Jubenhimer
Member
We know the Xbox right, Microsoft Corporation's Mountain Dew powered beast of a gaming platform, home to some of the best and most underrated games of its generation. While it didn't touch the PS2's 155 million units sold (albeit over a much longer time length) it sold better than anyone expected, with a respectable 24 million sold worldwide. Aside from its surprise hit Halo: Combat Evolved, part of the Xbox's success IMO, was that it was sort of the "Anti-PS2". A powerhouse gaming-focused platform, catering to a niche audience hardcore gamers who like playing games on PC, as opposed to the mass market audience the PlayStation 2 attracted. Unlike Nintendo and Sega, Microsoft had no cartoon Mascot character to pimp the Xbox with. Halo was a hit, but it primarily attracted a more adult demographic.
So a small Japanese studio named Artoon (founded by former Sega staff) pitched the concept of a mascot platformer that would take advantage of the Xbox hardware, notably its 8GB Hard-drive which allowed the system to cache large amounts of data, and thus, reduce load times. Microsoft Game Studios greenlit the project after its boss, Ed Fries was impressed with Artoon's work, this birthed Blinx the Time Sweeper.
Released a whole year after the Xbox's original launch in 2002, Blinx was Microsoft's attempt to give the Xbox an official spokesman like Nintendo had with Mario, Sega with Sonic, and for a brief time, PlayStation with Crash Bandicoot. A Character that can sell the attitude and philosophy of your brand with appearance and gameplay alone. Mario's bouncy, friendly, attitude represents Nintendo console's general strength with family friendly games. Sonic's fast gameplay, and radical "Go Get Em" adventure attitude sold Sega Systems as edgy arcade powerhouses. And Crash's wacky attitude and irreverent style, sold the PlayStation as a subversive, surprising platform built on cinematic presentation.
Blinx was similar for Xbox. He had Green eyes, similar to the Xbox logo. A strong-willed, and cocky attitude to match the Xbox's unrivaled power. And a Time Manipulation Vacuum, to sell the Xbox's Hard-drive. Everything about his appearance screamed "Mascot". Blinx, much like the Xbox itself, was brash, cocky, and ready to play. Despite the seemingly surefire hit it was shaping up to be, Blinx's mascot position for the Xbox... Never happened, and the character faded into obscurity as Master Chief charged through to be the face of the brand. There are a few reasons I think why.
1. His games weren't too amazing - Blinx and its sequel are by no means bad games. They're fun little oddities that had some neat ideas. However, they weren't up to the quality of what a good mascot should be. The games were bogged down by awkward camera angles, stiff platforming, and insane difficulty spikes. Normally, a mascot is supposed to set a high standard of quality for other games on the system, but Blinx wasn't able to quite reach it. It felt a bit too unpolished for its own good.
2. Stiff competition - Blinx The Time Sweeper launched in 2002, and was already competing in a crowded market by that point. Nintendo finally gave GameCube owners something from the Red Italliano in Super Mario Sunshine. Sony Computer Entertainment also launched Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank and Sucker Punch's Sly Cooper: And The Theivious Raccoonis that year, which both went on to sell millions of copies and spawn countless sequels and spin-offs. Blinx, on top of his flawed game, wasn't able to keep up with the competition in that regard.
3. Indifference - Turns out, that the Xbox audience never particularly asked for a cartoon mascot to represent their platform. Like I said, the Xbox's strength, was a niche, hardcore gamer audience coming from the PC world. These were gamers who were more into Halo, and Dead or Alive, and other similar games. While there was hope by journalists that Blinx could become the face of Xbox, most gamers were more into Space Marines than Time Warping Cats.
Microsoft sought to seek a broader audience with the Xbox 360, as the "edgy green" marketing and "hardcore" angle of the original Xbox, were considerably toned down for the successor. That said, Microsoft charged forward with new creations like Gears of War, Kameo, Viva Pinata, and the Kinect, all on top of the continued success of Halo. Leaving Blinx to fade into the hall of dead IPs.
It's easy to see why Master Chief ended up as the face of Xbox in retrospect. I think he does a better job selling the philosophy of the brand better than Blinx could, despite not being a conventional mascot character.
So a small Japanese studio named Artoon (founded by former Sega staff) pitched the concept of a mascot platformer that would take advantage of the Xbox hardware, notably its 8GB Hard-drive which allowed the system to cache large amounts of data, and thus, reduce load times. Microsoft Game Studios greenlit the project after its boss, Ed Fries was impressed with Artoon's work, this birthed Blinx the Time Sweeper.
Released a whole year after the Xbox's original launch in 2002, Blinx was Microsoft's attempt to give the Xbox an official spokesman like Nintendo had with Mario, Sega with Sonic, and for a brief time, PlayStation with Crash Bandicoot. A Character that can sell the attitude and philosophy of your brand with appearance and gameplay alone. Mario's bouncy, friendly, attitude represents Nintendo console's general strength with family friendly games. Sonic's fast gameplay, and radical "Go Get Em" adventure attitude sold Sega Systems as edgy arcade powerhouses. And Crash's wacky attitude and irreverent style, sold the PlayStation as a subversive, surprising platform built on cinematic presentation.
Blinx was similar for Xbox. He had Green eyes, similar to the Xbox logo. A strong-willed, and cocky attitude to match the Xbox's unrivaled power. And a Time Manipulation Vacuum, to sell the Xbox's Hard-drive. Everything about his appearance screamed "Mascot". Blinx, much like the Xbox itself, was brash, cocky, and ready to play. Despite the seemingly surefire hit it was shaping up to be, Blinx's mascot position for the Xbox... Never happened, and the character faded into obscurity as Master Chief charged through to be the face of the brand. There are a few reasons I think why.
1. His games weren't too amazing - Blinx and its sequel are by no means bad games. They're fun little oddities that had some neat ideas. However, they weren't up to the quality of what a good mascot should be. The games were bogged down by awkward camera angles, stiff platforming, and insane difficulty spikes. Normally, a mascot is supposed to set a high standard of quality for other games on the system, but Blinx wasn't able to quite reach it. It felt a bit too unpolished for its own good.
2. Stiff competition - Blinx The Time Sweeper launched in 2002, and was already competing in a crowded market by that point. Nintendo finally gave GameCube owners something from the Red Italliano in Super Mario Sunshine. Sony Computer Entertainment also launched Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank and Sucker Punch's Sly Cooper: And The Theivious Raccoonis that year, which both went on to sell millions of copies and spawn countless sequels and spin-offs. Blinx, on top of his flawed game, wasn't able to keep up with the competition in that regard.
3. Indifference - Turns out, that the Xbox audience never particularly asked for a cartoon mascot to represent their platform. Like I said, the Xbox's strength, was a niche, hardcore gamer audience coming from the PC world. These were gamers who were more into Halo, and Dead or Alive, and other similar games. While there was hope by journalists that Blinx could become the face of Xbox, most gamers were more into Space Marines than Time Warping Cats.
Microsoft sought to seek a broader audience with the Xbox 360, as the "edgy green" marketing and "hardcore" angle of the original Xbox, were considerably toned down for the successor. That said, Microsoft charged forward with new creations like Gears of War, Kameo, Viva Pinata, and the Kinect, all on top of the continued success of Halo. Leaving Blinx to fade into the hall of dead IPs.
It's easy to see why Master Chief ended up as the face of Xbox in retrospect. I think he does a better job selling the philosophy of the brand better than Blinx could, despite not being a conventional mascot character.
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