Advertising in video games?

[Mara]

When Gary Ruskin, the executive director of Commercial Alert, finds hidden product placement in sitcoms, films or video games, he sees exploitation.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5722377/

[fivex684]

There's nothing wrong with it as long as it isn't taken overboard. Real logo's on billboards in GTA is okay but not in Star Wars. Just keep it logical. Who know's it might even help lower price's a little.

[wildwildwest301]

Some of the stuff looks out of place, and you jsut cant change that. Having a pepsi ad in kotor would be stupid.....but its up to the producers, they are making the games after all.

[Gaim Mastr]

In Far Cry they show upright vending machines for soda. The name of the soda company is fictitious, as far as I know. I got to thinking that if they'd gotten Pepsi or Coke to do some product placement and have their vending machines portrayed in the game it would actually add to the 'realism'. As well as adding some extra cash to the Crytek/UBI coffers.

[DanTheManPR]

As much as I despise advertising, I don't realy mind product placement that much. As long as it isn't too obnoxious ("I, Robot" comes to mind), its fine with me. Some times it does in fact add to the realism (for example, the talking ads in "Minority Report").

[Mr. Natural]

It would be nice if it lowered the price of a game, but unlikely. If anything it's another source of revenue for a developer/publisher. And that might be a good thing for smaller developers who need a cash inflow to prevent a takeover from a larger corporate entity. I definitely think it will be something we'll be seeing more of in the future. I agree it can add an element of realism to a game as well as some humor.

[Rob]

Even if it does not lower prices, more spending money for a dev team is usually a good thing. I agree with what Gaim says though about realism. Games like Grand Theft Auto 3 could benefit from real world advertising by bringing a virtual game that much closer to a realistic over the top experience. That is what some of gaming is, doing things you would not normally do in real life but in a safe environment. ESPN NFL 2K5 is about as blatant as you can get for an ESPN advertisement... and it works very well. The game is better because of it.

[Cronus]

I found it funny in I, Robot... Didn't really detract from it at all. Just made the main character seem suitably eccentric.

That Judge Dread game had a whole mission where you had to hunt down Red Bull smugglers lol...

[Rafal Dudek]

well as long as we dont get any of this...


You get shot and killed during some FPS game... and a message pops up "You died, too bad. But I got some great news, I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geicko"

or

As you enter to fight the end boss of a game.... "we'll be right back with a brief message from our sponsors..."

[Nova]

I think product placement would be a good idea as long as it fits the game's setting. I mean, I wouldn't want to play Neverwinter Nights 2 and see "You have found the Pepsi +5 Holy Avenger!" or something. It would have been pretty neat to see real brands on vending machines in Deus Ex though. Then again, I don't know if I could get used to the idea of Coke replenishing HP :):

[Rob]

I don't necessarily agree Nova, I know I would want a Pepsi +5 Avenger, but that is just me. :lol:

[Nova]

I must admit the +5 might be worth it :wink:

[DanTheManPR]

What I would hate is if they had an advertisement when you started the game (like they do before you see streamed movies)

For example, the POWERED BY NVIDIA crap I see at the beginning of Unreal Tournament.

[wildwildwest301]

Fitting random things in to help realism would be cool (soda machines in far cry for example). Gratuitous plugs are stupid though. Oh well, I guess it will make its way in eventually. Well get used to it eventually :D

[Cloudw4lker]

What I would hate is if they had an advertisement when you started the game (like they do before you see streamed movies)

For example, the POWERED BY NVIDIA crap I see at the beginning of Unreal Tournament.
I really hate that stuff, makes me click the mouse one more time...