RipTen Videogame Blog » In-game-advertising

Madden NFL 11 Swagger Video Sampling, Plus Other Potential Sponsorship Ideas

Chad Lakkis — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 01:24:38 +0000

As you’ll see in the video below, Madden NFL’s new “Swagger” statistic will allow certain players to perform “signature moves,” like Chad Ochocinco’s “River Dance” touchdown celebration, or Jared Allen’s “Roping the Cattle” sack celebration, and Chris Johnson’s “Chopper City Juke” dance (assuming he every shows up to camp).

Those I can understand, but Adrian Peterson high stepping his legs after hitting pay dirt? Is that really a “Swagger” celebration? Really? I mean, I guess we need to reward the hard working animators for their painstaking attention to detail, but does this mean that every future custom animation addition will need to be sponsored? Seems a bit much if you ask me, however, it did get me thinking…

How would we go about getting some of Hines Ward’s signature moves in the game? Could we see his punishing (and jaw breaking) hit on Kieth Rivers implemented with a Burger King “Whopper” sponsorship? Maybe his “I’m going to jump your tackle attempt and make you look like a fool” pre-endzone hop can be added to the game with a Nike Air sponsorship? Heck, why stop there. Why not just brand everything?

And why is advertising even needed to finally allow for something like this to be a part of the game anyway? Well, it’s my belief that while these types of celebrations happen in the NFL every week, the league certainly doesn’t condone them. Having a sponsor tied to these acts adds a degree of separation for them, and I’m sure the fat paycheck they’re getting from Old Spice doesn’t hurt things either.

What the video and make sure to sound off in the comments section below to voice your opinion on this latest Madden 11 addition.

[Source: Game Informer via Kotaku]

Madden NFL 11 Will Feature New Swagger Statistic Sponsored by Old Spice

Chad Lakkis — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:04:43 +0000

EA Sports will apparently be featuring a new statistical category in this years Madden NFL 11 game, and it goes by the name of “Swagger.” If you’re thinking, “hey, that sounds just like the Old Spice product Brian Urlacher used to transform himself into a manly man he is today.” you’d be 120% correct.

The statistical category is even branded with a tiny Old Spice logo on the in-game menu system itself, as you can see in the screen shot below.

Baltimore's speedy ball-hawking safety Ed Reed is apparently among the Swagger supreme in Madden 11.

What exactly will this magical stat do? Well, it’s rumored to give you a confidence boost or “swagger,” that improves your play after making a big catch, throw, touchdown, tackle, etc. The duration and effectiveness of the effect will depend on just how full-of-swagger that player is.

I personally think this specific plug is funny considering the humorous approach Old Spice has taken with their advertising, but future installments could prove to be increasingly annoying if and when EA further opens the in-game advertising flood gates. What’s up next on the EA Sports advertising integration agenda? D-Line power rating sponsored by Old Spice Power?

As for the annoying in-between plays pop-up ad we reported on in Madden 10, you can expect to see it again in 2011. Speaking with an EA Sports representative at E3 2010, I was told that it will be returning in Madden 11, though he told me players would be able to block it by disconnecting their console’s online access. Well isn’t that just uber convenient.

It seems that EA is hell bent on squeezing every penny possible from their game — be it in-game advertising, on-set advertising, or online price gouging. And those of us upset by this can take comfort in the recent words issued by Peter More:

“Whilst I’m not sure they’re angry, they absolutely look at what’s going on in the marketplace and understand totally what it is we’re doing.”

Oh yeah, we understand alright. You’re prepping us for a future of $80 partially-accessible used game purchases crammed with more ads than a Manning brother’s Super Bowl, more plugs than a hair transplant patient, more sponsor logos than NASCAR, more … oh you get the idea.

Update: EA has responded explaining what the Swagger statistic will do in-game. Read about it here.

[Source: GoMadden via Kotaku]

Annoying EA Madden 2010 In-Game Pop-up Advert Seems to Have Been Removed

Chad Lakkis — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:53:22 +0000

I reported earlier that Madden 2010 received an update which included an extremely intrusive pop-up advertisement that reared its ugly head before each snap in the game. After banging my head against the wall in frustration, I decided it would be better to reach out for a comment on the matter from EA Sports/Tiburon.

While waiting for a response, I decided to power up the PS3 to capture a video of the advertisement in action to better illustrate just how much of a distraction it was. To my surprise, it was gone. I’m not sure if the ad is time of day based or what but it isn’t showing up anymore. Could we have possibly got our point across to EA that quickly?

Please sound off in the comments section below if you are still seeing the ad or if it has vanished for you as well.

Update: Owen Good over at Kotaku let me know that the ad is still popping up in the 360 version of the game, so as of right now it seems that whatever change (if any) that was made only effects the PS3 version.

EA In-Game Advertising Abuse: Madden Arcade Ad Flashes Before Every Madden 10 Snap

Chad Lakkis — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:21:01 +0000

I went to play some more of my Madden 2010 franchise this morning after not having played it since prior to writing the review up a few months ago. The PS3 flashes a notice that the game requires a 182 mb update, so I hit accept and start to watch the bar fill up. About a third of the way through, I grabbed my laptop to browse the web for some info on the update contents.

While reading up I saw a forum thread about the update listing gameplay related fixes (which sounded good), but it also featured a few comments stating that it added more in-game ads (which sounded bad). Unfortunately, before I could stop the download to read up some more, it had already completed. I pressed start thinking to myself … “how bad could it be?”

How bad could it be? It’s pull the hair from your head bad. It’s toss the game out your window bad. It’s “I’d rather have a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in my ear” bad.

The game now feature an advertisement for Madden Arcade that flashes on the screen — before every fucking snap!!! Are you fucking kidding me? Every snap? That’s just going too far. If you play with 15 minute quarters and the new accelerated clock feature, that adds up to well over 100 ad impressions each game.

It’s not even like the advertisement is subtle The damn thing is the equivalent of a white flag that pops out of a gag gun with the words “BANG!” on it. Got that visual? Good. Now picture someone standing in front of your TV pulling the damn trigger every 10 seconds. BANG! … BANG! … BANG! … MADDEN ARCADE AVAILABLE NOW! … BANG! … BANG!!

Surely if you already own the game the savvy folks at EA Sports would be kind enough to disable this ad right? Wrong. This poor soul, who owns both Madden 10 and Madden Arcade, finally reached his breaking point, issuing the following comment on the EA forums:

As of today before every snap in Madden 2010 Franchise Mode, a popup saying “Madden Arcade Available Now” appears. This is annoying for two reasons: First I already own the product, yet you are continuously trying to sell me this product. Second, the advertisement appears before every snap and stays on the screen until the ball is hiked. Your obnoxious advertisement pissed me off enough that I stopped playing to write this post. I’ve already given you [EA Sports] my money for Madden 2010 and Madden Arcade, why do I have to see any in-game advertisements?

Couldn’t agree with you more sir. Shame on you EA — you’ve taken in game advertising too far with this one and you deserve any and all bad press you get for it.

Update: I wanted to see if this ad filled update existed on the 360 version of the game, and sure enough, it does. The difference is that the 360 version pop-up ad promotes Microsoft’s new search engine “Bing”.

Also, I’ve reached out to EA regarding the update and their decision to implement the ad in this manner. I’ll update this post as soon as I hear something back.

Update #2: While I’ve yet to hear back from anyone at EA Sports/Tiburon, I recently powered up my PS3 to capture a video of the advertisement in action to better illustrate just how much of a distraction it was. To my surprise, it was gone. I’m not sure if the ad is time of day based or what but it isn’t showing up anymore. Could we have possibly got our point across to EA that quickly?

Update #3: Owen Good over at Kotaku let me know that the ad is still popping up in the 360 version of the game. So as of right now it seems that whatever change (if any) that was made only effects the PS3 version.

Please sound off in the comments section below if you are still seeing the ad or if it has vanished for you as well.

Google In-Game Ads Present: Gears of Tampax

Chad Lakkis — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:02:11 +0000

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

Sony Announces PS3 In-Game Advertising

Chad Lakkis — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:06:32 +0000

After recently stating that no additional price cuts were planned for the PlayStation 3 console, Sony has announced today that the company will be placing virtual ads inside their games to help offset the loss they take with each console sale.

A company spokesperson explained the benefits (for advertisers):

“Various game titles are played by fans who like certain things, which can offer opportunities for targeted ads … Online games allow greater flexibility for advertisers as to when, where and how long to advertise …”

In other words, gamers fork over cash and advertisers are served up a nearly perfect match for their product each and every time. Blasting away at zombies? Take a break and head on over to the nearest theater to check out “Politically Correct Zombies 4″.

Today’s news should really come as no surprise, as the in-game advertising model is nothing new, and Sony themselves openly discussed their intent to plaster ads all over their PlayStation home service months ago.

Is this an effort to keep costs down? An effort to make back what has been lost? Or is this simply an example of a corporation seizing an opportunity to profit in a connectivity driven gaming market?

As sad as it is, I firmly believe that the day will come where every game capable of connecting to the internet will offer some form of in-game advertising. Gaming for so long has been a means to escape from everything that is the real world, and it seems that we may not be able to enjoy that much longer.

Maybe Sony will consider a change to their slogan. I suggest: “Live in your world. Succumb to advertisements in ours”. Just a thought.

Sony Brings The PAIN, New In Game Advertising Model

Josh Pankratz — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:25:44 +0000

For all the masochistic gamers with a love for PAIN, comes the news that Sony will be adding in game advertisements to its $9.99 PSN title.

In addition, with the PSN’s tracking capabilities, Sony will be able to charge advertisers based on how many people are currently playing the game. This differs from the industries currently running plan to charge based on projected sales figures. In rare form, Sony also releases the price of advertisements, $30 per thousand players.

Furthermore, Sony goes on to announce their partnership with Nielsen Games, an in game advertisement agency who has access to back end Sony proprietary data.

As of now, all PAIN advertisements have been fake or directly related to Sony. That will change in the coming weeks. With no advertisers being disclosed as of yet, Darlene Kindle, director of Sony’s new in-game advertising unit went on to say, “You can imagine people like Lionsgate, who publish Blu-ray movies, getting involved. Media, creative agencies and brands all want to be involved in this program”.

Perhaps the most interesting bit of news here isn’t the PAIN advertisements, but Sony’s commitment to in game ads as a whole. Quotes from product strategy director Gerardo Guzman don’t serve to douse suspicions, “We can’t get inside the game, at least not yet.”

“Advertisers aren’t saying they want Sony players or Xbox players, they want gamers. For this to work it has to be across all platforms, including the PC.” Double Fusion places most of its ads on PCs.

In addition Jonathan Epstein, CEO of Double Fusion, an in game advertisement network based in San Fransisco said to AdWeek, “I hope we can extend this paradigm. Advertisers want to reach game players across all media.” With money to be made, it seems like everyone is hot-to-trot the new business trend of in game advertisements—That is, except us…the gamer. Who cares about us though? Sony, as well as any other publisher worth his salt knows that we will buy the games, in game advertisement or not. Even with the knowledge that the extra revenue won’t be passed on as a savings to us, the end consumer.

via AdWeek Magazine, Destructoid