commercials in online loading screens?

[Darkdrium777]

They just wouldnt work in-game I dont think. For certain games yes, but not for Wipeout.

Trust me, if they do it any way like the Coca Cola or Puma WipEout PurE packs, people will see the ads. They will be everywhere, on every billboard or almost all of them.
I remember Trackmania uses a streaming system for billboards. It worked really well.

[Mu5]

Yeah - and I can remember how bad that was

[Beakman]

I normally don't mind ads but if it makes the loading times artificially longer so I can see the ad, then I would be pissed (I'm using a US account but I'm in Mexico, haven't seen the ads yet)

And we're talking about wipeout here. I can't think of another recent game series which so much care taken on its visual appeal and style. Not from a western developer, that's for sure. Everything visual in wipeout fits just right. It's kind of an insult to the visual artists that gave wipeout its look have it screwed because some poorly placed adverts.

And as someone else said in this thread, it's ironic that this game has real adverts in it when it's kind of sarcastic about commercialization on its statements.

[mdhay]

Ahh, State Farm, Oh, how we hate you for not succumbing to the recession...

[Darkdrium777]

Joystiq's got it going now
Double Fusion press release

[Rubix42]

Ok, I just found out this is making loading times longer.

F-that. I was fine with it when it was just something else instead of the absorb tip or another random message tip I'd seen a million times before.

But making the loading times longer is just plain stupid. Period. Going from an average of 8 seconds to an average of 19 is just plain painful. Especially because the races are only about 2 minutes on average. So the commercial now makes us spend 10% of the time we'd spend racing (or a great lap on some courses) watching an ad.

That's crap. Just reduce the ads down to 8 seconds.

[Darkdrium777]

Yes, that Zone loading video shows how crap it is. It would be fine if it were showing just during the loading, but now it's extending it.
I don't have the ads myself, but still consider me on the list of those not buying anymore until this is cleared up in some way.

[mdhay]

How about reducing it to zero Rubix?

[Xavier]

I'm thinking of petitioning the mods to let me drop that Van-Über avatar I'm using in favor of an insurance company logo.

That wouldn't break the ambience of the site, would it? No aesthetic harm done, right? The insurance company is going to subsidize my internet bill. I mean, more money in my hands means more quality posts!

Maybe we can even arrange for the ad to be clicked on in order to read the post!

[mdhay]

Hey Darkdrium, are you gonna post that Do not want macro? I think we need it now.

[djKyoto]

I've seen Paul reading/viewing this thread so I'd love his input on this.
I didn't realise it was actually making the game take longer to load.

[blackwiggle]

What next? Fat Princess having ad's for Sara Lee

[Darkdrium777]

I'm just wondering now. Has anyone with the ads tried to set the PS3's time and date setting back for like a year and checked if ads were still showing?
These ads started just a few days ago, and to our knowledge were integrated in 2.00, only "activated" later.
If you set the system's date back, do the ads show again?

Also:

[IH8YOU]

Nope - no joy. Tried that as one of the first things. They're piped in via teh interwebz - and they get comfy on the hdd.

1.26 on the other hand.... is a lonely place to be. Even if it is ad free.

[Darkdrium777]

Not cool.

And for sure SL did this knowingly, they had to integrate the technology, but just under who's authority? SCEA? Or theirs... In which case they just shot themselves in the foot.

[Mu5]

No, this is Sonys fault. Its not SL specifically doing this, if you read the Double Fusion webby...

"The company expects to launch dynamic in-game ads in another handful of titles by the end of the year, giving advertisers a comprehensive audience of gamers to target through the console."

All the big titles - and I will bet GT5 is on the cards as well for this sort of advertising I cant beleive I have waited so long for it, and now I dont want it.

MEGA FAIL from Sony :-

[Darkdrium777]

Link

More specifically:

Technology

Double Fusion has two client solutions: fusion.sdk™ and fusion.runtime™.

fusion.sdk™ is a traditional, developer implemented, dynamic in-game advertising solution, whereas fusion.runtime™ is an advanced technology that makes advertising placements possible without the need for source-code integration.

If it's the first option, it had to be integrated by SL. And we've seen that same screen with the Fury ad before it was the State Farm one, which leads me to believe they integrated fusion.sdk In which case they shot themselves in the foot double time: 1. ruin the look of the game, 2. disgust potential buyers.
However, if it's the second one, it could have been done without SL's consent at all.

[Motorsagmannen]

mega fail for state farm to, they end up beeing the most hated company in the history of wipeout. mabye not the pr they wanted lol. serves them right though let em burn

[Hacker X]

Hopefully SL recognizes this backlash. This is just not cool for the Wipeout genre. Or what would be cool is to have them get good ol' "Designers Republic" back to make the ads for whatever company that wants to put their stinking product placement into the game. That way DR can implement that corporations name in a Wipeout Style Futuristic look, which will FIT THE GAME. Then I will not complain.

Remember Red Bull in XL Studio Republic? That ad worked. That was a cool ass ad in XL.

[RedScar]

Well at first I was ok with the idea of ads, but if they increase the load time of my game then **** that. The shame is that this is probably sony trying to make up money due to the bad economy and the fact that PSN is free.

Also, anyone else see the irony of statefarm advertising in a game about racing at high speeds, bumping, and using weapons. Just throwing it out there.