Advertisements Insinuated Into Video Games

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Roar down city streets in the upcoming "Need for Speed Underground 2" racing game and you'll see a Best Buy store amid the skyscrapers along with bright billboards hawking Cingular Wireless, Old Spice, and Burger King.

The fictional landscapes of video games are increasingly being dotted with product placements, pitching everything from athletic shoes to movies. And that's not all — advertisers will soon be able to update the ads over the Internet whenever they want, long after the games are sold.

The plugs reflect a growing business reality — video games are stealing eyeballs from movies and television, where product placement has long been a staple.

Read entire story here (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&e=3&u=/ap/20041018/ap_on_hi_te/ads_in_games).

[RobinSena]

Advertisements have been becoming amazingly ubiquitous in the gaming industry for years.
I remember the Playstation game Jet Moto was one of first to pioneer this egregious business practice; it was hard to miss their plugging of Butterfinger. Businesses will always find newer, more disgraceful ways to sell things.

[Malicious Intent]

Remember that Matrix game? Adverts everywhere.

[method]

Anyone remember Zool on the 16-bit consoles/computers?? - The game was plastered with Chupa chups and that was around 10 years ago. :;)

[black_magiic]

I dont really mind it. sadly it makes games more real and believable

[MoonMan]

Advertisements in video games aren't a bad thing. They can add realism if used right, and make the industry look more mature and profitable to others outside the realm.

[CRLocky]

i think this is alright. advertising is the biggest business/industry in the world, this form is, i think, acceptable, because it doesn't pose a problem to the consumer/user. but i don't like it when it gets rediculous to the point where it interferes with a persons daily life like a lot of forms that are out there, such as: spam from spyware and the such, tele-marketing, door to door ranters etc... i even heard that once space travel got going in the private sector, they're thinking about putting giant billboards to float in space so all you have to do is look up and see it... oh and i don't think this is a good idea:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,890603,00.html

[rebirth]

Insinuate \In*sin"u*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Insinuated; p.
pr. & vb. n. Insinuating.] [L. insinuatus, p. p. of
insinuareto insinuate; pref. in- in + sinus the bosom. See
Sinuous.]
1. To introduce gently or slowly, as by a winding or narrow
passage, or a gentle, persistent movement.

The water easily insinuates itself into, and
placidly distends, the vessels of vegetables.
--Woodward.

2. To introduce artfully; to infuse gently; to instill.

All the art of rhetoric, besides order and
clearness, are for nothing else but to insinuate
wrong ideas, move the passions, and thereby mislead
the judgment. --Locke.

Horace laughs to shame all follies and insinuates
virtue, rather by familiar examples than by the
severity of precepts. --Dryden.

3. To hint; to suggest by remote allusion; -- often used
derogatorily; as, did you mean to insinuate anything?

4. To push or work (one's self), as into favor; to introduce
by slow, gentle, or artful means; to ingratiate; -- used
reflexively.

He insinuated himself into the very good grace of
the Duke of Buckingham. --Clarendon.

Syn: To instill; hint; suggest; intimate.

The way they pump shit in Movies, TV Series, and VidGames, it's not 'insinuation' it's just fuckin' obvious, blatant shit.

[Malicious Intent]

"Advertisements fuckin' obvious, blatant shit into computer games" lol- Good title Rebirth!


What a classic game Method. I can only remember Zool 2. He used to do a spin kick in the air, which I used to jump around the house trying to copy.

[rebirth]

They SHOULD name a VidGame that. Def.

[black_magiic]

i even heard that once space travel got going in the private sector, they're thinking about putting giant billboards to float in space so all you have to do is look up and see it... oh and i don't think this is a good idea:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,890603,00.html

on an episode of the simpsons didnt bill gates have the microsoft flag lasered into the moon.

[Wolfie]

As long they are not interrupting and intrusive like TV commercials and pop-ups, I don't really care.

[rebirth]

Yeah, to REALLY tell you the truth, I don't mind Ads in Games, they seem to make them more realistic. I'd much rather see ALL of a rapper's outfit on MTV, too. Why not unblur the images, turn it into a d/l ad campaign? No more commercials, no blurred out insignias, makes everyone happy.

[Deegin]

I remember San Fransisco Rush 2 for the N64 had Mt. Dew all over the place.

Mmm.. Mt. Dew.

[Nona F. Mecklenburg]

who knows what a final fantasy game would look like with a advertisment in it