Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk getting in-game ad treatment

with a these advertisements in games shouldn't they be getting cheaper.

don't hook up the 360 to the internet when you turn gh3 on and it won't update the ads

They'll have a real tough time serving ads to me when I pull the network cable. Plus I don't really look at the stage during GHIII anyways, I'm too busy looking at the notes. Go figure.

Wait, so the crappy cash-in third installment of a once-great rhythm game has sold out to advertisers for MORE money?

Say it ain't so.

"Didn't you have ad's in the 20th century?"

"Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines. And movies. And at ball games and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts and written on the sky. But not in dreams. No siree!"

What I really think is funny is that we'll start seeing (and have seen a bit already) 360 adds in PS3 games and PS3 adds in 360 games.


Competition is fun.

meh. Let 'em waste their money. IMO most people I know rarely respond positively to any advertising. It's either tolerable, and dismissed, or annoying and a grudge is built against that product or company.

Can't say I'm surprised that Proving Ground has it, Guitar hero a little bit, but is it really that surprising? A game that draws crowds of people = great advert opportunity, though the guitar branding makes far more sense than the other stuff. The obnoxious demographic marketing of red bull and Axe body spray is getting pretty tiresome. Skate also featured a lot of advertising, but aside from Adidas (and Nike? Can't remember) pretty much all of it was completely skateboard oriented (no Coke ads) so it fit the game's context perfectly, not to mention they're much smaller companies that most people aren't bombarded with to the point of insanity. In that situation I think it's a win win because obviously for the companies advertising they're getting an integral placement in a (great) game that is making people want to take up skateboarding, I can't say I've ever wanted to start drinking energy drinks after playing Guitar Hero. The decks in the game are particularly relevant seeing how they mostly reflect the designs currently available by each manufacturer, so it allows the player to, in a way, research board components they like, at least from an aesthetic point of view, just by playing the game. I think a brilliant move on their part would be if in the game there was a 'buy this for real' option that would integrate with your Live account (or PSN account or whatever) to order the item you've been skating around with in Skate for 20 hours for real. Not that I crave this much ad penetration in games, but if I were an advertiser I would totally be doing this.

I just finished a Red Bull, and I'm popping in a stick of Wrigley's 5 gum right now.

In a minute, I'll be putting on some Axe and driving my Pontiac down to Guitar Center to buy myself a Gibson Digital, some Ernie Ball strings, Zildjian symbols, some Crate amps, and Mackie monitors and Line 6 pedals.

Because everything I learned about rocking out, I learned by playing Guitar Hero III. Thanks Activision/Red Octane/Neversoft/Vicarious Visions/Bubcat/Aspyr media!

As long as it doesn't interrupt the gameplay, I'm fine with it. When we start having to watch commercials between levels, that's where I draw the line.

Still...why the hell aren't these games cheaper because of this?

NHL 08 has some ads snuck into the game too outside of the hockey related sponsorships. I've recently seen ads for The Simpsons Game, IGN and McDonald's value menu. Sadly unlike the "standard" ads on the boards, someone thought that making all of these ads bright yellow would be helpful. It's too bad they didn't do a good job of making them look like "real" hockey ads.

70 bucks and ads? fuck off!
30 bucks and ads? hell, yeah!

personally, I have no problem with in game ads, done right. if I see a coke machine instead of a Mr. Fizz machine, it only adds to the realism. It makes more sense to have real world items in games that take place in the real world. as far as making me buy anything, not gonna happen. now off to drink red bull in my pontiac.

Even GH sold out? that's a new low for rock dude...

How about the NFS Prostreet achievements sponsored by crap.

I don't mind adverts in games so long as they do not detract from the gameplay or immersion (billboards in BF2142 are fine so long as they only occur on shops or on highways which happen to be in maps).

But advertisers mustn't try and control what can happen to their in game products. If I see an in-game Macys or Coke machine I want to be able to rocket launcher it just like everything else.
I recall the licensed vehicles of old racing games which weren't allowed to suffer any damage even when driven into walls.

It always made sense to me for NCAA Football to have the "Pontiac game Changing Moment" or any kind of sponsored thing like that because that's exactly how a REAL broadcast goes. My problem is not in the use of advertising in games it's the blatant use of ads where they don't belong that kills me.

Maybe when you suck at playing GHIII on the sponsored stages, you could get a different message when you fail, like "Investors deem you a revenue risk!"

I think the Mcrib Farewell Tour 3 ad is hilarious. I believe it's in the video shoot stage.

They're selling out, man!

It's particularly ironic in Guitar Hero's case because a major theme of the game is that your band has sold out and you have to prove yourself to the fans again.

Of course, when you're rocking out in the Pontiac Challenge Stage with your Axe deodorant guitar, it sounds to me like the fans have made a good point about selling out.

Here's a trade-off: If they're going to be selling advertisement updates throughout the life of the game, why not make the downloadable songs free, or at least something cheap like $1?

Oh, wait. Because that would mean treating your consumers with respect.

Isn't the Pontiac Garage a part of Jimmy Kimmel Live? I'm pretty sure that's where all of his musical performances take place during the show...from that aspect it kind of makes sense for the game i guess. But having an Axe guitar to play on? Or some gum banners all over the place? Come on!

It sucks that game prices haven't gone down thanks to the advertisers, but I can also understand that development costs have skyrocketed as well, and the advertisers' dollars work to keep the price in check, but bringing the price back down to $50 would make some of these "logo slaps" easier to digest.

Know what advertising really pisses me off?

I subscribe to pcgamer, the official Xbox magazine and CGW, and there is nothing quite like getting the call phone gaming minimag taking up 30 fucking pages of the magazine you PAID to read. I especially like how one time they had a NFS review and they had a screenshot on one half of the page, 20 pages of "cell play" and then the other half of the picture on the nex tpage, it was awesome.

I really hate this shit because in all honesty, if those shitty cell games were for the PC the PCGAMER review staff would make the interns sit in the dark with no food or water and review them while being lit on fire or something.

HAHA! Lets see them put more ads in my PS2 version of GH3!!! Hooray for Last-Gen!!

Guess it's not money well spent. I've played through Career in GHIII and swear to God I didn't notice the Red Bull cans. The Pontiac was a little hard to miss though...