They had the standard fare of Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering Strategy Guide, etc. You know: the kind of gaming books you can find at any commercial bookstore (Barnes and Noble even). They had a huge pile of boxed party games: everything from Life to Would you Rather. They had a stack of fantasy based warfare games; I saw a number of "the game that shall not be named" boxes there that looked like complete packs of miniatures. That game is truly a beast. They also had comics, trading cards, sports memorabilia, Xbox party rooms, gamer tables complete with sweaty 20-year-olds barking out dice rolls, and an area dedicated to large tables for immense miniature campaigns. Amazing!
After talking to the owner and the owner's son and the owner's daughter . . . (who opened the door to the store for us . . . man I love family run businesses) I found out they had been there for seven years now and this was, in fact, my first trip in there. *scratches head* so much for me being some uber "gamer" dude.
Anyway, I walked past the TCG aisle and cringed a bit as I saw packs of Free Realms cards for sale. They do that to me, you know. I know Wizard101 is gaining a lot of mainstream exposure (what with their heavy advertising on Cartoon Network), but I started to wonder about the missing presence of my game here, in this cool gamer shop run by this family. Here was Free Realms, and it was in this place that gamer-y gamers like to go to and apparently like to grow up going to. (I remember going to a local gamer shop when I was a kid . . . it was one of the places we'd ride our bikes to every saturday.)
As my family wandered around, a young 13 year old son of the owner came over to us in the comic book section and talked to us about the ratings on comic books and pointed us to some comic books that would be more my kids’ speed: Sonic the Hedgehog and Tiny Titans. We purchased these mags and went our way. Come to find out, on the back of Amber's Sonic the Hedgehog comic book, there was a Free Realms ad:
A few things on this ad that were interesting . . . this ad was not so much pitching freerealms.com, but it was pitching the Trading Card Game and a comic book that's soon to be released. I can tell because that spot on the ad is the very spot they say that people's eyes travel to first when they look at ads (I took a class on Communication Graphics in college and stuff). They also threw a free code in for kicks, so . . . kids . . . use "skeletal" next time you log on that other game. *cough*
You know, this is the power of Sony right there. Sony is a huge company with an office dedicated just to producing TCGs. I know that for a fact. I read the blog of a guy that works there (it's a little adult, so I'm not going to link it) They probably also have another office dedicated to producing comics. I don't know that for a fact. But, seriously, Sony is huge! They have the power here.
On the other hand, Kingsisle is only 4 years old, and Wizard101 is their first game. If they did somehow manage to establish some sort of presence in some random gamer store, I would be highly impressed! Has anyone seen Wizard101 advertise in comic books? Here's where I've seen wizard101 so far: Cartoon Network, Beckett's Magazine, Pokemon Magazine, all the stores where they sell their game cards, and a few school type promotional handouts.
Where have you seen them?
What do you think about their missing presence there in that gamer store? of no consequence?
Happy Dueling!
8 comments:
true there not alot of publicity for wizard 101 other than cartoonetwork but wizard 101 has gained so many players and such a quick amount of time. I mean common 5 million players already that pertty good and it just turned 1 years old wizard101. gaining alot players very fast thomas someday it could even surpass the game that shall not be name in my oppinion since it's a family friendly game with awesome graphics better than WOWC in my opinion. so far wizard101 has become the most succesful kids game online. eventually it well gain alot intention. so far there has been alot advertising of wizard 101 in my hometown usually every store I go to they do have wizard 101 gift cards and you know somethign it's awesome that there alot fans of it because the gift cards ran out pertty fast.
I learned about Wizard 101 from friends, but I think I have seen a couple commercials. As happylittlepunk said, Wizard 101 has gained a lot of players. And they aren't all kids!
I have seen Wizard101 advertised on the back of Wizard and Toyfare magazines. Those are mags for comic books and toys respectively.
So hopefully with that kind of exposure more comic fans will get into the game.
As the people above me have said, Wizard101 has gained a LOT of players since it's debut. I mean, 5,000,000? Try counting that high on your fingers (LOL). And on Facebook and Twitter? Try counting the number of people who are on either one, EVEN MORE! I mean really, I could see about 15 adds about Wizard101 in a day if it was good. When it comes down to it, about a fifth of the country plays it. I don't know even how many know about it! Seriously, Wizard101could gain even more players if they expanded their Gift Card range to about 2 more stores and if all of the people in the city get together every, say, Saturday afternoon and all held up signs saying something like: PLAY WIZARD101! IT'S AWESOME! Or something like that. Think of how many people would see that! Wizard101's population could possibly go past World of Warcraft's! Really!
I once saw it in a Club Penguine Magazine.
I agree wizard101 needs more publicity! Here are my ideas:
1. The gift cards should be sold at more places. Places such as Super America, Target, Borders, and Barns and Noble.
2. They should get some adds in more kid magazines.
3. They should get a TCG!
4. they should have adds on more kids channels.
Just my 2 cents.
P.S. Hey Freindly could you help me with my wiki? you don't have to if you don't want to. i just need some help getting more content. here is the link again:
http://thespiral.pbworks.com/
Thnx!
I think their Facebook and Twitter exposure has been good for them. I'd love to see some game cards in the local bookstores and WalMart, but that costs more to set up.
I'd really love to see it in local game shops, but then, the ones around here don't have anything for any other online games at all, other than the inevitable blizzard of licensed spinoffs.
I saw free realms on the back of my Archie comic book -_-
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