Sony has revealed the cinematic trailer that will accompany the launch of its PS Vita console in Europe. The minute-long film shows commuters, students and beauticians indulging in dramatic game-like sequences, claiming to be part of a new world where play merges with real life.
The video will only be part of a multi-million-pound marketing onslaught set to herald the arrival of the console on 22 February. In the US, it has been reported that Sony will be spending an astonishing $50m (£32m) on advertising for the device, which features a 5in OLED screen, front and back touchscreens, and online connectivity.
The trailer represents a shift in advertising direction, away from the handicraft imagery of many mid-period PS3 ads, and back to the movie-like bombast of the nineties. Indeed, the piece bears many similarities to the classic Double Life advert for the first PlayStation, which depicted a variety of normal people describing their alternate lives as gamers. Here it is:
The message, of course, is different. While the earlier advert was designed to recruit twenty-somethings into the emerging PlayStation "lifestyle", the Vita version is about portability and social connection. With the new handheld's Near function, gamers will be able to locate nearby Vita owners and see what they're playing, or join in on local multiplayer games. With its his-res visuals and 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity – Vita is both pervasive and cinematic. That's the idea, anyway.
It's typically stirring stuff, created by Amsterdam-based ad agency 180. But with a price tag of £230 for the Wi-Fi version and £280 for the Wi-Fi/3G model, an important question remains: will enough people who may already own smartphones, Kindles, netbooks and tablets be stirred into another portable hardware purchase? Sony is adamant that it will secure a large enough audience, and in Japan, where the device was launched on 17 December, it has shifted in excess of 500,000 units. A similar performance in Europe would be encouraging.
Certainly, the tagline "The world is in play", which is accompanied by a Twitter hash tag, #TheWorldIsInPlay, is a strong statement of intent.
