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The Rise Of Adverts In Videogames

Posted by simoniker on from the burgling-mcdonald-land dept.

Thanks to Evil Avatar for pointing to a brief Fortune article discussing the rise of advertising placement in videogames. A particular example discussed - Intel have struck a deal with EA so that "..when characters on The Sims Online use their PCs, players see the Intel logo and hear the company's signature musical bong." How insidious is too insidious? Mind you, advertisers would have to push to find licensing as plain bizarre as Skittles' product placement in Darkened Skye.

6 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. Enter the Matrix by Yrd · · Score: 3, Informative

    Intel also got their paws on Enter the Matrix, there are various points in the game with big Pentium 4 advert posters in (such as the airport). Thankfully they left out that irritating tune.

    --
    Miri it is whil Linux ilast...
  2. Re:Mc Donalds by Wuukie · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmmm, help clean up the environment by collecting golden arches? You mean cleaning environment by removing McDonald restaurant? Sounds like feasible solution.

  3. An intel musical bong? by ColaMan · · Score: 3, Funny

    Far out man, pass the intel musical bong.

    I knew those guys were on something.

    --

    You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
    There is a lot of hype here.
  4. Re:long time... by lightspawn · · Score: 4, Informative
    Here's some "prior art" for you (EGA / CGA / 8-bit micros)

    Domino's Pizza - Avoid the noid

    Ford - Ford Simulator

    Dunlop - Dunlop 911 TS

    KP skips - Action Biker

    The last link is to a review. A few choice words:
    Action Biker signifies a depressing trend to link grotty software with expensive advertising campaigns. Let's kill this off instantly by refusing to buy such garbage.

    Software like this gives junk food a bad name.
  5. ET anyone? by mezo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    whoa whoa whoa... i cant believe no one has mentioned the unholy ET and M&M atari game. not only was it blatant advertising, but the damned game was imposssible to play

  6. A required patch by wowbagger · · Score: 5, Funny
    OK, so now somebody needs to make a booster pack for the Sims that:
    1. Puts a little Windows icon on the poor sim's computer.
    2. Shortly thereafter, replaces it with blue.
    3. Then the Sim curses, jumps up and down, and hits the computer. The Sim's happiness goes down.
    4. Some Sims get a little fruit, or flightless waterfowl, or demonic icon. They don't have these problems.


    (/me waits for MicroAstroTurfers to respond....)
    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers