Product Advertising in Gaming

[DarkRevent]

In any game you come across, there's a degree of non-gaming product advertising. Whether anyone has seen it or knows of a game with a degree (whatever it may be) OR you just wanna discuss the issue of high (or low) level advertising in gaming.

My Example:
GAME: Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure (Playstation 2)
SOURCE: ...My brother plays it... and makes me help him... -_-"
INFO: This game is ridiculous. Sony Ericsson is advertising a very specific phone model in billboards and in a mission to collect ringtones made by Sony. Then there's our friend McDonald's; there's a McDonald's in the middle of the start town which has NO other food establishment. Which has a delivery mission that contains menu specific items to deliver. I can't remember the others right now, and frankly, I DON'T WANT TO!!!1!!!!!11!!

 

[klarax]

i think its ok if its justified. Doing it, like you said is just wrong and silly.

But if it were in say Grand Theft Auto, i'd have no problem with it cos it would add to the reality of the game.

 

[Fire Daemon]

Well in some games it makes sense. In PGR one of the courses has you racing down Broadway. Would it make sense to have flat walls? Would it be the same street whithout the big Coca Cola sign. Methinks no.

Product Placement is good if it fits the scenario realisticly. A bad example of product placement is the example you gave. That is an obvious atempt to sell crap to kids.

 

[Anniko]

The Tom Clancy games are full of Axe, Nivea and deoderants and stuff.
GTA would be a great game to have product placement.
Soccer games are the worst but it's only realistic I guess.

GTA would be horrible with product placement. The entire game is satirical and to ruin it with anything serious would be horrendous. Keep it light hearted and poking fun at real stuff followed by a light massacre and driving a tank through the streets.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I hardly ever notice product placement, with the exception of Crackdown and GHIII.

 

[Doug]

This game is ridiculous. Sony Ericsson is advertising a very specific phone model in billboards and in a mission to collect ringtones made by Sony. Then there's our friend McDonald's; there's a McDonald's in the middle of the start town which has NO other food establishment. Which has a delivery mission that contains menu specific items to deliver. I can't remember the others right now, and frankly, I DON'T WANT TO!!!1!!!!!11!!

Ok, this level of advertising in game aimed at young children is too much. Media in general (games, TV, etc) shouldn't be allowed to target children under a certain age. That said, it was power rangers when I was little, and I note they seem to have splitted the series into as many millions of sub-divisions that they can (*cough-to sell 10 times more toys-cough*), and yet we seem to have grown up ok. Aside from an urge to sing 'Go-go power ' all the time (but that was a double whamy from inspector gadget too!)

 

[sammyfreak]

Is the inlcusion of Desert Eagles and M16s product placement?

 

[CosmicStorms]

The Tom Clancy games are full of Axe, Nivea and deoderants and stuff.
GTA would be a great game to have product placement.
Soccer games are the worst but it's only realistic I guess.

Vegas 2 has Billboards advertising 'I am Legend' and other films.

 

[Easykill]

I can see it now: Mario, except in order to fly you need to drink Red Bull... RED BULL GIVES YOU WINGS!

 

[boyitsme95]

Is the inlcusion of Desert Eagles and M16s product placement?

No, thats just for relism.

Fight Night 3 had alot of product placment that worked really well. Also, my cousin has Madden '08, and they would have things like "Sprint instent replay" and "Subway half-time report" which I thought was a nice touch for relism, if not a little anoying.

 

[lokust2001]

It gives the games more money for development, which in theory leads to a better game for us. So go for it i say.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

It doesn't bug me when the cops in 'The Wire' get drunk on Jameson and Heineken. Don't see why it would be any different in a video game.

 

[Gildedtongue]

Technically, it is product placement, they're making claims that certain guns are better than others. Thus, why is an M4 Carbine a better assault rifle in Vice City over the larger calibered AK-47? Or the .44 Magnum better than the .50 Desert Eagle? Myself? I kinda prefered Fallout when it didn't use so many real world guns, but at the same time, made the guns look plausable, and manufactured by real world companies, gave it a sense of atmosphere.

Overall, I don't really mind advertisement in games that make sense, such as sports games, or free roaming city games. Who knows, maybe in Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, seeing an old time Coke or Pepsi bottle, that's fine. Blade Runner with the advertisements they had, again, fine. Feudal Ages Europe or Asia? Laughable, only works in satire.

On the other hand, if there is advertising, I'd like the price to drop, since obviously these companies are helping pay for costs.

 

[Seldon2639]

On the other hand, if there is advertising, I'd like the price to drop, since obviously these companies are helping pay for costs.

That's pretty much where I'm coming from. I'm okay with product placement, but only to the extend that it helps the developer defray costs, and lower prices. If it's just money-grubbing, it's taking advantage of the consumer. I mean, T.V shows make all of their money from advertising, so product placement makes sense, and I'm not paying anyway, but I have no urge to pay to see ads

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

The Tom Clancy games are full of Axe, Nivea and deoderants and stuff.
GTA would be a great game to have product placement.
Soccer games are the worst but it's only realistic I guess.

Vegas 2 has Billboards advertising 'I am Legend' and other films.

Yes i have noticed them and in vegas 1 there were assassins creed posters on almost every wall

 

[zen5887]

Skate. got slammed for having a bunch of product placement... I really couldnt care less.

How is my gaming experiance effected by seeing ads all over the place. Suure if the ads popped up on my screen it would annoy me but it doesnt.

Product placement really doesnt bother me

 

[EnzoHonda]

I usually find that it distracts from the game. It takes me out of the exciting, action-packed world back into the real world where I'm sitting at my computer waaay too much. Really now, in Splinter Cell: Double Agent, does every evil-doer use Nivea: For Men products? It bugged me because I saw it everywhere, and I tried using the products a while back and I didn't like them.

 

[Pessimitastic]

I FUCKING LOVE STUFF CRUST PIZZA FOR ONLY $9.99

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I was having a discussion with my bro, who works in the gaming industry, about this and he said that he is all for in game advertising because in some instances it is the only way a game will receive enough funding to be made. Apparently, getting funding for games is very, very difficult.
That said, he despises EA (for many reasons) for using in game advertising because:
a) they don't really need the funding
b) they use it to gregariously promote their other shoddy games