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"User experience will come first" News
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by
Robert Purchese
Google has told Eurogamer that in-game advertising could add another layer of realism to many games, by providing relevant, targeted advertising content - such as characters drinking from real Coke cans, entering real retail outlets, or seeing real posters and billboards in their virtual worlds.
"As with all things we do, the user experience will come first," a spokesperson for Google told us. "If done right, in-game advertising can add to the overall gaming experience by providing relevant, targeted advertising content."
"In fact, in many genres, in-game advertising can add to the realism of the game enhancing the overall user experience."
The Internet giant was speaking in the aftermath of its acquisition of in-game advertising firm Adscape Media - for a rumoured US$ 23 million (EUR 17.5m). Google hopes this new technology and know-how will help offer advertisers and publishers new solutions and opportunities for their products.
However, we weren't able to find out what those products would be, as Google remained tight-lipped on which games and publishers it's working with, as well as the future direction for the company and in-game advertising.
Head over to the Adscape Media site for more answers.
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Real ads would be good, and certainly would add another layer of realism. Just something as simple as making the cans lying around Coca-Cola brand instead of generic-coke would be cool, and it would add just slightly to the immersion.
Obviously the advertisements would have to be relevant, and would have to blend into the game's setting. But that's what they plan to do, so there's no worry of finding coke cans in hyrule. |
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As long as it isn't intrusive like when I'm trying to watch something off Eurogamer TV I'm not really bothered.
Want to watch Motostorm behind the scenes let's just slip in a Crackdown Trailer for 30 seconds before the video starts. Want to watch that Halo teaser don't mind if we shove the resistance advert in your face before you do. ugh!! |
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bunglebonce
20/03/07 @ 14:56
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I thought it was done quite tastefully in Wipeout 2097, I wouldn't have any problems with advertising like that in other games... if it kept game pricing down!
/stares coldly at 360 titles on the high street |
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" I can't wait to see an FPS where one level involves escaping from a swarm of zombies by leaping into a conveniently-placed PC World, spending 30 minutes looking at all their bargains, and then being allowed to walk out again and return to killing zombies..."
And getting confused between the zombies and PC World's staff ;) :) |
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The Bodybuilder
20/03/07 @ 15:06
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It could work, but it needs to match.
Sort of like seeing men's cosmetics, or tampax products in j-rpgs. It has to the game. :) On the other hand, I can't imagine playing gears, to see one of the locust scream out "MASTICATION FOR THE NATION". |
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mostly_harmless
20/03/07 @ 15:13
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I hope someone releases a new Blade Runner game with this feature...
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reality_cheque
20/03/07 @ 15:20
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@mattigan: surely the running, jumping climbing trees brigade need Nivea more than the rest of us? :)
Although Clarins > Nivea. |
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As long as I don't have to sit and watch adverts in game then I've nothing against ingame advertising at all as, if done properly, it adds to the realism and can easily be ignored just as TV and magazine adverts can be. I always found it odd when people complained about the self-advertising in EA games like Burnout 3... although I noticed it, it was real corner of the eye stuff as I find it pretty easy to ignore adverts when I want to and take note of them when I need to! ;)
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SomaticSense
20/03/07 @ 15:50
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I couldn't give a shit as long as my gaming isn't interrupted by a bloody McDonalds ad or the latest Peugeot ad or something.
But I'll also be pissed off if I have to sit through ads while waiting for the game to load up (like a worrying amount of DVDs have started doing), or during a load screen thus completely destroying any sense of involvement. If it amounts to Splinter Cell-style packets of gum placed randomly, or billboards in racing games (as long as it fits the premise, unlike the 'new for 2007' Dodge that is in the 'set far in the future' Crackdown) then I couldn't care less. |
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SomaticSense
20/03/07 @ 15:54
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rock27gr - "I hope this type of advertising is only used in a limited number of games. I would hate playing the next GTA say, only to have all the humor products and stores removed and replaced by Starbucks."
Not seen the GTA4 trailer yet have you? Hehehe, just kidding ;)
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most recently on 20/03/07 @ 15:55
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Someone will release "AdBlocker for gaming" i'm sure of it, bloody hope so anyway or just block the url the ads come from in your firewall. Depends on how they're integrated into the game really but if they get ads from a specified area it shouldn't be too difficult to block that portion of the traffic. Might fubar the game though you could set up a proxy redirector so when it tries to contact the ad server it's redirected to your local web server and you give it an image instead.
Plenty of room for the hackers to play with this i hope. :)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/03/07 @ 16:03
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Playing Crackdown online recently was quite an odd experience; the constant 'Join the Royal Navy' ads was a bit weird and certainly jarred me out of my gameplay experience. I also thought it was a little disconcerting that the Navy are advertising in a genetically-modified-superhero-agent-destroys-crime-empire type game, almost suggesting the two are closely linked.
I think it is all to do with getting ads to blend into the game; billboards at football grounds, boarding at race tracks etc. However, I fear it get more and more in-your-face as advertisers try to grab your attention, a bit like the Navy ads where every corner you turn is another bloody billboard... |
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The thing with in-game advertising is that it's fine if it's discreet but when it becomes obtrusive and starts affecting the actual gameplay it will then quickly be lost.
I'm not entirely convinced with it unless it is being used in a present-day/near future/near past scenario. Gamers don't play games to find product placement, they play for escapism and a quick sharp shock of reality being chucked in everywhere isn't the way to do it although if there were major sponsorship deals in place then I can see it benefiting the developer as long as it's not product overkill. Films are already getting really really bad for product placement (James Bond being one of the worst in recent years!). It needs to be discreet and in relation to the gaming/viewing experience in my mind |
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el_pollo_diablo
20/03/07 @ 16:35
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"can add to the overall gaming experience"
This is, quite frankly, a complete lie. And they know it. |
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Fry: That's awful, it's like brainwashing.
Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 20th century? Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams, only on TV and radio...and in magazines. And movies. And at ballgames, on buses, and milk cartons and t-shirts and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree! Time to add videogames to that list then... |
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Don't be evil!
Anyway, I think the ads in Rainbow 6 worked, likewise driving and football games. What I don't want is the situation we have with modern movies where they only deal with one company... the number of Sony gadgets in bond is silly also why the hell isn't Bumblebee/Goldbug a VW beetle in the new Transformers movie? You never see a Pepsi can and a coke can in the same movie either. For advertising to work in games it has to be representative of real world, or rather the game's world, not advertising purely aimed at the gamer. There has been adverts in games for years e.g. Zool and chupachups... or was it Polos is a particularly bad example. The way the PC version of Syndicate Wars advertised Ghost in the Shell was fine as the advert was done from a futuristic perspective it talked about seeing/owning a piece of late twentieth centuary cult culture. They even added a few other fake adverts so it didn't seem like it was the only one. |
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it's gonna be a sad day for gamers everywhere...
goodbye RPG and fantasy MMO because if advertisers can't sell ad space in those games, they'll make sure games like that don't get made... I hope people realize that this could signal the death of whole gaming genres, because the advertisers are about to take over the video games market and it's gonna be even more saturated with sports title and racing games... good bye GTA type games because the ad men aren't going to let your character blow up a McDonalds or starbucks in any game they'll advertise in.... Google are trying to paint it as a 'brilliantly cool idea' when all it boils down to is forced advertising in games designed to deliver the advert, the gameplay can go to hell in a handcart just as long as the advert delivery system works.... man I'd depressed about this now... |
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To those who think this will lead to a decrease in certain genres of games in favour of others, I have a question.
Are you fucking stupid? Do you actuallly *believe* that attention will be paid to whether an advert is 'suitable' or not? Have people still not learned to see through bullshit statements like this? Have there not been enough examples!? Before long it's gonna be "Middle Earth Pepsi, Elves swear by it!" all over the fucking shop. |
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Maledictus010
20/03/07 @ 19:40
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Someone thought up tv. That was nice until the time came along that ads filled the better part of the content that was aired.
Then internet came along. That too was nice until popups and spam made it close to unusable at times. Now there's games... |
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YourMessageHere
20/03/07 @ 19:52
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I was originally of the opinion that the ads in BF2142 were unlikely to be of any significance. That was when they were just placeholder ads for in-game vehicles. Now that they're all Intel ads for actual real things, I totally hate them. If that's their idea of relevant I'd hate to think what they've rejected. Every time I see one, its "hello, you are playing a game!" all over again.
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el_pollo_diablo
20/03/07 @ 20:31
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***** COMPETITION TIME *****
Question: What's the most insidious, invasive or just plain bizarre in game advertising you've ever witnessed? I recall F.E.A.R brimming with adverts for snazzy Alienware PCs. Only the PCs in the game didn't look that much like snazzy Alienware ones. |
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