When in-game advertising creeps into cheat-codes and bonus content

People cheat because they can. People cheat, because cheating is an option that can possibly make ones life, in this case, one’s gaming experience, a lot easier. The amusing part is that marketing – the folks who try to catch the attention of people who’ve stopped watching TV – knows that we gamers love cheats and now they are trying to creep in-game advertising into bonus/secret content.

Perhaps their logic is probably something like this: “Game environment advertising is so yesterday! Let’s sneak in an ad that players will have to figure out to see, and then they’ll keep looking. People love Easter Eggs.” Rachel Konrad reports that this is evidenced by a certain video that pops up after you shoot a jar of body wash in a certain video game about saving Vegas from terrorists.

Beyond just masking/camouflaging advertising as additional content in Video Games, Konrad reports that the act of distributing and advertising the cheats and the easter eggs have become a marketing tool for games and game publishers/developers.

Konrad cites the Superman Returns DVD that had a cheat code in it to unlock additional content in EA’s Superman Returns game. It seems that lines are starting to blur if the games are advertising the products, or the product/franchise is advertising the game.

Via AP

People cheat because they can. People cheat, because cheating is an option that can possibly make ones life, in this case, one’s gaming experience, a lot easier. The amusing part is that marketing – the folks who try to catch the attention of people who’ve stopped watching TV – knows that we gamers love cheats and now they are trying to creep in-game advertising into bonus/secret content.

Perhaps their logic is probably something like this: “Game environment advertising is so yesterday! Let’s sneak in an ad that players will have to figure out to see, and then they’ll keep looking. People love Easter Eggs.” Rachel Konrad reports that this is evidenced by a certain video that pops up after you shoot a jar of body wash in a certain video game about saving Vegas from terrorists.

Beyond just masking/camouflaging advertising as additional content in Video Games, Konrad reports that the act of distributing and advertising the cheats and the easter eggs have become a marketing tool for games and game publishers/developers.

Konrad cites the Superman Returns DVD that had a cheat code in it to unlock additional content in EA’s Superman Returns game. It seems that lines are starting to blur if the games are advertising the products, or the product/franchise is advertising the game.

Via AP