A call from my father during a recent episode of The Walking Dead has me pondering the target audience for video game advertisements. You see, my father has zero interest in the subculture, but he was so stunned at the production values in the new Mass Effect 3 commercial that played during the episode that he felt compelled to pick up the phone and call me. He said that he had never seen anything like it before and was shocked when he realized it was an advertisement for a video game.

Like him, what I saw impressed me. But I see awe-inspiring computer-generated graphics every day. I consume every bit of information on the topic that I can, checking various industry websites and blogs multiple times per hour. Perhaps I have simply become desensitized to the magnificence of contemporary visuals.

But a more striking thought occurred to me after my father hung up the phone: I had known that the Mass Effect 3 commercial was coming. It was well covered news to those in the community that the full version of the teaser would play during the February 19 episode. Though a large overlap probably exists between those who are into Mass Effect and those who watch The Walking Dead, it's likely that many people tuned in just to watch that commercial.

Two questions entered my mind as I pondered the true intent of the 90-second spot: First, how many people who have played the first two Mass Effect titles were not aware of the imminent release of the third installment until seeing the commercial? Second, how many people who don't know what Mass Effect is actually cared about seeing this advertisement?

I struggle with the answers to these questions because I believe that the core audience is so “plugged in” that they almost always have their finger on the pulse of big news in the industry. Have you ever walked into a GameStop and brought up a hot news item to a crowd of gamers? In my experience, it is nearly impossible to inform that crowd of anything. If I have the information in my brain, and any appreciable amount of time has passed, every other gamer knows the info as well.

For example, when I walked into my local GameStop recently, I asked the guy behind the counter what he knew about Double Fine’s Kickstarter. Immediately, three other customers chimed in with their thoughts. Though everyone had a different way of expressing their opinion, it was clear that no one was learning anything new. They all knew everything that had been written about the subject already. As I said, we have a plugged-in culture that absorbs this type of information almost as soon as it hits.

So if the gaming community already knows that Mass Effect 3 is coming out in a few weeks, does an advertisement really help sell any copies of the game? Were any one of those people I spoke to previously planning on skipping this title, only to have their minds changed by an ad during The Walking Dead? Perhaps you can find some anecdotal examples where this happens, but the culture I perceive leads me to believe that most gamers already know if they are ever going to play this sequel.

But what about my father? You know, the guy who never picks up a controller and only owns a PS3 because it has Netflix? Is he true target of this commercial? Is the intent to convince people that have written off the medium of the hobby's merits? Certainly, companies in general are justified in their belief that if more people are talking about their products, more people are buying them. But if the gaming community already sees the big titles coming, aren't they already talking? What demographic is left to try and entice into making the purchase?

Will my father purchase Mass Effect 3? It would be a major first for the man if he did. Perhaps if he sees enough ads showcasing the awesome power of current video game systems, he will be convinced to give them a try. And while I definitely don’t think tonight’s ad hurts Mass Effect 3 in any way, I still have to sit and wonder which new audience had its attention brought to this game by such a commercial.