21. Guess what the other day when I was driving down the freeway, I saw a billboard with an ad for a Studebaker. And a DeLorean. And a Yugo.

Just like the ad for the Dodge whateverthefuck in 'Crackdown'.

It's set IN THE FUTURE, people!!

Why would you have a huge marketing blitz for a 20+ (that's an EXTREMELY generous number) year old car?!

I see no problems in SOME aspects for in-game adverts. And this coming from a person who is absolutely horrified by modern advertising.

However, games like Fight Night Round 3 make it nearly impossible to play without rolling my eyes at all the crap that's shoved down your throat.

It (in-game adverts) has the exact opposite effect on me and most of my friends. I will go out of my way to NOT purchase products so blatantly and aggressively marketed.

Posted at 1:26PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Jared

22. I don't mind adverts in games, as long as they're relevant to the situaton and location. Seeing Axe adverts is just annoying, not only because it doesn't exist over here in the UK, but also because I know it's UK counterpart (Lynx) smells like parrot's piss.

And why would a Vegas casino place adverts in their hallways for the Royal Navy?

Posted at 1:31PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Insomnious

23. As a few others have stated, I really don't mind the ads as long as they can feasibly fit within the context of the game and they don't look out of place.

The ads in Rainbow Six and Crackdown were fine, because the presence of real world products makes the game more immersive to me.

For instance, I'd much rather see a Pepsi or Coke machine in an office building than a machine that just says "Cola" or "Fizzypop" or what have you.

Posted at 1:51PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Ashraam

24. Nuka Cola FTW!

Posted at 1:53PM on Aug 1st 2007 by refinedsugar

25. If in game Ads can offest the rising cost of making games and those savings can be seen by the consumer... Bring on the Ads.

Posted at 2:02PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Anti

26. 300 was boring, racist, fascist, homo-erotic war porn. Neo-spartan revivalism was ugly back in Germany in 1938 and it's still ugly now.

Posted at 2:03PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Etchasketchist

27. Wolfrider:

I'm pretty sure the movie "The Island" was a gigantic commercial (I remember seeing some... shoes... coke... the gaming machine had the xbox logo...) I'm not saying its ok, just that it does happen in other "mediums".

Posted at 2:10PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Elric

28. It doesn't bother me, but I would like either free DLC or a price cut on the game. Still, I fel it helps with the emergence of the game.

Posted at 2:32PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Grindstone

29. I hate to break it to you Wolf but there's very similar types of ads in most movies now days. You just don't notice them apparently.

Comparing it to a popup ad is just silly. It's part of the background and isn't any different than if you'd walk out your front door and noticed a billboard across the street...

Posted at 2:33PM on Aug 1st 2007 by JeremyK

30. If I did not have to pay for the game...no problem. But if I had to pay full price for the game, well... the notion of paying to be advertised to is not a pleasant one. And of course, keep it relative to the game.

Posted at 2:35PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Jonas

31. @20 movies have had product placement for a long time now.

for a slightly in your face example, watch Transformers.

transforming Xbox 360 anyone?

Posted at 2:38PM on Aug 1st 2007 by xenocidic

32. no problem with ads... especially if it had something to do with free DLC or lower priced games...!!?!>?!

Posted at 2:51PM on Aug 1st 2007 by kevin

33. if you have to pirate it to play it then you do that because like i said i just played this game and it was one of the best single player experiences ive had on my 360. the hole aspect of pleasing both sides works so well. but to be honest not buying/renting a great game because there is an Ad for a movie is ridiculous! games like crackdown gta RS:vegas all have billboards and whatnot already in them to make the environments more believable so what difference does it make whether its some made up crap on the billboard or a real ad. personally in these situations a real ad makes it better.

Now if you were playing a game like say Marble Blast Ultra and the side of a wall in a level was a giant ad or something stupid like that then you can get mad but so far every in-game ad has been on a billboard or something that otherwise would have just been something stupid like a movie titled 800 with the captions "THIS IS BARTA!!!"

so enjoy the games and until they put a pepsi symbol on the back of your character in a third person game shut up and stop complaining

Posted at 3:41PM on Aug 1st 2007 by JediMasterASD

34. I wonder how many of the people complaining about the price of the games live in the US? Come and live in the UK and then you can bitch about the price of games, until then just shut up and stop whining like a bitch.

Halo 3 US = $50
Halo 3 UK = £50 (around $100)

The European Council has clamped down on the pricing of MP3s so when they going to clamp down on the extortion racket that is console games.

I wonder if Bungie is going to put some ads in Halo 3's urban levels? Would fit and given the presales they could demand a pretty penny for the space.

Maybe the ads should be location based liked Googles Adsense so people see advertising relative to their own country? I wonder how log it will be until someone starts up a company offering this very service? Programmers just put the relative ad spaces in the games then the company provides adverts based on ip and gives the game companies a share of the revenue.

Can I copyright this idea :-/

Posted at 3:43PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Carbonize

35. Considering the advertising is most likely WHY the content pack is free to us, I see no reason to complain.

Posted at 3:43PM on Aug 1st 2007 by AoE

36. It makes little to no sense to demand something in return for FREE when you see ads in games. I don't remember the price of a movie ticket being subsidized because of a Pepsi product placement. Ad revenue goes straight to the publisher where it is reinvested in the production of a new game. Sure the publishers are making money, but that's the whole point. Maybe you don't want more and better games pushed out the door faster, but I do.

Posted at 4:06PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Snarkstar

37. I don't really have a problem with it as long as it fits within the context of the game. As for the people complaining about the ads let me ask you this question. Does your cable company give you a discount because they make you watch ads? I mean you're paying for that right? What about previews at the movies? They make you sit through 15 minutes of previews but yet the prices keep going up. It's not like they're forcing you to sit and read the ads in the games.

I will say this though. The day they make me watch a tv commercial sytle ad while a game is loading is the day I get upset about this.

Posted at 6:57PM on Aug 1st 2007 by hawk

38. Having advertising in the game is a total ripoff. It sucks!!! I did not pay $400 dollars on a system and then $60 per game to have ads forced on me. I already have to look at that crap on my main page now the update and stuff them in to the games to. Microsoft are the greediest bastards I've ever seen. I bet the 360 planning meeting went like this, "first we'll get people to pay for a faulty system, then have them spend $10 bucks more for the same games they can get on older systems, now charge everybody a monthly fee if they actually want to play those games on-line, then once everybody is on-line get them to buy overpriced content that is already available elsewhere for free, and on top of all of that get other companies to pay us to plaster everything with their logos, f-ing genius." I give up on the 360, they can kiss my a** if they think I will give them another dollar.

Posted at 7:07PM on Aug 1st 2007 by leo2178

39. Depends on the game. I wouldn't want it appearing when I'm playing a WW2 game!

Posted at 8:27PM on Aug 1st 2007 by Ciaran Gallagher

40. @ 35:

So you're willing to get in line and pay that price like all the other sheep and we should be quite because of it? Nahhhh. Too high = too high.

We didn't like exorbitant taxes either, so we did something about it.

@ Rest:

In game advertising is obnoxious and very rarely ever warranted. Realism? Every single vehicle in R6:V is a dodge and you call that realism? An Axe billboard shoved down your throat during a cutscene where you're about to rescue hostages isn't over-the-top?

FN3 was some of the most over the top disgusting pandering to advertising I've ever seen. Your trainer is Burger King's mascot? WTF?!?!?! It had the opposite effect on me when I saw that. I boycotted BK for a year just because they think they're going to insult me and my intelligence like that.

Give me a break people, the advertising is already out of control and they have JUST started doing it.

I play game for escapism, NOT to be dragged kicking and screaming back into reality by some goddamn marketer. Is that so much to ask?

It's to offset the cost of games? Then why are my prices for system and games higher than ever?

What next? "This kill streak brought to you by Pizza Hut! Make every kill a 'Tombstone', kill!"

Posted at 8:55PM on Aug 1st 2007 by spurta