As the Latins used to say: panem et circenses. The worst the economy, the more people spends in entertainment. Then add the identity's crisis of the man in contemporary society, and you can easily understand why the gaming industry at the moment is flourishing. Following the motto "place your ad where the prospect is", the advertising industry is ready to "invade" videogames. Yes, we aren't talking about advergaming nor about product placement, this is actually an invasion, a rush to place a banner, a claim, a logo, on any spot a customer (he's not a man anymore...) could consciously or unconsciously note. I'm rather negative towards this topic, I can't help but considering it from the customer perspective. I'm annoyed by the idea of product placement in the movies, which is actually corrupting the output's quality. I fear the same might happen with videogames, since, as AdAge writes today, "advergaming grows in reach and power". Actually the article isn't only about product placement in videogames, rather it's about interactive gaming in general, considering also MMO (massively multiplayer online) and, of course, the "simple" advergames. There is also an interactive games report to download.

Activision's "True Crime" featured Puma's fall 2003 collections - it was cool. Personally, I sometimes find placement irretating and sometimes don't.

I think the right formula is to mix the right product with the right media asset - without exaggerating.

I believe that, placements in high-end PC or console games are very similar to the placements at blockbusters. In both cases; exaggeration is a big put-off. For instance, matrix 2's highway action was far too GM - almost each car on the highway was of GM make. After all, the secret formula of the "immersive advertising" is the fact that advertising is not obvious. In this respect, exaggeration seriously undermines the objective.

Posted by: Can Saracoglu at May 25, 2004 03:40 AM

hey buddy, get a life, just enjoy the farking film!

Posted by: con at May 27, 2004 04:42 AM