I don't mind ads in games at all. Means more money for the developers, and I can't really argue with that.
ads change the game design though.
You can expect less fantasy or historical games because the ads need to fit in. Publishers will end up vetoing games not set in ad-friendly settings/
I've sat in meetings where a crap part of the game needed to be culled, but we couldn't cull it because the company had already spent the advertisers money for that part of the game.
Its not just a matter of annoying the player, adverts basically put the board of pepsi in the game design meeting. that's not good.
How do you guys feel about in-game advertising in the form of playable characters? Like The Secret Apprentice in Soul Calibur IV (which is basically an adl for The Force Unleashed)
Problem is, EA's reach is getting longer and longer and harder and faster. Would it break the immersion if you had to equip the Durex Ultra-Thin before Shepard boinks a blue alien, lest you catch interstellar herpes?
No, because you're making predictions of the future without using the appropriate <MISSCLEO> tags nor reference to autofellatio. Thankfully that's been corrected below.
No publisher in their right mind is going to sign a deal that compromises what makes their game what it is. The 'Mein Thirsten!' PA comic is funny because it's ridiculous hyperbole, not because it's actually plausible.
If there comes a day when you are chatting with Frodo over a pint of Guinness then I will gladly eat my own cock.
...EA products exempt. :S
Problem is, EA's reach is getting longer and longer. Would it break the immersion if you had to equip the Durex Ultra-Thin before Shepard boinks a blue alien, lest you catch interstellar herpes? Maybe you'll need the Numbing Agent too if you haven't got a high enough stamina score.
Which won't happen, I say!
Willeth on
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Problem is, EA's reach is getting longer and longer and harder and faster. Would it break the immersion if you had to equip the Durex Ultra-Thin before Shepard boinks a blue alien, lest you catch interstellar herpes?
I don't mind product placement that much. Only if it's extremely blatant.
If I were playing a Star Wars game and Han Solo announced that he wouldn't leave Hoth Base without his coat that he got on sale from Land's End... ARGH. Just show the logo on the coat.
Problem is, EA's reach is getting longer and longer and harder and faster. Would it break the immersion if you had to equip the Durex Ultra-Thin before Shepard boinks a blue alien, lest you catch interstellar herpes?
I don't mind product placement that much. Only if it's extremely blatant.
If I were playing a Star Wars game and Han Solo announced that he wouldn't leave Hoth Base without his coat that he got on sale from Land's End... ARGH. Just show the logo on the coat.
If you honestly, seriously believe such a situation would happen..
edit: basically, this is exactly the kind of scaremongering that I was complaining about, and have a problem with.
It's been 10 minutes since I last bought something. Quick, advertise me!
Seriously, I found the Ads in Crackdown really annoying, but really didnt mind them in BF 2142. I dunno why, I guess I was too busy sniping people. The ads in R6:V weren't bad, but that fucking dodge car that kept being the centre of attention started to piss me off. You couldnt even blow it up!
Soul Calibur is horrible already, so I'm not concerned if they make it even more so :P
So it's okay if it happens in a game you don't care about?
You're so cute when you try and pick fights.
I honestly don't think it negatively effects Soul Calibur. The game's plot is so horribly vague that anything of that sort is possible. None of the character's stories make a ton of sense, so why not throw in some more nonsensical crap. Hell, they managed to make Spawn fit in, why not a Jedi?
But if they dumb down actual good games so they are able to do more advertising along that line (like what was discussed above with future/past/fiction games being discouraged because they aren't 'ad friendly'), then I'd be pissed.
I hope you're right, but like Yahtzee I have the Guantanamo Bay approach to life, and would much rather assume the worst and be pleasantly surprised when a marketing decision is made that has a modicum of common sense.
PeregrineFalcon on
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If you honestly, seriously believe such a situation would happen..
I expect to see a threat of cock-eating to justify this prediction.
Why?
You are so confident that there will be an example on par with Han Solo name-dropping or even wearing a product that comes from a modern-day chainstore (and not from a long time ago in a galaxt far, far away), or Merry and Pippin putting aside their pipe-weed to spark up a Marlboro Lite instead?
An already existing soda machine in the newsroom in CoD4 is now Pepsi/Coke = fine.
An NPC in Conan saying "What ho, brave warrior! Thou shouldst quench thy thirst with the refreshing taste of Lymon! Visit yonder vendor to purchase a Sprite!" - fucking no.
I don't give a shit about in-game ads unless it's ridiculously obtrusive.
I have seen no-one at all complaining about Snake's iPod, for example.
Really tempted to make a joke about MGS fans here, but I won't.
I haven't seen Snake's iPod, but I'm gonna guess he doesn't start monologuing about how awesome it is that he can buy music off of iTunes.
Never mind the fact that Otacon's laptop is a MacBook Pro and they have a shot or two where they zoom in on it. Hell, it was such a good replication that I knew it was the exact same model that I have.
all the stuff shot for the tv at the beginning of the game was done by the guys who do the ipod commercials as well
An already existing soda machine in the newsroom in CoD4 is now Pepsi/Coke = fine.
An NPC in Conan saying "What ho, brave warrior! Thou shouldst quench thy thirst with the refreshing taste of Lymon! Visit yonder vendor to purchase a Sprite!" - fucking no.
Why?
You are so confident that there will be an example on par with Han Solo name-dropping or even wearing a product that comes from a modern-day chainstore (and not from a long time ago in a galaxt far, far away), or Merry and Pippin putting aside their pipe-weed to spark up a Marlboro Lite instead?
The real problem with in game ads is that eventually companies who want to make games where they don't make sense will have a tough time getting their game published because it can't have ads.
That's any fantasy, most scifi, and anything based in the past or future. So I hope people enjoy sports games and games set in modern day shopping malls.
I think that's a whole different thing though. The game was designed around Skittles. It's not a pre-existing franchise with that advertising glued to it.
The real problem with in game ads is that eventually companies who want to make games where they don't make sense will have a tough time getting their game published because it can't have ads.
That's any fantasy, most scifi, and anything based in the past or future. So I hope people enjoy sports games and games set in modern day shopping malls.
I think, barring fantasy, you could still have advertising in games like that, you just have to make them fit the setting, you can't just paste a logo for a product into it.
Why?
You are so confident that there will be an example on par with Han Solo name-dropping or even wearing a product that comes from a modern-day chainstore (and not from a long time ago in a galaxt far, far away), or Merry and Pippin putting aside their pipe-weed to spark up a Marlboro Lite instead?
A real-time action/adventure game for teens and adults based around several of the popular and enigmatic Skittles: Taste the Rainbow fantasy television commercials.
A game based on an advert for a product is advertising said product.
Colour me shocked and amazed.
An already existing soda machine in the newsroom in CoD4 is now Pepsi/Coke = fine.
An NPC in Conan saying "What ho, brave warrior! Thou shouldst quench thy thirst with the refreshing taste of Lymon! Visit yonder vendor to purchase a Sprite!" - fucking no.
Falcon - your second example has never happened and will never happen, and people need to stop touting it as an anti-in-game-ad thing.
I've played that game. It's god awful. Well, there is some funny writing in the game, but it's surrounded by a tasty candy coating and some uninteresting gameplay.
The real problem with in game ads is that eventually companies who want to make games where they don't make sense will have a tough time getting their game published because it can't have ads.
That's any fantasy, most scifi, and anything based in the past or future. So I hope people enjoy sports games and games set in modern day shopping malls.
I think, barring fantasy, you could still have advertising in games like that, you just have to make them fit the setting, you can't just paste a logo for a product into it.
How would you do an ad in say, Mass Effect? I know I quite playing Battlefield 2142 when I stumbled across a giant billboard for the movie Ghostrider. You know, since it was so awesome they were still advertising for it 140 years in the future.
A real-time action/adventure game for teens and adults based around several of the popular and enigmatic Skittles: Taste the Rainbow fantasy television commercials.
A game based on an advert for a product is advertising said product.
Colour me shocked and amazed.
Which proves that for hefty enough sacks of money, developers can be coerced into making not only games with ads, but ads as games.
Also,
Last edited by PeregrineFalcon : Today at 12:02 PM. Reason: In before hurf durf that's not a real/good game and therefore doesn't qualify
Since I've proven my ability to see the future more effectively than you, will you admit that a shitty developer/publisher *cough* EA *cough* could buy into this?
PeregrineFalcon on
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The real problem with in game ads is that eventually companies who want to make games where they don't make sense will have a tough time getting their game published because it can't have ads.
That's any fantasy, most scifi, and anything based in the past or future. So I hope people enjoy sports games and games set in modern day shopping malls.
I think, barring fantasy, you could still have advertising in games like that, you just have to make them fit the setting, you can't just paste a logo for a product into it.
How would you do an ad in say, Mass Effect? I know I quite playing Battlefield 2142 when I stumbled across a giant billboard for the movie Ghostrider. You know, since it was so awesome they were still advertising for it 140 years in the future.
see, that's the problem. you don't advertise movies in games like that. you do some sort of product, and you make the ad futuristic looking, change up the logo, that sort of thing
I mean, I can imagine coke being around for another 100 years. I can't imagine it'll look exactly like it does now, though.
Yeah they had ads for Intel that actually kind of worked with the setting, the art style on them matched the surroundings. It still felt cheap though and the game would have been better without them.
Actually it would have been better sold as an expansion pack, but that's another issue.
No, because if you go play a game like skate, there was plenty of opportunity for *cough* EA *cough* to abuse their position. It was pointed out by the designers themselves that they didn't do this. Yes the game features lots of real-life skate products and brands (and rightly so, it's what I want and I wouldn't have it any other way) but they could've easily pushed it so that newer/better products change your stats and make you better. As it is, everything is cosmetic and it's down to you to choose what you want, there's no emphasis from the game. Hell, you can even go around in entirely non-branded stuff if you like.
And a hefty sack of money sways developers? Have you seen the developers? I could buy them out with the contents of my wallet, and have them make a game about how awesome I am.
And what's wrong with making an ad as a game? If it's a bad game, it's a bad game. If the best game ever made is a glorified ad for a company, I'll play it.
No, because if you go play a game like skate, there was plenty of opportunity for *cough* EA *cough* to abuse their position. It was pointed out by the designers themselves that they didn't do this. Yes the game features lots of real-life skate products and brands (and rightly so, it's what I want and I wouldn't have it any other way) but they could've easily pushed it so that newer/better products change your stats and make you better. As it is, everything is cosmetic and it's down to you to choose what you want, there's no emphasis from the game. Hell, you can even go around in entirely non-branded stuff if you like.
And a hefty sack of money sways developers? Have you seen the developers? I could buy them out with the contents of my wallet, and have them make a game about how awesome I am.
And what's wrong with making an ad as a game? If it's a bad game, it's a bad game. If the best game ever made is a glorified ad for a company, I'll play it.
Allow me to point out something that I believe most of you already know (but from an official-ish standpoint):
As a professional media researcher and member of The American Association of Public Opinion Research, I can safely say this study is horseshit.
80% positive response to something like advertising make me think there might be bias, seeing that this was research commissioned by a in-game advertising firm confirms it.
Most smaller indy-research firms will "play to the ear of the client", i.e. telling them what they want to hear. Giving good news is much easier than bad news. Most clients will blindingly accept good news, bad news usually necessitates unending inquiry into methods, measures, and supplementary analysis.
I also wonder exactly who was being polled and how it was done, which could quite obviously be a huge source of bias.
Like all others before me, I don't mind ads if they fit with the context. However, I do believe I would actually enjoy in game ads if the advertisers added a healthy dose of creativity and balls to the equation.
For example, for the inevitable Condenmed sequel, Black and Decker logos could be shown on the power tools used to slay your hobo adversaries.
Or, in a brilliant two birds one stone, Marlboro/Camel/etc could have their ciggirettes used in a game, with appropriate benefits (cross hair focusing) and drawbacks (minor damage, maybe excessive use would require more and more to get the initial effects), thus producing a somewhat balanced approach to tobbacco. In Fallout, ancient Skoal tins could be utilized to increase your Perception, but with a hit on your charisma, pronlonged use would cause vomiting and poision (indicating your character made the fatal mistake of swallowing his "lip")
I always though the Ghost in the Shell advertisement in Syndicate Wars was interesting. It blended in perfectly with the environment. I didn't realize what it was until I stopped to watch it.
Rakai on
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Like all others before me, I don't mind ads if they fit with the context. However, I do believe I would actually enjoy in game ads if the advertisers added a healthy dose of creativity and balls to the equation.
For example, for the inevitable Condenmed sequel, Black and Decker logos could be shown on the power tools used to slay your hobo adversaries.
Or, in a brilliant two birds one stone, Marlboro/Camel/etc could have their ciggirettes used in a game, with appropriate benefits (cross hair focusing) and drawbacks (minor damage, maybe excessive use would require more and more to get the initial effects), thus producing a somewhat balanced approach to tobbacco. In Fallout, ancient Skoal tins could be utilized to increase your Perception, but with a hit on your charisma, pronlonged use would cause vomiting and poision (indicating your character made the fatal mistake of swallowing his "lip")
the thing is I don't know if black and decker want to be known as the "hobo destroying" brand of power tool.
Posts
ads change the game design though.
You can expect less fantasy or historical games because the ads need to fit in. Publishers will end up vetoing games not set in ad-friendly settings/
I've sat in meetings where a crap part of the game needed to be culled, but we couldn't cull it because the company had already spent the advertisers money for that part of the game.
Its not just a matter of annoying the player, adverts basically put the board of pepsi in the game design meeting. that's not good.
Yeah I'm probably just confused with the SSX and NBA Street games that had Mario, Luigi and Peach in them.
Call it a condom, drop any ®, ©, or ™, and display the packaging and unique product styling in a natural, real way. A durex product alone won't draw me out of a game. It's the stupid ad copy and hokey stipulations about how prominently and at what angle the product is featured that does it.
Which won't happen, I say!
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
So it's okay if it happens in a game you don't care about?
This, so much this.
I don't mind product placement that much. Only if it's extremely blatant.
If I were playing a Star Wars game and Han Solo announced that he wouldn't leave Hoth Base without his coat that he got on sale from Land's End... ARGH. Just show the logo on the coat.
If you honestly, seriously believe such a situation would happen..
edit: basically, this is exactly the kind of scaremongering that I was complaining about, and have a problem with.
Seriously, I found the Ads in Crackdown really annoying, but really didnt mind them in BF 2142. I dunno why, I guess I was too busy sniping people. The ads in R6:V weren't bad, but that fucking dodge car that kept being the centre of attention started to piss me off. You couldnt even blow it up!
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
You're so cute when you try and pick fights.
I honestly don't think it negatively effects Soul Calibur. The game's plot is so horribly vague that anything of that sort is possible. None of the character's stories make a ton of sense, so why not throw in some more nonsensical crap. Hell, they managed to make Spawn fit in, why not a Jedi?
But if they dumb down actual good games so they are able to do more advertising along that line (like what was discussed above with future/past/fiction games being discouraged because they aren't 'ad friendly'), then I'd be pissed.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Why?
You are so confident that there will be an example on par with Han Solo name-dropping or even wearing a product that comes from a modern-day chainstore (and not from a long time ago in a galaxt far, far away), or Merry and Pippin putting aside their pipe-weed to spark up a Marlboro Lite instead?
all the stuff shot for the tv at the beginning of the game was done by the guys who do the ipod commercials as well
I only hope this game fucking tanked horribly enough to serve as a warning.
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like being in the 1930s and seeing a 1930's era coke ad would be sort of neat
Go on. I believe you were saying something funny.
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That's any fantasy, most scifi, and anything based in the past or future. So I hope people enjoy sports games and games set in modern day shopping malls.
I think, barring fantasy, you could still have advertising in games like that, you just have to make them fit the setting, you can't just paste a logo for a product into it.
Well now that I've done a little research on it, you might as well have referenced Sneak King, no?
Here, let me help:
A game based on an advert for a product is advertising said product.
Colour me shocked and amazed.
I've played that game. It's god awful. Well, there is some funny writing in the game, but it's surrounded by a tasty candy coating and some uninteresting gameplay.
How would you do an ad in say, Mass Effect? I know I quite playing Battlefield 2142 when I stumbled across a giant billboard for the movie Ghostrider. You know, since it was so awesome they were still advertising for it 140 years in the future.
I hope you're all happy.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
Also, Since I've proven my ability to see the future more effectively than you, will you admit that a shitty developer/publisher *cough* EA *cough* could buy into this?
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Can we all agree that Skittles are delicious but have no real place in games?
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see, that's the problem. you don't advertise movies in games like that. you do some sort of product, and you make the ad futuristic looking, change up the logo, that sort of thing
I mean, I can imagine coke being around for another 100 years. I can't imagine it'll look exactly like it does now, though.
Aren't they doing something like that for Fallout 3?
I may be mistaken but I seem to recall reading about old ads in oldtime games or something like that.
Actually it would have been better sold as an expansion pack, but that's another issue.
if they are they stole my idea and I'm suing them
And a hefty sack of money sways developers? Have you seen the developers? I could buy them out with the contents of my wallet, and have them make a game about how awesome I am.
And what's wrong with making an ad as a game? If it's a bad game, it's a bad game. If the best game ever made is a glorified ad for a company, I'll play it.
Castaway did alright as a film, didn't it?
Cast Away was the best FedEx ad I've ever seen.
As a professional media researcher and member of The American Association of Public Opinion Research, I can safely say this study is horseshit.
80% positive response to something like advertising make me think there might be bias, seeing that this was research commissioned by a in-game advertising firm confirms it.
Most smaller indy-research firms will "play to the ear of the client", i.e. telling them what they want to hear. Giving good news is much easier than bad news. Most clients will blindingly accept good news, bad news usually necessitates unending inquiry into methods, measures, and supplementary analysis.
I also wonder exactly who was being polled and how it was done, which could quite obviously be a huge source of bias.
Statistical Nerd Rage.
BNet: StandrdError#1826
For example, for the inevitable Condenmed sequel, Black and Decker logos could be shown on the power tools used to slay your hobo adversaries.
Or, in a brilliant two birds one stone, Marlboro/Camel/etc could have their ciggirettes used in a game, with appropriate benefits (cross hair focusing) and drawbacks (minor damage, maybe excessive use would require more and more to get the initial effects), thus producing a somewhat balanced approach to tobbacco. In Fallout, ancient Skoal tins could be utilized to increase your Perception, but with a hit on your charisma, pronlonged use would cause vomiting and poision (indicating your character made the fatal mistake of swallowing his "lip")
the thing is I don't know if black and decker want to be known as the "hobo destroying" brand of power tool.