An adult retrospect on Dead Space 2's advertising campaign

First: let it be known that I was a fan of the original Dead Space. Yes, it was a direct rip-off of Event Horizon, and not terribly frightening, but it was an all-around good game. And I do still plan on buying Dead Space 2 when it releases next month.

Having said that, I have to say their ad campaign has officially irked me. Being one of the frou-frou "games are art" type of people, I find myself constantly arguing that video games are no longer the teen boy's entertainment of choice, and are, in fact, the playground of adults. Often times have I made the argument that not only are video games one of the best values in the entertainment industry, they are, quite literally, the future of adult entertainment.

Then I received a link for yourmomhatesdeadspace2.com . My first thought was "this must be a joke." I quickly realized it was a very real ad campaign. Wow. So that I do no seem to be some suburbanite soccer mom with zero sense of humor, let me explain why this ad campaign irks me so:

1) I am an adult. As such, I have not cared whether my mom did or did not like something in about, oh, 15 years. (Yikes! Age reveal!) Personally, once you can smoke cigarettes, stay out late and have to pay your own rent check ... shocking your parents by engaging in an activity the do not approve of is, well, juvenile.

2) Have you met my mom? My mom would hate Dead Space 2. She also hates Ford Tauruses, inflation and R-rated movies. This is a woman who thought Silence of the Lambs was the scariest film ever made. Ever. Her radar is not what I would consider "accurate." Nor is she particularly hard to shock and scare. Nor were the "moms" in the ads.

3) Why can't my dad hate it? Here's a secret, guys: my dad would hate Dead Space 2 as much as my mom. As a D&D-rolling, LAN-party hosting, M:TG-trading girl, I have always accepted that female gamers are a largely ignored entity. Game developers have long treated us like the red-headed stepchild, assuming our game play consists of Cooking Mama, Final Fantasy X-2, and yelling at our boyfriends for playing games. Why can't old people in general hate Dead Space 2? Why is just moms? Because moms are female, and we all know the gentler sex just can't handle that game-stuff.