As long is they're in logical places and don't interrupt, I don't care. I don't want to be walking along in Castlevania and have a Jenny-O turkey pop out of a wall, though. Or much worse, be attacked by Frankenberry, Booberry and Count Chocula.

I wonder if I can subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter while I'm in Chicago. o_o

More ads should equal cheaper games right? I wouldn't mind seeing Pepsi sponsored menus etc if my game was $20 cheaper...

@brello:

I agree. In games like GTA it would make sense to have adverts all over the place, but If I'm shooting up aliens in outerspace set in the future, I don't want an add for bp fuel.

i have read somewhere that in the future our dreams will have ads. to pay the dream.. or something.

I don't mind things like, say, a billboard for Tide or something in a game life Grand Theft Auto. It would actually make the environment that much more realistic (although I love the hilarious spoof ads they use).

The flip side can be found in the free download PC versions of Prince of Persia Sands of Time, Ghost Recon, and Rayman Raving Rabbids -- they actually have commercials that show up before/in between levels. Now, I can't actually bitch about it because it's in free games, but if commercials like that were to appear in new release, pay-for-play titles, I would go insane.

Ads appear on TV to create revenue for networks, it's the main way networks make money because the individual channels or programs are basically free (not counting cable/satellite/etc costs). So it's sort of a trade-off for not having to pay for individual programs.

But as far as gaming, in-game ads have not lessened or alleviated game prices, which seem to be rising each generation. If they were to charge less for their games, I would perhaps be more receptive of in-game advertising. But charging full price and then subjecting the gamer to ads is sort of a double-whammy.

The games will never be cheaper. If they can get away with charging you $60+ for a game and then get a bucket load of money on top of that for product placement they will. Movies have had product placement/ads for years now and the price of movie tickets keep going up.

@Zarian:

Oh, I don't see a price drop happening (especially given the weak dollar and general inflation), I'm just saying that I would be more receptive of in-game advertising if it alleviated some of the cost.

Fry: So you're telling me they broadcast commercials into people's dreams?
Leela: Of course.
Fry: But, how is that possible?
Professor Farnsworth: It's very simple. The ad gets into your brain just like this liquid gets into this egg.
[He shows an egg and injects it with liquid from a syringe until the egg explodes.]
Professor Farnsworth: Although, in reality, it's not liquid, but gamma radiation.

Don't put advertisements in games, put games in advertisements, like the ones in that article awhile back.

If the people that make 7up put posters in hallways in games they'd get some backlash.

If they put 7up machines in hallways, people wouldn't complain, but it wouldn't be as effective.

If they licensed Cool Spot 2, well people like to complain so they still would, but I'd never drink a different pop again. You here me? I'll trade you complete brand loyalty for Cool Spot 2! Sell the license to whoever made it last time, collect a bunch of royalty fees or whatever it is you get, and have people buying 7up after seeing 7,891 collectible logo type things for it in the game.

@Zarian:

Not to completley disagree, but product placement in movies dosen;t work quite that way. Often times movies have PAID to have products put in, not the other way around. Alot of products dont want to be associated with the use in movies, such as Budwiser wouldnt want to be the brand of beer on any lifetime movie of the week, ever.

Think back to the Resse's Pieces scene in ET. That was supposed to be M & M, they were going to pay M & M to use thier product, and they said no because the candy was being eaten off the floor.

Oips, hit reply early. This hasn't happened in games yet to my knoweldge, but i'm sure it will start happening as games get more realistic. Imaging killing enemies in HL2 episode 3 with coke cans using the physics gun. I'm sure thats something Coke would want to avoid. Advertisers will have to be very careful how they chose to ahve their product show up as destructable enviros physics, and player mods become more common.

You'll be bale to smash branded vending machines, maybe turn a 2L bottle of branded soda into a high explosive container, etc.

Having paid close attention to a certain group of people for the last two years or so, I know how to spin this:

But they didn't lie. It was their last unit on the salesfloor, they never said it was their last unit in stock. Stop hating Best Buy Kotaku!

Opps, wrong topic, sorry.

In games ads can be a good thing as long as they're correctly placed and meld with the game universe.

Updated 28 Weeks Later DVD sidewalk sign in Rainbow Six Vegas: Good; adds a feeling of authenticity.

Dodge Nitro Billboard in Crackdown: Not so much.

In reality though, I don't want to see a single damn ad unless the game is selling for less. I pay 100 dollars for GH3 and I still have to put up with ludicros Pontiac and AXE product placement? Somebody needs to get a grip.

@sisedi:

More ads should equal cheaper games right?

Nope. The only way games get cheaper is if the market stops buying them at the current price.

More ads just means more profit for the publisher.

@brello: But Booberry's soul power is awesome. Why wouldn't you want it?

Come one, who isn't looking forward to OxiClean presents Manhunt 3: now with the cleaning power of oxygen!

@smitty1123:

Haha, well, Oxyclean will get out blood...

The very notion of product placement is an odd lose-lose situation. The key is to place it somewhere so the gamer doesn't lose immersion, but does notice the ad. The very second you notice the ad, however, you lose the immersion. So I feel it's impossible to fully expect any sort of product placement to be placed somewhere where you won't lose the feeling of the game. Make it too hidden and the advertisers get angry. Make it more visible and the gamers get angry.

Then again, certain games are almost tailored for it, like any sports game. Since they exist in arenas and stadiums, it's natural for ads to exist on the sidelines and on banners because that's how it actually is in real life. If anything, they are actually being more accurate by using such placement, if they are going for that whole realistic thing.

@smitty1123: Hahaha!

Or *shudder* Silent Hill 5, brought to you by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

"Just to connect the dots for you here, the claim is that NBC's sale of ads in games becomes an, uhm, advertisement for in-game ads, targeted at other would-be ad-sellers."

That's now how I read that at all. I read it (and the rest of the article which discusses this explicitly) as "NBC has decided to take some of IGA's ad space and resell it"

They aren't going to use their in-game ads to sell ads. They're going to use their conventional ad salesforce to sell in-game ads.

@Volcan: "Don't put advertisements in games, put games in advertisements!"

That would make for an awesome campaign and campaign t-shirts.

@jasu: The ability to dehydrate marshmallows? Or the ability to turn milk pink? I forget his power.

@Tei: we all saw commercials in our dreams and you don't see any of us running off to buy brand name merchandize for low, low prices...

I have to say, you win the internet just for clever use of cosmological analogy. Congratulations Bogost! You now have 1xInternet. Equip? Y/N:|

I love to use "turtles all the way down," but I'm not sure this is quite the recursive situation you make it out to be. It's not really a stretch that having heavy corporate hitters invest in in-game advertising will legitimize the business model, attracting more advertisers. Sounds like the fact that he called that effect an "advertisement" spun your head a bit. :-)