liquidnumb

kidnicky

Ashurahori

Okay, so they don't cause me to go on a rampage, but it has got annoying enough that I stopped watching TV, and can only surf the net with Adblock on full power. I don't willingly look at the stuff because I don't enjoy being sold to after 25 years of non-stop BUYBUYBUY! It just gets old you know, and I'm tired, man. For a game to come right out and try to sell me useless garbage places it right next to cable TV, where one pays for the privilege of being sold to. No thanks!

Mr. Bushnell, may I ever get the chance, I'll buy you a beer!

Buddy_DoQ

@Bluecell:
Really? There's in game ads apart from clothes and board parts? I didn't notice...

fuchikoma

@Bluecell:
I don't think the ads in Skate were too overbearing, at least no more than in the real world (except one company controls every billboard in skate...). The products that people were most likely to buy after playing the game were probably the items that you could buy in the skate shop. You might see an awesome t-shirt in the game and then actually go out and buy that shirt.

By the way, does anyone know in these type of games, does the game company pay licensing fees to the car/skate companies, or do they pay advertising fees to the game company?

greatslack

bevins2

StartRunning

The developer and the player have no benefit from such commercials. Games will stay buggy and unfinished, Why spend the income on polishing, if you can release the game the "traditional" way and make more profit?

Kajetan

Xagest

Plus when done well, contextually relevant in-game ads add a level of realism photorealistic graphics can't. Like in EA's Skate for example...

Spadgy

mcderek3000

mcderek3000

cubed2D

darktorns

Of course, as mentioned above, this would only work in realistic games. Ads in a fantasy game make the game world seem less "real". Putting reality where it doesn't belong keeps the audience from immersing themselves completely in a fantasy world. I know I would be pissed if say Square replaced potions in Final Fintasy with Gatorade. I also have to agree with Captain Impulse. If games are going to have ads then they should be cheaper. After all, the point of putting ads in TV, radio, and magazines is to subsides publishing cost in order to reduce the final retail price.

So, game publishers, you can put ads in your games if they are tasteful and if you lower the price of games (I'm talking triple A titles for less than $40 here).

psycoking

Captain Impulse

smuckers is good

30 Rock does a great job of that. For the last while, Alec Baldwin has been trying to become the head of GE. As in General Electric. The Office also does a decent job, every so often plugging printers or shredders...or Staples itself.

Smallville completely sold out in a recent episode, in which they were advertising Stride gum. One character even says: "The Stride factory already shut down? Maybe they won't make the flavour last so long, next time." - It made me cringe.

Anyways, the only guarantee someone is going to see your advertisement is to put it right in the content, especially with the level of piracy now-a-days.

Bluecell

If you can get an advertisement in a game tasteuflly, and in keeping atmosphere of the game, like the one pictured above, it should add to the authenticity of the game. Much like having licensed cars.

Bluecell

You know what would also make in-game ads "worth it"? A reduction in the price of the game. Ads are all about garnering additional revenue for the developer, so when are we going to see some of those savings passed on to us?

I made myself laugh there.

Captain Impulse

bobtheduck

I guess the argument could be made that kids are impressionable, the power of suggestion and what not. They way I see it though is, no harm no foul. I don't care if it's there as long as it doesn't affect gameplay

breakblossom

But otherwise it makes no sense. The first ingame ad I remember seeing is the Powerade machine in Enter the Matrix. It didn't really do anything for me ingame and I surely haven't bought any recently. Though if it actually did do something in game, like give me bullet time powers, then I would indeed be more inclined to buy it in real life out of curiosity and awesomenss. So ingame ads = no, ingame ad power ups = yes!

Pickens

chinesedentist

It's when companies try to shoehorn in ads and product placement into places where they don't fit just to generate some extra revenue that it becomes distracting and annoying. In those cases, I'd say in-game advertising is actually detrimental, as it can leave a bad taste in the player's mouth.

Captain Impulse

However, I like ingame ads. There's nothing wrong with it in my book, as long as they fit the atmosphere, which they usually do. I don't see the harm and think they're kinda cool, especially games that update the ads to keep up with new releases.

I know. I'm the minority.

karasu is my homeboy