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Imagine this: you're playing one of Splinter Cell Conviction's many "choose your own torture" sequences, as described by Ubisoft's Jeffrey Dickstein. As you're slamming a terrorist's face into a urinal, you might ask yourself, "is this the new Degree deodorant I should buy?" (Seriously, these are his words.)

This is actually the pitch Ubisoft delivered at Microsoft Advertising's Gaming Upfront presentation in New York this evening. In-game advertising is rapidly growing, but has typically been relegated to sports and racing games. Splinter Cell Conviction breaks convention by being neither. Expect both static and video ads to appear throughout the environment -- including during the game's lengthy torture sequences. Perhaps they should take it one step further: Sam Fisher should grab a Coca-Cola bottle, smash it, and use the broken glass to kill a guy. Talk about refreshing!

In addition, Ubisoft showed potential advertisers the "heat maps" they created whilst developing the game. These maps highlight likely places players will go while playing. Advertisers will be able to place their ads in high-density areas, in order to ensure maximum exposure to their brands while in the game world. Considering Splinter Cell is a stealth game, don't be too surprised to see ads inside of the conveniently accessible (not to mention remarkably roomy!) air ducts.

Microsoft's in-game ad company, Massive, has announced that it will be providing ads for several major publishers this fall, namely THQ, EA and Activision. Massive will supply ads for EA's sports lineup -- including Madden NFL 10 -- and Need for Speed: Shift. For Activision, the company will provide ads for the many upcoming Hero games, including Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero and Band Hero, as well as Tony Hawk Ride and Blur. There will also be ads in THQ's MX vs ATV Reflex as well as its smash hit UFC 2009: Undisputed. Also, expect ads in Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Conviction -- projected on the walls, perhaps -- when it launches next year.

Perhaps most important of all, Massive will be the exclusive provider of advertisements on Blizzard's revamped Battle.Net when it launches alongside StarCraft II. That's not much of a leap, as the company is the sole provider for the current Battle.Net as well. Still, we're just guessing that there will be more than a few eyeballs pointed at Blizzard's online playground whenever StarCraft II graces the world with its presence.

[Via Edge]

Epic Games has opened a new subsidiary in Seoul, Korea, with plans to provide licensing services and support resources to development teams using its Unreal Engine. Epic Games Korea will be led by Ray Park, formerly the business and strategy development manager for Microsoft's in-game advertising company, Massive, Inc.

While Epic Games has provided its Unreal Engine to teams in the territory for over five years, Park states the opening of a Korean subsidiary signifies Epic's "desire to collaborate more closely with the [local] game development community." Jay Wilbur, Epic Games' vice president of business development, noted Epic Games Korea would serve as "a hub for Unreal Engine access, knowledge and support in the Korean marketplace."

Rumors of developer Silicon Knights moving to Korea in search of the support it claims to have never received from Epic Games could not be confirmed ... because we made it up for the sake of a bad joke.

It seems as though the reports coming in this morning regarding Microsoft layoffs at its in-game advertising department, Massive, were more than a tad overstated. A Microsoft spokesperson, as well as Cassandra Nuttall, head of marketing at Massive, confirmed to us this afternoon that, "In total, the Massive business unit will see a headcount reduction of 28 percent."

Earlier today we reported that a variety of outlets, relying on "anonymous sources," were told that the layoffs at Massive were as high as 75 percent. "While yesterday's job eliminations included full-time employees who work for Massive," the spokesperson told us, "the reports of a 75 percent workforce reduction are inaccurate." Citing the "global economic downturn" for the staff cuts, Ms. Nuttall also insures us that the company "foresee[s] no disruption whatsoever [in its] current relationships with global, blue chip brands and leading game publishers." To those of you laid off, we wish you the best in the coming months.

According to multiple reports this morning, the second round of Microsoft layoffs has affected Microsoft's in-game advertising arm, Massive. Apparently as much as 75 percent of the staff has been cut, according to anonymous sources at VentureBeat.

"As part of the plan we announced in January to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, today we are eliminating additional positions across several areas of the company ... Microsoft is not breaking out layoff figures by divisions," a rep for Microsoft told Gamasutra. We've contacted Massive and Microsoft for confirmation of the layoff numbers and will update this story when we hear more. If you were affected by the layoffs and want to speak with us (anonymously or otherwise), please feel free to shoot us an email.

Update: Microsoft and Massive have responded to our emails and corrected reports from this morning.


Source 1 - Gamasutra
Source 2 - VentureBeat
Source 3 - BigDownload

Microsoft is partnering on some Discovery Channel ad buy to promote Deadliest Catch -- it's a show about crab fisherman and a badly reviewed game -- but the only things worth caring about are the free MS points being given away. The campaign will have "a number of click-to-video executions across the Xbox LIVE platform with a call-to-action Deadliest Catch Text to Win Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes provides viewers with a specific mobile SMS code to text for a chance to win Microsoft Points."

Microsoft and Discovery will give away a whopping 2 million MS Points to 5,000 winners during the promo ... hey, wait a minute. Let's do the mathematicals on that: 2,000,000 MS points / 5,000 people = 400 MS points. So, they're giving out $5 XBLM redemption codes? Oh well, guess it's $5 those 5,000 folks didn't have before. Full details about the promotion can be found here.

Massive Entertainment, developers of World in Conflict and the Ground Control series, have a new home at publisher Ubisoft. The Swedish studio was let go by Activision Blizzard following "The Merger." Clearly, despite Massive's quality work, WiC and the studio's RTS proficiency lacked the "potential to be exploited" by Blizzavision.

Neither the teams next project nor the details of the financial transaction were disclosed by the publisher. Last we'd heard, Blizzavision still owned the rights to World in Conflict, but we've contacted Ubi to find out if it took the rights in the transaction. If it didn't, expect a new RTS franchise (unless the studio totally goes in a new direction) the next time Massive announces what game it's working on.

Update: Ubi confirmed with us that it did receive the World in Conflict rights in the acquisition.

How much did it cost 2008 US Presidential Candidate Barack Obama to put ads inside of Burnout Paradise and other titles? According to a Federal Election Commission filing (via Gamespot), Obama's campaign sent $44,465.78 to Massive Incorporated to run in-game advertisements, from October 6 to November 3, in 18 separate titles. The real winner of these in-game ads, of course, was Tim the Paradise City Street Sweeper.

Comparatively, the campaign has spent a estimated total of $205 million on TV ads, about $4 to $5 million of which was for last night's 30-minute infomercial on CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, BET, TV One and Univision. Fun statistic: The amount spent on TV ads was 455,555% higher than in-game advertisement. According to previous statements, Massive had approached the McCain campaign about doing a similar advertising deal, but they had passed on it.

Real-time-strategy isn't exactly the largest, most well rounded genre on the 360, and while we have seen Lord of the Rings and C&C3 do relatively well on console, there still isn't any kind of breakout hit. While the appropriateness of RTS to consoles is debatable (as is the likelihood of there ever being a breakout hit) the games that choose to go that route are nevertheless getting better. World in Conflict: Soviet Assault will be the next big real-time-strategy release on 360 and it improves on the console-specific tweaks made to past console RTS games.

First and foremost, the game's camera is not controlled like a typical RTS, where the angle is set, and the camera only zooms in or out. The camera is controlled exactly like a first-person-shooter, meaning that the player can aim the camera parallel to the ground if they so wish. It also means that any players who are coming from console FPS play will be able to feel at home much faster than they otherwise might.

In-game advertising. Just saying the words invoke anger to Bruce Banner proportions for some gamers. Today EA and Massive announced a two-year extension you should probably go shopping for purple shorts.

Bringing advertising to such EA hits as Burnout, Madden, NBA Live, NHL and Nascar to the Xbox 360 and PC means that Microsoft owned in-game ad firm Massive and EA will continue to mask our gaming worlds with ads marketed for 18 to 34 year-old males. Gamers from other consoles shouldn't consider themselves lucky though, soon enough Xbox 360 owners will be able to download the Burger King Whopper Launcher in Army of Two for a mere 250 MS Points*!

*Oh, I hope that joke doesn't come back to bite us.

[Via Joystiq]

We can expect ads to continue to be shoved down our throats in games from Electronics Arts as the company has extended its deal with Microsoft's in-game ad firm Massive to offer dynamic ads in games for the next two years.

While Massive will continue to offer in-game ads in existing titles from EA, such as the recently released Burnout Paradise, the new deal will allow more advertisers to continue to hawk wares in existing titles, as well as in upcoming games -- including the next two Madden, NBA Live, Nascar, and NHL releases. According to EA, ads will focus on appealing to guys between the ages of 18 and 34, but interestingly will just be served to versions released for the Xbox 360 and PC. For players on other platforms looking for a similar experience, might we suggest taping up ads from your Sunday circular to the television while playing -- at least that way you have the option to take the nuisances down.

Anyone who's spent even a little time rocking out to Guitar Hero III has likely noticed the game's heavy-handed approach to product placement, with stages littered with cans of Red Bull and billboards hocking everything from Axe Body Spray to Pontiac. The whole thing feels oppressive and graceless as even the game's underground rock venues are reduced to feeling like props to corporate shilling. And things are likely to get worse before they get better, as Activision today announced that it has inked a deal with Microsoft-owned Massive to provide in-game ads in not only Guitar Hero III, but Tony Hawk's Proving Ground as well.

The two titles have been added to the growing Massive Network advertising collective, which also includes Activision's Transformers adaptation, and will made to include "contextually relevant" dynamic ads. Interestingly, it's unclear if this partnership extends to all versions of the affected (afflicted?) games, or just those for Microsoft's console. What is clear, however, is that as games are now a big business, more and more companies are beginning to get in line for their slice of the money pie, and while game companies and advertisers reap the benefits of this arrangement, gamers are left holding the controller wondering just when their games became interactive commercials.

Today, Sierra Entertainment sent word that their Cold War based RTS World in Conflict will not be releasing to the Xbox 360 this year and is instead being pushed back into 2008. World in Conflict is currently available on the PC and was originally slated for a November release on the 360 until today's delay news broke. But the delay may be worth the wait with reviews for World in Conflict generally favorable and it pulling in an average of 91 on metacritic. So, if Massive Entertainment does a good job of translating this RTS over to the conosle realm then World in Conflict just might be something of interest come 2008.

Think of a real-time strategy game session as a bell curve. At the lower end is the beginning, when there's a lot of resource-gathering and scouting. In the middle and the higher portion, there's lots of action. As the battle winds down, so does the action. Massive Entertainment's World in Conflict was described to us as a strategy game with the lower ends of the bell curve cut off, and from what we saw at the Sierra suite, it's a pretty accurate description.

The story of World in Conflict is based in an alternate future where the Berlin wall didn't fall and the Cold War went hot. At the beginning of the battle, the player is given 6,000 in currency that can be used to purchase and deploy troops. Once a troop is destroyed, its value is returned to the player for purchasing more troops, keeping the intensity up.