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Google Acquires In-Game Advertising Company
Firmafest writes "According to Red Herring Google has purchased an in-game advertising company called Adscape for $23 million. Is this the next logical step to delivering ads where there's sufficient potential buyers? Or is it simply a response to Microsoft acquiring a similar company?"
Awesome.. now I can see a "Google Sponsored Link" to buy a real AK-47 while playing Grand Theft Auto...
Yeah, ads in games... http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/10/19
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors - Plato
I'm so sick of advertising. I'm coming close to wearing out my 'mute' button on my television remote from keeping myself from hearing a commercial for the 10th time in an hour-long program. I'm sick of silly little tunes and flashy pop-ups when visiting websites. I'm sick of seeing billboards with stupid themes designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. To get back on topic, I was excited a few months ago for the release of Battlefield 2142, and had occasionally kept an eye on it through its development process. About a week before its release I read about the new in-game advertising that had to be running in order to play the game. (In my mind, this speaks to the knowledge that advertisers know how much their advertisements annoy people) I go to great lengths to keep popups off of my computer, and annoying scripts and flash-crap from running. Why would I go out and buy a game that does the same? Answer: I didn't, and I won't. I understand some people's viewpoint that it increases the 'immersive' quality of the game, but personally I don't think that the advertising has to be 'real-world' advertising to do that. If I saw an ad for Coca-Cola or Pepsi in a Final Fantasy game I'd be sorely disappointed. And I'm pretty damn sure that unless I win a 'millionaire for life' lottery I won't be cruising around in a Ferrari any time soon, so would the fact that I'm driving on 'Acme' tires rather than 'Goodyear' matter all that much, or is it the gameplay itself that draws one in? I guess the point I'm trying to make is that a game doesn't have to have real-life advertisements in order for it to be immersive. Done correctly I think that spoof ads are even more entertaining than the real ones. Who wouldn't want to see the Pillsbury doughboy skewered on a shish kabob stick just once? 'Hee-hee' indeed! To each their own, I suppose, but any videogame that forces more advertising on me is a game that I will refuse to buy and/or play. I'm voting with my wallet.