This has probably been going on for a while, but tonight (Sept 1st) at roughly 11:30 PM, my friends and I noticed our first in game ad in BF's multiplayer.   A billboard for the new Pacino/DeNiro flick.  Goes to show how much I care about the actual movie, I can't even remember the name of it.  I do remember it comes out the 12th of this month, but what caught my attention much more that any specific movie was this strange intrusion; I play games and don't watch TV for the express purpose of not having to watch advertisements.  It was weird as hell; blowing up this drab, war torn town and spotting a billboard next to a building with the faces of two of America's most famous actors plastered on it.  Granted, it looked like EA is making some efforts to make this stuff "fit in;"  the billboard had a tattered and somewhat dull look to it, no doubt to more or less fit in with the surrounding landscape.  I suppose as long as we don't get anymore super shiny AXE ads a-la Rainbow Six: Vegas we can consider ourselves lucky.


Thankfully online shooters are shallow experiences to begin with; ads like these aren't interuptting any kind of emotional experience or attachment to the game aside from the "that son of a bitch in the helicopter needs to die" emotion that I feel in just about every BF match.  I would like to give game publishers the benefit of the doubt and hope that such ads remain "tasteful," if that 's even the right word, but I suppose this could be the camels nose in the tent that leads to much worse.  For my money, as long as my gaming experiences are never directly interuptted in the form of commercial breaks or movie previews I don't think it will bother me too much.  But it's crucial that publishers remember the importance of context as well.  Things like modern movie ads would simply destroy the atmosphere of the post-apocolyptic streets of Fallout 3.  But if Bethesda wants to start selling actual Nuka-Cola at my local Costco, I will be more than happy to oblige. 


What do you guys think of all of this?  Have any of you noticed this and has it been going on for a long time in BF specifically?  Popping up in any other games?  

I know this sort of thing has been happening in Guitar Hero III as well.  Tropic Thunder was the most recent adver, if I remember correctly.

Before the Deniro Pachino(Rightous Kill) movie ads, they Tropic Thunder ads were every where. Sadly I enjoyed those more than the new ones.

At least in this game all the DLC has been free so far, so the ads don't bother me too much. But Rainbow Six Vegas had ads all the time and we still had to pay for all the maps. And honestly with all the advertising that goes on the Xbox Dashboard I don't see why Xbox Live costs money.

I don't care about ingame ads, as long as things get reduced or free.

It actually took me a while to find the most recent ad (for Robot Chicken). I guess it doesnt seem to bother my gameplay experience too much.

As has been said in game advertising to subsidize the cost of DLC can only be a good thing as long as its inobtrusive.

In my opinion, the fact that they're trying to make the thing fit in (as well as discounted or free content) is worth something.

I see a ton of Burger King ads in Burnout. Doesn't really bother me... not sure if that's because I see those ads everywhere I go in the real world and I'm just used to it or if it's 'cause I'm driving by them so fast I don't have time to think about them.
As long as these ads pay for big content updates (i.e. Burnout Bikes) then I am fine with them. The "pay for 3 maps that are just reworked single player maps every 5 months" is a already tired business model for DLC.

I remember when everyone bitched non-stop about this (achievements sponsored by Progressive in NFS Pro Street, as well as BK and others in Fight Night 3 came to mind).  Now, people are willing to accept it more.  Very interesting.

um rainbow six vegas one has had dynamic ad's for a while...

Haven't played much of Vegas at all.  I did like what I played of it, though.  = D  Should probably pick that one up eventually.

I'm kind of disgusted by this type of thing. I mean, when a game gets released for free through Ad-supported means then I'm fine. However, if I payed 60 dollars for your god damn game then why am I staring at movie posters and ads for random shit in my game? Fuck that.

if its well placed in the game, like in natural spots where ads would be in real life (billboards, soda machines etc.) im ok with it