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Games Entertainment

Video Game Advertising Reaches New Lows 194

Posted by chrisd from the I'm-not-dead-yet dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "The Guardian is reporting that Acclaim is attempting to purchase advertising space on gravestones of the recently departed in order to promote its new game ShadowMan 2. This certainly takes the encroachment of commercial messages on public space to new levels." I understand RockStar is looking for a molotov cocktail partner...
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Video Game Advertising Reaches New Lows More

Video Game Advertising Reaches New Lows

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  • I smell a hoax... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by FyRE666 ( 263011 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:12PM (#3905887) Homepage
    Well, ok, maybe they said they wanted to buy space on graves, but let's face it, it wouldn't happen (unless Eminem's mum died I guess). It's just good publicity - hey they've just pulled in a few thousand nerds if nothing else!!

  • Penny Arcade already has commentary... (Score:4, Informative)

    by RyanFenton ( 230700 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:13PM (#3905891)
    http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3 [penny-arcade.com]

    And, as mentioned in their news [penny-arcade.com] for the comic, this itself is old news. They've since taken up the cause of promoting a Irish lad who has been waiting in line for Turok 2. Why? Only the boy himself could know, apparantly. :^)

    Ryan Fenton

  • Double Post (Score:5, Informative)

    by benh57 ( 525452 ) <bhines@alumnREDH ... edu minus distro> on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:13PM (#3905894) Homepage
    Last posted to Slashdot in March. [slashdot.org] Same article.

    • Re:Double Post (Score:2, Offtopic)

      by dimator ( 71399 )
      You'd think it would be pretty easy to avoid these kind of dupes... just automatically check if a certain url has been posted. How hard could this be to arrange?

      • Re:Double Post (Score:2, Offtopic)

        by aardvarkjoe ( 156801 )
        Not hard ... but to do this, Taco would first have to admit that the repeat articles are really a problem. So, instead, he'll just claim that "automatically checking the URL isn't a perfect solution", and refuse to do anything. (After all, people have asking for this for a long time; if they had any desire to stop repeating articles all the time, they'd have already done it.)

        • Re:Double Post (Score:1, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward
          Slashdot has about a million readers. Would it be so much to ask that people who maintain such a massive site spend thirty seconds per article posted to do a human-operated search of past articles on a couple keywords before accepting/posting an article? They post about ten articles a day -- we're only talking about five minutes of extra work total, divided by all the editors... I mean.. jesus christ.. it isn't like this is a basement operation anymore
        • And even if a poster were to use the search feature to check if the article had been posted before, that wouldn't be much help either. If you do a search for the simple term "gravestone", which I would probably do to check if this link had been posted before, a rather irrelevent link [slashdot.org] shows up...

          However a search for "gravestones" does return the previously posted article, so how's that for shooting yourself in the foot.

          Either way, I think the search feature could use a little work, as many times I've searched for articles and have not been able to find them until keying in a few different search terms.

          Does anyone know if the search uses MySQL fulltext searching?

          BTW, Did Acclaim ever succeed in placing the advertisements on the headstones?

        • Re:Double Post (Score:2, Insightful)

          by FooDog ( 68645 )
          Or, you could just bring it down a notch and stop being so damned anal about everything....Oi....
      • You'd think it would be pretty easy to avoid these kind of dupes... just automatically check if a certain url has been posted. How hard could this be to arrange?
        I'd guess it would be about as hard as checking grammer and spelling. I wouldn't expect any of these to change in the near future.

    • Re:Double Post (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by PunchMonkey ( 261983 )
      Last posted to Slashdot in March. [slashdot.org] Same article.

      Well c'mon, it is the summer. Just like Television, the web runs out of content and needs to replay old stories to keep people watching.

      Come back in September or October, should be something new on by then.
  • I dunno, the way I see it, the person willing to sell billboard space on a grave is really the one commiting any form of 'wrong'.

    When I die, if my family can make money off of my gravestone, I say have at it. If it were against my wishes, and my family did it anyway, I'd be mad at them instead of being mad at the company that wanted that spot.

    Nobody blames the RIAA when somebody 'sells out'.
  • That's just disrespectful. First of all it's disrespectful to the dead person. Secondly it's disrespectful to the person coming to view their loved one's grave. They're going to remember someone and have a quiet moment to themselves, not shop for a video game.

    I for one will just not buy this game... I don't like companies that are this disprespectful and irreverant. Yeah, you need to promote your game and what not, but there are limits of decency...

  • I'm scared of what this could evolve into... (Score:4, Funny)

    by jerkychew ( 80913 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:15PM (#3905909) Homepage
    The phrase "pop-up advertising" could take on an all-new meaning...

  • Old News (Score:1, Redundant)

    by DarkZero ( 516460 )
    This news is from March and Slashdot has already posted it [slashdot.org]. Chris, please take the whopping three or four seconds of your time to make sure that you aren't making a double post by using Slashdot's handy search feature [slashdot.org] next time. And while you're at it, maybe you should remove this news post. This is common knowledge among gamers and anyone who has come across a site like Slashdot or Kuro5hin in the past few months. The comments will be nothing more than flames.
    • This may be a redundant comment, but this entire story is redundant anyhow. What the fuck is up with the moderation around here, anyhow? When they changed the Karma system anything that mentioned it was off-topic. It's some kind of anti-meta-comment bias... Anyway, if there was justice, chrisd should be getting like 500 redundant mods (now that's BAD KARMA)...

  • The Depths of Humor (Score:4, Funny)

    by Mulletproof ( 513805 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:18PM (#3905922) Homepage Journal
    "Video Game Advertising Reaches New Lows"

    ...Six feet under, that is!!! BwahaahHAAHahah!! Oh, I kill me!! SEE!? It just doesn't stop!!! :D

    ~Ahem~ Ok. I'll go home now.

  • Old News.... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by pHatidic ( 163975 )
    They have been talking about this for at least two years. I seem to remember them talking about the same thing for one of the Resident of Evil games. This is obviously just a publicity stunt where they will do maybe 5 or 10 to get themselves in the media and get exposure for their lame game without having to pay. The company should just learn from its mistakes. The last time they tried this they didn't make it into a single newspaper except for one or two articles online, and I doubt if it will work this time. Maybe if they are lucky they will make it on Larry King Live or Crossfire with Wolf Blitzer, as this is the kind of thing that could potentially drive up ratings a notch. I wouldn't take it too seriously.
  • Maybe they'll license the afterlife and turn it into a shitty 2d platform-jumping game?

  • They haven't even put it on a single headstone.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by antis0c ( 133550 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:19PM (#3905929)
    .. but the advertising is already working. I doubt they'll even get it on headstones. Someone will make enough fuss to prevent it. But all the while, guess what, they're getting free advertising off this fuss. Now everyone on Slashdot knows about the game. People reading the news will know, eventually more people will go, "Hey did you hear about Acclaim, they're trying to advertise video games on graves."

    Thats the advertising they want, they could care less about having a little plaque on a grave. Seriously, how many people are going to see that headstone other than family members and grounds keepers? The pay off is in the shock and hype. We're feeding it right now.

    • Now everyone on Slashdot knows about the game. People reading the news will know

      erm... *everyone* knows that carrot-top does CALL-ATT commercials. does that mean i will ever use that service? hell no. on principle, i might add.

      it's not really "free advertising", it's more like "free bad publicity"...

      p.s. i have to say, though, i did see ONE funny carrot-top commercial. incedentally the little f*ker wasn't in it (thank god). it was a Spaceghost commercial where he was supposed to interview carrot-top etc. catch it on the cartoon channel sometimes.

      • Maybe you're not influenced to buy anything from carrot-top or the gravestone stunt, but you're probably not that all interested in the actual content (the game itself, and er.. call-att). After the initial shock (disgusted or not) of the gravestones, people who are slightly interested in acclaim's games or just video games in general would take a quick peek at the actual game: you know, why the hell not since we've already perused the article. I gaurantee that the media attention drew in a substantial amount of people who wouldn't have been exposed to the game in the first place, which would be my number one priority if I were in acclaim's marketing.
    • must not have worked - I can't even tell you what the game's name is without scrolling back up to the top of the window.

  • A Cheap Trick For Free Publicity (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Carnage4Life ( 106069 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:20PM (#3905931) Homepage Journal
    I can't believe the number of sites that have fallen for this. The amount of game players that'll see an ad in some corner of a graveyard is rather miniscule compared to the amount of people who'll read about all the hubub on thier favorite geek or regular news site. When Acclaim backs off the idea as they were planning to do all along we'll all know all the initimate gory details of Shadow Man 2 because we've read dozens of articles about their "despicable advertising plan", now who here can say they knew there was a Shadow Man 1? Not me.

    Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all.
    • I did, and it was pretty poor. It really surprised me that someone would make a sequal to it. Also there is a comic out there as well for shadow man.
    • This happened three months ago, but I still haven't seen a copy of the game or heard anyone talk about it. This publicity stunt is so contrived and stupid that it is probably barely better than no publicity at all.

      The entire world probably reacted the same way I did - they thought, "Wow, the game must be baaa-aaaad if Acclaim is having to pull a trick this cheap to sell any copies" and proceeded on with their lives.
    • I can't believe the number of sites that have fallen for this.

      Some of them fall for it twice. [slashdot.org]
  • No one has yet to volunteer and the firm said payments would be calculated with regard to the exposure potential of any particular headstone.

    in my will I'll request the largest damn headstone next to Samuel L. Jackson's BMF headstone

  • No, Advertising Reaches New Lows! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zentec ( 204030 ) <zentec @ g m ail.com> on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:23PM (#3905941)

    This has less to do with the video game company and more to do with advertising in general. In order to get heard above the increasing din of pitches and advertising, companies are resorting to ever-increasing and controversial tactics.

    Today I sat through 13 *previews* and 8 ads in the movie theatre. More than 35 minutes of captivity in the theatre alone. Now the broadcasters want to devote the lower quarter of my screen to advertising, I caught a cable station (TNN) doing pop-ups for American Express and Time-Warner cable just won't leave me alone about their AOL high-speed access.

    The issue is that the guilty parties have to make more money each quarter to keep Wall Street off their backs. Wall Street better get ready for a consumer revolt, because I'm getting tired of it all.
    • Today I sat through 13 *previews* and 8 ads in the movie theatre.

      You've got to be kidding. I mean, okay, the ads I can see being pissed at - what, you're not gouging us enough, you have to sell us, too? - but it's fun to boo and hiss and shout obscenities at the ads with the other movie-goers.

      Trailer, though? Man, that's the best part of a lot of movies, especially the crappy movies that get shoveled out these days. Think about it - it's not advertising, it's the best parts of the movie, all edited together into a two-minute package for you! Every preview is like seeing a free movie, only with all the boring parts cut out! Free movies! Isn't that what everyone wants?

      "If we miss the trailers, I'm leaving!"
    • More than 35 minutes of captivity in the theatre alone.

      If they wouldn't let you leave, you probably can bring someone at the theatre up on charges. They can't force you to sit in the theatre.

      Or, did they mean that you had to watch the trailers in order to see the movie? Well, tough shit. Stop watching movies, and go read a fucking book.

    • Today I sat through 13 *previews* and 8 ads in the movie theatre.

      Do what I do: show up late. Miss the ads and some previews.

  • This is so old it's embarassing (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Chrisd, I'm afraid Taco beat you to this story by 4 months!

    Here's the march 15 slashdot article for those that haven't heard/read the story before.
    Gravestones Advertising Video Games? [slashdot.org]

    from the Guardian article...
    Game publicity plan raises grave concerns

    Mark Oliver
    Friday March 15, 2002


    4 months! nice... I bet you thought we wouldn't remember - HA! take that

  • Ahhh, so what? (Score:4, Funny)

    by shepd ( 155729 ) <slashdot.org@gmai l . c om> on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:24PM (#3905948) Homepage Journal
    You think that's bad?

    Try this! [rotten.com]

    (Mostly work safe -- strange for rotten.com)
  • I'll sell them some advance space. Or someone else's... or... how long before someone noticed, anyway? Anyone know what they're paying?
  • As I was driving along recently, I noticed there was no advertising in roadside gutters. All that bare concrete screaming for attention. Looks like Acclaim now has achieved that, metaphorically.

  • Re: My gravestone will read... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    R I P

    This poor bastard was shot
    by his girlfriend for playing
    one too many games of counterstrike
  • This could easily oust the tattoo as the ultimate way to piss off your parents, should they be so unfortunate as to survive you.

    But imagine how much esteem could be garnered from your surviving geek friends and family if you were to declare in your last will and testament that you wanted to bear a Lara Croft, Max Payne, or Blizzard billboard on your tombstone.

    You could even go Times Square style, and have the billboard itself be a LCD that promotes the latest death-centric title from your favorite software production house, changing with the market. If your friends are like mine, they might even give a truely emotional send off by hacking the display, just because they care :)

    In any case, it will certainly make graveyards an even more attractive target for late night trespassers.

  • i cant believe you guys fell for this.

    a company releases a second grade tomb-raider-but-with-dead-people ripoff, destined to disappear into the archives of me-too crap gaming, and to try and save themselves on the way down, they come up with something that will offend all the right people and get them all sorts of publicity even in places where gamers really arent part of the target market.

    they could have saved themselves the trouble and just gave the lead character a massive pair of boobs.

    read the article if you have to, see it for the cheap publicity stunt that it is, move on, and hope that this game doesnt become more popular than it deserves ... its a shame that in the majority, games are rewarded with mainstream publicity only when they are offensive or go for outlandish publicity stunts like this, instead of being innovative and well designed.

    acclaim want to make you their bitch. maybe it worked.

  • DOA (Score:2, Funny)

    by Malicious ( 567158 )
    What happens when the game is out of date? Imagine walking thru a cemetary in 30 years, and seeing ads on Gravestones for 'Mary Kate and Ashley: Sweet 16' or 'Ecco The Dolphin'
    It's bad enough in modern day, when actual bill boards get outdated, (IE bill boards for Politicians still up months after the end of the election, or Movies which are already past the cheap seats)

    • Re:DOA (Score:2)

      by Jerf ( 17166 )
      According to my DVD copy of UHF (Wierd Al's movie foray), the (fake) billboard advertisement for "Spatula City" was actually left up for months after filming, directing people to a non-existant shop that nobody in their right mind would care about.

      One wonders how many people scratched their heads about that one...
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I can see advertising some long-lived product, like coca-cola, or a company on a tombstone, but seriously...I doubt more than 1 in 10 games has anyone still caring about it a year after release. And after 5 years, it's probably 1 in 100. I hope they plan to swap ads.

    Oh, and nevermind that hardly anyone would see the things. And most of those people probably don't play video games.

    I guess this news story was the REAL advertisement, then.

  • Insight (Score:3, Funny)

    by Mulletproof ( 513805 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @09:53PM (#3906059) Homepage Journal
    You know, I'll bet that kid who commited suicide [cnn.com] after an Everquest binge was sponsored by... Nevermind. That was too easy ;)
  • Is there anyone awake at the editorial helm? Hello?

    Bugger the headstones -- this story is so old it's six foot under itself.

    A.
  • I always knew advertising was for the damned
  • The best place for advertising would be on the dollar bills themselves.

    I mean, they're buying the government anyway [judicialwatch.org] - why not be honest about it?

  • My new monitor is made obsolete already.
  • This type of behavior repulses me. To counteract this vile practice, I'm going to begin advertising my new FPS with a life-affirming ad campaign: stickers stuck to the foreheads of newborn babies in hospitals. Our research shows that this offer will appeal to poorer families who can't afford their hospital bills. Why, they could invest the $5 we'll pay them and by the time the kid is 18 they can use it to purchase our video game.

    We think hospitals will love this idea, so we've patented it. This signals a sea-change in American maternity wards. Five years from now all newborns will be sporting ads on their foreheads by default. If a parent is sufficiently opposed to the idea, they can pay $5 to deprive their child of this opportunity to participate in capitalism at its finest.

  • No one has yet to volunteer...
    Isn't that a double negative... no one has not volunteered yet? Wouldn't that suggest that everyone is volunteering?

    You know, it's OK for the British to ridicule Americans for our butchering of the language they invented, but when they butcher it it's just sad.

    • I don't think so... according to Webster's [m-w.com]:
      Entry: yet

      Pronunciation: 'yet
      Function: adverb
      ...

      2 a (1) : up to now : so far <hasn't done much yet> -- often used to imply the negative of a following infinitive <have yet to win a game>
      ...

      Note that, although this construction may imply the negative of the following infinitive (in this case, "to volunteer"), it is technically correct to use it in a construction with an explicit negative (eg. "haven't done much yet").

      In other words, by the definition above, the phrase could be reconstructed "No one has [so far] volunteer[ed]" or (by flipping the clause) "So far, no one has volunteered."

      I just realized that there is no other simple construction that uses the infinitive; every alternative I can find changes the infinitive to a past tense. Actually, I think that's exactly what the sentence needs. My preference would be the construction "No one has yet volunteered" -- a simple change, but one that makes the phrase substantially less ambiguous.

      I just checked the Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style, and couldn't find a definitive reference in either for this construction. (How I wish I had a copy of Strunk & White by my desk...) If anyone can find a reference to support (or to refute, I'd be interested), please post it. Thanks!

  • cause I loved destroying the pepsi-golem on level 3. It gave me the mountain dew key which unlocked the doritos-door... you get the hidden points if you ride the camel past the marlboro to meet Benson by the Hedges. Unfortunately my Palm Pilot cannot defeat my Playstation2, though I still have to level-up my Gamecube, where it incubates as a Pokemon, then emerges as an x-box.

    • Re:this is wrong (Score:4, Funny)

      by Jerf ( 17166 ) on Thursday July 18, 2002 @12:12AM (#3906587) Journal
      Are you kidding? Are you nuts? You'd never take a quest to destroy the Pepsi-golem! Pepsi would never be associated with golem-like activities! You uneducated beast! Pepsi is associated with puppies, mom, love, apple pie, and most of all, hipness! You'd get past the Golem by giving him an ice-cold Pepsi, and after a single swig, it'd turn into Britney Spears, sing the latest hit, and bounce^H^H^H^H^H^H^H walk away, allowing you to pass.

      (Corporate sponsered games would probably be as boring as the corporate sponsered games you can find on your local Happy Meal box. "The latest Disney licensed character's need something to make them happy. Unscramble the letters to find out what they need! : HAPYP MAEL.")

      And your problem with your Palm Pilot stems from your reprehensible behavior with regards to the Marlboro Man! You do not ride past the Marlboro Man, you ride up to the Marlboro Man and type: " ASK MARLBORO MAN THE WAY TO FLAVOR COUNTRY ". (aside: Apologies if I've forgetten the details of that ad campaign...) He'll give you a cigarette, the you smoke it. Several sexy woman (or men, depending on what gender you claimed to be attracted to on your initial 6-page 'voluntary survey' you were required to fill out to play this fine game) will come out, and one of them will upgrade your "Palm Pilot" to a WinCE machine, which can later be levelled up into a MICROSOFT X-BOX, which will handily defeat the Playstation2, as Sony didn't pony up as much dough as Microsoft.

      (Hint: If you type the secret code I WANT TO CARRY BILL'S BABY at the X-BOX level-up screen, you'll be able to watch an animation of Steve Jobs being crushed by the Windows logo! Mega-awesome! It makes me want to buy extra copies of Windows XP2005 just to play it safe!)

      Really, these games are pretty cool, if a little easy. One last parting hint: Try typing BARE 'EM, BRITNEY while the Britney-golem is singing, and you'll get a nice surprise from the FBI (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corporate America).
  • Was this supposed to be part of the all new Mid Year Slashback feature, covering highlights of last 6 months?
  • As I stood weeping over my mothers grave, there appeared a shadow. We looked but all we could see was the shadow. Was it a ghost? We soon found out it was the Shadow Man 2. AAAAAHHHHH!

    It looks like Shadow Man 2 has gone 6 feet under.
  • As in March 2002...

    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=U TF -8&q=%2B%22acclaim%22%2B%22tombstone%22%2B%22adver tising%22

    Yeesh, I know there's a delay between when stories are suggested to /., but jeeze, 4 months?!?
    • Jeez real old, I heard about this in March on NPR [npr.org]. Seems like a lame brain publicity stunt.

      "Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot, that he himself could not eat it." HS
  • Who's lower, Acclaim for proposing this fake marketing blitz several months ago, or Slashdot for providing them with the free publicity it was designed to attract not once, but twice?

    Not only is whoever posted this guilty of redundancy, he's also been scammed - a full 5 months after everybody else figured it out. D'oh! I guess what they say about nerds lacking a certain street common sense is true, eh?

  • The article sayeth: "any attempt to advertise on headstones would require planning permission from local authorities whether the land was public or private.... Mr Carrington said: "It is illegal to put any advertising up outdoors without planning permission...."" [emphasis mine.]

    Probably right too. *sigh*.

  • I'll be more than happy to sell them space in advance. Once I'm dead I don't really care what's written on some stupid piece of granite sunk in the dirt above my casket. My wife and kids might think differently, but hey... it;s my frigging death. Sheesh, get a life, family.

    So just send me the check. I got a vacation coming up and I could use the extra bucks.
  • This story died way back in March - why not slap an ad for crush course [clubacclaim.com] on its tombstone?

  • Does Freshmeat.net advertize? (Score:3, Funny)

    by PD ( 9577 ) <slashdotlinux@pdrap.org> on Wednesday July 17, 2002 @11:33PM (#3906446) Homepage Journal
    I'll take one of those ads on my headstone in a heartbeat. Rather, lack of heartbeat.
  • I like a little advertising, it can enhance the realism. But it's very easy to take it too far (see MAC and Me [somethingawful.com] for a good example of when a movie takes it too far), or to pander to the company.

    Imagine how cool it would be to drive the weinermobile [kraftfoods.com] in GTA3, but Oscar Mayer probably would make it so you couldn't run over pedestrians in it.

  • It's a troll (Score:1, Redundant)

    by The Cat ( 19816 )
    Move on. The publicity from the suggestion is doing more than the actual advertising.

  • Most granite gravestones are flat and some are even glossy...imagine if you put little projectors on the gravestone in front of them and ran rotating ads...would you need permission for that?

    Ok, I'll stop being really morbid now.

  • I got into a conversation about advertising limits and as an absurd, extreme case someone suggested Coke agreeing to pay for a new born's college education in exchange for tatooing their logo on the inside and outside of the baby's eye lids. Why waste every blink?

    What frightens me is that at the time it was meant as a joke, but I could almost see people considering this. A life time of walking subliminal ads and a gauranteed lifetime customer.

    I don't think we'll ever see how far the advertisers are willing to go, we'll only see how far we're willing to let them.
  • Atari recently announced the release of a new video game console it refers to as the Atari 7800!
  • Googled this because it sounded familiar. Someone tried to publish it on K5 (http://www.kuro5hin.org/poll/1016650972_LbdXJFhi) in late March, just a couple days after some of the online gaming sites caught it. More recently, according to Media Life Magazine (http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2002/jun02/j un24/3_wed/news5wednesday.html), the program was ended after the death of the Queen Mum. Apparently "deadvertising" suddenly becomes tacky when a centenarian on the public dole kicks it.

  • He told me they would not be doing this. This was after the last Slashdot story at the last GDC (a day before the game was widely distributed). The Guardian doesn't mention any names so unless someone finds where Acclaim said this I'll file this under "how accurate is the Guardian?"
  • If I recall correctly, this company used this same stunt to gain publicity for ShadowMan 1. Perhaps they didn't create enough of a stir last time, I want to try again.

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