By now I'm sure everyone's aware of the advertising
debacle that was Need For Speed Underground 2. Far from being "subliminal," the in-game advertising made
it seem as if EA personally sent their executive marketing rep to your house to force advertisements down your throat
with an iron crowbar. And with the costs of game development ever rising, it doesn't sound as if in-game advertising
will be leaving us anytime soon. Rather, all kinds of companies are looking for ways to make in-game advertising
better, stronger, faster than it was before. Case in point, SOE and Pizza Hut's recent
Everquest II deal. Rather than subjecting the land of
Norrath to something that would detract from the gaming experience, Sony partnered with Pizza Hut to allow gamers to
quickly, freely, and subtly engage in an activity that benefits everyone. Unless you're partial to Dominos pizza, that
is.
And that isn't the only advertising trick coming down the pipe. Last year, Activision announced that it would be
partnering with Nielson Entertainment Media to develop software that would track the penetration and effectiveness of
in-game advertising. Yet another marketing method takes the idea of the static in-game advertising found in
NFSU2 and takes it to the next level. As the day goes on, billboards may change from an ad for one product to
another. As the months pass, a Burger King or Circuit City might evolve into a Dairy Queen or a Barnes & Noble
bookstore. While not nearly perfect, this "dynamic advertising" would be a welcome change from the same tired old
experience with every play, and could even inject added realism into franchises such as Grand Theft
Auto.
But the real question is: how will the consumer benefit from all of this? Speculators, doing what they do best,
speculate that the standard price for next-gen games will increase to $60, the first industry-wide price increase since
the days of the NES. It's true that the cost of game manufacturing is ever-rising, but can we put a price on gaming's
soul?
