I still think they could live with trimming games back down to $50 though... >_>

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However, it doesn't effectively make me WANT any of these things. Case in point, I've vowed never to buy a Gilette product until those Gilette vans stop driving in front of me in the middle of an event.

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I'd rather Midway or another struggling game company use advertising to support their ventures than to go out of business completely.

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To be fair, I actually liked "Game Fuel." The flavor, anyway. I never cared for Halo, strangely, and still haven't bought it. I bought a case of "Game Fuel" and me and my buddy spent the night playing "Rainbow Six: Vegas 2" on the PS3.

@StriderShinryu:

Agreed, I never bought anything as a result of a game. But the thing is, I don't mind ads in games where they make sense. If I'm playing a NASCAR game (not that I would, as I like to turn right once in a while) I would expect every last inch right down to a driver's taint to be covered in ads. Driver jump suits, track walls, billboards... Why? Because that's what it's like in real life.

Same can be said of a baseball or football game, with the exceptions of the uniforms. Go to a stadium or watch a game on TV, you are covered in ads. The Tostido's Bowl sponsored half-time show presents MTV's "The Pussycat Dolls" with a special appearance by "E!: Entertainment Television" networks own Joel McHale!"

But if they took it the extra step and put stuff on the players uniforms, outside of the occasional and expected Nike "Swoosh," I could see and would expect a certain amount of outrage.

But outside of sports games, I don't see it working well. In your average FPS, billboards with real life companies can be rather... conspicuous. If you are playing a game set in Iraq, I guess it's not outrageous to see a Coke ad or something. But if all your other environments are destroyed and collapsing, that billboard better not look like it's never been touched. Coke is tasty, but it doesn't repel artillery.

In that vein, you also need to be careful about the tastefulness of the ads. if you are going to have said game set in Iraq (like the upcoming "Six Days in Fallujah"), maybe it's best to NOT advertise in there. It's serious subject matter, and seeing advertising firms trying to be witty and memorable can come off as callous.

Imagine going around a corner, scanning for enemy insurgents, and seeing that untouched and glimmering Coke billboard proudly encouraging you to "Taste the Shock and Ahhhh..."

But sometimes, it just doesn't fit. While not a video game, "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" jumped out at me horribly the first time I watched it in the theater. When the lead character fires a flare up, and we see a post apocalyptic planet set presumably in another universe (Final Fantasy usually is, though this wasn't really the case here) and we see the full scale of the horrible destruction and rot on this place... Expect for a perfectly pristine Pepsi billboard off to the right perfectly illuminated for two full seconds by the levitating flare.

So, really long story made slightly shorter, so long as you can make it fit and it's not obtrusive (or indestructible in a destructible universe), I don't see a problem with it. The only other transgression that could be made is simular to EA's attempt with Battlefield 2142, to scan your cookies and advertise accordingly.

Nope, sorry, you took it too far.

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