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Gaming Rewards! Get a free game for playing a game!!
(How would that work then?)
Simple! Product Placement!!
(Eh?)
See, games and movies are getting closer and closer to each other as forms of entertainment. One way that movies fund their production is product placement e.g. Coca-Cola and Pepsi used to fight over each other to get a large neon display advertisement shown in a scene from BladeRunner.
Games could go the same way, by offering companies product placement. So you could have Solid Snake on the Tanker running past just not blank bottles in the canteen but cans of Pepsi and bottles of Smirnoff. The revenue from advertising would help offset some of the millions of dollars it costs to produce games these days.
But game developers could take this one step further with the advent of consoles going online. As you play one of these games of the future, you will pass ingame advertisements, e.g. in Vice City you could walk past a genuine advertisement on a billboard next to the street, and because your console is online, you could just click on the billboard to pause the game and surf over to that particular advertiser's website to view the product details.
The game could record the number of adverts that you've viewed, and if you rack up enough 'hits' to advertisers the developer could reward you with credits, which you could use to put toward another game in their catalogue (available as an option in the main menu screen, you could even buy online via your console, perhaps even just download an extra level to your hard-drive, which could be then patched onto your game disc should your console also be enabled with CD-RW technology). You could gain even more credits by buying from an ingame sponsor, e.g. buy an official Sony peripheral from the Sony.com website advert you saw displayed on a barrior in Pro Evolution Soccer 3, and you get a £1 credit of your next SCEE title.
All of these types of credit could be stored on your console, perhaps in a secure partition of the console's hard drive. Or perhaps the console could just credit your account which is stored at a server hosted by Sony Online, or Microsoft for that matter.
Games could be designed in such a way that you have to unlock some particularly difficult areas to get to view all the advertisements there are in the game. Developers could charge a fortune for adverts placed on the first few easy levels and ease off on the pricing for those adverts placed towards the end of the game (as they're more difficult to reach therefore may not be seen as much).
This '3-way cycle' would benefit everyone. The advertisers would get more people to view their adverts by being allowed to place them in games (it's not the niche market it used to be, it's now possibly the world's most popular form of electronic entertainment), developers would benefit by having more revenue backing up their budgets, plus they'd have more encouragement to aim for a AAA title, because this gives them more clout with the advertisers in their next title, and gamers would benefit by having an incentive to finish games because each advert viewed would go towards decreasing the cost of their next gaming purchase. They'd also perhaps be encouraged to buy from specific advertisers because they've seen the advert in the game, thereby the advertisers benefit and can afford to place more adverts in new games. And on the cycle goes.
The ethical considerations do require mentioning. Advertising is widespread these days and many people consider some forms of advertising as an intrusion of privacy. Advertising could also detract from enjoyment of the game by having scenarios like: "Final Boss battle coming up!...But first a word from our sponsors!" I think most developers would be conscientious about how their games are affected by advertising, in the same way that most film directors are conscientious about how product placement can affect a scene in their movie, and a simple way around the first ethical problem is to add a label on the game packaging advising along the lines of: "This game contains advertisements", so people know what to expect.
So that's the ethical considerations sorted.
Some games just scream out for product placement. What's American Football without 5 minute advertising slots in between each play? So would the John Madden series be more realistic if they did the same thing as you played the game? If it got annoying you could just turn the feature off, but then you'd be missing out on all those credits you can get just for viewing an advert, let alone buying from the sponsor...Oh! the dilemma!! The same could go for any Tiger Woods golf game, you could see an advert in between each hole, the various club manufacturer's could all have links in the game to their websites, same with the golf balls, the golf clothing, the list is endless. The sports genre of games seems to be the ideal candidate to do a trial run for product placement.
But literally any genre of game could benefit. If you can have cans of Coke in Metal Gear Solid, you can have Heinz Spaghetti flyposters in Super Mario Sunshine, you can have the Blood Donations hotline in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, and maybe even a couple of Gossard adverts staring out at you from the pages of a coffee table magazine in Lara Croft's apartment.
The list is endless, so is the potential.
(How would that work then?)
Simple! Product Placement!!
(Eh?)
See, games and movies are getting closer and closer to each other as forms of entertainment. One way that movies fund their production is product placement e.g. Coca-Cola and Pepsi used to fight over each other to get a large neon display advertisement shown in a scene from BladeRunner.
Games could go the same way, by offering companies product placement. So you could have Solid Snake on the Tanker running past just not blank bottles in the canteen but cans of Pepsi and bottles of Smirnoff. The revenue from advertising would help offset some of the millions of dollars it costs to produce games these days.
But game developers could take this one step further with the advent of consoles going online. As you play one of these games of the future, you will pass ingame advertisements, e.g. in Vice City you could walk past a genuine advertisement on a billboard next to the street, and because your console is online, you could just click on the billboard to pause the game and surf over to that particular advertiser's website to view the product details.
The game could record the number of adverts that you've viewed, and if you rack up enough 'hits' to advertisers the developer could reward you with credits, which you could use to put toward another game in their catalogue (available as an option in the main menu screen, you could even buy online via your console, perhaps even just download an extra level to your hard-drive, which could be then patched onto your game disc should your console also be enabled with CD-RW technology). You could gain even more credits by buying from an ingame sponsor, e.g. buy an official Sony peripheral from the Sony.com website advert you saw displayed on a barrior in Pro Evolution Soccer 3, and you get a £1 credit of your next SCEE title.
All of these types of credit could be stored on your console, perhaps in a secure partition of the console's hard drive. Or perhaps the console could just credit your account which is stored at a server hosted by Sony Online, or Microsoft for that matter.
Games could be designed in such a way that you have to unlock some particularly difficult areas to get to view all the advertisements there are in the game. Developers could charge a fortune for adverts placed on the first few easy levels and ease off on the pricing for those adverts placed towards the end of the game (as they're more difficult to reach therefore may not be seen as much).
This '3-way cycle' would benefit everyone. The advertisers would get more people to view their adverts by being allowed to place them in games (it's not the niche market it used to be, it's now possibly the world's most popular form of electronic entertainment), developers would benefit by having more revenue backing up their budgets, plus they'd have more encouragement to aim for a AAA title, because this gives them more clout with the advertisers in their next title, and gamers would benefit by having an incentive to finish games because each advert viewed would go towards decreasing the cost of their next gaming purchase. They'd also perhaps be encouraged to buy from specific advertisers because they've seen the advert in the game, thereby the advertisers benefit and can afford to place more adverts in new games. And on the cycle goes.
The ethical considerations do require mentioning. Advertising is widespread these days and many people consider some forms of advertising as an intrusion of privacy. Advertising could also detract from enjoyment of the game by having scenarios like: "Final Boss battle coming up!...But first a word from our sponsors!" I think most developers would be conscientious about how their games are affected by advertising, in the same way that most film directors are conscientious about how product placement can affect a scene in their movie, and a simple way around the first ethical problem is to add a label on the game packaging advising along the lines of: "This game contains advertisements", so people know what to expect.
So that's the ethical considerations sorted.
Some games just scream out for product placement. What's American Football without 5 minute advertising slots in between each play? So would the John Madden series be more realistic if they did the same thing as you played the game? If it got annoying you could just turn the feature off, but then you'd be missing out on all those credits you can get just for viewing an advert, let alone buying from the sponsor...Oh! the dilemma!! The same could go for any Tiger Woods golf game, you could see an advert in between each hole, the various club manufacturer's could all have links in the game to their websites, same with the golf balls, the golf clothing, the list is endless. The sports genre of games seems to be the ideal candidate to do a trial run for product placement.
But literally any genre of game could benefit. If you can have cans of Coke in Metal Gear Solid, you can have Heinz Spaghetti flyposters in Super Mario Sunshine, you can have the Blood Donations hotline in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, and maybe even a couple of Gossard adverts staring out at you from the pages of a coffee table magazine in Lara Croft's apartment.
The list is endless, so is the potential.
like DOLE in Super Monkey Ball.
The one which really worked where the make of Bananas in Super Monkey Ball. I only know that make of bananas now!
Interesting read there FM. Enjoyed it :)
Interesting read there FM. Enjoyed it :)
I have a vision of you in a bath (fully clothed obviously, as this is a family forum) and screaming "Eureka!" at the top of your voice. Then instead of running through the streets naked as Archmedes did (which would admittedly be strange, given that you'd have to take your clothes off to do so), you've run to your computer to spread the word online.
In essence, you can earn enough money to buy more games, simply by playing games? A faultless plan.
Imagine, Pokemon Snap 3 (or four, or five, whichever is next). Instead of hunting for all the pokemon to take pictures of, you'd be hunting for adverts. Gotta Snap em all.
Tony Hawks 4. Can you unlock the Yorkie advert movie as well as the Pro Bails?
Product placement in RPG's, too. Why have a dull 'Sword 8-16' when you can launch a quest for the Whopper Blade? Why have a skeleton key when you can have a twix? (twix fits, you know).
FM: discovering his holy grail
In essence, you can earn enough money to buy more games, simply by playing games? A faultless plan.
Imagine, Pokemon Snap 3 (or four, or five, whichever is next). Instead of hunting for all the pokemon to take pictures of, you'd be hunting for adverts. Gotta Snap em all.
Tony Hawks 4. Can you unlock the Yorkie advert movie as well as the Pro Bails?
Product placement in RPG's, too. Why have a dull 'Sword 8-16' when you can launch a quest for the Whopper Blade? Why have a skeleton key when you can have a twix? (twix fits, you know).
FM: discovering his holy grail
Hehe, good post.
It's already begun with Crazy Taxi...*shudders*
It's already begun with Crazy Taxi...*shudders*
Haha, I like it. :)
Although I'd probably be campaigning against it if it got really annoying. I wouldn't mind it in, say, the sleazy world of Vice City (hehe, crappy '80s adds) or a sports game, but when they started appearing where they would never appear in real life it would be a pain. And if Solid Snake did a cheeky turn-to-camera moment holding a can of diet coke I would throw myself out of a first floor window.
Although I'd probably be campaigning against it if it got really annoying. I wouldn't mind it in, say, the sleazy world of Vice City (hehe, crappy '80s adds) or a sports game, but when they started appearing where they would never appear in real life it would be a pain. And if Solid Snake did a cheeky turn-to-camera moment holding a can of diet coke I would throw myself out of a first floor window.
Gaming Rewards! Get a free game for playing a game!!
(How would that work then?)
Simple! Product Placement!!
(Eh?)
See, games and movies are getting closer and closer to each other as forms of entertainment. One way that movies fund their production is product placement e.g. Coca-Cola and Pepsi used to fight over each other to get a large neon display advertisement shown in a scene from BladeRunner.
Games could go the same way, by offering companies product placement. So you could have Solid Snake on the Tanker running past just not blank bottles in the canteen but cans of Pepsi and bottles of Smirnoff. The revenue from advertising would help offset some of the millions of dollars it costs to produce games these days.
But game developers could take this one step further with the advent of consoles going online. As you play one of these games of the future, you will pass ingame advertisements, e.g. in Vice City you could walk past a genuine advertisement on a billboard next to the street, and because your console is online, you could just click on the billboard to pause the game and surf over to that particular advertiser's website to view the product details.
The game could record the number of adverts that you've viewed, and if you rack up enough 'hits' to advertisers the developer could reward you with credits, which you could use to put toward another game in their catalogue (available as an option in the main menu screen, you could even buy online via your console, perhaps even just download an extra level to your hard-drive, which could be then patched onto your game disc should your console also be enabled with CD-RW technology). You could gain even more credits by buying from an ingame sponsor, e.g. buy an official Sony peripheral from the Sony.com website advert you saw displayed on a barrior in Pro Evolution Soccer 3, and you get a £1 credit of your next SCEE title.
All of these types of credit could be stored on your console, perhaps in a secure partition of the console's hard drive. Or perhaps the console could just credit your account which is stored at a server hosted by Sony Online, or Microsoft for that matter.
Games could be designed in such a way that you have to unlock some particularly difficult areas to get to view all the advertisements there are in the game. Developers could charge a fortune for adverts placed on the first few easy levels and ease off on the pricing for those adverts placed towards the end of the game (as they're more difficult to reach therefore may not be seen as much).
This '3-way cycle' would benefit everyone. The advertisers would get more people to view their adverts by being allowed to place them in games (it's not the niche market it used to be, it's now possibly the world's most popular form of electronic entertainment), developers would benefit by having more revenue backing up their budgets, plus they'd have more encouragement to aim for a AAA title, because this gives them more clout with the advertisers in their next title, and gamers would benefit by having an incentive to finish games because each advert viewed would go towards decreasing the cost of their next gaming purchase. They'd also perhaps be encouraged to buy from specific advertisers because they've seen the advert in the game, thereby the advertisers benefit and can afford to place more adverts in new games. And on the cycle goes.
The ethical considerations do require mentioning. Advertising is widespread these days and many people consider some forms of advertising as an intrusion of privacy. Advertising could also detract from enjoyment of the game by having scenarios like: "Final Boss battle coming up!...But first a word from our sponsors!" I think most developers would be conscientious about how their games are affected by advertising, in the same way that most film directors are conscientious about how product placement can affect a scene in their movie, and a simple way around the first ethical problem is to add a label on the game packaging advising along the lines of: "This game contains advertisements", so people know what to expect.
So that's the ethical considerations sorted.
Some games just scream out for product placement. What's American Football without 5 minute advertising slots in between each play? So would the John Madden series be more realistic if they did the same thing as you played the game? If it got annoying you could just turn the feature off, but then you'd be missing out on all those credits you can get just for viewing an advert, let alone buying from the sponsor...Oh! the dilemma!! The same could go for any Tiger Woods golf game, you could see an advert in between each hole, the various club manufacturer's could all have links in the game to their websites, same with the golf balls, the golf clothing, the list is endless. The sports genre of games seems to be the ideal candidate to do a trial run for product placement.
But literally any genre of game could benefit. If you can have cans of Coke in Metal Gear Solid, you can have Heinz Spaghetti flyposters in Super Mario Sunshine, you can have the Blood Donations hotline in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, and maybe even a couple of Gossard adverts staring out at you from the pages of a coffee table magazine in Lara Croft's apartment.
The list is endless, so is the potential.
(How would that work then?)
Simple! Product Placement!!
(Eh?)
See, games and movies are getting closer and closer to each other as forms of entertainment. One way that movies fund their production is product placement e.g. Coca-Cola and Pepsi used to fight over each other to get a large neon display advertisement shown in a scene from BladeRunner.
Games could go the same way, by offering companies product placement. So you could have Solid Snake on the Tanker running past just not blank bottles in the canteen but cans of Pepsi and bottles of Smirnoff. The revenue from advertising would help offset some of the millions of dollars it costs to produce games these days.
But game developers could take this one step further with the advent of consoles going online. As you play one of these games of the future, you will pass ingame advertisements, e.g. in Vice City you could walk past a genuine advertisement on a billboard next to the street, and because your console is online, you could just click on the billboard to pause the game and surf over to that particular advertiser's website to view the product details.
The game could record the number of adverts that you've viewed, and if you rack up enough 'hits' to advertisers the developer could reward you with credits, which you could use to put toward another game in their catalogue (available as an option in the main menu screen, you could even buy online via your console, perhaps even just download an extra level to your hard-drive, which could be then patched onto your game disc should your console also be enabled with CD-RW technology). You could gain even more credits by buying from an ingame sponsor, e.g. buy an official Sony peripheral from the Sony.com website advert you saw displayed on a barrior in Pro Evolution Soccer 3, and you get a £1 credit of your next SCEE title.
All of these types of credit could be stored on your console, perhaps in a secure partition of the console's hard drive. Or perhaps the console could just credit your account which is stored at a server hosted by Sony Online, or Microsoft for that matter.
Games could be designed in such a way that you have to unlock some particularly difficult areas to get to view all the advertisements there are in the game. Developers could charge a fortune for adverts placed on the first few easy levels and ease off on the pricing for those adverts placed towards the end of the game (as they're more difficult to reach therefore may not be seen as much).
This '3-way cycle' would benefit everyone. The advertisers would get more people to view their adverts by being allowed to place them in games (it's not the niche market it used to be, it's now possibly the world's most popular form of electronic entertainment), developers would benefit by having more revenue backing up their budgets, plus they'd have more encouragement to aim for a AAA title, because this gives them more clout with the advertisers in their next title, and gamers would benefit by having an incentive to finish games because each advert viewed would go towards decreasing the cost of their next gaming purchase. They'd also perhaps be encouraged to buy from specific advertisers because they've seen the advert in the game, thereby the advertisers benefit and can afford to place more adverts in new games. And on the cycle goes.
The ethical considerations do require mentioning. Advertising is widespread these days and many people consider some forms of advertising as an intrusion of privacy. Advertising could also detract from enjoyment of the game by having scenarios like: "Final Boss battle coming up!...But first a word from our sponsors!" I think most developers would be conscientious about how their games are affected by advertising, in the same way that most film directors are conscientious about how product placement can affect a scene in their movie, and a simple way around the first ethical problem is to add a label on the game packaging advising along the lines of: "This game contains advertisements", so people know what to expect.
So that's the ethical considerations sorted.
Some games just scream out for product placement. What's American Football without 5 minute advertising slots in between each play? So would the John Madden series be more realistic if they did the same thing as you played the game? If it got annoying you could just turn the feature off, but then you'd be missing out on all those credits you can get just for viewing an advert, let alone buying from the sponsor...Oh! the dilemma!! The same could go for any Tiger Woods golf game, you could see an advert in between each hole, the various club manufacturer's could all have links in the game to their websites, same with the golf balls, the golf clothing, the list is endless. The sports genre of games seems to be the ideal candidate to do a trial run for product placement.
But literally any genre of game could benefit. If you can have cans of Coke in Metal Gear Solid, you can have Heinz Spaghetti flyposters in Super Mario Sunshine, you can have the Blood Donations hotline in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, and maybe even a couple of Gossard adverts staring out at you from the pages of a coffee table magazine in Lara Croft's apartment.
The list is endless, so is the potential.