Mom, Can I Borrow the Credit Card?

Suckers. There, I said it.

Yep, that's right. All of you who paid $19.95 to watch a pay-per-view preview of Madden NFL '07 are nuts.

To the 99.9% of the general public who has no idea what I'm talking about, a subset of a subset of gamers [video game players] have spent/are spending $20 for the right watch a preview the next John Madden video football game. This is like buying a movie ticket and only getting the trailers.

To those who haven't bought the pay-per-view but are thinking about it: Guess what kids, this year's game is going to be a lot like the '06 version! But hey, if you need to spend 20 bucks to find out that the Giants uniforms look a heckuva lot like last year's go ahead. Oh, and don't forget to save up the $60-$70 you'll need to cough up to actually play the game when it comes out on the 22nd.

From the LA Times:

Using pay-per-view television to promote a consumer product is unprecedented.

But EA Sports and ESPN, who have partnered to make the special that is available at 5 p.m. on satellite and cable television pay-per-view channels as well as ESPN.com, are quick to discount the notion that it is little more than an infomercial that costs $19.95.

"There is a critical difference between this show and an infomercial," said Geoff Reiss, senior vice president in charge of ESPN's original entertainment division. "An infomercial tries to get you to buy a product. The viewers who pay for this program do not need to be sold. Most of them will be lined up outside a Best Buy, or wherever, at midnight on Aug. 22 to buy the game."

So...yep, he thinks they're suckers too.

I like to think I'm fairly marketing-saavy and have half an idea of what people will and will not do, but this one is totally beyond me.

Madden ought to just be charging those turduckens and anything else he fills the Madden Cruiser with right to the personal credit card of anyone stupid enough to pay for this thing because he obviously has a direct line to those wallets.