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Advertisments in games: Authenticity or Invasive

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Agent Icebeezy

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In watching these 360 vids, I notice that advertisments are literally everywhere. Just wanted to know people's thoughts on the subject.
 
I guess it depends on the type of game, I personally didn't mind the subtle ads in crazy taxi and pikmin 2.

but that would be as much as I can take, before I'm completely taken out of the experience.
 
Advertising's not ubiquitous enough in games to be realistic.

When you drive around in a game like Burnout: Revenge, you never pass brand name stores or fast food joints, but then you drive by a big Gibson guitar billboard -- a company I've never seen outdoor advertising for.

If they really want to be realistic, they have to totally innundate the game with ads, just like we are in real life.
 
Depends on the game. I don't want to see coke ads in a game based in a fantasy setting. I don't give a shit if I see a coke billboard in a racing game, or an ad on the jumbotron in a sports game.
 
Hate them with a raging passion. So much so that I can't really carry on a rational conversation about their use in games.
 
it depends on how its done I suppose. I can't think of any game offhand where it really bugged me, there are some movies though where they really go overboard and I'm like 'come on'.

sign of the times i guess.. anything from fast food to cell processors. as long as it isn't jarringly out of place, im ok with it.
 
Get that shit out of my games. I have enough ads on TV, movies, and everywhere I look in the city.
 
what 360 games are you seeing them in where they seem outta place? in PGR3 its circuit racing. realism in a "fantasy" world and its only fantasy because there'd never be circuit racing in NYC. In madden or any other sports game its exactly what you'd see on TV. realism again. In something like condemed where they use samsung camera or cells i think it adds a nice touch because the game is striving for something akin to what you'd see on evening TV.

EA goes kinda overboard with it in something like need for speed underground though and its weird because namco does the exact same thing in their games as far as advertising their other games (see klonoa and talim billboards in RR6) but for some reason it annoys the hell outta me when EA does it.

DOLE bananas in monkeyball was awesome. I hated that it was removed from the non gamecube versions.
 
If it makes sense in context then there's no problem. I think that's what most people think.
 
NCAA 06 has all kinds of advertising like every time you get into the red zone and old spice red zone deodorant ad comes on, because in the red zone is protection when you need it most. Pontiac also always gives the stats too mostly. It gets pretty annoying hearing the announcers mention it all the time. Instead of mentioning something useful they talk about old spice, but they never say anything useful anyways really. It doesnt have to be in the game though and the in game ads along with all the glitches in madden for psp (with no recall) along with the fee to play online makes me worry about the future of football games with the exclusive nfl license.
 
ShowDog said:
It doesnt have to be in the game though and the in game ads along with all the glitches in madden for psp (with no recall) along with the fee to play online makes me worry about the future of football games with the exclusive nfl license.
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You have to pay to play Madden PSP online?
 
I don't mind advertising in games as long as it is non-intrusive. It's one of the few things that could potentially really help lower game prices. Hell I wouldn't mind if my loading screen was a static Pepsi ad it it knocked $20 off the price of a $50 game on launch day.
 
Flynn said:
Advertising's not ubiquitous enough in games to be realistic.

When you drive around in a game like Burnout: Revenge, you never pass brand name stores or fast food joints, but then you drive by a big Gibson guitar billboard -- a company I've never seen outdoor advertising for.

If they really want to be realistic, they have to totally innundate the game with ads, just like we are in real life.
Click to expand...
Exactly. The ads in the Gran Turismo series and other realistic racing games are fine because the cars and tracks are filled with ads just like in real life, but running into a Best Buy in NFSU when none of the other buildings are based on real companies is just annoying.
 
It really depends on how it is done, but I can't even think of a game where the advertising bothered me. I liked going to real stores in Crazy Taxi and I thought the Dole bananas in Super Monkey Ball were cute.
 
Depends on the game.

Seeing a Coca Cola commercial in Anarchy Online is kinda cool while seeing one in World of WarCraft would have 'ruined' it.
 
gameadssm.jpg
 
:lol
If it helps keep production costs down of games, then I really dont mind - If its a billboard in a racing game, or a store in GTA - its not really invasive imo.
 
I don't like it. I can't think of one game it's necessary outside of certain racing/sports titles, and even outside of NASCAR you could probably fake it. Hated it in NFSU, didn't like it in Pikmin 2, SSX3, etc. It's gross, and I wish we didn't need advertising in games we've already paid for.

Why not be like GTA (a bad example above) and make clever fakes?
 
I'm in the if it makes sense in the context crowd on this one. A fantasy setting like WoW or Ico, or FF wouldn't make sense to have modern products in it.

Product placement in films, TV, games etc isn't bad in itself, imo. It's when the product is pushed forward to the detriment of the real creative endevour that it becomes unneccessarily intrusive.

When talking in games, I think it comes down to whether the game enforces unneccessary interactions with the adverts/products. In Crazy Taxi when you went to KFC or Pizza Hut you weren't forced to focus on them anymore than the games made up locations. There wasn't some additional cutscene for dropping a character at one of those locations.
 
Oh and my thoughts on the matter are as follows: Help pay for the rising dev costs without compromising the game and it's a good thing.
 
If the advertising is no more prominent than it would be in a real-life environment and fits within the context of the game, I don't really have a problem with it (partly because I can filter out advertising like that subconsciously, and partly because I don't play many games that would have advertising like that).

It's when the advertising gets in my face and makes itself obvious that I can't stand it. Sega LOVES this. Remember the unskippable product-placement stage intros in Beach Spikers? Dancing Pringles cans and cups of Coke, etc.? How about the ads for Ferrari (including their online shop) masquerading as cards you can "collect" in Outrun2?

And the thing is, the biggest publishers won't pass the savings they get from using this kind of thing down to us. This was made clear by a recent Activision presentation. They'll still charge as much as they can for their games while pocketing the extra margin they get from providing advertising space.

For the most part I'd really rather see cute, self-referential or comedic ads in games. I like the "SEGA" and "TREASURE" billboards in Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy, the "ads" for other games in things like Ridge Racer, Pole Position, and Rumble Roses, and the funny made-up product names in Katamari Damacy. The GTA series' parody ads are always good for a laugh, too.
 
Gran Turismo got me used to it years ago, so it has never upset me. Even Ridge Racer, with its countless references to other Namco properties, kind of prepared me for what I would eventually see this gen.
 
I agree that in games that are based in the real world, I hate to see those knockoff brands like "FKC" instead of "KFC" because they didn't use the actual place. I'd rather see the actual brand in cases like that.

What really annoys me is billboards in games that are advertising for other games from that company.
 
I don't really care.. sometimes it makes for a better exp.. since you can related to the game better with real products in it.. Also if us as gamers can see the results of it, like keeping prices down..
 
Cerebral Palsy said:
You have to pay to play Madden PSP online?
Click to expand...

I know you have to pay $2 or agree to get your email spammed by ESPN for the PS2 version (don't know about xbox) and I think the PSP one is the same way but I'm not sure you can check Gamespot's review if you wanna make sure they would mention it.

Now that I think about it that's another way of in game advertising isn't it. The new most annoying kind!
 
Blackace said:
.. Also if us as gamers can see the results of it, like keeping prices down..
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I see what you're trying to say, but I think that only really works for super-crappy budget stinkers like Ford vs. Chevy or IHRA Drag Racing 137841263. EA, the king of in-game advertising, clearly isn't passing the savings on to the customer.
 
sonarrat said:
I see what you're trying to say, but I think that only really works for super-crappy budget stinkers like Ford vs. Chevy or IHRA Drag Racing 137841263. EA, the king of in-game advertising, clearly isn't passing the savings on to the customer.
Click to expand...

Well in some ways they do.. Sports games are not cheap to make.. Madden for example, NFL license,Players license, Stadium license... not saying that they aren't making a killing on the games, but they must use ads to help pay those off..

I think the cost of making any game is going up...and this is one way to deal with it... as long as we don't have trailers when you boot up and crap this is fine.. so what if a billboard has pepsi on it.. or someone says "let's go to Pizza hut"
 
If it doesn't take you out of the experiance, isn't absurdly placed, and keeps the cost of videogames down in the next generation I'll take the hit. Games like Super Money Ball and some racing games handle it very well.

Midnight Club and Run Like Hell are two examples of in game advertizing gone horribly wrong. Especially the latter. If the game's GOOD and has intrusive advertising, that's the REAL shame. If it sucks who cares anyway, it's not like the experiance is being affected in any way since it sucks to begin with.

The day you have to sit through commercials during loading screens, before the game boots up, in between chapters, levels, or segments of story is the day I quit video games all together.
 
When characters in a game make it a point to tell you that you're using a NexTel cell phone while eatting at a clearly marked McDonalds ordering a signiture food item from said resturaunt afterward sitting down reading a copy of EGM during story advancing cutscenes.

Tony Hawk has taken product placement in games way too far.
 
That's one of the things I like about Pikmin 2. There are so many brands.

Katamari could learn a thing or two.
 
i just want to say that i really hate it when they put the ads right in front of your face (NFSU2 - Nextel logo on nav screen.....Palm logo in Splinter Cell interface)
 
Games that replicate real life locations need them. Otherwise, they have no place. Then again, I won't complain about a dev pimping their own products. That's cool IMO. PEACE.
 
Musashi Wins! said:
Hated it in NFSU, didn't like it in Pikmin 2, SSX3, etc. It's gross, and I wish we didn't need advertising in games we've already paid for.
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Man, I loved it in Pikmin 2. Absolutely adored it. It was one of the biggest surprises for me, because they way they handled it was brilliant. Giving each product funny names and hilarious descriptions and sales pitches in the game just was a bonus. It was like they went to our world, but they approach everything from an alien perspective. The way they handled it was... how to describe it... sort of like the imagination of a child meets advertising.

I don't mind it in games if it keeps price down, but make in non-intrusive or interesting. I thought Pikmin 2 did it fantastic, sorry to hear you didn't agree :(
 
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