Ads moving from TV to video games

[Urban Ranger]

I got it

Create a game called Advertising Tycoon, where your goal is to make your advertising company #1. Thus, the publisher can put in as many real life brands as they like, or can possibly get their hands on.

Make it Escher-eque by having one of the ways to advertise is in computer games.

You hear this idea here first

[Ming]

I'd buy it

[Dis]

in game ads

[:) Smiley]

In game ads. Coming soon to forum games.

[Az]

[alva]

"What we've seen in our research is that 90 percent of gamers like advertising in games," Davis said, "for the simple reason that it adds realism into the games."

Pretty much sums up the world we're living in.

Advertising

[mrmitchell]

If I've already bought something I don't like even more advertising being shoved down my throat...

Ads go with free things like websites...ads in movies, video games,

Hello...I HAVE PAID FOR IT, STOP BUGGING ME ABOUT IRRELEVANT PRODUCTS I DONT NEED

Why do they put piracy warnings in DVDs and movie theaters now? I have paid full price and I'm still getting warned like I'm a criminal. Everyone knows it's illegal already, shut up please...

If advertising significantly lowered the price I pay of a video game or movie without compromising its quality, I would support it, but I doubt that will happen...

Ok, I'm done

[Ming]

Originally posted by mrmitchell
If advertising significantly lowered the price I pay of a video game or movie without compromising its quality, I would support it, but I doubt that will happen...

Yeah... probably won't happen

The best way for advertising to be accepted is when it comes with a value to the customer. Network TV is free because of the ads... some people may not like that, and many find ways to avoid them, but most people accept the trade off. Web sites that are free and provide value, can also get away with ads. Advertising keeps the price of magazines and newspaper MUCH lower, so people accept the ads...

On the other hand, I get pissed when I pay to go see a movie, and they subject me to ads before the movie. The good news is, I know I can be late to a movie, because all I miss are the ads and trailers

[snoopy369]

I just hope game ads don't turn into movie-like ads -- where you have a game start up with 5 minutes of ads before you can play. That's when i'd turn to the dark side and have someone "fix" my game not to do that ...

The movie ads indeed are offensive to me. Too bad we don't have some sort of alternative to movie theatres that includes no ads (yet) ...

/me goes to find his dvd player

(Really too bad there's no (legal) way to watch movies during release time without ads ... but I'm patient.)

[q=ming]The good news is, I know I can be late to a movie, because all I miss are the ads and trailers [/q]

Some movie theatres in Chicago are starting to post the "start time" as the actual movie start time (minus a minute or two, but not much). Happened with FantasticFour for me ... was the first time i'd seen it, although I'd heard of it for a month or two. Makes me happy that i'm not wasting my paid-for time watching ads

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by mactbone
I railed against this in a Madden forum. Madden games include an Old Spice "red zone" and the Pontiac Drive summary or something. These are utterly pointless and don't reduce the cost of a game that is basically the same from year to year.

If the price is basically the same from year to year - and from what I recall, the most recent Madden dropped significantly in price shortly after release, about $10 or so and another $15 not really that long after (partly due to ESPN's game, but probably not entirely) - doesn't that mean it's reducing the cost? Inflation is non-zero at the moment, meaning a similarly priced game from year to year actually costs less in real dollars ...

[q=mactbone]So I don't understand why we as consumers should put up with this and why more people don't think about this and realize how jipped we are. [/q]

Put up with it? How can we NOT put up with it? What option do you have (other than not playing the game at all, feel free, but most of us need our football )

[q=mactbone] I don't buy that those advertisements make the game more realistic. Sports label brands and licensing on stadiums make the games more realistic, Old Spice and Pontiac don't.
[/Q]

Actually, I like it when they have the sponsored postgame shows and whatnot. It indeed makes it more realistic; just as on TV there is the Pontiac Postgame Report, so does my video game. It doesn't really get in the way, and it sounds just like Fox or whatever ...

[Dis]

as long as this stays on kiddie console games I don't care.

Ads would just ruin the mood of an RPG. Because almost all RPG's aren't set in the present day world. Present day products would ruin the immersion factor. I don't remember seing coca cola in the middle ages.

And they don't belong in civ games either. Except maybe the modern age, but I don't want to see them there either. It would just be distracting and wouldn't fit in the game.

[Adagio]

In Civ games it would be diffecult to throw in some ads without annoying the player. Imagine going to the diplomacy screen in the modern days to talk to Ghandi and sees him holding a Cola with the brand name towards the player

[alva]

What do you mean..."imagine"??

[JohnT]

Why do they put piracy warnings in DVDs and movie theaters now? I have paid full price and I'm still getting warned like I'm a criminal. Everyone knows it's illegal already, shut up please...

Uh, there have always been piracy warnings on VHS and DVD recordings.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Ming

On the other hand, I get pissed when I pay to go see a movie, and they subject me to ads before the movie. The good news is, I know I can be late to a movie, because all I miss are the ads and trailers

The worst example of this, so dastardly it had to come from the mind of an evil galactic warlord, is Regal Cinema's "The Twenty."

Seventeen TV commercials wrapped around three promotions for upcoming TV shows, all packaged together as its own entertainment product. At the end of it, the audience is breathlessly exhorted to "come earlier" if they "didn't catch all of the Twenty." This is before the lights go down and the commercials/trailers start.

Jesus wept. And threw a hissy fit.

However, one caveat: I like trailers and consider them part of the movie-going experience. But commercials....? Yuck.

The worst one nowadays is that Coca-Cola promotion that involves the four teenage "movie-makers" who are touring America to show the crazy-sexy-cool inventiveness of today's youth. One of the quotes in the movie goes along the lines of "We're real teens making this documentary to show other real teens in their real environment." Ozzy would be proud.

However... Most 'real teens' I know don't have million dollar contracts with Coca-Cola that essentially whore their movie out as nothing more than one giant product placement. I mean, when was the last time any of us went to a party in high school where everyone was holding a Coke product while dancing?