Exactly How Much can Marketing Insult Video Gamers?

Kelly Herdrich is a 28 year old "stay at home mom, writer, and international traveler" - Mmmm, that's an achievement in itself. And Kelly doesn't stop there. As far as we can tell, Kelly's a bright and breezy character and a hard worker too. In between internationally travelling and bringing up two kids, she's also had time to write about the following subjects in the last month:

Princeton Review Releases 2009 College and University Rankings.

President Accepts Recommendation to Execute Army Private Ronald Gray.

Knoxville Church Shooting Brings Communities Together.

Tuscany at a Glance: Siena with Children.

First Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer to Be Released Tonight.

TurboTax Software Vs. TaxCut Software.

Bombings in Bangalore; Impact on America.

That's just a sample of one month's output: politics, travel, film trailers, tax software comparative reviews; Kelly's also covered, knitting, printable birth announcements, how to tell if you're pregnant, a nightlife guide to Lower Manhattan, Google's Knol and more.

Yup, Kelly's a veritable power house of copy on a range of subjects that would challenge most writers who aren't travelling around Tuscany while staying at home. Today she even turned her magpie talent to the latest PlayStation 3 firmware update.

Here's what the doyen of copy has to say about it in her piece called, "PS3 Update 2.42 Now Available; Playstation Reminds Public Why PS3 is Best".

"Thanks to ingenious design features of the Playstation 3, you might not even know that a new version was updated to your PS3 yesterday."

So, automatic background updating for Kelly's PS3. But wait, there's more:

"For those still putting off their PS3 purchase, don't. This latest update reminds the public that PS3 really does offer something unique."

For the truly dull of mind, Kelly's got even more insight, "PS3 update 2.42 just brings the ease and connectability of Playstation 3 to the forefront again.... This type of ease, along with ever appearing updates such as PS3 version 2.42, puts Playstation in its own playing field."

Kelly also manages to discern the fact that PS3 has now finally managed to beat Wii with this latest update. Read the following pearl:

"Life with Playstation's release, which should be soon according to Internet buzz, will include the one thing Wii holds over Playstation's head. This update will allow users to get their news and weather information directly from their Playstation.

"Once this happens, Playstation 3 really will have it all, allowing users to surf the Internet, get their news and weather, watch and download television shows and movies in the best available format, and play some of the most lifelike games I've ever seen. PS3 update 2.42 is just the tip of the iceberg."

As far as we're aware, this is the first thing Kelly's had to say about PS3 or any video game console for that matter. Maybe she's been hiding her expertise under a bushel? Maybe it's only now that a marketing person at Sony in America figured that getting someone who speaks to 'Moms' via a paid content portal would be a good way to try to negatively impact Wii sales (note, no Xbox 360 blackening here).

Either way, the piece is without doubt the nastiest, least impressive, most misinformative slice of pap we've read in a considerable time. At best it's ill informed, keyboard ka-ka slopped off to the uninformed masses. At worst it's a deeply, deeply cynical attempt at marketing-lead wire-crossing.

You can check out all of her last months outpourings at Associated Content - that's Associated Content, not PaidforContent.