Slashdot Mirror
Advergames
Anne_Nonymous writes "Here's an interesting story on the use of video games as advertising. They claim 'advergames could be a $1 billion industry by 2005'."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
I once downloaded an advergame for a Willy Wonka candy of some sort. It was a LodeRunner-like game where you had to run around and grab pieces of candy.
The one drawback to it was that every time you grabbed a piece of candy, a half-screen ad would pop up and the game would halt for a few seconds. I wasn't expecting much (you have to be bored to download such a thing in the first place), but I ditched it after five minutes because the halting was so darn annoying.
If they want to make an industry of this, they'll have to get it through their heads that people won't put up with that. Especially not kids, with their shorter attention spans.
unixkb.com -- articles on practical Unix issues.
It was called "Chex Quest". I believe you played as a giant piece of Chex cereal and had to shoot plasma beams at giant nose goblins. One of the close-range weapons was an electrified spork.
Don't forget Kool Aid Man and Chase the Chuck Wagon
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
It's called a 12-pack. Cola and beer manufacturers have been putting the "credit-card" and other novelty-sized audio cd's and cd-roms in them for a few years now. I specifically remember a "Miller Lite" NASCAR disc I retrieved once, and subsequently discarded it. NASCAR? Sheesh... Your anonymous use of insults is rather silly, you know that right?
+ G to tha Izzo, A to tha Tizee, Talking Giz-oat, Ya'll Bettah Feel Me... +
Americas army is not necesarily a great recruting tool. It is wonderful in terms of public exposure but I still doubt many of those in the Army would have signed up based on the game. For example, the game is all based on missions taken by infantrymen. Even infantry do not go on missions much. Much much more of the Army is spent on mindless detail or KP or barraks maintence. Not to mention lots of crap from your superiors. Also those that are playing this game probably have a higher GT score (110 or higher). Most high GT scores dont want to be 11B. This might help our IT problems, but it wont help much for 11B.
For our 11B however, we do give out alot of bonus money. $20,000 for the most Hooah airborne ranger special forces guy. Id say thats much more apealing to 11 series rather than a cool game.
PFC Gruhn
MOS 74B (Computer Tech)
U.S. Army, Fort Lewis, 1st Personnel Group
Serve and Sustain
Look better, it's written from the america's-army dept. just under the title ...
Read the article. The games being described are freely distributed. They are made to be used as promotional tools.
For more information, click here.
I found it! Along with a treasure trove of old DOS games:
: http://bhs.broo.k12.wv.us/pub/ibm/GAMES/ANOID.ZIP
List: http://bhs.broo.k12.wv.us/files/games.htm
Direct
Look at companies like NStorm, who offer freely downloadable Macromedia games that are 100% advertainment (i.e. Elf Bowling 2 for CDNOW, Elf Bowling 3 for TechTV).
... all forgettable titles that were relatively uninspiring and far from groundbreaking.
Instead of having the end user pay for the game, the advertiser ponies up and their name is attached to what can be a fiendishly addictive little pastime. The end user gets something for essentially nothing, and may or may not notice the corporate name attached to the game.
I would expect that the population will have to be slowly weaned into seeing advertising in 'commercial' games, much like how TV producers and filmmakers have been slowly weaning product placements into their products. Too much at once would promote a backlash.
Striking a balance between the advertising content and the 'game' content will prove tricky as well. It seems to me that video games that have been 100% advertiser-based have been niche titles at best, and certainly not at the top of anyone's best game list. Games like 7UP Cool Spot, the old Chuck Wagon game for the 2600 VCS, McKids
This is an old concept. Back in the heyday of shareware gaming, there was Avoid the Noid, which was an "advergame" put out by Domino's pizza. Basically you had to scramble through a building with a pizza while the noid tried to foil you by blowing you up in various ways. Man it was cool. I need a pizza.
Anyway the point: It didn't take off then, so why would it take off now that PC gaming is in some ways past it's prime?
This isn't out of the ordinary. The Oddworld game on XBox features Sobe beverages, which didn't really detract from the game at all. As long as game designers don't put the ads in your face, I don't see a problem.
I remember games on my Amiga featuring ad's and still being full retail price, the adverts were fairly unobtrusive.
Jaguar XJ220 - Jaguar and CVG (magazine) boards.
Pushover - Walkers Crisps
Lotus - Lotus boards by trackside
There were also many more.
And the games were good too, I'd hate to pay for new shit games with advertising that get good reviews thanks solely to the advertising hype.
I just read the comments not the FA
Notice there is only 1 BMW in GT3. And who races Mercedes CLK's? I watch quite a bit of rally and track racing, and I've never seen a Mercedes on the track. For the past few rally seasons, the Peugeot 206 has owned the rally circuit, but the fastest rally vehicle is a Subaru Impreza WRC prototype. Wonder how much that cost. No Audi's, no Porsche, No Ford Falcons - but there's a Tickford. Tickford?
Ferrari owns the asphault track, but there isn't 1 Ferrari in the game. And what the hell is a Zonda? Never heard of it before GT3.
I think GT3, besides being a really fun game, is just 1 big advertisment.
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
Pushover, a 1992 release for the IBM PC was full of advertising for a potato chip brand. I remember paying full retail price for the game based on a positive review in a computer magazine (they didn't mention the ads) and soon ditching the game because of the obnoxious advertising. I never bought a game from that publisher again.
"There are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare." - Blair Houghton
anyone remember the 7-up red spot game? it was a side scroller for sega as i recall
Crazy Taxi is full of advertisements but it actually helps game play. A Pizza Hut building is easier to spot than Joe's Pizza Place would be. As long as advertising doesn't hurt the game I really don't care if they include it. The same rules as with movies, tv, and magazines really.
Example of advertising that was to much: Inspector Gadget the movie. The movie was already pretty bad and the advertising just broke the camels back.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.