Nintendo launches first North American 3DS commercial

How do you create a 2D ad for a product that’s all about 3D content?

Take a look at Nintendo’s first North Amercian TV commercial to find out…

Nintendo has just released the ad on Youtube, and interestingly there is very little actual gameplay footage in it. Instead, the ad tries to represent the experience of being immersed in a 3D gaming environment.

The vantage point for the majority of the commercial is from inside the 3DS, looking out to the human player and making it appear as though he’s part of the game. It is a clever way to represent the immersion of 3D within the confines of a 2D TV medium.

It is almost like a throwback to the original 1990s video game commercials, where there was almost no game footage in the ad – instead it relied on an overload of intriguing images to get the viewer’s attention. It would almost undercut the uniqueness of the 3DS to just feature a lot of gameplay video, so the ad works pretty well.

It would be cool to see Nintendo advertising the device on ESPN 3D or other 3D networks, giving the company an opportunity to let people actually see what the 3D visuals of the device look like.

For now, though, here’s what Nintendo is doing to get 2D TV viewers interested in 3D gaming: