Video Game Product Placement in TV shows

Sol Invictus

I've had the misfortune of watching a recent episode of Life, the show that stars Captain Winters from Band of Brothers. In this episode, Captain Winters has to gain access to some secret excel spreadsheets that are apparently hidden in an xbox hard drive, so he asks the question:

"What are consoles?"

The answer is:

"A consoles's just a hard drive with games on it"

So the solution is simply to play a video game until he unlocks the secret files! Brilliant. I knew it was going to be bad, but I didn't think it'd be this bad.

The clip can be viewed here: http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Hellforge/Blatant-Advertising

I've also written a little list of things I learned from watching that very episode. Yeah, it's pretty bad.

So to be on topic, what other shows have you guys seen, that have had product placements of video games? There's the obvious Chuck, The IT Crowd and South Park shows, but there's got to be more. I do recall a really old episode of the TV series "Three" that had them playing the intro movie of Heavy Gear. I loved that game, but that was just silly. Damn you, Activision.

Bacon-BuTTy

haha. Holy shit that is the worst representation of videogames I have ever seen in a TV show.

That woman who was twiddling her thumbs whilst watching? Classic.

Einhander

The new Transformers movie isn't a TV show, but I thought the inclusion of an Xbox 360 (complete with the startup sound) was pretty stupid. That whole movie was a mass of product placement, though.

The Drew Carey show featured a Dreamcast and then a PS2 on top of Drew's TV. I always thought that was sort of interesting.

Obs

Wow that clip was fucking retarded.

Sol Invictus

Einhander wrote: »

The new Transformers movie isn't a TV show, but I thought the inclusion of an Xbox 360 (complete with the startup sound) was pretty stupid. That whole movie was a mass of product placement, though.

The Drew Carey show featured a Dreamcast and then a PS2 on top of Drew's TV. I always thought that was sort of interesting.

Drew plugged the Sims a lot, too, and they even did a Sims episode where they speak in Simlish. But in his defense, he actually loved the game.

Einhander

I wonder why they used Two Thrones and not the new Prince of Persia?

edit: Yeah, the consoles on the top of his TV just seemed to be placed there to make the place look more realistic (even though they were never plugged in), as opposed to product placement.

gjaustin

That's actually an episode from last season.

I was pretty surprised how bad that episode was, considering I otherwise really enjoy that show. Then again, with the Writer's Strike, there was a lot of junk last year.


This isn't a TV show, but the movie Reign Over Me used Shadow of the Colossus quite extensively. One of the characters was playing it as coping mechanism for the death of his family, and eventually the other main character starts playing it too and it ends up being a bonding experience.

Endomatic

That was insulting. I am insulted by that.

Glenn565

Also not a TV show, but who could forget multiplayer Final Fantasy 8 in Charlies Angels?

Einhander

I haven't seen Reign Over Me, but I did think it was weird seeing them play it in the trailer.

edit: My favorite part of the FFVIII in Charlie's Angels is how two kids are playing. During a cutscene.

I love how every person who plays a videogame in a TV show or movie is constantly jamming on buttons and tilting the controller around.

Crashmo

Chuck is pretty bad at this. Average dialogue from the show:

Chuck: Hey did you have fun playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare last night?

Morgan: Totally dude! I love playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare! Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the best game ever!

Chuck: What kind of team did you use in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare?

Morgan: Well, last night in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, we had 16 snipers, 4 demolitions experts, and 8 assault troopers. We totally stomped that other team in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare! *Finishes setting up Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare poster on wall*

DarkPrimus

The X-Box product placement in Season 2 of Life is much better.

elevature

I don't know if this really happens any more, but back when the brick Gameboy and the Gamegear were the big handhelds you'd always see kids playing them on tv but without any games in them, and you'd hear random beeps and boops in the soundtrack. But sometimes now you'll see a kid playing a 360 or something but the sounds are clearly from Mario Bros or some other NES-era game.

Crashmo

Also, in the Karate Kids movie, you clearly see them playing Mario 3 on the tv, but two of them are banging away on their controllers with all kinds of beeps going off.

I don't know why I remember this!

edit: Rocky loves Emily!

Sol Invictus

There were episodes of the Canadian TV show about stock brokers called "Traders" where the derivatives guy (played by the guy, David Hewitt, who's now the scientist on Stargate Atlantis) would be playing Diablo 2. I'm pretty sure it wasn't product placement because they never clearly talk about it, but whoever did the sound effects added beeps and boops to it for no reason whatsoever.

Sir Platypus

House has a GBA SP, DS, and a PSP in a few episodes. They showed a clip of one of the Metroid games on the SP and ATV Offroad Fury on the PSP.

There was an XBox in J.D. and Turk's apartment in Scrubs.

Jake on Two and a Half Men occasionally shows up with a game. I remember in one episode he wants to rent "The new Final Fantasy game," and he is shown with X in his hand. Halo 2 is advertised in the back of the store, making FFX 3 years old at the minimum.

Muddy Water

One of my friends really likes CSI. On his insistence, I watched an episode of CSI: Miami. The episode revolved around a gang committing robberies very similar to the levels of a video game. So one of the cops has to play through the said video game (a very blunt reference to GTA) to uncover their next plan. At one point, the cops found a corpse of a fat dude sitting in front of a TV with a controller in his hand. He'd been playing for days and had died of ... not feeding himself or something. At another point, a guy is accused of playing video games in response to which he goes, "Hey, I ain't no gamer, maaan!", like he'd been accused of being a junkie.

That was both hilarious and depressing.

UnbreakableVow

In season two of Heroes, Ali Larter was playing Heavenly Sword months before it came out.

In the new movie The Wrestler, there's actually an awesome scene where they bring up Call of Duty 4. He mentions about how it's pretty cool because all the other COD games are set in WWII, but this one is set in modern times. It might sound like a blatant advertisement at first, but really it's just a little kid trying to tell a middle-aged man that games have progressed since the NES era. Great movie by the way, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

Also, in Charlie's Angels, yes it was multiplayer FFVIII, but it wasn't a cutscene. I think it was actually a random battle in the Balamb Garden training area (that's what it looked like).

The Princess Bride opens with a shot of Hardball for Commodore 64.

EDIT: Also when PS2 first came out, Will Ferrell showed up in an episode of Undeclared playing Kessen.

Einhander

Sol Invictus wrote: »

whoever did the sound effects added beeps and boops to it for no reason whatsoever.

They just wanted to tighten up the sound effects on level 3.

Muddy Water

On 30 Rock, Liz's toy boy was really psyched when she gifted him Bioshock for the 360. Tracy is frequently seen playing Halo and in the last episode, Frank found "the secret skatepark in Grand Theft Auto IV".

Who the fuck says the whole name instead of just GTA?

Crashmo

I can't seem to find the movie on Google, but there was an old Sci-Fi original movie, where in the end, the main character hooks himself up to the internets to fight the main baddie.

Apparently inside the internets is Half-Life 1. It was pretty whacky.

DarkPrimus

Oh man you guys have forgotten like, the grand-daddy progenitor of all "conspiracy information is inside a video game"... The Net.

UnbreakableVow

Muddy Water wrote: »

On 30 Rock, Liz's toy boy was really psyched when she gifted him Bioshock for the 360. Tracy is frequently seen playing Halo and in the last episode, Frank found "the secret skatepark in Grand Theft Auto IV".

Who the fuck says the whole name instead of just GTA?

I kind of groaned at that first one, but then realized that at least they were plugging BioShock instead of Halo 3 or something, so I let it slide. Plus I realized that if Tina Fey went and bought me goddamn Bioshock I'd probably be the luckiest guy alive, which is what I'm sure they were trying to convey through that character. :P

Is there really a secret skatepark in GTAIV?

UnbreakableVow

DarkPrimus wrote: »

Oh man you guys have forgotten like, the grand-daddy progenitor of all "conspiracy information is inside a video game"... The Net.

The Sandra Bullock movie? Is that what that's about?

I avoided it like the plague because it's a Sandra Bullock movie.

Muddy Water

When Jim from the Office moves to a new branch, he finds that the people there are obsessed with Call of Duty. And that he sucks at it.

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

Is there really a secret skatepark in GTAIV?

Not that I know of.

DarkPrimus

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

Is there really a secret skatepark in GTAIV?

It's near one of the bridges in the downtown island. You can't actually skate, but it allows for some fun physics with bikes.

KalTorak

I forget which show it was - probably one of those CSI clones, definitely some sort of cop drama bullshit. Anyway, they were investigating a bank robbery - there had been a cop in the bank at the time, and there were other weird circumstances, and eventually they find out that it was perpetrated by a group of asshole twenty-somethings who had been playing too much "GTA-clone" (i forget if they actually gave the game a name, but that's clearly what it was). The robber they caught kept spouting game quotes and talking about points like they were all that mattered to him (apparently in the game robbing a bank while a cop is inside is worth more points). Basically the whole episode was about how video games brainwash people to the point where they think the real world is the same as the game and all they care about is scoring the most points.

KalTorak

Muddy Water wrote: »

When Jim from the Office moves to a new branch, he finds that the people there are obsessed with Call of Duty. And that he sucks at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-JwTUJqfGg

Funny, and (from what i remember), pretty accurate for once.

Muddy Water

KalTorak wrote: »

I forget which show it was - probably one of those CSI clones, definitely some sort of cop drama bullshit. Anyway, they were investigating a bank robbery - there had been a cop in the bank at the time, and there were other weird circumstances, and eventually they find out that it was perpetrated by a group of asshole twenty-somethings who had been playing too much "GTA-clone" (i forget if they actually gave the game a name, but that's clearly what it was). The robber they caught kept spouting game quotes and talking about points like they were all that mattered to him (apparently in the game robbing a bank while a cop is inside is worth more points). Basically the whole episode was about how video games brainwash people to the point where they think the real world is the same as the game and all they care about is scoring the most points.

Muddy Water wrote: »

One of my friends really likes CSI. On his insistence, I watched an episode of CSI: Miami. The episode revolved around a gang committing robberies very similar to the levels of a video game. So one of the cops has to play through the said video game (a very blunt reference to GTA) to uncover their next plan. At one point, the cops found a corpse of a fat dude sitting in front of a TV with a controller in his hand. He'd been playing for days and had died of ... not feeding himself or something. At another point, a guy is accused of playing video games in response to which he goes, "Hey, I ain't no gamer, maaan!", like he'd been accused of being a junkie.

That was both hilarious and depressing.

Hi.

UnbreakableVow

Not real games, but if you're going to make your characters play fictional games, the best examples are Dash Dingo (Crash Bandicoot), BoneStorm (Mortal Kombat), and Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge (licensed sports games) from The Simpsons.

"This is great! And all I've done is enter my name! Thrillhouse."

KalTorak

Goddamnit, get out of my brain!

MichaelLC

Muddy Water wrote: »

On 30 Rock, Liz's toy boy was really psyched when she gifted him Bioshock for the 360. Tracy is frequently seen playing Halo and in the last episode, Frank found "the secret skatepark in Grand Theft Auto IV".

Who the fuck says the whole name instead of just GTA?

People who pay to put the name in the show, that's who.

I love how the marketing suits think this is the way to advertise to us, but then they can't even get it right.

Not game-related, but an awesome clip of an in-show ad gone horribly wrong: Oreos are 7th Heaven.

EDIT: Boo! WB took down the clip. It was really bad; the two actresses were physically choking down the cookies trying to get out their dialogue.

UnbreakableVow

KalTorak wrote: »

Muddy Water wrote: »

When Jim from the Office moves to a new branch, he finds that the people there are obsessed with Call of Duty. And that he sucks at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-JwTUJqfGg

Funny, and (from what i remember), pretty accurate for once.

That's pretty much how The Office is.

Rent

gjaustin wrote: »

This isn't a TV show, but the movie Reign Over Me used Shadow of the Colossus quite extensively. One of the characters was playing it as coping mechanism for the death of his family, and eventually the other main character starts playing it too and it ends up being a bonding experience.

Except Reign Over Me is an actually good movie and the game is a perfect metaphor for the literal demons Adam Sandler's character is fighting
Oh and the game was played like it was supposed to instead of the actors slapping the controllers
Damn I should watch Reign Over Me again sometime
Also, that video was a fucking travesty
A hilarious travesty, but a travesty nonetheless

Reznik

In the new X-Men cartoon, you can see Iceman and Shadowcat playing the Iron Man game in the background of one episode

It's so out of place because it's actual in-game footage on the TV being played by 2D animated characters.

UnbreakableVow

Rent wrote: »

gjaustin wrote: »

This isn't a TV show, but the movie Reign Over Me used Shadow of the Colossus quite extensively. One of the characters was playing it as coping mechanism for the death of his family, and eventually the other main character starts playing it too and it ends up being a bonding experience.

Except Reign Over Me is an actually good movie and the game is a perfect metaphor for the literal demons Adam Sandler's character is fighting
Oh and the game was played like it was supposed to instead of the actors slapping the controllers
Damn I should watch Reign Over Me again sometime
Also, that video was a fucking travesty
A hilarious travesty, but a travesty nonetheless

He didn't say Reign Over Me was bad, nor the product placement. Product placement doesn't have to be a bad thing if done well.

Again, I point to The Office (and more than just COD).

KalTorak

Man, the video game sequence at the beginning of Toy Story 2 was so great.

Domhnall

Spaced has a brilliant Resident Evil 2 episode.

Junior Yank

One of the recent Law & Orders (SVU, I think) opened with a family playing Wii Sports. Grown women, definitely not your stereotypical "gamer" types.

If Second Life counts as a game, then The Office did a bit where Dwight's Second Life avatar was exactly like Dwight (in appearance, job, etc.) except that he could fly.

And there was a Ghost Whisperer that involved a Second Life knockoff. I wasn't really paying attention, but somehow the main character was able to "enter the game" and interact with other avatars. I think that it was all an excuse to get Jennifer Love Hewitt to dress up like a "sexy" video game character.

Rent

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

Rent wrote: »

gjaustin wrote: »

This isn't a TV show, but the movie Reign Over Me used Shadow of the Colossus quite extensively. One of the characters was playing it as coping mechanism for the death of his family, and eventually the other main character starts playing it too and it ends up being a bonding experience.

Except Reign Over Me is an actually good movie and the game is a perfect metaphor for the literal demons Adam Sandler's character is fighting
Oh and the game was played like it was supposed to instead of the actors slapping the controllers
Damn I should watch Reign Over Me again sometime
Also, that video was a fucking travesty
A hilarious travesty, but a travesty nonetheless

He didn't say Reign Over Me was bad, nor the product placement. Product placement doesn't have to be a bad thing if done well.

Again, I point to The Office (and more than just COD).

Ah, my mistake then
One of the few things I remember about that movie (besides Adam Sandler doing a really serious role and doing it well) was was it had a videogame reference that actually fucking worked
Seriously how hard is it to have your actors ACTUALLY PLAY THE GODDAMN GAME before filming starts? Just spend like 15 goddamn minutes messing with the game in question so they don't look like goddamn idiots when playing
It's like if someone went "OH HAY LETS WATCH THE GODFATHER" so the characters pop the movie into the DVD player, the movie starts, and suddenly the people watching start taping their eyes open and press their faces into the screen

Sol Invictus

There was a Sayyid episode of Lost where a terrorist cell (whom he later betrays to the police) are playing Half Life 2 on their flat screen TV in some Australian apartment.