You Drive Like an Old Man
June 21, 2009 - by Ian Bogost

Insurance company Liberty Mutual has created Driver Seat, which they bill as "the world's first senior driving simulator." The game strives to recreate the perceptual and reaction limitations of drivers aged 65, 75, or 85 through four scenarios (suburban, wilderness, urban, outskirts) each with several missions. It's a nice idea, and the implementation is attractive, but the problem is that the cars in the game are difficult to control in any circumstance, as is the case in many Flash games of this style. Some of the minigames, e.g. the first-person game that simulates a lack of peripheral vision, work more ...

Toilet Training for iPhone
May 23, 2009 - by Ian Bogost

In my 2007 book Persuasive Games, i discuss a wonderful advergame for the Britvic pacer-drink J2O. The game challenged the player to pee accurately into a toilet after drinking pint after pint of beer. The advertised product, a sort of fancy sugar water, helped with recovery in the same way . I don't think the game's online anymore, but you can read about it in this old press release. Well, now there's a version of a similar concept for iPhone: Drunk Sniper. Same type of gameplay, but now you can play in the toilet stall too. Available now for 99¢ ...

1066
May 19, 2009 - by Ian Bogost

Wow, another educational game that doesn't suck! Check out 1066, a game produced by Channel 4 in the UK to promote and accompany a television program of the same name, about the Norman conquest. The game is beautiful and quite complex, featuring both single-player and multiplayer battles. If I have a complaint, it's that I wish as much effort had gone into teaching the player to play as went into the awesome narrated intro. I still haven't figured out how to successfully instruct my archers to fire (and yes I read the instructions). Still, go play it. ...

Help the Hooker, Touch the Granny: Crank 2 Games
April 18, 2009 - by Ian Bogost

Crank 2: High Voltage was released to theaters yesterday. "What movie?" you ask? I'm not really sure. It features Jason Statham and Amy Smart, and according to IMDB boasts the following plot: Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working. Maybe more importantly, Ain't It Cool's Harry Knowles commented that the film offers "shit so fucked up and weird you'll find yourself holding your face in hysterical laughing shock." Marketing for the film has followed suit, and the official site ...

Advergames.com Launches
February 18, 2009 - by Ian Bogost

Tony Giallourakis announces the launch of Advergames.com, a website that aggregates advergames from around the web. There are already a number of games on the site; since it intends to function as an aggregator, you can expect many more to be added over time (new and old, I presume). What's intriguing, perhaps odd, about this idea to me is the notion that someone would want to visit a portal of advergames. Back in the early part of this decade, advergames were touted as a way to draw web visitors to brand sites, to make them more "sticky." Now, we see ...

Click Archaeology
November 6, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

To promote a week of programming about expeditions, from the pyramids to outer space, National Geographic has created an expedition game in which players are tasked to find artifacts which they can exchange for virtual cash. Each night during the week of November 16-23, a different show will air and special codes will be announced to facilitate different adventures. The game has high production value; it features a pretty sophisticated (if slightly awkward) avatar creation tool. From what I can tell, the actual gameplay is mostly hunt-click find the object style, but perhaps that will change as new missions are ...

Mad Men Jeopardy
October 24, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

I missed it, but apparently popular television gameshow Jeopardy! ran a Mad Men category on one of their shows last week. In conjunction with that promotion, Sony (who owns Jeopardy!), created a Mad Men-themed episode of their ongoing online version of the quiz show. The connection is through the thematic connections in the questions, not through questions about the show itself; for example, there are categories for Ad Slogans, 1962, and New York Nightlife. The connection is fairly natural, since Jeopardy! itself first aired in 1964, featuring a logo and set design very much in line with the style so ...

Interstellar Pizza Express
October 20, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

VISI, Minnesota's largest managed hosting provider, has released an advergame to clarify the benefits of their service offerings to small businesses. In the game, called Interstellar Pizza Express, the player runs a pizza delivery store offering online orders via their website. Each round, the player must make hosting and infrastructure decisions in an effort to keep up with the company's rising popularity, traffic spikes, and other hosting infrastructure hurdles. I'm a proponent of advergames that simulate experiences with products and services, and Interstellar Pizza Express definitely falls into that camp. It's not perfect, however: the choices available are few and ...

In-Game Obama
October 15, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

According to the AP, Barack Obama has become thefirst presidential candidate to buy ad space inside a game. Nine video games from Electronic Arts Inc., ranging from the extremely popular "Madden 09" football game to the street racing "Burnout: Paradise," feature in-game ads from the Obama campaign. The ads — they appear on billboards and other signage — remind players that early voting has begun and plug a campaign Web site. It's sort of sad that this might be the highlight of politics in games for the 2008 election cycle. (thanks to Netika) ...

Robotron without the guns
October 14, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Such is how the creator of Consumer CULTure describes the game, which also offers "a satirical middle finger to consumerism and commercialism." The player moves around an enclosed space attempting to avoid an ever-increasing barrage of consumer objects and messages. While it doesn't take on a specific company like Disaffected! or the McDonald's Video Game, I think we can also call Consumer CULTure an anti-advergame, since its purpose is to criticize corporate practice. Also noteworthy, the game seems to have appeared originally from Retro Remakes, a forum site focused on new versions of or variations on classic games. (thanks to ...

Enjoyment of Advergames Study
October 10, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Researchers at the Missouri School of Journalism have published Enjoyment of Advergames and Brand Attitudes: The Impact of Thematic Relevance, a study of how much people enjoy advergames in relation to how tightly the game couples gameplay to the product advertised. The result? More. Or, in their words, "Designing advergames that relate thematically to the product of the sponsoring brand should increase the likelihood of positive conditioning of brand attitudes evoked by playing an advergame." (via David Edery) ...

Google Ads in Games
October 8, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Dean Takahashi reports that Google will start rolling out their AdSense advertising product into online games, starting with Flash games. No surprise really, and in fact Google's late to the party given the availability of such services already. Nevertheless, Google's size and muscle might be the necessary break to make ads more reliable and profitable for game developers and publishers; for example, by increasing the sell through of inventory, a notorious problem. Takahashi predicts Google will move into PC, consoles, and mobile as well, which seems likely. But nothing despite the requisite citation of Yankee Group research suggesting a billion ...

Play within a Play
September 29, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

I'm sure all our readers will agree that there is not enough mise-en-abyme in videogames. Sure, we have pomo self-referential examples like Metal Gear Solid or Bioshock, but nothing so turned in on itself that you have to scratch your very head to find your way in, let alone out. Here's one. Ready? HBO has a TV series called Entourage, about the misadventures of an up-and-coming actor called Vincent Chase (Adrien Grenier). One of the characters is Vincent's older brother Johnny "Drama" Chase (Kevin Dillon), a washed-up former B-list actor who also serves as his younger brother's trainer. Drama had ...

Vinylgame
September 27, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Vinylgame is another new title from Molleindustria, this one an advergame for a European PVC industry association. The game was commissioned to explain the organization's 10 year commitment to sustainability. The game is apparently more directed at industry insiders than the general public, and players may find it a bit tough to follow without that knowledge. It's a sim game of sorts, although the dynamics feel very dampened compared to other Molleindustria titles; the game might be more of an infographic than a simulation. Of course, it features Molleindustria's characteristic visual style. ...

Atari Licenses Too Good to be True
August 11, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Our readers probably know well my interest, even obsession, with both the Atari VCS and licensed games. As Nick and I put the final touches on our forthcoming book on the Atari, I've been doing a lot of final fact confirmation online. In the process of doing so this weekend I fell upon some of the best ideas that, alas, never really were for the system, thanks to the Van Gogh-Gogh's comedy site. The first: Interactive 8-tracks! We've discussed music-game tie ins before (1, 2), but nothing compares to the concept of a double-ender 8-track/Atari VCS game. The fake ad ...

You'll wish it had stayed dead
August 4, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

To promote Universal Pictures' new film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the studio created an advergame, Chariot Chase Down Game. Go ahead and play it. It's almost as good as the film, which garnered an impressive 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. ...

Return to Death Race
August 3, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

The 1975 film Death Race 2000 inspired the 1976 arcade game Death Race, by Exidy. In the game, players tried to run over abstract figures meant to represent "gremlins" with an equally abstract car. The game sparked the first major media controversy around videogames and violence. In three weeks, Universal will release a remake of the film. The studio surely knows about the game, so it's interesting to note that the official website offers two links: Watch the Trailer and Play the Game. The game in question is an advergame intended to promote the film, one that has little to ...

Coupongaming
July 28, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Here's an interesting advergame for the home solar system manufacturer Sungevity. The game is Solar SFUN, and it takes two forms. The first is a trivia game of the usual variety. The second is a Tetris-like puzzle game, in which you try to cover a roof with solar panels. The games are simple, but there's an interesting feature at work. By playing successfully, you can earn up to $100 off an installation of home solar panels (sorry, California residents only). Or you can transfer the value, or have Sungevity donate 1% of it to an environmental charity. Getting the full ...

Slim Jim's Virtual World of Meat Stick
July 3, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Slim Jim, makers of fine dry meat snacks, have a launched virtual world for "people who want to explore their spicy side." This inspired locus, dubbed Spicy Town, is a "wild place where people can create a unique alter ego that’s a little aggressive, insane, adventurous, and mischievous." So say Slim Jim's PR agency, which encourages me to let you all know that, once you've created your Spicy Side avatar, you can "challenge other users to real-time rumbles, talk smack, or just hang out in the immersive digital Spicy Town where you can cruise around and break mailboxes, spray paint ...

HGTV Interior Design Game
June 30, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

HGTV has a reality show called Design Star, which is apparently like American Idol or The Apprentice but for interior design. They have an advergame up that's actually, miraculously vaguely related to the theme of the show. It's called Design Star Shuffle, and it's basically a reskinned version of the puzzle boardgame Rush Hour. Instead of moving cars, the player moves sofas and other furniture. It's not a bad idea, and a reskin of a proven design is probably better than a crappy new one, as is so often the case with film and tv advergames. But it's disappointing that ...

Half off OMMA Gaming registration for WCG readers
June 19, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

If you're interested in advertising and games, you might be interested in OMMA Gaming, a one-day conference on marketing and games in San Francisco on 22 July. You can get a 50% registration discount with the code PERS395, which takes it down to $250 from $500 for early bird (through tomorrow, 6/20), and down to $300 from $600 for normal registration. Here's a longer description of the event from the organizers: OMMA Gaming is the premier one-day conference designed to overcome one of the biggest disconnects in media, the missed opportunity of marketing in and around the video game experience. ...

Boostin' Nuts
June 12, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Jeep has a new advergame on Facebook to promote the new edition of their Liberty small SUV. In the game, called Boostin' Nuts, the player controls a flying squirrel who needs to land on acorns to stay in the air. Some give more points than others, and others take points away or knock your squirrel off course. If you don't use Facebook or don't want to log in to the application, you can play the game on Jeep's games website as well. As a web-based casual game, Boostin' Nuts is pretty good, although the design clearly stolen straight from one ...

Sun's Identity Hero
May 28, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

It's been a while since I've seen a thoughtful online advergame. Here's one that surprises on a number of levels. Sun has a new game called Identity Hero, an arcade-action game that features features from the company's Identity Management Solutions, which is apparently some suite of IT management tools for compliance, network, and auditing management. In the game, you take the role of an IT Manager trying to avoid various threats, using the software products as powerups. The game is cute and high production value, but more importantly it does what so few advergames bother to do: it simulates (albeit ...

Me on Advertising and Games in the Guardian
May 2, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

If you read the Guardian, you may have noticed that they are running a series of articles and opinion pieces as a part of a self-declared "games week." Richard Bartle and John Kirriemuir already offered great pieces on games and censorship and games and learning, respectively. I wrote a piece that ran yesterday on games and advertising. The refrain is probably familiar to readers here, but I'll excerpt a bit nonetheless: But the features of videogames that make them powerful communication tools cannot be found in their demography, or their puerility, or their peculiarity. Rather, they are located in the ...

We pwn free games
March 26, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

PC World's new list of "101 Fantastic Freebies" is out in the forthcoming May 2008 print issue, also available online now. There's a category for games, and I'm happy to say that two of the nine on the list are Persuasive Games titles. One is our send-up of the TSA, Airport Security, and the other our satire of Kinko's, Disaffected. Woo! ...

Parking Wars on Facebook
December 22, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

This isn't the first Facebook advergame, but it's the first I've seen that really tries to take advantage of the service's social graph. There is a new A&E television series called Parking Wars, which starts in January. The subject of the show is probably the only division of the police force not yet to have their own reality/documentary series: metermaids and parking enforcers. Parking Wars the game is a Facebook game built to promote the show. It's very simple. When you add the app you get your own street with a handful of spaces. Some have special rules, like only ...

Spurn-A-Bear
December 20, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

You know Build-A-Bear? It's a retail store that allows kids to construct custom plush toys by choosing different styles, parts, and accessories. I recently learned via Leigh Alexander that the company is about to release a virtual world based on their gimmick. As much as I loathe these kiddie virtual worlds, the concept behind Build-A-Bearville does make some sense. When you purchase a real bear, you can get an avatar version as well and play minigames with it in the virtual world. Sure it makes me want to claw my eyes out of my head and feed them to the ...

Stella Artois 14th Century Brewing Games
November 21, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

Belgian brewer Stella Artois has a new ad campaign, and they've published a new website with a complex fictional history of the Stella Artois brewing process, circa 1366. Dubbed "Le Courage," the site combines live-action video with occasional, simple games like trying to balance the (flat) world so the barley harvesters don't fall off its edge. The production values are high even if the games are pretty basic and not particularly playable. I've been meaning to write something about advertisers' obsession with live action film/video and how they insist on integrating this medium into Flash games, even though it's not ...

Alternate Reality Games Seminar
September 24, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

Despite their interesting features, Alternate Reality Games like The Beast and ilovebees really got their start as marketing campaigns. Since World Without Oil, there has been growing interest in using ARGs for serious purposes. Game community Unfiction is sponsoring a one-day event, Embrace the Chaos, to help people understand how to use these games. The cost is $175 before Sept 30 and $200 thereafter. I think it's a bit unfortunate that the organizers have positioned the event toward marketers ("Alternate Reality Games and online experience marketing when done correctly create a powerful connection between the audience and you"), but I ...

PETA's KFC Anti-Advergame
August 24, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

I've previously suggested the term anti-advergames, games that critique a company's products or business practices rather than promoting them. Disaffected! is one, as is Molleindustria's McDonald's Videogame. Here's a new anti-advergame from PETA, the animal rights organization, created as a part of their ongoing campaign against KFC's breeding and slaughtering practices. The game is Super Chick Sisters, and it's a detailed, high production-value platform game that copies not only its premise but even its characters from Super Mario Bros. The plumbers are replaced by chicks, and the princess is Pam Anderson (who serves as a spokeswoman for the campaign in ...

Microsoft Live Maps lose their bearing
August 17, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

We've been a little remiss in our coverage of advertising games of late, and I'm going to try to correct that over the coming weeks. Let's start with Microsoft Live Derby 2007, a browser game agency EVB created for Microsoft to promote the latter's Google Maps competitor, Live Search Maps. Map mash-ups have been all the rage for a while now, but this is a pretty involved version of the concept. I'd characterize the game is a vaguely wacky combination of Rally X and Pac-Man (two arcade games that shared the same hardware, as it happens). The player chooses one of ...

Nielsen uses television tech to measure game ads
July 25, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

In my new book Persuasive Games, I argue that the advertising industry measures its success not with evidence but with collective hallucination. In the case of television, the ad industry invented a set of (nearly arbitrary) metrics, which all the agencies adopted, and therefore which all the brand managers used (and continue to use) to explain the amount of exposure, and therefore value, particular television programming commands. The brilliant thing about this method is that it doesn't matter if it's accurate or not, just that everyone in the ad industry buys into it. In-game ads pose a problem to marketing ...

Vintage Vinyl Music Games
June 19, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

Boing Boing points to a fantastic site about videogame bonus content on vinyl LP records. You would have to record the proper portion of the album to cassette and then run the cassette in your computer (most of these were Sinclair Spectrum programs). Among the more detailed of these games and demos is a Thompson Twins graphical adventure game "you guide the Thompson Twins around a land of beaches and caves." The game has even been archived for download or online play. There are a lot more examples. We could consider these advergames, given the "bonus" of getting the game ...

Sears Advergames
May 30, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

Sears, the department store you probably forgot about, has a set of three new advergames to promote their wares. The first is Rush Rider, in which the player uses a rocket-powered forklift with tractor beam to retrieve and deliver online orders in a warehouse. It's actually pretty cute and the best of the three games. The second is Hands-On Fitness, is a Track-and-Field style game. Hit the arrow buttons in the familiar sequence to run on a treadmill. Forgettable. The third is Craftsman Mow Down, a sort of side-scrolling mowing game. The player is supposed to mow as much grass ...

Games on Amazon.com?
May 21, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

Not videogames for sale, but online games. I happened onto the following headline during an impromptu visit to Amazon.com today (click to make it bigger): From the looks of it, you'd think that Amazon had their own online advergames. But when I clicked the links, they just took me to the product pages for the corresponding films. Anybody know what's up? ...

Advertising and Ecology: Planet Green Game
April 10, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

Starbucks Coffee and Global Green USA have created Planet Green Game, a game about energy conservation and consumption. The game is set in a hypothetical town called Evergreen. The player chooses a character and transportation mode (foot, skateboard, bicycle, and three types of automobiles, each with different emissions). A variety of energy-related minigames are scattered throughout the town -- a MPG management driving game at the service station, a click-to-fix energy waste game at home, a build a city park game, a quiz at the school and city hall, and energy-efficient shopping memory game at the building supply store. ...

Turning the Tables on In-Game Ad Design
April 3, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

Gamasutra has published my latest column, Turning the Tables on In-Game Ad Design. The column takes a new branded edition of Monopoly as an introduction to how designers might consider moderated use of in-game ads design tools rather than just colonizing forces. In addition to promotion, in-game ads and product placements also have the potential to carry the cultural payload of the brands that mark them. Such inclusion signals a design strategy different from visual authenticity—after all, it doesn’t really matter much whether billboards and sports arenas carry real ads or fake ones. Instead, brands might be used in the ...

Track your Viral Games (in the UK anyway)
April 2, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

UK-based Viral Chart is a "viral traffic monitoring tool." In addition to video ads, they also maintain a list of viral games all over the web, aggregating the results together in one report. In addition to the usual advergames, two of the top ten are educational games, Snack Dash from School Food Trust and How does your garden grow? from Growing for Life. The list seems to track UK-only content, but there's also a Japan version (in beta of course). (via Marketing the Buzz) ...

Monster.com Crap in the Door
February 13, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

I frequently get emails from PR agencies hocking their clients lousy advergames. I usually save these up, but I realized that it's been too long since we railed on a crappy advergame. Here's Foot in the Door, from Monster.com, the job ad website. According to the press release, the game is "a fun, interactive way for job seekers to relax while making fun of the experience of getting into an interview, and the hurdles they find in the process." To play the game, you throw feet. At doors. If this were just a cute game that they threw up for ...

My new column: When advergaming backfires.
January 17, 2007 - by Gonzalo Frasca

Remember me? I used to have a life and even regularly post on this blog. Well, I'm still alive and even though my dissertation manuscript is not finished, it's getting there. In any case, Serious Games Source has posted my new column about the infamous 2004 Intel IT Manager advergame. If you have been around with us for the last couple of years, you probably read our posts on the subject (1, 2). Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the story on how not to do a serious advergame. ...

My new column: Promogames, Another Kind of Advertising Game
January 2, 2007 - by Ian Bogost

Serious Games Source has published my latest Persuasive Games column, this one on Burger King's recently released Xbox 360 games. In the article, I suggest that we think of these games as promotions, not advertisements: I give the name promogames to video games whose primary purpose is to promote the purchase of a product or service secondary or incidental to the game itself. These Burger King games work by giving gamers a reason to buy Burger King hamburgers, not by telling gamers why they should buy those burgers over other burgers, or over fried chicken. While advergames promote the company, ...

Raiders of the Lost Mouth
December 18, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

This is one of the weirdest advergames I've ever seen. Fuel Industries has created a fairly involved graphical adventure game in support of Reach toothbrushes for the Canadian market. The game, Mr. Reach in the Mouth of Mystery, features the Reach mascot on a sort of Indiana Jones like adventure throughout Canada. Canadian residents who create an account will be eligible for prize drawings, but the rest of us can only, uh, enjoy a truly bizarre advergame experience. ...

Preview Bogost's New Book, Persuasive Games
December 11, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

My new book, Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames, which will be published in spring 2007, now has an official page up at the MIT Press site. This is the major research project I've been working on for the last couple years, and I'm really excited about getting it out there. The main argument in the book is that videogames exemplify a new form of rhetoric, which I call procedural rhetoric. Then I look at a multitude of examples, from early arcade games to very contemporary games. The book is very readable and should appeal to researchers, developers, and ...

Enter the Holiday Advergames
November 26, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

There's often a big rush of holiday-themed advergames starting around this time of year. Here's the first one I've encountered: Shave Santa. It's sponsored by the electric shaver manufacturer Remington and the goal is to shave Santa's unwieldy beard. Created by Sway. ...

Creepy Burger King on Xbox 360
November 20, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Thanks to Brian over at Kotaku for reminding us that the Burger King Xbox 360 advergame / promo games are now available. All three feature the creepy King BK mascot. Pocket Bike Racer is a kart-style racing game, Big Bumper is a bumper car game, and Sneak King is a ... strange stealth action game wherein the player sneaks up on unsuspecting people and delivers them lunch. The games cost $3.99 a piece. One Kotaku commenter notes that they are "worth the price you pay for them," which is to say "they suck for the most part." Another offers positive, ...

StrawberrWii Banana Slurpee
November 9, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Even though we talk about advergames here, we usually don't talk about videogame marketing itself. But every now and then there's reason to. This morning I awoke to a strange banner ad on my usual visit to CNN.com. For 7-11. And Wii. I can buy a StrawberrWii Banana Slurpee and enter to win a Wii. Check out the, uhm, Slurpee straw guy uttering strange pseudo-slang on the site. Marketing promotions often have a charming non-sequitur to them, but StrawberrWii? I guess, erm, sometime after drinking it one does have to... well, you know. ...

Ohmigod, I'm like totally going to the virtual mall
October 24, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Paul Hemp points us to a Harvard Business Review article on the future of e-tailing in virtual worlds. The article claims that e-commerce is going to shift from web transactions to online simulations of shopping, via virtual malls in 3d worlds. The usual references to American Apparel's store in Second Life, but goes beyond virtual stores as advertisements to suggest that shoppers will meet up online to go shopping. Sociologist Bob Moore calls it a return to the "social and recreational aspect of shopping." I'm probably cynical about everything these days, but I wonder if a return to the shopping ...

Right to Bore Arms (and new columns)
September 26, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Gonzalo and I each have a new column at Serious Games Source, the serious games arm of CMP's popular website Gamasutra. The first installment in my "Persuasive Games" column is up now, titled The Right To Bore Arms, about a new NRA-licenced game. ... By making firearms boring, slow, and arduous, NRA Gun Club might actually perform the rhetoric many people, including myself, have previously laughed-off as politicking and fabrication: the responsible handling of firearms. One might even go so far as to say that NRA Gun Club owes most of its rhetorical power to the commercial FPS. The very ...

Disaffected! Universal Binary for Intel Macs
September 7, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

One of the nice things about getting mentioned in the NY Times Magazine is that a lot of people then email you about how they can't run your game. Intel Mac users: a Universal Binary is now available. Please be gentle with our bandwidth; if you have a PPC Mac, just grab the old PPC-only version, which is almost half as big. We'll be moving all of these to mirrors and sites like download.com in the near future, methinks. ...

NYTimes: Gaming the System
September 3, 2006 - by Gonzalo Frasca

It's really a nice feeling to open the newspaper on Sunday morning and find your friends on it. Ok, I didn't really open the paper but I did open the webpage :) The New York Times runs today a story -Gaming the System- about Ian's Disaffected! It also features Persuasive Games, the McDonald's Videogame, good ol' Georgia Tech along with some interesting questions about if Ian's Kinko's game is legally protected as parody. If it is not, you can always request asylum in Uruguay ;) Congrats Ian! ...

Branded Sudoku: Snakes, DaVinci
September 3, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

My grasp of the world lessens daily. Today it's curious branded sudoku puzzle books Snakes on a Sudoku and The Sudoku Code. Maybe "branded" isn't the best characterization here -- it's more like sudoku books skinned with pop culture icons. I haven't seen The Sudoku Code, which seems to be the more interesting one, but I did flip through Snakes on a Sudoku today. I can assure you that there are snakes on every single puzzle. Or around them, at least. ...

M&M's Goban
September 1, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Almost three years ago, when Mars released the first black and white M&M's, I lamented the fact that they hadn't printed a small goban on the inside of the package, creating a $0.65 game of edible Go. There's still no goban inside the package, but now you can get a lovely mini goban crafted especially for use with M&M "stones." According to creator Ron Konzak, this hand-crafted 9x9 line board is crafted of Alaskan yellow ceder. You can order one yourself for $39.95 + shipping. ...

Free Ad-supported Mobile Games
August 21, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

One of the ongoing complaints about in-game advertising is the fact that, unlike television, radio, and print, game adverts are not removing or even subsidizing the cost of videogames for consumers. In fact, console videogame prices are rising, even as advertising messages in games are increasing. Who wants to pay more to be marketed upon? Well, here's an interesting example of the opposite strategy: free games supported by advertising. ...

Viacom/MTV buys Atom Entertainment
August 10, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Viacom's MTV Networks division has bought Atom Entertainment, who run Shockwave.com, AddictingGames.com (which we've linked to recently for a few newsgames), AtomFilms.com, and AddictingClips.com. The acquisition price was a respectable $200 million. This is an interesting acquisition for a few reasons. The rest of the world will probably note that the broadcast/media conglomerate ownership of a short films portal like Atom Films and the YouTubesque AddictingClips will offer new opportunities for moving niche and grassroots/fandom films up and down the broadcast chain. But most important to note for our audience is this fact: the acquisition of two casual games portals ...

Review of Convergence Culture, by Henry Jenkins
August 1, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

I read Henry Jenkins's new book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide this weekend. The book is a short, smart, buttery read on a hot topic, and it is sure to draw both popular and academic interest. Jenkins is a multifaceted media scholar, a critic of vaudeville, fan fiction, comics, film, games, and more. He is also the founder of the Education Arcade, an MIT group interested in the intersection of videogames and learning. And so, even though the book addresses games as a minority subject, I offer this review to alert our readers to Jenkins's current thinking. ...

The OC mobile game
July 31, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Word is out that mobile games publisher Gameloft has released a mobile simulation/dating game based on the hit television show The O.C.. Pocket Gamer reports that the game, still in development, is really a port/skinning of another Gameloft game, New York Nights: Success in the City, an existing (!) sim/dating game. Players can choose a character from the show, or customize their own character to maximize his or her desirability. From the article: Gameloft also promises that there'll be a host of mini-games, including talking, joking, criticising, kissing, drinking, dancing, offering items and punching. Which sounds like an average Friday ...

In-game advertising, now "interactive"
July 25, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

I never tire of mocking the in-game advertising industry. The latest salvo in the ongoing saga is Massive, Inc.'s new "interactive advertisement technology," first deployed in Anarchy Online for Toyota Yaris. Here's the blurb from the press release: The new technology allows players to interact with dynamic billboards in the game, making for a more memorable and interactive advertisement experience. The new Toyota campaign allows players of the free 'Anarchy Online' version to walk up to in-game billboards and interact with it to unveil the sleek new Toyota Yaris. For those of you not "fortunate" enough to have had direct ...

CDC: We did not approve anti-videogame ads
July 21, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

As reported yesterday, during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta I learned that the anti-videogame print ads we had previously attributed to CDC (following the advertising trades), might not have been in any way affiliated with the organization. Today the CDC confirmed that the ads in question were not a part of the VERB Youth Media Campaign, which the organization has been running since 2002. Faye Wong, Director of the campaign, explained that the "Give your thumbs a rest" ads were indeed created by Saatchi & Saatchi New York, one of the agencies retained ...

CDC doesn't villify games, gamers?
July 19, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Back in February, I wrote about the Centers for Disease Control's misguided attempts to market against videogames and gamers, a campaign titled "Give Your Thumbs a Rest, Play for Real." I first saw the ads in AdCritic and later found the remainder of the series online. Joystiq and others picked up the thread, and we all did a good deal of seemingly well-deserved CDC-bashing. Well, I just got back from giving a talk on games for health at the CDC here in Atlanta. Before the talk, John Anderton told me that the CDC had nothing to do with this campaign ...

Microsoft offers Massive services to Nintendo and Sony
July 16, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

As regular readers will remember, Microsoft recently bought in-gae ad network Massive, Inc. A few weeks ago, Hollywood Reporter columnist Paul Hyman reported that Microsoft is interested in Sony and Nintendo using Massive's services, rather than locking its competitors out of the market. From the article, "If there are three different ad-serving solutions for the three different versions of, say, 'NFL Madden Football' on three different platforms, advertisers may choose not to participate," Browne says. "So we're trying to extend the olive branch and say to Sony and Nintendo that this is an area where we should all think about ...

Top 10 Disaffections
July 4, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Since we launched Disaffected! back in January, we've enjoyed a continuous stream of feedback, some good, some bad, all interesting. I've shared portions of it in private presentations, but when I showed the game at the Games for Change Exhibition last week in New York, I reminded myself to write about it here. For those of you just tuning in, this January my studio Persuasive Games released Disaffected!, a videogame parody of the Kinko's copy store. Probably the fastest way to read up on the game is in this MTV News article, by Stephen Totilo. I'll spare listing the press ...

Rock out Guitar Hero-style with Bratz
June 24, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

What with the commercial success and popular acclaim of Guitar Hero, it was only a matter of time before we'd see knock-offs. That time has come, and it comes wrapped in a license from Bratz, everyone's favorite sassy, Botox-lipped, fashionista dolls for young girls. Yes, I give you Bratz Groovin' Guitar Game, featuring both knock-off gameplay and these image-obsessed, consumer-frenzied slut-dolls. As manufacturer MGA Entertainment promises, you can "become a rock guitar goddess and play along with the Bratz™! The totally-hot TV graphics tell you when to play!" Like many Bratz products (seriously, you may not want to click that ...

The Rapture will be Advertised
June 9, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Left Behind Games, creators of the forthcoming Left Behind: Eternal Forces, have announced a deal to include in-game advertising via the Double Fusion network. The game is based on the wildly popular book series of the same name, in which believers left behind after the rapture battle the army of the antichrist. I interviewed Left Behind Games and played the game at E3, and I've written it up for my forthcoming book but haven't yet done so for Water Cooler Games. I'll be doing that in the next week or so. The game takes place in New York City, and ...

A Merger of Demons, or, Microsoft to buy Massive
April 27, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Reportedly, Microsoft is poised to buy in-game ad network Massive Inc. for somewhere in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars. The Wall Street Journal has the scoop, but both sides have refused comment. More coverage at 1up, Kotaku. In case you need a refresher, we aren't very fond of Massive and its ilk round these parts. The acquisition makes sense tho, from Microsoft's perspective. They have built their entire business, from DOS forward, on acquiring and refactoring software. That's how Microsoft works. Massive and the other in-game ad networks are conceived, funded, and run solely for the purposes of ...

Lost in Alternate Reality
April 24, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

We haven't really covered Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) here, even though a number of the genre-defining ones (The Beast, ilovebees, The Art of the Heist, Last Call Poker) could be described as advergames. The Beast purportedly promoted the less than coherent Speilberg film A.I. ilovebees was funded my Microsoft as a part of the Halo 2 PR/marketing blitz. Last Call Poker was paid for by Activision to promote the console game The Gun. Those of you who played these games (far fewer than read about them, I'd wager) will quickly point out that there's more to it than just advertising, ...

Burger King on Xbox 360
April 11, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Rumor has it that market research company Greenfield Online is preparing a plan for Burger King to sell promotional Xbox 360 games in their stores. The games would apparently riff off "the most popular game types," adding the super-creepy Burger King character to an action, fighting, and racing game; customers would have the option of purchasing one for $4 with any Value Meal. No telling if there is any validity to the rumor, but Burger King has already ventured into in-game placement, most notably in the EA Sports title Fight Night Round 3 (click the banner on the bottom left ...

Shockwave.com redesign with in-game ads
April 3, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

I got word from Atom Entertainment that they have just launched, or are about to launch a redesign of Shockwave.com, which they hope will appeal to a "broader range of online gamers." Apparently they're focusing on three areas now, ad-supported online games, the usual downloadable games, and multiplayer games. They also say they're adding a new subscription option called Shockwave.com Unlimited and supporting online games enabled for in-game ads. I've asked Atom for more information on the last item in particular, but I'm still waiting for more detailed news. I'm not sure if it means they are using one of ...

CDC villifies games, gamers
February 27, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

The Centers for Disease Control, which is located just a few clicks down the road from where I live, has a new ad campaign to encourage more active lifestyles. As printed in AdCritic, one of these ads depicts a bunch of overweight baseballers in stained uniforms idle and cookout on a sullied, overgrown infield. The image is intricately created to resemble an in-game render; for example, the stands are simple primitives with textures to make them appear to have seats. The ad (and presumably the campaign) tagline reads, "Give your thumbs a rest. Play for real." Click the thumbnail at ...

Wanna play Hollywood's porn game? Show me your ID
February 10, 2006 - by Gonzalo Frasca

Boing Boing reports on New Line having launched a XXX webgame to promote their new film, Running Scared. The webgame features oral sex but, in order to play it, you need to enter a lot of personal data (a lot of US personal data, so no luck for foreigners). This, of course, raises a lot of privacy issues (do you really need to tell them who are you in order to play a webgame). On the other hand, it helps minors to stay away from vaginas. In any case, there are ways to hack the system (you can enter Bush's ...

Disaffected Update, T-shirts
February 7, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

I wanted to give our readers a few useful updates on the state of Disaffected!. First and most importantly, we've rev'd the game to v. 1.0.3 on both PC and Mac. The update fixes several bugs, changes some awkward joystick controls (not the intentionally awkward ones), and corrects a few smaller issues. Some Mac users may not have been able to play at all for various reasons, and this update should fix that. If you've already got D! on your machine, I strongly recommend reinstalling this new version. And if you haven't yet endured the trials of our simulated copy ...

Molleindustria's McDonald's Game
February 2, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Just two weeks after we released Disaffected!, WCG amici italiani Molleindustria have released another specimen in the now-rapidly-growing anti-advergame subgenre, this one a scathing critique of the McDonald's corporation. Visit the "official" website to play. The game requires the player to learn and master all the complex techniques of a big international corporation like McDo. You'll bribe South American officials for the rights to clear rainforests for cattle and soy; you'll plump up cattle with additives; you'll coerce and influence government and scientific interests back home; and you'll manipulate your employees to achieve the highest profits. From the game: Making ...

What worries the Virtual Magic Kingdom? Impropriety, but mostly sex.
January 30, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

A little more than a year ago, I mused open-mouthed at Disney's intention to create a Habbo Hotel-like virtual world. Then back in May we announced the launch of the beta of Virtual Magic Kingdom (I was so disappointed they didn't call it Marketingland). We logged over 100 comments on that entry, some interesting but most inane -- users scrounging for cheat codes or mistaking WCG for a forum where empty chatter goes without notice. I got tired of the recent comments filling up with such things, so I turned off comments at the start of this month. Then, a ...

Persuasive Games launches Disaffected!
January 17, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

I'm happy to announce that my studio Persuasive Games has released Disaffected!, a videogame parody of the Kinko's copy store. The game puts the player in the role employees forced to service customers under the particular incompetences common to a Kinko’s store. It gives the player the chance to step into the demotivated position of real FedEx Kinkos employees. Feel the indifference of these purple-shirted malcontents first-hand, and consider the possible reasons behind their malaise -- is it mere incompetence? Managerial affliction? Unseen but serious labor issues? Disaffected is the first in (what I hope will become) a series of ...

Agency.com Snowball Fight
December 23, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Another yuletide-themed posting before shuttering our virtual doors for the holiday this weekend. Interactive agency Agency.com has created the Agency.com Snowball Fight, a cute little game in which you throw snowballs at people in a variety of Agency.com-officed locations. The best score come January wins an iPod, but I don't think it's the kind of game most people will feel compelled to play long enough to compete. I remember back in the 90s, most i-agencies created little Christmas greetings like this as promotions of their work. It's basically a meta-advergame. After the bubble burst, this became far less common; it ...

Another Lousy Advergame: Sharpie Bust Out
December 12, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

It's time for another terrible example of an advergame. These are frequent enough that I'm inaugurating a new sub-column under the Advergames topic: Another Lousy Advergame. Sharpie (you know, the permanent ink pens and markers) commissioned the Sharpie Mini Bust Out Game, which is a break-out clone with a $1,000 Visa gift card sweepstakes attached. I learned about the game via email from its creators, HyperDrive Interactive, who told me that they lured 125,000 players in the first week. The game is the most rudimentary of Breakout clones, and I can't imagine playing just an idle match of it, but ...

New IF work Book & Volume explores consumerism, work
November 26, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Nick Montfort, who also blogs on Grand Text Auto, has released Book & Volume, an interactive fiction (IF) piece about one night in the life of a sysadmin for nWare, the curious and increasingly dubious corporate hub of the fictional world nTopia. Nick is one of the foremost authorities on IF, both as a practitioner and a theorist, having previously released Ad Verbum (2000) and Winchester's Nightmare (1999), and also having authored Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction (MIT Press, 2003). Nick was kind enough to let me play several pre-release versions, and I completed the game to ...

Samsung Mobile Mystery
November 22, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Perfect Fools up in Stockholm have just released a new adventure/puzzle style mystery game to promote the Samsung D600 mobile phone. As the game starts, a mysterious woman hands you a mobile phone before rushing off. As the player, your job is to discover and use clues on the phone to help solve the mystery. The game follows the conventions of classic point-and-click adventure games, as well as the more contemporary escape-the-room type games like Crimson Room and Viridian Room. Players who find all the clues (and who are residents of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, or Iceland) are entered for ...

A few notes on the European Advertising in Games Forum
November 21, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I attended the European Advertising in Games Forum last week in London. WiFi was unavailable at the venue and difficult/expensive to find in the city in general, so I wasn't able to cover the event live. Not that I necessarily would have been able to; it was a rather oppressively downtrodden one to say the least. Partly that had to do with the venue -- a theater in the medical (?) campus of Imperial College London, one of those postwar reconstruction buildings that blights the city. But the attendees, the presenters, the room in general was morose and by and ...

Volvo Drive for Life
November 14, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

The NY Times reports that Volvo and Microsoft have collaborated on a game for Xbox called Volvo Drive for Life, "a showcase for the Volvo nameplate, three Volvo models and the longtime Volvo brand identity as the car designed with safety foremost." Clearly, this won't be a Burnout clone -- players drive on a proving grounds course with and without safety features in the Volvo S40 S60R, and XC90. The player can then drive the car in three real-world courses, Pacific Coast Highway, the Italian Grand Prix, and the road to the ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi. Real-world is relative, I ...

Best Buy charges to see advertising
October 24, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

In a curious move, Best Buy is charging admission to a marketing event. The "IGN Live Event" offers gamers a chance to "Play Xbox 360 for only $15." Here are the features promised for this perverse event: Be the first to play Xbox 360! Play Call of Duty 2 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted at the Best Buy gaming lounge. Play WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw 2006, Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, F.E.A.R.™, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat™, Tony Hawk American Wasteland™ and much more! $7,500 cash tournaments featuring Halo 2, Battlefield 2 and Counter-Strike: Source ...

European Advertising in Games Forum
October 18, 2005 - by Gonzalo Frasca

After NY and San Francisco, now it's time for London to taste a forum devoted to advergaming. And, guess what, our very own Ian will be speaking, so this is your chance to listen to his rants offline! Here's the link that you were looking for. I promise I will make sure that Ian shares a cup of tea with every single attendant (well, at least I'll try). ...

McNintendo
October 18, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Thanks to our friends at Kotaku for digging up this nugget (har har): apparently Nintendo is about to announce that free DS WiFi service will be available in McDonalds. Perhaps they will later replace the Playplace with a big pile of beanbags for our increasingly large cheeseburger-stuffed lads and lasses to sit whilst they smear their cola-stickied hands over their DS screens. Sticky fingers and chicken nuggets aside, does this move just reinforce the perception that the DS is a console for kids, or does it create new opportunity for a more generally popular game platform? ...

In-Game Ad Studies are Ads for In-Game Ads
October 6, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

A few days ago over on WCG friends' site Grand Text Auto, Nick Montfort wrote about the distrust we may want to have for industry-sponsored studies of videogame demographic shifts. Nick points to long-time industry critic Chris Crawford's recent commentary on recent video game demographic studies. Chris basically argues that these studies have no scientific basis, but merely serve as PR and marketing. Well, media sluts Nielsen Media and in-game ad network company Double Fusion have just released a similar sort of study on in-game advertising. The study claims that ads in the downloadable game London Taxi increased awareness of ...

Sting like an ice cream: Sensodyne Boxing
October 3, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

The folks at GlaxoSmithKline must have seen the clever boxing parody/advergame by Dannon that we covered a few months ago... because they've created a similar game to support the Sensodyne Food Fear Challenge promotion. For those of you who aren't up on your toiletries, Sensodyne is a toothpaste made for people with sensitive teeth. Apparently the Food Fear Challenge gives those with piercing jaw pain a chance to participate in eating contests with trigger foods, consult with an on-site dental professional and, of course, play in the Brett Favre football toss competition (no promotion is complete without a superfluous sports ...

Innoculate the Viral Marketing
September 27, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I hate viral marketing. Hate it, capital-H Hate it. Here's why. The advertising industry vaguely understands how word of mouth works. They understand memes, although they've probably never heard of Richard Dawkins. They believe they are in the business of creating cultural capital to be disseminated from brain to mindless little fat-walleted brain. They even understand the basics of scale-free networks, or at least enough to grok the underlying function of weak ties, those loose connections you have with other people that create the largest networks of potential interaction. All the mechanics are there, but something's missing. What is it? ...

Forget advergames. Now you need a full site
September 21, 2005 - by Gonzalo Frasca

One advergame is not enough. At least that's the philosophy behind Orbitz' new advergaming site, a place where you can find and play all their banner games... and maybe even win some free trips. Here's the link to the site and here's the link to the NYTimes story (at News.com, so no registration is required) about it. ...

Gas Sipping with Ford/Mercury
September 19, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I can't find the actual game, but ClickZ reports on a new game from Ford/Mercury meant to show how the Mercury Mariner hybrid SUV is more energy efficient than the average SUV. The "Mercury Mariner MyDrive Game" apparently seeks to "train" drivers about how to best take advantage of fuel efficiency in the hybrid SUV. Hybrids require slightly different driving styles for maximum energy benefit, and a game seems like the perfect way to demonstrate that process. Here's the description of the gameplay: Game players win points for "driving" the Mariner Hybrid through a variety of ordinary situations, such as ...

INXS Bang the Drum (or, more crap from Kewlbox)
September 12, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Recently, we talked about Jason Oda's Galvanized!, a game created to promote techno act The Chemical Brothers. Last year, we also mentioned Triple Trouble, The Beastie Boys's politically-charged promo game. Here's another recording artist game, Bang the Drum, promoting formerly has-been but recently rediscovered band INXS. The game is, in a word, terrible. The design concept is pretty good -- a music rhythm game based on the prowess of INXS drummer John Farriss. There's one (count 'em, one) INXS song, the eponymous "Need You Tonight." But the game is nearly impossible to play, offering only rudimentary directions and terrible in-game ...

Why the IGDA's new Sex & Games SIG goes limp
August 18, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Gamespot reports that the IGDA has launched a special interest group (SIG) for sex in games. The SIG even has it's own blog, Sex & Games, which strikes me as a great idea. Here's what they have to say about their goals: The Sex SIG welcomes everyone interested in the topic of sexual content in video games, from developers actively creating such content to parents to those working in or with organizations that seek to restrict such content. The Sex SIG hopes this "Sex & Games" blog will serve as an informational clearinghouse for such content, helping us to connect ...

How to hack Massive out of your games
August 10, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Recently I lambasted Massive, our least favorite purveyor of in-game ad placement. Via the MIT Advertising Lab I'm happy to report that a few players of SWAT4 have figured out how the Massive ads get served and posted instructions for how to turn them off. Be sure to read through the instructions, even if you skim over the technical details so you can learn about all the metrics Massive is gathering. Here's a charming one: The client contacted madserver to tell the advertisers how long the gamer spent with each advert in their view. This is mapped to the gamer ...

Sugar Water Games
August 9, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Since I live in Atlanta, I have necessarily, and probably willingly adopted our heroic ardor for Coca Cola. Coke is often cited as the catalyst for economic development in Atlanta in the early 20th century, and the bedrock of Atlanta's economy today. It's even been called the catalyst for improved race relations in the city. Business leaders wanted to be able to sell sugar water to everyone, and thus they supported desegregation in the midcentury. It's much more commonly called "co-cola" in the south, but sometimes you might still hear someone call Coke a "Georgia Champagne." The World of Coke ...

Electroadvergame
August 4, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Now for something completely different. Well-known UK electronic dance duo The Chemical Brothers has their own advergame, Galvanized. The game is quite unique. The player is a sort of... uh... masked space-electronica dude, and you collect Galvanize boxes to increase your strength to fight DJ monsters. You have to avoid the sawblades, a sort of DJ LP gone bad. The game borrows from the themes of the tracks on the latest Chemical Brothers release, including the "galvanize" and "push the button" actions that make up the main verbs in the game. Here's a tip, because it was totally non-obvious to ...

Down with Massive
July 26, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I spoke at the first Advertising in Games conference this spring in NYC, but I'm not able to make the summer event this week in San Francisco. I wish I could go, just so I could spit on all the people from Massive who will be attending. The Wall Street Journal reports today that Massive has launched full video ads in videogames. You can read the usual responses over on Slashdot, but I'll give you mine here. Massive must be destroyed. As I've said before, Massive understands neither effective advertising nor games, and their principle goal is to make money ...

Prune to Win, the hedge shears game
July 21, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

No, it's not a constipation game, although that might be interesting. Prune to Win is a promotional advergame from Fiskars, makers of hedge trimmers, orange-handled staplers, guillotine style paper trimmers, and other sharp metal things. As with the Boiler Game Gonzalo recently pointed out, this is an example of an unusual product for an advergame, but it makes a lot of sense. Prune to Win puts the player in a backyard gone awry with summer growth. I have special empathy for this situation now that I live in Atlanta; you can go to bed and wake up to find yesterday's ...

Boiler play room
July 19, 2005 - by Gonzalo Frasca

There was a time when you had to force advergame genres onto the client's expectations because the only thing that they could afford to produce was a simple, 8-bit style game. Thankfully things change and now it's the other way around! Here we have a clear example: a Mario-inspired platformer where the fact that the goal is to jump around pipelines fixing things actually makes sense with the product that they are advertising. The client here is Powergen and they sell boilers (boilers!) What makes me particularly happy is to see more unexpected products popping up in the advergaming world ...

Late night munchies game
July 1, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

McDonalds has a cute little advergame running called Race to the Lights to promote their late night and 24hour drive-thru service. The player chooses a music style (pop, hip hop, rock, and country) and gets assigned a corresponding vehicle (coupe, wagon??, van, and pickup). The goal is to drive your car in the fastest time possible to the end of the course. If you get through a level, you're allowed to customize your car, which actually turned out to be much more amusing than I thought it would be, probably due to the simplicity of the art. I'm often cynical ...

A lousy environmental advergame
June 23, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I've been traveling and attending conferences for more than a week, including DiGRA 2005 and Supernova 2005. I gave a paper at DiGRA on political games and a workshop talk at Supernova on games and advertising. More on those later. For now, it's time for a lousy environmental advergame. French energy company Totalgaz has created an advergame to promote their GPL Premier fuel (site in French), which offers the dreamy promise of costing less, polluting less while still "preserving your driving pleasure." The game is also couched as a contest with several prizes, including year of free fuel, a vacation, ...

Japanese Finance Games
June 15, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Thanks to Serious Games Japan maven Toru Fujimoto for tipping us off to My Dream and Bank, a Japanese Flash-based advergame intended to teach high school students about the basics of finance and starting a business. The game was produced by the Japanese Bankers Association, and according to Toru 100,000 copies were distributed on CD-ROM to schools and home users, free of charge. From what I can tell about the game, the player can choose one of four characters, each of which has a different personality and business goal -- internet entrepreneur, hair salon owner, coffee shop owner, and fashion ...

Beer, Nudity, and Pac-Man
June 11, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Surely this must be the first ever advergame that draws a direct correlation between drinking beer and getting women naked. Undress Me is a Flash game with simple inverse-space invaders gameplay, similar to Ferry Halim's Apple Season. The game features the Czech beer Pilsner Urquell, and the player's goal is to catch falling bottles in a six-pack. Catch enough and the "avatar" you choose at the beginning begins to undress. The more beer you store in your magical six-pack, the more she takes off. The game's actually quite, er, challenging, and the avatar even mocks you when you fail. I'm ...

Betsy Book on DIY Branding
June 6, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Just in via Terra Nova, Betsy Book has a new paper on member-developed brands in There and Second Life. In Betsy's words, "this time I want to turn the spotlight away from established corporate advertisers and discuss the entrepreneurial activities of several innovative members instead." A must-read for anyone interested in this topic (which should mean anyone reading this page). ...

Inhalants are more fun
May 31, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I don't know which is more incredible, the fact that WD-40 has a fanclub or the fact that their fanclub contains a downloadable WD-40 game (I've linked it directly so you don't have to register). It's a 3D game too! The player is cast as a stationary can of WD-40 in a suburban backyard. You can't move, you can only rotate in place. Objects requiring lubrication occasionally squeak and move around you (a sprinkler, a swing, a door). You have to turn and spray them quickly. It's a bit like Hogan's Alley or Wild Gunman for the NES, except those ...

Virtual Magic Kingdom Beta
May 24, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

The beta version of the perverse Disney virtual marketing world thing we previously discussed is now available, although as of 10am EDT this morning the site was "too busy to process my request." Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom is a free online multi-Player game that lets you experience the awesome magic of Disney Theme Parks from home. Live inside of Disney's virtual world to create your own experiences, control your online Character and interact with Players from around the globe! (via Guardian Gamesblog, via Alice) ...

E3: In-Game Advertising Workshop
May 21, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

As I mentioned previously, I ran a workshop on in-game advertising during the conference sessions this E3. It was more like an interactive panel session than a workshop, and we covered a lot of ground. We had an analyst (Michael Goodman from Yankee Group), an ad man (Brandon Berger from OgilvyInteractive), a brand (Jeff Bell from DaimlerChrysler), an in-game ad platform creator (Guy Bendov from DoubleFusion) and a game/game tech creator (Dave Madden from WildTangent). Several stories are out now that covers the topic pretty well, including several references to the workshop as well as quotes from participants (including yours ...

Reader feedback: in-game advertising workshop at E3
May 9, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I am running a workshop on in-game advertising at this year's E3. I'd like to ask the panelists to discuss several specific examples of in-game ads and advergames, debating the pros and cons of each example for gameplay, advertising, and other factors. I'd love to hear from our readers about any particular games, advergames, or in-game ad examples that you'd like to hear expert opinion about. I'll post the notes back here after E3. ...

Sony Armchair Games
May 5, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Sony created a set of rather unique advergames to promote their Wega Engine IDTV. The Armchair Games are all related to TV-watching, including the Ad-Break Toilet Dash, the Sofa Long-Jump, the Grab-a-Snack Hurdles, and the Pizza Delivery Chuck and Catch. The games are simple and evocative, although essentially they are all reskins of simple track and field sports games (thus the "armchair games"). Still, a nice example of using existing game genres applied to human activities underrepresented in games. You can also play the related Operation Switchover, skeet shooting with leftover analog TVs. (thanks to Nico) ...

Live from the Advertising in Games Forum
April 14, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I'm at the Advertising in Games Forum in New York, and for the first time in a long time I'm live blogging. The event was (massively?) sponsored by Massive, Inc., subject of much press and some ire of late for their (massive) push into in-game ad placement. As with my previous coverage of The Education Arcade, Games for Health, and the Serious Games Summit, I should remind our readers that I am not transcribing the presenters' actual words, but summarizing my sense of them as they speak. I feel sort of obliged to make an editorial comment about Massive, since ...

Movie advergames
April 12, 2005 - by Gonzalo Frasca

I love my job. Everyonce in a while, I roam through upcoming movies' websites and look for online games. So far, I haven't done much more than casual research on this trend. I know that Flash games have been around on movie sites for a few years now. Generally, they are just there to add value, but usually no more than, say, a wallpaper or screen saver. Most of the times the quality of these games is sub-par and, as it is usual in advergaming, they feel rushed. I am not surprised at all, since I know what it is ...

Advergames in NYC
April 12, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Following up on Gonzalo's gloom on advergames, I should remind our readers that I will be speaking at the Advertising in Games Forum this Thursday the 14th in New York, the belly of the advertising beast, where I'll be sure to share commensurate cynicism. Massive is the main sponsor and I hope to gather some useful thoughts and comments to share with your readers. Also, check out WCG friend Clive Thompson's recent experience with the Altoids Curiously Strong All Night Long game. ...

Product placement is booooring
April 11, 2005 - by Gonzalo Frasca

The NYTimes (free reg. req.) talks again about Massive and in-game product and ad placement. From a creative point of view, in advertising terms, this is boring. Simulation is far more creatively challenging than placing a billboard. Of course, the ad industry was never driven by the sake of creative challenges. Anyway, just a chance to say what anybody else would say (which means you shouldn't be reading this). I do mind having ads in my games. Maybe I wouldn't mind if that made good quality games cheaper or free (so far, don't even think about it. Ad revenues do ...

Dannon Punch-Out
March 21, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Dannon has an amazing new advergame promoting its Frusion breakfast smoothies. Breakfast Brawl is a Mike Tyson Punch-Out parody that pits you against undesirable breakfast heavyweights like Moe Finntop and Dave "A sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich" Jenkins. Yes, you literally fight against a bowl of cereal. At key moments in the game you can deploy a Frusion powerup to great effect. (thanks to Daniel) Dannon seems to be going after more men, with an ESPN Fantasy Baseball sponsorship and the Breakfast Brawl game. I'm not totally convinced by the frusion powerup, but boxing against alternate breakfast foods is definitely ...

Throwing Romance
March 3, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Hilton Worldwide Resorts has created Cupid's Catapult to promote their "romantic" resorts. In the game, the player hurls gifts to an awaiting lover on a balcony above. On higher levels, obstacles get in the way. You have to land a significant number of gifts before your significant other takes any interest in you. Interestingly, you can even break the windows of the Hilton with the gifts if your aim is off. This game is disturbingly similar to one I made not too long ago but don't really show... maybe for obvious reasons. At any rate, everyone knows that nothing says ...

Are casual games a salve for film licenses?
February 27, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

With the Oscars poised to air tonight, it seems an appropriate time to meditate on the fate of film license games. I've written before on Hollywood's propensity to use games as a film marketing tool, as have I mused on the dangers of games mixing themselves up with film licenses. A new set of film licenses for games suggests that this stagnation might be ending... or worsening. For example, EA bought the Godfather license, promising to bring Brando's voice to the small screen. Majesco bought the Jaws license. Warner Bros. announced its plans to adapt the Dirty Harry franchise, with ...

Weird Air Jordan Game
February 24, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Nike has created a weird game to promote their new Air Jordan XX. The game, hosted by Spike Lee, asks the player to answer questions about Jordan -- both the man and the shoes -- in the least amount of time. I'm usually very negative about quiz games but this one has a rather bizarre air to it (as it were), relying on abstract iconography for player interaction (thanks to Nico). ...

Burger Man, the Super Size Me game
February 21, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Super Size Me, the popular documentary film about the health effects of a massive fast-food diet, has an official game. It looks like it was a promotion for the DVD release, so it must have been around for a while already. (thanks to Nico) It's cute and has good production value, but it's essentially a Pac Man clone. And if I'm going to criticize other clones, then I'm sort of obliged to give the same treatment here. The subject of healthcare and diet is a great subject for a game, because a game can show change over time, and furthermore ...

Pepsi-branded Nintendo DS
February 21, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I was traveling in Europe and thus a bit disconnected, so this news isn't brand new, but it is branded (that's jetlag humor right there). Anyway, Pepsi and Nintendo have created a cross-marketing campaign around a Pepsi-branded Nintendo DS. The Japan-only console is Pepsi blue and comes with Pepsi-branded earphones. You can also get some cool Nintendo-themed Pepsi bottle toppers (?) to, well, adorn your Pepsi bottles. (via Kotaku) There's no Pepsi-branded game for the console, but this promotion sure is reminiscent of the Coca Cola-branded Game Gear we covered here recently. ...

More Dumb Advergaming
February 19, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

As if their singular goal is to agitate me in the aftermath of their shockingly terrible Kotex Bejeweled knockoff, Kewlbox has just released a new dumb advergame. Celebrations Brand Mah Jongg adds Milky Way candy branding to solitare-style mah jongg. Maybe next we can get Advergaming Pac-Man, where the loose branding advergame sluts chase the game designer. ...

Tampons, meet Bejeweled
February 15, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I couldn't make this stuff up. I've been complaining for a while now about a particularly unfortunate kind of advergame... the sort that takes popular casual games and replaces play elements with branded objects. There was a time when everyone was asking for a branded version of Bejeweled -- M&Ms, movie stars, whatever. Apparently that time continues. Blockdot, the Dallas-based studio that has made a science of rebranding forgettable games for profit, has just released Ms. Match, a Kotex-sponsored version of Bejeweled on their game portal Kewlbox. They bill it as "a fun, new puzzle game for the tomboy, vixen, ...

Two Beverage Advergames
February 12, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

A little comparative advergaming. (1) as a promotion in Scandinavia this past Christmas, Coke created Nordic Christmas, a set of three advergames. Players were offered the opportunity to win an MP3 player (thanks to Nico). (2) Pickwick Tea is promoting its Afternoon Spirit product in the Netherlands with this advergame. This game also gives you a chance to win prizes, albeit less exciting ones than an MP3 player. (via Adverblog) You'll immediately note the much higher production value the Coca Cola games. They are visually stunning, and the developer, Swedish agency Perfect Fools, has created some amazing depth effects and ...

Advergame Events
January 30, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Two significant advergame-related events take place in the coming months. First, Positioning for Profitability in the Video Game Economy takes place February 24 in New York. Second, The Advertising in Games Forum will be held April 14, also in New York. Both events share the same major sponsor, videogame advertising network hopeful Massive, Inc. Discussions ensue at Game Girl Advance and Terra Nova. ...

Marketingland: Welcome to the Virtual Hypperreal
January 12, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

I've talked before about my fondness of finding the planet's highest order simulations, and this one is an amazing specimen. AdAge (click at right for larger version, or see page 4 of the January 3 issue -- thanks Cleo) reports on a free online game built by Disney to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. They’ll be targeting Virtual Magic Kingdom at 7-12 year olds. From the article, …players able to win special perks and head-of-line passes for rides in return for completing online challenges. Players who go to the parks also can compete in on-site games to win swag ...

Kyocera Cameraphone Advergame
January 9, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Mobile handset maker Kyocera has released Red Carpet Blitz, a new advergame promoting their Koi/KX2 phone. The game does a good job incorporating the features of the phone into the gameplay. You play as a photographer trying to capture celebrity photos at a movie opening. You earn more points from your editor based on the composition and subjet of your shots. The game runs a little slowly, but the production value is high. Apparently Kyocera is also running rich media blog ads with leaderboards for the game, a nice way to lure players into the experience through media buys without ...

Advergame research roundup
January 2, 2005 - by Ian Bogost

Hoo-ha! It's the new year and everybody knows that means it's time for advergame research roundup. Here's are a few choice cattle that I've rustled up and branded from the web and my inbox (Yar, the new year's replete with punnery). Amsterdam-based Down Under Group has announced Down Under Ingame Advertising, a division devoted to, well, ingame advertising. As part of the announcement, they have released the results of an interesting study on European players' attitudes toward in game advertising. The results are somewhat unsurprising: "Their own suggestions reinforced our belief that in-game advertising is much more than just sticking ...

Retro Advergaming with Coca Cola Kid
December 18, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

More quasi-vintage advergame news. I recently visited the World of Coca Cola here in Atlanta and discovered the limited edition Coca Cola red Sega Game Gear, complete with specially created Coca Cola Kid cartridge. It's an impressive specimen of a custom-skinned branded handheld with branded advergame. I'm not sure if another such specimen exists. It appears to have been a Japan-only release and is quite hard to find. Screenshots of the game are available here, and I took a reasonably clear camera phone pic of the whole rig at the museum, which you can see above (click for a bigger ...

Games Advertising Games
December 10, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Nothing like self-reflexivity to make your day. Videogame retailer EBGames has created Cash for Stash, a web-based advergame that allows players to accrue points by picking up virtual games in a city and dropping them off at an in-game EB Games store. By clearing levels, you can earn coupons good for a small discount off preowned games at EB Games. The game itself has billboard ads for other products, both real (the Blade Trinity Soundtrack, which provides the in-game music) and fictional (Connecticut Fried Chicken). Weirdly, the coupon I got at the end of my game has an expiration date ...

In-Game Advertising Guide
December 7, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Agency Cocojambo has created the Cocojambo Guide, a service that tries to match advertisers and game developers/publishers. The first issue comes out December 1. Subscriptions are free but require approval via email. ...

A Real Advergame
December 3, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Regular WCG readers know that we often deride current trends in advergames. That in mind, it's always refreshing to see a "Real Advergame," one that uses something more than the expected associative conventions. I was reading an old issue of the awesome mag Ready Made, I fell upon this terrific game that flies in the face of Madison Avenue like a taco salad cream pie. ...

Even Christmas Trees have Advergames
November 29, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

I had no idea there was a National Christmas Tree Association. But there is, and they've sponsored a game over at Kewlbox, Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees. I'm not making this up. According to the press release, NCTA "is using the game to educate players on the positive points of having a real Christmas tree this year." The game also links to NCTA's Help Santa Find the Perfect Real Tree contest. The game itself is pretty forgettable, whack-a-mole with angry mutant trees. ...

Mai Tais and Exotic Diseases
November 15, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Actually, the game has little to do with either, but now I have your attention. Following in the footsteps of Roller Coaster Tycoon and all the other -Tycoon games out there (including the previous, unbranded Cruise Ship Tycoon), take a look at the "budget release" Carnival Cruise Lines Tycooon. Adrenaline Vault's review is very complete, essentially calling the overall experience uneven. There seems to be a sequel, which indicates that (a) some of those problems might be fixed and (b) the game was successful enough to garner one. What's interesting to me about this game is how it uses the ...

Chickenfight
November 4, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Burger King has a game to go with their new TV ad campaign "chickenfight," which is in turn -- this gets complicated -- part of some kind of crosspromotion with DirecTV. Chickenfight the game has some clever features. It's a mock-cockfight game (with the chickensuited guys from the tv spot), and if you have a mic you can play by shouting "PECK" into it. The louder you shout, the harder you, well, peck. Interesting use of audio input. (thanks to Nico) ...

Nielsen and Activision co-sponsor Collective Hallucination
October 20, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Nielsen Entertainment Media, conjurers of numbers replete, and Activision, skateboard bankers, have partnered to develop tools to create complex fictions of relevance for in-game branding. I offer my perspective on the latest victory for the Razor-scooter-set over in eMarketingIQ, the gist of which is "... The concern is that it might be more of a way for the ad industry to justify the ‘buying’ of in-game ads to the media purchaser." If you need any more evidence that there is a special circle of hell for advertising executives, check out what Andy Wing, CEO of Nielsen had to say about ...

In-game advertising
August 26, 2004 - by Gonzalo Frasca

Tom Loftus writes at MSNBC about in-game advertising. The interesting things is that the article describes the attempts from traditional ad measuring companies (Nielsen) in order to measure the "impressions" or number of times players get hit by an in-game add. I find this interesting, because basically what we have here is a 20th century media paradigm, based on hits, within a 21th century genre that can definitively go well beyond ad and product placement. In other words, Nielsen's high-tech answer seems to be simply bringing the old ideas from the TV world into the computer/console (you can't blame the ...

Beer, nudity, and wet towels
August 25, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Must be good, right? Swedish spirits company Åbro has made a great little game based on the age-old wet towel in the locker room game (it must be "age-old" right? The ancient Olympics were all nude after all). The company has an ongoing soccer (football for the rest of the world) sponsorship, and they put together this game to continue the sponsorship and promotion after the season ended. Great stuff. (thanks to Dave for this one) ...

More fun with free speech
August 22, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

This isn't really about advergaming or political gaming, at least not directly. But it's part of a broader trend in advertising and political speech that very much affects the kind of work we've been trying to do in the space. So, CNN reported yesterday about a man being fired for heckling Bush. Here's the summary: A man who heckled President Bush at a political rally was fired from his job at an advertising and design company for offending a client who provided tickets to the event. The article's a great read, as are the quotes from the fired graphic designer, ...

Doom 3 gets cute
August 10, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Ok, so it's not deliberate advergaming, but a Hello Kitty flashlight mod for the just-released Doom 3 is pure poetry. A great example of how this brand without a product can turn even this testament to gory realism into chanpon kitsch. Does juxtaposition get any better than this? With an inadvertent nod to more elaborate (or at least more elaborately planned) FPS invasions like Velvet-Strike, the Hello Kitty Doom Torch not only disrupts the mimetic drive of the FPS game engine but also reminds players of Doom that they are ensconced in a global brand with equal -- perhaps less ...

The Adverblog
August 9, 2004 - by Gonzalo Frasca

While not just about advergaming, the Adverblog is about advertising in all things digital. Really useful bunch of links, so give it a try. The author is now on vacation in France (we do not blame her for taking some days off), so unless she's abducted by "Les Visiteurs", she should get back to blogging quite soon. ...

Japanese have weirder fun with Rice Bowl and Curry House games
August 2, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

More evidence that the Japanese are having more fun, or at least weirder fun. Two popular Japanese restaurant chains, curry house CoCo Ichibanya and rice bowl chain Yoshinoya both have their own PS2 titles. Yoshinoya should be familiar to many Westerners  — they were everywhere in Los Angeles, and I stoically recall their profoundly repulsive rice bowls. Ichibanya is probably unfamiliar, but as the review says, it is "the McDonalds of Curry Houses in Japan." The titles are unavailable outside of Japan, but thanks to two new English-language reviews we can get a sense of how they play. Read UK-based ...

The Truth is pretty bad
July 27, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

The American Legacy Foundation's ongoing anti-smoking campaign truth has released a game created by Templar Studios based on truth's "Crazy World" ad campaign. Here's what Templar's president Peter Mack had to say about the game: The game, which is aimed at a wide audience, ages 18-50, was created to show both smokers and non-smokers the dangers of cigarettes using humor and irony. Players score points by avoiding moving green puffs of radioactive smoke. If they get caught in the smoke, they mutate into an alien-like form. "The idea is to attract people to entertain themselves and keep the message within ...

Me on Advergames
July 22, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

eMarketing IQ just published an article about advergames in which I'm extensively (maybe embarrasingly extensively) quoted. You can read the article here. Here's an especially useful bit: But Bogost cautions for those considering this avenue, "It’s not enough to just have your brand in a game. What we see is the opportunity to get away from associative information and get back to tangible information. How will that product really add to your consumers' lives? The question to ask is 'How can I let people experience this product in a game?'" ...

Bikini Bounce your way to holiday
July 16, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

UK travel outlet lastminute.com has created a rather unique little game, Bikini Bounce, to promote a sweepstakes to win a trip to the Greek island of Kos. To play the game, you have to bounce a miniature vacationer on a beachgoer's bikini-clad breasts to reach vacation-themed bonus objects. Take care not to land in her sandy cleavage -- we all know such things are the doom of anyone's island holiday. The game doesn't tie the promotion into the game very effectively, but the game itself probably has some virulence. ...

Europe's first advergaming event
July 5, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

The Branded Content Marketing Association (BCMA) has announced what they are calling Europe's First Advergaming Event, to be held July 20 in London. Here's the full release... ...

The little tractor game
June 30, 2004 - by Gonzalo Frasca

How many game researchers/designers are married to Agronomists? I don't know. All I know is that I am one of them. And you can bet that for many years of marriage we did not have much in common on the professional level. Until now. Because John Deere, the manufacturer of agricultural equipment, is endorsing this agricultural PC advergame called American Farmer, which seems to play much like Harvest Moon. Thank you John Deere for bringing what was missing to my marriage! :) ...

Spille Communication
June 29, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

You know something must be popular when recording artists start doing it. Well, the Beastie Boys have their own political game, Triple Trouble. Here's what music news site Aversion has to say about it: The game, posted on Capitol Records' web site, makes users get all three members of the band across the street to get to a political rally. The band, however, must dodge President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice to avoid death. The game was built to promote the act's latest single, "Triple Trouble." The game ...

Busy: Games & Painting
June 28, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Some of you may have noticed that it's been a bit slow here on WCG of late, and here's why: I'm trying to get my new game done for a launch this week, AND I've been moving into my new house in Atlanta. So, I've been making games and painting. In fact, I've painted just about every room in my new place. When I do just about anything, I try to rustle up a game design based on it, just to see where it goes. I think a house painting game has a lot of promise. You have to lay ...

Industry flubs advergaming, again
June 17, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

AdAge just ran an report on advergames, from their coverage of AdWatch: Outlook 2004 conference in New York. They report that the increasing costs of TV ads are driving brands to consider games, and the increasingly broad demographics of gamers are helping. Despite the trends, the gaming industry continues to flub their approach to advergames. Here's why. ...

The Return of the "Bored Housewives"
June 11, 2004 - by Gonzalo Frasca

They are back... with a vengeance. Here's the AdAge article on female casual gamers (via GameGirlAdvance, of course) ...

IT Manager Game, now featuring Women!
June 1, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Well, the ruckus about Intel's failure to include women in their first go at the IT Management game seems to have inspired them to correct the problem! The new version of the game features female IT managers, staff, and other employees. Welcome to the 20th century. Since I finally got to play, I can say something about the game. It's quite a clever idea, but I think it should be categorized as a hybrid advergame/training game. The way the mechanics work, you pretty much have to upgrade your systems to the best Intel products you can afford. It took me ...

Create your own cereal box ideology
May 23, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Ok, it's not really a game, and it's a bit metatextual for this forum, but I'll bite anyway. PBS Kids has a really cool section called Don't Buy It, which teaches kids to think critically about media and become smarter consumers. They recently launched Freaky Flakes, a gadget that lets you design a kids cereal box to understand the tricks advertisers use to get consumers' attention. The interesting feature about the tool is that it lacks any kind of content filter whatsoever. I created the box of "Rumsfeld Crunch" depicted at right, but you can imagine much more, uhm, creative ...

Junk-Food Games: Game Rhetoric in the WSJ
May 3, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Big article in the Wall Street Journal today on Junk-Food Games (paid subscription required): "Online Arcades Draw Fire For Immersing Kids in Ads; Ritz Bits Wrestling, Anyone?" Some interesting excerpts: ...

Do home video marketers prefer games?
May 3, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Universal has published a new advergame, Go, Fish, Go! promoting the Pay Per View/On Demand release of The Cat in the Hat. It's a Frogger or Chicken-inspired cross-the-road game; you play as the fish in a bowl. The game adds some interesting variations on Frogger, including a low-friction bowl that loses water if you steer too quickly. The game has high visual production value, but it has major design flaws. For one part, it's quite hard; it took me several plays to actually get the bowl across the road. There is also poor balancing of vehicles, speed, obstacles, and water ...

Betsy Book on Advertising in Virtual Worlds
April 26, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

This just in, Betsy Book has written a massive paper on advertising in virtual worlds, "These bodies are FREE, so go get one NOW: Advertising and Branding in Social Virtual Worlds." I haven't read through it yet, but looks to contain a wealth of material. (via Terra Nova). ...

AdAge on videogames
April 20, 2004 - by Gonzalo Frasca

AdAge.com runs a story about videogames and advertising. It is mainly a panorama on the role of games in our culture, so it is meant to wake-up those old Madison Ave. guys and gals and let them know that games are here to stay (via gamegirladvance) ...

Waiting for Kyleigh
April 10, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

More on the monetizing in-game ads front. I just came across Direct Game Marketing (thanks to Saturation.org), a Pasadena company that purports to, uhm, "synergize new opportunities for customer contact in interactive media." Here's their hustle: Virtual worlds, real customers. Meet Kyleigh McConnel. She's 28 She's urban She's a tastemaker She spends up to 50% of her disposable income on luxury goods. She watches 2 hours of TV a week She reads 1 magazine a month. She skims a newspaper occasionally. She spends 4 hours a day in Second Life. Your target market is waiting for you, online. Charming stuff, ...

WSJ on monetizing ad space in videogames
April 8, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

The Wall Street Journal published an article on Nielsen's new Video Game Ad Tools (paid registration required). Update: you can also read about it via Activision's press release. Nielsen Entertainment and Activision have rolled out a suite of new tools that promise to track the number of gamers who see ads in video games. The tools reflect Madison Avenue's growing interest in video games as ad vehicles, especially in the 18-34 male demographic.   The article points out that most in-game ad deals are barter-based marketing arrangements. Activision and Nielsen want to create a "rate card" and do impression tracking ...

Playboy/Chivas Regal advergame promo
March 29, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

Playboy and Chivas Regal teamed up for the Chivas Regal Playboy Mansion Sweepstakes (not obscene, but not work friendly). It's an interesting combination of a sweepstakes and a game. I think the intention was to do a bit of associative marketing with Playboy and force the player to encounter some sample Chivas drink recipes. ...

Anti-dandruff game
February 16, 2004 - by Gonzalo Frasca

Head and Shoulders brings you... Mission Refresh, the anti-dandruff game, developed by Miami-based Makinita. Before you click on that link, keep in mind that it is in Spanish (but the game can be easily played anyways; arrow keys and space. Besides, the Instructions are available in English). The game is professionally made, the graphics are nice and the gameplay, while simple, is effective. I wonder what target audience they had in mind, but I can only think it is Hispanic teenagers. This is a clearly straightforward example of advergaming: it simulates the dandruff situation in a fun way, through a ...

The Future of Advergames
January 30, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

A couple weeks ago, I fell upon this article on Advergames in MediaPost, covering a coming research report from Gartner. In general, the article is a nice paean to the continued promise of advergames, and it predicts growth in the segment, which is promising. The cited Gartner report suggests three genres of advergames, roughly corresponding to reskinnables, custom-builts, and product-placers: The report identifies three different types of advergaming models. MSN, Yahoo!, and other media companies have developed relatively simple games and sold them to advertisers; price tends to hinge on the exclusivity of the arrangement. Then there are companies like ...

Sony/EA music crossmarketing deal
January 15, 2004 - by Ian Bogost

An interesting music cross-marketing deal for "NFL Street" which I guess is a street football game (?). This is particularly intriguing and, in my opinion, deeply deluded: Two songs from the soundtrack, EA said, will be turned into music videos featuring gameplay footage and will be released as singles for radio. What do you think? Is it an effective way to promote the game? ...

M&Ms Black & White - a missed advergaming opportunity
December 12, 2003 - by Ian Bogost

So, here's a fun idea. Mars candy just released special promotional Black & White M&Ms. Presumably you have to "join the Great Color Quest" to help find their colors, whatever that means. But, there's an opportunity for you to turn this promotion into your own advergame. While this promo is running, every bag of M&Ms is also a portable, edible game of Go! If only Mars had printed a tiny goban on the inside of the package... ...

More on the phenomenology of game product placement
December 4, 2003 - by Ian Bogost

So, I'm going to reopen the comment thread from a recent WCG discussion of product placement in games. The basic question is simple: do in-game products and ads function the same as in the real world? As I thought about this more, it reminded me of a real world experience. One of my favorite pastimes in Las Vegas is what I call the Highest Order Simulation Tour. During my travels, I try to find the most simulated of the simulacra. I guess there's something wrong with me. Anyway, one of my favorites are the ads on the sides of the ...

Branding and bananas
November 25, 2003 - by Ian Bogost

Following up on a discussion here on WCG, I wanted to reopen the question of advertising value in advergames. This is something I've thought and written about quite a bit (another reminder to self: post some written material), and my general conclusion is that most current advergames are rather poor advertising tools. The question raised in the post linked above is simply, do in-game advertising images, both branding and skeumorphic advertising like billboards, function the same in the game as they do in other media, or the real world? Furthermore, is there a difference in how these ads function as ...

Therapeutic Robot, toy design and advergames
November 21, 2003 - by Gonzalo Frasca

Paro is a therapeutic toy/pet for people who cannot deal with a real animal. Obviously, it comes from Japan, land of the rising robots. I have been visiting a lot of toy stores lately, not because I am an early Christmas shopper, but as a way to get a better idea of what's going on in the toy business and how we can relate this to videogames. I paid particular attention to new toy ideas and my general impression is that they try too hard to be innovative, even if that goes against its playability and the amount of fun ...

Play the Nokia Game to, uhm, see an N-Gage game
November 13, 2003 - by Ian Bogost

Nokia has launched a game to promote their N-Gage game deck (and Jussi's favorite Nokia product ;) ). Tha game is a snowboarding game (yawn). Nevertheless, it's a fairly surprising promotion: the game is actually the same as the N-Gage deck game, just run inside a VM in your brower or on your desktop. In the browser, the game is stretched bigger, so it pixellates quite a lot. It also runs oppressively slowly. N-Gage owners (chortle) can also download the game to play on their device. There is also a "clan" system that allows players to compare scores and times ...

British Airways, Rubgy, and Power Laws
October 26, 2003 - by Ian Bogost

British Airways is sponsoring the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and they've just launched an advergame to promote thier sponsorship of the event. The game was hard for me at first, but when I realized I'd misread the instructions I was able to make progress. The mechanics are somewhat complex; the player has to use the arrow keys and the mouse to play, and I doubt that most casual users could handle the arm-pretzel necessary to compete. Brands that sponsor sporting leagues or events often try to take advantage of games as a way to promote their sponsorship. This is meta-advertising ...

Banner Ad Games
October 23, 2003 - by Ian Bogost

Back in July, a Clikz columnist Tessa Wegert wrote about the recent trend of games in pop-up ads. If you can look past the fact that the column is sponsored by adware kingpin Gator (don't call it spyware, or you'll get sued), you'll see that advertisers who create these games claim that they sport both high CTRs (click-through rates) and high conversion rates. I took a look at some of the games by the developer cited in the article, Dreamam. Without exception, the games seem to be distractions that "fool" the player into thinking that some game of chance yielded ...

Advergaming tools
October 23, 2003 - by Gonzalo Frasca

There are several obstacles that have prevented advergaming from reaching its full potential. Most of them deal with every actor understanding that games require a paradigm shift: it is not about product placement anymore but rather about simulating an experience (more on this later). Still, one of the problems that game studios face is the lack of appropriate tools for delivering good games in a fast way. This market has been dominated by mutant Macromedia tools that were never created with game development in mind. ...

Mountain Dew, Object Fetishes, and Cannibalism
October 22, 2003 - by Ian Bogost

I got an email from Joe Varet over at Groove Alliance on their new game for Mountain Dew. It's a skateboarding game; the player skates around an outdoor arena à la Tony Hawk and collects Mountain Dew products to keep his "Mountain Dew Power" meter filled. I'm actually a big fan of 3D Groove's technology; it's one of the only ways to get lightweight, cross-platform 3D into a browser. And I know that Mountain Dew is a youth brand that would benefit from the whole overwrought extreme sports weltanschaaung. But here are a few points to consider. ...

The Light-sensitive GameBoy game
October 22, 2003 - by Ian Bogost

Konami has released Boktai, a GameBoy game with a solar sensor that uses sunlight to alter gameplay. According to the publisher, the game has a solar sensor built into the GBA cartridge. Certain monsters can only be destroyed by harnessing sunlight. According to game reviewer Gene Emery, artificial light isn't good enough; the cart required real sunlight. Vampires and other monsters in the game flourish at night, so the physical location of the player has a direct result on the game. What I find most interesting about this game is the direct impact of the physical world on the gameplay. ...