SAVE THE PARK… BUT ONLY AT WAL-MART…
Earlier this year, the announcement from The Eagles that it would only sell its latest CD at Wal-Mart caused a great deal of hair pulling in the Rees household. Now comes the announcement that Nintendo will only sell the latest version of Chibi-Robo through Wal-Mart.
What’s a Chibi-Robo? A cutesy GameCube game where the player controls a flower-planting robot to make a park attractive to people.
Why is Nentendo only selling it at Wal-Mart? Here’s what Stephen Totilo thinks:
When I first heard that the Nintendo DS’ new “Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol” title was going Wal-Mart exclusive, I assumed that meant the game stunk.
Why would Nintendo limit the game’s sales potential by blocking it from the store shelves by all but one retailer? Even if they’re limiting it the the nation’s biggest?
[Snip]
I contacted Nintendo to see what was up… and I played the game to see if it stunk.
First, this is what a Nintendo spokesperson told me when I asked about the exclusivity:
“For the new ‘Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol’ game for Nintendo DS, Nintendo partnered with Wal-Mart because of Wal-Mart’s strong environmental program and social giving campaign. ‘Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol’ has an environmental theme, and we wanted to make sure that it received exposure among a broad audience of consumers as we continue to get more and more people interested in the world of video games.”
I didn’t think this really answered the question. So I asked a follow-up about whether Wal-Mart was giving this title special placement or promotion. Otherwise, I didn’t see how these goals couldn’t be achieved if the game was also sold at GameStop or K-Mart.
Here’s the clarification I got:
“Wal-Mart has a large green initiative at retail, so it made sense for us to partner with them on this environmentally-themed game.”
It is true that Wal-Mart has a green initiative. In 2005, the company’s CEO announced a $500-million-a-year plan to improve the company’s energy efficiency in its stores and trucks and to back more environmentally sound products and policies. You can read much more about the super-store’s plans on their official site.
But when I go to Wal-Mart’s shopping webpage specially marked for green products, I don’t see anything about “Chibi-Robo.” And when I went to Wal-Mart’s video game site, the greenest thing on the page was Master Chief’s armor — and no sign of Chibi-Robo.
Sounds to me like a typical marketing synergy boondoggle.
Nintendo Girl was equally confused:
Nintendo today touted the arrival of Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol by tying in facts that the company is trying to be more “green” in their work environment. Here is what they said about the company:
Recycles the paper it uses company-wide, limits the use of colored paper (since it’s not easily recycled) and purchases recycled paper towels, report covers, message pads and writing pads.
Recycles more than 70 percent of the waste generated at its headquarters and promotes the recycling of aluminum cans and glass in its corporate cafeterias. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the United States as a whole recycles about 32 percent of its waste.
Requires manufacturers not use any banned substances (such as lead, mercury, etc.) in components, nor use them in the manufacturing process for any components used in its products.
What exactly this has to do with the game is anyone’s guess except that they believe it has strong environmental ties with the cleaning up a park aspect. George Harrison says this is one of the “first environmentally themed video game adventures.” Not too long ago on the GameCube there was that obscure plumber trying to clean up an island contaminated with gunk, developed and published by Nintendo. Did Mr. Harrison have a mental slip perhaps?
Honestly though what bothers me about this particular press release isn’t the fact that it seems like they decided to tack on the “green” bits just because it’s currently trendy, but their lack of really following through. First of all, the game is put into a plastic box. The company if they really were behind the green movement for this game could have provided an alternative packaging ala GameBoy Advance boxes that were composed of cardboard. Second, giving away 500 tree saplings is a great idea, but why only 500? I will concede that they aren’t free like anything else in the world, but for a company like Nintendo it just seems a bit of a small number.
Better you take your child to the park with a flat of flowres and plant a few real ones.
[...] rss@LiveVideo.com (Dave-Enigma) wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt‘Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol’ has an environmental theme, and we wanted to make sure that it received exposure among a broad audience of consumers as we continue to get more and more people interested in the world of video games.” … [...]
[...] holiday wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt“For the new ‘Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol’ game for Nintendo DS, Nintendo partnered with Wal-Mart because of Wal-Mart’s strong environmental program and social giving campaign. ‘Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol’ has an environmental theme, … [...]
[...] MARIOLEE wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt“For the new ‘Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol’ game for Nintendo DS, Nintendo partnered with Wal-Mart because of Wal-Mart’s strong environmental program and social giving campaign. ‘Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol’ has an environmental theme, … [...]
Actually, my wife hates all 70s music so the hairpulling was all mine.
[...] SAVE THE PARK… BUT ONLY AT WAL-MART… Earlier this year, the announcement from The Eagles that it would only sell its latest CD at Wal-Mart caused a great deal of hair pulling in the Rees household. Now comes the announcement that Nintendo will only sell the latest version of Chibi-Robo through Wal-Mart. Keep reading… [...]