Barack Obama Campaigns Inside Your Xbox 360 Games
Posted 10/14/08 at 01:55:35 PM by Paul Lilly
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If there's one surefire way to piss off Maximum PC readers, its by mixing politics with technology news. But despite the ire that will inevitably ensue (don't worry, we're not telling you who we think you should vote for), sometimes the two sections overlap to where we must risk the torches and pitchforks in order to report what's going on.
In this case, the real subject matter is in-game advertising. Love it or hate it, in-game ads are here to stay and they might even help decide who our next president is. At the very least, it could become a growing trend. We're talking about political ads preceding an election, and helping to set what could become a precedent, Barack Obama's reaching out to Xbox 360 gamers through virtual billboards. The ads have been spotted in Burnout Paradise, which apparently have been purchased for an undisclosed sum.
"I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout," Holly Rockwood, directory of corporate communications at Electronic Arts, told Gigaom.com in an email. "Like most television, radio, and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates."
EA went on to clarify that the ads' subject matter "do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development team." But that might not matter if gamers feel that mixing politics with videogames is taking advertising too far.
Do you have a problem with political billboards appearing in games? Hit the jump and give us your take.
Image Credit: Gigaom.com
It all depends on the game
Submitted by Zach56 on Sat, 10/18/2008 - 2:23am
It doesn't really bother me if the ads add to the realism of a game. For example, you're playing a soccer game & while looking at the signs that line the walls of the field, you see ads like coca cola or m&m's. But if i'm playing a game like Battlefield 2142, the last thing I wanna see while i'm running around a futuristic battlefield is a billboard with an ad for a present day movie like "Eagle Eye". That's just lame & takes me out of the game somewhat. So if I had to choose between seeing ads some of the time or no ads period, i'd definitely choose the latter. Especially considering how much these damn things cost nowadays! If the game manufacturers are gonna charge us $50-$60 for a game, they shouldn't be able to make more money on top of that at the expense of realism. It's bad for gamers & just plain greedy as well.
Submitted by Nycromes on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 12:19pm
Part of a game is an escape from the things you get day in and day out in real life. When I want politics, I will turn on the TV, please leave political, religious, and other adds that invoke lots of polarity out of games. They are supossed to be fun.
I don't mind product placement, such as a coke/doritos add or something along those lines. Keep it limited and I am all for it. Make me walk through "Coke World" to get to the next level or something along those lines and I am throwing the game away.
NHL '09
Submitted by Azruelli on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 1:10pm
Little do we know the next target for political ingame advertising is going to be in NHL '09, when the deal goes through every "referree" dropping the puck will be Sarah Palin.
Edit: Now that I think about it the only thing that could be more embarassing to the gaming industry with the newfound advertising would be if Free to play MMO's became part of the advertising that is now bound to incurr.
Har, Har.
Submitted by Rltyg on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 4:57am
I am subjected to enough adds on tv. Do not invade my personal space. If I want to know more about something or someone, I will ask!!! I always thought Obama was full of it, but now I know he is a F'n moron.
Submitted by Spider-Mom on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 4:04am
NOT WELCOME
It's not THAT bad.
Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 7:13pm
For what I've seen, in game advertising isn't that bad. I just think people are just trying to find them. Like when MaximumPC had the "Best games of" (forgot the year) they said the best in game ads where in GRAW where they where on billboards above the player. In games like Burnout Paradise, when your going as fast as you are, do you look above you when you drive? I don't. But anyways the only thing bothering me is if game companies are getting paid to include them in games, couldn't they lower the price on games?
Submitted by mlee19 on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 3:41pm
IF there are going to put this kind of BS in games, then they should make the damn game FREE! I sure as hell don't want to see any political ads while im runnen and gunnen in BF2 and Crysis!!
Submitted by ferds7 on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 6:05pm
Hehe.. Somehow I don't think they would do it in a game where you've got guns that make bullet holes in objects or could destroy their ad in some other way. That I would mind a bit less :) (not that I condone such things in real life, but in games... :D ALL FOR IT!!)
Submitted by BludStain on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 3:24pm
Advertising Pepsi or Brillo Pads in games is one thing, but politics is something very different.
Its much too polarizing a subject, like religion or the NFL.
If an ad for Jesus would seem out of place in a videogame, then so should politics.
And by the way damicatz, I think you misunderstood the question. Read it again, this time more s-l-o-w-l-y, then get back with us. In other words, please keep you poitical views to yourself. This is a place for lovers of "the tech". Not narrow minded political views. (said with all due respect, of course).
Yes, I personally have a
Submitted by atomaweapon on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 2:28pm
Yes, I personally have a STRONG negative opinion of political ads inside games. You are guaranteed to piss off a full 50% of your game base. Even if it's a candidate you support, how jarring is it to be cruising around and see a huge billboard of your candidates face plastered around a turn. I was never close to buying burnout, but if this is gonna be a staple of the franchise you can count me out of any future purchasing desicions.
Submitted by ferds7 on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 1:49pm
Only one more month and then maybe these political machines will quit being everywhere you look. The only thing good McCain seems to have going is he's not being given tons of money by people which means less favors to grant later and less in your face advertising. Eh, I don't think either would make a good president and I am really sad to see that the one message this year's campaigns are going to once again prove is the more in your face advertising you do the better your chances are.
Who knows, maybe in 4-8 years they'll just paint the entire town in political ads. Stop signs will have ads beneath them. "STOP and vote for Mr. Johnson". Your front door will look like a pinup board at a gas station with tons of ads all over it. Heck this guy is already buying a 30 minute commercial I read too. Between the news, the long commercials and now the super long ones, why don't we just say from May to November of election year is 24/7 POLITICS!! All activites may recommence on November 5th.
"Heck this guy is already
Submitted by icebird on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 5:25pm
"Heck this guy is already buying a 30 minute commercial I read too."
Try his very own channel on Dish Network! Gag.
Submitted by r3dd4wg on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 1:17pm
Why this bozo decided to infiltrate our world away from the real world ... pisses me off.
Get out of our neighborhood!!!!
(Expect more infiltration if he DOES get elected)
Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 7:21pm
What side of the isle you are on(or you really hate ads in games)....but there was a recent article that summed it up in 3 bullets.
- Frank Roosevelt was to radio
-JFK was to TV
-Obama (might) be to internet, or at least mass media.
Submitted by thegamepro on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 1:12pm
The candidates posting the ads should know what kind of game they're in. Example: If Obama places ads in Liberty City for GTA 4 then that may not reflect Him in a positive way because It might misrepresent and possibly make people think that he would turn the country into the chaotic Liberty City which is full of Violence, Drugs, Prostitution, etc.
I was just using that as an example, that's not my actual view on politics.
Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 8:20pm
McCain has the perfect game to advertise in-
Call of Duty: World at War
Comes out on the 11th. By the time he got into the House, it would be VERY relevant.
Meh...
Submitted by Sovereign on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 11:28am
I don't have a problem with ads unless, as has been pointed out earlier, they are out of context. However, if they are realistic within the context of the game (say a billboard for Joe Smith along the side of the road in a game that is being released in the runup to an election) that happens. And especially if content is dynamic this becomes even less of an issue.
Now, if you're playing a game like Mass Effect (which to clarify has no ingame ads that I've noticed; I'm not implying the game has ads, and if it does I haven't noticed them on the PC) an Obama or McCain ad would be TOTALLY out of context and completely out of place. Then again, how unrelated are some of the ads that come up on cable television? People with ad space to sell will give it to whoever will pay, regardless of whether their ad is really germane.
Submitted by Queenof1 on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 11:25am
whether it's a political billboard, name brand restaurant, hotel chain, etc, it's all in game advertising. What I'm wondering is do the ads expire after the election? Will they just disappear out of the game?
Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 7:17pm
When the game came out did you see any type of political billboards? They must have it so they are able to change them through patches, or a patch allowed them to edit them.
Submitted by damicatz on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 11:14am
I hate McCain and Obama. Anyone that votes for either of them is a sheeple. Think for once and stop voting along party lines. There are plenty of third-party candidates.
If Obama gets elected, you might as well rename the country to The Union of Soviet American Socialist Republics.
And if McCain gets elected, well, the country won't be around long enough to rename.
I've found a good litmus
Submitted by nedwards on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 3:05pm
I've found a good litmus test for political discourse: If someone uses the word "sheeple," I stop taking them seriously. It works pretty well.
Submitted by Andrew Perkins on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 11:11am
I have no problem with advertisements of any sort being in a game... so long as they fit the theme. If your game is supposed to be taking place during the lead up to an election campaign, and the situation was not out of context, I see no harm. Now if I was playing NHL 09 or Madden 09 and saw a Stephen Harper slapped all over the ice, or Obama on the sidelines, then I take issue, as you wouldn't see this in real life; however, you could very well see an Obama billboard on the side of the road.
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