Vita ad

We’re already well into the school summer holidays here in Japan, and Sony is taking the opportunity to entice younger gamers over to its decidedly more grown-up portable console, the PlayStation Vita. Join us after the jump for a closer look at these cheeky ads from Sony’s summer campaign.

“Otona daaa!” shouts the wide-eyed star of Sony Japan’s newest ad as his classmate lets his towel fall to the floor.

Meaning “[you’re] an adult”, this phrase is clearly one that Sony is hoping will strike a chord with younger consumers this summer and entice them away from their 3DS and older PSP consoles. With a slightly higher price tag and boasting more sophisticated features, the Vita was previously seen as more of a grown-ups’ gizmo than something for kids. But following less-than-stellar sales, and with the summer holidays in full swing, Sony is now targeting younger gamers who have plenty of time to play.

Introducing a bevy of titles likely to become of interest to kids who are about to enter their teenage years, such as the soon-to-arrive Vita version of Monster Hunter: Frontier G and Vita-exclusive RPG Freedom Wars, Sony’s latest ad depicts a young boy in the school changing room catching sight of his friend’s decidedly more grown-up hardware.

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 11.26.00 AMYouTube

Thankfully, the only thing that seems to have caught this young lad’s eye is his classmate’s PlayStation Vita.

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 11.28.44 AMYouTube

The ad then shows other kids gathering around the larger student, staring down at his console and marvelling at how much more advanced it is than their own.

▼ “It’s totally different to mine!” bemoans a smaller child. “The scale’s way bigger,” remarks another.

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 11.32.54 AMYouTube

It’s hardly the classiest ad Sony has ever run, but with messages like “mou shougakusei janai anata ni” (meaning “to you who are no longer an elementary school student”) written in bold text at the top of the ad, the message Sony wants to hammer home is clear: this console isn’t for little kids. And which kids hate to be thought of as little? Yup, all of ’em.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7m7ttIjXTo

We’ll leave you with a couple more ads from Sony’s summer campaign which see the same young man from the above video being invited by an older female student to experience an altogether more grown-up adventure with her: monster hunting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XH_xwE66eU#t=26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45CSB_a_DJM

Source: PlayStation Japan
Feature image via YouTube