Tron marketing takes aim at hearts of 80’s players
You may or may not have heard – the 1982 cult fave Tron, which starred 2010’s very own Best Actor, Jeff Bridges, is getting a sequel.
Now if this is the first you’re hearing about Tron: Legacy, that’s quite all right: the movie doesn’t hit theaters for another 9 months. But the not-so-secret truth is that Disney won’t allow you to live much longer without knowing about its big holiday tentpole.
Maybe you saw the oddly hypnotic trailer before Alice in Wonderland this past week. Maybe you live in San Diego, where a real-life Flynn’s Arcade popped up last year. Maybe you’re heading down to Disney World soon, where you’ll catch a glimpse of the newly reskinned monorails, made out to look like the dueling light cycles of the original film.
Or maybe you simply stumbled across this post. In that case, Disney may have already won.
80’s gaming junkies, brace yourselves. The next 2 hours of your lives have been claimed:
There are fifty-six references are littered throughout all this pixel-crisp chocolate. Fifty-six.
I admit, I’m only oh, 12 or so in at the moment (just what is that cat with the 24k over its eye – all I can think of is Rockin’ Cats) but this is something I fully intend on leaving up in the background over the next few days, like some digital jigsaw puzzle I can tinker with in the middle of the night.
Some are easy (Asteroids, pssh); some are more difficult (seriously, the cat); but what’s ensured is that many an old-school classic will be conjured up in your mind as you plow through all 56 prompts, from Golden Axe to R-Type.
Taking a step back, it’s hard not to marvel at the effort that went into this thing – from the lush, pristine pixel artwork, to the creative and purposeful scattering of dozens of video game puns and allusions. This little puzzle goes beyond mere marketing prattle and into the sacred realm of actual substance.
In other news, I just found a man I assume to be Dig Dug himself in the corner next to the floating Double Dragons. The crowd seems pleased at my progress. (Again, any help with the cat would be greatly appreciated.)
Tron: Legacy hits theaters December 15.
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Well, I have heard about the Tron movie….. just not the PS3 move thing.
I really want to see Tron Legacy but have a bad felling about this! That much hype doesn’t mean good things too often…. of course all this viral stuff is about as effective as 20 seconds on Oprah…… but It is a lot more fun.
I didn’t have time or really the wherewithal to delve into the Flyne Lives code thing, but I am following it on some sites.I really hope the movie is at least fun!
As far as that cat (spoiler altert) 24 carat gold for an eye. Pussy Galore. “Goldeneye”. Never played it myself though, can’t even remember the plot of the movie!
GOLDENEYE!
Sir, I owe you a coke.
Yeah I usually don’t go for anything viral either – I couldn’t care less about faux-websites or becoming a fan of anything on facebook (or facebook itself really), but I felt this particular attempt was worth the writeup.
The marketing effect is the same as featuring girls in tight bikinis during beer commercials – the two have little in common (as Tron has little to do with actual games, and a beer gut will do you little good in getting with said bikini girls) but the idea is just to conjure up that pleasant association.
Which I’d say it definitely does the job in this case.
In response to another comment. See in context »