Author Topic: Advertising in video games (Read 1871 times)

esteban · « **on:** August 16, 2005, 11:30:27 AM »

check this out:
http://nationalcheeseemporium.org/

and then this:
http://www.massiveincorporated.com/

For the uninitiated: the first link is by a bunch of fellow gamers who figured out how to block steaming ads in Swat 4 (and presumably this technique will work for many games that are clients of massiveincorporated).

Quote from: "Massive Incorporated"

For advertisers, the Massive Network provides unprecedented access to the gamer audience through dynamic and targeted delivery of ad messages.

Personally, I hate advertisements shoved down my throat (i.e. when I am part of a "captive audience"). I'm the person who hates the fact that there are commercials at the movie theatre (the trailers are bad enough). I paid good money to see a movie, not watch commercials, goddamit.

Same goes for gaming.

Also, I despise DVDs that do not allow you to skip the "Coming Attractions" trailers. Goddam! At least with a VHS tape, you could fast forward!

Sorry for sounding a bit too mean-spirited... but this trend towards in-game advertising really gets my dander up.

A bunch of the big clients are listed at the bottom of the homepage. Konami, Eidos, Codemasters... I'm sure there are many more to come...

Keranu · « **Reply #1 on:** August 16, 2005, 02:21:39 PM »

Hey that's a pretty cool link you posted for the first one. I can't believe they do something like this in games not. By the way, I agree about commercials in the movie theaters now, which is totally unnecessary!

KingDrool · « **Reply #2 on:** August 16, 2005, 02:45:36 PM »

Most of EA's games are nothing but advertising. Just look at Need for Speed Underground 2. It's unbearable.

akamichi · « **Reply #3 on:** August 17, 2005, 01:41:38 AM »

Don't buy or play those games.

I know. I know. Easier said than done. It's pretty lame for game makers to include this kind of advertisement. I could understand doing it for your own games but just general advertisement is pitiful IMO.

I used to love EA back in the days of the C64. I was always hyped up for pretty much all their C64 stuff. Nowadays I don't buy anything even related to them.

KingDrool · « **Reply #4 on:** August 17, 2005, 05:48:15 AM »

Actually, I can't remember the last EA game I went out and bought. NFSU2 was a Christmas gift. I kind of have my own mini-boycott going.

esteban · « **Reply #5 on:** August 17, 2005, 06:11:46 AM »

Quote from: "akamichi"

Don't buy or play those games. I know. I know. Easier said than done. It's pretty lame for game makers to include this kind of advertisement. I could understand doing it for your own games but just general advertisement is pitiful IMO.

I used to love EA back in the days of the C64. I was always hyped up for pretty much all their C64 stuff. Nowadays I don't buy anything even related to them.

EA ruled back in the day. They had tons of creative, kool games. One of my favorite games on the Apple II was "Wasteland". Good stuff.

If there was a clearly displayed disclaimer on game packaging that said "Please note: This software contains in-game advertising" then it might be possible to avoid them. This will never happen, of course.

Another aspect that I haven't discussed (it's on the first link), concerns (emphasis added):

Quote from: "nationalcheeseemporium"

How did our adverts perform?

Everything now plays along with little noise coming from the madservers. Until we exit the game. A single HTTP request is sent by our game client to signify that the game has ended. A timestamp and our session/gamer ids are sent. This sort of information gives the advertisers a more complete idea of how long we play, and at what times of the day, and enough information for them to calculate any patterns. They could even determine what levels are more popular and maybe charge more for advertisers to get advertising space in these levels.

The most shocking part was next. The client contacted madserver to tell the advertisers how long the gamer spent with each advert in their view. This is mapped to the gamer id, so they know which player in the game saw the advert, and when, for how long, and from how far away (by virtue of the size attribute). Even the average viewing angle is passed back.

If this stuff is just first generation, then who knows how invasive and/or detailed this technology could become. It should be made clear that this advertising format doesnt just simply mean putting posters on the walls of levels, but also objects, such as vending machines in the game could be branded by advertisers.

So there are two issues here: first, all the "market research" stuff that is collected to see how well ads are performing -- and the fact that this data is not anonymous, but linked to a specifc gamer id.

Second, massiveincorporated has taken the concept of "product placement" to the next level: any object in a game can be branded "on the fly", not simply posters.

Technically, this is amazing stuff. As far as the state of the gaming industry goes, however, this is a new low (...the low-tech product placement in older games was bad enough...)

Paladin · « **Reply #6 on:** August 19, 2005, 03:01:48 PM »

For the most part this stuff really annoys me. I want to sit back and play the game without having to see the newest Pepsi ad. I only really condone it when a game company tastefully puts in reference to other games they've released. The best to examples I can think of are Working Designs games and Konami's Blades of Steel. I mean who hasn't walked up to some object in a Working designs game to get some humorous message related to some previously released game. Anyone who has played Blades of Steel remembers the super cheezy Gradius mini game, which also advertises for Contra and Jackal, inbetween the 2nd and 3rd period.

This stuff about recording the gamer id, the play time, and even the angle you viewed the ad at is ridiculous. It really has no class and doesn't belong in a video game.

nodtveidt · « **Reply #7 on:** August 19, 2005, 03:34:22 PM »

From Lunar: The Silver Star...
"I've had harder trials...like the time I fought Galam!"
"I sure wish Morley were here right now..." (Morley, or Marley to be precise, was in Cosmic Fantasy 2, shown in the cutscene before Cobra is summoned to Idea and also shown as a sprite in the Algernon before it rockets to Clan Isle)
From Vasteel...
"Just ask Van and he'll tell you that Galam is one tough fighter."

I remember Vay having a ton of them but I can't remember any off the top of my head right now...been a couple of years since I last played thru that game. Also, Cosmic Fantasy 2 had a ton of other pokes...

"a three hour tour, a three hour tour..."
"Can I mind-meld with you, friend?"
"Did I tell you that I'm not only the president, I'm also a client?"
etc etc etc...tons of them.

Keranu · « **Reply #8 on:** August 19, 2005, 08:22:40 PM »

Nod, there was some CF2 reference in Vay that went along the lines of "Don't be a Babbette!" or something. Another good Working Designs one is in Exile in the scene before you fight some boss he says something about you being brothers or something and says "It will be our Cosmic Fantasy!".

Also, who else remembers the sweet ass Irem and R-Type advertisments in the last level of Vigilante

? They were on the beat up walls in the background and they looked so awesome on them.

esteban · « **Reply #9 on:** August 19, 2005, 08:30:30 PM »

Quote from: "Keranu"

Nod, there was some CF2 reference in Vay that went along the lines of "Don't be a Babbette!" or something. Another good Working Designs one is in Exile in the scene before you fight some boss he says something about you being brothers or something and says "It will be our Cosmic Fantasy!".

Also, who else remembers the sweet ass Irem and R-Type advertisments in the last level of Vigilante ? They were on the beat up walls in the background and they looked so awesome on them.

Yes, advertising for your other games is not a problem, as far as I am concerned. All the things folks have pointed out are fine... in fact, they actually add another level of appreciation for a company's oeuvre.

The Gradius mini-game! I totally forgot about that! The WD self-references!

Keranu, don't forget Vigilante has billboards for IREM's own Mr. Heli (HuCard) as well! Maybe even another game, though I can't remember it.

Keranu · « **Reply #10 on:** August 19, 2005, 09:50:54 PM »

Yes that right, Mr. Heli was on it! I knew there was another IREM game on there, but I just couldn't remember! I think Mr. Heli and R-Type were the only ones though, along with the IREM logo appearing as well I believe.

Speaking of Mr. Heli, remember that cheat in Ninja Spirit to display the two secret messages? I think they were "Do you like PC Engine?", and "Mr. Heli is fun.". It was really freaky when I first put in the cheat to see those messages

.

nodtveidt · « **Reply #11 on:** August 20, 2005, 12:25:11 AM »

Quote from: "Keranu"

Another good Working Designs one is in Exile in the scene before you fight some boss he says something about you being brothers or something and says "It will be our Cosmic Fantasy!".

Yup, that was the druid king inside the Mosnee cathedral.

I don't remember that line from Vay though...I know it had a lot of references but I must have missed that one.

Keranu · « **Reply #12 on:** August 20, 2005, 12:41:25 AM »

The part I was referring to in Vay is around when you first get that chick with the claws on your team.

nodtveidt · « **Reply #13 on:** August 20, 2005, 01:59:14 PM »

Oh...yeah, he says "Babette", as in babe-ette...meh you get the idea.

Keranu · « **Reply #14 on:** August 20, 2005, 10:20:15 PM »

:arrow:

Author Topic: Advertising in video games (Read 1871 times)

nodtveidt

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