This part feels like nitpicking to me. I don't know about other law enforcement, but I suspect Leon of all people knows how vital it can be to have both hands free in an emergency. Wristwatches...
And the idea that one modern-day law enforcement agent would wear a luxury wristwatch instead of just checking their phone's clock like a normal person is already wild.
This part feels like nitpicking to me. I don't know about other law enforcement, but I suspect Leon of all people knows how vital it can be to have both hands free in an emergency. Wristwatches are definitely more convenient than phones in that regard, you can literally just look at your wrist instead of having to waste precious seconds getting out your phone. Plus don't have to worry about the battery if another zombie apocalypse happens.
Though the writer does have a point about the price of that thing. Converted, Leon's watch would be $2350, which... Wow. Yeah, REALLY weird to wear something that expensive in field work, I can see how that can break immersion for people who know the price tag. Even Grace's is over $1500. Presumably they wouldn't be as expensive in-universe, but neither of them seem like the type to splurge.
The fact Leon can't shoot the Porsche is pretty funny though. I choose to believe he decided to splurge on it as one of his few Very Nice Things during a minor midlife crisis moment, and so of course he won't shoot it and waste all that money!! That, or it belongs to the agency and he doesn't want to deal with the paperwork from shooting his own car. I know some police forces do have Porsches for the sake of high speed pursuits and the like, so it actually isn't too crazy he'd have one.
Actually, it makes a lot of sense for characters to NOT shoot their own cars. Kinda weird anyone would take any sort of risk with their main mode of transportation.
Overall, this post feels very nitpicky about product placement given it's fairly minor in my opinion. There are farmoreblatantexamples out there. In comparison, the Porsche logo and watch are pretty easy to ignore and actually do fit inside the setting. Mostly. those price tags for the watches definitely don't
...Also, after the mention of police Teslas, I now have the cursed mental image of Leon driving a Cybertruck. Imagine him driving it instead of the motorcycle during that one scene. I guess the Beethoven's Nightmare thing could serve as a decent distraction/lure for zombies...
Really? That's pretty cheap for a watch. There are dive and alpinist watches that people bring to, well, diving and mountain climbing, two pretty involved activities, that easily clear $10k. I'm...
Converted, Leon's watch would be $2350, which... Wow. Yeah, REALLY weird to wear something that expensive in field work, I can see how that can break immersion for people who know the price tag.
Really? That's pretty cheap for a watch. There are dive and alpinist watches that people bring to, well, diving and mountain climbing, two pretty involved activities, that easily clear $10k.
I'm OK wearing a $2k watch around doing some rough work. It's only when it gets to like the $10k+ range where I baby watches a bit more.
I'm sure you can find plenty of active duty soldiers with more expensive watches than that.
Although mostly jewelry at this point, watches are pretty tough cookies, and usually in a fairly protected place on the body.
It most certainly is not. Your view of affordability, as happens with nearly anyone that gets deep into a hobby, is horrendously skewed because of your participation in said hobby. I do it too, I...
That's pretty cheap for a watch.
It most certainly is not.
Your view of affordability, as happens with nearly anyone that gets deep into a hobby, is horrendously skewed because of your participation in said hobby. I do it too, I regularly have to remind myself that certain car parts aren't better/worth more just because of a different brand commands a higher price. There's nothing about that watch that is better or has more engineering behind it than a $100 Casio G-Shock.
It is expensive for a watch. It is perhaps "cheap" for the status symbol jewelry that some watches have become.
That's kind of besides the point. You can find it expensive on an individual level if you wish - that is subjective after all - but objectively in the class of "watches people own", a $2k watch is...
That's kind of besides the point. You can find it expensive on an individual level if you wish - that is subjective after all - but objectively in the class of "watches people own", a $2k watch is on the lower end of the scale. $500-$1000 is entry level for mechanical watches, and $2k is basically entry level+.
The point is more that the author finding that this "takes them out of the game" is kinda baffling. I can guarantee you, if you go outside and stare at the things on people's wrists, there are people walking around with FAR more expensive watches than Leon's entry level Hamilton. And not, like, CEOs, just normal dudes.
If it's "unrealistic" that Leon has a $2,000 watch, then the world itself is unrealistic. A man of his age wearing a mechanical watch is super normal. Of course, there's the added utility of an automatic watch not needing battery power ever in a post-apocalptyic setting, but honestly you don't even need to go there. It's just normal to wear watches.
It's like if Leon had an iPhone Pro and someone wrote that it was unrealistic a police officer would have the top SKU iPhone.
If you look at the prices of watches from various major brands, this is well below the median. Saying this is expensive for a watch seems far more inaccurate than saying it's cheap for a watch...
If you look at the prices of watches from various major brands, this is well below the median. Saying this is expensive for a watch seems far more inaccurate than saying it's cheap for a watch except in a sense of anti-consumerism against luxury goods in general, but that's not really the conversation at the moment.
I suppose the price tag does seem more affordable for serious luxury watch enthusiasts. I know people in that hobby are willing to pay a lot, but I didn't know how often "ordinary" people (e.g....
I suppose the price tag does seem more affordable for serious luxury watch enthusiasts. I know people in that hobby are willing to pay a lot, but I didn't know how often "ordinary" people (e.g. people who don't work in fields or social circles that involve flaunting your status) are willing to pay hefty prices for them. Leon and Grace (particularly Grace) just don't strike me as luxury watch enthusiasts. I feel like both would be willing to buy a nice, practical watch for under $1000. Weirdly, Leon shelling out a ton of money for a Porsche feels less jarring to me than the watch. (Even if he has a bad track record with keeping vehicles intact...)
On further reflection and after reading your comments though, Leon buying a luxury wristwatch does seem a bit less wild. Dude risks his life in his job regularly, treating himself to the occasional very nice and pricey thing makes sense. He does have a very nice and expensive jacket, though that's justified by the practicality of a high-quality jacket that can last decades.
Grace still does not feel like the type to pay over $1500 for a watch though. Heck, she doesn't feel like the type to go for a luxury watch at all unless it was a gift or inherited from her mom.
I do wonder how much these watches would cost in-universe... I suspect the price tag is higher since it's a collaboration.
If you're a serious watch enthusiasts, it's straight up cheap. Serious watches are really more in the 5k+ range. I think it's important to remember that mechanical watches cannot be mass produced...
If you're a serious watch enthusiasts, it's straight up cheap. Serious watches are really more in the 5k+ range. I think it's important to remember that mechanical watches cannot be mass produced - the difficult part is the in assembly, after all. Every mechanical watch is assembled by hand by an expert who's moving 500+ components that are measured in millimeters with nothing but a tweezer and a magnifying glass.
I didn't know how often "ordinary" people (e.g. people who don't work in fields or social circles that involve flaunting your status) are willing to pay hefty prices for them
It's not as common these days as in the past (although there's still plenty of arguments about whether or not it's offensive to show up to a wedding with an apple watch as opposed to a traditional one), but it use to be part of the process of becoming an adult to buy a serious watch. It was an element of the uniform of adulthood - the next thing you'd get after your first suit is a nice watch.
The watch is the one piece of jewelry all men are "allowed" (socially) to wear, although of course these days much more is permissable in general (socially). Especially for a police officer, the wrist watch has a long history with "manliness", due to the association initially with practical uses. Half of the vintage watches in the US came from US soldiers, uh, "acquiring" them in WW2.
As a result, it's very common for men, who are not watch enthusiasts, to still own a single, nice, expensive watch.
Even if you don't buy it yourself, it's a common gift from relatives or loved ones when someone reaches adulthood.
I do wonder how much these watches would cost in-universe... I suspect the price tag is higher since it's a collaboration.
It's really about the same. The grace one is a straight up re-color of an existing Hamilton watch, which is the same price. Leon's has more custom elements, but it's really not far fetched from the normal budget Hamilton options.
Now that's the listed price, these sold out immediately and are being scalped for $5k+ on ebay. That would definitely be a merchandise bump.
I mean I guess to someone who isn't into watching that can seem expensive. Anecdotal but I have some military friends who have rolexs and other similar "luxury" watches and they wear them when...
I mean I guess to someone who isn't into watching that can seem expensive. Anecdotal but I have some military friends who have rolexs and other similar "luxury" watches and they wear them when that are deployed.
Finally. We media-illiterate, pre-release buying, integrity-requesting-of-our-journalism video gamers finally get to play as a bitter middle-aged man lost to nostalgia lacking the self-awareness...
Finally. We media-illiterate, pre-release buying, integrity-requesting-of-our-journalism video gamers finally get to play as a bitter middle-aged man lost to nostalgia lacking the self-awareness required to feel shame at betraying his principles.
I feel as though there should be a rage-inducing YouTube video about this. But there's probably not.
I personally don't mind product placement if it Fits the universe in some way It isn't in our face left, right, and centre (like it's part of the game mechanic/gameplay loop) In RE9, it's pretty...
I personally don't mind product placement if it
Fits the universe in some way
It isn't in our face left, right, and centre (like it's part of the game mechanic/gameplay loop)
In RE9, it's pretty much part of the cutscenes and sort of in the environments. I didn't even realise Leon was driving a Porsche until I completed the game and replayed it. I definitely spotted the fancy watches, but I was like "eh, give me zombies game"
The most egregious use of product placement (for me) came from Death Stranding. Having to drink Monster Energy drinks to refuel his stamina is just...??? Like, this is an apocalyptic world and Monster Energy drinks are still a thing that people actively want to drink?!? And it's pretty much always there in the restroom just waiting for Sam to drink (and not just sipping, just straight up downing the lot). When I saw it, it reminded of the "Please drink a verification can" meme.
A silly watch and a car that isn't integral to gameplay is fine to me. If the car was something the player needed to drive, but drive carefully yet fast, I would be annoyed. If the player had to look at their Hamilton watch to check their life/ammo, I would be annoyed. But none of those things are true.
I thought the Porsche and the watch were funny, they definitely fit the vibe this game was going for. It felt like a nod to James Bond, and who is Leon S. Kennedy if not an American,...
I thought the Porsche and the watch were funny, they definitely fit the vibe this game was going for. It felt like a nod to James Bond, and who is Leon S. Kennedy if not an American, zombie-fighting James Bond?
I thought so too. It's funny. Leon in the game is campy as hell with his one liners and the Porsche just adds to that image. It's so over the top and self aware it loops back to good. So the...
I thought so too. It's funny. Leon in the game is campy as hell with his one liners and the Porsche just adds to that image. It's so over the top and self aware it loops back to good.
So the author of this article takes it a little too serious but I can vibe with the gist of it. It's funny now, but it won't stay funny when every game is filled with product placement. TV has enough of that shit, now I get ads in my games too?
Because there have been RE releases in recent times, people have been talking about the games, and that resulted in my becoming aware of the baffling (to me) fact that people find Leon a...
Because there have been RE releases in recent times, people have been talking about the games, and that resulted in my becoming aware of the baffling (to me) fact that people find Leon a compelling character. I think the last three games were pretty good, well made games for the genre, but I've never liked Leon in any kind of way (or the other protagonists for that matter). I could probably like Jill if they developed her more I guess?
Am I just wrong? Or maybe is this a novel vs videogame writing quality gap thing? What makes Leon good enough to sell people things?
My favorite YouTuber remarked that almost every single vehicle (before RE9) that Leon has ridden on didn't end well. And then they just want him to be a car salesman...
My favorite YouTuber remarked that almost every single vehicle (before RE9) that Leon has ridden on didn't end well. And then they just want him to be a car salesman...
This part feels like nitpicking to me. I don't know about other law enforcement, but I suspect Leon of all people knows how vital it can be to have both hands free in an emergency. Wristwatches are definitely more convenient than phones in that regard, you can literally just look at your wrist instead of having to waste precious seconds getting out your phone. Plus don't have to worry about the battery if another zombie apocalypse happens.
Though the writer does have a point about the price of that thing. Converted, Leon's watch would be $2350, which... Wow. Yeah, REALLY weird to wear something that expensive in field work, I can see how that can break immersion for people who know the price tag. Even Grace's is over $1500. Presumably they wouldn't be as expensive in-universe, but neither of them seem like the type to splurge.
The fact Leon can't shoot the Porsche is pretty funny though. I choose to believe he decided to splurge on it as one of his few Very Nice Things during a minor midlife crisis moment, and so of course he won't shoot it and waste all that money!! That, or it belongs to the agency and he doesn't want to deal with the paperwork from shooting his own car. I know some police forces do have Porsches for the sake of high speed pursuits and the like, so it actually isn't too crazy he'd have one.
Actually, it makes a lot of sense for characters to NOT shoot their own cars. Kinda weird anyone would take any sort of risk with their main mode of transportation.
Overall, this post feels very nitpicky about product placement given it's fairly minor in my opinion. There are far more blatant examples out there. In comparison, the Porsche logo and watch are pretty easy to ignore and actually do fit inside the setting. Mostly.
those price tags for the watches definitely don't...Also, after the mention of police Teslas, I now have the cursed mental image of Leon driving a Cybertruck. Imagine him driving it instead of the motorcycle during that one scene. I guess the Beethoven's Nightmare thing could serve as a decent distraction/lure for zombies...
Really? That's pretty cheap for a watch. There are dive and alpinist watches that people bring to, well, diving and mountain climbing, two pretty involved activities, that easily clear $10k.
I'm OK wearing a $2k watch around doing some rough work. It's only when it gets to like the $10k+ range where I baby watches a bit more.
I'm sure you can find plenty of active duty soldiers with more expensive watches than that.
Although mostly jewelry at this point, watches are pretty tough cookies, and usually in a fairly protected place on the body.
It most certainly is not.
Your view of affordability, as happens with nearly anyone that gets deep into a hobby, is horrendously skewed because of your participation in said hobby. I do it too, I regularly have to remind myself that certain car parts aren't better/worth more just because of a different brand commands a higher price. There's nothing about that watch that is better or has more engineering behind it than a $100 Casio G-Shock.
It is expensive for a watch. It is perhaps "cheap" for the status symbol jewelry that some watches have become.
That's kind of besides the point. You can find it expensive on an individual level if you wish - that is subjective after all - but objectively in the class of "watches people own", a $2k watch is on the lower end of the scale. $500-$1000 is entry level for mechanical watches, and $2k is basically entry level+.
The point is more that the author finding that this "takes them out of the game" is kinda baffling. I can guarantee you, if you go outside and stare at the things on people's wrists, there are people walking around with FAR more expensive watches than Leon's entry level Hamilton. And not, like, CEOs, just normal dudes.
If it's "unrealistic" that Leon has a $2,000 watch, then the world itself is unrealistic. A man of his age wearing a mechanical watch is super normal. Of course, there's the added utility of an automatic watch not needing battery power ever in a post-apocalptyic setting, but honestly you don't even need to go there. It's just normal to wear watches.
It's like if Leon had an iPhone Pro and someone wrote that it was unrealistic a police officer would have the top SKU iPhone.
If you look at the prices of watches from various major brands, this is well below the median. Saying this is expensive for a watch seems far more inaccurate than saying it's cheap for a watch except in a sense of anti-consumerism against luxury goods in general, but that's not really the conversation at the moment.
I suppose the price tag does seem more affordable for serious luxury watch enthusiasts. I know people in that hobby are willing to pay a lot, but I didn't know how often "ordinary" people (e.g. people who don't work in fields or social circles that involve flaunting your status) are willing to pay hefty prices for them. Leon and Grace (particularly Grace) just don't strike me as luxury watch enthusiasts. I feel like both would be willing to buy a nice, practical watch for under $1000. Weirdly, Leon shelling out a ton of money for a Porsche feels less jarring to me than the watch. (Even if he has a bad track record with keeping vehicles intact...)
On further reflection and after reading your comments though, Leon buying a luxury wristwatch does seem a bit less wild. Dude risks his life in his job regularly, treating himself to the occasional very nice and pricey thing makes sense. He does have a very nice and expensive jacket, though that's justified by the practicality of a high-quality jacket that can last decades.
Grace still does not feel like the type to pay over $1500 for a watch though. Heck, she doesn't feel like the type to go for a luxury watch at all unless it was a gift or inherited from her mom.
I do wonder how much these watches would cost in-universe... I suspect the price tag is higher since it's a collaboration.
If you're a serious watch enthusiasts, it's straight up cheap. Serious watches are really more in the 5k+ range. I think it's important to remember that mechanical watches cannot be mass produced - the difficult part is the in assembly, after all. Every mechanical watch is assembled by hand by an expert who's moving 500+ components that are measured in millimeters with nothing but a tweezer and a magnifying glass.
Here's a youtube video of a watchmaker assembling a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_evE_1yGbI
That ain't gonna be cheap.
It's not as common these days as in the past (although there's still plenty of arguments about whether or not it's offensive to show up to a wedding with an apple watch as opposed to a traditional one), but it use to be part of the process of becoming an adult to buy a serious watch. It was an element of the uniform of adulthood - the next thing you'd get after your first suit is a nice watch.
The watch is the one piece of jewelry all men are "allowed" (socially) to wear, although of course these days much more is permissable in general (socially). Especially for a police officer, the wrist watch has a long history with "manliness", due to the association initially with practical uses. Half of the vintage watches in the US came from US soldiers, uh, "acquiring" them in WW2.
As a result, it's very common for men, who are not watch enthusiasts, to still own a single, nice, expensive watch.
Even if you don't buy it yourself, it's a common gift from relatives or loved ones when someone reaches adulthood.
It's really about the same. The grace one is a straight up re-color of an existing Hamilton watch, which is the same price. Leon's has more custom elements, but it's really not far fetched from the normal budget Hamilton options.
Now that's the listed price, these sold out immediately and are being scalped for $5k+ on ebay. That would definitely be a merchandise bump.
I mean I guess to someone who isn't into watching that can seem expensive. Anecdotal but I have some military friends who have rolexs and other similar "luxury" watches and they wear them when that are deployed.
Finally. We media-illiterate, pre-release buying, integrity-requesting-of-our-journalism video gamers finally get to play as a bitter middle-aged man lost to nostalgia lacking the self-awareness required to feel shame at betraying his principles.
I feel as though there should be a rage-inducing YouTube video about this. But there's probably not.
YouTube is already overrun with enough of this garbage
I personally don't mind product placement if it
In RE9, it's pretty much part of the cutscenes and sort of in the environments. I didn't even realise Leon was driving a Porsche until I completed the game and replayed it. I definitely spotted the fancy watches, but I was like "eh, give me zombies game"
The most egregious use of product placement (for me) came from Death Stranding. Having to drink Monster Energy drinks to refuel his stamina is just...??? Like, this is an apocalyptic world and Monster Energy drinks are still a thing that people actively want to drink?!? And it's pretty much always there in the restroom just waiting for Sam to drink (and not just sipping, just straight up downing the lot). When I saw it, it reminded of the "Please drink a verification can" meme.
A silly watch and a car that isn't integral to gameplay is fine to me. If the car was something the player needed to drive, but drive carefully yet fast, I would be annoyed. If the player had to look at their Hamilton watch to check their life/ammo, I would be annoyed. But none of those things are true.
I thought the Porsche and the watch were funny, they definitely fit the vibe this game was going for. It felt like a nod to James Bond, and who is Leon S. Kennedy if not an American, zombie-fighting James Bond?
I thought so too. It's funny. Leon in the game is campy as hell with his one liners and the Porsche just adds to that image. It's so over the top and self aware it loops back to good.
So the author of this article takes it a little too serious but I can vibe with the gist of it. It's funny now, but it won't stay funny when every game is filled with product placement. TV has enough of that shit, now I get ads in my games too?
Because there have been RE releases in recent times, people have been talking about the games, and that resulted in my becoming aware of the baffling (to me) fact that people find Leon a compelling character. I think the last three games were pretty good, well made games for the genre, but I've never liked Leon in any kind of way (or the other protagonists for that matter). I could probably like Jill if they developed her more I guess?
Am I just wrong? Or maybe is this a novel vs videogame writing quality gap thing? What makes Leon good enough to sell people things?
My favorite YouTuber remarked that almost every single vehicle (before RE9) that Leon has ridden on didn't end well. And then they just want him to be a car salesman...