that said, i loved the jet moto series, even though the bike classes were named after mountain dew and butterfingers... and there were ads all over the levels for them as well.

i guess i just don't like it in theory.. how long before we have popup ads, and all that kind of shit all over our delicious games. i'll tell you one thing, the day the advertisements get too bad is the day i stop playing games.

joelface

Mr.SithNinja

fuchikoma

kw4k

I don't think anyone is suggesting anything as outrageous as pop-ups; that would obviously be a terrible idea. However, a dilapidated, aged ad for Cheetos in Gears of War wouldn't hurt anything; the trick is making it feel like a part of the game, as opposed to sticking out like a sore thumb. Maybe it's one of those ads that is painted on the side of a building, and the building has been all but reduced to rubble, with only half of the original ad still standing.

That being said, it can't be done in all games. A shooter taking place in the wild West would lose some of its atmosphere if there was a billboard ad for Coke alongside a water tower. However, the same billboard could fit in very well in a game taking place in present day, and can even help tie the world in the game to our own, adding to the sense of realism.

There are good ways and bad ways to do this, and I'm looking forward to seeing how developers learn to take advantage of these opportunities while simultaneously improving their game on all fronts.

UltimatePancakeSensation

Because I already paid like 80 US$ for the damn game?

L_K_M

Norellicus

Tiber

I don't even like ads in my comic books. That's what I loved so much about Alan Moore's America's Best Comics line... ther were ads, but there was only one ad on the inside front cover, and then like 6 pages of ads after the comic, so the comics themselves are never interrupted, but when you're done with it, you inevitably end up looking at the ads at the back. At least, I did. I dunno if something like that could work in videogames. Like... maybe when you have your game sitting for 5 minutes or a couple of minutes without doing something, then the game fades into a trailer advertising other games or something. When you hit a button, it takes you back to where you were. I dunno. Maybe that isn't such a good idea.

baked ham

But I digress. The more I hear from this man the more I like him. Sony have a sensible businessman at the helm and that can only bode well. Who'd have thought that the uberlord of a global electronics behemoth would come out against revenue raising ads in games?

Good hire, Sony. Now give us a 100GB+ PS3 with DS3. And PSN Bowling in the UK. And a Bluetooth attachment - and keyboard - for the PSP.

And a PSP phone.

Please?

CortezTheKiller

Antiterra

Yea and what is with the built in adds on 360's dashboard?
Kinda like a sneaky way of selling you, without you knowing it. Sony doesn't do this.

rob6021

tehFluffz

[img522.imageshack.us]

Not only that, but the Tower of the Gods was renamed to Kotaku Tower and Tetra was replaced with Crecente.

Volcan

GOLD5

psycoking

boopadoo

I mean, does it not make sense to use real brands in areas the games need advertising to get more of a real feeling? instead of making up fake ads, why not get paid for it right?

sainraja

You should at least have an idea of what YOUR readers are....come on!

sainraja

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

The problem is, the people behind these things are stuffy old men with only a rudimentary understanding of how video games work.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

I wouldn't count on that. I've seen people complaing about advertising in Burnout Paradise where the ads don't distract you at all.

Don't be so sure now.

sainraja

And do you know why? Because if they gave the game to you for free, or lowered the cost of the game itself...the money would equal out and the company would then be back at square one. You simply cannot make a profit if you give all the advertising money you made away, just to make the game cheaper.

ToshiroTakashi

ittekimasu

gogators88

PooPooKaKaBumBum

I kinda liked it. They always advertised for things I wouldn't see in the first place (slasher flicks), but nonetheless it wasn't all that bad either.

Volturi

As much as we may not like in-game advertising, if it can help a small time developer make up the money it needs to put out a game then I'm for it.

LittleBigPlaneteer

bigdude209

Let's look at EA's Burnout Paradise. They have advertising everywhere in the game already and even have a van with advertising on its side. Now imagine if they had a contest based on taking out that van a given number of times over a weekend. The award is a new car that you can unlock. It does not take away from the game and actually adds to it. So the advertising rewards anyone who completes the given challenge.

Advertising does not have to be a bad thing. Most companies do not know how to do it well for games though.

Hiero Glyph

phinehas

As for in-game advertising. I think it can work if it can be done in a way that doesn't hurt a players immersion or suspension of disbelief, for instance if a level in an fps was a mall and advertisers paid to have their stores or products shown in that mall. But as soon as the ads become intrusive it will hamper sales and that could reduce your overall income below what you make via the advertisers.

juc

schizorogue

slacker164

Azriel77

Take Mass Effect as a new example. Imagine how funny it would be for Apple to have their logo on all the computers in Mass Effect. Sure Microsoft would never permit this to happen, but it would be a small advertising method that would work.

Hiero Glyph

PooPooKaKaBumBum

Oh, and to contrary belief, there is no such thing as subliminal messages (your brain doesn't see something indirectly and somehow get bombarded with a message to buy blue jeans and Coca Cola).

AntiZERØ

frostcircus

Gas Powered Goose

Roxeraz

I mean...watch ads on tv, watching ads online, hearing ads on the radio...turning on my Xbox 360 for another ad...playing an EA game for more ads...I mean gotdamn...let my black asss breathe!

Batousi

If a game has ads it should be cheaper or free for the consumer. Some MMORPGs like Anarchy Online are free to play thanks to advertisements. Though I can't actually say that any commercials fit in with that setting. But for games situated in the real world it can actually add more realism to the experience as a whole, although I can't remember any games nailing that yet.

Roxeraz

The Vampire Raziel

If it helps lower the cost of the game/development and consumers get in on some of the savings, then I'm even more for it.

phinehas

FOOD88

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

Now I don't expect real ads in fantasy based games or medival ones cause it doesn't make sense, unless is done like back then. A kid in the street screaming to buy his newest 'Pepsi'...and then you kill him (sadistic, but oh well :P), yep that is how ads should be handle in those kind of games.

daknight

Let's say a compnay wanted to market a new car. A game like Call of Duty 4 could manage this by replacing a generic car on some multiplayer maps with a replica of that car. Players could have fun just blowing up the new, shiny car over and over again. The best way to do this is to limit the window of this advertising so that it only shows up over a given weekend.

Games based on the real world have the best chance for traditional advertising (I'm talking about you GTAIV), but even games like Devil May Cry 4 can utilize it in a new way. Take Gillette's advertising in Burnout Paradise, now imagine having a limited edition weapon available for one week that Nero can use called the Fusion. After the advertising window is over the weapon is gone and no longer available to anyone.

Hiero Glyph

goodstuffmaynard

PooPooKaKaBumBum

PooPooKaKaBumBum

But if the ad fits, run with it. Billboards in GTA? As long as they're billboards and not dashboards, why not? And an 80's Vice City style ad campaign for products that have been around that long anyway could fit. I'd love to see a retro Tony the Tiger in GTA hocking box art that's thirty years out of date. But GTA is at least set in something emblematic of a real world. Branded airplanes or cars are fine there, right?

But what kind of innovation is going to allow people to not mind ads in their game? Are we going to go the route of product placement and have all PS3 characters talk on those damn Ericson phones all the damn time or are we going to have radio and tv ads snuck in the background of all the games? Or is it going to be the product-fit-the-game-model where in some army sim, all of the bad guys use Japanese import cars that break down while the guys in your squad won't shut up about how damn reliable their Fords are? (see: 24)

For me, any game that seeks to emulate the real (and current) world, put in real world advertising. The Sims, EA Sports games, Second Life - go nuts. Anything else - you'd better be careful to make sure I don't see the advertising at all, or I'll toss it in the rubbish bin so fast your profits will drop.

Y'know. Unless my dungeon seige team talks up the iPhone now and again. I'm all for anachronisms.

Tonx

PooPooKaKaBumBum

The Vampire Raziel

=O

=O

Gas Powered Goose

I am okay with subsidizing game costs with ads though (look at Battlefield Heroes for a small scale example).

Lstormy10

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

When I see a billboard from the road, it's easier for me to give in to a splurge decision than when I'm home at night, trying to complete the objectives in my game.

MaxVest

Hammertime

PooPooKaKaBumBum

Katorok

SolidOni_ds

Dorcas

PooPooKaKaBumBum

slacker164

Cola82

Lstormy10

Toasticus

SolidOni_ds

SolidOni_ds