If you were born after the seventies, I have some good news
and some bad news. Unfortunately, the bad news is that you missed most of the
good music. However, on the positive side, you probably grew up with video
games, playing classics such as The Legend Of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., and
even Pong. Yes, I'm sure that most of your allowance was sacrificed to that
seemingly ancient arcade game, whiling away the hours at the mall until your
mom picked you and your friends up. Since then, games have transcended the
arcade experience, and have invaded our homes and offices (not Propulsion Media
Labs' office, of course ☺).
Since gaming is so pervasive through our culture, it makes a
lot of sense that advertising would start to work its way into the industry.
Businesses are hard pressed to find a group of people that stare at a screen
for enjoyment more than gamers, allowing massive opportunities for product
placement, pop-ups, or even full-blown commercials. Indeed, the 2010 Xbox 360
title "Alan Wake" contains a scene where two full commercials for real companies can be viewed for points.
Now, I don’t mean to diss advertising, but here’s the
million-dollar question (bad pun, I know). What’s the future for advertising
within video games? Could the mobile game “Fruit Ninja” one day advertise for
the produce department at Wegman’s groceries? Perhaps in the next “Legend Of
Zelda”, Link has to go to Cabela’s for his boomerang. Could you imagine the
next Mario game including side quests revolving around trips to Home Depot for
a plumber’s uniform?
What do you think?
Jake Summers
West Chester University
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