By Bruce Geryk on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 12:17 pm:
Front page of NYT "Circuits" section. I think this kind of thing has come up before on this board.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/30/technology/30ADSS.html
By Robert Mayer on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 12:55 pm:
Ack, they want me to register to read it. Screw 'em.
What's it say? :-)
By Bub (Bub) on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 01:52 pm:
It's a free registration Bob, plus the NewYork Times is worth a little spam. I'll do you good.
-Andrew
By Bruce Geryk on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 02:46 pm:
It's an article about games designed to be advertisements.
Also, Max Payne is reviewed today, along with Majestic.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/30/technology/circuits/30GAME.html
By Robert Mayer on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 03:13 pm:
I hate registering. I always forget my passwords. Screw 'em. I can live without the NYT.
By Anonymous on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 03:49 pm:
Just place "archive" in front of nytimes.com, i.e. http://archive.nytimes.com/2001/blah blah blah.
No registration required.
By Robert Mayer on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 04:08 pm:
Cool! The "archive" trick works quite well, thank you!
The article seems to be less about "product placement" though than about infoentertainment, games that are actually interactive ads. These games are created as ads first and games second. A more interesting issue is companies piggybacking on "real" games. Cars in Need for Speed or GT3, for example, or guns and hunting stuff in Deer Hunter.
By Anonymous on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 08:13 pm:
Also, you can sign in by using the Log in ID *AND* password of
cipherpunk
By Michael Murphy (Murph) on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 12:13 am:
Personally, I'm all for product placement in games, as long as it's not overwhelmingly blatant. If I see a guy walk up to a vending machine with half-red-half-blue cirle on it that says "COLA" in the middle, I know it's supposed to be Pepsi. If it said "Pepsi," wouldn't that help the immersion factor?? I sure think so.
By Dave Long on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 11:23 am:
Be careful what you wish for... do you really want to play a game like Unreal Tournament in levels loaded with billboards and ads on the walls? I sure don't.
This is a bad trend that's filtering over from filmmaking. Find a company to put their product in your movie and then use your characters to promote their products while they promote yours. It sounds good from a monetary standpoint, but I think it truly cheapens the character and the film's content. Tomb Raider and the Bond films all suffered for it. I don't want prominently placed products in my games unless it's simply real-world modelling that dictates it. Auto racing sims come to mind as one legitimate use.
But in the end, we can all do without more advertising.
--Dave
By Michael Murphy (Murph) on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 11:23 pm:
Again -- as long as its not blatantly disruptive to the game. I don't want Billboards in UT -- nor do I want each of the characters wearing "jerseys" sporting one soft drink over another, like we're mascots. (I can hear it now -- "Mountain Dew is the WINNER!!) But, when it seems natural, yeah -- I think it helps immersion, as well as having ad potential. (Not that we need more advertising, like you said...)
By Shiningone (Shiningone) on Monday, September 3, 2001 - 01:31 am:
Lets face it we cant escape commercism any more. I knew we had hit the point of no return when i happend to look down at the uninal i was using it was in a public bathroom at a beach i think and the rubber thingie covering the drain had an add on it.. It was just a "say no to drugs" add but i dont think it will be too much longer before i pee on a soda add or something.
By Bub (Bub) on Monday, September 3, 2001 - 01:38 am:
Reminds me of the Heat.Net urinal "rubber thingie" at E3 '99. I wondered then what the benefit of that kind of product placement would be...
-Andrew