I say about the multi-talented Vinny Caravella? The Cash 4 Games parody of the Cash 4 Gold commercials is brought home by Vinny’s pitch-perfect “person who is not officially being paid to endorse the product or service but totally is being paid” guy. If his smarmy smile at the end of that segment doesn’t send you scrambling for games to mail in, I can’t see how you’re ever going to make it in the Senate.
I was also impressed by the writing in the commerical. Ryan Davis’s character in the Cash 4 Game parody states, “all I had to do was look through my shelves for the games I never wear …play.” Vinny’s voice over during the last part of the commercial includes the great lines, “Giantbomb should not be handled by men who are pregnant or wish to become pregnant” and, my favorite, “use of Giantbomb will not prevent STDs such as HIV Aids or pregnancy.”
Great job on this one, guys. If infomercials came on TV like this every night, I’d stay up and watch. Well, I already stay up and watch, but I could do it without obsessively spinning a revolver.
