Advertising and television — they go hand-in-hand. While this matchup works beautifully, advertisements don’t necessarily mesh so well with other mediums.

Lately, the trend in films has been product placement. Advertisers feel that if moviegoers see Jude Law waxing his back with a certain brand of product, they will immediately go out and purchase said back wax. To a certain extent, it has proven subversive, if not wholly successful, in marketing.

As we’ve said multiple times, video games are quickly coming into their own as a medium. Advertisers, always looking to notice trends, have picked up on the popularity of video games and are preparing to invade yet another aspect of pop culture.

Ryan:
Like most gamers, I can easily see both sides of this issue. The idea of placing real-world products into video games does indeed bring added realism to those games. If I had to choose between watching Carl Johnson of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” drinking a Pepsi or a Popsi, I’d choose the real product 100 percent of the time. Seeing characters in games dealing with the same things that I see everyday in my life brings the product full-circle and makes the game hit a lot closer to home.

I first noticed blatant product placement when I rented “Def Jam: Fight for NY” a few months back. I created my fighter and decked him out with all of the coolest street wear, ranging from my Reebok Supercourts to an unhealthy amount of real-world bling. After one or two fights, I felt my controller vibrating, signifying that another rapper-turned-fighter was text-messaging me on my T-Mobile Sidekick. I hopped into my Escalade and rode in style to my next fight.

So maybe “Fight for NY” is a little excessive in product placement, but that doesn’t stop the game from being one of the best fighting experiences offered in the last year. At times, I felt a bit overwhelmed when faced with the wave of shameless plugs, but I can’t accuse the game of not having a sense of realism to it.

Zach:
The problem with in-game advertisements is simple: where does it stop? Certainly, in-game product placement along the lines of “Fight for NY” is reasonable, as it adds rather than detracts to the overall world the game attempts to create. But look at a game like “Need for Speed Underground 2.”

As a side note, keep in mind that both “Fight for NY” and “NFSU2” are brought to you by your friends and mine, the lovely fellows of Electronic Arts. Challenge everything — by racing from Best Buy to Burger King in the allotted time. But don’t forget your Cingular Wireless phone that they incessantly shove in your face, ensuring that when you think wireless phone, cool cars and video games, Cingular owns your mind.

Ryan:
There are many advantages to selling space in a game, especially for developers. The bonus profits brought in by simply programming products or ads into a game allows smaller development houses to either put extra money into their games or sell their games for less money. Either way, gamers are making out well in this situation.

I’ve almost never had a problem with real products appearing in games, so long as they are tastefully done. Some people say if things keep progressing the way they’ve been going, we’ll see Link sporting Nikes or Mario donning overalls from Old Navy. The fact remains that wealthy developers (like Nintendo) will likely never have to sell any aspect of their games to advertisers as they have an economic cushion that smaller houses don’t benefit from.

Zach:
But this invasion of advertising into games is already beginning to evolve along with the technology. Soon, games will have advertisements that can update over the life of the game — more popular games, even more popular levels, will be worth different rates based on tracking player statistics. Just like Nielsen compiles viewer ratings for television, soon a similar system will be in place for games.

However, not all these ads will necessarily hurt gamers — just as advertisements help keep radio free, Anarchy Online, a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, recently offered players a free subscription. Most of these massive online games charge monthly fees, roughly $10-15 per month. However, by offering advertisers in-game billboard space, the developers were able to offer players the ability to enjoy their product at no cost whatsoever.

Except, of course, having to deal with Sprite advertisements on the planet Rubi-Ka.

Ryan Gauthier ([email protected]) and Zach Stern ([email protected]) are hopelessly addicted to all things involving video games. Zach is currently keeping busy with “Jade Empire.” Ryan has been playing a lot of “God of War” and “NCAA March Madness 2004.”