Marketing blunders that make you wonder...

Posted By: Steve McBarnes - 12:51:22 Mon, October 15, 2007

Oh Johnathan " Fatal1ty" Wendel. Did you agree to this sort of thing when XFX paid you oodles of money to use your name for a line of "world’s fastest in their class" graphics cards? I am talking about the new (appeared on the XFX site today) XFX GeForce 8500 GT Fatal1ty video card. 8500 GT! Really?! Is XFX going to release a super overclocked 8400 GS next? Who knows? XFX seems to be able to slap Wendel's name on any video card they want, especially mid range and budget video cards. I would love to get some raw data on how many noobs you can pwn in the latest games if you buy the Fatal1ty branded 8500 GT.

XFX has not chosen to brand high end cards with the Fatal1ty name lately. In the 8000 series they have the 8500 GT, a silent 8600 GT and a 320MB 8800 GTS. Why choose the 320MB GTS? Why not the 640MB version? After all some reviews have shown that there can be visual quality differences between the 320MB and 640MB version when both cards are utlized to their maximum potential. Well at least the 8800 GTS is the fastest clocked 8800 GTS like XFX claims. Yet on that same page, XFX said the following: "The speed of light pales in comparison to the world's fastest 8600 GT." Notice how they did not say that their Fatal1ty 8600 GT is the world's fastest. They did not say that because saying that would be a lie. The world's fastest 8600 GT is either this non-Fatal1ty branded 8600 GT from XFX that is available only in Korea or this 8600 GT from Elsa. Back to this page one more time, you will see that they have yet to fabricate some marketing mumbo-jumbo (white lies) for the new 8500 GT.

I shall end my rant with this plea. Please XFX. Please release some kick ass high end Fatal1ty branded video cards like a 8800 GTX, Ultra or even a 640MB 8800 GTS. We all know that the midrange segment is very popular, but using the Fatal1ty name to convince un-informed persons that they can play at Wendel's level with a midrange video card is wrong.

Do you agree or disagree with me guys? Let me know by posting a comment.

13 Comments

Monday, October 15, 2007 4:13:11 PM

FriedCoD
guest

... graphics has nothing to do with owning anyone in anyway.. i kick alotta noob & skilled butts in CoD2 , with my Radeon 9600SE ...
not until CoD4 is coming out have i cared to upgrade my card. who cares about some punks name?

Monday, October 15, 2007 4:41:48 PM

Babalugats
guest

I'm with you Steve. But it kind of makes you wonder what really happened here, doesn't it? Is it some sort of twisted marketing scheme to deplete mVidia's surplus inventory of aging cards concocted by dubious marketing executives in order to dupe the lesser-informed gamer (or parent) who upon seeing the "FATAL1TY" name may, out of reflex, click the ol' "Buy-it-now" button? Or are we seeing the end result of a botched marketing campaign for the 8500GT which only now freed itself from what could have been a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape between the nVidia and FataL1ty camps? Either way, at the end of the day "It's a free country". So let them peddle their wares in whatever means they wish, utilizing "Snake-Oil Salesman" tactics or otherwise. It is ultimately the consumers responsibility to educate and familiarize himself with the product(s) he is contemplating purchasing prior to doing so. So, in the light of the vast database of knowledge concerning videocards readily available right here at www.gpureview.com, there's really no excuse for anyone to let themselves be duped.

Babalugats

Monday, October 15, 2007 5:05:10 PM

Steve
The Progenitor

@Babalugats [Humor]Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. [/humor]

[Serious]You are awesome and I like the way you think. People with intellects such as yours are a rare find on teh Interwebs. Stick around sir (or madam), we may find some use for you in the future.[/serious]

Monday, October 15, 2007 6:01:41 PM

anonymousD
n00b

its stupid yes but if ure name apearing on the crappiest of products brings in casho every month, thats gotta be good right? :D:

Monday, October 15, 2007 7:21:14 PM

anonymous
guest

The all mighty dollar rules! They could put this guys name on a dog turd and someone would by it. All that dude cares about is his paycheck. Word!

Monday, October 15, 2007 7:25:31 PM

anonymous
guest

Kinda a sad state this country is in when sponsorship is king. All the sports stars, actors, and musicians are all over paid and the people on the front line who save lives and deal with all the crap in the word just get more work and very little appreciation. Just remember "No good deed goes unpunished"

Monday, October 15, 2007 10:50:21 PM

Raghor
guest

Whell... The FataL1ty series ehas in the begining a ver nic high-end products. The Abit FataL1ty AA8XE whas a nice piece. Since that motherboard the brand name FataL1ty dumped down. The seem to whant it to be a low-end/mid-range thins. I dont know way but i dont like it.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 4:11:50 AM

2000mhz Brainzzz
guest

Where can I get one?

;)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 11:18:29 AM

Radiator
Senior Member

Hahah... overclocked 8500 GT .
Hell , OCing doesn't do much on mid-end cards , let alone low-end ones .

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 12:20:20 PM

Wraithdagger
guest

Bogus marketing for the loss. I'm a regular on the GameFAQs hardware boards and just what I need is more newbs thinking that these cards are uber 1337. Good job XFX, you've been bumped from my top 5 Nvidia brands.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 6:40:50 PM

anonymousD
n00b

oc'ing does wonders in some case wit hthe real mid end cards. but yeah, i agree,doesnt do much on snail ones. well yeah u get 2-3 fps more but thats 22 instead of 20....phew.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 7:39:06 PM

Mach5Motorsport
n00b

Hey, three words that should be a marketing tour de force! "FataL1ty Turbo Edition" LOL

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:31:41 PM

anonymousD
n00b

what about the number caracters? they can market a 7300 with those but ..wait, if they put 512 megs of ddr2 some suckers will happilly buy it :yllol:

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