Call of Duty parody ‘Duty Calls’ is genius (and hilarious) marketing for Bulletstorm
Who needs Call of Duty when you have Duty Calls? Or Bulletstorm for that matter.
The first person shooter genre has been dominated by one series of games over the past few years. I am, of course, talking about Call of Duty. From the moment the first Modern Warfare was released all other shooters have had to play second fiddle to the games produced by Infinity Ward and Treyarch and published by Activision.
The release of a new CoD game has become an annual event, with stores opening at midnight and people queuing up (and often paying stupid money) to get their hands on a copy of the latest title in the series on launch day. And it doesn’t really matter what the reviews say about the game, because millions will buy it regardless, believing the hype rather than the reality.
This is a problem for any company looking to launch a new FPS, because there is, to a certain extent, only room in most people’s lives for one at a time. Medal of Honor failed to set the world alight, partly because it wasn’t very good, and partly because it wasn’t Call of Duty.
On Feb. 22, EA is publishing Epic Games’ Bulletstorm, which is very different from CoD and trying to put the fun back into the genre. But how to get those points across without looking like massive dicks? With a Call of Duty parody, of course. It’s called Duty Calls, it’s a playable PC game in its own right, and it’s freakin’ genius.
Has the Duty Calls parody sold me on Bulletstorm? Kind of. It hasn’t made me vow to rush out and buy it on launch day, and neither has the demo for that matter. But what it has done is let me know, in no uncertain terms, that Bulletstorm is on its way and out to offer something different. It’s also helped focus my desire to see the Call of Duty games evolve, try something different, be a little more bold and innovative.
In terms of marketing I doubt Epic and EA could have done any better. One million people had downloaded Duty Calls within two days, and many more will have done so by release day. Like me they may not have committed to buying Bulletstorm, but they’ll at least be aware of its existence and the differences between it and the Call of Duty games.
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37 Responses to “Call of Duty parody ‘Duty Calls’ is genius (and hilarious) marketing for Bulletstorm”
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February 6th, 2011
Foist.
February 6th, 2011
Hey Dave let me buy you a drink pal.
We haven’t spoken in nearly 4 years and it’s time for us to lay old tensions aside man to man and beer up. How bout it?
February 6th, 2011
THE SUPERBOWL IS ON!!!!! OWNAGE TIME FUCKERS!!!!!
:):P
February 6th, 2011
Exclusive Uncharted 3 game footage!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikatbwyueEM
February 7th, 2011
Rank Up! Master Seargent Shooter Seargent Person!
Fucking EPIC! lol
February 7th, 2011
LMAO Duty Calls should be the 2011 Game of the year! WHOO!
February 7th, 2011
LOOOOOOOOOL this is fucking priceless.
February 7th, 2011
Anyone play the demo for this yet?
II haven’t yet, but I’ve heard a lot of mixed opinions about BulletStorm. I’ve heard opinions ranging from great, to really bad.
February 7th, 2011
Funny video.
DCUO is the game for me. So far GOTY.
February 7th, 2011
@BJ
idk it felt great for a few mins but then its magic kind of wore off.
February 7th, 2011
Bj,
Bulletstorm is going to be a toss up game. I personally did enjoy the demo so I will be getting this game along with Killzone 3. The demo was about what I expected the game to be. There are many people who did not like the demo. Bulletstorm is my type of game.
February 7th, 2011
I’ll have to check it out. Seems like it might be fun, but I’m not a huge high score kind of gamer.
I just downloaded the Killzone 3 demo late last night. I’ll be checking that out at some point tonight.
February 7th, 2011
Did anyone see the trailer for the new Transformers movie during the Super Bowl? can’t wait for it
February 7th, 2011
I didn’t watch the trailer yet Roca but I love the Transformers movies.
February 7th, 2011
Same here. I’ll have to check it out.
February 7th, 2011
Heh, I played it, the specs are so low it’d probably play on almost any newish pc, even if they’re not built for gaming. It is rather funny, and does directly take the piss out of CoD, I particulary like the slo mo bits
February 7th, 2011
Guys,
I need an answer quickly please.
Q: I can buy Dead Space 2 for $19.99 today. Should I buy it?
Note: I’m still working on Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, and Fallout New Vegas.
I think I need an intervention.
February 7th, 2011
Go for it…
February 7th, 2011
If they wanted to make a parody, they should have done one or two on Gears of War!
Gears is so serious, yet has the worst storytelling I’ve ever seen in a game. Just look at the ending, in which ends with several questions left unanswered. What happen to the Rust-lung problem? What happen to the Locust? where are the humans going? What if there was no Gears of War 3 to show what happened?
Unreal Tournament 3 was just as bad, ending on a cliffhanger that we will never see the end of.
February 8th, 2011
I’m so so about the game but I will never let a demo decide that for me. The real lure for me is the Gears of War Multiplayer Beta so consider me in.
February 8th, 2011
I guess Zoar has never heard of cliff hangers. Gears was always a trilogy dude. I can agree if your talking about Gears 1 but Gears 2 did a fabulous job with the story.
February 8th, 2011
“Master Sergeant Shooter Sergeant Person!”
This is especially funny being a Master Sergeant of Marines and seeing more than enough war based shooting games in the past. Thanks for the laugh Dave. And EA. Classic.
February 8th, 2011
lol @ CAD.
I imagine so many people did the same for Halo 3 and Crackdown.
Bulletstorm looks like it could be good. Maybe I’ll get to it after Borderlands.
February 8th, 2011
I didn’t buy it. I loved the first Dead Space, and that was an amazing price… but I have too much of a back log. I usually try not to buy a game until I complete the one I’m working on.
February 8th, 2011
@CAD – “I’m so so about the game but I will never let a demo decide that for me.”
Yeah I feel you. You thought the Crackdown 2 demo was cool and the actual game turned out to be shit lmao
February 8th, 2011
@BJ
“I didn’t buy it”
for $20 you can’t go wrong.. I loving Dead Space 2 atm. You should’ve bought 2 copies I think Gamestop gives you $30 for it
February 8th, 2011
“Unreal Tournament 3 was just as bad,”
I have the game but haven’t put much time to it. Is there even a SP mode? I thought is was just an online only game like Quake 3.
February 8th, 2011
SP mode in UT3 is just prep for the MP.
February 8th, 2011
Well I had a $20 credit… Amazon had it on sale for $39.99.. it’s $41.99 now.
February 8th, 2011
oh I see…
February 8th, 2011
EA and Sony should have advertised the fact that the PS3 version also gets you Dead Space Extraction HD. Amazon doesn’t have any info differentiating between the 360 version and the PS3 version. In fact, it appears you only get the DSE when you buy the collector edition at first glance. Sony apparently worked out a deal to make their version more appealing yet they forgot to tell the majority of retailers and customers. I knew about it, and was still confused when buying at Amazon….
February 8th, 2011
Yeah I still haven’t try DSE.. loving DS2 though
February 8th, 2011
I’m waiting until Amazon actually ALLOWS me to buy the Move controller..
I have yet to see it in stock from Amazon. It’s always some third party where I have to pay $6 for shipping even though I have a Prime account.
February 8th, 2011
“I have the game but haven’t put much time to it. Is there even a SP mode? I thought is was just an online only game like Quake 3.”
There is a story behind it, I’ll see if I can find the videos….
February 8th, 2011
Here is most of the story of Unreal Tournament 3.
Intro + Chapter 1-2-3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRH8xYFzd2Y
Chapter 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBqhX3v7sD4
Chapter 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7x6TolNDTM
Ending:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BLh9_sh–k
February 9th, 2011
I posted the links….but, well:
“Your comment is awaiting moderation. “
February 13th, 2011
Finally!
Thank you, who ever you are!