Google In-Game Ads Present: Gears of Tampax
by Chad Lakkis on July 30, 2008 at 3:02 pm
What would Google be without its innovative perspective? While everyone else is simply considering in-game advertising, Google is yet again one (or several) steps ahead.
Sources close to the project reveal that Google has been working on an in-game advertising platform that will actually allow for the game’s characters to introduce the ads themselves. The company has supposedly been working on the idea since 2007. When asked about why they have yet to release it, the source stated:
“I don’t know what’s taking them so long … They could move into this market very quickly, given what they have shown off.”
Some believe that Google is waiting for the market to get bigger, however maybe, just maybe, a few of the big wigs are fans of unobtrusive gaming. Even so, with a predicted market value of $971.3 million by 2011, the love of gaming won’t hold them off forever.
Not sure about the rest of you, but the last thing I want to see happen right before I take someone’s head off, is the character turn to me and say “Hey [username], hold that thought, and have a look at this lovely new product from Tampax.” Yea, not so much.
Source: venturebeat.com
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9 Comments » |
on July 30, 2008 9:28 pm
I’m not going to be forking over $60 so they can spam the hell out of me. A tasteful in-game billboard sporting an ad for a real product is one thing…The game pausing to spam me with crap like that is another.
on July 30, 2008 11:00 pm
Either charge me, or advertise to me. Not both.
Let’s make that even simpler.. just charge me. I do NOT want to pay for a game with advertising in it. Period. I don’t give a flying fuck if the game is a sports game or is super realistic or present day.. no ads in my games. Want ads so badly? Put them in the damn manual. Bandai did this with Soul Calibur 4 and it worked just fine. No ads in my game and I yet I still saw them.
on July 31, 2008 12:59 am
Careful David. You are just giving them more ideas to tack on to their existing. :)
on July 31, 2008 4:00 am
Considering games like SC4 already do it, I doubt I’d be the one giving them that idea.
But really, that’s the best way, imo, to use ads if they absolutely MUST use them. In the manual I will still SEE them, which is the whole point, but I won’t have to deal with them in my game. Which means instead of buying the game used because it has ads in it *looks at his used copy of Rainbow 6: Vegas* I actually buy them new.
on July 31, 2008 6:44 am
I’m not pro-advertising or anything, but I don’t see what the problem is, as long as it’s done in context. I guess more of a product placement thing and not so much of a commercial thing. I mean, when Indiana Jones stops at a diner and they happen to have Coke signs in the background, no one pitches a fit about that, so who cares if there is a billboard for AXE in the background of every Tom Clancy game ever made? Personally, I see it as a sign the medium is becoming more accepted as an entertainment medium, which is mostly a good thing.
on July 31, 2008 6:34 pm
i don’t really understand what google is proposing in this article? do they mean marcus fenix turning to the camera and giving a pitch for tampax? if so, why would epic need someone like google to do that, couldn’t they do that all themselves? and the same for all game developers…
on July 31, 2008 6:47 pm
Look at their advertising stuff now. How many websites have a google ad thingers in there with ads based on the context of the page or site being visited. Imagine if they could do that in games. Chop some guy in half with a chainsaw and google says, “Hey, have some problems with blood? Get some Tampax!”
Why the hell do we keep coming back to Tampax all the time?
on August 2, 2008 8:20 am
I don’t care about context.. it’s advertising in my game. My game that I paid for.
If they want to put ads in them, great, I’ll buy them used.
on August 2, 2008 2:21 pm
So if NASCAR ‘09 has the actual sponsors on the cars, like Kellogg’s and Pepsi and the like, that is bad? They should all be made up just because it’s a video game? What if a game takes place in New York city, should all the ads and billboards in Time Square be made up fake products, even if the rest of the game takes place in the real world? What about real world weapons? If a game uses the actual weapons and doesn’t make anything up, is that wrong? I mean, does the fact that a character uses a Colt .45 not not just “A Pistol” make that advertising? Should the gun be made up just because Colt is a real company that makes the gun?