PDA

View Full Version : Advertising in games(NFSU2)

dartor
11-23-04, 05:03 PM
So I started playing NFSU2 and was tooling around town when I spy a BK sign. I thought this was kinda cool for them to think of details like this. Then I see a BK shop and another sign and then the game is telling me there is stuff near the BK. WTF ! Why is it necassary to have this crap in my game.

So far I've seen Pontiac(fair cause they have the GTO in the game), Red Zone (wtf deodorant), cingular and some others signs. I mean how much did EA get for this sham.

I haven't seen such blatant commerical whoring since TNMT 2 for the NES. Pizza smut really f'ed that one up.

I ask you, why must my game be ruined by these products. I'll buy it if I want to buy it not cause its blaring in my face every 30 seconds.

What other games are this shameful??
YellowDart
11-23-04, 05:06 PM
Wow. And I was actually thinking of buying NFSU2 since I liked the first so much. Very disappointing.

EA == the cheap ***** of the gaming world.
dartor
11-23-04, 05:20 PM
Don't get me wrong the game is still very fun, but it is distracting to see that kinda stuff.
YellowDart
11-23-04, 05:24 PM
Don't get me wrong the game is still very fun, but it is distracting to see that kinda stuff.

I'm sure it is. I liked the demo... but if we support that sort of garbage in our games by buying the titles that have those ads in them, then it will only perpetuate this trend, and very possibly could make things worse. I'd personally rather not see a McDonald's commercial while my next level of HL2 is loading if you catch my drift. ;)

In-game ads aren't that new. But most have been supporting computer related things, like nVidia, ATI, Intel, etc. This markething strategy implemented by EA just gives the larger advertising industry a possible foothold on the biggest segment of the entertainment industry. :-/
9mmCensor
11-23-04, 06:10 PM
I was reading an older copy of wired today and it pointed out that game companys like EA used to have to pay to have products (like cars) in there games. But now companys (like GM) pay game companys to have their products in the games, for advertising. EA loves crap like that.
Radical
11-24-04, 08:19 PM
EA loves crap
eh?
11-24-04, 08:39 PM
This popular in more than a few games. No company is going to turn away money.
YellowDart
11-24-04, 08:42 PM
Very true. The Tony Hawk series is pretty notorious for that too. Up until THPS3, I believe, it was mainly skating ads and logos in it... until you started seeing Nokia logos everywhere...
xTrEmEoVrClOcKr
11-24-04, 08:44 PM
Yeah, its not like EA is too poor to efford to make a game with help of these lame-ass companies. I mean it IS distracting when your driving and you see "Pontic LoL!". UGH... I shouldn't be complaining now, its just going to get worst :/.
Vio1
11-24-04, 08:52 PM
anyway of editing the game so that you can replace the ads with your own pics? I hate looking at ads.
TheGreySpectre
11-24-04, 09:41 PM
I hate the bestbuy logos there EVERYWHERE
I dont like seeing advertising when i play the games, I dont mind the nvida or ati adds in the opening scenes but it shoulnt go beyound that

on the other hand it is cool to blow apart the computer in CS:source and see a 9800 PRO, Sound Blaster Audigy, IBM hard drive,etc, but thats very subtle and you have to deal alot with computers to be able to reconize a 9800 PRO on site
odin8yoshi
11-24-04, 10:51 PM
I really hate the in game ads sometimes, part of the reason for playing games is just to escape reality, seeing these ads seems to kind of defeat that purpose, is destracting, and im not going to go out and get a coke cause i saw some game character drinking one.
veryhumid
11-24-04, 11:19 PM
it's kind of shameful, but they have to pay for a sweet game somehow. on the positive side, it adds to the realism.
KfistoRok
11-24-04, 11:29 PM
These ads are in a bunch of games really. There were McDonalds billboards in the first NFSU, if I'm not mistaken.

It doesn't bother me. I kinda go, eh 'cool' sometimes.
iLLestOne
11-24-04, 11:56 PM
I don't mind...I think it's kinda cool

And if the business' pay them money for that stuff, then the less money I have to pay for them to see a nice profit! lol

Or at least the more money that can go into dev. for the game...
KfistoRok
11-25-04, 12:40 AM
As long as we don't get to the point where there are actual commercials in games I think it will be smooth sailing. :)
koss20100
11-25-04, 12:47 AM
having a commercial is crosing ALL LINES .... having small logos here and there is perfectly ok espically if it makes the game cheaper ....

but the cingular wht does tht have to with anything ergh.... seriously its called target audince ... sigh..
YellowDart
11-25-04, 02:20 AM
Or at least the more money that can go into dev. for the game...

LOL... yea right! More money that lines the pockets of the EA execs. Maybe they'll need that extra cash to pay their employees' that settlement in the class action lawsuit being brought up against them... unless slave labor was legalized again, and EA's the only one who knows it...
diggingforgold
11-25-04, 10:56 AM
Advertising in games is absolutely nonsense. But you know what's next? Targetted gaming advertisements. Oh yeah, can you imagine the possibilities of steam spyware with popular games like HL2...

I can see a few plugs here and there for the purpose of detail and realism. But when you overdo it- you make the game less worth what you paid for it. If advertisments are going to flood gaming, I will simply stop paying money for them.
Radical
11-25-04, 11:06 AM
Well at least the game was $39.99 and not $49.99 or even $59.99. I don't really mind small ads here and there, but when they begin introduce blatant advertising everywhere in a game, I'm going to be pissed.
fabulouscoops
11-25-04, 11:15 AM
I would rather pay $59.99 for a great game than pay half that to be constantly bombarded with advertising.
The first programmer to come up with an adblock hack/mod will be an instant hero.
koss20100
11-25-04, 03:45 PM
I would rather pay $59.99 for a great game than pay half that to be constantly bombarded with advertising.
The first programmer to come up with an adblock hack/mod will be an instant hero.

agreed .. btw nfsu was 35 .
Panzerknacker
11-25-04, 03:53 PM
More ads from car/parts companies would be cool, but not this BK/cingular crap.
YellowDart
11-26-04, 02:05 AM
I would rather pay $59.99 for a great game than pay half that to be constantly bombarded with advertising.
The first programmer to come up with an adblock hack/mod will be an instant hero.

Most definitely. I'm sure an intellegent modder would be able to figure out how to swap out building skins with new, non-marketed, or even blank ones.
john240sx
11-26-04, 02:36 AM
instead of 'powered by nvidia' logo's at startup we'll have 'devs were powered by subway! eat fresh!' logo's.....

seriously, the billboards and signs on buildings don't bother me. i was able to get this game for $35, compare this $35 game to other games that came out at this price and you'll see a major quality difference.

i do agree that it will get worse and that will bother me unless the game is freeware. after all, the more people that see the ads the more the advertizers pay (like the free 2 year maxim deal a while ago, more subscribers, the more they can charge for ads and eventually give the magazine away free). as soon as i see an actual commercial or something that cuts into my gameplay i'm crying foul though.
tom10167
11-26-04, 08:26 PM
I don't mind it.

- You would certainly see that kind of stuff driving around in a city.
- It isn't distracting at all, it's just a sign.
- It profits the company, for such a minimal thing.

Product placement in MOVIES on the other hand, that's different. Movies are a form of art(theatre) and when product placement goes in, it sucks.

So long as I don't have to hear "A word from our sponsors" in video games, I am ALL for this. :thup:
Gnerma
11-26-04, 08:57 PM
I'd rather pay more for anything than be shown ads. Or, I'd like a choice between a cheaper version with ads and a more expensive version with out them. EA's in-house devs aren't seeing any of this money. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/)
YellowDart
11-26-04, 09:04 PM
I'd rather pay more for anything than be shown ads. Or, I'd like a choice between a cheaper version with ads and a more expensive version with out them. EA's in-house devs aren't seeing any of this money. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/)

Exactly what I was getting at! You'd think with the extra revenue that they get from product placement in their games they'd kick a little something back to the coders, artists, and designers that made the games... It's sad... and we thought sweatshops only existed in 3rd-world Asian countries...
9mmCensor
11-26-04, 09:19 PM
If game companies were really smart, they would tweak the User Agreement to allow them to see what kind of things people were doing on there computer, then target the advertizing to those results.

ie. Scan the web browser history, see that the user frequents car sites, then advertize for cars.

That would be sheer evil geniousness.
Robrules18
11-26-04, 10:47 PM
If game companies were really smart, they would tweak the User Agreement to allow them to see what kind of things people were doing on there computer, then target the advertizing to those results.

ie. Scan the web browser history, see that the user frequents car sites, then advertize for cars.

That would be sheer evil geniousness.

That's why I read ALL the TOS or user agreements I ever agree to.
tom10167
11-27-04, 12:26 AM
You are the only person I have ever known who has ever read any of those. I have yet to read a single sentence of any of them.
koss20100
11-27-04, 07:26 AM
That's why I read ALL the TOS or user agreements I ever agree to. lol do u ?
Product placement in MOVIES on the other hand, that's different. Movies are a form of art(theatre) and when product placement goes in, it sucks.

video games might not be no theater but i do consider some video games to be a work of art :")
felinusz
11-29-04, 01:33 AM
The advertising in NFSU2 does bother me, it bothers me a lot.


So, now, not only do I have to put up with advertisements pushing products every time I get on public transit, evey time I watch a television show (which is about 30 minutes a week right now, because I literally can't tolerate the ads), before every movie I go and see in the movie theatre (or even before movies I rent to take home), every time I log onto the overclockers forums, and every time I go downtown, BUT....

Now, I have to put up with advertisements when I play computer games that I payed for, games I play in my leisure time.


The term for this is "captive audience" - it is unavoidable product plugging, what all corporations dream of when they think of the ideal advertisement. It is seemingly inescapable.

Once you realize just how hard you're being snowjobbed by advertisements every single day, it really starts to drive you crazy when you see advertisements EVERYWHERE, they are UNAVOIDABLE living in a large city.

I'm tired of being manipulated by advertisements, and am fed up with the values and ideals that advertisements are trying to persuade me to sympathise with.