This untapped potential of games upsets the very foundation of advertising as we know it. Instead of surrounding us with images that reflect lives unlived, games can allow us to try out hypothetical lives with new products, people and ideas. To realise this potential, advertisers of both goods and viewpoints must stop blindly inserting their billboards into games or creating feeble copies of the cornerstones of videogame pop culture. Instead, they must start simulating the products, public policy positions, charitable interventions and other worldly ideas in new games - games worthy of our attention.

I'm not sure I want to see advergames all over the place, but if we have to put up with in-game advertising, a little more sophistication would be welcomed.

Advertisers have yet to unlock the power of play [The Guardian]

In 1983 Coca Cola commissioned Atari to create a cartridge for the company's annual sales convention. The result was Pepsi Invaders, a Space Invaders variant in which the aliens were replaced by letters spelling out PEPSI. The production run was 125, one for each of the attendees of Coke's sales convention that year. Sales executives also received an Atari 2600 console along with the game. The assumption must have been that shooting down Pepsi at night might inspire more fervent sales efforts during the day.

The very small production run for the game probably makes it the rarest title for the Atari VCS. Since Coke sales executives didn't know the difference, the title is also very hard to find — it would have found its way into attics and closets unnoticed. To make matters worse, the cartridge has no label.

The last time I saw one sell it went for $1,800, although it looks like we just missed one a week ago on Ebay, which was unable to get its $975 asking price.

Pepsi Invaders [Atari Age]

Remember the Kool-Aid Man character and ad campaign from the 70s and 80s? Oh, Yeeeaaahh. By the early 80s, General Foods had started spreading the character beyond their own advertising, first into comic books. In 1983, Mattel's M-Network software division created videogame versions of Kool-Aid Man for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. This was a more complex process than the Johnson & Johnson and Purina games I mentioned earlier.

General Foods did a lucrative deal with Mattel. There were two ways to get the game. One was by mailing in proofs of purchase, just like Tooth Protectors. The amount of Kool-Aid you would have had to drink was irrational, over 60 gallons by my count. Another was just to buy it the game at retail.

Even by 1981 third-party publishers were creating games for multiple platforms. Imagic in particular, which was founded by ex-Atari developers, started creating their titles for VCS and Intellivision, as well as VIC-20, Colecovision and Odyssey 2. But these were always ports of the same game.

The Intellivision and Atari versions of Kool-Aid Man, however, are completely different. Not just slightly different graphics and sound to account for the different machines, but totally different games. Both games pitted the player (as the Kool-Aid Man) against the evil Kool-Aid stealing Thirsties while collecting the fixings for a refreshing pitcher of Kool-Aid. In the VCS version, Thirsties are drinking all the contents of a swimming pool. The player must touch the Thirsties' straws to stop them. In the Intellivision version, player, Thirsties, and kids are trapped in a haunted house. The player must help the children avoid the Thirsties.

Making two different versions of the same title hadn't happened before and, perhaps unfortunately, didn't really happen again.

The reason for making different versions of the same game is actually quite compelling. Platforms differ. The Atari and the Intellivision in particular are very different machines. The ̄Atari has no frame buffer and requires the programmer to synchronize graphics to the scanline of the television. The Intellivision has an operating system, a lot more RAM, and a video graphics system based on "cards" (or what we'd now call "tiles").

The M-Network programmers made the argument that each game should be different to take advantage of the different capabilities of the systems. Marketing reluctantly agreed, partly because of the limited development time allotted for the campaign.

It's an interesting lesson in an age when games are rarely developed for a single platform. Titles that appear for all three current consoles are usually developed atop middleware that makes targeting easier. Of course, this can also change how the titles are designed and developed — the middleware is the platform as much as the end machine. Unfortunately, console exclusive titles are often marketing ploys more than they are attempts to take full advantage of a specific platform.

Kool-Aid Man Ads [Toy Adz]

As far as I can tell, the earliest such game is Datsun 280 Zzzap, a coin-op game from 1976. Midway had previously released the game as Midnite Racer, which was essentially the same as Atari's Night Driver, the original first-person racing game. There are no graphics in either game, just the black, black night and reflective signs to show the edges of the road. But the cabinet art and labeling for Datsun 280 Zzzap featured the name of the vehicle, and in some cases an image of the car. I count this as the first intersection of advertising and videogames.

280 Zzzap [Killer List of Video Games]

The games depicted above aren't the first advergames (more on that another day), but they are among my favorites. They are Chase the Chuckwagon, created for Purina, and Tooth Protectors, for Johnson & Johnson.

In 1982-1983, enormous numbers of games were created for the Atari VCS by large and small developers alike. The flood of games on the market may have partly contributed to the so-called "videogame crash of 1983." But it also represented a time when anyone could create, manufacture, and distribute a game for the most popular home console system.

One of the groups that became interested in such activities were corporations trying to market their wares to kids and families. Remember sending in UPCs? These two games were created as promotions for purchases. You would have to buy Purina dog chow or Johnson & Johnson dental hygeine products and then send in the UPCs to get the game.

As far as the games go, they aren't world changing experiences, but they are interesting attempts to integrate the products into a game. In Chase, you have to steer a dog to the Purina chuckwagon, avoiding a dogcatcher. In Tooth Protectors, you have to protect the teeth from attacking food bits. A full brushing regimen can be used to revitalize. I've got much more about how both games make claims about the products they advertise in my book.

Since these games were only available by mail and for a short time, they are pretty rare. Some speculate that Chase is part of the inspiration for the title game in the novel Lucky Wander Boy, although I don't think there's any evidence for that claim. Chase actually came in a box, although I don't have it. Tooth Protectors was simply shipped in a foam insert.

Chase the Chuckwagon [Atari Age]
Tooth Protectors [Atari Age]