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Naughty Dog Lead Editor: Product placement can be a very efficient world-building tool when done right

EruditeHobo

Member
I agree with his take. There is a balance to it and it helps when the brands let you have a little fun in how you use them.

tacobell-restaurant.gif

This is the absolute gold standard... excellent use in the movie, then a solid deal in-restaurant! Hard to beat that.

Real question is, where did rated-R blockbuster fast food tie ins go?? Was this the last one ever? What a shame.
 

saintjules

Member
I can tell you that the people at Naughty Dog are the exact kind of people I want making games.

They're doing something the Duffer brothers did well with Stranger Things mashing together lots of 80s horror tropes/themes with 80s music.

A lot of people would on the surface accuse ND of doubling down on Stranger Things or worse comparing this to guardians of the galaxy (you know these people are under the age of 30).

But the 80s music which is a peak era of music combined with the love letter to anime and sci fi... You can tell we're going to get references to Cowboy Bebop, Akira, City Hunter e.t.c. All things where you would find product placement or faux product placement.

Kojima was heavily influenced by Escape from NY/LA, The Rock, Bond movies, Die Hard,

Just as the Last of Us was inspired by On the road, Children of Men, and 28 days later. Just as Uncharted was inspired by Indiana Jones, National Treasure, and Tintin.

It's only bad when people you don't like are doing it...
One I was saying the other day. People seem to want the same boring nonsense. I'm glad to see some new stuff for once.
 
It looks like the game is going for a retro aesthetic and, yeah, it lends it a level of authenticity. I'd be lying if I said that Starlord rocking a Sony branded Walkman wasn't a huge win for informing us about his character. We live in a culture ruled by brands and sometimes the brands we associate ourselves with are things that, for better or worse, can serve to define us.

It's actually kind of weird that such things aren't more often taken advantage of in narratives. I suppose it's likely cause of how slippery the slope can be.
 
In the anime series Code Geass, the show had a very minor Pizza Hut promotion deal. The only thing they were obligated to do was to show the logo somewhere once in a while, and the production crew get free pizzas at the studio.

The animation crew went ham and show the main female character eating nothing but pizza, has the actual pizza delivery bike show up on screen, and has her ending up with a big plush JP Pizzahut Mascot, a block of mozzarella with a face, as her most prized possession. And in the end when everything blows over and she disappears from history as an immortal, you can see that she is still carrying the plush mascot with her.

A pity that the promotion was Japanese-Only so the Western release of the show has the pizzahut logos removed.

In the end this only worked because the production crew treats it as an in-joke and incorporated it into the show fully. It's not that it can't be done right; it's that it takes EFFORT.
 
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schaft0620

Member
He's not wrong. Done correctly you wouldn't even notice it.

There's a dozen reasons why you would want the player to notice it.

Your homework for the weekend is to re-watch Back to the Future.

Is this game a comedy, like Back to the Future?

The "profound" tone Neil is suggesting clashes with these retro references and the Pet Shop Boys song, another wrong decision.
If you have ever seen an 80s Sci-Fi movie you would know it doesn't clash at all which is why I said you don't get the game.

Why everyone at ND are retarded?
You don't get the game.
 
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baphomet

Member
There's a dozen reasons why you would want the player to notice it.

Your homework for the weekend is to re-watch Back to the Future.

Well since I know the movies front to back, not only can I name the couple of big ones that everyone knows, but I can name probably 30-40 of the ones people wouldn't notice unless they were watching the movie specifically trying to point out brands.

Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft, Ibanez Guitars, Sony, Black and Decker, Adidas, Apple, Sanyo, Casio, Cocoa Crispies, Tab, Frisbee, Toyota, Goodyear, Texaco, Burger King, GE, etc.

Not all product placement has to be in your face to add to a world you're creating.
 

schaft0620

Member
Well since I know the movies front to back, not only can I name the couple of big ones that everyone knows, but I can name probably 30-40 of the ones people wouldn't notice unless they were watching the movie specifically trying to point out brands.

Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft, Ibanez Guitars, Sony, Black and Decker, Adidas, Apple, Sanyo, Casio, Cocoa Crispies, Tab, Frisbee, Toyota, Goodyear, Texaco, Burger King, GE, etc.


Not all product placement has to be in your face to add to a world you're creating.

You are making my point. They (Naughty Dog) are going for BttF here.
 

Matsuchezz

Member
There's a dozen reasons why you would want the player to notice it.

Your homework for the weekend is to re-watch Back to the Future.


If you have ever seen an 80s Sci-Fi movie you would know it doesn't clash at all which is why I said you don't get the game.


You don't get the game.
Indeed, I was a kid in the eighties and I totally relate with all the product placement in the game. I think that the main character is a fan of the eighties such as myself. And even I am not from the us, here in Mexico we watched a lot of USA shows. Like magnum pi, Miami vice and the like and the music was a big influence on the radio. I agree with the notion that Naughty Dog haters are running rampant. They want to see them fall.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
An efficient “world building tool” is just intellectual laziness. How exactly is having Coca-Cola 400 years in the future “world building”? It’s almost impossible any brand today will last 100 years, let alone more.
 
There's a dozen reasons why you would want the player to notice it.

Your homework for the weekend is to re-watch Back to the Future.


If you have ever seen an 80s Sci-Fi movie you would know it doesn't clash at all which is why I said you don't get the game.


You don't get the game.


Dude, I grew up watching all those movies. Do you see any product placement in Dune? In Star Trek? In Starship Troopers? in Alien? Of course not. It is you who don't understand the basic concept that serious fiction doesn't rely on product placement or pop culture references, it breaks immersion.

The game takes place TWO MILLENIA after the era of those brands, it's not a few decades or a century like in Blade Runner. It's very dumb.
 
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