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Businesses Entertainment Games

The Good and Bad of In-Game Ads 93

Posted by Zonk from the not-a-fan-of-product-placement dept.
Dyslexia writes "MLG takes a look at the emerging trend of in-game advertising and explores the ways in which it can prove to be both good and bad for the industry and consumers." From the article: "When done in a way that isn't consistent with the themes or purpose of a game, advertising can go terribly wrong--in extreme cases even crippling the gameplay, at which point it has gone too far. Advertising that draws the player out of the experience of their game rather than immerses them further into it walks a thin line and the benefits start to get outweighed by the detractions. The recent Counter-Strike debacle is an excellent example of in-game advertising going terribly wrong."
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The Good and Bad of In-Game Ads More

The Good and Bad of In-Game Ads

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  • Please no... please. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by christian.elliott ( 892060 ) * on Friday February 03, 2006 @01:11PM (#14636210) Homepage Journal

    In the cases where advertising helps create an added feeling of realism (racing games, as pictured) it's a great addition, and more power to them. However the issue seems to be with game like Counter Strike and other first person shooters where advertising is simply corny or distracting. I don't want to be defusing at basement nuke and see an advertisment for Tampax Heavy's on the wall (Yes I know, not the target audience, won't happen, blah, but I'm being dramatic).

    If there was a way to make it not as distracting, but still get the message, I'd go for it. But I don't want to ever see this [flickr.com].

    • I don't want to be defusing at basement nuke and see an advertisment for Tampax Heavy's on the wall

      Dr. Emmett Brown: 'There's that word again; "heavy". Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?'

      Sorry, completely off topic, but it's the first thing that went through my head...

    • What about a crumpled up newspaper right next to the bomb spot? Or a bilboard with a burnt out light over a bombed building? Or a band poster with concert dates on a wall of a concer hall?

      There are places in CS that advertising could be done well, and most of them would only take a small added model or so. The problem with the subway add wasn't the add, but the way it was displayed.

      -Rick
      • I don't work for an ad agency, but I don't think they'd like their advertisement to be placed in a badly lit area that isn't a main focus for the player.
        • Take DE_Nuke for example. If I recall correctly both teams have to run out of a rather bland and non-descript canyon to get to the central area. Put a bill board with a blinking light on the cat walk on the CT side of the main structure (where the CT's will be able to clearly see it while coming out of the canyon) and on the T side, replace the broken down 5-ton truck with a utility van w/ an advertisement on the side.

          There ya go, 2 adds in places people HAVE to run past displayed in ways that fit in with t
          • Put a bill board with a blinking light on the cat walk on the CT side of the main structure (where the CT's will be able to clearly see it while coming out of the canyon) and on the T side, replace the broken down 5-ton truck with a utility van w/ an advertisement on the side.

            There ya go, 2 adds in places people HAVE to run past displayed in ways that fit in with the environment.

            You mean like a giant billboard with the message:

            "Mother Truckers Truck Stop, 5 miles ahead, Exit 52"
        • I don't work for an ad agency

          That's obvious. While they like to do their fair share of normal (well lit, prominent) advertising, ad agencies are also all over "covert" advertising.

    • Lock-in (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Phoenix666 ( 184391 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @02:50PM (#14637097)
      Seems to me that the more the gaming industry tries to force in-game advertising on their customers, the more mods and hacks will become the norm. After all, advertisers are successfully killing TV as we speak, having already killed radio and newsprint. People have fled those media for the internet, because they can control their mindspace. All over the world, everyone's breaking free of information control with blogs, video iPods, file-sharing, OSS, etc. I dunno if we'll ever see an OSS model arise with game development (that is, beyond mods and hacks layered on top of a corporate game), but it's not entirely outside the realm of possibility.

      But at any rate, the gaming industry will probably wake up too late to the fact that in-game advertising will kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

      On a more speculative note, I wonder if advertisers will eventually chase people out of all media and into the real world. Maybe then everyone will blink, look at each other, and realize that there's plenty of storylines, challenges, and problems to solve in the real world to keep everyone busy/entertained for a lifetime.

      • If you don't mod this Insightful, I will come to your houses and shower you with stuffed bears. Oh yes, I'm that serious.

        All I'm hoping (may be a bit naive) is that the internet and this technology we're working with now, is known well enough by outsiders (or hackers, whatever you want to call them) that no matter what is thrown at us, we will find away around, or a way to create what we feel is right. How long will we remain in control of these things? Are we loosing it already?

        • Insightful, perhaps. But also blissfully ignorant of reality.

          People need money to live. Advertisers will pay you to pimp their stuff. Smart advertisers will actually listen to people complaining about all the crass and crappy ads, and get wise, and be more subtle, more humourous, and less invasive. I'm betting most people will be willing to tolerate well-executed ads in games, if it means spending less (or no) money up front. Or even better, if it means a shot at some sort of shiny prize for them.

          "This
      • There's a difference!!!!

        I hate commercials. But I find ad placement to be a creative and cool outlet.

        I mean.... I *realy* hate commercials. They caused me to almost give up TV in favor of other persuits. I'm now watching a few shows only on DVD.

        Now... think back to Blade Runner... All those Ads... Now *That* was cool. Now *that* in a game, I'd not mind. As long as they don't take away from my game play and I can "notice" them with out having them shoved down my throat for 15 minutes out of every hour, then
      • >People have fled those media for the internet, because they can control their mindspace.

        You know I used to think this too, until I read this site. (PDFs of the courses there)

        http://www.womma.org/wombat/agenda.htm [womma.org]

        Advertisers won't be content until they pollute every medium.

  • might work... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by joe 155 ( 937621 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @01:12PM (#14636223) Journal
    in game ads could work but only in specific circumstances, if I was playing zelda and navi started saying "how about a nice refreshing coke" or something I'd be pissed off, but in a game like GTA or some real world based game set in cities then it wouldn't be inapropriate to have bill board ads or posters which actually do exist, infact it could make the game better as it would be "more real" than before.

    • Re:might work... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by d3ac0n ( 715594 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @03:23PM (#14637383)
      More of a concern, is if/when game developing companies become hooked on Ad revenue to support thier games, at what point will we see the decline of some gametypes?

      Think about it. If in-game ads will look out of place and be ineffective in a game, say a medieval RPG, and in-game ads are the only viable way to support a game, who's going to make a medieval RPG? Basically all games will be boiled down to contemporary settings where the ads won't look out of place. No more EVE Onlines, no more WoWs, No more Age of Empire's. Just a game world littered with nothing but GTA and EA-Sports style games.

      Frankly, I don't want to have my choices limited by the "Ad-Effect". Rather than bending over and taking it up the butt, I think gamers need to band together and fight in-game ads. Register your complaint with the developers. Boycott games, and make sure the company knows it's the inclusion of ads that is causing the boycott. If you already own the game, find ways to block or remove the ads, and then make sure to go to the game web-forums and let them know that the ads aren't being seen. The point is to make it as unprofitable as possible to make games with ads. It's the only way to fight them, hit them in thier pocketbooks.
      • More of a concern, is if/when game developing companies become hooked on Ad revenue to support thier games, at what point will we see the decline of some gametypes?

        I'm interested in seeing the rise of other game types. Think about the current gaming experience: long, drawn out, and laborous, or intense and short. What about creating periodic content that would draw people back into the game to watch ads a few times? Something intense, short, but continued every few days?

        What if game developers kept addin
        • The developers of EVE Online have said that they currently have the in game capeability to make the billboards at gates currently displaying bounties available for rent by players and may impliment it with the next update. Also, On EVE, I don't belive having real world ads on the bilboards would be that detracting. Especially if they were adjusted to have a futureistic touch, even though they were for current products. For instance, they could have an ad for Coke in a futureistic looking bottle, or a For

  • The important issue... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by softspokenrevolution ( 644206 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @01:18PM (#14636274) Journal
    The really important questions.

    Am I paying to look at the advertisements or are the ads serving to defray the cost of my subscription. I know that I would rather see the latter, but it seems unlikely given the way that companies work.
    • Absolutely. You would expect that most companies would say that adding advertisements would increase their revenue, to provide a better service, but you're never going to see a cut in the price. They'll keep lining their pockets, and before you know it, they'll be uping the price for the subscription, and you'll still be viewing adds, all the while just sitting there going "wtf?". While a bit off-topic, it reminds me of how Dutch-Shell just recently annouced record profits in gasoline sales. Now how did tha
    • One of my favorite games, Gunz Onlines, is absolutely free, yet I haven't seen a single ad in it (unless if you count the logo of the company that made it being stamped on shipping crates in the Train Station stage). If you ask me, ads don't belong in games at all.

  • Ad Supported Games (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03, 2006 @01:20PM (#14636288)
    If I have to pay for the game and I find out it has advertising within the game, it gets returned, simple as that. If the game is free, then fine advertise all you want.
    • Do you watch Cable or Satellite TV? Remember when cable tv first came out and it was promised to be ad-free? Then 'relatively' ad-free. Now, no company can remember making those claims? Same with Satellite Radio... same with in-game ads.

      You'd be lucky if the ad's were in just games like Enemy Terroritory or America's Army that were actually free. But STEAM has already shown us the way. Don't you get it? It's not a method of providing the consumer with content, it's a method of providing an additional rev

  • If game ads work, you'll be seeing more (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Kawolski ( 939414 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @01:20PM (#14636289)
    If they do more studies that conclude that ads in games work [boston.com], we'll be seeing a lot more of them.

    In my personal experience, the more subtle the ad, the more effective I believe it is. Advertising a big out-of-place SUBWAY COUNTER-STRIKE SPECIAL [gamepro.com] on the side of an office building in my mind ruins the gaming experience. Putting in a Pepsi machine in the office break room and having Pepsi products dump out when someone blasts the thing is probably far more effective.

  • Here's the article from Ars a few weeks back. [arstechnica.com] Talks about the company "Engage Advertising" that was responsible for "pioneering localized in-game advertising programs in targeted markets." Just sounds like Spam to me.

  • Pikmin 2 did it well (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rev063 ( 591509 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @01:25PM (#14636328) Homepage
    I really enjoyed the branding in Pikmin 2 on the Gamecube. It was kinda cool to see your little Pikmin drag around real Duracell batteries and that yellow lip cream container (but given that I've forgotten the name I guess it wasn't the greatest branding). It also helped to reinforce the idea that the setting was actually Earth, which was only subtly suggested in the first game.

  • Replace the fake ads (Score:3, Insightful)

    by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <namtabmiaka>> on Friday February 03, 2006 @01:28PM (#14636353) Homepage Journal
    It may seem obvious, but I always wanted game producers to replace the Fake ads used in games like Duke 3D and Tekwar. While many of these ads were very cute, they tended to get extremely repetitive, thus reminding the player he's in a game. Put in a wide variety of real ads, and suddenly things get more interesting.

    That being said, I wonder how Subway would respond if I blew up their virtual sign in virtual reality?
    • Isn't the solution to that problem more like using more creativity in designing fake ads? Is it really so difficult to come up with fake companies with fake pitches? they don't _have_ to be cute or effective, they simply have to be on-theme. Ideally, they'd show a little effort, too, but I'd much rather see a variety of crappy fake ads than a variety of "professional" ads for real-world stuff.
  • The counter strike ad's would have worked in a setting that warrants such ad's. for example, if the map was called CS_shoppingmall, and the object is to rescue hostages from the mall, The Subway ad's would have been OK by me as long as they were located in the food court of the mall map, and attached to a subway restaurant in the food court. The way they were doing it was randomly putting the ad's over various maps in awkward locations. I expect a lot of things at a shipping depot or train depot, but a Subw

  • I don't see any scope for advertising in the current games market simply because we already pay a premium for games anyway. When I shell out £30 or £40 for a game I simply don't want to see adverts. If the game was of the same quality and £10 then maybe I would accept it. The same sort of thing has happened in the film industry but at least the price of most films has dropped.

    • Re:No scope (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Ideally, we'd see this advertising money get into our pockets, although indirectly.

      If a certain game sells for $50 with no advertising, it could also be sold for $43 with in-game ads and still gross the same amount, since ad-revenue compensates for lower sales margins. But if it was sold for $43, it would probably sell more copies, which could lead to higher rates to charge Subway and whoever else wants facetime. This could be extrapolated to the point where the only price you pay is for the store to carr

  • Run their own servers (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ender- ( 42944 )
    Perhaps for companies that would like to advertise in games like Counter-Strike they can do things such as:

    Create their own maps which incorporate their advertising [Of course it would still have to be a good map or no one will play it]. That way the consumer gets something of 'value', a good map to play, and the company gets to advertise.

    And they can even run their own server which runs the maps they created to incorporate their product. Then we also get a stable, low-latency server to play on out of the d
  • Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is an excellent game that I enjoyed very much, but the in-game advertising in it was horrible. Most of it was for Brothers in Arms, a game that I was considering playing until I was bombarded by advertising in Chaos Theory. Practically every computer screen showed it as a screensaver, there were posters in rooms throughout the game, and two guards even chatted about what a cool game it was. Result? I will *never* (1) play Brothers in Arms ever, which seems like the direct opposit
    • Dude you want to complain about advertising in Chaos Theory and pick on the Brothers in Arms adverts? What about all the pre-rendered cut scenes which have extreme close-ups of Wrigley's Air-Waves chewing gum packets and showing Sam Fisher eating it all the time? I personally found that much more egregious than the BiA ads. YMMV of course. :)
  • I don't go to the movie theater anymore. I can see the movie at home without sitting through 20 minutes of commercials. I know the commercial didn't kill the movies outright but it was one of the 1000 cuts that was killing me slowly. I don't read a newspaper, too much adds and not enough real news. I don't watch broadcast TV much because I don't want to watch commercials. I have HBO and a Playstation. I guess I know what's next to be dropped. Maybe I'll read more books.

    If they were as easy to igno

    • I don't go to the movie theater anymore. I can see the movie at home without sitting through 20 minutes of commercials. I know the commercial didn't kill the movies outright but it was one of the 1000 cuts that was killing me slowly. I don't read a newspaper, too much adds and not enough real news. I don't watch broadcast TV much because I don't want to watch commercials. I have HBO and a Playstation. I guess I know what's next to be dropped. Maybe I'll read more books.

      Hey you're right! Books don't have
  • How is there anything good for consumers when it comes to ingame advertising? It doesn't lower price of the product and it (normally) detracts from the experience. Take the TV show Smallville for example. Last night, they did an extremely obvious product placement. It hurt the flow of the program, made the actors break character and didn't reduce the amount of comercials shown. So who is this good for?

  • Do we really want this tho? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Some_Llama ( 763766 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @02:06PM (#14636708) Homepage Journal
    Advertising is everywhere, movies tv newspapers, websites, Gaming was the last refuge where I could leave all of that and ejoy my entertainment, seeing as how gamers will not benefit AT ALL from this added advertising (no price break in games, no added content for the games in terms of maps, guns, characters) how can this be a good thing and why are people so accepting of it?

    I can see the point of "adding realism" to games such as bill boards, but we already had that with "fake advertising" in games, and the reason it doesn't bug me when it is fake is because it doesn't remind me of the real world I am trying to escape, instead it helps immerse me in the game world (look at billboards in postal 2).

    The more we accept this the more watered down our games will become to the point that they will be games built around opportunites to advertise to their "key demographic".. come on people..

  • Hampering creativity and realism. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kevin.fowler ( 915964 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @02:07PM (#14636715) Homepage
    Take a look at a lot of racing games... the reason that my personal favorite racing game (Gran Turismo 3) did not have damage in it was almost completely due to the car manufacturers' requests that they only present the cars in pristine, shiny condition. No body damage, no engine failure. Only worn tires... which are made by other companies.
    • This might be one of the things that will change soon, with the rising rate of accidents among youth (going from the min. driving age to around 24). Car manufacturers want to stress safety, so there might finally be damage for cars.

      (Take that, Need for Speed!)
      • Realistic damage, especially in the endurance races, would add a whole new level of intensity to many racing games. Games like Rallisport Challenge and (begrudgingly) the new line of Nascar, all add a bit of the Days of Thunder "rubbing is racing" danger and fun.
    • This is the same reason you've never seen a licensed Ferrari in a game that (even tangentially) involves running from the police. They'll happily license to games like Gotham Racing which don't involve police chases, but something like Need For Speed: Most Wanted is definitely out.
  • While not exactly the intended topic, this is also related to Alternate Reality Gaming [argn.com] which is quite often financed by large corporations with the intent of pushing a specific product, or increasing general the general "buzzworthiness" of their corporate image.

    These games are constantly producing high-quality entertainment, without sacrificing immersion. Yet, the product/company behind the project is always in the player's mind.

    It's a quite unique and persistent form of advertising in gaming that's s
    • Alternate Reality Gaming is very interesting in how generous it is to the audience.

      Unlike traditional advertising, ARGs really do give you an entire game, often spanning 3 months or more, full of innovative ideas and usually stellar writing, for free in exchange for the chance to get you liking their product. This is a "good deal" for the audience in a market where advertising is severely devalued. I would rather be advertised to with something that entertaining and engaging (and interactive!) than with a

  • Good side? WTF! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by lupine ( 100665 ) * on Friday February 03, 2006 @02:28PM (#14636920) Journal
    I already wasted karma on this discussion, but I need to reply since the marketroids and clones are dominating this discussion.

    In game advertising is fucking evil. Why the fuck would anyone want to see ads in a game. Urban setting - need billboards to give it that gritty hopeless edge? Racing game player needs something to look at while turning left? You dont need fucking bullshit advertising to make a game. Games are played for entertainment, for relaxation, to get away from all of the bullshit in real life. Advertising is all about generating and cultivating desire, turning simple gimmicks into wants and wants into needs. You dont need some ad to suddenly popup and tell you that your life is shit because you dont have some shiny new fucking product, you are too fat and smelly, you have too much hair or not enough, maybe you need a date or a mail order bride. Graphics card too slow to move at all when this 500MB texture is loaded - time for an upgrade.

    Anything portrayed as advertising in games should be value added content. Show me something original, something enjoyable, a satirical billboard ala the onion [theonion.com] or like the 50's style government propaganda in fallout or doom3's Super Turbo Turkey Puncher.

    Anyone who says that real advertisements make a game more enjoyable are probably the same people who pay for fucking cable tv and watch the home shopping network.

    I wont play any fucking games with ads. I wont play if you give the game away for free. My spare time is worth way too much.

    Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life.
    • Rather than make an obvious comment about your advert for Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, I just thought I'd point out that you're missing out on some great fun.

      I was initially against the whole in-game advertising trend myself. I've still got misgivings about individual poor examples of advertising that detract from the gameplay, and I'm generally suspicious of product placement.

      But then I remembered that Super Monkey Ball, WipEout 2097 and Crazy Taxi are three of my favorite games of all time, and feature p

  • I love gaming. I've got a launch-day Dreamcast, PS2, XBox, Gamecube, and 360. I play the hell out of them. I spend over $5000 a year on videogames, but if this advertising trend continues, that number will drop to $0.

    I hate advertising, especially captive audience advertising. I refuse to pay for the privilege of receiving someone's brand message. I don't go to the movies anymore, because I can't stand the advertising in front of films. I bought a TiVO when I subscribed to pay television, so I could skip ads. I stopped watching series on HBO when I found out that they received paid product placement for shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. I use adblock and other proxy tools to block banner advertising, and if a site finds a way to put a banner on my screen anyway, I never return to the site.

    To get to the topic at hand, I should say that I have no problem paying $60 for a game, or even $50. Only the written word gives me better entertainment value. At even 10 hours (a short game), I'm paying $6 / hour for entertainment (well, plus the amortized cost of the console, but over 5 years of hard play time this is basically negligible). That's a fine bargain.

    I should amend this statement: I have no problem paying $10 extra for a new game if the costs of development are recouped through consumer purchases. Paying $10 more for Tony Hawk American Wasteland on the 360, a game that is so buggy that some of the in-game missions cannot completed, is an insult. Finding the game stuffed full of advertising for cell phones and energy drinks is such an affront that I am left feeling violated.

    This trend continues across other games. Need For Speed: Most Wanted is an EA game, and everyone knows EA would whore their own mothers if they thought it increased the bottom line, so it's not totally unexpected that the game features branding for cell phones and other various non-automotive sponsorship at every turn. I got this one from a friend for $20, and even then I feel a little used after I finish a play session. Even Microsoft gets in on the act. Travelodge advertises in Project Gotham Racing 3. The Samsung logo is emblazoned on the menu system for Perfect Dark Zero. What do shitty motels have to do with road racing? What do cheap Korean electronics have to do with cyberpunk mercenary spies? Not a goddamn thing, that's what, and I resent their presence in the game.

    I wouldn't mind the advertising barrage in gaming so much if it helped keep the cost of the product down. I know that development costs are skyrocketing and I'm not unsympathetic, but charging $10 more for a game while stuffing it full of advertising is a naked cash grab, and I resent it. It's tempting to say that publishers can't have it both ways, but that's not true. They can have it both ways, because I'm a fairly typical high-income gamer, and I'm nowhere near pissed enough to stop buying their products. Yet. I'm still playing every game I've listed in this post, and odds are good I'll be playing their sequels in a year or two.

    So let's say this: I don't want publishers to have it both ways, but I still bend over, hold my ass open, and take it. I resent them for it, and it builds ill will in me toward them, and over time it disenfranchises me with the hobby as a whole. I'm a lifetime gamer with lots of disposable income, and this commodification and packaging of my eyeballs is slowly turning me off on the entire experience. I can't be the only one.

  • "Advertising that draws the player out of the experience of their game rather than immerses them further into it walks a thin line and the benefits start to get outweighed by the detractions."

    There is never a time where advertising in a game "immerses me further" that is the biggest load of B.S. I've ever read. The only exceptions would be team names in sports, car brands on cars, and that sort of "advertising."

    Game makers need to resort to advertising because of the huge costs associated with development f
  • ...like pouring rubbing alcohol on an open sore (most of the time). I agree with many posters that it is on the increase and the tide is likely to rise, however, I also agree that we can withold our dollars and not purchase a game. I personally feel that in-game advertising if done correctly AND in the right genre does not detract from game play and will actually enhance the experience making it more realistic. However, placing advertising in a game for the sake of advertising not only detracts from the
  • Craxy Taxi on the PS2 had the worst in game advertising i've ever seen... "Take me to Pizza Hut", "Take me to the LEVIs store"... etc..

    And billboard posters as well, the whole thing made for quite an uncomfortable gaming experience. In fact, I really felt that I was being ripped-off, I literally felt like I should have been being paid to play the game rather than paying £20 for it at the time!

    That it probably contributed alot to the fact that I only purchased two more games and the PS

  • some facts (Score:1, Informative)

    by wwmedia ( 950346 )
    Here are a few facts on in game advertising

    With 250 million computer and video game units sold in 2004, and over $25 billion in revenues, the electronic gaming sector is now the fastest growing sector in the entertainment industry. The average age of a console game is now 29, with an above-average education and income. It's no longer about kids in their bedrooms, games are taking media time and awareness directly from TV viewership. In 2004, TV viewership declined by 12% in the target group of males 18

  • I'm kinda surprised. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rallion ( 711805 ) on Friday February 03, 2006 @03:25PM (#14637405) Journal
    People are really, really pissed about this apparently.

    I just buy games to have fun. If there are ads, I ignore them -- I'm not so damn uptight that seeing a graphic is going to ruin my enjoyment.

    Sometimes, ads make me feel a little more into the game. Not often, no. But it happens. I'm not playing games as an escape, I'm playing games as simple recreation.

    If you let something like that get you as incredibly upset as some people here are, I really think you might want to step away from games altogether for a little while. Seriously, if an ad for shaving cream is enough to make you think about the real world and how much you hate it, figure out a way to make that better.

    Lighten up. Petty shit can't bother you unless you let it.
    • But you see one of the reasons to play a game is to escape from the things you don't like about the real world - one of those things being advertising.

      I lived overseas for a while and had a good time. Upon returning, I realized that one of my favorite things about being overseas was that I couldn't understand the advertising. It was wonderful not being bombarded with thousands of messages everyday that I had to constantly hear/see, process, and decide to ignore.

      The same is true for games. Getting a
  • It's an urban racing game, set in a fictional city. There's billboards for Burger King, Cingualr (indeed your in-car comm system has the Cinguar X logo)... and so on.

    It's pretty interesting at first, but gets annoying later. Surprisingly (for me) it's annoying because of the lack of variety -- you don't see a Verizon ad, only Cingular, you don't see MickeyD's, only Burger King ...

    Somehow it might be worth seeing Darth Vader and Luke sit down at the Tatooine Sports Bar and get into a fight over wheth

  • Game developer's world:
    The good: More money for the developer!
    The bad: How is more money bad?

    The player's world:
    The good: More ads being shoved in your face everywhere you look? Does someone out there like that?
    The bad: More ads being shoved in your face everywhere you look! Seriously, just when you think theyve run out of ideas, they find a new way to make money off of your existance.

    Its just like paying for premium cable channels didnt get you but a few commercial-free channels, no one is goin
  • It didn't bother me to see the Burger King product placement in Back to the Future, but for some reason it pissed me off to see that same thing (to a lesser degree, even) in Minority Report. The strange thing is that both of these movies were set either in real or pseudo-real locations where you'd expect to see "real life" ads. Maybe if you're sufficiently enjoying the experience, a little ad whoring doesn't bother you too much.
  • When I get something for "free" like regular TV, I expect there to be advertising so the TV producers can make a profit and pay their actors. However, when I pay for something like HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc. I expect the movies to be uninterrupted. I even expect there to be no 3rd party advertising between shows.

    How is this any different from a video game? It's not like I downloaded a free trial-version of the 1st level. I purchased the game. I don't want to see crap in the game that ruins my fanta

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