News outlets are breaking the news: Sony has filed a patent that allows advertisements to run during video game play. Basically, whilst you’re playing, your game would “pause” for a while, and out pops a commercial that you’ll have to sit through. As if those loading screens aren’t pesty enough to interfere with the game play! Is playstation going to be a paystation?
Your game pauses and runs a commercial. Afterwards, it’ll automatically rewind a couple seconds backwards so it doesn’t ruin the flow of the game – just in case it stopped you at a crucial moment. It’ll also probably be just for single-player mode.
I know that when we watch Television, it’s a landfill of commercials, even more so than ever. There are popup ads as you watch American Idol for Coke, there are movie ads as you watch America’s Got Talent. It’s fine. I get it. But for ads to enter our stream of gaming-magic? We pay $60 per game. It’s no different if we bought a DVD and out pops an ad while we watch it. This isn’t a free game through mobile apps or facebook. Now playstation just might enter the adware realm. Are we going to have to sit through ads for a game we paid good money for?
I sure hope not.
Ok, so there have always been (not-so) subliminal ads and such in the games. Remember Pizza Hut everywhere playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the arcade? All this stuff isn’t purely new. But hey, if you want us to sit through commercials, then why don’t we get the game for free? Free game = commercials. $60/per game and added commercials? No bueno.
Sony, please take a second before you make a mistake.
*photos courtesy of video game sites!
Kaori
Kaori is a California born host who loves video games, and the "geek" stuff. A trilingualist (she also speaks fluent French and Japanese), she earned her Bachelor’s at UC Berkeley (Go Bears!), where she majored in communications and pop-culture. She also studied makeup at the Make-Up Designory school in Burbank. Working as a freelance makeup artist, she does runway shoots, wedding ceremonies, and magazine spreads. She moved to Japan for a couple years, where she was featured in videos of big cultural cities like Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Harajuku. She is now back in Los Angeles, and continues to love hosting and video-journaling her experiences for everyone! She was featured as the event host for the Asian Pacific Film festival, and she has covered events like Comic-Con, Comikaze, Yelp Elite events, and great places to eat. She currently hosts after shows and blogs on Afterbuzz TV. Current TV shows she loves include Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Dancing With The Stars, Mystery Diners and WWE RAW. She is half of White On Rice, a weekly live show of nerdy and techy interests on Spreecast.com, and is a DirtyandThirty.com blogger. On her free time she loves playing Skyrim and hanging out with her dog Wakame. Website: KaoriTakee.com Follow her @kaorious!
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I could see this working in games like NASCAR racing and that ilk where it makes sense. I am just afraid of advertisements for gun manufacturers showing up Call of Duty style first person shooters. Its one thing if the games use the actually guns made by those manufactures, they don’t have put bill boards in the games themselves. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail here.
p.s. To see the Exxon logo dropped into the above picture was very funny given the game depicted. If you put a Haliburton sign in there I would have been on the floor laughing.