God of War: From Ashes Trailer from Playstation on YouTube.

Low hanging fruit, we’ve all thought of grabbing it. It’s just sitting right there.

I’m really impressed with what Playstation did when they commissioned the commercial (read theatrical trailer) for the latest game in their God of War series. Not only did they go live action – which has found increased popularity within the gamer market (Halo even releasing feature films based on their Master Chief character) – but they went with sequences completely unrelated to game play, but rather the story.

It reminded me of how stories are told around the sports world. There’s always the powerplay, shots on goal and save percentage statistics that are told on a broadcast level game in and game out – which I liken to Playstation showing 30 seconds of intense game play to sell their latest product. But then if you peel back a layer, or two, or three, there’s always these little underlying stories that are screaming to be told. They may be seemingly unimportant to the outcome of a game – hockey or virtual – but they give reason behind action. They add the human element.

Aside from being visually stunning, this two minute trailer reminded me to leave the low hanging fruit for those who don’t want to reach. But as for me, I’m going for the top branch.

-C-